Archive for Marketing
by Ewan Spence
November 16, 2008 at 1:27 pm · Filed under Advertising, Apple, Communication, Marketing, Mobile Applications, Mobile Tech, Software, Video
Mobile phones are incredibly personal devices, and that means that people will pay a lot more attention to what is on, and what is shown, on the screens of their smart phones. That’s one of the arguments that the advertising industry is hoping will allow mobile advertising to take off. But while the application of advertising on mobile web sites still hasn’t caught fire, a number of PR companies and developers are already working on different angles to capture the mobile screen and put their message in front of users.
The recent Bond film, Quantum of Solace, has spawned an interesting application for Apple’s iPhone. Websites for films are now common currency, and the marketers have now created a good template for a mobile application that helps promote a film. Of course with connected devices the dividing line between a mobile website and a mobile application is lessening, there’s a lot of synergy between these two products.
But back to the application. Acting as a hub it pulls in both the trailers for the film, and information about the film that’s updated on a regular basis (based around a blog concept), as well as links into the music store to buy the theme tune to the film. Craig Rubens does wonder why you can’t buy movie tickets for local screenings, but perhaps that’s asking too much at this moment in time – this idea of a mobile application/advert is still in its infancy.
Think of it like a demo for the film, in exactly the same way as you get demos for applications (although strangely demos of applications are in short supply in the iPhone App store, as Darla points out here). I’m expecting to see a lot of these in the near future. And perhaps in the future once you finish watching the film at the cinema you’ll get a discount on items like the soundtrack, or even the ability to purchase it from an online media store.
by Ewan Spence
October 27, 2008 at 3:31 pm · Filed under Communication, Development, Devices, Google, Hardware, Marketing, iPhone, iPhone 3G
Getting the message out about a new computer, PDA, smartphone or Operating System is always tricky, because so many diverse groups actually need to be told. And those groups generally need to be told different things, and at different times. It’s still a rather linear process, though, from announcing the phone, to getting it out to the press, then the bloggers, and then into the stores.
And then it gets fun, because people are startling to look for more from their smartphones, and that means once they’ve exhausted the needed but boring built in PDA applications and confirmed that the web browser call see Engadget, they’re going to go hunting online for some more applications to install on the device.
This is where the incumbent devices have an inherent advantage, because they will already have hundreds, if not thousands, of applications out there. When Nokia release a new S60 device, all the existing applications are going to be able to run on the device (assuming the programmers have paid attention to the SDK’s). The same goes for the iPhone 3G… the regular iPhone applications all happily moved over. The consumer saw continuity, and a chance to explore (even though the developers know they’re essentially the same devices).
It’s getting that developer recognition that’s the problem for new entrants into the mobile market – it’s a nice built in hurdle from those already playing. Even building a device on the same OS doesn’t guarantee compatibility. While Samsung may have S60 based devices, Nokia’s podcast client won’t run on their handset due to the certificate used when compiling the application. And that’s where the developer competition comes in handy.
The principle is simple – before a new device arrives in the market, the software developer kits arrive, with their emulators, and all the programmers and developers can start programming their applications and have them available on that crucial launch day. The problem is that developers tend to like to code for established platforms, or at least one where they have a good chance of getting a good return on their investment – make no bones about it, the learning of a new SDK, especially for a mobile platform, is one that needs a lot of time invested.
That’s where the almighty developer competition comes in. Yes, if you code something that the manufacturer likes, they’ll reward you with a prize, in many cases cold hard cash. That does sweeten the deal for developers, giving them a good incentive to start learning a system before release – although I always think it’s a bit sneaky that in many cases the ‘prizes’ for these competitions are the hardware you’re already coding for.
The problem with that approach is the results for the developers is rather like that of VC investors. Not every platform makes it to critical mass, not every platform gets the customers coming to the on-line stores and sites to buy software, and not everyone entering a developer competition will win something that makes their effort worthwhile. The flip side is you’re in pole position when a platform does go public, but then, how can you predict which is going to be big on launch day?
It remains to be seen if Google’s Android will have a large application base, and users willing to spend money on those applications. Already there are three separate stores handling software for the Android G1, and the worries of fragmentation, user confusion, and the lack of application education are already on the horizon. For all
And Apple? Well they thought different and launched the phone first, locked it down for six months and waited for everyone to shout really loudly at them for application support, so when they launched, developers and end-users had already made their mind up they wanted to code and buy for the platform. That’s a trick that probably only Apple could get away with, but the point remains the same. Profitable platforms need users, they need manufacturer support, they need support from the mobile networks, and they need third party applications.
Developer competitions might be great, but they’re only part of the equation that you should consider for any new platform.
by Imran Ali
August 26, 2008 at 10:45 am · Filed under Marketing, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Marketing, SMS
Thinking about running a Obama-like 50-state strategy? Help is at hand with Tagga, a service that lets regular users create and track SMS marketing campaigns.
Currently live in North America, and not dissimilar to Mozes (but cheaper), Tagga is reaching out to customers seeking to create mobile campaigns; advertisers seeking to insert marketing messages into such campaigns; content owners looking to alternative distribution channels.
Content publisher’s purchase keywords - such as ‘MM2.0′ - which when texted to the Tagga number (82442) will return content to the user by SMS. Interestingly, publishers can opt to purchase they keywords for a limited period or carry advertising, in the outbound SMS; though reserving half the available characters for advertisers seems excessive.
Though the interaction model, advertising real-estate and pricing may not suit all, services like Tagga illustrate an important shift in the use of mobile marketing campaigns - that the technical knowledge to operate such a campaign is about to become available to all kinds of publishers, advertisers and businesses, potentially democratising access to a new marketing medium at the same time as increasing the daily noise of messages we recieve through various channels…
by Paul Ruppert
August 25, 2008 at 10:12 am · Filed under Marketing, Mobile Advertising, Podcasts
Exposure > Persuasion > Transactions
Understanding how analytics illuminate and profile users, with a measure of customer acquisition costs is a key performance indicator for advertising whether it is traditional print, fixed billboard or media such as TV and radio. The same now applies with the emerging mobile advertising channel.
If the real value exchange between mobile and advertising is to be fully capitalized, new data sets need to be developed for the advertising and brand industries that drive this space. 
An on-going interest of mine has been how the mobile segment is moving to solve core questions like: a) how many people have been exposed to an advertisement? And (b) how effective is the advertising? These are cornerstone questions to advertising, and nothing has changed for its transfer to the mobile channel.
As part of my quest I had the opportunity recently to sit down with Bango’s Anhil Malhotra. Bango is paving the way, working with the Media Rating Council and Mobile Marketing Association, moving beyond simple CPM (cost per 1k exposures), PPC (pay per click), CPC (cost per call) and CPA (cost per action) metrics to establish new audience verification metrics for mobile.
Listen here: mmfanilbango2 to my podcast with Anil Malhotra, SVP of Marketing with Bango (recorded at the Harvard Club of New York) as we explore the future of mobile advertising metrics, and how there is no end to the appetite of what people want when it comes precise and concise audience verifiability.
The reality is that mobile provides much more power in the battle from exposure to persuasion to transactions. Listen and find out how.
