"Our privacy is important to us," begins a Verizon Wireless notice sent this month to customers. To maintain that privacy, the carrier instructs customers to call a toll-free number to opt out of a plan to share customer information with Verizon "affiliates, agents, parent companies...and their subsidiaries."
Jason Devitt, an entrepreneur in the mobile arena, took one look at Verizon's notice, including its customer agreement terms and conditions, and hit the blogosphere. "Get Ready For More Advertising On Your Cell Phone," warns Devitt, cofounder and former CEO of Vindigo, which sells advertising and premium content for mobile devices.
Devitt's now CEO of Skydeck, a start-up working in quasi-stealth mode to develop mobile services, so he's got an agenda. He emphasizes that he welcomes mobile ads but has a beef with Verizon: it failed to be crystal clear about how it intends to use customer information, including phone call records, now and in the future.
To its credit, Verizon Communications established a tech and telecom blog for which nine company executives comment on (read: put their spin on) news and trends affecting Verizon and its customers. Verizon's moderated blog offers critics a place to flog the Fortune 100 company.
"Let's be clear: Verizon Wireless does not sell personal customer information to third-party advertisers. Period," blogged Jim Gerace, Verizon Wireless VP of corporate communications. In the blog, he insists Verizon wants the option to share customer information with its affiliates so customers receive information, for instance, about bundled offerings of Verizon Telecom and Verizon Wireless.
Problem is, Verizon's reputation for protecting privacy is tainted by a report that it handed over the numbers dialed by customers (call detail records) to the National Security Agency, "USA Today" reported last year. This month, Verizon told congressional investigators that it provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005, the "Washington Post" reported.
A look at recent missteps and struggles involving Verizon Wireless, which has over 62 million customers, points to multiple challenges in the mobile marketing ecosystem that businesses must address. Here are some measures to consider.
Woo the Customer
One blogger responding to Verizon's privacy notice summed it up best: "Why not let users OPT IN instead of OPT OUT. All it takes is sending users a note explaining exactly what affiliates you're offering to share information with, what kind, and how it will benefit the consumer." By taking this approach, the carrier would let consumers know what they'll get in exchange for permitting information to be shared.
Establish Consistent Policies
Last month, Verizon Wireless initially denied, then approved, an abortion rights group's request to use the carrier's SMS (define) to send text messages to supporters. Brian Reich, director of new media at branding and consulting firm Cone, told ClickZ that mobile carriers fail to understand what political and advocacy organizations hope to accomplish with text messaging campaigns -- a far cry from voting for an American Idol.
Don't Hide Behind the Fine Print
This week, Verizon Wireless agreed to change the way it markets its wireless Internet usage plans and reimburse $1 million to over 13,000 customers whose service was cut off for excessive use of an unlimited Internet plan, according to New York attorney general Andrew M. Cuomo. His office accused Verizon of prominently marketing its NationalAccess and BroadbandAccess wireless plans as unlimited, without disclosing it prohibited downloading movies or playing online games. On its policy blog, Verizon displays both the old and new ads.
Bear in mind these incidents are being played out amid contentious and far-reaching issues involving Verizon as well as other telecom and cable giants. Chief among them: the debate over so-called Net neutrality and the FCC's planned auction of the 700-megahertz spectrum band.
Companies such as Google, eBay, and IAC are pushing the federal government for Net neutrality, to prohibit telephone and cable companies from charging a premium for bandwidth-intensive sites or establishing a priority for some applications over others. Telco and cable critics contend that without federal intervention, the giants will discriminate in favor of their own search engines and streaming video -- while slowing down or blocking their rivals.
The FCC's planned auction is generating a lot of buzz; the band is considered prime property for wireless broadband services. Incumbent phone companies and Google are among those expected to bid on the spectrum.
While recognizing privacy is important to consumers, Devitt says there's another threat to interactive's future. "The big barrier to innovation, in my mind, is that it's extremely difficult for media companies [and] start-ups to launch any kind of service, premium or advertising-supported, because you need the permission of the carriers to do so," says Devitt. "That's a much bigger obstacle to market adoption and innovation than any issue around privacy."
(Source: By Anna Maria Virzi, The ClickZ Network, Oct 26, 2007)
Friday, October 26, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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."
(Source: http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=7226)
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."
(Source: http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=7226)
Friday, October 19, 2007
Private Equity Makes a Move for Virgin Media
Virgin Media, the UK cable TV, telephony, broadband and mobile group, is currently the subject of a preliminary offer of $11.5 billion by the private equity group, Carlyle. Virgin Media was formed last year from cable operator NTL (which had just completed a merger with Telewest) and Virgin Mobile.
We have always had the view that bringing together three disparate entities into one would be a long and difficult task. The vision was to create one company that can offer TV, phone, broadband and mobile in an era where everything is coming together. Judging by the results so far, progress has been slow (revenues are down 5.5% to £1,022 million, and operating cashflow is down 2.3% to £305.7 million). Add in the ongoing argument Virgin Media has with Sky about content and the Board have a lot of issues to deal with concurrently.
