The worldwide mobile marketing and advertising market is expected to be worth $3 billion in 2007, according to market research firm ABI Research.
The market will balloon to $19 billion by 2011, the firm said in a study published Tuesday. The bulk of the revenue will be generated by advertising through mobile search and video. In particular, broadcast mobile video will see a lot of mobile marketing activity. The firm predicts that by 2011 video-based ads will surpass SMS as a source of mobile marketing spending, and that advertising on broadcast mobile video alone will reach about $9 billion by 2011.
Everyone and their brother have been predicting a huge market for mobile advertising over the next several years. It's easy to see why. Today there are more than 2 billion mobile subscribers in the world. This compares with roughly 1.4 billion televisions and 1 billion PCs worldwide. Mobile-service operators could reap as much as 50 percent of this advertising revenue as they negotiate deals with content owners.
But ABI's analysts believe that there is still work to be done to make sure the promise is realized. Mobile operators, advertisers and marketing companies need to come up with different business models and strategies to target the opportunity.
While mobile marketing is fairly well developed in Europe and Asia, it's still in its very early days in the U.S., Judith Rosall, principal analyst for ABI, said in the press release. Major advertising agencies are still relatively inexperienced with mobile marketing campaigns and reluctant to utilize location-based services and technologies such as MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) and mobile search that are still in the early stages of deployment.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Xiam to Power Vodafone Mobile Advertising Channel
Europe Ireland : Xiam Technologies announced its agreement with Vodafone Ireland to manage the technical and commercial inventory of its Mobile Advertising proposition as part of Vodafone’s recently released Mobile Internet portal.
Xiam will use its MPOS (My Personal Offers System) technology to serve ads on Vodafone’s new Mobile Internet portal. Xiam will also provide extensive ad management, reporting and campaign management to advertisers.
With Xiam, advertisers can present interactive advertisements on Vodafone’s Mobile Internet portal such as animated click through banners which can bring users to the advertisers mobile site or purchase content and services directly.
Chris Handley, Head of Mobile Internet and Content at Vodafone Ireland, comments “At Vodafone we see mobile advertising as a significant opportunity to augment revenues whilst improving the portal offering and Xiam’s proven commercial and technical know-how will bring the best to the channel for both advertisers and subscribers. We are delighted to announce Xiam as our partner for the advertising channel.”
Colm Healy, CEO at Xiam comments, “We are really excited about bringing our MPOS technology to Vodafone Mobile Internet. Its ability to reliably track ads and combine real-time responses with data such as usage history, purchase history or credit rating to target ads more precisely will be a real driver of the channel for both Vodafone and advertisers. Feeding this data back into campaigns leads to higher response rates and allows advertisers to maximise return on investment.”
Launch advertisers to appear on the portal include a mix of international and domestic brands including Xbox, Pepsi, SonyBMG, Halifax, Warner Bros., Irish Rail, Daft.ie, Carzone.ie, and RTE.
Vodafone have launched a new flat rate data tariff as well as a revamped portal design to make it easier for their users to find content. For advertisers, mobile provides much higher response rates than traditional media particularly with youth segments who are increasingly deserting traditional advertising media in favour of new media.
Xiam’s Targeting and Recommendations system dynamically presents the best adverts to consumers by automatically collecting and analysing subscriber data and behavioural patterns. The MPOS (My Personal Offers System) solution uses sophisticated analytical techniques to identify the right ads for subscribers and the right time to promote them. By presenting adverts relevant to subscribers’ interests and lifestyles, MPOS can dramatically accelerate conversion rates and improve user experience across all digital channels.
Source: http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Sept2007/5208.htm
Xiam will use its MPOS (My Personal Offers System) technology to serve ads on Vodafone’s new Mobile Internet portal. Xiam will also provide extensive ad management, reporting and campaign management to advertisers.
With Xiam, advertisers can present interactive advertisements on Vodafone’s Mobile Internet portal such as animated click through banners which can bring users to the advertisers mobile site or purchase content and services directly.
