AdKaora and Hej!, the international digital companies of Mondadori Group specialised in mobile advertising and conversational marketing with full-funnel advertising solutions, participated in ‘Intersections 2024’ – an event created through the union of IAB Forum and IF! Italians Festival – with a workshop entitled ‘From online to in-store with mobile coupons: the multichannel retail strategy for L’Oréal Paris’.

How can loyal shoppers be engaged by turning drive-to-store into an in-store strategy for retail? The integrated campaign, created by AdKaora and Hej! for the launch of Serum Le duo by L’Oréal Paris, used different channels to cover all levels of the marketing funnel and reach users near Esselunga stores. The project ranges from brand awareness to purchase, where mobile interaction and digital coupon incentives play a key role in pushing consumers to action.

During the meeting, Paolo Ingrosso, Chief Revenue Officer of MarTech Hub Mondadori Media, and Walter Ferrari, Chief Marketing Officer of MarTech Hub Mondadori Media, explained the strategy together with Agostino Massara, Performance Media Manager – Consumer Products Division of L’Oréal Italia, and Martina Conte, Digital Lead of Wavemaker Italy.

The goal was to increase user awareness of the product, as it involved a new launch, stimulating their consideration and intention to try and purchase it.

The campaign, online from September 24th to October 13th, was created together with Wavemaker Italy. The specially-designed project aimed to build engagement and improve the customer experience up to the last mile, objectives achieved thanks to conversational marketing by Hej!. Meanwhile, custom display formats, the click to web format on the Stocard app and social planning guaranteed visibility and visual impact.

Through the integration of checkout technology by Savi, AdKaora’s partner in mobile couponing strategies, it was possible to intercept consumers in the final steps, transforming interest into purchases through the use of digital coupons.

Through cross-channel planning, further profiling via Stocard – an application that allows users to upload loyalty cards from different industries – and the AdKaora proximity suite, it was possible to stimulate loyal Esselunga customers – women aged 25-54 – to push coupon downloads, taking advantage of the product offer, and activating an effective drive to store for product sales locations.

The technologically advanced solutions by AdKaora and Hej! therefore intercepted target audiences near the points of sale of interest due to precise and accurate profiling, communicated the offer to active users, initiated a collection of qualitative leads starting from different channels and retargeted users based on their behaviour.

The results are very clear: 1.7 million Esselunga customers reached with advertising. Across creative formats including AdKaora display, Stocard click to web and Hej! social planning, a 2.8% click through rate was recorded, while 7.1% of users redeemed the coupons by using them in stores (a result that reflects market benchmarks).

Agostino Massara, Performance Media Manager and Consumer Products Division of L’Oréal Italy: ‘Thanks to this communication project, we saw that the target audience was not only stimulated in the consideration phase, but especially in the intent to purchase phase, demonstrating that a loyal buyer, such as at Esselunga in this case, will perform multi-channel actions if encouraged by greater product awareness and a current offer. Furthermore, the insights gathered on consumer behaviour through Hej!’s conversational marketing and mobile couponing could be useful for considering how to eventually scale the strategy to other brands in the division and work in an integrated way with the other commercial functions, in synergy with shared business and growth objectives.’

Martina Conte, Digital Lead at Wavemaker: ‘Since this was a product launch for Serum Le Duo, we wanted to work together with AdKaora and Hej! to create a strategy would go well beyond product awareness, encouraging product purchases due to the digital coupon. In fact, all the channels involved in the strategy worked in synergy to intercept consumers in the various phases of the decision-making process and the results confirmed the effectiveness of the project.’

Andrea Zermian, Sales and Marketing Director of Savi, said: ‘We are proud to have supported this campaign with our mobile couponing technology. Covering the “last mile” with integration at checkout has allowed us to convert consideration into purchasing actions smoothly and effectively, intercepting consumers at the decisive moment of their purchasing experience. This project is an example of how an advanced technological approach and well-orchestrated marketing strategy can generate a significant impact, strengthening the bond between brand and customer. Once again, we confirm our commitment to connecting more and more retailers to our platform to simplify the use of digital coupons for customers and offer brands a technologically advanced tool for optimising advertising investments.’

Davide Tran, Director of Mondadori Media MarTech Hub: ‘Intersections fits perfectly with AdKaora and Hej!’s long-lasting approach to proposing increasingly full-funnel and complementary solutions for the market. The campaign designed for L’Oréal Paris also represents an ideal case study in intertwining brand awareness with drive to store, turning proximity marketing into a retail strategy where the last mile of the customer’s journey is stimulated through Savi’s mobile couponing. With precise, data-driven profiling, we were able to target loyal Esselunga buyers and perform multi-channel lead generation activities, collecting qualitative leads interested in using digital coupons to generate conversions.’