Shine Brighter this Ramadan with Innovative, Interactive Mobile Ads

Globally observed by over 2 billion people, Ramadan is the time for togetherness, connection and community. There’s no doubt that Southeast Asia (SEA) celebrates Ramadan (and Eid) on a massive scale. 

For brands in the Asia Pacific region, Ramadan is a vital commercial period with many shoppers spending more time (and money) online, during this month. Using interactive and immersive mobile experiences, your brand can stay top-of-mind, while keeping your audience thoroughly engaged.

As per a Ramadan report by M&C Saatchi Indonesia, 69% of shoppers in Indonesia feel that Ramadan is a great time to find the best deals online. 88% of Indonesians are expected to shop more online in Ramadan 2023, which will peak 7–10 days before Eid-Al-Fitr, according to TheTradeDesk.  

The main challenge for brands today, is to stand out from the competition and connect with the right audience. Your brand can leverage granular targeting and innovative mobile sensors to reach the correct demographic at the right time, for your mobile marketing campaign to garner better user engagement and a higher level of success!

Most engaging, interactive mobile ad campaigns of Ramadan 2022  

Talking about successful ads, here are some of the best mobile ad campaigns by mCanvas for brands in the Southeast Asian region, from Ramadan last year:

Celcom’s gamified campaign flipped the narrative, with 88X engagement above industry standard

Celcom wanted to celebrate Ramadan by building a special connection with their audience in Malaysia. The objective was to spread awareness about Celcom among users, through an immersive gamified concept.

Users were asked to tap and flip the tudung saji to match similar festive dishes with one another. Once they found the matching pair, they were given special offers (up to RM360 in Duit Raya), to use on the Celcom Online Shop.  

This Ramadan campaign reached over 1 million users, with a stellar engagement rate of 17.56% which is a whopping 88 times the industry average. This interactive game worked great with the target audience, who spent 18 seconds thoroughly engaged with the ad.  

A not-so-simple idea turned into an interactive experience!

BCA’s gamified campaign for Ramadan revealed exciting offers and engaged 1.64MN users for 10 seconds on average

The objective of BCAs Ramadan dan Lebaran campaign was to build relevance and increase excitement with users by revealing their banking offers and discounts in a unique and engaging way.

mCanvas strategically built the communication around Ramadan and drew synergy between the festival and BCA’s limited period offers. Targeting the right audience, the brand’s message communicated the importance and benefits of BCA (Indonesia) with this gamified concept through innovative ad formats. 

mCanvas provided a gamified approach by asking users to tap on different offers on their mobile screen within a fixed time. The response to this Ramadan campaign was doubly-joyous for BCA. The campaign reached 1.64 million users with an engagement rate of 4.52% which is 22 times higher than the industry standard. Users spent 10 seconds on average, engaged with the ad.

Dutch Lady’s video ad was the perfect blend of nutritious and delicious, achieving 19% VTR

Dutch Lady (Singapore) partnered with mCanvas to re-introduce their nutritious and delicious flavoured milk boxes, back by popular demand. To do this, the interstitial used an engaging video ad to showcase the two products, with kurma and banana bits falling on the screen behind the video.

The exciting campaign reached almost 2 million users from the target audience. The video garnered over 19% VTR with an outbound click rate of above 11%, to establish brand recall for Dutch Lady. A successful Ramadan campaign that was an instant hit with their audience.

Learnings from our Ramadan 2022 ad campaigns

Here are takeaways from our Ramadan 2022 campaigns, which your brand can implement while creating campaigns during the festive season:

• Understand Audience Expectations– Brands need to research consumer sentiments, habits and lifestyles during Ramadan, to understand their expectations. Most Indonesians begin shopping online as early as 5 am, with a 400% increase in shoppers two weeks ahead of Ramadan. Only once you know your user base, your brand can create a marketing campaign that appeals to their needs.  
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• Decode User Behaviour – Ads should not be served close to the time of fasting, prayer and reflection throughout the holy month. 49% of Indonesians are expected to spend more on cosmetics & fragrances, 52% will prioritize health & personal care, while 61% will choose to buy clothing and accessories, this year. To ensure your brand message reaches the right audience at the right times during Ramadan, use granular targeting and leverage mobile sensors for a successful marketing campaign.  

Provide Mobile-first Experiences – During Ramadan (or any festive period), provide consumers with interactive, immersive mobile experiences, to keep them engaged. Use relevant content and exciting creatives in your mobile ads that will appeal to your audience, capture their attention and drive engagement.

• mCanvas provides 20+ laser-focused targeting tools based on location, age, gender, weather, income group, time, etc. to ensure your mobile ad reaches the right audience. Your brand can leverage AR/ VR experiences, mobile gamification, and interactive sensors including tilt, swipe, tap, shake, and 60+ other features in your ads to provide mobile-first experiences to your audience.

In conclusion, to ensure that your marketing campaign hits the right spot with your audience during Ramadan, mCanvas recommends:  

your brand + interactive ads = higher brand recall

So, is your brand ready to drive high-impact display and video ads to over 200 million users in SEA across premium mobile apps & websites, during this festive month? Reach out to mCanvas to increase your reach and brand recall using interactive mobile ads, to make the most of the upcoming Ramadan period.