Build-A-Bear Workshop and Vibes Stuff Users' Passbooks in Successful Mobile Marketing Campaign

CHICAGO, March 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Vibes, a mobile marketing and technology company, today revealed the results of a successful mobile campaign aimed at engaging and increasing the loyal customer base of Build-A-Bear Workshop through their most personal device – their mobile phones. This first-to-market Passbook solution from Vibes, which leveraged Passbook's location-enabled push notification feature, drove Build-A-Bear Workshop Guests to the stores to claim a promotional offer via coupon code or pass. The initiative resulted in a 58.7 percent pass install rate among iOS 6 users and an overall click-through rate of 5.3 percent.

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"We are thrilled with both the impressive results and the simple, turn-key functionality of Vibes' mobile customer engagement solution," said Teresa Kroll, Build-A-Bear Workshop chief marketing and entertainment bear. "Vibes quickly built an easy-to-use, dynamic solution, leveraging the latest technology, to offer our brand a new and relevant way to engage with our loyal subscriber base. At Build-A-Bear Workshop, the experience our Guests have while in one of our stores is one of the things that makes us unique, so having the ability to leverage the location-based feature in Passbook was ideal for a mobile campaign. This added relevance and immediacy to the offer and provided real value to our loyal Guests, which is extremely important to us."

How It Worked
The campaign, which ran from Oct. 27 through Oct. 31, sought to achieve a few goals: notify the existing subscriber base of a new short code, re-engage loyal Build-A-Bear Workshop Guests and drive traffic to one of its 288 stores in North America. To achieve these goals, Vibes and Build-A-Bear Workshop sent an alert via SMS to the existing subscriber base notifying them of the new short code and expressing appreciation through a timely offer. The promotion was available to both iOS 6 and non-iOS 6 users, and led to either a location-enabled pass for Passbook or a mobile Web-based offer. Vibes both designed and executed the Passbook offer via its Catapult™ mobile marketing platform.

The Results
Goals achieved: the campaign realized a 58.7 percent pass download rate among iOS 6 users and overall click-through rate of 5.3 percent. In addition to engaging its loyal customers, Build-A-Bear Workshop experienced a consistent stream of foot traffic from those customers who received the offer; more than 5 percent of non-iOS 6 users and 4 percent of iOS 6 users redeemed the offer in-store.

"Passbook provides the power of giving consumers relevant and timely information while they are on the go. As a result, Passbook is the perfect channel for retailers – as Build-A-Bear Workshop did so successfully – to use and grow their customer databases," said Jack Philbin, co-founder and CEO of Vibes. "By leveraging Vibes' Passbook solution, as well as SMS and mobile Web, retailers can create holistic mobile marketing campaigns that drive in-store engagement and continue conversations with their customers – even when they are not shopping."

About Vibes
Founded in 1998, Vibes is a mobile marketing and technology leader that helps some of the world's biggest brands acquire, engage and deepen relationships throughout the customer lifecycle. Vibes' Catapult platform enables brands, agencies and media companies to launch a wide range of mobile solutions from SMS, to MMS, QR Codes, on-screen, alerts, mobile Web, mobile incentives and integration with social platforms. Using Vibes' Mobile Relationship Management (MRM) approach, companies forge immediate and long-lasting customer relationships by tapping into the uniquely personal nature of the mobile phone. The Company has delivered billions of mobile experiences on behalf of customers that include Verizon, Allstate, The Gap, Tribune, Fox, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Gannett and the Chicago Bulls. Vibes is one of only nine Tier 1 aggregators with secure, direct connections to all the major carriers. To learn more about Vibes, visit www.vibes.com or connect on Facebook.com/VibesMedia or Twitter.com/Vibes_Media.

About Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.
Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is the only global company that offers an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment experience. There are more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide, including company-owned stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Mexico and South America. Founded in St. Louis in 1997, Build-A-Bear Workshop is the leader in interactive retail. Brands include make-your-own Major League Baseball^® mascot in-stadium locations, and Build-A-Dino^® stores. Build-A-Bear Workshop extends its in-store interactive experience online with its award winning virtual world website at bearville.com^™. The company was named to the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For^® list for the fourth year in a row in 2012. Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE: BBW) posted total revenue of $394.4 million in fiscal 2011. For more information, call 888.560.BEAR (2327) or visit the company's award-winning website at buildabear.com^®.

TRADEMARKS
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Build-A-Bear Workshop^® should only be used in capital letters to refer to our products and services and should not be used as a verb.

SOURCE Vibes