Chris Handley, Head of Mobile Internet and Content at Vodafone Ireland, comments “At Vodafone we see mobile advertising as a significant opportunity to augment revenues whilst improving the portal offering and Xiam’s proven commercial and technical know-how will bring the best to the channel for both advertisers and subscribers. We are delighted to announce Xiam as our partner for the advertising channel.”
Colm Healy, CEO at Xiam comments, “We are really excited about bringing our MPOS technology to Vodafone Mobile Internet. Its ability to reliably track ads and combine real-time responses with data such as usage history, purchase history or credit rating to target ads more precisely will be a real driver of the channel for both Vodafone and advertisers. Feeding this data back into campaigns leads to higher response rates and allows advertisers to maximise return on investment.”
Launch advertisers to appear on the portal include a mix of international and domestic brands including Xbox, Pepsi, SonyBMG, Halifax, Warner Bros., Irish Rail, Daft.ie, Carzone.ie, and RTE.
Vodafone have launched a new flat rate data tariff as well as a revamped portal design to make it easier for their users to find content. For advertisers, mobile provides much higher response rates than traditional media particularly with youth segments who are increasingly deserting traditional advertising media in favour of new media.
Xiam’s Targeting and Recommendations system dynamically presents the best adverts to consumers by automatically collecting and analysing subscriber data and behavioural patterns. The MPOS (My Personal Offers System) solution uses sophisticated analytical techniques to identify the right ads for subscribers and the right time to promote them. By presenting adverts relevant to subscribers’ interests and lifestyles, MPOS can dramatically accelerate conversion rates and improve user experience across all digital channels.
Source: http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Sept2007/5208.htm
Yahoo! adopts mobile ad guidelines in Europe, Middle east and Africa
Sunnyvale, Calif. — Yahoo said all its global mobile properties will adhere to new mobile advertising guidelines for Europe, the Middle East and Africa announced by the Mobile Marketing Association.
Yahoo worked closely with the MMA to establish the guidelines, which are designed to enable advertising partners to launch global ad campaigns that display effectively on most mobile devices. Yahoo said it expects to complete the conversion of its mobile Web properties and all of the mobile properties supported by Yahoo by the fourth quarter.
The MMA EMEA guidelines can be viewed at www.mmaglobal.com/emeamobileadvertising.pdf.
Source: http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/FREE/70925004/1078
Yahoo worked closely with the MMA to establish the guidelines, which are designed to enable advertising partners to launch global ad campaigns that display effectively on most mobile devices. Yahoo said it expects to complete the conversion of its mobile Web properties and all of the mobile properties supported by Yahoo by the fourth quarter.
The MMA EMEA guidelines can be viewed at www.mmaglobal.com/emeamobileadvertising.pdf.
Source: http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/FREE/70925004/1078
Burger King Makes Foray into Mobile Phone Gaming
Mobile game and content provider Mobliss has been hired by Burger King to create cell phone games featuring the chain’s products, the latest effort by The Home of the Whopper’s marketers to leverage games to market its brand.
Mobliss, based in Seattle and owned by Japan’s Index Corp., is already developing the new mobile games, which will be available via download to mobile devices early next year. As has been the case with Burger King’s prior forays into game advertising and marketing, at least some of the new cell phone titles will feature the company’s ubiquitous (and somewhat strange) icon, The King.
In a statement announcing the initiative, Burger King said the first game from Mobliss will have players attempting to win a role as of The King's protégé “by facing challenges and progressing in the virtual world of a Burger King-themed city.” Gamers will be able to accrue points as they successfully complete tasks and -- in typical video game fashion -- the challenges become increasingly difficult as gamers advance through the levels.
According to the company, the game experience will be “enhanced by the peer-to-peer interaction of the community.”
Burger King’s president of global marketing, strategy and innovation, issued a statement saying the company wanted to go beyond merely paying for ad units within games.
