Quiznos saw a lot of success when it recently ran a location-based mobile advertising campaign that targeted customers in Portland, OR.

The quick-service restaurant chain designed the campaign specifically for tech-savvy, busy consumers. Quiznos tapped Sense Networks to power the initiative.

?The strategy behind this campaign is about taking location and behavior to drive the most ROI out of mobile advertising,? said David Petersen, CEO of Sense Networks. ?Sense Networks? technology analyzes mobile users? location trails over time and builds anonymous profiles on shopping habits and behavioral attributes, including visits to quick serve restaurants.

?Sending someone a coupon for something while they?re already making a purchase isn?t as effective,? he said. ?Quiznos could have used traditional location-based technology to send a sandwich coupon to everyone in a geo-fence of their locations ? but many of those users likely wouldn?t redeem it.

?Instead, Quiznos used location-based behavioral targeting technology to set criteria around who?s most likely to actually make a purchase at a quick-serve restaurant.?

Targeted campaign
The targeted campaign ran from November till December and targeted potential Quiznos customers with relevant mobile ads of local coupons.

The company targeted individuals between the ages of 18-34, who had been at similar quick-service restaurant such as Subway or Jimmy John?s over the previous 30-days and who were within a 3-mile radius of a Quiznos in the Portland, OR market.

At the conclusion of the program, Quiznos saw nearly 3.7 million new impressions and had a 20 percent boost in coupon redemptions within the Portland area compared to similar nationwide campaigns.

?[Mobile ads] have already proven effective,? Mr. Petersen said. ?As a result of behavior targeting during November and December of 2012, Quiznos earned quite a bit more bang for its buck ? a 20 percent boost in coupon redemptions in the Portland market where the Sense campaign was executed, compared to similar campaigns nationwide.?

Seeing results
Mobile advertising is a great channel for Quiznos to have used.

Consumers are constantly on the go and serving them a targeted, relevant ad that includes a coupon is a great incentive for them to visit an in-store location.

?This year, advertisers will continue to struggle with the one critical piece of mobile that they haven?t yet figured out ? commerce,? Mr. Petersen said.

?Major players like Google and PayPal, as well as smaller vendors and start-ups, are working tirelessly to make mobile commerce transactions as seamless and secure as it is on desktops, but no one is there yet,? he said.

?There is a symbiotic relationship between mobile advertising and commerce and that?s how true ROI will be measured. Until then, the industry will continue to rely on CTRs, which are a placeholder metric until commerce catches up to mobile.?