Case Study - Hennes & Mauritz Mobile Couponing

Campaign - Hennes & Mauritz Mobile Couponing

Company - Gavitec

Goals:
The campaign focused on mobile couponing and the interaction between the targeted audience and the brand H&M with the use of mobile phones.

Idea:
Initiated by YOC AG, one of the leading suppliers of mobile marketing and e-mail services in Europe, the campaign focused on mobile couponing and the interaction between the targeted audience and the brand H&M with the use of mobile phones. 120,000 registered members of the YOC.de community received a mobile coupon as one picture message (SMS) with a 2D code (Data Matrix) to their mobile phone, offering them a free H&M T-shirt upon presentation of the code to the EXIO scanner at the new H&M shops in Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne.

Using Smart Messaging (i.e. Nokia Picture), MMS or EMS technology, the mobile coupons were sent as a unique and encrypted 2D code (Data Matrix) on the user's mobile phone. Information like store name, opening date and coupon value were not only encrypted in the Data Matrix code but also displayed on the mobile phone screen as information for the mobile phone's user. To support this special time-limited marketing campaign, the 2D code also contained an expiry date.

At the cashiers of the new H&M shop in Berlin, customers presented their mobile coupon to the EXIO scanner. Connected to the YOC database via GPRS communication, the Gavitec solution decoded the mobile coupon and checked its validity. Once the code was validated, EXIO printed out a voucher permitting customers to receive their free T-shirt.

Results:
Within 48 hours, for example, 78% of the addressed members reacted to the sent push-SMS. More than 100 customers were queuing in front of the store before operating. Two hours after the shop opened, all 2,000 T-shirts had been given away.

Study was published on October 20, 2006

Source: Mobile Marketing Association

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Moosejaw Mountaineering takes on new mobile adventure

NEW YORK — Moosejaw Mountaineering, the irreverant outdoor gear and apparel retailer, recently launched a mobile-shopping site that lets customers browse, price compare and shop for their favorite gear using any mobile phone or device.

A representative from Madison Heights, MI-based Moosejaw offered this information at the 2007 Mobile Marketing Forum here at the Marriott Marquis.

The MMF is sponsored by the Boulder, CO-based Mobile Marketing Association, whose members include agencies, advertisers, hand-held device manufacturers, wireless operators and service providers, retailers and any company focused on the potential of marketing through the mobile channel.

Moosejaw operates six locations in Michigan and Illinois and several Web sites, which are responsible for 60 percent of total sales, according to Indy Bishop, director of marketing at Moosejaw. The company also has a catalog. Its Web sites include TheJaw.com, ThaLowdown.com, MoosejawRewards.com, AdventureWatches.com and CampMoosejaw.com.

The company was formed in 1992 and has grown 50 percent to 70 percent every year since, Mr. Bishop said.

To fulfill its m-commerce technology needs, Moosejaw selected Seattle-based mPoria Inc.'s GoMobile solution. Designed specifically for the retail industry, GoMobile is a cost-effective service that lets merchants establish their own mobile-shopping site without the need for in-house development resources.

The site, which went live April 11, offers more than 40,000 outdoor gear and apparel products.

To make a purchase, consumers simply enter www.Moosejaw.mobi in their mobile Web browser to get immediate access to the company's product catalog. With mPoria's technology, mobile-shopping sites including Moosejaw's offer convenient browsing and product search. Once consumers are ready to make a purchase, they simply enter their credit card information into mPoria's secure platform, choose a preferred method of delivery and place their order.

“The site complements our existing marketing strategy — not just being multichannel but being cross-channel within a multichannel marketing strategy," Mr. Wohlfeill said. "For example, we can push our catalog on the mobile phone or push testing through our e-mail blasts and on the Web site.”

For example, the company recently sent out an e-mail to its opt-in list that asked recipients to text them back about their least favorite movie, and then Moosejaw texted them back with a 20-percent-off coupon code on merchandise.

“We got a really good response on it," Mr. Wohlfeill said.

Mr. Wohlfeill admitted that a key reason Moosejaw is focusing on mobile marketing is that the company is already reaching the right demographic for mobile applications —people age 18 to 34 who regularly use mobile devices and text messaging.

“We are really excited about [our mobile marketing initiatives] and we think it is going to expand and become a really important part of what we do in our marketing in the future," Mr. Wohfeill said.

The GoMobile platform also allows retailers to expand sales and marketing efforts like SMS campaigns and special promotions to their mobile customers.

Also during the session, Mark Kaplan, founder and chief marketing officer of ShopText Inc., a New York-based mobile-commerce and promotions company, explained his company’s service and offered some examples.

To use the service, a consumer must first place a phone call to ShopText to set up an account, specifying a shipping address and card account.

Then, when these consumers see the ShopText logo in their favorite magazines, newspapers, concerts, posters or on TV, they can shop, sample or donate from their mobile phones. When ShopText receives text messages about donations or products, it charges the credit card it has on file for the buyer. Then it sends the product from one of its warehouses around the country to the consumer.

