Shazam: "Move" users with content

Via Shazam app, the TV user gets to Jeep during a commercial to additional info about the car.Back in 2002, the company Shazam Entertainment Limited launched a technology that makes it possible to identify music tracks with the help of a cell phone. The "Shazam" app became a success story: The entertainment app is now used by over 150 million users worldwide. Over 15 billion songs have been located with the help of Shazam. In Switzerland, the app has 6.3 million downloads and 1.3 million active users.Marketers have also long since discovered the app's potential. The audio recognition function can also be used to present mobile users with additional information on their smartphones during TV commercials ("second screen advertising")."Shazam for TV" still rather rarely usedThe Swiss marketing of advertising offers via the Shazam app is handled by Stailamedia AG, which is based in Zurich. Stailamedia has been offering advertisers in Switzerland in-app media advertising formats and "Shazam for TV" since May 2015. The "Listening Screen" for mobile branding campaigns has been most in demand so far. A company's advertising message is displayed while the app identifies a piece of music, while "Shazam for TV" is still rarely used. The concept is not suitable for every product. It only works if the TV campaign also has a certain reach. "For small TV campaigns, the sum of possible interactions is simply too low to achieve a significant advertising impact via the second-screen channel," says Stailamedia CEO Michael Baum.Jeep interactive second screen campaignThe example of car manufacturer Jeep shows what a successful second-screen campaign can look like. From September 7 to 27, 2015, an interactive TV campaign for the new Jeep Cherokee ran in Switzerland, which was implemented with Stailamedia. After the call-to-action in the TV spot, users could not only call up detailed info on new engine options, the multimedia system and other extras. Information on the music track from the commercial as well as the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were also presented on the smartphone. Furthermore, the user had the option of booking a test drive at a nearby dealer directly via the app and ordering the current Jeep Cherokee catalog. "The dwell time with the brand is significantly higher through Shazam for TV than with standard TV campaigns," Baum said.New advertising opportunities thanks to image recognitionMeanwhile, the Shazam app has added an image recognition service in addition to acoustic recognition. This opens up new advertising opportunities for the world of marketing. In the US, various brands have already launched print ads that Shazam can recognize by scanning. The app directs the user directly to "extra content," which provides the prospect with further information in text, video or image form. In contrast to the QR code, an entire advertisement or poster can be scanned. The forwarding takes place without interruption in fractions of a second. Shazam makes it possible to analyze such a campaign in a targeted manner, for example by tracking user interactions. Stailamedia will be offering this form of advertising under the name "Shazam Visual" from 2016.Author: Simon Wolanin