February » 2009 » mobilegroove

This is the key message in my debut column at RCR Wireless Week as a new addition to the Analyst Angle, a regular feature where leading analysts give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry, from carriers to content to handsets to infrastructure. This month I have chosen to examine the emerging mobile advertising ecosystem, and the advance of mobile advertising platforms that cleverly bring together a mix of companies to reduce channel fragmentation and provide the planning and profiling capabilities that will allow advertisers to harness mobile to deliver the right ad to the right user and reduce wastage generated by blanket campaigns. Gigafone was the first out of the gates, but I am sure there will be more to follow. * * * Is mobile advertising broken? Or is it just early days? The jury is still out on that one. But there is no ignoring the gap between the amount of effort companies invest in mobile advertising campaigns and the actual results they produce. Granted, some well-executed (translated: targeted) campaigns report an average response rate of 25%, (I'm thinking here of Blyk, the world's first ad-funded MVNO turned media company that has purposely focused on the 16-24 year-old demographic, one that has expressed a keen interest in hearing what brands such as Coca-Cola and L'Oreal have to say). But these are the exception to the rule. Do the math and click-through rates (CTRs) on mobile ads are generally between 1-3%. The good news: It's more than the 0.05% CTRs brands get from online banner campaigns. The bad news: It still represents a 97-99% fail rate. Would you build a business model on a medium that fails to satisfy over 90% of customers? Not likely.

A look at Fox Mobile's deal with Mobile Content Networks (MCN)to deploy vertical paid search programs across multiple markets worldwide PLUS MSG catches up with Fox Mobile CEO Mauro Montanaro to connect the dots in the company's ambitious mobile search, content discovery and recommendation strategies. A major advantage to writing the Netsize Guide 2009 was the opportunity it provided me to connect with 34 C-Level executives for no holds barred interviews to discuss the opportunities/threats/trends highest on their radar. My interview with Mauro Montanaro, CEO Fox Mobile, was more than your typical Q&A; it was an invigorating exchange that we have pledged to continue on a regular basis. The reason: We understand the pivotal importance of mobile search, content discovery, and recommendation in all content-selling strategies moving forward. Fast forward, and mobile content companies are beginning to understand the benefits of mobile search and, more importantly, search merchandising. Why? Because simple Retail 101 tells us customers can't buy what they cannot find, and, with operator portals on the way out, D2C destinations can best bubble their content offers up to the surface if they are findable in the first place. Paid search schemes round out the model, allowing content providers to monetize their traffic (which can be considerable for large brands, a major reason why so many of them are beefing up their mobile search/paid search strategies). Which brings us to this week's news that Fox Mobile (more specifically Fox Mobile Distribution's consumer brand sites Jamba and Jamster content sites) has sealed a deal with MCN, a provider of search management, search merchandising, and PPC vertical paid search programs. The service will initially launch with the search results of carriers in Thailand and Sweden, and will later extend to other regions.

Will 2009 be the year of mobile advertising? In Germany the question isn't associated with market hype; it's linked to the realization that the climate and conditions are right in Germany for mobile marketing to finally and formally take-off. Gone are many of the legal and business hurdles that have stifled ideas and innovation, paving the way for home-grown mobile marketing companies - such as MindMatics AG, Netbiscuits GmbH, Smaato Inc., and YOC AG - to take their place among international giants. This overview names companies and some interesting stats - thanks again to Mark ("Mr. Mobile") Waechter, independent media consultant and head of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) in Germany. Mobile World Congress (MWC) introduced me to some exciting German companies sure to leave their mark on mobile. Some (such as the amazing aki-aki) I met during my day judging the Mobile Peer Awards (the winner in the Emerging Startups category was Popcatcher, a Swedish company set to do for radio what TiVo did for TV). Others I connected with at the reception held by Smaato to announce the winner of the Smaato Mobile Advertising Award 2008 (which was DialPlus, by the way) and finalist companies: aka-aki, buzzd, Fishlabs, fring, FunkySexyCool, Peperoni, Qeep, Skout, TourSpot and Vayyoo. I also had a deliciously disruptive discussion with Harald Neidhardt, Smaato CMO & Co-Founder, during which I also learned more about m.LOVE, a path-breaking group of "mobile passionistas" Harald has brought together to discuss the future of mobile and ways how "mobile advertising, mobile social communities and the society find solutions to be more engaging in the mobile media of the future."

Fresh from Mobile World Congress (MWC), and energized with ideas, insights, and a slew of exclusive interviews. I'm also inspired by the positive response to the Netsize Guide 2009, a comprehensive mobile almanac I wrote that has already been downloaded a whopping 2,000+ times since it formally launched last Tuesday during MWC. Some of you twittered that you had difficulty downloading the 360-page tome, but those issues have since been resolved. It seems that no one expected so many people to access the guide over such a short period of time. Another surprise, numerous requests during the launch party for me to autograph copies. We captured it all on film as the MSG team - coordinated by our own Stuart Willett - was on-location conducting interviews with a who's who of attendees including Blinck, Irdeto, T-Mobile Hungary, Universal McCann, Velti, YouTube, and Zed. A special treat for me: Connecting with Thomas Husson, Forrester Senior Analyst, and a colleague whom I highly respect.

Disclaimer: Netsize is an MSG support; Peggy Anne Salz is author of the Netsize Guide 2009.

In a special contribution from Mippin, a mobile portal providing mobile phone internet users access and enhanced discovery of optimized content for mobile phones, we look at Mippin Mobilizer, the company's PC-based tool allowing publishers - including MSG - to mobilize and monetize web content to target new and existing internet traffic from mobile phones. Justin Baker, Mippin Marketing Manager, explains the process of mobilizing MSG step-by-step. When Peggy recounted the main points of her recent - and extremely pragmatic --mobile advertising white paper and hinted that the next step might be to mobilize MSG, we decided the timing was right to provide publishers with a how-to guide to mobilizing their content using MSG as a real-life example. And what better time that the week of Mobile World Congress (MWC), an event that showcases the best in the mobile space and celebrates an astounding 4 billion connections.