“Anyone can buy advertising space in gaming,” he said. “Our vision is to be successful in generating original content that is relevant to our consumer. Content-generated share of voice wins hearts and commands attention in an over-crowded medium." Neither Mobliss nor Burger King responded to a request for comment.
It's not the first time Burger King’s game-advertising endeavors have gone beyond merely having the company name on signs or items within games. BK’s work with Blitz games resulted in a number of titles -- released on disk for the Xbox console and sold at Burger Kings for $3.99 each – including one called “Sneak King” that had The King sneaking up on players and granting them BK meals.
Also, Burger King brokered product integrations with Electronic Arts for games including a version of "Fight Night Round 3" in which The King appeared as a character to fight.
The sandwich chain will promote the mobile games through signs in the restaurants and on meal packaging. Those who want to buy the game will be asked to send a text message. Mobliss has direct publishing agreements with a number of national carriers including Sprint, AT&T, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, Alltel and T-Mobile.
The licensing deal between Mobliss and Burger King was brokered by the company’s licensing agent, Broad Street Licensing Group.
Source: http://www.clickz.com/3627232
Mobliss, based in Seattle and owned by Japan’s Index Corp., is already developing the new mobile games, which will be available via download to mobile devices early next year. As has been the case with Burger King’s prior forays into game advertising and marketing, at least some of the new cell phone titles will feature the company’s ubiquitous (and somewhat strange) icon, The King.
In a statement announcing the initiative, Burger King said the first game from Mobliss will have players attempting to win a role as of The King's protégé “by facing challenges and progressing in the virtual world of a Burger King-themed city.” Gamers will be able to accrue points as they successfully complete tasks and -- in typical video game fashion -- the challenges become increasingly difficult as gamers advance through the levels.
According to the company, the game experience will be “enhanced by the peer-to-peer interaction of the community.”
Burger King’s president of global marketing, strategy and innovation, issued a statement saying the company wanted to go beyond merely paying for ad units within games.
“Anyone can buy advertising space in gaming,” he said. “Our vision is to be successful in generating original content that is relevant to our consumer. Content-generated share of voice wins hearts and commands attention in an over-crowded medium." Neither Mobliss nor Burger King responded to a request for comment.
It's not the first time Burger King’s game-advertising endeavors have gone beyond merely having the company name on signs or items within games. BK’s work with Blitz games resulted in a number of titles -- released on disk for the Xbox console and sold at Burger Kings for $3.99 each – including one called “Sneak King” that had The King sneaking up on players and granting them BK meals.
Also, Burger King brokered product integrations with Electronic Arts for games including a version of "Fight Night Round 3" in which The King appeared as a character to fight.
The sandwich chain will promote the mobile games through signs in the restaurants and on meal packaging. Those who want to buy the game will be asked to send a text message. Mobliss has direct publishing agreements with a number of national carriers including Sprint, AT&T, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, Alltel and T-Mobile.
The licensing deal between Mobliss and Burger King was brokered by the company’s licensing agent, Broad Street Licensing Group.
Source: http://www.clickz.com/3627232
Mobile company encourages advertising on wheels
Mobile technology may turn Sunday-morning coupon-clipping into a relic of bygone days. According to mobile discount-offer and coupon service Cellfire, there are more than 220 million mobile users in the United States, 45 percent of whom use digital content (games, Internet, music, TV) on their phones. In addition, 57 percent of mobile users between the ages of 13 and 24 are "mobile only" -- they don't have landlines -- suggesting a significant audience for mobile marketing.
Cellfire also recently completed a six-month study on mobile-coupon redemption, revealing that 68 percent of customers who redeemed the coupons were between the ages of 18 and 34. (The next-largest segment, 35-to-44-year-olds, comprised 18 percent of coupon-redeemers.) In addition, Cellfire found that food and entertainment coupons were the most frequently redeemed.
