GEICO recently leveraged mobile to activate traditional radio listeners and drive engagement with exclusive content.

Radio listeners were able to use the SoundHound mobile application to identify the broadcast they were listening to and, within seconds receive a custom branded return page with exclusive content, a contest or special offer. The campaign ran over the course of several football broadcasts and saw thousands of engagements with the content.

?SoundHound for Radio targets traditional AM/FM radio listeners who have a mobile device which can be used to engage with the broadcast,? said Katie McMahon, vice president of marketing for SoundHound, Santa Clara, CA.

?This is a differentiator, imagine your favorite radio personality describing to you what you will get when you SoundHound the broadcast,? she said.

?This is much more powerful than a lone Shazam bug, hashtag or Facebook icon on a TV screen that tells you nothing about why you should take action.?

Mobile experiences
The program is similar to second-screen TV experiences that are activated via mobile apps such as Shazam, which recognize what program or ad is airing and deliver related content.

Second-screen viewing has grown quickly in the past 12 to 18 months since consumers typically have their mobile phone within arm?s reach and are embracing the opportunity to access to additional content related to what they are watching.

Using mobile devices to engage with radio ads is a new behavior but one that SoundHound expects consumers to embrace just as they have for watching TV.

The GEICO campaign ran during the last few weeks of the NFL Playoffs and culminated in a Super Bowl promotion.

Listeners to the NFL Playoff broadcasts on various radio stations heard the announcer say that the broadcast was being brought to them by Geico and that they could SoundHound the broadcast, or open the SoundHound mobile app and tap the orange SoundHound button to identify the broadcast.

In the national Super Bowl broadcast, the content that was delivered included an exclusive Tim McGraw interview about the Super Bowl and his new record, the ability to pre-order and sample the album and the chance to win a VIP 2013 Academy of Country Music Awards trip giveaway.

Another campaign starting next week will celebrate 75 years of March Madness, where listeners can SoundHound NCAA tournament broadcasts to listen to and vote on exclusive Great Moments in Tournament History audio.

Audience engagement metrics
The SoundHound for Radio program is running across the radio network of Dial Global, the largest independent radio network, which developed the proprietary radio advertising platform in partnership with SoundHound to connect Dial Global?s 225 million weekly listeners with mobile content from advertisers.

For marketers, the program also provides audience engagement metrics that have not previously been available in radio, a key development for radio, which has struggled to keep pace with the kind of measurable engagement offered by newer digital mediums.

GEICO was one of the participating brands for the beta program, which also included Big Machine Label Group.

SoundHound, which has more than 130 million users, also enables users to instantly search for the music they are listening to.

Dial Global?s national networks and programs are optimized for SoundHound engagement, including WFAN-AM/FM, New York; KLAC ?AM, Los Angeles, and WSCR-AM, Chicago.

?SoundHound for Radio allows GEICO or any brand direct one to one engagement with consumers by delivering a relevant, immediate payoff such as branded content, a contest, or special offer,? said Ken Williams, president of Dial Global. ?Consumers choose to receive the content, making them more high value to the brand.

?This unique mobile platform powered by SoundHound?s sound search technology is particularly effective at addressing the challenges of many mobile marketers as the consumer is highly engaged with brand?s offering, as opposed to ignoring a disruptive mobile display ad,? he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York