The Carlyle group thinks it can do a better job.We believe there are three reasons why private equity firms are interested in the telecoms sector: they believe some firms in the sector are underperforming; the whole is worth less than the sum of the constituent parts; and consolidation / transformation creates opportunities that are not being fully exploited. Virgin Media seems to fit these criteria quite well. From Virgin's perspective, taking the company private would enable it to deal with the three-into-one challenge out of the media spotlight. This would ease the pressure a little. But the attitude of Sir Richard Branson (who has a 10% share in the business) is likely to be key. He has used this approach in the past with the Virgin Atlantic airline, so it cannot be taken for granted that Virgin Media will fight against this in principle.
Virgin Media has responded by asking Goldman Sachs to act on its behalf and conduct an auction for the business. So Carlyle may not have it all its own way - a bidding war amongst private equity firms may ensue.Within a broader industry context, this shows that bulking up through consolidation is one thing, but efficiency counts too. This bid is all about the latter and indicates that size alone is no defence against private equity raiders which have the funds and the belief that they can do a better job.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Brands Increase Interest In Mobile Campaigns: Survey
(SMS and MMS) mobile marketing campaigns has doubled over the past year and a half, according to new survey data from Airwide Solutions, a mobile messaging tech and service provider.
During June and July of this year, Burlington, MA and Reading, UK-based Airwide commissioned European market research firm Vanson Bourne to survey 50 global brands representing products across retail, automotive and technology verticals--among others.
The results were compared to findings from a similar survey conducted in January of 2006--yielding an advertiser-centric view of the future of simple text and multimedia (including video, pictures and coupons) messaging campaigns.
For example, some 28% of brands were considering implementing SMS or MMS campaigns during the next 12 months--double the 14% that had considered the option last year. In terms of spending, 71% of brands expected to devote up to a tenth of their marketing budgets on mobile messaging campaigns within two years--up almost 20% from the respondents who said the same last year.
Brands' own projections for their overall mobile marketing spending were also on the rise. Some 58% of respondents said that their mobile marketing campaign would take up to 15% of their total ad budget within the next five years, and 32% said this would happen by 2009.
The trends also extended to brands' confidence in MMS and SMS campaigns as a way to drive both requests for more information and financial transactions--bolstered no doubt by the widely publicized user response rates to "text to enter" campaigns for shows like Fox's "American Idol" and NBC's "Deal or No Deal."
Just over a third of all respondents said that they expected up to 10% of recipients of mobile marketing messages to "undertake a financial transaction"--with 52% of brands saying the same for recipient requests for "more information or a product sample."
That's not to say that brands perceive mobile marketing campaigns--particularly MMS-based initiatives--as a sure shot for success. Almost half of big brands (46%) are concerned that mobile marketing is too intrusive--and many feel that customers will perceive messages as SPAM. And some 41% of those same respondents were unsure that they could target campaigns specifically enough to avoid that problem.
Meanwhile, over a third of brands (36%) would require detailed information on how the user responded to the message, and about 20% would want definite confirmation that the user's handset had actually received the message.
According to Jay Seaton, Airwide's CMO, MMS faces some of the same challenges that SMS and even newer forms of interactive advertising like rich media ads faced during the periods right before their widespread adoption.
"Right now, for as much hype as there is over mobile marketing--the issues of affordable pricing, interoperability between carriers, ease of use and implementation and ubiquity of user technology have yet to be fully resolved," said Seaton. "Brands are saying 'this is a great idea,' and then hit a phase where it's clearly more expensive and complicated than they expected."
But Seaton said the fact that advertisers are open to implementing these campaigns (and actively trying) is a welcome sign--as it spurs carriers like Vodafone and Verizon to build out the infrastructure necessary to make mobile marketing more accessible.
"We actually have our carrier partners pushing for surveys like this--not the brands," said Seaton. "Their networks are optimized for average peer-to-peer messaging traffic, not millions of messages being blasted all at once for shows like 'American Idol' or typical ad campaigns. And they don't want to invest the millions or billions needed to upgrade their network capacity to handle all those ads if there's no guarantee that it's going to pay off."
Prepared by : Tameka Kee
In Mobile Marketing, SMS still popular!!
NY Marketers are getting increasingly comfortable with running text-messaging campaigns, yet they are still wary of including video and other multimedia messaging components, according to a newly released survey.
A poll of 50 brand marketers, mostly based in Europe but operating internationally, found increased experience with text-message campaigns, with 28 percent having undertaken such efforts. By comparison, 18 percent used multimedia messaging (MMS).
The brands, which were surveyed in July by mobile messaging provider Airwide Solutions, expressed a reluctance of both the technology of MMS and customer acceptance. Of those not using it, two-thirds said it was "not right" for their audience and another 34 percent said the technology wasn't reliable enough. Both those figures were higher than a separate survey Airwide conducted with marketers a year ago.
What's more, 46 percent of brands said mobile marketing is "too intrusive" and can be perceived by customers as spam.
"The fact that 18 percent have done one or more [MMS] campaigns is not insignificant," said Airwide CMO Jay Seaton. "It hasn't reached a peak yet, but it feels like it's gaining momentum."
Despite their wariness, the poll found marketers bullish on the results they have received in early campaigns: 75 percent reported mobile-marketing response rates over 5 percent. Another 27 percent said they saw purchase rates of over 5 percent in campaigns.