Mr. Kaplan said a New York City nightclub, the Knitting Factory, is currently selling tickets through text messages. Here, an ad appearing in The Village Voice newspaper currently includes a keyword that consumers can text in and purchase a ticket. The ticket shows up at the "Will Call" window and purchasers can pick up the ticket there as if they purchased it online.

The Knitting Factory is also looking at other ways to use the feature, like encouraging audience members to text-message to join an online discussion about the concert that night.

Source: DM News

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Live from the Mobile Marketing Forum: Consumer Engagement is Key

Mobile marketing is hot. And more and more brands are leveraging the technology through promotions to stay relevant and hip with their audience.

Take NBC’s popular game show “Deal or No Deal.” Viewers can play a text messaging game for a chance to win $10,000 each night the show airs. Consumers choose the case they believe contains the cash prize and text it to short code 59595.

“We felt confident that Americans would want to participate,” said Jon Vlassopulos, vice president, business development, digital media & strategic planning, Endemol USA, the company handling the campaign. “They like to participate in a program in an interactive way.”

During the second season of the show, the promotion received 130,000 interacts via text messages and online entries, Vlassopulos said.

Why is mobile marketing so popular? One of its benefits is instant action, panelists said.

“You can offer immediate gratification and get an immediate response you otherwise won’t get,” Robert Thurner, commercial director, Incentivate, said.

AKQA Mobile, for example, ran a mobile campaign in the U.K. for Coca-Cola during the Christmas holidays in which consumers sent Coke-branded m-cards to their friends and family. People could customize the card by choosing a design and adding a personalized message.

The campaign was an instant hit. A total of 120,000 m-cards were sent out, with the average user sending 1.7 cards.

The key to any mobile campaign is to make it special, panelists said.

“Mobile has to be unique,” Thurner said.

While the popularity of mobile marketing is growing, challenges still abound. Every carrier has different rules and regulations to follow.

“The time is now,” said Trish Halamandaris, vice president, marketing & Carrier sales, mDisney and Starwave Mobile, Walt Disney Internet Group. “The opportunity is here. But understanding how to execute [a campaign]…is key.”

“We are just at the tip of the iceberg for how we work with brand partners,” Vlassosulos added. “It’s a good time to get involved.”

Sessions at the Mobile Marketing Forum continue through today at the Marriott Marquis in New York. Attendance at the event has more than doubled over last year to about 600 people.

Source: Promo Magazine

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Case Study - McDonald's RUMAC

One of the biggest opportunities for mobile marketing is consumer packaged goods. ipsh has pioneered such campaigns with a few major brands in the summer of 2005 but none had the metrics to really influence Madison Avenue like McDonald's House of Blues promotion.

ipsh interactive was used for this House of Blues McDonald's sweepstakes with unique "Mac" codes printed on 50 million BigMac boxes nationwide. Users texted in to the shortcode RUMAC to win. They also had the option to sign up online at www.playatMcD.com

This campaign was a great experiment in showing how there is an increasing number of users who, given a chance, will interact with an advertising campaign on the spot, via their handsets.

We didn't anticipate such a great response but we saw 40% of entries were made through the shortcode vs. the web demonstrating that people want to interact on the go.

Supporting material - Vital Stats
50 million boxes
3% increase in sales of Big Macs
13.41% sms to opt-in
40% of entries via txt

Takeaways
McDonalds and ipsh was cited in Advertising Age based on the remarkable results. Reps from McDonalds credit this House of Blues mobile campaign with 3% increases in sales of Big Mac sandwiches. This is a tremendous ROI in the world of consumer goods. Also, 40% of the entries were made via text message, twice the figures McDonald expected. Conversion rates for SMS to opt-in is over 13%. This helps to build a solid opt-in list of users for future McDonald promotions.

Study was published on March 22, 2006

Source: Mobile Marketing Association

Full study here

UK Mobile Content Market Worth $1.3 Billion in 2006

The UK mobile content and services market is on the verge of becoming a multi-billion dollar industry provided the sector can tap into an addressable market approaching 50% of UK mobile users, a report shows this week.

Results from the Survey reveal that the UK mobile content market was worth £661 million (US$1.3 billion) in 2006, with 50% of revenues coming from the "mobile cash rich" 25-34 year olds. Those revenues look set to skyrocket should the wireless industry generate a more consistent spending behaviour.

"Today, the regular buyers of mobile content, those who purchase a minimum of one item of content every three months, represent one-fifth of mobile users," said Nick Lane, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, and author of the report. "However, the survey uncovers a further 30 percent of occasional consumers that will purchase at least one item of content per year. If the wireless industry can encourage these occasional spenders to regularly consume content, the addressable mobile-content-market spend over a three-month period will expand by 150%."

