The Tactical Use of Mobile Marketing

The Tactical Use of Mobile Marketing: How Adolescents' Sociai Networi^ing Can Best Sliape Brand Extensions SHINTARO OKAZAKI

The accelerating growth in mobile internet communications is giving rise to a new

Universidad Autónoma

form of interactive marketing. This research identifies the factors that affect youth

de Madrid, Spain [email protected]

consumer participation in a mobile-based word-of-mouth (WOM) campaign. The study used a "real" brand promotion—a new men's hairstyling wax launched in the adolescent market—to stimulate interest and participation. Specifically, consumers were encouraged to spread the information via WOM and participate in a hairstyle photo contest. A core attitudinai model consisted of interpersonal connectivity, self-identification with the mobile device, affective commitment to the promoted brand, attitude toward the campaign, and willingness to make referrals. The data—based on the responses from 1,705 teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18 years—fit the model weli and provided empirical support for all the hypothesized relationships. The model was further analyzed in terms of latent mean structures, which revealed that face-to-face WOM elicited stronger affective brand commitment and attitude toward the campaign than mobile-based WOM. This pattern is reversed, however, in the willingness to make referrals, suggesting that mobil-based WOM may be persuasive even when adolescents are less interested in the campaign content.

INTRODUCTION

The author appréciaiivelif acknowledges the support of D2 Communications Inc. (¡apart) for the data collection.

Word-of-mouth communication (WOM) consists of informal communication in social networks regarding the ownership, usage, or characteristics of particular goods and services (Hennig-Thurau and Walsh, 2004). Several studies have shown that WOM tends to be highly persuasive and, in fact, may be more influential than mass media (Arndt, 1967; Bansai and Voyer, 2000; Herr, Kardes, and Kim, 1991). The impact of WOM has been especially striking in terms of product selection (Gruen, Osmonbekov, and Czaplewski, 2006), the influence of opinion leadership (Richins and RootShaffer, 1988), and information transmission structure (Brown and Reingen, 1987). The rapid penetration of the internet has been given new significance to WOM and introduced a subset of viral promotion-electronic WOM

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(eWOM), in which consumers share their experiences through such computer-mediated communications tools as email, website bulletin boards, Usenet newsgroups, chatrooms, blogs, and other social networking sites. Indeed, with the global expansion of such sites as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube, PC-based eWOM has become increasingly popular all over the world. According to an annual study by Ipsos Insight, social networking is quickly becoming the dominant global online behavior, with South Korea the world leader, followed by Brazil, China, Mexico, and the United States (Luchter, 2007). The ubiquity of mobile internet access has further enhanced the power of eWOM. The service is ubiquitous because it is unconstrained in time and space. This unique nature of the mobile internet has enabled consumers to transmit. DOI: 10.2501/S0021849909090102

TACTICAL USE OF MOBILE MARKETING

Several studies have shown that WOM tends to be highly persuasive and, in fact, may be more influential than mass media. The impact of WOM has been especially striking in terms of product selection, the influence of opinion leadership, and information transmission structure.

gather, and retransmit product information via voice calls, email, an interactive messaging service, and a variety of consumer-friendly mobile socialnetworking applications. Juniper Research (2007) reported that the number of active users of mobile social networking sites is expected to rise from 14 million in 2007 to nearly 600 million in 2012. Research on young consumers indicates that mobile devices play a predominant role in the life of teenagers (de Kerckhove, 2002). Mobile dating and chatroom services currently account for 57 percent of user-generated revenues. This proportion is expected to fall to 21 percent by 2012, however, as other services become more popular. In addition, the volume of downloads from mobile personal-content delivery sites (i.e., SeeMeTV) is expected to increase from fewer than 200 million in 2007 to more than 9 billion in 2012 (Juniper Research, 2007). According to Childwise's monitor report in the United Kingdom, in 2005 and 2006, almost 67 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 16 had their own mobile phones, as did 90 percent of those aged 11 to 16. Furthermore, up to 95 percent of British teens aged 15 to 16 had a mobile phone (BBC, 2006). In Japan, teenspecific mobile phones feature a rounded body, coating with gradated colors, and allow young girls the opportunity to cus-

tomize their phone as an accessory using chains, key-holders, stickers, etc. Studies show that the mobile phone is becoming the primary form of communication for young people who typically use email more frequently than voice calls. In Norway, more than 85 percent of teens and young adults report sending short messages on a daily basis. Specifically, girls and boys aged 16-19 send rune and five messages, respectively, per day (Ling, 2005). A similar number has been reported in Japan (Hashimoto, 2002). Teens and young adults also tend to be more responsive to the mobile messages that they receive. One survey suggests that almost 92 percent view a message as soon as they receive it, compared to 68 percent of the general population (Ito and Okabe, 2005).

