With better-than-expected results from the mobile portion of a new multichannel strategy, Dow Chemical recently extended the effort with a push into paid search as a way to drive visits.

The Dow Chemicals Solutionism campaign includes several print ads featuring QR codes that link to video content providing more in-depth information about the highlighted solutions. The effort was launched in September and saw 20,000 scans by the end of the year.

?Mobile has started to lead a lot of the way for the digital portion of the campaign,? said Courtney Bernstein, digital media planner for Draftfcb, Chicago. ?Mobile is definitely growing with Dow seeing some great performance in that space and key engagement.

?When people are scanning QR codes, they are spending a lot more time engaging with the content than if they came from a referral or paid search,? she said. ?When opting-in from print, people are really trying to find out more.?

Stepping into mobile
Draftfcb worked with Dow to develop and execute the campaign as a well as a previous one that focused on how Dow?s innovations in wind power and smart technology have impacted people?s lives.

The latest effort takes this strategy a step further by inviting consumer interaction with mobile playing a key role by bridging the brand?s offline media with a variety of digital components.

The QR codes, when scanned, link readers to a video that provides more in-depth information about the topic presented in the ad.

?It was a big step for Dow to get into this space,? said John Rossmiller, senior vice president and group management director at Draftfcb.

?In the past, we have been limited by having to stay at the high level in our messaging,? he said. ?It was difficult to talk too much about the nuts and bolts of these technologies because a lot of people might find it boring.

?But there are a lot of people who are interested and this is a good way to address both.?

Going deeper
The videos on the mobile campaign site, mobile.dow.com/solutionism, focus on several different Dow innovations, including how the company worked with scientists to make better-tasting gluten-free bread, how it is creating lighter, strong wind turbine blades and how it is helping to create more efficient batteries, among others.

Users can also view related social content via a partnership with FeedMagnet, with social feeds on specific topics such as gluten-free bread and well-known blogs in these areas integrated into the site.

Draftfcb?s research shows that the QR codes drove deeper engagement with the digital content than referrals or paid search.

In 2012, Draftfcb?s goal is for the QR codes to garner 30,000 scans.

To support the mobile presence, the agency recently launched a paid mobile search push.

A desktop paid search campaign was also recently launched and a television component of the campaign was launched last week.

?No one piece of media is communicating everything and with each layer, people are getting more information,? said Jon Flannery, executive vice president and group creative director at Draftfcb. ?This allows us to engage the right people ? some are not going to be as interested in the in-depth information on wind turbines but others are.?