Activision utilized our new, proprietary location solution to quantify the value of mobile to drive in-store sales. Our first to market location solution leverages direct location data from trusted apps to perform audience segmentation, and measurement of in-store foot traffic and sales.

For Call of Duty: WWII we used the location solution to identify the M18-34 gaming audience through their real world behaviors, and targeted them programmatically with mobile video. Simultaneously, we measured this audience and the rate at which they visited key Call of Duty retailers (GameStop, Walmart, Target and Best Buy), and purchases of the game.

What better way to execute this strategy than with geo-location data to find a qualified audience and prime them for purchase.

We turned to our proprietary solution, and worked with our data partners to create an audience of M18-34 gamers/tech enthusiasts that we could target with our media campaign.

Our Tech Enthusiasts audience: consumers who visited these brand name locations at least 2 times in a 3-month period: FRY'S ELECTRONICS, RADIOSHACK, MICROSOFT, BEST BUY, GAMESTOP, BROOKSTONE, APPLE RETAIL STORE

We programmatically targeted this audience on smartphones with in-app, premium, :15 video that encouraged them to buy the available game. The campaign was executed programmatically against strict white lists and private marketplaces to ensure we appeared in premium mobile video environments.

We set out to connect with this audience on their primary device through targeted video that gives the user a sense of the game play experience to push them through the funnel to generate trial and sales.

We worked with our trusted measurement partner to measure the campaign, where we looked at store visit lift and purchase amongst a control and exposed group.

The campaign launched just ahead of Black Friday (11/21/17), and ran through the Holidays.

Gamers who received an ad from our campaign were 21% more likely to go into store to purchase than those who did not receive an ad, far exceeding the industry benchmark of 0.0-6.7%. The campaign also drove an efficient cost per store visit of only $0.27, versus benchmark of $0.30-$0.76. *

Visitation driven by the campaign resulted in incremental $2.9MM in overall sales at GameStop, or $50/visitor (assuming 100% purchase rate).

With an incredible final return on investment of $457 for every dollar spent, Activision successfully proved the value of mobile marketing on in-store sales.

The gaming community turned out for us again, making Call of Duty: WWII the top grossing console game of the year globally, surpassing $1 Billion in sales just in Q4.

This activity took place after COD: WWII had already been released to the public. As finding methods to sustain interest in the game, and remind consumers it is out and ready to play was critical. We wanted to to capture people on-the-go over the holidays to remind, and encourage them, to open their wallet just a little wider during holiday season to purchase the game.

Activision’s renowned Call of Duty (COD) franchise is a favorite amongst gamers. So much so, that in the days of free 2-day shipping, the majority still go in-store to purchase. In the gaming community, it is an unmissable yearly tradition - much like new iPhone releases to the tech community.

We also see our M18-34 gamer target audience spending 28% of their time on smartphones. *

Tying these behaviors together – smartphone usage/ad exposure to in-store sales – has challenged marketers for years, but given their consumers unique behaviors, Activision looked to prove the value of the mobile channel to drive in-store sales for the new Call of Duty: WWII.

The highly anticipated COD: WWII was released on November 3, 2017. After months of teasing the release, it was time to deploy strategic media and attribution to drive and measure sales of the game over the 2017 Holiday time period.