• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 10, 2013

‘Tis the season for shopping, so Selectable Media is hitting the local mall like everyone else.
 
Hoping to help brands reach in-market shoppers with mobile video ads, Selectable is rolling out its WiFi Unlock platform, which provides consumers with free, ad-supported access to WiFi in partnership with some of top shopping mall owners nationwide.
 
“Our mall offering opens a new and differentiated opportunity for brands to reach consumers when they are near a point of purchase and in a shopping mindset," said Marc Rothschild, COO at Selectable Media.
 
As big as mobile usage and mcommerce have become, brands can’t rely on digital channels alone to reach consumers -- and malls make a nice counterpart. Indeed, 75% of U.S. consumers visit a mall at least once a month, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.
 
Of particular interest to brands, while 85% of mall visitors make at least one purchase per trip, 61% make the trip without a specific store in mind. That’s where Selectable Media’s WiFi Unlock platform will come in handy, say marketers.

“Reaching consumers on their devices with digital video when combined with Crayola’s interactive store location unit enables us to influence purchase decisions,” Rebecca Chodroff, media supervisor at Starcom MediaVest, said on Tuesday.
 
Selectable’s interactive video engagements -- including store locators, coupon downloads, and drive-to-store messaging -- are all designed to increase the likelihood that consumers will visit particular stores and spend. It specializes in tools that give consumers access to digital content in exchange for viewing ads, or somehow interacting with brands.

Company clients include NBC, Wendy’s, Kraft, HBO and Samsung.
 
So far, the startup’s mobile strategy has performed better than expected, Rothschild told Online Media Daily earlier this year. “Our mobile campaigns are seeing completion rates of more than 96% and click-through rates of higher than 10%,” he said.

Late last year, Selectable got a boost when it was accepted into Microsoft’s Bing Fund.