Mobile Marketing for an Educational Platform App, Mobile Case Study | Resolute Digital

December 2010

URL: Educational Platform Application
Product: Parents Magazine Flash Cards App
Campaign: Mobile Marketing

Background:

In the fall of 2010, the experts at Parents magazine teamed up with Resolute Digital to develop an app that would help moms and dads keep young children entertained and stimulated. Designed for both iPhone and iPad, Parents Flash Cards introduces colors, shapes, letters and numbers with easy-to-follow commands and bright, colorful animations. In December of 2010, Meredith's top marketing executives asked Resolute Digital to plan and execute a mobile advertising campaign in conjunction with the launch of the app's Version 2.0 update. Meredith had 2 main goals in mind when partnering with Resolute:

1. To use Resolute's knowledge of the mobile space to plan and execute a mobile advertising campaign that would test and optimize across various networks and creative versions.
2. To promote the app in order to drive the maximum number of downloads, acquire new users, and ultimately, break into the top 25 in the Education category for iPhone before the rumored iTunes freeze.

Challenges:

Resolute faced several challenges throughout this campaign, starting with setup. In order to track a user all the way to an app download, each network requires that their unique tracking code be placed in the app. When running on various networks, this presents a problem since the numerous codes will slow down and often crash the app. The alternative solution is setting up server-to-server tracking, which must be done individually for each network.

After setup and launch, Resolute had to ensure that the advertising made a big enough splash to break into the top 25 before the rumored freeze in which iTunes rankings would be locked in for 5 days during the ever-important holiday season. This meant that each network had to deliver in full, and in time for the freeze, despite the intense competition during this time. In addition, Resolute had to analyze and optimize daily across each network and creative version to hit an aggressive cost/download.

Results:

• Resolute was able to implement, test and troubleshoot server-to-server tracking for each network in time for the launch
• Resolute developed a custom analytics code and dashboard to consolidate reporting across 5 mobile ad networks
• Resolute planned and carried out a burst campaign from 12/17 to 12/22, and when one of the networks was under pacing, Resolute quickly pulled and transferred part of the budget to ensure maximum exposure
• After one day of promoting the app, Flash Cards jumped from below the charts to #73 in the Education category
• By 12/23, the day of the rumored freeze, Flash Cards reached the top 10 in the Education category
• Overall, Resolute was able to optimize the campaign to the target cost/download
• Because of the success Meredith experienced with their partnership with Resolute in 2010, they've continued to invest heavily in mobile in 2011