When it comes to harnessing the power of sending the right message at the right moment for your brand, expectations can be higher than reality. But, there are a handful of brands that are nailing real-time marketing and getting it right. Here are some of our favorite examples, including several Marigold Engage customers using our platform’s real-time capabilities:
Now considered a real-time marketing classic, Oreo landed a viral hit on Twitter in 2013 when the lights went out for a total of 34 minutes during the Super Bowl XLVII finals: “You can still dunk in the dark”, the brand tweeted amidst the interruption – and elicited a sweet response from millions of fans watching at home and in the stadium.
Selligent client and leading US provider of self-storage products Extra Space Storage uses our contextual marketing capabilities to deliver situational relevance to customers via SMS and email. On their moving day, customers receive messages with up-to-the-moment weather reports, updated at the time of message open, plus real-time maps pointing out the nearest Extra Space location. Email-attributed conversion rates have also moved – up 50 percent!
Burger King created RTM magic at a time when voice-controlled assistants were still a nascent technology with a seemingly harmless 15-second TV ad. In it, a BK associate asked: “OK Google, what is the Whopper burger?” These few words brought voice-controlled Google Home assistants and Android phones to life in thousands of households. That’s because “OK Google” is the so-called wake phrase for these personal assistants, which proceeded to read a Wikipedia entry on Whopper burgers.
When long-distance runner Desiree Linden became the first American woman to win the Boston Marathon in more than 30 years, her shoe and apparel sponsor Brooks Sports was ready to hit the ground running. The timely email campaign celebrated the American legend and offered a shoppable option to ‘See Desiree’s go-to gear’. Well played.
Shoppers usually don’t need running gear to reach their nearest grocery store location. In Great Britain, grocery store chain and Marigold Engage client ASDA drew on location data from mobile devices to send targeted emails and push notifications alerting customers to specific promotions in their nearest stores.
Reacting to private consumer events in an empathetic fashion paid off for TheSkimm‘s daily newsletter: The witty newsletter thanked subscribers on milestone events like their two-year subscription anniversary with a personal note – plus the option to become a brand ambassador. These kinds of internal triggers are easy to implement without extra data input and let consumers know their data is actually being put to work in a meaningful fashion.
Keeping messages relevant at the time of open has led to laser-focused engagement for the German-speaking region’s largest online optician, Brille24. The retailer uses Marigold Engage’s email personalization and dynamic content to send customers personalized offers for their favorite products and categories via their preferred devices. With open rates up to 86 percent for personalized coupon-code emails and 92 percent open rates on WhatsApp Messenger, situational relevance has visibly paid off for Brille24.
With that said, there is no standard formula for RTM success. The brands leading the way are the ones who are able to leverage their customer intelligence and omnichannel marketing capabilities into creating real-time-marketing situations for every individual customer. Getting there will require energy and commitment. But solving this challenge right now will pave the way for keeping your customers engaged with situational relevance for years to come.
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