Polo Ralph Lauren?s innovative thinking has made it a mobile trailblazer, but the brand now needs to consider new creative ways to engage consumers as it looks toward the next step in mobile technology, Mobile Marketer?s analysis shows.

Known for its popular preppy shirts, sweaters and other sportswear with the polo-player logo, the flagship apparel brand of Ralph Lauren was among the first to incorporate Quick Response ad codes. But while the strategy helped build an engaged social fan base and increase ecommerce, Polo Ralph Lauren would benefit from continuing to explore ways to more intimately involve and engage fans with its products, especially as fashion and wearables merge.

?As a pioneer of these new mobile strategies, growing pains are inevitable,? said Melissa Greenberg, general manager of the New York office of Fetch, the mobile advertising agency. ?Once a promising technology, QR codes have not achieved their expected success on a larger scale. 

?Ralph Lauren may consider abandoning this technology in future initiatives,? she said. 

Ralph Lauren, New York, did not respond to media inquiries.

The brand has taken steps not only to create thoughtful advertising partnerships with the likes of the popular show Downton Abbey but to make sure the creatives put out through its partnerships are well-designed. 

When a banner ad has a long length, Ralph Lauren does not try to stretch out a regular photo to fit the size requirements. Instead, it works to make the picture feel like it was created for the ad. 

?Often times brands fall into the trap of creating sloppy ads when they try to repurpose or resize ad imagery,? said Shuli Lowy, marketing director for mobile with Ping Mobile. ?There may be one base creative that is set up for all the ads and creative designers are instructed to duplicate it in each required ad size. 

?That generally doesn?t lend to beautiful ads,? she said. 

Ralph Lauren?s creative team understands that what may look good in a horizontally stretched ad, will not look good in a vertically stretched ad. 

?Different ad units require different images and designs,? Ms. Lowy said. ?That is what makes its ads look good.? 

Ralph Lauren?s willingness to try new things has contributed to its being respected as a forward-thinking brand.

Chosen as Mobile Marketer?s 2009 Mobile Marketer of the Year, it was one of the early brands to create shoppable windows. It also ran an original branded QR code campaign which linked to a sweepstakes for tickets to the US Open. 

While many companies have run QR code campaigns, not as many have run campaigns that featured QR codes with a logo imbedded into it. 

Ralph Lauren is also looking toward the next step in tech and mobile technology. Its soon-to-be-released Polo Tech Shirt speaks to the merging of fashionable sportswear with wearable technology.

The garment, worn by some ball boys at this year?s U.S. Open tennis tournament, acts like a sophisticated fitness band with biometric sensors that feed detailed information about a wearer?s heart rate, breathing, activity and other factors to a smartphone or tablet.

Sensors are knitted into the core of the shirt and include an accelerometer, gyroscope, and heartbeat monitor. The information is collected by a data module and fed into an iOS app that monitors stress levels, calories burned, respiration, heartbeat and energy output. 

In a partnership with British department store Harrods, it used mobile proximity technology and QR codes to offer shoppers hands-on content that allowed them to engage with products at any time from mobile devices. 

?These types of forward thinking mobile initiatives has proven to be key for Ralph Lauren's success, as they saw sales grow 17 percent on the global ecommerce level during the quarter, and also generated a 40 percent year-over-year increase in mobile traffic,? Ms. Greenberg said.