May » 2009 » mobilegroove

I can finally come out with the mobile advertising exclusive I have been hinting about since I spoke at a Knowledge & Networking Seminar (an excellent event organized by the Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment - AIME) focused specifically on mobile advertising and social networking. During the evening I had the opportunity to connect with Eric Mugnier, Product and Innovation Director at InsideMobile, a mobile marketing agency that understands the importance of offering people more of a say in their advertising experiences. It was refreshing to hear an advertising executive (other than Jonathan MacDonald and, more recently, WPP's Mark Linder) provide reasons why the individual(!) sits at the center of a newly- emerging (and ever-evolving) mobile advertising value web. But now we have proof that what many suggest is idealism can actually provide the basis for an ideal business model. The news is today's announcement by Reebok that it has launched Your Reebok, the world's first iPhone app that allows us to customize our sneakers (an app created by InsideMobile). Your Reebok launches initially in the U.S. and the U.K. but the service will go live in Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Austria, and Ireland in the coming months. But the real news for me is the sea change in mobile advertising/marketing thinking this made-for-mobile app represents. I caught up with Dusan Hamlin, InsideMobile Managing Director, to talk about what the app does now, and what we can expect next. At first glance, the cool factor is how this app uses the features and functionality of the iPhone, such as the accelerometer, to take mobile interaction to another level. In addition to being able to customize up to 23 areas of the show with a choice of 19 colors, people can also shake the iPhone to mix and meld colors in truly one-of-a-kind random designs. Do you like what you see? Then share it with a friend. But this time we're not talking about just another app that lets us show stuff to people in a one-way (one-to-several broadcast) exchange. Dusan made a conscious choice to enable mobile community collaboration. "You share the sneaker with friends and say 'what do you think?' They edit it [your design], make some changes and send it back, saying 'it was cool before, but I like it more now.'"

Wrapping up months of interviewing influencers/decision-makers in the emerging mobile advertising ecosystem (agencies, enablers, operators, brands - and an exciting mix of companies in-between) for Mobile Advertising Research UK . Now I'm heading off to London Monday (June 15) for Mobile Advertising UK (a one-day conference organized by Camerjam Events) where I and my esteemed colleague Tarik Fawzi will reveal some surprising findings. Regular readers will recall that MSG was commissioned to conduct the research project - endorsed by leading global mobile marketing organizations, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB Europe), the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB UK) and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) - to expertly document the state of the mobile advertising industry in the U.K., identify growth opportunities in the emerging mobile advertising marketplace, and benefit stakeholders, shareholders, and consumers worldwide. How can companies create value and increase ROI? Is market education the key to driving mobile advertising growth? What is the ideal ecosystem? What metrics must mobile deliver? These are just a few of questions that will address. The event brings together a who's who of the U.K. mobile advertising industry in an open and frank exchange to identify the opportunities and the obstacles. It also recognizes mobile marketing campaigns that set the bar. The EverySingleOneOfUs Mobile Campaign of the Year Award 2008/9 rewards mobile campaigns that demonstrate flair, creativity, and - above all - benefit us (through relevancy, ease of interaction, or the value to the individual). The organizers have also invited me to help judge the mobile campaign of the year, joining a panel of esteemed colleagues and industry experts including Jonathan MacDonald, founder, Every Single One Of Us; Andrew Grill, mobile advertising evangelist and blogger at London Calling; and Alfie Dennen, co-founder of Moblog, a provider of mobile blogging software. Indeed, mobile advertising 2.0 is happening NOW, and you can get a glimpse of progress at Mobile Advertising UK.

What do you get when you bring together the intellectual resources of Rudy De Waele/ mTrends and dotopen, an open innovation consulting firm known for its insights into the emerging mobile Web 2.0 ecosystem, and MSearchGroove, a knowledge resource dedicated to the analysis of mobile search (and all things mobile at the intersection of context and content)? In a word, impact! Since teaming up with Rudy De Waele, blogger at mTrends and dotopen founder, to develop mobile search case studies in preparation for a workshop on Mobile Search Future Prospects organized by JRC IPTS (Institute for Prospective Technological Studies of the European Commission), and seeing the positive response to our work to date, I'm convinced mobile search is back again at the top of the industry agenda. And with good reason: Search is the de facto interface to all things digital in the online space, and there is every indication that it will be the same in mobile. From mobile advertising, where our queries trigger the delivery of related advertising (in the best case scenario, we're not there yet), to social media, where the content we appreciate and discuss across destinations ranging from MySpace to Twitter allows us to restore balance in an otherwise purely algorithmic approach that tends to promote search engine optimized websites over what we find genuinely relevant and useful, mobile search is where the action is. But as Rudy and I have both pointed out in our recent presentations, mobile search is not about the usual suspects (Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft). Rudy spoke at Next09, and you can find his slides further on in this post; I spoke at the European Mobile Media Conference, and my deck can likewise be found after the jump. Indeed, context and personalization change all the rules (!) A highlight of our recent presentations: A comprehensive overview of the market and (thanks to Rudy) a SWOT analysis of the players that stand out in their category such as Google (universal search with a poor mobile offer and an even weaker grasp of social search), and Twitter (a case of mobile search + social media = real-time results that really reflect what we discuss/share). In my own mobile search research - an on-going project that began back in 2004/2005 when I wrote the first report on mobile search and content discovery, a 220+ page report published by Informa Telecoms & Media - I have recently identified some 60+ companies and 10+ categories of mobile search I would like to share with you (below) for your feedback.

