• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, July 7, 2009

Consumers who viewed an Ace Hardware mobile campaign in the week leading up to Memorial Day were 30% more likely to have visited an Ace retail outlet than those who didn't, according to mobile ad provider Mobile Posse.

The company's platform delivers information and advertising to the idle screens of mobile phones. Customers opt-in to receive content such as weather, local gas prices, and trivia, along with discounts and special offers from retailers, restaurants, and other local businesses.

Mobile Posse works with wireless carriers including Verizon Wireless, Alltel Wireless and Cricket Communications to offer its service under different brand names. Verizon's, for instance, is called Daily Scoop, and also lets users know about new services and products for their phones.

The Ace campaign handled by Horizon Media was aimed at driving people to Ace Hardware stores for Memorial Day sales on items including Adirondack chairs, Round-Up Weed & Grass Killer and Ace Royal Paint.

Average click-through rates for the effort, which featured two ads and a seven-day sponsorship of weather forecasts, was 18%. That's within the 15% to 20% click-through rate Mobile Posse says campaigns using its platform typically generate. That's much higher than click-throughs for ordinary mobile display ads, which usually run 1% to 3%.

Greg Trani, eCRM account manager at Horizon Media, said the agency was pleased with the results. "Mobile Posse had always touted that they had higher click-through rates, so we were certainly interested in testing them out, and they delivered on their word," said Trani.

He added he was most impressed with the post-campaign survey showing that people who viewed the Ace mobile ads were nearly one-third more likely to have gone to its retail outlets than those who weren't. "People exposed to the ads actually ended up going to Ace stores," said Trani, who noted that the whole ad buy, including the survey, totaled about $48,000.

With 485,000 users across its carrier partners, Mobile Posse can't necessarily provide that reach of a standard mobile campaign to millions of cell subscribers. But with the return on investment it got with the Ace campaign, Trani said the agency is already talking to Mobile Posse about partnering on future efforts.