Strategies: Rubber Meet Road

You want hard data on how effective a well-targeted mobile campaign can be? Last October, Volkswagen integrated its Golf GTI Mark VI model into the iPhone “Real Racing” game — and didn’t promote the model anywhere else. The result, agency AKQA Mobile’s head of mobile Dan Rosen said at an industry show in May, was a customer acquisition cost 97% lower than traditional media. Within days of the launch, VW dealers saw increased foot traffic, due in part to a dealer locator feature in the game. And at least 175 of the cars sold went to registered users of the Real Racing app — half of those to drivers who had never bought a VW before.