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Mazda celebrates 40th year in North America with sweepstakes to build mobile database

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of its entry in the North American market, Japanese automaker Mazda Motor Corp. ran a text-to-win sweepstakes to engage consumers and build a mobile database.

The automotive manufacturer sells close to 100,000 vehicles a year in Canada and in 2010, despite global economic woes, it claims to be seeing healthy sales growth. With its head office in Toronto, Mazda Canada has close to 165 dealerships nationwide, and it partnered with Adenyo to help enhance its traditional marketing efforts with mobile.

?Our venture into the mobile world started late last year with our first promotion and has continued into 2010 and we will continue with mobile campaigns in 2011 as well,? said Larry Dalli, manager of field service operations for Canada at Mazda Inc., Toronto. ?Our target demographic has indicated to us that they want to stay in contact in a multimedia way via email and smartphone technology.

?To keep those customers within the Mazda family, we need to be talking to them in the way they want to be talked to?customer convenience is the catch phrase,? he said. ?As a customer, I?d rather be contacted via email or text message to understand what?s going on with my vehicle.

?We work closely with Adenyo for parts and service promotions?we?re getting strong click-through numbers on mobile-optimized communications, and smartphone technology has helped us communicate with customers in their preferred method of contact.?

Mobile drives after-sales
While automobile sales are the lifeblood of the industry, the after-sales market can be lucrative.

Adenyo has worked with Mazda Canada since 2002, creating various marketing and advertising after-sales programs designed to help Mazda maintain customer relationships and build brand loyalty.

Mazda has been steadily growing its email distribution list, and based on its efforts in the last year had tripled its email database.

Results of a Chrome Survey2 published in October showed that consumer car-buying habits are changing, and they are less likely to be loyal to a brand or dealer.

This makes it critical for the automobile manufacturer and its dealers to maintain a steady stream of useful communication with the consumer post-sales.

This enables the brand to nurture the relationship and influence future buying decisions by providing enduring value to customers.

With a history of campaigns using traditional and digital media, this year Mazda decided to integrate mobile into its multichannel mix in order to broaden the reach of its campaigns and offer customers more ways to communicate with its dealers.

Zoom zoom
Mazda enlisted Adenyo?s professional services team to create a campaign that integrated media to ensure they reached their target customers in all possible locations: in person at the dealership, using social media, by mail, email and directly to customers via their mobile phones.

The Mazda team had multiple goals: drive new revenue from existing owners, educate customers about after-sales service, establish an on-going dialog, demonstrate their attention to environmental issues and show their understanding that customers want the option to communicate in lots of different ways, including via the mobile channel.

?The main objectives of the mobile campaign were to increase service business at dealerships and, number two, increase service loyalty through a positive ownership experience,? Mr. Dalli said.

Mazda wants to communicate with its customers using the channels they prefer, and mobile is an obvious choice.

Adenyo?s professional services team created a series of French and English printed materials including service reminders, aisle-back posters and direct mail.

The printed pieces encouraged the customer to visit the dedicated Web site created by Adenyo, http://www.mazdaemotion.ca, or text the keyword MAZDA to the short code 62932 to enter for the chance to win a $10,000 eco-adventure trip to Ecuador.

Each customer was provided an exclusive PIN code to enter the sweepstakes.

The Web site was focused on educating the consumer about the benefits of regular maintenance.

By servicing their Mazda, customers can help the environment, since all of Mazda?s mechanical systems affect fuel efficiency.

The site also provided tips for winter driving, for example, the hazards of driving in colder, harsher conditions and the benefits of a service visit to prepare for winter, including a check of windshield blades, battery, brakes and belts.

Consumers received discount coupons for service work in both the printed collateral and by visiting the Web site and registering using their exclusive PIN number.

In addition, the campaign encouraged customers to go green by receiving their notices from Mazda via email on their mobile phone, which enabled Mazda to continue to grow and update its customer database.

Results
The campaign has proven a success on multiple fronts, according to Mazda Canada.

Traffic to dealer service sites and work orders are up.

Mazda has steadily grown its email and mobile databases, which extends its reach. There were more than 65,000 entrants to the Mazda contest.

And making the move from paper to digital is proving a cost-savings in this campaign and for future initiatives.

Mazda Canada has been actively building its email distribution list with various campaigns, and this offered the brand a way to build its mobile distribution list.

Mr. Dalli said that in future campaigns, this will help the automaker minimize costs, accelerate campaign delivery and reduce its carbon footprint as it relies on digital and mobile communications.

?Adenyo helped us implement the mobile solution, mobile-optimized emails and text messages to tell customers about the Mazda,? Mr. Dalli said. ?Adenyo was able to provide leading-edge insight and technology into what customers are expecting, including full analytics on the mobile promotion and email communications to help improve upon promotions that we plan to execute.

?The numbers we?re getting back through our Web site analytics, CTRs and customers entering the contest were excellent,? he said. ?We wanted to help increase traffic at our dealerships, and with this Ecuador promotion we were able to do that.

?Based on feedback from our dealerships, the promotion worked very well and we were able to increase our parts and services business.?

Final Take
2011 Mazda2