2021 Winner
GoldBest New Metrics
Starbucks
"No… You can’t do that! "
Spark Foundry
"No… You can’t do that! "
Spark Foundry
COVID outbreaks, lockdowns, stay-at-home orders and store closings all began to threaten the ability of Starbucks to drive traffic to their locations during what is one of the most critical times of the year for their business: the Holidays. The effectiveness of traditional digital channels that were the workhorse of pre-COVID traffic drivers had hit a plateau, meaning the agency had to innovate to deliver against the +19% lift in daily store-level transaction goals.
Moreover, non-digital media was also problematic with a lack of measurable metrics that could be traded and tied to their business objectives. For example, vendors had no interest in changing or evolving antiquated CPM buying models for OOH despite the digital acceleration in the
formats of the channel.
Historically, they successfully drove foot-traffic into Starbucks locations by serving them up geo targeted social and digital ads of their holiday drinks but the patchwork of government restrictions and rapidly rising new COVID cases was generating fear with Canadian’s to once again leave their bubbles. Through research using consumer mobile data, they saw the road traffic levels had essentially bounced back to pre-COVID levels – although people were concerned about their health, they did still feel relatively secure in their personal cars.
This ignited the idea that they could use out-of-home to deliver salivating imagery of their holiday drinks and drive consumers to open stores and drive through locations while people felt safe in their personal vehicular bubble.
In order to deliver impact on the business, they needed to flip the OOH industry upside down by migrating digital practices over to the OOH space. Enter the cost-per-store visit transactional model for OOH. After a multitude of painstaking conversations with vendors they finally found one willing to take a risk. They partnered with Allvision, which has a strong presence along major highways and arteries to give them scale, in tandem with Hivestack, their primary data partner who captures millions
of Canadian mobile ID’s.
Starbucks locations with drive through and curbside pick up were mapped prior to launch to understand audiences and traffic patterns. All connected digital OOH boards were geo-fenced using polygon mapping to understand the different mobile ID’s passing the screens. This was combined with mobile SDK data and their creative, allowing them to understand who could see a screen when Starbucks creative was being displayed and create an attribution model based and have a clear understanding how their buy delivered on their traffic driving objective.
Using mobile data to measure OOH was not new, however, every client, every vendor and every media agency still bought, negotiated and traded on antiquated CPM models. When the agency asked to shift the metrics to a cost-per-store-visit model every vendor in Canada said they couldn’t. “It was a great idea but they wouldn’t”. “It just could not be done”. “We can’t take that risk”. Their tenacity and unwillingness to take no for an answer eventually led them to a vendor that was willing to take a leap of faith and they created a first ever cost per store visit model to trade against and deliver a guaranteed outcome in OOH.
They Increased traffic to Starbucks and delivered 99,000 store visits as direct result of digital out of home campaign and tracked mobile ID’s at a cost per incremental visit 50% more efficient than planned goal and best performing digital channel.There was a 56% lift in incremental store visits from exposed as measured by their mobile data provider. The case study has been reviewed by companies around the world, and the agency has been in discussions with companies as far as South Africa to take this innovative Canadian-born buying model to other markets. It has been validated that Programmatic Digital OOH is an effective way to target lower funnel activity, in a media format that was previously seen as reach based.
Moreover, non-digital media was also problematic with a lack of measurable metrics that could be traded and tied to their business objectives. For example, vendors had no interest in changing or evolving antiquated CPM buying models for OOH despite the digital acceleration in the
formats of the channel.
Historically, they successfully drove foot-traffic into Starbucks locations by serving them up geo targeted social and digital ads of their holiday drinks but the patchwork of government restrictions and rapidly rising new COVID cases was generating fear with Canadian’s to once again leave their bubbles. Through research using consumer mobile data, they saw the road traffic levels had essentially bounced back to pre-COVID levels – although people were concerned about their health, they did still feel relatively secure in their personal cars.
This ignited the idea that they could use out-of-home to deliver salivating imagery of their holiday drinks and drive consumers to open stores and drive through locations while people felt safe in their personal vehicular bubble.
In order to deliver impact on the business, they needed to flip the OOH industry upside down by migrating digital practices over to the OOH space. Enter the cost-per-store visit transactional model for OOH. After a multitude of painstaking conversations with vendors they finally found one willing to take a risk. They partnered with Allvision, which has a strong presence along major highways and arteries to give them scale, in tandem with Hivestack, their primary data partner who captures millions
of Canadian mobile ID’s.
Starbucks locations with drive through and curbside pick up were mapped prior to launch to understand audiences and traffic patterns. All connected digital OOH boards were geo-fenced using polygon mapping to understand the different mobile ID’s passing the screens. This was combined with mobile SDK data and their creative, allowing them to understand who could see a screen when Starbucks creative was being displayed and create an attribution model based and have a clear understanding how their buy delivered on their traffic driving objective.
Using mobile data to measure OOH was not new, however, every client, every vendor and every media agency still bought, negotiated and traded on antiquated CPM models. When the agency asked to shift the metrics to a cost-per-store-visit model every vendor in Canada said they couldn’t. “It was a great idea but they wouldn’t”. “It just could not be done”. “We can’t take that risk”. Their tenacity and unwillingness to take no for an answer eventually led them to a vendor that was willing to take a leap of faith and they created a first ever cost per store visit model to trade against and deliver a guaranteed outcome in OOH.
They Increased traffic to Starbucks and delivered 99,000 store visits as direct result of digital out of home campaign and tracked mobile ID’s at a cost per incremental visit 50% more efficient than planned goal and best performing digital channel.There was a 56% lift in incremental store visits from exposed as measured by their mobile data provider. The case study has been reviewed by companies around the world, and the agency has been in discussions with companies as far as South Africa to take this innovative Canadian-born buying model to other markets. It has been validated that Programmatic Digital OOH is an effective way to target lower funnel activity, in a media format that was previously seen as reach based.
Credits
Bettina Heimrath, EVP, Managing Director, Spark FoundryPaul Hewitt, VP Group Account Director, Spark Foundry
Samantha Miller, Account Director, Spark Foundry
Adam Parisian, Account Supervisor, Spark Foundry
Arcie Gonzalez, Senior OOH Buyer, Publicis Media & APEX Exchange
Pete Bond, Director – Insights, Marketing & Loyalty, Starbucks
Lauren Masse, Senior Manager, Brand Marketing & GTM, Starbucks
Alison Owen, Marketing Manager, Starbucks