LIKE many retailers, the North Face has been having trouble luring shoppers into its stores. The company, which sells outdoor apparel and gear, is about to try a new tactic: sending people text messages as soon as they get near a store.
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This month, the North Face is beginning its first campaign aimed at customers based on where they are physically. Shoppers in and around New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston may receive text alerts when they and their cellphones are close to stores.
Advertisers have long been intrigued by the promise of cellphones, because they live in people%u2019s pockets and send signals about shoppers%u2019 locations. The dream has been to send people ads tailored to their location, like a coupon for a cappuccino when passing a coffee shop.
Despite the hype, few cellphone owners have received such ads. This year, that may change, analysts say, as companies like the North Face embrace location-based mobile ads.
%u201CTo be that close to the actual sale or physical location is such a value for marketers, and something they%u2019ve been looking for out of mobile for a long time,%u201D said Paul Gelb, national manager of emerging media at Razorfish, the digital advertising agency that is part of the Publicis Groupe.
The North Face%u2019s new campaign, which starts this month, is its first to single out customers depending on where they are physically.
The campaign was created by Placecast, a location-based mobile ad company in San Francisco. It uses a practice called geo-fencing, which draws a virtual perimeter around a particular location. When someone steps into the geo-fenced area, a text message is sent, but only if consumers have opted in to receive messages.
%u201CYou say, %u2018This is a brand I care about,%u2019 and then you go about your day and your phone tells you when something is interesting,%u201D said Alistair Goodman, chief executive of Placecast.
Placecast created 1,000 geo-fences in and around New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Boston, cities where the North Face has many stores and areas that get a lot of snow or rain, so the company can tailor its messages to the weather. In urban areas, the fences are up to half a mile around stores, and in suburban areas they are up to a mile around stores.
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For now, the North Face will send texts about promotions, like a free water bottle with a purchase, and new arrivals, because the company%u2019s gear is heavily seasonal. A text message would say, for example, %u201CTNF: The new spring running apparel has hit the stores! Check it out @ TNF Downtown Seattle.%u201D
The North Face plans to eventually send branded texts when people arrive at a hiking trail or mountain to alert them about weather conditions or logistics for a ski competition, for example. It also created an iPhone app called the North Face Snow Report that provides snow conditions and trail maps.
%u201CWe like things that people opt in to and that aren%u2019t going to be perceived as being intrusive, where we%u2019re bringing something to the table,%u201D Aaron Carpenter, vice president of marketing for the North Face, said.
That type of brand advertising via text message %u2014 as opposed to sending a call to action, like a coupon %u2014 is new, said Mr. Gelb of Razorfish.
%u201CAll of our highly brand-conscious clients were reluctant about text messaging because there was not as much of an engagement or sexiness to it,%u201D he said. %u201CBut here, when you have such relevance, it connects to a person%u2019s passions.%u201D
Razorfish, which is not involved in the North Face campaign, is working on campaigns with Placecast for five brands. It is signing up customers to receive the texts now and will start the campaigns around back-to-school time and the holidays.
In other uses, restaurants could text people leaving a concert, Mr. Goodman said. Location is a memory trigger, he said, so even if people do not visit a shop when they get the text, they may remember it next time they are nearby.
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To determine a cellphone%u2019s location, Placecast uses techniques including a phone%u2019s GPS signal, location data provided by carriers to companies that sell it to Placecast and information gleaned from triangulating the phone%u2019s distance to cell towers.
But shoppers should not expect all of their favorite brands to suddenly send alerts as they walk through town. According to Forrester Research, advertisers spent just $391 million on mobile last year %u2014 only 1.5 percent of what they spent on interactive advertising as a whole %u2014 and location-based ads were just a small portion of that.
They are projected to spend $561 million on mobile this year and $1.3 billion by 2014. Mr. Gelb said that this year, mobile was part of nearly every client%u2019s campaign.
%u201CIt%u2019s still nascent, but it has a lot of potential,%u201D Julie A. Ask, a vice president and mobile analyst at Forrester, said. %u201CBeing contextual and personal is the holy grail of mobile, and location is one of those aspects. But the mechanics of how this is going to work and how effective it%u2019s going to be get a bit murky.%u201D
Mobile ads are promising because they are highly personalized, but that intimacy also means the bar is higher for the ads to be well done and relevant, Ms. Ask said. Placecast sends a maximum of three texts a week to avoid annoying people, Mr. Goodman said. During a campaign last year, 6 percent of people opted out.
In addition to the mobile ads, the North Face sponsors sporting events, and runs print ads in outdoor and sporting magazines with images from its sponsored athletes%u2019 competitions, as well as outdoor and Web ads. It will run its first TV ads this year in three cities.
%u201CWhen we surround somebody with media during those key seasons is when we get the best results,%u201D Mr. Carpenter said.
Recommend Next Article in Business (8 of 33) � A version of this article appeared in print on February 23, 2010, on page B4 of the New York edition.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Been choosy about sharing links. This one's worth it. From the NYT: North Face Campaign Sends Texts When Shoppers Near Stores
via nytimes.com
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