More than 600 mobile phone users were surveyed directly via the TWCI WAP site, equally split between control (or non-exposed) and test groups that had been exposed to ads for Hilton's Hampton Hotels brand. The questions were slated to gauge the effectiveness of mobile ads for such factors as ad and brand awareness, imagery and purchase intent among a targeted segment of TWCI users.

In terms of demographics, the campaign on TWCI's mobile network achieved significant penetration into Hampton's target market--as some 72% of the respondents traveled for business or leisure within the past year. They were also heavy mobile Web users, as nearly two-thirds accessed the Internet via phone more than once daily, while 42% used their mobile to visit weather.com more than once per day.

The campaign showed high effectiveness for brand metrics, as respondents' overall favorability toward Hampton was higher for the exposed group (62% favorability) than the control group (48%). In addition, exposure to the campaign caused an increase in purchase intent (defined as consideration to stay at a Hampton hotel for their next trip) by at least 10 points.

While the data may be insightful--culling mobile results that are both statistically significant and brand-centric poses some challenges. "That type of brand test is fairly common online, but we had to find a way to implement a similar methodology for mobile that didn't rely on cookies," said John Gibb, director of research and insights for The Weather Channel Interactive. "We've been working with Dynamic Logic and InsightExpress to develop a methodology we were comfortable with."

Gibb added that it was important for mobile advertisers, researchers and network providers to use established brand metrics for case studies and reports--even though the medium is showing consistently higher levels of engagement than TV or even the Internet.

"Not to sound too simplistic, but branding is branding. We want to take metrics like intent to purchase, awareness, and affinity and use them on mobile so that there's an apples to apples comparison with TV, print and the Internet," said Gibb. "Once you get outside that, it means mobile is speaking its own language and then the engagement numbers and CPMs become harder to digest."

According to Kara Manatt, research director at Dynamic Logic, the Hampton Hotel mobile case study is one of many that the firm has logged for brands across multiple verticals and consideration categories--driven equally by client demand and the push for more research industry-wide.

"Advertisers are asking us to measure the branding impact of their WAP campaigns because they're spending real money," said Manatt. "They need to understand how it's working, and mobile's impact on traditional brand metrics."

Manatt said that moving forward, Dynamic Logic's continued focus would be to provide data that can normalize aggregated results from multiple studies. "We've done quite a few mobile-based studies since the beginning of 2007," said Manatt. "By the end of the year, we'll have averages to compare and give benchmarks to some of the deltas we've seen."

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