Interactive Ads on Pandora Are Fun & Smart — Now Make Them More Social
I recently became a “Pandora One” paid user, primarily to enable high quality streaming, but also with the intent of getting rid of ads. I don’t regret the decision one bit, especially since Pandora’s new layout was recently rolled out exclusively to Pandora One users before the general public. However, I’m intrigued by Pandora’s advertising model — especially the mobile audio ads that encourage immediate interactivity and a cool user experience. Should there be an option to “turn ads on” for Pandora One users?!
Starbucks seems to be having some success using Pandora to drive this type of mobile program, but don’t seem to be adding in a social components that could give them even more bang for their buck (and tie-in nicely with their Frappuccino Community page):
- Last June, they had an interactive campaign on their browser-based and iPad app that encouraged listeners to “create their own musical taste” by learning about and choosing their favorite Frappuccino flavor. Utilizing a slick UI that didn’t interrupt the listening experience, users could easily play around with Starbucks Frappuccino offerings and potentially discover new music. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a social component to this, but it would have made sense to integrate Facebook/Twitter sharing options to encourage others to take part in the experience.
- Currently, Starbucks is running another summer-themed frap campaign on Pandora’s iPhone app. This time, there is a banner ad that reads “Handcrafted Refreshment Is Waiting.” I’m not sure if there is an audio ad prior to the appearance of the banner, but when users tap the ad, they are brought to an interactive landing page that immediately encourages interaction with the screen:
The mobile experience allows for users to learn more about the summer offerings and then find a Starbucks nearest to their current location. Once again, I don’t think there is a social component to this campaign, but it seems ripe for a geolocation social service tie-in. After finding the nearest Starbucks location, there should be a “check in on Foursquare (or Facebook Places)” button that unlocks a special Frappuccino deal exclusive to Pandora listeners. I’m not sure if this is technically possible through any of the geolocation social services yet, but it should be. Here is my poor attempt at a mockup for such a screen:
And here is an example of the user experience that I envision:
I’m waiting for a doctor’s appointment, listening to Pandora and an audio ad comes on. It tells me about Starbucks’ summer drinks and encourages me to tap the banner ad to “reveal refreshment” and to unlock a special Foursquare check-in reward. This piques my interest, so I play around with the ad, find my nearest Starbucks and make a mental note to keep the window open until I visit the Starbucks (this is a potential user-flow stumbling block unless the initial banner ad tap seamlessly took me from Pandora to mobile safari instead of utilizing an in-line Pandora browser). After my doctor’s appointment, I head over to Starbucks, open my saved page and unlock the exclusive Pandora/Starbucks/Foursquare special. I’m also given the opportunity to send a tweet or Facebook update telling my friends about the deal and encouraging them to “experience handcrafted refreshment” via their mobile browser to unlock the special.
My “tack-on” ideas for adding a social component to these successful digital advertising campaigns by Starbucks aren’t groundbreaking, but I think they’d really close the social engagement loop:
1) Motivate emotion (swipe screen to reveal refreshment)
2) Social call to action (find nearest location and check in on Foursquare)
3) User re-engagement (social recruiting)
4) Visible progress/reward (discount on Frappuccino)
And then it starts over again.
What do you think? Am I off base on any of my analysis of these campaigns? Did Starbucks layer in a social component to the Pandora ad initiative that I missed?