Mobile marketing is just starting to take off. According to eMarketer, the worldwide market for it was $1.5 billion last year. It forecasts that to grow to nearly $14 billion by 2011. Advertisers are running their own messaging campaigns, through texting and MMS, as well as buying display and search ads on mobile sites.
Airwide found 32 percent of brands expect to spend more than 5 percent of their marketing budgets on mobile marketing in 2009; 58 percent expect to reach that level by 2012.
"Nine months ago, it was evaluation," said Seaton. "We're beyond the evaluation stage. Now there's enough data that this is moving forward and is going to happen. But it's really just getting started and is at its early stages."
Prepared by: Brian Morrissey
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Vodafone breaks new advertising ground
When Vodafone wrapped an entire Prague metro train in company logos in September, it not only broke ground on high-profile advertising in the metro system, it also symbolized a problem peculiar to the highly competitive Czech mobile phone market—too much advertising money, and too few places to spend it.
While Western European and North American companies have long been able to advertise their products in a wide array of advertising venues—everything from municipal bus fleets to special-occasion blimps—advertising opportunities are still somewhat limited in Central and Eastern Europe. Even though Prague residents have become accustomed to marketing campaigns that were unthinkable 20 years ago, such as building-size banners, Czech businesses still have plenty of advertising ground to conquer. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the telecom industry, in which three major carriers are battling for a bigger market share
This year and last, Czech telecom companies put their money in TV, radio and cinema spots, print media and, increasingly, in out-of-home advertising such as billboards or—as in the case of Vodafone Czech Republic, the third-place mobile provider in terms of client numbers—mass transit. According to industry experts, as companies compete for a share of the increasingly competitive Czech mobile phone market they will continue to find new ways to get their message to potential clients.
In the case of Vodafone’s metro campaign, the company wanted to reach out to a broad range of potential customers and do it in an entertaining way. “We have always aimed for alternative advertising, even back when we were still [operating under the brand name] Oskar,” said Jakub Hrabovský, spokesman for Vodafone. “We have taken on the same goal—making advertising entertaining, smart, witty and appealing to Czech audiences.”
Vodafone’s train campaign was handled by outdoor advertisement company Rencar Praha, which has produced hundreds of fully decorated trams and buses, in addition to advertisements displayed at bus stops in 13 cities in the Czech Republic. The company was established in 1990 with the goal of working to coordinate advertising on properties of Prague public transit company Dopravní podnik hl.m. Prahy (DPP). Rencar was unable to respond to questions by press time.
While print advertisements, television commercials and other traditional formats remain the backbone of the company’s marketing efforts, advertising advisers suggested it was time to shake things up from a marketing perspective, he said.
“With the sheer number of mobile phone ads, it was important for the company to reach out to customers in a nontraditional way,” Hrabovský said. “If you look at the market, you see a lot of boring advertising taken over from the mother company. [They] do not take into account the local culture. We always try to recognize what Czechs want and what will entertain them.”
Hrabovský would not say how much the company spent on the train campaign, but experts in the advertising industry estimated that it cost the company “a couple of million crowns” to splash the logo across a train’s exterior. Currently, the advertisement is limited to one train on the metro C line, colloquially known as the red line. It was chosen to complement the company’s red quotation mark logo.
When designing the train, Vodafone found that “the biggest challenge was that no one did it before [us],” according to Vodafone public relations manager Filip Hrubý, who said that the company pursued the train campaign because of its novelty. One issue that the company encountered was finding a supplier to create custom logo-branded upholstery used in the trains.
But the difficulties of the problems did not cool Vodafone to transportation. Vodafone is reportedly in negotiations with DPP for additional “marketing communications opportunities” within the system, Hrabovský said.
The train-branding campaign is a first for the Czech Republic, and a format that other Czech companies have unsuccessfully tried to utilize, said Tomáš Mrkvička, strategic planner for advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather. The company does not do any “above-the-line” TV or other major media advertising for mobile phone companies, but does handle direct-marketing activities for Telefónica O2 Czech Republic
The biggest problem for the mobile phone community is how to sensibly spend their huge budgets, Mrkvička said. “Their situation is different from other companies, [who tell advertising agencies], ‘If only we had more money.’ That is why you are going to see [more examples of] nontraditional advertising—to spend their money,” Mrkvička added.
Two years ago, his agency unsuccessfully tried to negotiate branding a metro train for an unspecified company, but without success. Part of the problem, Mrkvička said, was logistical. He encountered the same problem with locating a supplier to create specialized logo-branded upholstery, in addition to lots of red tape. “From my personal experience [in negotiations] … there was a huge barrier of bureaucracy and restrictions, and it was impossible,” he said, declining to go into further detail. “But we did not have as a big a budget as Vodafone.” But now that DPP and ad agencies see that it is logistically possible, Mrkvička said that others may join the train advertising trend.