Meanwhile, as the International Herald Tribune reported in August 2006, despite the fact that 74 percent of Americans still use coupons, "an estimated 99 percent of the roughly 200 billion coupons distributed annually in the United States end up in the trash, unused and unredeemed." Paper coupons are "the single most inefficient marketing tool you could imagine," Peter Sealey, founder and CEO of The Sausalito Group, a business and marketing consulting company, told the IHT.
In fact, many experts believe it won't be long before paper coupons disappear completely. "Coupons sent in the mail never had a direct connection to the buyer," says Gerry Purdy, vice president and chief analyst at Frost & Sullivan, a global consulting firm. It was, he adds, "sort of random if someone would even get it or use it."
The 21st century has introduced a new trend in marketing -- a shift from push to pull. Today's Internet-savvy consumers have control over what they want to see. "[Marketers are moving] away from talking about [themselves] in terms of deliverability or even ROI. There's a bigger focus on providing actionable and analytical data," says Russell McDonald, chief executive officer of email service provider iPost. "Couponing is sort of interesting because it's related to an actionable item that somebody can make use out of and benefit [from]," he says.
Marketers have taken great strides with email coupons, which can be targeted and tracked more accurately, and are now focusing on mobile devices. "Your beautiful HTML mail that would look great on Gmail looks exactly the same" on the iPhone, McDonald says. Therefore, email and mobile can work in conjunction to provide consumers with rich, portable content.
Although mobile coupons are creating a whole new realm of convenience, marketers and consumers alike worry that mobile campaigns will be intrusive -- and awash with security and logistical concerns. "There's a thin line between intruding and using personalized marketing," says Vikrant Ghandi, industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "That's the challenge: To what extreme can marketers be allowed to use personal marketing?"
In terms of logistics, previous explorations of short messaging system (SMS) coupons were flawed because they could be mass-forwarded and did not protect against fraud. Moreover, text messages are "a pretty ephemeral medium," McDonald says. "If you can catch someone in the right moment with the right offer, I think it can be very effective, but it's a transient situation, the moment kind of arrives and goes away." If a received text message isn't used immediately, it's often lost forever.
Services such as Cellfire offer a more organized and lasting option by allocating into one program on a mobile device all coupons, which can then be sorted alphabetically by advertiser, or by date received. Moreover, messages cannot be forwarded or used more than permissible, as consumers must click the "Use Now" option. Other mobile coupons are made unique through numeric or scannable codes.
Still, mobile coupon programs require the added effort of running the application and inputting a personal location, not to mention standard text messaging and Internet connection fees. Minimizing the costs for both the consumer and the retailer should increase adoption rates, Ghandi says. Once mobile catches on, experts are confident that the accompanying technology will become increasingly accessible. "I think we will get to the day where people will, quite frankly, have GPS in every phone, and location [will be] pervasive. We can go from there -- that'll make [coupons] a heck of a lot more beneficial," Frost & Sullivan's Purdy says.
But with that comes the bevy of security issues. Mobile marketers use location to track consumers and to provide the most relevant offers. They can reach consumers on a much more personal level, unlike a personal computer, which could be shared by several people in one household. So the trade-off with highly targeted marketing capabilities is added sensitivity to customers' trust and comfort. Ultimately, the key to a successful mobile campaign is to "never send unsolicited coupons," Ghandi warns. "It should always be opt-in."
As mobile technology becomes more prevalent, the dream of getting pinged with a solicitation as you walk past a particular item in the grocery store may well become reality. Experts are aware of the potential backlash. As McDonald notes, "Just because technology provides a capability, doesn't mean that it should be done. People aren't aware of how closely they are tracked in a digital world. If you draw their attention to it, it can definitely creep them out."
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=7226
Cellfire also recently completed a six-month study on mobile-coupon redemption, revealing that 68 percent of customers who redeemed the coupons were between the ages of 18 and 34. (The next-largest segment, 35-to-44-year-olds, comprised 18 percent of coupon-redeemers.) In addition, Cellfire found that food and entertainment coupons were the most frequently redeemed.
