WiFi and mobile first shopper engagement at McCormick malls

Issued by Xpertek Group
Johannesburg, 29 Mar 2017

In November 2016, a partnership between McCormick Media, Xpertek Contact and Silverstone Solutions saw the pilot of a WiFi-optimised, 'mobile first' digital activation and engagement campaign across three McCormick Media malls, aiming to bridge the gap between traditional and digital engagement. The pilot generated just over R1 million in revenue in the malls over three consecutive weekends.

The campaign was aimed at incentivising and rewarding shoppers who spent R250 and more in the mall with the chance to win prizes. Shoppers were prompted to submit their till slips at promotional stands in the mall, register on Silverstone's Promoflo mobile engagement platform, and spin a digital 'wheel' on a big TV screen to win a selection of prizes such as airtime, home appliances and homeware.

Shoppers who had accessed the Turnstyle WiFi platform were seamlessly registered in a mall centric Promoflo community, able to explore offers and content, and given the chance to win airtime and other prizes, facilitating sign up to the service.

"The Turnstyle WiFi platform allows us to passively acquire a marketing database for each of the shopping centres", comments Chris Cochrane, MD of Xpertek Contact on the value of the Wi-Fi solution. He goes on to explain that Turnstyle can initiate an SMS to registered shoppers as they enter the mall with information on various offers that might be just a few steps away. Cochrane calls this the "Door to Store" marketing approach.

This gamified bridge between traditional media, activation and mobile marketing engagement proved a great success in creating an atmosphere of anticipation for visitors and resulted in queues of eager shoppers waiting in line to see what they had won.

Matthew McCormick, MD of McCormick Media, remarks that the value in customer experience was instantaneous , "The surprise and delight factor of the experience was fantastic, the shoppers were really engaged with the activation. Then we saw the reports generated from the platform and we were blown away by the insights and ROI". By the end of the campaign, the activation had generated more than R1 million in revenue at the shopping centres, in return for just a fraction in airtime spend.

Raymond Buckle, CEO of marketing solutions group Silverstone Solutions, concluded: "By combining the capabilities of the Turnstyle WiFi proximity marketing and Promoflo's permission-based contextual marketing mechanics, we are able to create a truly engaging shopping experience for visitors to the centres. Shoppers are provided with relevant, targeted offers and specials available from the centres tenants and brand advertisers. Take-up of these specials and offers can then be measured using vouchers and coupons with integrated POS redemption management".

The joint venture has created a brand-new engagement channel for retailers and marketers at the shopping centres and is providing shoppers with added value in the form of infotainment, special offers and promotions.

The team will be rolling out this solution across McCormick's property portfolio during 2017.

McCormick Media

With 12.5 million feet going through our 25 shopping centres in the emerged market around the country every month, you can't afford not to advertise with us. We take you directly to the shopper at point of sale. What better way can there possibly be to expose your brand to a captive market, who are already loyal to each respective shopping centre?

We've been gathering our expert knowledge about the emerged market since 2008, and knowledge is power. We're in the best position to advise you on how to best expose your brand to this captive market. By using our services you'll be able to maximise the marketing of your brand to your chosen target market.

Our tailor-made solutions are designed to fit your brand and your budget. Anything is possible with a clearly thought-out strategic plan of attack. By this we mean aggressively attacking the market with your brand!

Unlike other media owners, we have a close working relationship with the property landlords, which provides us with the opportunity to offer agencies a cost and time benefit.

McCormick Media offers both above the line and below line advertising, making us your one point of call for all your advertising requirements.

www.mc-media.co.za

Xpertek

Xpertek Contact offers a broad range of IT Services, including Custom Software Development, Business Intelligence Solutions and Location Based Marketing Solutions to the South African Market. Our team of highly skilled IT experts provide our customers with high quality IT solutions from inception through to execution. We offer our services through bespoke development or dedicated resources in order to best meet and exceed our client's requirements.

In order to bring leading edge Location Based Marketing solutions to the South African market, Xpertek Contact has partnered with recognized, reputable industry leaders in the Location Based Marketing Space. The combination of this suite of platforms and our ability to integrate their features to our customer's existing environments allows us to deliver robust, holistic LBM solutions.

www.xcontact.co.za

Silverstone Solutions

The Silverstone Group is involved across all aspects of the mobile advertising and marketing ecosystem in multiple countries in South Africa, Africa and the Caribbean and partners with Brands, Advertisers, Agencies, Publishers, Operators, Media and Property Owners.

Silverstone helps brands and organisations to connect and engage with their audiences across mobile, social and digital channels - and building integrated and 'mobile first' brand communities to develop meaningful relationships with prospective, new and existing customers. We are pioneering new ways to connect retailers and shoppers and drive engage with consumers that allows clear measurement of ROI in closing the purchase loop.

www.silverstonecis.com

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