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Adidas exec: Euro 2012 LiveWallpaper app garnered 1.6M downloads in 2 weeks

NEW YORK ? An adidas executive at the Mobile Marketing Association's SM2 conference said that mobile is rapidly becoming a necessity for the company, especially after it saw major success with its Euro 2012 Live Wallpaper application.

Adidas found that consumers downloaded its app 1.6 million times in more than 200 countries. The executive presented a case study during the ?Reimagine: Global Marketing Strategies? session.

?At adidas, we?re not beginning with mobile, but we?re rethinking everything with mobile,? said Stephanie de Bodinat, global mobile strategist at Adidas Group.

?We did an experiment with the Euro 2012 sponsorship,? she said.

Mobile engagement
Adidas tapped Cellfish to helped develop the wallpaper Android app.

The app centered around the Euro 2012 tournament game and encouraged fans to participate.

The app was available exclusively in Google Play.

Via the application, users were able to participate in the game using their mobile device. For example, users were able to kick, tap, and volley multiple official ?Tango 12? Match-balls directly on their home screen.

Additionally, users were encouraged to show off their national pride by putting their country's flag right in the center circle.

What surprised adidas was the amount of users ? 770,000 ? that kept the wallpaper on their mobile device after the tournament concluded.

?You can imagine the impact,? Ms. Bodinat said. ?We had 21,000 reviews from real users on Google Play and overall, people were very happy with the brand.?

To help get spread the word out about the app, Google promoted it globally.

According to Ms. Bodinat, Google feature the application becase adidas worked with a mobile publisher.

?I think that?s where we?re changing the game,? Ms. Bodinat said. ?It?s not about advertising anymore.

?It?s about publishing, with the right brand, at the right time,? she said. ?This is another era that we?re entering in mobile marketing.?

Refreshing
Content was refreshed during the tournament to keep fans up-to-date, as well as engaged.

When Spain won the game, the wallpaper on all devices in the country was changed to reflect the win ? five minutes after it happened.

According to the executive, mobile is reaching the mass and there is no doubt anymore.

The app was at first a non-expected success for adidas ? especially since mobile is very unexpected.

Throughout the process, adidas realized that it is very important to continually test and learn.

?We?re entering a new era of performance marketing,? Ms. Bodinat said. ?I think the performance business is very efficient in marketing now and it?s working.

?Mobile is changing fast and that?s good,? she said. ?We have to rethink marketing when we talk about mobile because we cannot approach it like we approach traditional, digital stuff.

?It?s all new and we have to work on the ecosystem and simplify things.?