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Oxfam unwraps mobile location for in-app holiday fundraising ads

Nonprofit Oxfam America is leveraging mobile location to target shoppers with in-application banners ads at a time when these users are most likely to make a donation, boosting donations during the organization?s annual fundraising campaign. 

This year?s Unwrapped campaign is Oxfam?s first holiday effort to use mobile location as part of a nationally integrated marketing push that includes outdoor, print and online ads, as well as a social media. The mobile ads will reach shoppers nearby Oxfam America?s out-of-home media placements, at grocery stores and in shopping malls. 

?Oxfam aims to optimize the entire media mix in their holiday campaign, and mobile is where the attention is,? said Katy Zack, director of global marketing communications at xAd.

?XAd?s technology enables Oxfam to use location to identify and influence consumers who are in the mindset to give based on visitation and demographic trends, which provides an added layer of insight and targeting on mobile,? she said. 

Frame of mind
Oxfam, a global relief organization, partnered with xAd to leverage its platform of nearly 1 million advertisers and gain insights on mobile consumer behavior with the goal of reaching users at a time when they are most likely to make a donation. 

The banner ads will be served in the more than 30,000 apps on the xAd platform when users are around three primary locations. The ads like to a mobile-optimized landing page where donations can be made. 

The locations where the ads will primarily be served include nearby Oxfam America?s out-of-home media placements at PATH stations, bus shelters and airports. Additionally, ads will be served to app users when they are in grocery stores that carry relevant magazines where print ads are and in malls and shopping centers, as these consumers are likely to be in a gift-giving state of mind. 


The campaign will run Nov. 21 to Dec. 31, focusing on key markets that include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington.

Consumer insights
Oxfam Unwrapped is a ten-year-old campaign that has raised approximately $130 million for families and communities in need worldwide. The program enables donors to buy a gift such as a $50 goat, $25 for building tools and $18 for a pair of chickens to help people living in poverty throughout the world. 

XAd tries to gain an understanding of a consumer?s mindset through real-time location data, information that marketers can use to identify and activate key audiences. 


The platform receives 300 billion mobile ad requests each month. 

Oxfam America previously worked with xAd on an urgent relief campaign following the devastating earthquakes in Nepal in May 2015. 

The campaign ran for one week during Internet Week New York and raised $10,000 that equated to emergency shelter for 1,000 families affected by the earthquakes (see story). 

?XAd has a network of more than 30k apps on their platform, so the ads may appear in anything from a weather app to a game app,? Ms. Zack said. 

?This particular campaign will use banner ads, which link to a mobile-optimized landing page to make the donation,? she said. ?It?s a really seamless experience.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York