Meanwhile, as the International Herald Tribune reported in August 2006, despite the fact that 74 percent of Americans still use coupons, "an estimated 99 percent of the roughly 200 billion coupons distributed annually in the United States end up in the trash, unused and unredeemed." Paper coupons are "the single most inefficient marketing tool you could imagine," Peter Sealey, founder and CEO of The Sausalito Group, a business and marketing consulting company, told the IHT.
In fact, many experts believe it won't be long before paper coupons disappear completely. "Coupons sent in the mail never had a direct connection to the buyer," says Gerry Purdy, vice president and chief analyst at Frost & Sullivan, a global consulting firm. It was, he adds, "sort of random if someone would even get it or use it."
The 21st century has introduced a new trend in marketing -- a shift from push to pull. Today's Internet-savvy consumers have control over what they want to see. "[Marketers are moving] away from talking about [themselves] in terms of deliverability or even ROI. There's a bigger focus on providing actionable and analytical data," says Russell McDonald, chief executive officer of email service provider iPost. "Couponing is sort of interesting because it's related to an actionable item that somebody can make use out of and benefit [from]," he says.
Marketers have taken great strides with email coupons, which can be targeted and tracked more accurately, and are now focusing on mobile devices. "Your beautiful HTML mail that would look great on Gmail looks exactly the same" on the iPhone, McDonald says. Therefore, email and mobile can work in conjunction to provide consumers with rich, portable content.
Although mobile coupons are creating a whole new realm of convenience, marketers and consumers alike worry that mobile campaigns will be intrusive -- and awash with security and logistical concerns. "There's a thin line between intruding and using personalized marketing," says Vikrant Ghandi, industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "That's the challenge: To what extreme can marketers be allowed to use personal marketing?"
In terms of logistics, previous explorations of short messaging system (SMS) coupons were flawed because they could be mass-forwarded and did not protect against fraud. Moreover, text messages are "a pretty ephemeral medium," McDonald says. "If you can catch someone in the right moment with the right offer, I think it can be very effective, but it's a transient situation, the moment kind of arrives and goes away." If a received text message isn't used immediately, it's often lost forever.
Services such as Cellfire offer a more organized and lasting option by allocating into one program on a mobile device all coupons, which can then be sorted alphabetically by advertiser, or by date received. Moreover, messages cannot be forwarded or used more than permissible, as consumers must click the "Use Now" option. Other mobile coupons are made unique through numeric or scannable codes.
Still, mobile coupon programs require the added effort of running the application and inputting a personal location, not to mention standard text messaging and Internet connection fees. Minimizing the costs for both the consumer and the retailer should increase adoption rates, Ghandi says. Once mobile catches on, experts are confident that the accompanying technology will become increasingly accessible. "I think we will get to the day where people will, quite frankly, have GPS in every phone, and location [will be] pervasive. We can go from there -- that'll make [coupons] a heck of a lot more beneficial," Frost & Sullivan's Purdy says.
But with that comes the bevy of security issues. Mobile marketers use location to track consumers and to provide the most relevant offers. They can reach consumers on a much more personal level, unlike a personal computer, which could be shared by several people in one household. So the trade-off with highly targeted marketing capabilities is added sensitivity to customers' trust and comfort. Ultimately, the key to a successful mobile campaign is to "never send unsolicited coupons," Ghandi warns. "It should always be opt-in."
As mobile technology becomes more prevalent, the dream of getting pinged with a solicitation as you walk past a particular item in the grocery store may well become reality. Experts are aware of the potential backlash. As McDonald notes, "Just because technology provides a capability, doesn't mean that it should be done. People aren't aware of how closely they are tracked in a digital world. If you draw their attention to it, it can definitely creep them out."
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=7226
Mobile coupons are revolutionizing how advertisers market and customers buy
Mobile technology may turn Sunday-morning coupon-clipping into a relic of bygone days. According to mobile discount-offer and coupon service Cellfire, there are more than 220 million mobile users in the United States, 45 percent of whom use digital content (games, Internet, music, TV) on their phones. In addition, 57 percent of mobile users between the ages of 13 and 24 are "mobile only" -- they don't have landlines -- suggesting a significant audience for mobile marketing.