While 50% of respondents said mobile content prices were too high, the survey revealed £5 (US$9.50) as the optimum figure consumers are willing to spend per month on top of their voice and messaging fees. Services and content priced above the £5 monthly threshold will appeal to less than 5% of UK mobile users.

"This is presenting the industry with a dilemma: as premium rate pricing for services such as mobile TV could potentially cannibalise revenues from other services within the mobile content ecosystem," says Lane. "The door is now wide open for mobile advertising to subsidise mobile content and inflate the mobile content user base."

However, one key trend to emerge from the Survey results is that of User-Adapted Content.

"By side-loading songs from their PC on to their mobile and using as a ringtone, or taking a picture on the device and using as wallpaper, users are repurposing existing forms of content to perform numerous tasks on their mobile," says Lane. "There are no confusing rights issues to negotiate and no costs, so it's highly appealing to the consumer."

But while much is being made of content available on mobile phones, the UK consumers are using existing services and demanding more practical services. While 35% of respondents claim to have used the mobile Internet (including WAP browsing) - location-based services and mobile banking topped the poll asking respondents to outline the service they would most like to see on their mobile phone.

Gavin Forth, Head of Entertainment at Orange UK, said: "Over the last few years, the mobile Internet has grown from a slow and clumsy monochrome experience into an essential consumer and business tool for news, entertainment and other services on the move. As an industry we now need to eliminate the barriers still facing our customers to ensure the mobile internet eco-system thrives by driving smart pricing, innovative partnerships and allowing the phone to become an extension of our customers own personalities."

The study analyzes the results of a survey by Informa Telecoms & Media ? in association with Orange UK and fieldwork partner Starcom Mediavest exploring mobile content behaviour in which almost 2,000 mobile subscribers in the UK participated.

Source: Cellular-News

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Folk Rocker Goes Straight To Mobile

Up And Coming Artist Launches New WAP Site

Funk folk rocker, Julia Harris, is one of the first artists in the UK to take her marketing campaigns straight to mobile, with the support of interactive mobile specialist, Dialogue Communications.

Dialogue worked with creative agency Sonaa, providing them with a toolset to create a mobile content site for the up and coming artist from Cardiff, as she looks to build her fan base and promote her latest single through the mobile medium. The new mobile site went live last week before a gig in Cardiff and Dialogue is also looking to launch other marketing campaigns later in the year, as Julia tours the UK.

Paul Griffiths, Dialogue's MD explains why Julia's approach to marketing is a good one and how Dialogue is supporting her marketing strategy: "Julia has recognised the growing mobile market as the primary means to reach her fans; this is an area that many artists initially overlook, but Julia wanted to do something different to raise her profile. We have created and host her mobile site and by utilizing our Text 2 Browse service through our Mobile Applications Portal (MAP), users are driven to the site through an advertised short code by texting "Julia" to 80010. We are also providing a database builder, so that Julia can communicate with her fan base, promoting relevant information and content."

Julia has had an incredible start to her career, supporting artists such as Damien Rice, receiving rave reviews and regular airplay. The Welsh singer/songwriter is now looking to increase her profile further through mobile campaigns. Dialogue has designed a site for the artist where fans can buy wallpapers, read the latest news from Julia and download her newest music tracks.

Bal Takhar, Development Director at Sonaa explains: "Our company has the creative skills to develop the look and feel of the site and Dialogue's platform makes it's easy for us to deliver premium mobile content and other text marketing campaigns to the customer."

The growing mobile market is becoming a popular channel for many artists looking to raise awareness of their music, along with providing a platform to generate extra revenues through premium downloads. As with most up and coming artists, Julia also has a MySpace site but over the coming months is focusing her marketing efforts on mobile campaigns.

Julia Harris explains why she has taken the mobile route to market: "The entertainment market is growing way beyond fans just buying CD's and the mobile market is now a key growth area. Fans want to buy ringtones and photos and interact with their favorite artists. Dialogue has provided me with different avenues to reach my fan base and help raise my profile and awareness of my songs.

"I'm really excited about being able to interact with those who're interested in me and what I do. I think mobile sites will open a whole new world for artists like me who want to interact with their fans"

Later in the year, Julia is hoping to expand her mobile campaigns with the help of Dialogue and offer her fans Text to Screen services at gigs and user generated content features so fans can share their content on Julia's WAP site.

Source: Search by Headlines

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China's mobile content market to top $21 billion by 2012, says Juniper Research

Findings from a new study by Juniper Research reveal that the Chinese market for Wireless Value Added Services (W-VAS) will expand from $15bn in 2008 to $21bn in 2012 boosted by the launch of 3G Services. Currently W-VAS revenues in China are primarily being generated from SMS and ring-back tone services operating on 2G and 2.5G platforms, but the forthcoming launch of 3G will see new areas of growth with particular emphasis on music, games and streamed video.

The report also suggests that by 2012 3G will account for some 19% of total W-VAS services.