Source: http://www.cbw.cz/phprs/2007100827.html
While Western European and North American companies have long been able to advertise their products in a wide array of advertising venues—everything from municipal bus fleets to special-occasion blimps—advertising opportunities are still somewhat limited in Central and Eastern Europe. Even though Prague residents have become accustomed to marketing campaigns that were unthinkable 20 years ago, such as building-size banners, Czech businesses still have plenty of advertising ground to conquer. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the telecom industry, in which three major carriers are battling for a bigger market share
This year and last, Czech telecom companies put their money in TV, radio and cinema spots, print media and, increasingly, in out-of-home advertising such as billboards or—as in the case of Vodafone Czech Republic, the third-place mobile provider in terms of client numbers—mass transit. According to industry experts, as companies compete for a share of the increasingly competitive Czech mobile phone market they will continue to find new ways to get their message to potential clients.
In the case of Vodafone’s metro campaign, the company wanted to reach out to a broad range of potential customers and do it in an entertaining way. “We have always aimed for alternative advertising, even back when we were still [operating under the brand name] Oskar,” said Jakub Hrabovský, spokesman for Vodafone. “We have taken on the same goal—making advertising entertaining, smart, witty and appealing to Czech audiences.”
Vodafone’s train campaign was handled by outdoor advertisement company Rencar Praha, which has produced hundreds of fully decorated trams and buses, in addition to advertisements displayed at bus stops in 13 cities in the Czech Republic. The company was established in 1990 with the goal of working to coordinate advertising on properties of Prague public transit company Dopravní podnik hl.m. Prahy (DPP). Rencar was unable to respond to questions by press time.
While print advertisements, television commercials and other traditional formats remain the backbone of the company’s marketing efforts, advertising advisers suggested it was time to shake things up from a marketing perspective, he said.
“With the sheer number of mobile phone ads, it was important for the company to reach out to customers in a nontraditional way,” Hrabovský said. “If you look at the market, you see a lot of boring advertising taken over from the mother company. [They] do not take into account the local culture. We always try to recognize what Czechs want and what will entertain them.”
Hrabovský would not say how much the company spent on the train campaign, but experts in the advertising industry estimated that it cost the company “a couple of million crowns” to splash the logo across a train’s exterior. Currently, the advertisement is limited to one train on the metro C line, colloquially known as the red line. It was chosen to complement the company’s red quotation mark logo.
When designing the train, Vodafone found that “the biggest challenge was that no one did it before [us],” according to Vodafone public relations manager Filip Hrubý, who said that the company pursued the train campaign because of its novelty. One issue that the company encountered was finding a supplier to create custom logo-branded upholstery used in the trains.
But the difficulties of the problems did not cool Vodafone to transportation. Vodafone is reportedly in negotiations with DPP for additional “marketing communications opportunities” within the system, Hrabovský said.
The train-branding campaign is a first for the Czech Republic, and a format that other Czech companies have unsuccessfully tried to utilize, said Tomáš Mrkvička, strategic planner for advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather. The company does not do any “above-the-line” TV or other major media advertising for mobile phone companies, but does handle direct-marketing activities for Telefónica O2 Czech Republic
The biggest problem for the mobile phone community is how to sensibly spend their huge budgets, Mrkvička said. “Their situation is different from other companies, [who tell advertising agencies], ‘If only we had more money.’ That is why you are going to see [more examples of] nontraditional advertising—to spend their money,” Mrkvička added.
Two years ago, his agency unsuccessfully tried to negotiate branding a metro train for an unspecified company, but without success. Part of the problem, Mrkvička said, was logistical. He encountered the same problem with locating a supplier to create specialized logo-branded upholstery, in addition to lots of red tape. “From my personal experience [in negotiations] … there was a huge barrier of bureaucracy and restrictions, and it was impossible,” he said, declining to go into further detail. “But we did not have as a big a budget as Vodafone.” But now that DPP and ad agencies see that it is logistically possible, Mrkvička said that others may join the train advertising trend.
Source: http://www.cbw.cz/phprs/2007100827.html
Nokia ties up Enpocket acquisition
Finnish giant on track for mobile ad domination
Nokia has announced the completion of its acquisition of mobile advertising technology and services firm Enpocket.
The mobile giant said that the move forms a key plank in its attempts to develop the world's largest mobile advertising marketplace.
Enpocket's offerings are designed to allow companies to plan, create, execute, measure and optimise mobile advertising campaigns.
"With the close of this transaction, we will create an exciting business focusing on advertising," said Tero Ojanperä, chief technology officer at Nokia.
"We will offer a strong suite of services and solutions to enable brands, publishers, telecoms operators and others to run targeted advertising and marketing campaigns for mobile audiences."
Source: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2200674/nokia-ties-enpocket-acquisition
Nokia has announced the completion of its acquisition of mobile advertising technology and services firm Enpocket.
The mobile giant said that the move forms a key plank in its attempts to develop the world's largest mobile advertising marketplace.
Enpocket's offerings are designed to allow companies to plan, create, execute, measure and optimise mobile advertising campaigns.
"With the close of this transaction, we will create an exciting business focusing on advertising," said Tero Ojanperä, chief technology officer at Nokia.
"We will offer a strong suite of services and solutions to enable brands, publishers, telecoms operators and others to run targeted advertising and marketing campaigns for mobile audiences."
