Mobatar’s Buzz Campaign

What is the most effective advertising medium? Is it TV, radio, billboards, newspaper, magazine, or even mobile advertising? Considering that I work for a mobile advertising company, my answer should be mobile, of course. But it’s not.

A campaign begins its route to success when it creates buzz – when the campaign, product and/or service spreads through word of mouth. What Mobatar, a mobile advertising company based in Rome, Italy, did for its first advertising campaign was to distribute money. Distributing money certainly created buzz.

Mobatar’s service is to grant its users €5 cent for each SMS advertisement they receive on their mobile phones. Therefore, to mirror the company’s service, Mobatar produced small notes that resemble a text message, attached a 5 cent coin to each one, and distributed them to Rome’s pedestrians in the city’s center throughout the month of June.

Distributing money is something absurd, and it got people wondering about the generous company. The result of the campaign? An astonishing site traffic increase of 86%, out of which 35% was from the first day of the campaign.

Mobatar’s Ad Campaign