This emerging sector offers both new and existing players with a significant opportunity and an eventual large pool of potential users. However, identifying where these opportunities actually exist in the value chain and how to access them is vitally important. Foreign participants need to know the best routes to market including who to partner and which portals to use as well as the appropriate business models to deploy. The fundamentals of Intellectual Property protection are also key, as well as an understanding of the various processes and procedures necessary to navigate through the regulatory system.

The report author, sector analyst Dr. Elisa Kuang, said that "Providers of 3G applications and content have a unique opportunity to tap into this vast new market but are advised to carefully craft coherent market entry and development strategies -- ones that appreciate China’s unique economic culture and business systems, an emerging economy in transition."

About this study

The Juniper Research study, "China 3G: Mobile Content Strategies and Forecasts, 2007-2012", offers market sizing and forecasts, targeted advice and guidance for those with interests in the sector.

Source: Tekrati

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InsightExpress Launches Mobile AdInsights; Ad Infuse First to Provide New Standardized Media Measurement Offering to Mobile Industry

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InsightExpress, a leading online market research firm, and Ad Infuse, a leader in enabling personalized mobile advertising, announced today that InsightExpress will provide access to its new mobile media measurement solution, Mobile AdInsights, to Ad Infuse’s client base. This groundbreaking offer marks a new and much-needed movement towards standardization of mobile media measurement.

The burgeoning mobile advertising market is expected to explode over the next five years. eMarketer estimates that worldwide spending on mobile advertising will jump from $1.5 billion in 2006 to $13.9 billion in 2011. In the US alone, spending is expected to grow from $421 million to $4.8 billion during this time.¹

By providing the mobile industry with access to Mobile AdInsights, a best-in-class research solution, Ad Infuse and InsightExpress will help advertisers, publishers and carriers determine essential success metrics for their advertising campaigns. This innovative approach will allow industry players to better measure and understand ROI, resulting in more powerful and effective campaigns and the smarter allocation of advertising dollars.

Building upon its powerful online media measurement methodology, Mobile AdInsights offers a recruitment technique for the mobile device which provides clean control/unexposed and test/exposed groups for measurement. Both the control and test groups are delivered a brief questionnaire on their mobile device and responses are gathered and processed via the InsightExpress research platform. Weighting the data ensures that the control and test groups are identical, thus attributing any differences between the two groups as a direct correlation to the advertising experience.

“Mobile AdInsights allows companies to truly understand the impact and potential of their mobile campaigns, and will provide the industry with much-needed benchmarking,” said Drew Lipner, VP, Group Director, Online Media Measurement at InsightExpress. “The mobile space is obviously one of the most exciting places in the advertising world right now, and we expect demand for Mobile AdInsights to reflect this momentum. We are happy to be working with such a dynamic company as Ad Infuse in bringing Mobile AdInsights to market.”

“We all know the potential of mobile advertising,” said Brian Cowley, CEO and President of Ad Infuse, “but the truth is that in an era of digital media measurement, advertisers and agencies must be able to see the impact and value of their mobile test campaigns before we start seeing major shifts in the media mix.”

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Case Study - Heineken (Mobile Dreams Factory)

Company - Mobile Dreams Factory

Client - Heineken

Background:
Heineken is one of the most sold beer companies in Spain. Champions league is the European soccer championship.

Goals:
Heineken is one of the official sponsors of the Champions League. For that reason they wanted to tie their brand with the championship.

Objectives:
1) Associate Heineken brand with the "Soccer's Champions League."

2) Reward consumers' loyalty instantly

Idea:
Heineken distributed scratch-cards to bar customers. All the scratch-cards have a code that needs to be sent by text message. Each code participates in a draw to win different prizes. No matter if the customer won or not, he/she will receive a WAP push instantly with Heineken mobile agenda.

The mobile agenda is based in Mobile Dreams' proprietary technology called-Microeditions. With this microedition the user can browse off-line Champions league's agenda.

Also the user can ask the agenda via Heineken's web page.

Results:
The Campaign is not over since the soccer season is not over. The last 2 months redemption rate of the agenda were 68% of the participations.

Study was published November 18, 2006.

Source: Mobile Marketing Association

See study here

‘Sprite Yard’ now part of mobile marketing playground

NEW YORK—Coca-Cola Co. is moving aggressively onto the mobile marketing playground with a kind of mobile MySpace centered on the company’s Sprite brand.

The soft drink titan plans to launch a worldwide community allowing users to create profiles and exchange photos and messages, executive Mark Greatrex said during the keynote address at the Mobile Marketing Forum in New York. The free downloadable application, dubbed “Sprite Yard,” will be available via a short code and also offer wallpapers, games and video clips.

The effort launched in China last week and is set to launch in the United States beginning June 22. To access the application, U.S. consumers can text “YARD” to 59666 and receive a reply with a WAP link to access the Sprite Yard for the fist time.

Coca-Cola hopes to offer the application in “many more countries” next year, Greatrex said.

