Country Music Television, acknowledging shifts in how consumers consume content, is leveraging deep linking in a mobile ad campaign that lets users program DVRs from their phones or tablets to record episodes of the series Party Down South 2.

By tapping AdTheorent?s Apptivation deep linking functionality for a set-to-DVR feature, the promotion that starts today will drive users seamlessly to their DVR app to set up a recording of the series? Nov. 20 premiere or the entire season. The campaign reflects how consumers? power to control their media choices has challenged television marketers to find ways to reach audiences on mobile.

?Our goals are to motivate a consumer to watch,? said Amanda Phillips, vice president of consumer marketing for CMT, a unit of Viacom.  ?Any technology that helps us turn that motivation into an opportunity to engage with our brand is a win for us.

?We?ve seen significant shifts in how consumers want to consume our content and as marketers it?s incumbent upon us to adapt our tactics to meet those consumer needs,? she said. ?This technology is one way we can adapt to those shifts and erode barriers that help us to engage with our consumers in relevant environments.?

In the campaign, when the consumer interacts with a served ad, it expands to a rich media landing page that includes video, social buttons, a Party Down South quiz, and the set-to-DVR reminder powered by AdTheorent?s deep-linking technology platform, Apptivation.

When the consumer taps the set-to-DVR reminder, Apptivation identifies the DVR app on the consumer?s mobile device and takes him or her directly inside the app to record the show. 

The promotion is running across AdTheorent's premium network of in-app and mobile Web inventory.  

?Through the use of AdTheorent?s Big Data mining system, the Real Time Learning Machine, we are able to determine which apps and users are driving the highest engagement across the campaign, and then optimize toward those users in real-time,? said Anthony Iacovone, founder and CEO of AdTheorent. 

?In addition, we are retargeting these ads to users who have engaged with AdTheorent and CMT's Party Down South Season 1 and Season 2 media.?

For marketers, deep linking is an under-used way to increase access to marketing creative and services.

While Web sites on the Internet are built to enable any individual page on the Web to link directly to any other page, mobile apps? structure does not permit navigating seamlessly from one app to another using hyperlinks, limiting the use of app links in marketing and advertising campaigns.

Deep linking reduces the number of needed taps and creates a smoother conversion process. Removing the navigational barriers gives deep linking the ability to completely transform the mobile app ecosystem in terms of access to creative and services.

?There is a great deal of talk about deep linking in the industry,? Mr. Iacovone said. ?It certainly seems like a no-brainer, but it?s amazing how many campaigns are not equipped with this technology.  

?Our deep linking platform, Apptivation, solves an industry-wide problem, and that is user drop off,? he said. ?If you run a great campaign with compelling creative and superior targeting that gets you to the user that?s going to engage with your brand, only to have that user frustrated by being directed to a mobile Web page, where they must log in, you?ve lost that user.? 

At its core, seamless deep linking is crucial to success and drives interactivity for brands.

When taken a step further, as in the CMT campaign?s set-to-DVR functionality, deep linking can provide both a user service and a positive brand experience.

?We know that rich media units drive brand engagement,? Mr. Iacovone said. ?Units that provide the consumer with an experience beyond a banner is crucial to delivering engagement. 

?In this particular case, the combination of high-impact video, social sharing, along with fun features such as the Party Down South quiz keep the user engaged within the unit,? he said. ?The set-to-DVR reminder engages the user beyond the ad, and provides the user with a simple and seamless value-add that translates into continued brand engagement.?