A Jiffy Lube mobile advertising initiative that was part of a larger multichannel campaign achieved a 0.2 percent response rate, outperforming its Web counterpart.

Jiffy Lube in Los Angeles launched the geotargeted mobile ad campaign offering coupons for oil changes in March. Twenty-eight percent of respondents texted in their ZIP code for a list of oil-change stores closest to them. More than 200 coupons were redeemed at Los Angeles stores, which equates to around 10 percent of original respondents.

?The strategy was to reach the 18-24-year-old demographic group by advertising on text messages being sent to existing mobile content subscribers,? said Kirsten McMullen, director of marketing at 4Info, San Francisco. ?The goal was to evaluate the mobile channel, and gauge the interest of the audience in engaging with the brand over a mobile device."

A similar campaign was advertised online to compare the opt-in and response rates between the mobile and wired Web channels, she said.

Jiffy Lube agency Kovel/Fuller declined to disclose the online metrics in the case study first posted on MarketingProfs.com, Ms. McMullen said. 

?[Still], Jiffy Lube and its agency felt it was a positive first-run result,? she said. 

Jiff code
The 20-percent-off messaging generated more text-in responses overall. However, the coupon for $7 off resulted in more coupon redemptions.

Kovel/Fuller Interactive partnered with SMS specialist 4Info for the campaign. The ads ran on 4Info SMS traffic as well as on 4Info partner text traffic such as E! News and Yahoo.

The text message ad copy was appended to user-requested text message content with messages such as "20 percent off Jiffy Lube Oil Change! Reply JIFFY" or "Save $7 on a Jiffy Lube Oil Change! Reply JL."

Customers who replied to the ad received a text message with a coupon code for redemption, and an invitation to find their nearest Jiffy Lube location by replying via text message with their ZIP code.

Jiffy Lube wanted to find a new way to reach consumers ages 18-24, a demographic likely to ignore the company?s television, newspaper and Yellow Pages ads.

Further building the case for mobile, the company chose to conduct its test in the Los Angeles metro area, where residents?especially Jiffy Lube?s target demographic?spend a lot of time on the road.

Mobile offered a means for connecting with these hard-to-reach individuals even while they were out and about.

Tips in a jiffy
The companies learned a few lessons from this campaign, per Ms. McMullen:

? To win over the attention of a hard-to-reach market, first figure out how you can best work your way into their existing day-to-day routines.

? Test multiple mobile offers and messages to determine the optimal approach for attracting your audience and driving conversions.

? Refresh mobile ads regularly to optimize performance.

? Try advertising SMS campaigns via mobile advertising. You may generate a higher response rate because all user activity is performed using the same channel and device.

?The Jiffy Lube campaign results show that the mobile channel is not only an effective method for reaching consumers with a message, but it also drives real purchase decisions,? Ms. McMullen said.

?Mobile advertising is frequently criticized as not being measurable, but campaigns such as this show that a well-designed mobile experience is uniquely measurable, and can outperform traditional online ad campaigns,? she said.