“Sprite will be our pioneer in the fast-moving world of mobile marketing,” Greatrex told the audience. “We believe Sprite Yard is the most comprehensive mobile marketing effort on the planet.”

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MMA Updates Mobile Ad Guidelines

IN ADVANCE OF TODAY'S START of the Mobile Marketing Forum in New York, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has released an update to its Mobile Advertising Guidelines.

Much like the Interactive Advertising Bureau's universally recognized ad formats, the Mobile Advertising Guidelines provide advertisers with technical specifications and standard WAP ad units (such as banners). Marketers also get detailed explanations of various click-through capabilities, including email opt-in and click-to-call, as well as specific best practices with regard to ad content.

This fourth version of the guidelines includes provisions for mobile Web and downloadable content (such as ring tones and ad-based games), as well as an overview of multimedia messaging services.

Wireless carriers, tech firms, agencies, and content providers comprise the MMA's Mobile Advertising Committee, and they collaborate on the guidelines as a source of standardization in the rapidly growing industry.

"The guidelines are an example of how the MMA leads the worldwide mobile marketing industry by bringing all players in the ecosystem together," said Pete Distler, general manager, Sprint Mobile Media Network.

Later this year, the MMA will deploy a usability lab to evaluate the efficacy of the guidelines, and update them again if necessary. The organization has been working toward developing industry best practices, innovation, and standardization since 2000.

Mobile Marketing Association Announces Formation of Participation TV Committee

MMA Will Focus Key TV and Mobile Media Membership to Ensure Best Practices Continue to “Uphold Public Trust and Positive Consumer Experience”

New York (June 6, 2007) - The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), which represents more than 400 companies across the mobile ecosystem, today announced the formation of the first industry-wide committee to focus on the growth of TV’s mobile participation. The MMA, which launched the first version of its interactive TV guidelines in June 2005, appointed a committee, represented by all key industry sectors, that will enable U.S. TV viewers to engage with their favorite shows in a consistent manner. The Participation TV (PTV) Committee includes TV broadcasters, producers, mobile operators, mobile gateway providers and application specialists.

The MMA PTV Committee will continue to develop industry guidelines that protect the long-term viability of the industry by setting standards across all key elements of the interactive TV supply chain. The guidelines will be integrated into the MMA’s Consumer Best Practices guidelines
(www.mmaglobal.com/bestpractices.pdf ) and reinforces the MMA’s commitment to the development of the mobile content industry. The Committee will be co-chaired by Telescope, Inc. and Granada USA. The MMA continues to demonstrate its leadership in the field of participation TV, which delivers a specific experience for TV viewers, enabling them to vote, integrate play-at-home versions into TV formats, and enable home viewers to appear on their favorite TV game shows through their mobile devices.

“The formation of the Participation TV Interest Group occurs at a key juncture in the history of consumer-TV interaction, given the numerous and growing successes of reality, text-to-vote and mobile TV programming across the industry,” said Troy Sample, chief executive officer of Telescope and chairman of the MMA PTV Group. “The MMA is taking the leadership reins in its development of common guidelines upon which the entire industry can build their campaigns. The MMA has helped galvanize the mobile marketing industry in a way that few self-governing industry organizations have done. The formation of the Participation TV Interest Group will help fuel the growth of what is already an exciting market sector.”

“MMA members include the leaders in developing consumer programming across all marketing channels, including broadcast, broadband internet and mobile TV, and this new committee is a natural fit for the association,” said Cyriac Roeding, executive vice president, CBS Mobile and MMA’s Global and North American chairman. “The Participation TV Interest Group will enable all players in the mobile marketing ecosystem to speed delivery of interactive or participation campaigns centered on the growing demands of today’s highly mobile consumer.”

Committee membership is open to all active MMA members.

About the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier global non-profit association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth, and evangelize the mobile channel for use by brands and content providers. The 400+ global member companies include agencies, advertisers, hand held device manufacturers, wireless operators, aggregators, technology enablers, market research firms and all companies focused on marketing via the mobile channel. The Mobile Marketing Association’s global headquarters are located in the United States. For more information, please visit www.mmaglobal.com.

Cell Phones Emerge as New Advertising Medium

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Advertising is a highly competitive market with corporations constantly searching for an edge. As a result, select firms are now trying to reach customers via a new medium: cell phones. "Companies are using text messages to notify customers of special deals and banner ads to sponsor items, such as ring tone downloads," noted Julie Ask, research director at Jupiter Research.

A few factors are driving the interest. Increasingly, cell phones are becoming more data oriented and PC-like. Consequently, there is now space that advertiser can use for marketing. "Cell phone screen size is certainly not optimal but it does provide companies with room to advertise their wares," said David Chamberlain, senior analyst at market research firm In-Stat.

In addition, cell phones are quite popular among a prime advertising demographic: youth, including college and high school students. Many college students have abandoned wired connections for wireless ones, and a survey by The American Advertising Federation (AAF) found that 69 percent of high school teens own cell phones. The youth market tends to be quite interested in products with short life cycles, such as music and movies. These products generate a lot of advertising because companies need to quickly create a buzz as new products arrive.

