The document discusses Fidelity's digital marketing strategies and goals related to tablets from 2010 to 2011. It notes early efforts advertising on the iPad led to good PR but challenges with measurement, development cycles, and wear out of daily viewing. The goals for 2011 were to integrate tablets into campaigns, address issues of scale and wear out, expand video storytelling, and drive revenue.
I’m here mostly because Fidelity is a big advertiser in the tablet space. We advertised in some of the first ipad apps to hit the market in 2010. And we’ve increased our spend—probably close to 300%--in 2011. The goal of this talk then is to tell the story of this journey. Highlights. Lowlights. And lessons learned from one of the top advertisers in one of the top digital advertising categories, financial services.
But Fidelity is also a major mobile and tablet publisher. We’ve got four main properties across the iphone, ipad, android phone, and mobi site. We’re the number one, most downloaded app developer in the investment services category with over 700,000 downloads
We see tablets at the center of not just our app strategy but pretty much our entire digital publishing efforts. This includes Fidelity.com, a property we’re currently spending in the 10s of millions of dollars a year. There’s three reasons for this strategy. First, our customers who use the ipad app are ideal. They have high asset levels. They’re engaged. And they’re significantly younger than our average customer which for an industry with an aging base is huge. Second, is that the device enables a much-needed reboot of the web-based design and development process. The app is 100% targeted to this user base. It’s got less content and function but in this case less is more. It’s got the right content and function. For the first time in a long time this audience feels special in their digital interaction with Fidelity. And third the emotional connection with the device. And here well rational arguments fly out the window…
What is it about this device that makes it so special? We all have our theories but to me it’s about the touch.
Put simply using your fingers is so much better. So much more human, so elemental. And from a brand perspective it’s so much more intimate.
So as a publisher in this space we see its already dramatic impact with our best customers. And so when the opportunity came along to start advertising in this space we dove right it.
But the journey didn’t start in 2010. It started in 2008 with the hiring of a new CMO, Jim Speros. Jim was brought to Fidelity to reinvigortate the brand. We’d gotten too product focused. Too feature, function driven. Like any terrific marketer Jim believes in two things. First, a clear strategy. And second, he believes in trying new things. One of his favorite sayings is that you learn to fly by jumping off a cliff. So I think to really get under the hood of our approach to ipad advertising you need to know just a little about our brand strategy and how we’ve been stepping off cliffs across everything we’ve been for the past two years.
The great recession shook up the financial services industry in many ways.
One of the most dramatic but possibly invisible to y’all not in the industry was a big change in consumer behavior. Gone are the days where even the most expert investors want to go it alone. Nearly everyone wants some form of financial guidance, advice, or help. Tell me what to do. Help me make better decisions.
This core customer need then became the basis for Jim’s strategy and
Campaign. The green line represents the customer’s more confident financial path when she’s with Fidelity.
So how did we bring this strategy to life? Here’s an ad from 2008 that represents the product-focused old way of doing things.
And here’s examples of how we’re trying new things. Most importantly it’s not just a new creative strategy but a new way of working with our media buying partners. The media placement itself challenges convention, shakes things up, and hopefully steps out of the clutter. This is a Wall Street Journal spread where the green line zoomed around editorial.
Here’s the line gets some fresh air.
In the display space we pushed hard to deliver real value in the banners in the form of tools, quizzes, dynamic data display …
We’ve seen huge increases in engagement with the use of digital video, content shot not for tv but for digital interactive display
We’re trying new things beyond the banner.
With contests
In Social
In mobile. . Wherever you look there’s something new to try, some new cliff to go jump off of.
But at the end of the day the opportunity to try new things is only there if we hit our financial targets. 90% then of what we do is geared towards efficiency. In making the cast register ring.
This is especially true in digital advertising. We see ourselves as primarily a direct channel. To this end our budgets have risen year over year – we’re now around 40% of the total marketing budget – simply because we deliver great ROI. Now you can argue attribution models and brand theory all you like but at the end of the day digital advertising is mostly about action. Did someone click or tap or swipe…
And thanks to the last 16 years the Web has gotten pretty good at delivering these actions. Which brings us back to tablet advertising. Because the place to start with tablet advertising is that none of the above, none of the things that we rely on to drive efficiencies on the web and increasingly with smartphones exists with tablet advertising. They certainly didn’t exist in 2010 and half-way into 2011 they’re only just coming into focus.
OK. So to recap at Fidelity we’ve got a strong brand strategy, we’ve got a digital focus on efficiency, and we’ve got license to try lots of new things. And we’ve got proof that our best customer love apps and the ipad in particular. And this love for the device is backed up by all kinds of research and sales data which am not going into.
But clearly we did want to know whether we should approach the device as a mobile device or something that was just easily portable. This slide shows that its both but mostly the device stays at home.
And at home its used where you’d expect it to be used. In front of the tv. In front of the tv in the living room and in the bedroom. And, if you’re a man, on the toilet!