The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf recently rolled out its largest advertising campaign ever focusing on traditional and digital platforms while supporting the role of mobile in consumers' everyday activities.

Social efforts native to their platforms include commissioned Vine videos, a custom Pinterest page, Instagram crowd participation photos taken through a ?purple straw? lens, sentiment-based online banners and Facebook advertising; and Twitter posts/hashtags via #purplestrawcam. As part of a brand investment strategy, the initiative also targets millennials through radio, outdoor, digital video, banner ads, and sentiment-driven social media placements that invite customers to ?Keep Cool and Summer On.?

?Creatively, our content approach was relevancy over consistency. Delivering content that was unique to the user experience within each platform would increase engagement,? said Scott Meldrum, executive director of interactive at Wongdoody, the ad agency responsible for the campaign.

?From a media perspective, we knew that reach and frequency would be important, and we leveraged that in our plan, but we also recognized that hyperlocal targeting through mobile media tactics would increase engagement.?

Multifaceted initiatives
New methods of marketing are emerging that seek to more effectively use prospect and customer data to filter target lists, construct personalization rules and produce and execute marketing campaigns across and among the full range of media channels available. The most successful campaigns reach consumers in a sequenced and consistent manner. This creates an indirect benefit of enforcing and enhancing corporate branding. Therefore, organizations that can harness the power of other marketing channels and produce more personalized communications could put themselves in a good position to capture market share from those that don?t.

The campaign features pop culture-inspired headlines, hidden messages, and promotional offers for new summer drinks and customer favorites advertised on over 100 billboards and bus shelter advertisements across Southern California and complemented by ads on traditional and digital radio.

As consumers shift their attention across platforms, media companies need to adapt traditional editorial content for the digital audience. To deliver the right content at the right time in the right place to the right audience to often distracted consumers, Coffee Bean does well in being present across all consumer touchpoints, online and offline.

It is communicating through approachable and credible mediums in hopes of leading to a lasting relationship, and isn?t demanding its audience?s attention, but commanding it with the integrity of the content.

According to a March 2013 Forrester Research study titled ?How To Build Your Brand With Branded Content,? natural search engine results and information on company or brand websites are the fourth and fifth most trusted online sources of information respectively, behind personal recommendations, professionally written online reviews, and consumer written online reviews. In the survey, self-selected content outpaced any form of push communication.

The Coffee Bean lets its audience initiate the conversation on social, and is ready to respond.

Old dog, new tricks
Although multichannel marketing is the current trend, it is not an entirely new concept. Multichannel has roots in the age-old ?media mix? idea, which essentially said that consumers need to be reached at different times in different environments, and that the most successful marketing programs contain an appropriate media mix for the targeted audience.

The theory is that effective use of multiple media forms helps a selling organization become a first thought when a buyer is ready to make a purchasing decision. However this can be challenge, as consumers are pushing back hard against unwanted and irrelevant intrusions in their daily lives.

Attaining customer data now requires personalizing communications and coordinating communication channels to get consumers to opt-in on the conversation in turn allowing marketers to be more effectively. The Coffee Bean responds to milennials as digital natives and inserts itself into the places the demographic frequents.

When playing off different media channels, marketers should always think branding to reach a new audience or geographical demographic by being smart about how they get the brand?s name out but ultimately making sure it gets out. Consumers will not search for a brand that they do not know about. Beauty brand Nivea is a great example of a brand that successfully reached its target market, women age 18-35, by playing off of multiple media channels.

The brand employed every weapon in its global arsenal and built a multilayered campaign that kicked off in May 2011, featuring international pop star Rhianna at its center to celebrate its 100 Years Skincare for Life campaign.

Consumers had the opportunity to win tickets to Rihanna concerts, which were sponsored by Nivea, via the brand's website and at retail outlets. Product packaging in 40 countries featured quick response codes that could be redeemed for Rihanna downloads on the Nivea site. Nivea also used social media to promote the tie-in with the artist. Online display ads, TV, print and outdoor advertising rounded out the touchpoints. Global group organic sales grew 2.6 percent in the first half of 2011 compared with the same period last year, while sales in the Americas jumped 12.5 percent.

Customer acquisition marketing does not have to be a tedious process. It is a proven method for building awareness and affinity among current customers and potential prospects based on a brand?s reputation and word-of-mouth. There is no certainty in targeting any customer audience, but there is plenty brands can do to ensure there is great potential in ROI once you?re a goes live.

?Giving the brand's customers the opportunity to create their own content experiences increases the relevancy factor. It also delivers exponential increases on earned media value,? said Pam Fujimoto, executive creative director at Wongdoody.

?We know that social media users are far more likely to share their own content versus content they receive from a brand. Enabling these personalized brand expressions is a win for everyone, and a perfect fit with the brand.?

Final Take
Michelle is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York