Good News, Bad News

Yet advertising can be a two-edged sword. While it can create interest in a product, it can also generate a negative message. Pop-up advertisements represent one area where companies found the medium hurt rather than helped brands. Because little is known about the impact of cell phone advertising, vendors are moving cautiously. To date, the market is sending a mixed message.

At least initially, only a few consumers are embracing the idea of cell phone advertising: an In-Stat survey found that four out of every five users opposed the idea. The group supporting cell phone advertising seemed open to letting advertisers subsidize the cost of premium services, such as directory assistance, ringtones and messaging. High prices are often a reason why users do not rely on these premium services, so having advertisers partly underwrite the cost would seem to benefit users and advertisers alike.

With the market beginning to evolve, companies are searching for the most effective advertising vehicle. Banner advertisements are one possibility. "I don't think banner ads will be too effective because of the cell phone's small screen size," said Bob Egan, service director, emerging technologies at market research firm The Tower Group Inc.

Location-based advertising is another area that may have to struggle for acceptance. Here, carriers couple Geographic Positioning Systems with cell phones, so cellular networks can track user movement. As consumers pass various locations, they receive unsolicited advertisements, for instance, a local restaurant could send potential customers text, graphic, or video messages about a daily special as the users passed by.

Sign Me Up

Opt-in advertising services, where consumers sign up for advertising about items that interest them, seems likely to gain traction. "Customers do seem open to receiving mailings about a band's album or next concert," In-Stat's Chamberlain told TechNewsWorld. Sports and celebrity news are other areas where such advertising seems acceptable.

Past experiences may be one reason why users are leery of cellular advertising. Along with useful advertisements, for instance, have come boatloads of spam. "Many users are concerned about how many spam messages will make their way to their cell phones," The Tower Group's Egan told TechNewsWorld.

Spam may be even more unwelcome in cellular networks than it is in data networks. Depending on users' calling plans, they may have to pay a few cents whenever they read such messages.

Spam Filtering Needed

As a result, cellular providers may need to put anti-spam measures in place like those that Internet Service Providers use for data services. "Cellular carriers may find that users will be canceling their contracts and moving to other services if they can not control cellular spam," noted In-Stat's Chamberlain.

Spam overruns are a future rather than a present concern; currently, most of the cellular advertising campaigns are at a nascent stage. "We've seen a few interesting pilot programs and special promotions but no advertiser has yet allocated a lot of money to cell phone advertising," Jupiter Research's Ask told TechNewsWorld. There is interest in such possibilities, and companies, such as Enpocket, Martix Mobile Marketing, M-Qube Inc., and Texting Now are focused on helping companies deliver their marketing messages via cell phones.

These firms have generated some promising early results. Enpocket claims that 15 percent of users respond when they get text-message ads, and that number is twice the level of direct mail advertising.

The high response rate coupled with the significant research required because cell phone advertising is so new has resulted in expensive rates, at least initially. Marketing companies are charging between 10 and 35 cents each to send text messages to cell phone users, a rate 25 to 50 percent higher than billboard, radio, and television advertising.

Some companies are willingly paying the extra fees. The medium has been more popular abroad than in the U.S. In Europe, text messaging has been quite popular for a number of years. In Asia, especially Korea and Japan, cell phones are commonly used to complete mobile commerce transactions.

How big the cell phone advertising market will become in the U.S. is unclear. Andrew Robertson, CEO of BBDO ad agency, the third-largest in the world, expects cell phones to become larger than television advertising, but not everyone agrees with that statement. "Television advertising still accounts for 85 percent of advertising dollars spent in the U.S.," concluded In-Stat's Ask. "Even if cellular advertising is quite successful, it will take many years for it to approach the volume of revenue that television advertising generates."

Case Study - Dos Equis and Kikucall

Brand - Dos Equis

Company - Kikucall

Objective:
Dos Equis wanted to interact with consumers at a series of live events supporting the "Dos Equis Mysterious Nights" promotion. The fall promotion asked consumers to solve the mystery of the missing Xs from the Dos Equis logo for a chance to win $20,000. A series of Mysterious Nights events were executed in eight U.S. Markets to promote the online Dos Equis mystery.

Solution:
Dos Equis' promotions agency, Alcone Promotion, contacted to Kikucall to craft a campaign to boost participation in the online promotion by integrating wireless into a series of Mysterious Nights events. In order to achieve the clients' goal, Kikucall designed a mobile application that allowed consumers to interact with each other and Dos Equis via text messaging on site at the promotional events. The Dos Equis Mysterious Nights Text program was executed by Dos Equis Brand Ambassadors on site at the events.

1. The program asked consumers to send a text message to Dos Equis with a note to someone in the bar. The consumer's text message was then displayed on screen at the event in real-time.