You know the specter of the downturn has hit mobile when a super power like Google claims it can't attend participate in industry events because of budget constraints. However, smart companies know that a sluggish economy spell opportunity for businesses that know how to move forward when the economy is standing still. Indeed, the doom-and-gloom mood hasn't stopped 50+ industry heavyweights from around the world from meeting in London in June for an executive brainstorm about the future profit opportunities in an open mobile world. I am reminded of the recent MSG podcast with Tom Huseby, Managing Partner, SeaPoint Ventures, and his observation that there is plenty of money and opportunity in mobile, but it's up to entrepreneurs to structure their good ideas so VCs get it. Mobile has enjoyed an exceptionally high growth trajectory and even the credit crunch can't discourage VCs from investing. "On the whole, venture capitalists have not run out of money. The bars are high and it's difficult, but my gosh, my advice to entrepreneurs is keep working on your idea until it does appeal to the money, or don't use the money to do it." What has VCs excited? Open systems, open storefronts and open operators - and lots of apps. Against this backdrop, the timing couldn't be better for an industry event sharply focused on what open is (and isn't). Yes, it's about new and increasingly open business ecosystems (where mobile operators can still play a central role provided they play according to the new rules). But open means much more. It's about the convergence of platforms and devices to blur the boundaries between the physical and virtual worlds, and transform communication, content, advertising, search and retail. More importantly, open is about the shift from command-control to coordinate-cultivate, a seismic shift in how we do business and make money. How do we get there from here? What models are sustainable and which are hype? There are no easy answers. However, the Open Mobile Summit (June 10-11 in London), produced by Robin Batt, an independent consultant with 13 years experience in the space, certainly covers all the bases to offer attendees insights that will allow them to take charge of the wave of change rather than be crashed by it. (In fact, even Google is attending!)

No matter if it's an industry conference, a round table or a simple networking around drinks; you can bet the questions will arise: What's the value chain? Where does company X fit in? And how do they relate to company Y? The newly-released second edition of the Mobile Industry Atlas, a comprehensive wallchart spanning 47 sectors and 800+ companies, goes a long way toward answering these tough questions, helping industry insiders and professionals better understand and navigate the complex mobile industry. This has been a mammoth undertaking, produced by the team at VisionMobile with the help of a network of 20+ advisors to identify and review leading companies in the industry, and literally "map" them according to their position in the value chain. I am proud to be a VisionMobile Associate and to have contributed to the Mobile Industry Atlas by helping shortlist companies in the mobile content, mobile advertising, and mobile search sectors. I encourage you to check out a sample of the Mobile Industry Atlas here. VisionMobile is offering MSG readers a special discount. (Thanks Andreas!) For this week only MSG readers (using the code MSG4696A to place the order) will receive a 25 percent discount. With 800 companies and 47 market sectors, the Atlas is twice the size of last year's wall chart and includes category definitions. In addition to laying out the 200 or so players in the core value chain, the Atlas condenses the market chaos of the many sectors of the mobile industry into three groups of market sectors:

Judging from the high level of interest in social search-related companies and concepts - such as Taptu, abphone, and people-powered answers search from ChaCha - expressed by participants at conferences where I have spoken, I am confident social search is more than just another hot topic. In fact, this new breed of services, which combines mobile social networking fun and community with the utility of mobile search, potentially creates new forms of interaction and new opportunities for the delivery of relevant mobile advertising. Granted we aren't there yet, but there are some signposts that I believe mark the way. One start-up that that stands out is HeyStaks (www.heystaks.com). The company, based in University College Dublin, Ireland, was founded by Dr. Maurice Coyle and Dr. Peter Briggs, and is a spin-out from the research group of Prof. Barry Smyth, who is perhaps best known as co-founder and Chief Scientist of ChangingWorlds (now a Unit of Amdocs Interactive), a company that has pioneered personalization technology. I recently caught up with Barry for a guided tour of the service and an update on the company's mobile ambitions. I am also proud that Barry recently partnered with me to publish a series of thought leadership columns exclusively on MSG. Understandably, Barry took a break from the series (which kicked off with this exploration of the "hidden interaction costs" associated with surfing and exploring the mobile Internet) to develop his path-breaking HeyStaks service - now in Beta. But he'll be back soon with a typically cool column focused on the intelligent delivery of personalized content and advertising, so watch this space! What is the problem? As the company cleverly points out in the cartoon strip below, we waste a lot of time searching for things our peers are also searching for (or may already have found!). To make matters worse, we have a lot of trouble sharing what we find with people once we find it. A solution is to make search a social activity (and that goes double for mobile search, in my view) and provide people the tools to create and communicate the searches that matter to them most.