National QSR fuels up on mobile native advertising in GasBuddy test
A group of approximately 1,800 East Coast locations of a national quick-serve restaurant chain will begin testing a native advertising campaign inside the GasBuddy crowdsourcing application before Thanksgiving travelers hit the road this month.
The group of locations will be the first brand to take advantage of GasBuddy?s new native ad platform enabling businesses to have a presence in the search results and map on the application. GasBuddy, which has had more than 52 million app downloads, helps users compare gas prices at nearby stations so they can get the best deal and sees a 35 percent increase in traffic around the holidays.
?We had standard banners and videos on the list page, but the whole world of native, if you look at anything from Facebook, it just resonates better a lot better for advertisers and users,? said Greg Fox, vice president of sales and business development for GasBuddy. ?It comes across as a part of the app.
?When we came up with this concept, the QSR chain really liked how their brand was presented - very native,? he said. ?It doesn?t come off as advertising.
?Users can interact from a listing on the list page and navigate to custom location details.?
Engaged audiences
QSRs can reach GasBuddy?s engaged audience of app users with ads in the right context ? at a time when they are in their car looking to stop for gas and possibly to get a cup of coffee or a bit to eat.
Getting the program up and running before Thanksgiving will help the chain take advantage of one of the busiest driving times of the year.
Drivers conducting a search for gas stations will see an icon for the brand next to the results if one of its locations is nearby. Drivers can click on the native ad to navigate to a store-specific page where all of the content is controlled by brand itself.
The store-specific page includes information about that location as a well as several spots for ads where the brand can include a coupon, showcase new products, encourage users to download the brand app or other content.
Brands have access to a native dashboard so they can manage and curate their pages as well as track results.
Daily commute
GasBuddy has also recently introduced the ability for convenience stores and consumer packaged goods brands to leverage beacons to deliver targeted messages and location-specific offers to users of the app.
The app also offers a coupon portal, which was recently updated to include behavioral targeting.
Native advertising in popular apps is growing.
With consumers spending more time in their favorite apps, savvy brands are looking for ways to have a presence in apps whose audience overlaps with their targeted outreach.
For quick-service restaurants, reaching users who are already searching for a gas station either because they are commuting to work, are out doing errands or are on a trip can be an effective way to drive traffic into their locations.
This has already been proven by the Waze, another crowdsourcing app that, in this case, helps users access the traffic along their driving route. The app has attracted a number of brands, such as KFC, Wells Fargo and Dunkin? Donuts and several film studios.
Earlier this year, Waze reported that brands on the platform see an increase in traffic to locations and a lift in ad recall for users exposed to brands? Pins and Takeovers, two marketing offerings available on the app (see story).
?Native makes sense for quick-serve restaurants because 82 percent of our audience are daily commuters,? Mr. Fox said. ?They are in their car and what do we do when we get in our cars?
?A lot of time, we want to get a cup of coffee,? he said. ?Or, if it is lunch time, we think about what we want to eat.
?This is going to provide a way for QSRS to integrate their brand within the GasBuddy format.?
Final Take
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York