Source: http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2200674/nokia-ties-enpocket-acquisition
New Study Demonstrates Success of Mobile Web Ad Campaign
ATLANTA, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile Web advertising is a highly effective channel for influencing brand perception and increasing purchase intent according to July 2007 research by Dynamic Logic commissioned by The Weather Channel Interactive (TWCI) for Hampton Hotels. The innovative study demonstrates statistically significant increases for mobile ad awareness, message association, brand awareness, brand favorability and stay consideration, (which measures the likelihood of respondents to purchase the brand, or in this case, to stay at a Hampton Hotel, in the future) in part as a result of the campaign on The Weather Channel Mobile Web.
"Mobile advertising is increasingly something that advertisers are asking us to evaluate," stated Kara Manatt, research director at Dynamic Logic. "Early results, such as these, are encouraging because they show that mobile WAP campaigns are being noticed and can have a positive impact on key brand measures. Historically, new formats often perform well at the outset since they are fresh to the eyes of the consumer. As we develop norms over time, we expect to have more detail on the staying power of mobile display advertising."
"While we have seen strong growth in Mobile Web usage and advertiser interest over the past year, these results are a concrete statement of how effective the platform is," said Louis Gump, vice president, mobile at TWCI. "With the number of new ad products and the increasing availability of research and metrics, we are going to see the Mobile Web emerge as a basic line item in marketing budgets."
According to Dynamic Logic's research, the Hampton Hotel's advertising on weather.com connected with its two main target audiences - 72 percent of respondents traveled for business or leisure within the past year. Nearly two-thirds use their mobile phone to access the Internet more than once a day, and 42 percent visit weather.com on their mobile phone more than once per day.
The Hampton Hotel case study shows positive brand impact using advertising on TWCi's Mobile Web. The advertising campaign raised message association with Hampton Hotels versus other hotel brands. Respondents' overall favorability toward Hampton was higher for those exposed to the ads (62%) than for those not exposed to the ads (48%). The campaign also showed an 11.4 percentage point increase in consideration to stay at the Hampton for their next trip after ad exposure.
The Weather Channel Mobile Web provides users with access to hourly forecasts, current conditions, severe weather warnings and radar maps for thousands of cities worldwide. It is consistently one of the top 3 sites on the mobile Web and offers innovative ad products including geo targeting and weather-triggered ads. For more information, visit http://www.weather.com/mobile and advertisers interested in learning more about opportunities with The Weather Channel mobile may contact Rebecca Barnett at 770-226-2419 or email her at rbarnett@weather.com to advertise.
.
About The Weather Channel Interactive
The Weather Channel Interactive is the leading provider of broadband and wireless weather products including weather.com, Desktop Weather by The Weather Channel, and The Weather Channel Mobile. weather.com, the Web site of The Weather Channel, is the ultimate source of weather on the Web helping users plan their lives by delivering timely current conditions, expert forecasts and relevant lifestyle content for 98,000 locations worldwide. The Weather Channel reaches more than 35 million unique users online each month and is the most popular source of online weather, news and information according to Nielsen//NetRatings. The Weather Channel Interactive also provides consumers with unique and customizable products such as Desktop Weather and a full lineup of mobile services including downloads, messaging, mobile Web, and mobile video. Other TWCi sites include forGetaway.com, a vacation home rental site, Forecast Earth, a site dedicated to the discussion of climate change, and a series of international sites, including http://www.weather.co.uk/, http://www.meteo123.com/, http://www.wetter123.com/, http://www.canaldotempo.com/ and http://www.weather.com/espanol.
About Dynamic Logic
Dynamic Logic (http://www.dynamiclogic.com/) is a leading research company with expertise in measuring marketing effectiveness. Dynamic Logic's research includes: AdIndex(R) to test and analyze online advertising, CrossMedia Research(TM) to evaluate multimedia campaigns, MarketNorms(R), a syndicated ad effectiveness planning and benchmarking database, and Link(TM) for Digital, an online copy-testing solution developed jointly with Millward Brown. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in New York City with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Providence, San Francisco, London, and Tokyo. Clients include leading marketers, advertising agencies and media companies. Dynamic Logic is a Millward Brown company, which is part of The Kantar Group, the information and consultancy arm of WPP.
About Hampton Hotels
Hampton, which includes Hampton Inn and Hampton Inn & Suites hotels, is a mid-priced leader in the lodging segment. Hampton is part of Hilton Hotels Corporation, the leading global hospitality company, with more than 2,800 hotels and 500,000 rooms in 78 countries and territories, including 105,000 team members worldwide. The company owns, manages or franchises a hotel portfolio of some of the best known and highly regarded brands, including Hilton(R), Conrad(R), Doubletree(R), Embassy Suites Hotels(R), Hampton Inn(R), Hampton Inn & Suites(R), Hilton Garden Inn(R), Hilton Grand Vacations(TM), Homewood Suites by Hilton(R) and The Waldorf=Astoria Collection(R). The Hilton Family of Hotels adheres to founder Conrad Hilton's philosophy that, "It has been, and continues to be, our responsibility to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality." The company put a name to its unique brand of service that has made it the best known and most highly regarded hotel company: be hospitable(R). The philosophy is shared by all brands in the Hilton Family of Hotels, and is the inspiration for its overarching message of kindness and generosity. Hilton Hotels Corporation's sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Team will extend through the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, and includes the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team(s) and the 2007 U.S. Pan-Am Team. For more information about our company, please visit http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/, and to learn more about our be hospitable philosophy, please visit http://www.behospitable.com/. The Weather Channel Interactive
"Mobile advertising is increasingly something that advertisers are asking us to evaluate," stated Kara Manatt, research director at Dynamic Logic. "Early results, such as these, are encouraging because they show that mobile WAP campaigns are being noticed and can have a positive impact on key brand measures. Historically, new formats often perform well at the outset since they are fresh to the eyes of the consumer. As we develop norms over time, we expect to have more detail on the staying power of mobile display advertising."
