“If video killed the radio star, digital was the one that commissioned the hits on both their heads.”

If you don’t get the reference, you either haven’t seen Mad Men or might not be a marketer.

Draper’s days were numbered, so as the tie that binds.

Every good marketer knows that the golden age of outbound advertising is a thing of the past. The new digital era that began in the early 80s has succeeded in becoming the new standard in reaching the broader consumer. If video killed the radio star, digital must have commissioned the hits on both their heads. TV is being replaced by YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu. And Billboards & Magazines are being replaced by Google, Facebook, and Digital News Outlets. In fact, when your product lacks a strong presence in search, your TV ad might just be providing valuable impressions for your direct competitor- who are then just one step away from being found at the top of Google Search Results.

The bottom line… you will continue having a hard time communicating your product to a broader audience as long as you lack a way to break through all the inbound marketing that is occurring on the web today. I don’t care if you are Unilever with a multi-million-dollar marketing budget, or a mom-and-pop restaurant in some obscure town that is on the radio every now and then; if you want to increase the return on your media buying, you need a very powerful focus in digital inbound marketing channels.

Think of digital inbound marketing like the lure at the end of a fisherman’s line. All the fisherman has to do is make the lure inviting. All the biggest celebrities on YouTube have mastered this technique. Clickbait is the term used to describe a video on YouTube that uses a thumbnail or title that lures the consumer into watching. If done right, videos that use clickbait usually sport over a million views. It’s the rule of instant gratification, which is the same reason why nearly every commercial on TV today uses some sort of comedic value to lure the consumer in. Their goal is to have you crack a smile, before they even introduce the product.

“The coupon is the most rewarding concept that we, even millennials, have been indoctrinated to love.”

Inbound started with the coupon.

Coupons were one of the earliest forms of inbound marketing. The first coupon was created over 120 years ago, in 1887. Using print as its medium, you clip the coupon from the newspaper or magazine, and later at the grocery store you redeem your coupon for a marked down on an item. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of this model. The two major cons are that the advertiser must mark down the value of their product, while transferring that value onto something with zero technological significance that is both temporary & ready to be discarded. Not to mention the environmental problems of introducing another strip of paper into the world, the biggest issue is that it’s nearly impossible to track accurately. Still, the coupon remains one of the most successful forms of marketing, even today.

What is it about the coupon that people love? Well, there is the obvious savings that are associated with the coupon, but is there something deeper in its psychology? The coupon, like all pursuits, is about the hunt. After all, man has always split its tribe into two major psychologies: hunter & gatherer. We love the rewarding pursuit of the catch. We are trained to then tuck away our prize, safely, for later consumption. The coupon is the most rewarding concept that we, even millennials, have been indoctrinated to love. We have it subconsciously embedded in our very ways of survival. This is why we find the coupon so rewarding.

“CPM and PPC are so dial-up… It is time the marketer directly engage consumers in a way they love.”

Just like in Don’s world— times they-are-a-changing.

With the wide adoption of the digital wallet on mobile devices today, it is obvious that there is a much better way to coupon. My team and I at Adjoy have spent the last few months reworking these basic concepts into a new marketing methodology and metric, for which we have coined the term: “Reward Activated Marketing” (or RAM for short). RAM is the modern day coupon, but with better offers, and a much more rewarding hunt & gather. If Monty Python were a marketer, RAM would be his Holy Grail. Digital distribution channels are so inundated with impressions and clicks, but rarely do they ever result in a brand engaging directly with the consumer. The concept of RAM is to reward the user with savings, yes; but it plays deeper into the hunter gatherer inside of us all. Once the offer is stored on the phone, the marketer can then activate a wide range of engagements in the form of touch point push notifications, direct communication, powerful calls to action, app installs, review requests, and path to purchase data collection.

Imagine gathering data on a subset target of consumers so powerfully you could literally predict their next purchase. Reaching through all the noise, where can this people group be found? Let me take you by the hand and introduce you to one of the greatest untapped virtual watering holes of consumerism, casual, free to play, mobile games. This people group represents around 50% of the population who own a smartphone. That is, over 35% of the total population are playing these games; none of which are being marketed to effectively. This is the people group we have chosen at Adjoy- they are our tribe; there to achieve instant gratification, hunting down and gathering the digital currencies that allow them to level-up their game.