Cellfire also recently completed a six-month study on mobile-coupon redemption, revealing that 68 percent of customers who redeemed the coupons were between the ages of 18 and 34. (The next-largest segment, 35-to-44-year-olds, comprised 18 percent of coupon-redeemers.) In addition, Cellfire found that food and entertainment coupons were the most frequently redeemed.
Meanwhile, as the International Herald Tribune reported in August 2006, despite the fact that 74 percent of Americans still use coupons, "an estimated 99 percent of the roughly 200 billion coupons distributed annually in the United States end up in the trash, unused and unredeemed." Paper coupons are "the single most inefficient marketing tool you could imagine," Peter Sealey, founder and CEO of The Sausalito Group, a business and marketing consulting company, told the IHT.
In fact, many experts believe it won't be long before paper coupons disappear completely. "Coupons sent in the mail never had a direct connection to the buyer," says Gerry Purdy, vice president and chief analyst at Frost & Sullivan, a global consulting firm. It was, he adds, "sort of random if someone would even get it or use it."
The 21st century has introduced a new trend in marketing -- a shift from push to pull. Today's Internet-savvy consumers have control over what they want to see. "[Marketers are moving] away from talking about [themselves] in terms of deliverability or even ROI. There's a bigger focus on providing actionable and analytical data," says Russell McDonald, chief executive officer of email service provider iPost. "Couponing is sort of interesting because it's related to an actionable item that somebody can make use out of and benefit [from]," he says.
Marketers have taken great strides with email coupons, which can be targeted and tracked more accurately, and are now focusing on mobile devices. "Your beautiful HTML mail that would look great on Gmail looks exactly the same" on the iPhone, McDonald says. Therefore, email and mobile can work in conjunction to provide consumers with rich, portable content.
Although mobile coupons are creating a whole new realm of convenience, marketers and consumers alike worry that mobile campaigns will be intrusive -- and awash with security and logistical concerns. "There's a thin line between intruding and using personalized marketing," says Vikrant Ghandi, industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "That's the challenge: To what extreme can marketers be allowed to use personal marketing?"
In terms of logistics, previous explorations of short messaging system (SMS) coupons were flawed because they could be mass-forwarded and did not protect against fraud. Moreover, text messages are "a pretty ephemeral medium," McDonald says. "If you can catch someone in the right moment with the right offer, I think it can be very effective, but it's a transient situation, the moment kind of arrives and goes away." If a received text message isn't used immediately, it's often lost forever.
Services such as Cellfire offer a more organized and lasting option by allocating into one program on a mobile device all coupons, which can then be sorted alphabetically by advertiser, or by date received. Moreover, messages cannot be forwarded or used more than permissible, as consumers must click the "Use Now" option. Other mobile coupons are made unique through numeric or scannable codes.
Still, mobile coupon programs require the added effort of running the application and inputting a personal location, not to mention standard text messaging and Internet connection fees. Minimizing the costs for both the consumer and the retailer should increase adoption rates, Ghandi says. Once mobile catches on, experts are confident that the accompanying technology will become increasingly accessible. "I think we will get to the day where people will, quite frankly, have GPS in every phone, and location [will be] pervasive. We can go from there -- that'll make [coupons] a heck of a lot more beneficial," Frost & Sullivan's Purdy says.
But with that comes the bevy of security issues. Mobile marketers use location to track consumers and to provide the most relevant offers. They can reach consumers on a much more personal level, unlike a personal computer, which could be shared by several people in one household. So the trade-off with highly targeted marketing capabilities is added sensitivity to customers' trust and comfort. Ultimately, the key to a successful mobile campaign is to "never send unsolicited coupons," Ghandi warns. "It should always be opt-in."