"While we have seen strong growth in Mobile Web usage and advertiser interest over the past year, these results are a concrete statement of how effective the platform is," said Louis Gump, vice president, mobile at TWCI. "With the number of new ad products and the increasing availability of research and metrics, we are going to see the Mobile Web emerge as a basic line item in marketing budgets."
According to Dynamic Logic's research, the Hampton Hotel's advertising on weather.com connected with its two main target audiences - 72 percent of respondents traveled for business or leisure within the past year. Nearly two-thirds use their mobile phone to access the Internet more than once a day, and 42 percent visit weather.com on their mobile phone more than once per day.
The Hampton Hotel case study shows positive brand impact using advertising on TWCi's Mobile Web. The advertising campaign raised message association with Hampton Hotels versus other hotel brands. Respondents' overall favorability toward Hampton was higher for those exposed to the ads (62%) than for those not exposed to the ads (48%). The campaign also showed an 11.4 percentage point increase in consideration to stay at the Hampton for their next trip after ad exposure.
The Weather Channel Mobile Web provides users with access to hourly forecasts, current conditions, severe weather warnings and radar maps for thousands of cities worldwide. It is consistently one of the top 3 sites on the mobile Web and offers innovative ad products including geo targeting and weather-triggered ads. For more information, visit http://www.weather.com/mobile and advertisers interested in learning more about opportunities with The Weather Channel mobile may contact Rebecca Barnett at 770-226-2419 or email her at rbarnett@weather.com to advertise.
.
About The Weather Channel Interactive
The Weather Channel Interactive is the leading provider of broadband and wireless weather products including weather.com, Desktop Weather by The Weather Channel, and The Weather Channel Mobile. weather.com, the Web site of The Weather Channel, is the ultimate source of weather on the Web helping users plan their lives by delivering timely current conditions, expert forecasts and relevant lifestyle content for 98,000 locations worldwide. The Weather Channel reaches more than 35 million unique users online each month and is the most popular source of online weather, news and information according to Nielsen//NetRatings. The Weather Channel Interactive also provides consumers with unique and customizable products such as Desktop Weather and a full lineup of mobile services including downloads, messaging, mobile Web, and mobile video. Other TWCi sites include forGetaway.com, a vacation home rental site, Forecast Earth, a site dedicated to the discussion of climate change, and a series of international sites, including http://www.weather.co.uk/, http://www.meteo123.com/, http://www.wetter123.com/, http://www.canaldotempo.com/ and http://www.weather.com/espanol.
About Dynamic Logic
Dynamic Logic (http://www.dynamiclogic.com/) is a leading research company with expertise in measuring marketing effectiveness. Dynamic Logic's research includes: AdIndex(R) to test and analyze online advertising, CrossMedia Research(TM) to evaluate multimedia campaigns, MarketNorms(R), a syndicated ad effectiveness planning and benchmarking database, and Link(TM) for Digital, an online copy-testing solution developed jointly with Millward Brown. Founded in 1999, the company is headquartered in New York City with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, Providence, San Francisco, London, and Tokyo. Clients include leading marketers, advertising agencies and media companies. Dynamic Logic is a Millward Brown company, which is part of The Kantar Group, the information and consultancy arm of WPP.
About Hampton Hotels
Hampton, which includes Hampton Inn and Hampton Inn & Suites hotels, is a mid-priced leader in the lodging segment. Hampton is part of Hilton Hotels Corporation, the leading global hospitality company, with more than 2,800 hotels and 500,000 rooms in 78 countries and territories, including 105,000 team members worldwide. The company owns, manages or franchises a hotel portfolio of some of the best known and highly regarded brands, including Hilton(R), Conrad(R), Doubletree(R), Embassy Suites Hotels(R), Hampton Inn(R), Hampton Inn & Suites(R), Hilton Garden Inn(R), Hilton Grand Vacations(TM), Homewood Suites by Hilton(R) and The Waldorf=Astoria Collection(R). The Hilton Family of Hotels adheres to founder Conrad Hilton's philosophy that, "It has been, and continues to be, our responsibility to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality." The company put a name to its unique brand of service that has made it the best known and most highly regarded hotel company: be hospitable(R). The philosophy is shared by all brands in the Hilton Family of Hotels, and is the inspiration for its overarching message of kindness and generosity. Hilton Hotels Corporation's sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Team will extend through the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing, China, and includes the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team(s) and the 2007 U.S. Pan-Am Team. For more information about our company, please visit http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/, and to learn more about our be hospitable philosophy, please visit http://www.behospitable.com/. The Weather Channel Interactive
Acision survey confirms the Middle East is ready to embrace targeted mobile ads
According to a new survey conducted by Acision, mobile advertising is exhibiting strong potential in the Middle East, with 64% of respondents believing it will mirror the successes of Internet advertising.