2. After receiving each text message, Dos Equis sent a response SMS to the consumer, thanking him or her participation, and driving him to the Dos Equis website to participate in the Mysterious Nights promotion.

3. During the promotion, events occurred simultaneously in multiple markets. To ensure that the right messages reached the right event teams, Kikucall developed an application that routed each consumer message to the appropriate Brand Ambassador via SMS. The consumer message also appeared on a Kikucall-designed web interface that Brand Ambassadors projected on screen in real-time at each event.

Results:
Kikucall successfully delivered a total of 2,085 SMS messages during 67 Dos Equis Mysterious Nights events. Participation was high at each event, and a steady flow of text messages were projected on screen. IN the first three weeks of the program, 2,858 consumers visited the Dos Equis website to participate in the Mysterious Nights promotion. Visitors spent a total of 1,331 hours, 20 minutes, and 28 seconds trying to solve the mystery of the missing Xs from the Dos Equis logo.

Full Study here

Mobile Marketing 101: Know Thy Audience

One of the primary decisions anyone creating a mobile campaign must decide is whether or not their audience actually uses mobile devices. If they are a user, depending on their age, you must decide how they use them so your message and delivery is relevant. I just came across a press release from comScore which underscores this point.

comScore breaks mobile phone users into three groups:

1. Adult Adopters (age 35+) - More functional view of phones. Didn't own a phone until they were an adult and just want the basics.
   
2. Transitioners (25-34) - Started using in teens, early adulthood.
   
3. Cellular Generation (18-24) - This is the most likely audience to engage with your brand through a mobile device. They've had access to phones throughout their lives.
   

This may seem logical, you may say to yourself, "self...I shouldn't push cutting edge mobile P-2-P technology to my 40-year-old target market", but many marketers are ignoring the obvious and campaigns fail to achieve results. Rushing a mobile campaign to market without being goal-driven and targeted is like giving a toddler a Motorola Q and expecting them to use it. They may be initially happy with all of the buttons, but that happiness will soon fade when all they really wanted was something shiny.

Originally written by Matt Dickman

Mobile Marketing - How does it fit in?

There are Pros and Cons to all forms of Marketing. While print, radio and television have tremendous reach, they provide limited interaction with consumers. Direct mail allows Marketers to segment their market, but is limited in its ability to grab consumer's attention. While the Web provides unprecedented interactivity and monitoring, but is not personal and has to fight for the consumer's attention. Marketers must provide a way to connect with consumers via all of these mediums when and where they show interest in their products to be most effective. Mobile Marketing provides an interactive and integrated platform that can be leveraged across all online and offline marketing.

Though many Brands excel through traditional and interactive marketing methods, it is also true that many competing factors can cloud the Brands message. Given this reality, smart marketers must constantly update their marketing mix with new responsive media to increase the probability of customers receiving the right message when they want it and where they want it. The most effective and least intrusive forms of mobile marketing are delivered on an opt-in basis; the availability and convenience of subscription based mobile marketing is ideal for foging loyal customers. This relaxed environment means customers are more receptive to the messages being communicated. By contacting prospects when and where they are most open to receiving marketing information, companies can garner unprecedented returns.

When designing a mobile marketing campaign, it is important to integrate and align the initiative with other marketing campaigns and goals. Mobile marketing campaigns are easy to integrate with all traditional marketing: brand marketing, direct marketing, market research, event marketing, in-store marketing and customer relationship management.

Brand Marketing
Mobile marketing provides a variety of options for increasing brand awareness. By providing consumers in-depth information you can influence purchase decisions by delivering tailored messages to specific demographics. Prospects receive the content they want, in a format that is convenient when it is needed. Integrated Mobile Brand Marketing is limited only by the imagination.

Direct Marketing
Direct marketing campaigns provide an opportunity to collect customer leads, deliver coupons and communicate promotions to a targeted audience. Mobile marketing's tracking and reporting capabilities provide fast, detailed campaign results, enabling quick prospect follow up. Mobile Marketing is flexible enough to easily integrate with traditional direct marketing strategies, and enables the development of creative drecet marketing campaigns that deliver quantifiable results.

Market Research
Researching consumer behavior via their mobile phone will change where, when and how we gather market data like no medium has before. The ability to survey , collect data and poll customers via their mobile phone, then push coupons, benefits and rewards programs directly to thei rMobile Phone will change the way brands develop and motivate loyal customers.

Event Marketing
Event marketing has long been a staple of marketing, there is no better time to raise brand awareness than when consumers are relaxing and enjoying themselves. Mobile event marketing allows brands to engage their audience by leveraging mobile interaction directly through television advertising, sproting events, concerts and trade shows.

Customer Relationship Management
The personal nature of the mobile phone makes them the ideal vehicle for enhancing existing customer relationships. Rather than just one-way corporate marketing messages, mobile marketing provides an avenue for two-way dialog with customers. Companies can provide customers with promotional information; secure account informations and status, frequently asked questions, customer support, loyalty programs and more.