As mobile technology becomes more prevalent, the dream of getting pinged with a solicitation as you walk past a particular item in the grocery store may well become reality. Experts are aware of the potential backlash. As McDonald notes, "Just because technology provides a capability, doesn't mean that it should be done. People aren't aware of how closely they are tracked in a digital world. If you draw their attention to it, it can definitely creep them out."
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=7226
Cellfire also recently completed a six-month study on mobile-coupon redemption, revealing that 68 percent of customers who redeemed the coupons were between the ages of 18 and 34. (The next-largest segment, 35-to-44-year-olds, comprised 18 percent of coupon-redeemers.) In addition, Cellfire found that food and entertainment coupons were the most frequently redeemed.
Meanwhile, as the International Herald Tribune reported in August 2006, despite the fact that 74 percent of Americans still use coupons, "an estimated 99 percent of the roughly 200 billion coupons distributed annually in the United States end up in the trash, unused and unredeemed." Paper coupons are "the single most inefficient marketing tool you could imagine," Peter Sealey, founder and CEO of The Sausalito Group, a business and marketing consulting company, told the IHT.
In fact, many experts believe it won't be long before paper coupons disappear completely. "Coupons sent in the mail never had a direct connection to the buyer," says Gerry Purdy, vice president and chief analyst at Frost & Sullivan, a global consulting firm. It was, he adds, "sort of random if someone would even get it or use it."
The 21st century has introduced a new trend in marketing -- a shift from push to pull. Today's Internet-savvy consumers have control over what they want to see. "[Marketers are moving] away from talking about [themselves] in terms of deliverability or even ROI. There's a bigger focus on providing actionable and analytical data," says Russell McDonald, chief executive officer of email service provider iPost. "Couponing is sort of interesting because it's related to an actionable item that somebody can make use out of and benefit [from]," he says.
Marketers have taken great strides with email coupons, which can be targeted and tracked more accurately, and are now focusing on mobile devices. "Your beautiful HTML mail that would look great on Gmail looks exactly the same" on the iPhone, McDonald says. Therefore, email and mobile can work in conjunction to provide consumers with rich, portable content.
Although mobile coupons are creating a whole new realm of convenience, marketers and consumers alike worry that mobile campaigns will be intrusive -- and awash with security and logistical concerns. "There's a thin line between intruding and using personalized marketing," says Vikrant Ghandi, industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "That's the challenge: To what extreme can marketers be allowed to use personal marketing?"
In terms of logistics, previous explorations of short messaging system (SMS) coupons were flawed because they could be mass-forwarded and did not protect against fraud. Moreover, text messages are "a pretty ephemeral medium," McDonald says. "If you can catch someone in the right moment with the right offer, I think it can be very effective, but it's a transient situation, the moment kind of arrives and goes away." If a received text message isn't used immediately, it's often lost forever.
Services such as Cellfire offer a more organized and lasting option by allocating into one program on a mobile device all coupons, which can then be sorted alphabetically by advertiser, or by date received. Moreover, messages cannot be forwarded or used more than permissible, as consumers must click the "Use Now" option. Other mobile coupons are made unique through numeric or scannable codes.
Still, mobile coupon programs require the added effort of running the application and inputting a personal location, not to mention standard text messaging and Internet connection fees. Minimizing the costs for both the consumer and the retailer should increase adoption rates, Ghandi says. Once mobile catches on, experts are confident that the accompanying technology will become increasingly accessible. "I think we will get to the day where people will, quite frankly, have GPS in every phone, and location [will be] pervasive. We can go from there -- that'll make [coupons] a heck of a lot more beneficial," Frost & Sullivan's Purdy says.
But with that comes the bevy of security issues. Mobile marketers use location to track consumers and to provide the most relevant offers. They can reach consumers on a much more personal level, unlike a personal computer, which could be shared by several people in one household. So the trade-off with highly targeted marketing capabilities is added sensitivity to customers' trust and comfort. Ultimately, the key to a successful mobile campaign is to "never send unsolicited coupons," Ghandi warns. "It should always be opt-in."