The Mobile Advertising Survey was conducted at Gitex 2007, with almost 300 delegates from across the region responding. The survey revealed that mobile advertising is already taking hold in the region, with 48% of participants stating that they receive mobile ads 2-4 times a week.
The survey also revealed, however, that regional consumers are demanding ads that are both relevant and engaging. Asked how mobile advertising might be improved, the majority of respondents said that operators need to study their databases before sending out SMS ads, ensuring that they are relevant to the audience. An Arabic SMS ad, for instance, should not be sent to a non-Arabic speaker. Irrelevant ads, respondents said, are deleted immediately.
Providing an opt-out facility is another issue operators need to address, the survey revealed, with 65% of respondents not even aware of the opt-in or opt-out nature of mobile advertising. The majority of those who indicated that they are interested in receiving mobile ads cited special offers and targeted information as being the most attractive features.
The study also revealed that the preferred form of mobile advertising is through text messaging as opposed to visual. Some 18% of respondents specified that there is still a need for advertisers to engage in more creative ads to capture the attention of consumers through multimedia messaging. Those who believed mobile ads will take off in the region said the medium will thrive because it is 'hip'. Nabil Y. Khalil, Managing Director for Acision in the Middle East and North Africa said that mobile operators can overcome the challenges they face by turning to key technology players such as Acision. '
The survey results indicate a promising future in the region. Mobile advertising offers significant opportunities for precise targeting across all mobile data channels, along with the ability to provide users with highly personalised services. The key is keeping things lively and relevant, objectives that we at Acision work hard to achieve.' Acision's mobile marketing offering allows mobile operators to generate advertising revenues, independent of third parties such as internet based advertising brokers. Acision goes beyond the current limitations of SMS-push or mobile internet based advertising and enables operators to insert advertising into any existing communications event, making mobile advertising part of the end to end service.
Acision's leadership and global expertise in Intuitive Messaging has helped the company become the partner of choice in high volume mobile data services for the region's leading telecoms operators, including Zain, Qtel, Oman Mobile and many others.
Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/134315.html
The Mobile Advertising Survey was conducted at Gitex 2007, with almost 300 delegates from across the region responding. The survey revealed that mobile advertising is already taking hold in the region, with 48% of participants stating that they receive mobile ads 2-4 times a week.
The survey also revealed, however, that regional consumers are demanding ads that are both relevant and engaging. Asked how mobile advertising might be improved, the majority of respondents said that operators need to study their databases before sending out SMS ads, ensuring that they are relevant to the audience. An Arabic SMS ad, for instance, should not be sent to a non-Arabic speaker. Irrelevant ads, respondents said, are deleted immediately.
Providing an opt-out facility is another issue operators need to address, the survey revealed, with 65% of respondents not even aware of the opt-in or opt-out nature of mobile advertising. The majority of those who indicated that they are interested in receiving mobile ads cited special offers and targeted information as being the most attractive features.
The study also revealed that the preferred form of mobile advertising is through text messaging as opposed to visual. Some 18% of respondents specified that there is still a need for advertisers to engage in more creative ads to capture the attention of consumers through multimedia messaging. Those who believed mobile ads will take off in the region said the medium will thrive because it is 'hip'. Nabil Y. Khalil, Managing Director for Acision in the Middle East and North Africa said that mobile operators can overcome the challenges they face by turning to key technology players such as Acision. '
The survey results indicate a promising future in the region. Mobile advertising offers significant opportunities for precise targeting across all mobile data channels, along with the ability to provide users with highly personalised services. The key is keeping things lively and relevant, objectives that we at Acision work hard to achieve.' Acision's mobile marketing offering allows mobile operators to generate advertising revenues, independent of third parties such as internet based advertising brokers. Acision goes beyond the current limitations of SMS-push or mobile internet based advertising and enables operators to insert advertising into any existing communications event, making mobile advertising part of the end to end service.
Acision's leadership and global expertise in Intuitive Messaging has helped the company become the partner of choice in high volume mobile data services for the region's leading telecoms operators, including Zain, Qtel, Oman Mobile and many others.
Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/134315.html
There Goes Mobile Advertising
Many hope that mobile brand advertising is finally on the move.
The world’s wireless infrastructure is moving in the right direction, and the inventory required to attract brand advertisers is gradually becoming available.
Many of the pieces are in place for mobile brand advertising to start scaling up, said John du Pre Gauntt, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Mobile Brand Advertising. In fact, eMarketer projects that the global budget devoted to mobile brand advertising will rise to $3.5 billion in 2011, from $123 million in 2006.
"On paper, the big global brands should be eager to move in," Mr. Gauntt said. "Mobile text messaging is more or less a mass-market service worldwide. Mobile music has climbed the first rung of the mass-market ladder.
"Most importantly, there are mobile-centric tribes of users in both advanced and developing economies," he said. "The mobile screen is increasingly the first place to reach them."
