General Merchandise/HBC

Ricker to Go Mobile

New ad rep examines marketing opportunities
ANDERSON, Ind. -- Ricker Oil Co., the operator of 32 BP ampm convenience stores and fuel stations in the Indianapolis area, has named Publicis Indianapolis as its advertising agency of record. Publicis Indianapolis will assist Ricker with branding and marketing initiatives, with a focus on local sponsorships and mobile marketing, according to DM News.

"The customer for these stores are upwards of 35 years old and fairly evenly split between male and female, which is a prime audience for mobile marketing," said Tom Hirschauer, president and GM at Publicis Indianapolis.

Ricker [image-nocss] Oil, a family-owned company based in Anderson, Ind., is interested in using mobile marketing to generate traffic in its stores, with several different applications as possibilities.

With several different amateur, semi-pro and professional teams based in the Indianapolis area, Publicis Indianapolis will be working on developing sponsorship opportunities that work with mobile.

Another possible application is text messaging to alert customers when gas prices change. "Pushing someone at that point could make a lot of sense," said Hirschauer.

Finally, the agency is investigating day-part marketing and sending mobile coupons around breakfast, lunch and dinner time for food items in the company's convenience stores.

"We think mobile has some real applications" in the convenience-store and gas-station arena, said Hirschauer.

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