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The popularity of cell phones has translated directly into mobile-based brand advertising and promotions that target young consumers. • Sony Pictures, for example, promoted the movie Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle

by offering SMS (short message service) quizzes and MMS (multimedia message service) images through a customized website (Sybase365, 2007b). • McDonald's printed unique "Mac" codes on 50 million BigMac boxes in a "House

of Blues" promotion, in which consumers typed a keyword "RUMAC" in their mobile to participate in sweepstakes (MMA, 2007). • On the launch of the new model S40, Volvo used a cross-media campaign in which a message was inserted in print media, inviting consumers to textmessage the word, "MYSTERY." In return, the sender received a reply with a link that enabled them to download the appropriate video tool to play the teaser trailer directly on their phone (Sybase365, 2007a). Published research on mobile-based promotion, however, is extremely rare. And that leads to a severe lack of understanding of several important issues, including how mobile-based promotions work and why young consumers so readily embrace them. This research explores which factors affect young consumers' participation in mobile-based promotions. Using a "real" cosmetic brand campaign, the data were collected from Japan, where mobile internet connections have surpassed PC internet connections since December 2005 (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, 2007). Using Japan as a base for the study enables us to better understand important implications for other countries. The study adopts a sophisticated mobile-data collection method, in which a survey invitation linked to a structured questionnaire was sent directly via mobile device.

MOBILE MARKETING IN JAPAN

By 2002, three Japanese domestic mobilenetwork operators—NTT DoCoMo, Vodafone (formally J-Phone), and KDDI au—had completed their 3G launches. With the technology in place, 3G adoption in Japan has grown very quickly. As a result, mobile-phone usage has become a staple

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Research on young consumers indicates that mobiie devices play a predominant roie in the life of teenagers. Mobiie dating and chatroom services currently account for

57 percent of user-generated revenues.

of everyday life, facilitating everything from booking airline tickets and checkingin, to redeeming a bar-coded coupon and buying a drink from a vending machine. A mobile wallet embedded in the handset incorporates e-cash and a ticketing system (which also is used as a commuter pass in public transportation). And, with faster downloads enabled by state-of-theart technology, mobile terrestrial broadcasting and music-video clips continue to grow in popularity (Hiscock, 2007). In 2008, more than 70 percent of Japan's 127 million population was subscribed to a mobile 3G internet plan—compared to 23.8 percent in the United States and 11.1 percent in Europe (Toto, 2008). One unique feature of Japanese mobile marketing is its role in integrated marketing (or cross-media) campaigns (Fujita, 2008). For example, many marketers now place QR (quick response) codes in magazines, newspapers, posters, wrappings, or business cards that direct consumers to websites simply by scanning the codes. McDonald's also uses codes to inform users of its food's nutritional value, Apple advertised the new iPod on bar-coded billboards, and Nike Oosaka's advertising campaign allowed direct access to a dedicated mobile site from a face-like code. eWOM is yet another mobile-marketing trend that seems to be prospering with 3G support. "Mobage," a mobile-based social networking site, started in 2006 and now has more than 10 million subscribers (and counting). And, because young consumers are demonstrating how quickly

they become attached to (and engaged in) WOM communications with their circles of friends and family, marketers are showing an ever keener interest in the potential of social networking {Hiragana Times, 2008). As a result, more firms are setting up their own mobile brand-community sites, where consumers exchange opinions and feedbacks. One case in point: Knorr Foods, a subsidiary of Ajinomoto Inc., created a mobile brand-community site that encouraged young female consumers to maintain their blogs and report on their participation in the new-product development process. The discussion threads served Knorr as inputs for idea generation and screening (Okazaki, 2009). THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Consumer-socialization theory

This study tries to answer a fundamental question: Why are people willing to use mobile communication to disseminate information? To propose a set of predictions regarding adolescents' adoption of a mobile-based WOM campaign, the research draws upon consumer socialization (CS) theory. According to Ward (1974), CS is "the process by which young people acquire skills, knowledge, and attitudes relevant to their functioning as consumers in the marketplace" (p. 2). The first conceptual model of CS theory included five variables; age (stage of one's life cycle), social structure constraints (social class, gender, and race), agent (a source of the influence), learning processes (the way to learn).