However, the fact that many of the pieces for greater brand participation seem to be coming together does not mean that mobile brand marketing will scale as large or as fast as some enthusiasts think.
"Huge growth in the long term is a no-brainer,” Mr. Gauntt said. "In the short term, though, there is a real danger that too many brand dollars might chase too few high-quality mobile opportunities within a commercial ecosystem that is not yet fully baked."
Don’t stand still. Find out where the opportunities and the dangers lie—get your copy of the new eMarketer report, Mobile Brand Advertising, today.
Source: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005445
Tensor Technologies Taps Zestadz for Mobile Advertising to Launch Hindi SMS Service
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India -- mobile-worx (Business Wire India)
Tensor Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a technology based company in Delhi, joins forces with ZestADZ, India’s first mobile advertising marketplace, to launch an ad-supported Hindi SMS Solution called MeghDoot. MeghDoot uses mobile transliteration technology application which enables users to send Hindi SMS to almost any phone using an English Keypad.
“MeghDoot is a milestone in local language messaging and it will take SMS messaging to the masses” said Shekhar, CEO, Tensor Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
MeghDoot has the world’s first intelligent Mobile Transliteration Technology and runs on almost any type of phone. It sends Hindi messages in the form of text or in the form of picture messages from one phone to the other. Users incur just the cost of a single SMS as priced by the operator, while sending messages to other users. The users receiving messages need not have t6 installed to receive Hindi messages.ZestADZ is the advertising partner of MeghDoot and will enable the delivery of text and banner ads within the application thereby monetizing the application for T6India. The ads will be highly relevant, targeted, region specific and based on handset used by the user.
“This partnership is a part our effort in creating an open ecosystem of services to the subscriber which will be monetized through mobile advertising” said Asif Ali, Chief Technology Officer, mobile-work, adding “Such services is a win-win for both the subscriber and the publisher and an ad-supported model in the mobile space is here to stay”.
MeghDoot has been launched under ZestADZ’s mobile publisher program, details of which can be found at the ZestADZ website http://www.zestadz.com MeghDoot can be downloaded free from http://t6india.com.
About ZestADZZestADZ is India’s first complete, mobile advertising marketplace. ZestADZ enables the delivery of highly targeted, relevant mobile text and banner ads within SMS, WAP and J2ME mobile applications and games. ZestADZ is currently in beta and has a network of over 40 publishers and several active advertisers.
For more information on ZestADZ please visit http://zestadz.com
About T6IndiaMeghDoot is a product of Tensor Technologies (T6 Labs). T6 Labs is a technology company incubated at IIT Delhi. It strives to facilitate users to search for information in the language of their choice and receive information in the same language. Its primary focus web based personalized search and local language messaging on web and on mobile devices.For more information on T6 India, please visit http://t6india.com
Contact Details:
Asif Ali, mobile-worx, +91 (044) 4550 0360 Email: asif@mobile-worx.com
Source: http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/monitor.asp?id=4888
Tensor Technologies Pvt. Ltd, a technology based company in Delhi, joins forces with ZestADZ, India’s first mobile advertising marketplace, to launch an ad-supported Hindi SMS Solution called MeghDoot. MeghDoot uses mobile transliteration technology application which enables users to send Hindi SMS to almost any phone using an English Keypad.
“MeghDoot is a milestone in local language messaging and it will take SMS messaging to the masses” said Shekhar, CEO, Tensor Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
MeghDoot has the world’s first intelligent Mobile Transliteration Technology and runs on almost any type of phone. It sends Hindi messages in the form of text or in the form of picture messages from one phone to the other. Users incur just the cost of a single SMS as priced by the operator, while sending messages to other users. The users receiving messages need not have t6 installed to receive Hindi messages.ZestADZ is the advertising partner of MeghDoot and will enable the delivery of text and banner ads within the application thereby monetizing the application for T6India. The ads will be highly relevant, targeted, region specific and based on handset used by the user.
“This partnership is a part our effort in creating an open ecosystem of services to the subscriber which will be monetized through mobile advertising” said Asif Ali, Chief Technology Officer, mobile-work, adding “Such services is a win-win for both the subscriber and the publisher and an ad-supported model in the mobile space is here to stay”.
MeghDoot has been launched under ZestADZ’s mobile publisher program, details of which can be found at the ZestADZ website http://www.zestadz.com MeghDoot can be downloaded free from http://t6india.com.
About ZestADZZestADZ is India’s first complete, mobile advertising marketplace. ZestADZ enables the delivery of highly targeted, relevant mobile text and banner ads within SMS, WAP and J2ME mobile applications and games. ZestADZ is currently in beta and has a network of over 40 publishers and several active advertisers.
For more information on ZestADZ please visit http://zestadz.com
About T6IndiaMeghDoot is a product of Tensor Technologies (T6 Labs). T6 Labs is a technology company incubated at IIT Delhi. It strives to facilitate users to search for information in the language of their choice and receive information in the same language. Its primary focus web based personalized search and local language messaging on web and on mobile devices.For more information on T6 India, please visit http://t6india.com
Contact Details:
Asif Ali, mobile-worx, +91 (044) 4550 0360 Email: asif@mobile-worx.com
Source: http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/monitor.asp?id=4888
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