Marketing challenge
Ace Hardware came to Microsoft Mobile Advertising to develop a targeted and comprehensive strategy to reach homeowners with four distinct offerings. Over the course of the month-long campaign, Ace’s goal was to engage their loyal users on the go and use new media to reinforce Ace’s neighborhood appeal, drive in-store traffic, and increase Ace’s share of the maintenance and home-repair business.

Ace Hardware’s creative and media strategy:
Based on in-store promotions, Ace Hardware targeted users during the Holiday Sales Series with four distinct promotions:

• 20 percent-off bag sale
  Consumers received 20 percent off every item in their shopping bag
• 'Tis the season
  Holiday ramp-up for decorations, ladders, etc.
• After-Thanksgiving sale
  Storewide sale after Thanksgiving
• Your holiday helpful place
  In-store drive to position Ace as the holiday place

In addition, Ace drove users to a branded landing page that contained an assortment of content including in-store sale information, store locator, branded videos, and an SMS sign-up page for users to learn more about future promotions.


Solutions

Execution and use of media:
In response to Ace Hardware’s objectives, Microsoft Mobile Advertising developed a targeted media solution that engaged users through behavioral targeting and displayed media across both the Verizon deck and Windows Live Mobile.

Campaign:

• Ace Hardware ran short, high-impact media blitzes over two six-day time periods for each flight.
• Behavioral targeted mobile banners on MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger targeted media to “Home Improvement Enthusiasts” and “Tools and Hardware Shoppers.” Mobile media on MSN Weather, Verizon News, Verizon Weather and additional Windows Live mail targeted males 35-54 and males 25-54.

All media drove to the Ace Hardware mobile web site to drive further engagement, while the best-in-class targeting capabilities ensured the target audience was captured as they navigated across Windows Live Mobile.


Campaign results

Brand awareness:
The mobile campaign developed by Microsoft Mobile Advertising drove a 60-percent lift in unaided brand awareness among adults 35-54 and reached 101-percent lift among adults 25-54.

Store traffic:
Ace Hardware experienced an 8 percent increase in store traffic among the primary target audience adults 35-54 who had seen the mobile ads.

Click-through rate performance:
CTR rose as high as 11 percent in some of the campaign placements through utilization of a broad reach and on-deck media strategy.

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