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and content (values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of one's social role) (Moschis and Churchill, 1978). Social structure variables as well as age/life-cycle position are antecedents to socialization processes, which include the socialization agent and the type of learning process operating. Socialization processes, in turn, directly affect the outcomes: content or criterion variables. The CS theory suggests that consumer behavior is acquired through interactions between the learner and various agents in different social settings. Many studies suggest that family, peers, and school are important CS agents for children and adolescents (Lachance, Beaudoin, and Robitaille, 2003; Moschis, 1985; Shim, 1996). One study used this theory to explore factors influencing teenagers' use of different shopping channels and identified the two strongest determinants of attitudes toward mail and internet (Lueg, Ponder, Beatty, and Capella, 2006): • involvement with the shopping channel • influence of access to the shopping channel on the agent (peer communication and family communication). By the same token, this study posits that the social structure constraints, agent, and coti-

fí'íií of CS theory are the primary factors affecting adolescents' participation in mobile-based WOM campaigns. They translate, respectively, to interpersonal connectivity, self-identification with the mobile device, and affective brand commitment (see Figure 1). Social-structure constraints

There is good reason to believe that adolescents use the mobile devices as a medium of social interactions, in which they minimize social-structure constraints. In doing so, they exchange and learn the specific values and behaviors necessary to increase their social ties (Brown and


Moderating Effects (H5-H9) Source of campaign information: Face-to-face versus mobile-based contact X

Mode of campaign referrals: Face-toface versus mobile-based referrals

Interpersonal Connectivity

Self-ldentification with the Mobile Device

Attitude toward the Campaign

Willingness to Make Referrals

Affective Brand Commitment

Figure 1 Proposed Model

Reingen, 1987). The goal is to form tightly bounded, densely knit groups with strong interpersonal connectivity—defined as the

"social benefits derived from establishing and maintaining contact with other people such as social support, friendship, and intimacy" (Dholakia, Bagozzi, and Pearo, 2004, p. 244). The construct of networkand small-group-based virtual communities is one of the significant determinants of consumers' participation (Dholakia, lîagozzi, and Pearo, 2004). This is relevant to mobile-based WOM communication as well: stronger ties can be formed through face-to-face WOM, as well as by such electronic networking tools as SMS, MMS, or emails. Adolescent consumers may seek to participate in WOM-based promotions because they are consciously or unconsciously interested in being connected with a potential

social network. Or they may engage themselves by disseminating, receiving, and responding to a "buzz" or contagious commentary about products, services, brands, and ideas for the same reason—to be a part of their peer community. This leads to the following hypothesis: HI:

Interpersonal connectivity will directly and positively affect attitude toward the campaign

Agent

Existing literature recognizes that the credibility and trustworthiness of the information source is a primary determinant of WOM transmission. Evidence from both academic and trade journals shows that because adolescents are likely to feel selfidentification with a cell phone, that mobile device can act as an influential agent

that delivers the "seeds" of the buzz in WOM communications between teenagers. This construct can be defined as a perceived psychological attachment to mobile phones—resulting in the expectation of staying connected, informed, and entertained. Children under the age 16 are now a principal focus of the Japanese mobile-phone market, but some insist that there are both problems and advantages involved in adolescents' desire for tbe mobile devices to become fashion items (Sato and Kato, 2005). Children under 16 often personalize their mobile devices with their own color, size, ringtones, chains, and accessories because they perceive their cell phone as a personal tool that also serves as a bridge of communication. In fact, many adolescents feel that their personality and individualism are reflected in the type and style of their mobile phone (Journal a Day, 2007). In addition to tbe personal identification that young people feel with their mobile devices, adolescents also are likely to expect mobile phones to help them stay connected, informed, and entertained. This relationship is essentially isomorphic to what marketing literature terms a brand relationship, as teenagers' interactions with tbe mobile device can be characterized as relational. In tbis case, teenagers use the norms of interpersonal relationships as a guide in their benefits' assessments of everyday communication. Through a sequence of social interactions, benefits are given to others to entertain them, or benefits are given to show concern for others' needs (Aggarwal, 2004). Tbis self-identification with the mobile device is one of the strong determinants of attitude toward the campaign: H2:

Self-identification with tbe mobile device will directly and positively affect attitude toward tbe campaign.

