ARCHIVES: This is legacy content from before Marketing Dive acquired Mobile Marketer in early 2017. Some information, such as publication dates, may not have migrated over. Check out the new Marketing Dive site for the latest marketing news.

Ford pushes end-of-year sales via MSN Auto app sponsorship

Ford has signed on as the first advertiser to the MSN?s Auto application with a campaign that promotes the car manufacturer?s end-of-year deals.

MSN is rolling out the app after seeing a need from car enthusiasts who want to research, find and buy cars via their mobile devices while on the go. The app was developed by Zumobi.

?When we looked at all the car apps out there, there are many that are very research-driven or very editorial, but there are not many apps to help consumers find out more information, so we wanted to put everything together in one app,? said John Finn, executive producer at MSN Autos, Redmond, WA.

?For the last couple of years, increasingly marketers and automakers are using both mobile and online for research, but are doing in-depth research at their computers, so we wanted to bring information to them,? he said.

Ford fit

When consumers open the app, an ad for Ford reads, ?Year-end celebration.?

Once the content is loaded, the ad remains stationary in the upper right-hand corner on the app?s homepage to resemble a piece of content.

Additionally, mobile banner ads run are placed along the bottom of each page that encourage users to tap to unlock car deals.

Users who tap on the ads are taken to a mobile-optimized landing page where they can find a Ford dealer, browse the company?s line of cars and compare prices.

The ads primarily promote three cars from the Ford line ? the Focus, the Escape and the F-150.

?Advertising is retail in nature, which is a good fit for the MSN Autos app because it is meant for people looking to buy cars, which has a strong purchase intent for advertisers,? said Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi, Seattle.

?The auto category is Zumobi?s largest advertising category because when you?re in the moment and thinking about cars, nothing is better than being able to look it up right then,? he said.

Ford will continue to be the app?s charter sponsor through the month of December with tentative plans to continue in 2012.

Auto mobile
The MSN Autos app is available for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 7 devices.

The MSN Autos app is divided to include four main areas that the publisher believed were key to extending the MSN Auto Web site to mobile ? videos, articles, a comparison tool and a dealership locator.

To help users learn about cars visually, videos showcase particular car makes and models.

Using the comparison feature, the app filters car choices for consumers by car features, including price and fuel-efficiency.

The app incorporates location into the mix by leveraging MSN?s Web partnership with Bing to mobile.

Users can choose a car manufacturer. The phone then uses the device's GPS to find the nearest dealer or users can type in their ZIP code.

Automakers have a long-standing relationship with mobile marketing because it ties between real life and more traditional advertising with a strong push to get consumers to dealerships to experience the cars themselves.

?Automakers have embraced mobile to do more innovative things and they know that shoppers are on their mobile devices while car researching,? MSN?s Mr. Finn said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York