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Old Navy breaks ambitious summer mobile interactive campaign

Old Navy is using mobile as a means to simplify the male shopping experience and address consumer needs via an interactive mobile campaign.

Camp + King, which helped develop the campaign, identified mobile as an important way to reach out to men between the ages of 25-35 because of their high rate of mobile usage. Mobile also helps facilitate the unique way this audience shops. 

?We feel that mobile is a way he can browse and become more educated,? said Jamie King, CEO of Camp + King, San Francisco. ?In a way, mobile became an extension of the store and store associates.?

?We knew fairly quickly when we identified the target segment that mobile needed to play in important part in the outreach,? he said.

Agency AKQA conceived and developed the mobile experience, Facebook presence and banners for the effort.

Old Navy did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Shopping tool
This is Old Navy?s first direct effort targeting men in a while.

The goal is to reignite the conversation with this segment and let them know about available men?s options. 

The campaign has some fun at the expense of super trendy guys while offering suggestions for how to dress.

Mobile plays a key role in getting the message across.

Camp + King did some research that showed the target audience highly overindexes in terms of mobile usage, ownership of a smartphone and using a mobile phone to engage in a range of activities, such as shopping and viewing video.

In addition, the company found that, contrary to popular belief that men hate to shop, men simply shop differently than women.

?When he walks into a store, he is walking in to buy, not to shop,? Mr. King said. ?He also doesn?t like to browse or interact with store associates.?

The mobile Web site created for the campaign addresses these needs by enabling users to browse and become educated about items. It also offers up suggestions for coordinating items.

?Mobile is a comfortable way for him to browse fashion,? Mr. King said. ?He is not comfortable shopping in Men?s Vogue, but he is comfortable on his cell phone.?

If a user chooses a shirt, the mobile site will suggest several matching pants.

There is even a game on the site that challenges users to put together matching outfits for a guy.

A coupon for 25 percent off a purchase is offered on the site.

Users can redeem the coupon from their phone at the checkout.

?We wanted to reward people who further engaged in the campaign and it?s a good traffic-driving device,? Mr. King said.

The campaign includes print ads in Maxim magazine which feature a QR code that take users directly to the mobile Web site.

There will also be in-store signage with the QR code.

Videos are available on Facebook, YouTube and a video gallery on the mobile Web site.

Engagement with the mobile site is an end goal for all elements of the campaign.

?In every touch point, we looked at ways to give him access to the mobile site,? Mr. King said. ?We view mobile as the hub of the wheel.

?The Maxim print ad is what we think is the most intuitive and will drive the most traffic to the site,? he said.

The campaign will be ongoing, with Camp + King planning to update content as the seasons change.

?You can expect to see Old Navy continue this platform as a center piece of their marketing efforts,? Mr. King said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode, Mobile Marketer