Mobile Networking – Trivia Challenge!
This is an example of the creative mis-use of technology to accomplish a goal. Successful marketing programs don’t need big budgets to be successful.
Client
ACRONYM Bash 2008
Chicago IL
http://www.acronymbash.org
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Description
The ACRONYM Bash is an annual Holiday party hosted by all the leading professional business associations in Chicago:
- Chicago American Marketing Association (AMA)
- American Teleservices Association (ATA)
- Business Marketing Association (BMA)
- Chicago Association of Direct Marketing (CADM)
- Chicago Advertising Federation (CAF)
- Publicity Club of Chicago (PCC)
- Promotional Marketing Association (PMA)
You can clearly see the derivation of the name.
By combining resources, the associations can provide the Holiday networking party that members demand at a fraction of the financial outlay and risk.
All proceeds go to a local Chicago charity – Chicago Tribune Charities, in this case.
Problem Statement
Rocket Bar & Grill - venue for the 2008 ACRONYM Bash
Well, despite the fact that everyone demands networking opportunities, no one likes doing it. Meeting strangers is hard, and groping for that point of commonality to get a conversation going can be agony.
The result, people go to the event, hang out with people they know and complain about the sub-par networking results.
We needed to give people something to do – a game – where the side-effect was meeting and connecting with new people.
Everyone loves to play a game.
Well, except for the obnoxious “power networkers” who are too busy handing out biz cards to interact with anyone. Let’s ignore them like we do in real life.
Resources Available
- A heaping pile of good intentions
- Um …
ACRONYM Bash is a volunteer run event. There is a budget for beer, but not for silly games.
Priorities.
Program
Let’s look at the needs:
- Simple
- Fun
- At least semi-educational
The big story at the time was the imminent rise of mobile and text as a marketing medium.
What? Quit sniggering!
Okay, so it took a few more years for mobile to become a usable marketing medium (almost). The point is people were curious about it.
So, this program was also an opportunity to show a group of marketers how to use mobile. The fact that at the time I was representing a mobile text client is totally a coincidence.
Why show a 2009 screenshot? Internet Wayback Machine FAIL!
Decision 1 – Use mobile text as the medium.
Nearly everyone has a phone with text, and at the time a considerable chunk of the audience had never used text messaging for anything other than sending a reminder to pick up milk on the way home.
The users opted in to a broadcast list and, at set times, would receive a text message with a trivia question or a trivia answer.
Decision 2 - The incentive.
People like to play games, but when they can also win things they’re so much more enthusiastic. Drawings are standard fare for mobile text, so we opted to give away some (donated) iPod Nanos to the first few people who completed whatever the game ended up being.
The game was an evolution of the previous year’s matching game (cards with pictures of board games). This year, we would offer 20 trivia questions and 20 trivia answers. Upon check-in, attendees were assigned randomly to one of these 40 categories (questions or answers).
The game … find your match in time to register for the iPod Nano drawing.
Execution
Before the event, we prepared instruction cards and trained a group of volunteers to help attendees opt in to the game. Surprisingly, many people needed the help as they had either never sent a text message, or had never opted in to a shortcode broadcast list.
The game also required a little prompting from the microphone now and then to give two minute warnings before the next round.
Results
Out of 250 attendees, the game saw 65% participation during the course of the evening, and the final drawing had 30 participants. In the post event survey, the game was rated a 4.3 on a five-point scale.
Anecdotal feedback was positive as well.
Several attendees said they found the game made the evening and the dreaded networking easier to manage.
The game was also featured in an article in Mobile Marketer, a daily newsletter covering developments in the mobile marketing field.
Lessons Learned
Items like this game require a lot of hand holding.
They can work, but don’t expect the intended audience to read directions or have much tolerance for learning new things. Recruiting volunteer coaches was the key to making this event successful.
Supplementary Materials
- ACRONYM Bash press release
- Mobile Marketer article