#MobExAwards highlight: WINK+ innovates from home during circuit breaker

 WINK+ app was created by SMRT Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of SMRT Commercial, as a digital offering to engage consumers and provide advertisers with a strong solution that provides data through campaign measurability.  This year the app took home the bronze award for Most Innovative Use of Mobile Technology at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's MOBEX 2020 Awards. Given the current COVID-19 climate, this year  WINK+ saw a decreases in its app usage rate due to lesser people taking public transport and stepping out.

Quick to evolve, the team decided to launch “WINK+ from Home” to drive long-term customer engagement and retention during the Circuit Breaker period through its innovative use of mobile technology to strengthen its brand position and brand association amongst customers.

Challenge

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore entered the Circuit Breaker period as part of the prevention measures to contain the outbreak through significant reduction in movement and social interaction. The drop in public transport ridership and human traffic in station greatly affected WINK+ app activity, and clients saw a sharp decrease app usage rates. This resulted in app users being unable to earn their daily WINK+ points, and the total number of impressions and clickthrough rate for campaigns by clients seeing a decrease in interaction due to lesser scanning of QR codes.

The challenge then was for the SMRT Media team to pivot and develop a solution to meet customers’ daily needs during the Circuit Breaker period.

The WINK+ from Home campaign was created. The objective was to integrate the WINK+ Go feature to educate users on how to use WINK+ Go to earn points, reward WINK+ users for their brand loyalty, and showcase WINK+ Go as an additional app feature for advertisers to connect with users outside of the SMRT network. Ultimately, this was done with the hopes of driving long-term customer engagement and retention by turning users into passionate promoters.

Strategy

The aim of the campaign was to increase app usage and engagement to drive customer retention and new user acquisition through the introduction of new offerings, for users to earn daily rewards and enjoy the benefits of WINK + from the comfort of their home.

WINK+ app rewards commuters with free WINK+ points through various innovative WINK+ solutions:

• Tapping on any fare-gates when entering and exiting SMRT stations
• WINK+ QR Scans – Scanning WINK+ QR codes located island wide in SMRT trains, buses, taxis and advertising panels around SMRT stations
• WINK+ Play – quick and fun in-app gamification contests and short on-the-go surveys to earn prizes and bonus points
• WINK+ Go – driving through an operational ERP gantry in your private vehicle

To adapt to the ‘new normal’, the WINK+ Go feature which primarily rewarded motorists when they pass through operational ERP gantries, was now nhanced to address the majority of WINK+ users. Alongside the team also launched the WINK+ Play, to position WINK+ as more than just an app that rewards users with free points, but rather, it is also an app that keeps people entertained and engaged anytime, anywhere through relevant content.

To strengthen WINK+’s brand position and brand association amongst consumers, the team continuously developed fresh and interesting gamification content and interactive campaigns to demonstrate the versatility of its in-app features and the opportunity for advertisers to continue connecting with users through brand messages, driving them to their online platforms, even outside of the SMRT network.

Execution

A multi-channel marketing approach was adopted to maximise campaign reach by displaying publicity collateral across SMRT Media’s digital screens, WINK+ in-app disruptive banners, inapp notifications, social media platforms and eDMs.

SMRT Media’s in-house creative, web/app development and marketing teams worked closely to develop the game mechanics and creative assets in-house to provide users with a seamless game experience within the WINK+ App.

The WINK+ from Home campaign focuses on two crucial areas – Play Giveaway and Facebook Giveaway participation.

WINK+ Play Giveaway: WINK+ enables users to reap maximum rewards with minimum effort by awarding users five WINK+ points daily via the WINK+ Go feature simply by reading a series of health and lifestyle tips when they accessed the WINK+ Play feature in the app. Through the daily participation, each user was able to earn 200 WINK+ points (worth $2.00) during the campaign period. 

WINK+ Facebook Giveaway: Users could also stand a chance to win 500 WINK+ bonus points (worth $5.00) in a Facebook Giveaway on WINK+’s Facebook Page. All they had to do was share creative and fun ways on how they were spending their time at home during the Circuit Breaker period by uploading their stories, photos or videos in the comments section of the WINK+ from Home campaign post.

Results

The WINK+ from Home campaign attracted high amount of entries that were digitally captured on the WINK+ app over the campaign period. Its point redemption rate via WINK+ Go was higher during the campaign as compared to daily WINK+ Go redemption over a four-month period prior to campaign. The WINK+ from Home campaign attracted more than 27,000 entries over the campaign period and achieve its highest unique user participation in WINK+ campaigns to date.

The average daily WINK+ points redemption via WINK+ Go increased across the campaign period indicates that users were quickly familiarised with the earning and redeeming of points via the WINK+ Go feature.

Campaign participation and WINK+ points redemption rates indicate that future campaigns can be developed along this concept as users are familiar with an additional way for them to earn WINK+ points – anytime, anywhere