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Case Study - Absolut Bling Bling WAP Campaign by Madhouse

Company: Madhouse Inc. (www.madhouse.cn)
Client: Absolut Vodka via The Hyperfactory

Background:
Having taken the fashion world by storm, this iced-up obsession with luxury and "Bling Bling" has proven its longevity. Absolut hopped onto the ice wagon to celebrate the holiday season with a special edition Absolut Bling Bling bottle, full of sparkly goodies to "dress up" the bottle of booze.

Goals:
Have consumers associate luxury and exclusivity with the Absolut brand and promote the special edition Absolut Bling Bling bottle in China to the desired target audience.

Solution:
Madhouse, in partnership with The Hyperfactory, created an exclusive WAP campaign site promoting the Absolut Bling Bling bottle via ringtones, wallpapers, drink recipes and nationwide event information.

Meanwhile, to drive more traffic to the site, WAP ads were also served by the in-house intelligence mobile ad serving system, MadServing, to specifically target GoTone users (China Mobile sub-brand targeting business travelers) or consumers whose handsets are valued at 2,000 RMB and above in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, Chengdu, and other select tier 1 cities across a breadth of large WAP portals on the China's largest mobile ad network, MadNetwork.

Results:
During the 9 days of mobile media production, the targeted ad served by MadServing achieved over 1,800,000 total targeting impressions resulting in over 3.2% click-through rate to the Absolut Bling Bling mobile campaign site.

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Mobile Advertising: One-To-Many Multicast Would Pay Dividends, So Why Aren’t We Doing It?

Mobile advertising may be a hot topic, but few have really got their head around how to deliver it in such a way that it makes sense – and money – for the companies involved. The answer may have been there all along in the example set by print and cable companies that have built their bottom line on delivering advertising to a mass markets – cheaply and effectively. As Tom Wheeler, a managing director at VC firm Core Capital Partners, writes in his latest column on TMCnet: “Mobile advertising is a one-to-one operation, and as a result relatively costly to deliver.” Sending one message to mass audience (as is the practice in print and cable) costs “virtually nothing to deliver compared to the one-to-one unicast of mobile distribution.”

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Mobile Marketing Briefing - New Report

The latest trends were discussed at a recent E-consultancy roundtable and have been written up in this briefing (free to registered users).

Here is a SWOT analysis for mobile marketing based on the discussion we had.

There is more detail in the full briefing which also contains the latest statistics and some useful resources.

(It's important to keep in mind that mobile marketing covers a range of disciplines and types of marketing including brand advertising and direct marketing but this hopefully at least gives a flavour of what is happening in this 'sector'.)

Strengths

• Adoption of the mobile internet is speeding up and consumption of content is growing.
  
  
• The experience of using the internet to go online is getting more agreeable all the time due to better technology, including handset improvements.
  
  
• The 'walled garden' approach adopted by mobile operators is being consigned to the dustbin with the likes of T-Mobile and 3 signing deals with the big search engines.
  
  
• Fixed price 'all-you-can-eat' deals for mobile content are helping to drive content consumption.
  
  
• There is more leadership from bodies such as the Mobile Marketing Association.
  
  
• It is getting easier to pay for things by mobile, especially small-ticket items.

Weaknesses

• The mobile internet is not yet mass market which means that brands / advertisers are only dipping their toes into this rather than committing serious budget. It's where 'internet marketing' was several years ago.
  
  
• In terms of handsets, the market is actually getting more fragmented which means that it is getting harder rather than easier to work towards a user experience which is satisfactory across the board.
  
  
• The fact that mobile marketing is not a discrete area of marketing means that there is no body with a mandate to oversee the various constituent parts. It can be hard to know where to go for best practice, advice etc.

Opportunities

• Mobile Search - there is a great opportunity for advertisers to get traction on mobile search engine listings as many brands haven't jumped on board yet. Duncan Jennings has done a great blog post on mobile search.
  
  
• Local search / listings ... phones with GPS. Huge potential.
  
  
• The mobile phone is a very personal device and a great opportunity to get personalised marketing messages across - if done properly.
  
  
• Acquisition and Retention....
  
  
• Branding and direct response....
  
  
• Flash Lite means that more designers and developers will get on board with mobile with something which is familiar.

Threats

• It continues to get more difficult for companies to provide a consistent experience across different browsers and the ever expanding variety of handsets and personal devices on the market.
  
  
• Abuse of mobile marketing damages the industry (i.e. consumers being ripped off and permission marketing principles being ignored). It could get worse if the offenders are not punished properly.
  
  
• From the point of view of the mobile operators, there are numerous threats which boil down to any disintermediation from the value chain, whether because of VOIP or the fact that consumers don't want their content.
  

There is more detail in the Mobile Marketing roundtable briefing. This isn't meant to be exhaustive so feel free to contribute things which have inevitably been missed...

Thanks to Incentivated, Kodime, New Media Edge and Sponge for their input.

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