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Puma mobile video ad boosts awareness for soccer shoe

A Puma mobile video ad campaign promoting the sportswear maker's soccer shoe increased awareness of the Puma V1.08 product and is claimed to have strengthened ties to the brand.

Created by Rhythm NewMedia Inc., the British campaign ran in January, delivering targeted video ads to male consumers ages 16-24. The campaign used video ads on wireless carriers 3 and T-Mobile UK.

"What Puma wanted to do is introduce the shoe to young men who play soccer and stress the fact that the shoe will help them get to the ball faster," said Ujjal Kohli, CEO of Rhythm, Mountain View, CA. "The results of the campaign exceeded expectations and were better than television campaigns of the same kind."

There were a few reasons for this campaign's response, he said.

"First is that we have a patent pending measurement survey on the phone to determine brand and message recall," Mr. Kohli said. "Second, on TV marketers have to guess and chose programs they think young men watch, while on mobile we can target precisely. Lastly, on TV there are too many commercials and that makes it harder for one to really stick in someone's head."

Rhythm provided the targeting and tracking services. The company also measured the response to the ad.

Consumers who ran across the video were able to get content such as news, sports, entertainment and movies after watching a short pre-roll ad. The ad is animated and shows the intesity of a soccer game and how fast the players get to the ball, using the Puma shoe.

On T-Mobile's web'n'walk application and t-zones application, consumers had access to content from providers such as ITN, Aardman, Fremantle, Hat Trick and Sony.

The video ads were placed on Rhythm's ad network using media planning agency ZenithOptimedia and Newcast Inc.

The objective of the campaign was to target only males 16-24 who are hard to reach exclusively and ultimately increase awareness for the new Puma V1.08 soccer cleat.

The mobile video ads stressed that the cleats get you to the ball faster.

"We are changing the way people advertise," Mr. Kohli said.

"Instead of trying to sell a shoe right then and there, we are just trying to get people to know the shoe exists and that Puma makes it," he said. "It's more about recognition than an actual transaction."

Puma used mobile video ads to connect with consumers visually to grow their connection with the brand. Rhythm's demographic information is said to have helped the sportswear giant in this endeavor.

The ads were not intrusive because viewers were given free content in exchange for watching, Mr. Kohli said.

Rhythm used its research metrics to measure brand awareness post-campaign.

According to Rhythm, the campaign resulted in a 39 percent spontaneous awareness recall and a 71 percent prompted awareness recall.

In addition, 38 percent of viewers correctly identified the Puma message that the V1.08 football boot gets you to the ball faster and 45 percent recognized that Puma released a new soccer boot .

Lastly, 45 percent of consumers who saw the ad said they felt more positive about Puma.

"TV reaches a mass audience and the challenge with mobile is you're reaching only about 10 percent of the population and there is no way to reach more people via mobile," Mr. Kohli said. "The good part is that in five years or so I expect 50 percent of mobile users will view mobile video ads.

"The iPhone is indicative of that," he said. "Thirty percent of iPhone users watch videos on their phones because they have the right device. Five years from now all devices will support video and so the numbers will go up."