Topps, long known as the pre-eminent baseball trading card company, has had to evolve with the digital times by developing and publishing mobile apps including BUNT, HUDDLE and KICK. Their most recent free app BUNT was a big hit with many baseball fanatics allowing the next generation of fans to collect digital cards and play them during baseball games to earn points in real-time.
Objective
The free BUNT app is monetized through in-app purchases. Therefore, cost-effectively acquiring loyal, paying users was a key objective of the campaign, as was growing Topps' mobile brand. To do this, Topps turned to Fiksu's mobile advertising technology, data and expertise to target specific segments of users. With Fiksu's help, Topps set out to prove that mobile could nourish and sustain engagement in a brand over a long period – in this case an entire baseball season.
Strategy
Topps and Fiksu leveraged Facebook's unique targeting capabilities, as well as Fiksu's advanced optimization tools, to reach specific audience segments with the most relevant ads possible. Using this knowledge, Topps customized creative for these segments in order to improve click-through and conversion rates.
Outcome
Ultimately, Topps/Fiksu was able to generate a high return on investment, realizing ROI of over 300% for some targeted segments. Overall, downloads of the BUNT app grew by 146 percent, registered users grew by 141 percent and BUNT reached the #1 sports app in the App Store.
Objective
Topps' objective for this campaign was to maximize the return on marketing spend investment while growing their mobile platform and reaching millions of tech-savvy baseball fans. Ultimately, Topps hoped to turn these baseball fans into loyal users of the BUNT app.
Key Campaign Features
Key features of the campaign included the innovative use of Facebook's audience targeting capabilities, combined with Fiksu's API integration and advanced optimization technology. As a result, Topps was able to successfully leverage app-specific advertising units on Facebook through Fiksu's platform.
Through its API integration, Fiksu was able to offer unparalleled reach and precise audience segmentation; which allowed for flexible, smart media spend allocation. In addition, Topps had the luxury of being able to programmatically control the campaign in real-time. The use of proprietary interest mining and optimization technology on Facebook led to micro-targeting and identification of new and non-obvious users through correlations of interests, while avoiding oversaturation. Combined with Facebook's Custom audiences, Facebook targeting allowed for identification of specific segments of audiences and then refinement of targets to convert prospects into valuable, enthusiastic users. This expanded Topps' reach and revealed high-value users while keeping spending focused on the most efficient places. Topps was also able to use this insight and analysis from Facebook to help their television ad purchases. As Michael Bramlage, VP of Digital at Topps, stated, "Facebook helped with the efficient acquisition of users that led to an ROI, but Facebook also gave us market research and insights we could use when making decisions on ad buys in traditional media."
Results
With the help of Fiksu's technology, optimization and expertise on Facebook, Topps was able to:
-Grow app downloads by 146%
-Grow registered users of the BUNT app by 141%
-Grow in-app purchasing users by 33%
-Reach #1 in the Sports category on the App Store
Topps realized some of its greatest returns in the Facebook campaign – in excess of 1,000 percent – when targeting interests like 'MLB.com' and 'Sports Illustrated.' One of the biggest keys to Topps' success, however, was targeting unique segments of fans of particular MLB teams. Campaigns targeting Baltimore Orioles fans resulted in a 260% ROI, while campaigns targeting Oakland A's fans were equally as impressive, with 330% ROI.
Why It's Impressive
Using Facebook targeting for this campaign was not only incredibly successful to efficiently acquire app users, but it also provided unique market analysis and insights. For example, Topps decided to run a pilot for television commercials in the Oakland and Baltimore markets, due to their impressive Facebook targeting results in those markets. Navigating through analytics and data to produce high-performance results is Fiksu's bread and butter – and this is how Topps was able to amplify its presence and get in front of millions of fans.
Targeting through Facebook allowed Topps to more cost effectively find prospective users looking to download their apps, and garner targeted insights to help guide their advertising decisions. Moving forward, Topps continues to leverage its valuable partnership with Fiksu to promote its other apps; HUDDLE and KICK.
