The 5 Best Waze Campaigns of 2016

Unique ways to maximize the mobile platform

The best ad campaigns stand above the rest by combining stellar creative and big ideas that make consumers pay attention and take action. Nowhere is this more apparent than on Waze, the traffic and navigation app, where a great ad can literally drive consumers to a location.

This year, Waze looked at the thousands of campaigns that ran on its mobile platform and came away with five, representing key categories that took a unique and highly effective approach to location-based advertising. From precision pins to special search parameters to an unmistakable voice, these are the stand-out Waze campaigns of 2016.

 

Category: Entertainment

Gramercy Pictures
“London Has Fallen”
Agency: Maxus

When the voice of God—you know, Morgan Freeman—tells you there’s traffic ahead, you pay attention. Promoting its action thriller London Has Fallen, Gramercy Pictures leveraged Waze to pin theaters where the movie was playing and provide details about the Olympus Has Fallen sequel’s premiere date. But what really got people involved was the ability to use star Morgan Freeman’s voice for navigation—his alerts such as “Red light camera reported ahead; luckily we’ve got eyes on the ground” supported his role in the movie as Vice President Trumbull, while giving Wazers access to one of their most frequently requested voices. Some 11.7 million drives were done with Freeman’s voice. Not to mention, 145,000 navigations were made to movie theaters showing London Has Fallen.

 

Category: Retail

Staples
“Back to School”
Agency: iProspect

The back-to-school season is the biggest shopping time for business products supplier Staples. It used Waze to insert the brand into people’s daily driving routines and alert them to in-store, back-to-school offerings. But targeting wasn’t just based on Staples locations (using Branded Pins). In addition, search was used to capitalize on relevant back-to-school keywords and family-friendly destinations like parks, schools and zoos. In all, Staples’ organic search navigations increased 37 percent, brand recall jumped 70 percent and, per third-party measurement, incremental back-to-school units sold in advertised stores rose 4 percent while foot traffic rose 2 percent. Waze delivered an incremental ROAS two times higher than Staples’ average display campaigns.

 

Category: CPG

Coca-Cola
“Coca-Cola Freestyle Flavors Program”
Agency: Universal McCann

People love the 100-plus beverage options available through Coca-Cola Freestyle, but it’s not always clear where they can find self-serve machines. The beverage giant leveraged Waze to intercept and direct consumers to restaurants that had Coca-Cola Freestyle, using logos of the food service clients on Branded Pins to identify those locations. More than 80 million impressions were served to consumers on the go. As Jamiese Miller, senior manager for customer connections planning, Coca-Cola North America pointed out, “Coca-Cola is continually looking for interesting, relevant ways to connect people with our brands. Waze offered us a unique opportunity to point users to places that serve Coca-Cola Freestyle and inform them of the 100-plus Coca-Cola beverage options available to enjoy.”

 

Category: Auto

Mopar
“Maximize Your Drive”
Agency: Universal McCann

What could be more important to people on long drives than making sure their vehicles are in tip-top shape? Mopar, the service, parts and customer-care brand of FCA US LLC, was looking to build awareness for its Express Lane locations. They leveraged Waze’s Route Length Targeting to reach “roadtrippers,” a segment of drivers Waze defines as being en route to destinations more than 100 miles away. As part of their optimization strategy, Mopar worked with Waze analysts and designers to determine design elements that resonated most with drivers, while continually refreshing ad messaging based on consumer engagement. For example, Mopar compared the results of creative A/B testing and made strategic adjustments resulting in 102 percent navigation lift and a 184 percent brand lift.

 

Category: Waze Local

MD Now Urgent Care
MD Now Seasonal
Agency: MDG Advertising

If you’re sick, it helps to know the closest place to get care. As the fastest growing independent provider of urgent care services in South Florida, MD Now Urgent Care needed to alert people to its newly opened locations while also boosting awareness and foot traffic to its existing clinics. This top urgent care provider leveraged Waze’s small business offering, Waze Local, to add Branded Pins to the map and promote their locations in search results. Ad messaging promoted exclusive seasonal offers including back-to-school sports physicals and coupon codes for flu shot discounts. By reaching drivers in close proximity to individual MD Now facilities, Waze created a high level of location awareness. In all, MD Now saw an increase in brand exposure to more than 7.6 million impressions, an increase in foot traffic to 400-plus navigations and produced more than 5,700 brand engagements.

To see more successful campaigns, visit the Waze Inspiration Gallery.