Mobile & The Brand

Recalling Mary Sachs’ comments that the lines between marketing and public relations are blurring, the first place where mobile can fit in with a public relations strategy is in the area of marketing communications. While traditional marketers would look to mobile as a way, ultimately, to sell product, the public relations professional can use mobile as a tactic for extending brand equity and experience.  David Jones, also of Hill & Knowlton, says, “The obvious starting point for mobile and PR is branded content, games or mobile applications that connect people to the web experience. PR is starting to play in brand extensions and direct to consumer communication is starting to become everyone’s space. Anytime you’re trying to influence public behaviour there’s an opportunity to reach them through the mobile device.”

A perfect example of this approach comes from global fitness giant Nike. Nike launched the ‘Nike Training Club‘ application for iPhone users. The application targets women and provides tools for customizing workouts, training tips and peer to peer interaction. This type of application builds positive brand associations and can create a community of advocates.Similarly, an application called ‘My Diabetes Guide‘ allows the 24 million Americans living with Diabetes to develop strategies for coping with the disease. The CEO of the firm responsible for the application says, “The amount of information on the Web about healthcare is too much to digest but mobile’s small screen is actually a plus in this case – it makes it easier to sift through the content. We are transforming into a teacher and a coach, giving advice and encouragement when people need it most.”

Both of these examples demonstrate approaches for building favourable opinions about an organization or an issue.  While these examples involve applications, mobile messaging and the mobile web provide plenty of opportunities as well. Absolute Vodka used text messaging to promote responsible alcohol consumption with its ‘Recognize the Moment‘ campaign while Barak Obama created mobile websites to promote his policies, notify supporters of upcoming events and provide the tools to engage potential voters at the grassroots level.

Using mobile to promote brand information or create a branded experience relies on the some of the same principles as more traditional PR activities: creating messaging that is relevant to your audiences, provide value to the recipient and inform with the objective of stimulating action.  Ultimately, the objective of brand communication efforts is to build community confidence in, and goodwill towards, the organization and its operations.

Next Up: Mobile for community relations

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