Mobile Groove

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group and self-proclaimed “fan” of text messaging — advises marketers to focus on what matters most: getting the value exchange right.

There are no easy answers, but there are some questions that will help produce them. Ask yourself: “Would this [marketing/approach] annoy me?”. That’s a good start. “There are just basic rules of etiquette. You use different media judiciously and the ability to do that intelligently is one mark of a mature and intelligent service brand.”

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group, a leading integrated advertising and marketing communications agency, challenges the view that mobile is somehow in its infancy and has yet to grow up and compete with the Big Boys (such as online, TV and print) that continue to account for the lion share of advertising spend.

As Rory sees it: the proper way to measure the importance (and effectiveness) of mobile in the marketing mix is not to look at spend. The cost of developing a brilliant text-based …

How do mobile operators across the Asia Pacific region view increasing competition from banks, credit card companies and mobile payments middlemen? What is driving mobile operators to mobile marketing and advertising strategies? Why is personalization a primary focus across mobile operator app stores and storefronts?

These are just a few of the questions examined in the new report Fighting Smart: Using Value-Added Services To Create Lasting Customer Loyalty. The report — written by MobileGroove and commissioned by Amdocs Interactive — is based on a survey of 120 telecom executives at major mobile operators across Asia Pacific conducted by market research firm Coleman Parkes.

Increased competition for customers from rival mobile operators, as well as a range of players from across the value chain, has turned up the pressure on telcos to think of new ways to keep prepaid users happy and loyal. Many operators are putting budget into campaigns aimed at increasing loyalty and improving CRM (Customer Relationship Management). But spend alone won’t stop churn. Adhish Kulkarni draws from new research to provide telcos practical advice on how operators can get the edge with sharply focused mobile loyalty and CRM programs.

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Mobile operators may be the best marketers of communications services on the planet, but now the time has come for operators to use those same capabilities to communicate more effectively with their customer base. With the majority of the world’s mobile subscribers choosing a prepaid tariff, it’s imperative that mobile operators develop strategies to reduce churn rates and maximize dwindling margins per user.