(Update 5/14/2012: Did Boar’s Head get our message? Maybe so, but one thing is for sure, they got someone’s message as just a few short months after dropping the ball in the mobile ad space, Boar’s Head has launched a well designed, mobile-optimized campaign. Read the article below to see the original mistake, then check out the new campaign here).
It’s a beautiful thing when a plan comes together. By the same token, when a well thought out plan falls just a little short it can be equally as painful. Unfortunately for us, in the hyper-streamlined world we live in today, it is usually not the big mistakes that lead us astray, but rather the tiniest of oversights. Recently, that turned out to be exactly the case for the folks at Boar’s Head.
While Boar’s Head has been in business for over one hundred years and managed to remain a player in the deli meats industry ever since, the brand has seen a surge in popularity in recent years due to a number of tactical marketing techniques. By focusing their advertising campaigns on the quality of their products rather than affordability or convenience, always relying on their trademark slogan “Compromise Elsewhere”, they have established a level of professionalism within the industry. Combine this mystique with well thought out advertising on radio, television, web, and mobile platforms, and you have a dynamic product reaching its target audience.
So what went wrong? The marketing department over at Boar’s Head realized the impact of advertising on the mobile platform and began launching advertisements through the mobile music streaming app Pandora. Unfortunately for Boar’s Head, the link they provided from the Pandora ad led to a website that was not mobile optimized. Boar’s Head’s target audience for the Pandora ads were mobile shoppers, and leading them to a site where they would have to pinch and drag, or stop to resize was not ideal. Had Boar’s Head taken the time to design a streamlined, efficient mobile site, the campaign would have been a much larger success.
Now before you start worrying that your favorite lunchmeat will soon disappear from the shelves, don’t worry about Boar’s Head. The company has been making great decisions for years and their dedication to quality—which is something that is not only admirable, but certainly worth emulating—will surely keep them going strong. What you can take away from Boar’s Head’s misstep however, is the powerful effects of falling behind in designing for the mobile platform. The number of mobile web users has doubled globally in the last year alone with no signs of slowing down. People are on the go, whether they’re shopping, exercising, or just trying to get from A to B, and getting your message to them in the most efficient and appealing way possible can make all the difference.
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