Audi Drives Engagement with Mobile at LA Auto Show

Several weeks ago, I visited the LA Auto Show. Three quarters of a million square feet exhibition space. More than 1,000 vehicles on display. Plenty of world and North American debuts. Great place to visit if you are shopping for a new car, but that is not why I went to the 100+ year-old show.

I attended to see the latest marketing strategies and tactics on display. The auto industry is an early adopter of the newest media and marketing technologies so I find it a great place to pick up new info, ideas and insights that can be applied to event marketing.

One of my specific interests in attending the LA Auto Show was mobile marketing, and I was not disappointed when I came across the Audi booth. Mobile was prominently featured in their huge exhibit—you certainly could not miss the displays promoting the mobile call-to-actions (CTAs).

Much like their exhibit at the New York International Auto Show earlier this year, they leveraged multiple mobile marketing tools to drive engagement with visitors to the exhibit, but they have evolved their mobile strategy since then, offering an even richer experience to visitors.

Here are five takeaways from Audi’s exhibit and their larger mobile marketing program:

(1) The first and most important point is that they integrated mobile marketing into their exhibit.

(2) They offered both SMS and QR code CTAs.

(3) Audi has created a custom Event Application for use at auto shows and other industry events.

(4) They offered an end-to-end mobile execution, i.e., whether you chose to engage with Audi via SMS or QR code, you were delivered content that was designed for the small screen.

(5) Audi’s mobile Web site leverages HTML5 which optimizes the experience across mobile devices.

More and more exhibitors are employing mobile to maximize ROI from their investment in trade and consumer shows, and this trend is certainly something show organizers should take note of.

Posted on December 8, 2011