We’ve written previously about poor end-to-end mobile marketing with QR Codes (see “QR Codes: Don’t Waste My Time“) and we continue to personally see more examples every day. But the problem of thinking through the entire use context isn’t limited to Mom and Pop business. Large brands with an international footprint can stumble as well. Case in point.
We're pretty sure this luxury brand didn't want to make this impression on iPhone users.
Italian luxury handbag and shoe brand Salavatore Ferragamo recently placed online banners ads into the New York Times iPhone app. When users tapped through on the banner, they may choose to go on to the company’s social media sites or the Ferragamo website itself. Unfortunately, the website is not only formatted for the desktop, it is also a desktop site that requires Adobe Flash and since Apple iOS doesn’t support Flash nothing loads on the users’ iPhone.
This marketing program demonstrates several failures to think through the context of use. First, all marketers have detailed knowledge of where their banners will display in terms of device when they place the program with an ad network. So a banner ad run specifically for iPhone apps is a simple configuration to arrange and therefore design around.
Second, knowing that the ad would appear on an iPhone means that marketers should understand that they 1) need a mobile-optimized experience and 2) need to be sure the user doesn’t end up on a Flash-powered site displaying nothing (see screen at right).
This later point is true even if the user has a non-Apple device. Amongst Android-powered mobile devices, only a handful have the system and hardware power to provide a pleasant Flash experience. Nevertheless, a desktop-formatted Flash site on a mobile phone isn’t going to be a winning experience in any case.
The key takeaway isn’t that a big brand failed, but rather that marketers must think through the use context and clearly understand how the intended audience is going to access the content and complete the desired call to action.