This people group has a new set of subconscious rules for survival, one of which includes filtering out the noise. Impressions and clicks are the noisiest kinds of noise, especially in games. There is such an opportunity for a new metric to come in and disrupt. CPM and PPC are so dial-up… It is time the marketer directly engages consumers in a way they love. RAM uses the metric of cost per engagement, or CPE. With our platform, Adjoy, the initial reward or coupon is collected within the actual gameplay, then stored in the user’s digital wallet, which represents the engagement. Once the offer is stored in the wallet, the brand can collect data through communication based channels. The brand can remind them of the offer using geo-push notifications. The brand can even produce a very customized call to action that propels the consumer out of their home and into a specific destination. But the most important aspect is that it has to be built around something they love.

“Positive brand association is the most important component of Reward Activated Marketing.”

RAM starts with a smile.

Let me give you a great example of how we can use RAM in casual games as a destination based campaign for Six Flags over Georgia. Imagine playing a fantastical role playing mobile game, and in this fantasy world you come upon a Mage-type character that has a secret quest for you. To perform this secret quest, he gives you an enchanted dagger that is the only weapon that can kill a special kind of ORK-Goblin. When you receive the dagger, a 20% off coupon on your next day-pass to Six Flags is stored on your phone. In order to go on your secret quest in the mobile game, you must first be physically located inside the gates of Six Flags over Georgia. Once you are there, the quest can begin.

This engagement is just one example of how RAM can create positive reinforcement between a brand and the consumer. Positive brand association is the most important component of Reward Activated Marketing. Before you introduce your product, your goal is to have them crack a smile. If you can achieve this, you have won. The most important thing to avoid is taking something negative or spammy and ramming it down the throat of a consumer. RAM does not stand for “ramming”. The number one rule of RAM is that if it is spammy, it’s not allowed. (No surveys, No products in which the consumer hasn’t first shown an interest, No products that don’t represent a need that can be determined algorithmically, and Nothing that could make the consumer frown; Only things that can make them smile).

“With digital even shaping the way we make transactions, we will soon begin to see RAM become the normal brand/consumer interaction. Under the radar, less intrusive to the moments that make life worth living.”

The future of advertising is the brightest it’s ever been.

Throughout history, product placement has always had a negative stigma attached to the sub-cortex mind. Our eyes loathe staring at a brand’s logo, and our ears hate listening to why we should purchase their product. In the age of RAM, product placement comes to you in the form of a digital gift that you can choose to unwrap. A gift you can keep for a rainy day. At Adjoy we have chosen to start with casual video games, simply because it is an industry we understand, but RAM has a future in all aspects of life.

Imagine being on a road trip with your family. Your car lets you know you need to fuel up. You look at the next exit sign and notice there is a Shell Station and a Valero Station. Once you concede to the will of your vehicle and begin to exit in search for fuel, your car rewards you with an offer for a free car wash. It then provides you directions to the Shell Station and prompts you to redeem your car wash as you approach. All you have to do is drive up, and it’s ready. In that short time, Shell has won your business and collected valuable data to serve up the next engagement. For example, the connected computer in your car has informed them that you drive a Chevy Suburban, who’s next oil change will be needed in 2 weeks’ time. This is just one example of how Reward Activated Marketing can be used in a powerful way outside of games.

My phone now has its own native digital wallet, which is a feature in every smartphone on the planet. By 2020, global smartphone subscriptions will more than double to 6.1 billion. 70 percent of people will use smartphones, and 90 percent will be covered by mobile broadband networks. The “internet of things” is also massively growing. It has been estimated that the amount of connected devices will have grown between 20 billion and 30 billion devices by 2020. With digital even shaping the way we make transactions, we will soon begin to see RAM become the normal brand/consumer interaction. Under the radar, and less intrusive to the moments that make life worth living.

Finally, we are coming into an age where being advertised to feels different. It is a positive experience, one that adds a smile to the most important part of our business: the customer. It is no longer Don Draper’s world where the ad alone is king. We live in a world where real engagement is the way to a consumer’s heart. Reach out and reward someone. That is the future!