A partnership between Kiwi publisher and broadcaster NZME and beer brand Corona saw individualised audio content targeted in real-time.

In an INMA Ideas Blog, integration general manager Margaret Hawker tells how an approach from Corona with a brief to animate the Mexican-style lager’s summer-themed tagline, ‘From where you’d rather be,’ NZME group account director Matt Tattle spotted an opportunity for targeted content.

“Seizing on the idea of Corona Surf Reports, NZME’s campaign used dynamic creative optimisation to broadcast live reports, primarily on mobile, for the surf beach within 20 kilometres of the listener’s real-time location,” she says. 

“Targetting beach goers aged 25-54 years listening to iHeartRadio, Corona Surf Reports broke new ground for individualised audio content targeted in real-time.”

The ‘Corona Surf Reports’ campaign allowed surfers to get audio weather reports in real time, using a pioneering combination of live analytics, content creation, and geo-targetting for radio.

Tattle says the idea was to get the Corona brand as close to the beach as possible, reinforcing the ‘From where you’d rather be’ also evident in TVC and outdoor brand assets.

“But rather than simply reinforce Corona’s association with the beach, we wanted the brand to play an active role in taking targeted listeners to where they’d rather be: at the beach,” he says. “We settled on the summer experience of surfing, with Corona Surf Reports positively interrupting listener journeys with live information, via mobile, pointing to ‘where you’d rather be’.”

NZME worked with partner Adswizz, to build a platform that took live weather and surf information from New Zealand’s top 20 surf beaches, matching that information with pre-recorded statements explaining current surf conditions. “Research told us that surfers most cared about location, wind speed and direction, and swell. So, our voice talent spent literally days in the studio voicing 16 wind directions, 30 wind speeds, and 39 swell heights, which are combined to create 6,400 different ad variables,” he says.

Tattle says the ‘smart piece’ is called dynamic creative optimisation, which assembles in real-time, the correct pre-made audio elements to create a ‘live’ surf report relevant to the listener’s location.

“Thanks to iHeartRadio listener account information, the ad knows where the listener is and responds by selecting the best creative combination to report the conditions at the closest beach.”

The beauty of the digital campaign has been that publishers could deliver a precise number of spots. In total, 751,000 ads were delivered over the three-month summer period, 95 per cent of them via mobile. “The message hit the mark with beachgoers, with a 99.6 per cent listen-through rate confirming relevancy,” he says.

Critically, brand owner Lion also recorded a two per cent uptick on Corona’s brand equity metric: ‘a brand that appeals to me’, which they attributed to the relevancy of an occasion-based point-in-time message.

Buoyed by the success, Lion has relaunched the campaign for the current ski and snowboard season – though Corona sales have outstripped supply, temporarily putting the campaign on ice.

“Audio is a powerful channel for advertisers, with increased listening on the move via headphones helping to reach big audiences as they travel,” says Tattle. “Brands have seen the potential and are including more digital audio in the campaign mix.

“Corona Surf Reports moves the needle on traditional targetting and audience engagement, using data in a way that delivers highly personalised audio content to connect advertisers with motivated audiences.”