As mobile technology becomes more prevalent, the dream of getting pinged with a solicitation as you walk past a particular item in the grocery store may well become reality. Experts are aware of the potential backlash. As McDonald notes, "Just because technology provides a capability, doesn't mean that it should be done. People aren't aware of how closely they are tracked in a digital world. If you draw their attention to it, it can definitely creep them out."
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=7226
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Ads help running business of "free"
People love anything free and this has been reaffirmed repeatedly in the value-added services space. Needless to say, there is an industry that gives almost every mobile user their fancy personalised ring tone or wallpaper or game. The unfortunate thing is that there aren’t enough people who are willing to pay for this content. This is where advertising could be brought in to fuel this industry of promise.
The panel discussion on ‘Content Driven Advertising’ was moderated by Neeraj Roy the CEO of Hungama Mobile. The participants included Tushar Vyas, the national director of Interactive Group M, Rajiv Hiranandani, the co-founder of Mobile2Win and Pankaj Sethi, VP of value-added services in Tata Teleservices.
Mr Roy pointed out that the VAS business stood at $ 23 billion as of last December and is expected to grow to $43 billion over the next three years. He started out by giving the audience a sketch of the range of VAS. He said that there are five categories of content— music and it’s derivatives, imagery and its derivatives, video, games and instant voice recognition services (IVR).
The consumer, he continued, has six touch points against those five categories of content— a caller ring back tone, an sms via the operator, mobile Internet, IVR, those leveraging opportunities through retail and the leveraging of internet protals that are going on to mobiles.
Discussing how to project possible business models Mr Vyas said, “The business model with content driven advertising is going to be very similar to what it was in the internet space,” adding, “however the numbers will be enormously larger.”
Recalling one of the earliest methods of interacting with the consumer, Mr Hiranandani recalled the use of the short code. He then took the audience through a quick review of the evolution of mobile marketing. Pankaj Sethi reminding the audience that the ownership of mobile advertising still hasn’t been figured out yet. He also pointed out how Tata went off-portal recently and they too still haven’t figured out how to monetize it.
With the mobile space in India there isn’t a blueprint to go by like there was for the internet. Instead here we find that most of these players are learning as they venture into this field. The only way to learn is to experiment and make the mistakes that need to be made and share them at industry gatherings like this.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Telecom/The_Business_of_free/articleshow/2417912.cms
The panel discussion on ‘Content Driven Advertising’ was moderated by Neeraj Roy the CEO of Hungama Mobile. The participants included Tushar Vyas, the national director of Interactive Group M, Rajiv Hiranandani, the co-founder of Mobile2Win and Pankaj Sethi, VP of value-added services in Tata Teleservices.
Mr Roy pointed out that the VAS business stood at $ 23 billion as of last December and is expected to grow to $43 billion over the next three years. He started out by giving the audience a sketch of the range of VAS. He said that there are five categories of content— music and it’s derivatives, imagery and its derivatives, video, games and instant voice recognition services (IVR).
The consumer, he continued, has six touch points against those five categories of content— a caller ring back tone, an sms via the operator, mobile Internet, IVR, those leveraging opportunities through retail and the leveraging of internet protals that are going on to mobiles.
Discussing how to project possible business models Mr Vyas said, “The business model with content driven advertising is going to be very similar to what it was in the internet space,” adding, “however the numbers will be enormously larger.”
Recalling one of the earliest methods of interacting with the consumer, Mr Hiranandani recalled the use of the short code. He then took the audience through a quick review of the evolution of mobile marketing. Pankaj Sethi reminding the audience that the ownership of mobile advertising still hasn’t been figured out yet. He also pointed out how Tata went off-portal recently and they too still haven’t figured out how to monetize it.
With the mobile space in India there isn’t a blueprint to go by like there was for the internet. Instead here we find that most of these players are learning as they venture into this field. The only way to learn is to experiment and make the mistakes that need to be made and share them at industry gatherings like this.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Telecom/The_Business_of_free/articleshow/2417912.cms
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