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Adolescent consumers may seek to participate in WOM-based promotions because they are consciously or unconsciously interested in being connected with a potential social network. Or they may engage themselves by disseminating, receiving, and responding to a "buzz" or contagious commentary about products, services, brands, and ideas for the same reason—to be a part of their peer community.

Content

The content dimension of adolescent WOM conununications may be influenced by what is most appreciated by peers. Specifically, young consumers tend to share common interests and follow their opinion leaders. Thus, fashion and cosmetics are the most popular product-discussion groups. As a result, young consumers are likely to form special attitudes toward different brands, leading to affective brand commitment. The literature suggests that commitment is "an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity between exchange partners" (Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh, 1987, p. 19), and much marketing research has operationalized it as an affective commitment. Affective brand commitment in marketing relationships stems from shared values, trust, benevolence, and relationalism (Fullerton, 2005; Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Generally, when consumers like their service provider, they should be considered as affectively committed to it (Fulierton, 2005). In the context of adolescent culture, this commitment can be illustrated by strong loyalty to fashion and cosmetic brands. For example, a fash-

ion event in Japan called Tokyo Girls Collection attracted 12,600 live attendees, and as many as 15 million additional adolescents who participated in the event through a live mobile broadcast (Toyama, 2006). Tokyo Girls Collection, in fact, exemplifies a grass-roots movement that has become so large in Japan that rendered anachronistic many traditional fashion houses (Sato and Kato, 2005). Young consumers tend to spread the word on their favorite brands not only via face-to-face everyday conversations, but also via chatrooms, messaging, and voice call. All the evidence indicates that the buzz on their favorite brands elicits strong^—almost enthusiastic—affection. And that loyalty, in turn, often drives their campaign participation: H3:

Affective brand commitment will directly and positively affect attitude toward the campaign.

Finally, an attitude toward an object can be defined as an individual's internal evaluation of it on the basis of his or her beliefs {Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). Expo-

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sure to an advertising message for a specific brand first affects one's attitude toward the advertisement, which then mediates the attitude toward the brand. Subsequently, behavioral intention is formed as a consequence of this attitude formation (MacKenzie and Lutz, 1989). H4:

Attitude toward the campaign will directly and positively affect willingness to make referrals.

Moderating factors

The mode of information transmission has significant moderating effects on the proposed constructs in the discussion above. In this regard, a dyadic study of passalong emails provides a rudimentary basis (Fhelps et al., 2004). Although extremely informative, the study has one important limitation: the research did find that passalong email was a popular tool in a viral communication chain, but the type of message was not disfinguished in terms of commercial or noncommercial information. As a result, it is impossible to determine pass-along behavior reflected in the interests of any specific WOM campaign. What remained unknown is how campaign referral occurs among adolescents, using either direct personal contact or passalong message. Consumer participation in a mobilebased WOM campaign can be framed around two main axes: • source of campaign infonnation • mode of campaign referral. In each axis, adolescents can choose one of two channels to access, receive, or disseminate the campaign information: faceto-face contact or by means of a mobile device. On this basis, ultimate WOM participants can be classified into four groups (see Table 1):


TABLE 1

Classification of WOM-Based Campaign Referral

nectivity, self-identification with the mobile device, and affective commitment to the promoted brand. This all leads to: H5:

Mobile-based WOM is more strongly associated with interpersonal connectivity than face-toface WOM.

H6:

Mobile-based WOM is more strongly associated with selfidentiñcation with the mobile device than face-to-face WOM.

H7:

Mobile-based WOM is more strongly associated with affective commitment to the promoted brand than face-to-face WOM.

Mode of Campaign Referral Face-to-Face

Mobile-Based

Group 1

Group 3

Group 2

Group 4

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