Pfizer is having some terrific success using mobile for its Lipitor cholesterol drug. Nihal Mehta, CEO of ipSH said mobile coupon redemption rates are running 55%.
The way the program works
is posters at doctors' offices carry a call-in number. Consumers dial into to a voice message system and get a text message back on their phone with a coupon code. Going to any pharmacist nationwide
and showing the phone coupon gets the recipient a 30-day sample of Lipitor for free.
Beside some pharmacists in the Midwest "freaking out," the cmapign has been a tremendous success, Mehta
says.
On the flip side, he says, a campaign for the latest Jessica Simpson single bombed. Posters were put up with snipes containing an SMS code enabling texters to download a ringtone. The
"abysmal response" he credits to a general lack of interest in the Jessica Simpson single rather than anything inherently wrong in the campaign itself.
Pepsi, meanwhile, got a 15% conversion
rate for a bus shelter campaign that pinged Bluetooth-enabled cell phone carriers asking if they would be willing to get a commercial message.