The marketing universe is pretty crowded almost no matter where you look. While it’s hard to stand out using conventional methods, more creative marketers have an opportunity if they’re willing to explore new methods. For Splinter Cell: Conviction, for example, gamers would receive a code for an in-game weapon if they texted WEAPON to 44144. Ubisoft nearly doubled its mobile subscriber list on the first day, and more than tripled it in the days that followed. Plans have already been made to implement similar offers for the new Prince of Persia game. We talked with Matt Silk, SVP of Waterfall Mobile, and Dan Morrill, Manager of Loyalty and CRM at Ubisoft, about the campaign.
Can you tell me a little bit about the origin of Waterfall Mobile?
Matt Silk: Waterfall Mobile is the leader in digital messaging and CRM for enterprises. The company’s products, Msgme and AlertU, have revolutionized the way companies manage communications with their end users. The Msgme platform empowers carriers, brands, agencies and technology companies to manage digital messaging and subscribers across mobile and social channels, including SMS, MMS, mobile apps, voice, Facebook and Twitter. Msgme enhances these channels by coupling seamless integration of mobile web, video, coupons and QR codes, with direct targeting tools such as location, demographic and user preferences. Some of our customers include Anheuser-Busch, Nokia, Ubisoft, and Participant Media.
Waterfall Mobile was founded by a team of experienced Silicon Valley entrepreneurs interested in the challenge of eliminating the upfront costs, administrative complexity and slow deployment timelines that hobbled the first-generation of U.S. mobile interactivity applications. The company’s technology and management team includes top talent from E*TRADE Financial, BEA, Oracle and eBay.
How was the idea for this Splinter Cell promotion proposed?
Dan Morrill: Our internal CRM team wanted to utilize our new unique key system that unlocks in-game content. We use the keys across various mediums (in pack, web registration incentive) but wanted to test to see what kind of response we could get if we offered it via SMS.
Do you think this sort of mobile campaign worked well because of the high tech nature of the Splinter Cell universe? Why did you think Splinter Cell: Conviction was the right title for this sort of mobile promotion?
DM: We think that definitely played a part. Our fans tend to be pretty tech savvy, so something like SMS is a pretty basic concept for them. But even more so we believe the offer for the campaign is what really made it stand out. An exclusive in-game weapon just for texting in is something you don’t see every day in the video game marketplace.
What other rewards could you think of for this sort of mobile campaign?
MS: The most common way to engage a brand’s mobile subscribers and key targets is to offer mobile coupons on future items. (“Join the exclusive mobile fan club and get 10percent off your next purchase today!”) However, with an engaged community of die-hard the possibilities are endless–advanced updates on upcoming titles or expansion packs, access to exclusive merchandise, contest entries, etc . . .
Mobile has also proven to be an extremely effective way to poll and engage a community on an ongoing basis. Interactive campaigns keep gamers engaged by allowing them to vote on what exclusives and special features expansion releases will include or if they prefer the next in-game content code to be for a new gun or rocket launcher. Through simple yet effective interactive messaging users feel engaged with the brand and part of the game itself.
The most important part of anything a brand offers is to make sure that content is highly relevant to the audience and marketing goals of the brand.
How did the promotion link up with Ubisoft’s other social measures, like Twitter and Facebook?
DM: Our social network channels played a big part in getting the word out about this promotion. Using both our Splinter Cell and Frag Dolls twitter accounts we were able to get the message out to over 1.4MM followers. Facebook was also a great platform to spread the word to the Splinter Cell community, and provide a great offer to our loyal Facebook fans.
How many gamers have taken advantage of this text program?
DM: We can’t share exact numbers but with this single campaign we have increased our mobile following 400 percent with an excellent redemption rate for the in-game weapon.
For the Prince of Persia plans, will some sort of weapon be a reward for the text campaign?
DM: We will be offering an exclusive in-game skin and offering the keys on PS3, 360 and PC beginning next week.
