Receive the latest articles for free. Click here to get the Luxury Daily newsletters.

Tiffany continues lifestyle push with Pandora sponsorship

September 14, 2011

Tiffany banner ad on Pandora

Jeweler Tiffany & Co. is boosting the lifestyle flaunt of its What Makes Love True microsite and mobile application with a sponsorship on Internet and mobile radio service Pandora.

Consumers are served an advertisement for the Tiffany-customized “Love is in the Air” station in a banner ad when listening to different stations on Pandora. Listeners can tap on the ad, which takes them to a landing page for the What Makes Love True site on their mobile browsers.

“Sponsoring a Pandora station is an innovative way for luxury brands to engage users,” said Andrea Wilson, director of digital retail strategy and luxury practice lead at iProspect, Fort Worth, TX.

“It shows the audience that the brand has personality beyond mere common digital engagements such as network buys or fashion magazine sites,” she said.

“Even more important to luxury brands, this is an unusual placement that allows a luxury brand to differentiate itself further than its luxury cohorts and help define its brand attributes through music to the consumer.”

Ms. Wilson is not affiliated with Tiffany or Pandora, but offered to comment as an industry expert on digital marketing.

Pandora was not able to comment before press deadline, nor did Tiffany.

Tuning in
The What Makes Love True microsite and app were designed to exemplify the Tiffany lifestyle – that is, love – through romantic movies, songs, engagement tips and real-life love stories.

When listening to music on Pandora, consumers are served a banner ad for the Tiffany-sponsored “Love is in the Air” station.

Clicking on the ad takes consumers to the station, which is chock-full of love songs from artists such as Beyonce, Brad Paisley, Train and Jack Johnson.

The banner ad is shown below the artist, and tapping on the ad takes consumers to a section of the What Makes Love True site.

tiffany-pandora-art-of-romance

What Makes Love True page

The art of romance page is shown where consumers can browse romantic songs and films, many of which are based in or around New York.

Tapping on a movie or song will take consumers to a page where they can listen or order the media on iTunes.

Users can browse the other sections of the What Makes Love True site such as love stories and location-based customer-curated content, but since it is not optimized, the text is hard to read and consumers have to use the pinch-and-zoom feature.

“Mobile sites are critically important for use with mobile banner ads for the simple reason that the customer needs an easy way to engage with the banner ad call-to-action,” said Steve Timpson, president of SiteMinis, Atlanta.

“Failure to recognize the click-through engagement with a mobile site risks losing the customer,” he said. “Why do the banner ad at all then?”

tiffany-pandora-music

Music selection on the site

True blue
Tiffany’s What Makes True Love microsite and mobile app have been marketed by the brand quite vigorously.

The brand debuted its app and microsite in June, just in time for wedding season (see story).

Tiffany continued its lifestyle push with mobile banner ads in the New York Times iPhone app that led to Apple’s App Store for download (see story).

tiffany-love-app-stories

Love stories in the Tiffany app

The jeweler may be attempting to further its connection with lifestyle, and not just products, through this endeavor.

“Even though [this is] a relatively short-term campaign, sponsoring a music station can show long-term effects post-buy,” iProspect’s Ms. Wilson said. “For example, one of our clients sponsored a Pandora station two years ago, and the station is still saved as a favorite from some audience members that interacted with the sponsorship ads.

“In addition, listeners tend to stay on the site for a much longer period of time than other types of buys, so the ongoing engagement of the consumer is a major benefit not often found in other forms of marketing,” she said.

“Finally, Tiffany is a romantic luxury brand and, by sponsoring a targeted love station, it is further sharing its personality with listeners.”

Final Take
Rachel Lamb, associate reporter on Luxury Daily, New York

Rachel Lamb is an associate reporter on Luxury Daily. Her beats are apparel and accessories, arts and entertainment, education, food and beverage, fragrance and personal care, government, healthcare, home furnishings, jewelry, legal/privacy and nonprofits. Reach her at rachel@napean.com.