Mobile: The Ideal Medium For Personal Targeting? Or Are Publishers & Advertisers Flying Blind? » mobilegroove

In theory, it should be a breeze to deliver the right content to the right user over mobile. The mobile is a personal device and marketers can dive deep into data collected by mobile operators and the growing number of companies staking their turf in the mobile services and advertising value chain based on their ability to gather and wield analytics.

But a recent Media Post interview with Bob Walczak, CEO of mobile ad network MoPhap, points out that behavioral targeting (BT) has quite a few hurdles to clear before it can be as powerful and effective as its online counterpart. A huge problem is the mobile browser, which can’t handle cookies and can’t develop detailed profiles of how individuals sue their mobile phones. As Walczak puts it: “[U]ntil that hurdle is addressed, you really don’t have anything that can legitimately be known as behavioral targeting. The essence of behavioral targeting online is the marriage of supply of publisher inventory and the demand for advertisers, and vice versa — but no network in mobile has been able to make that happen. Essentially both publishers and advertisers have been flying blind.”

Seeking a shortcut some publishers and advertisers have built their business models on the willingness of mobile operators to share the data they collect from user registration and other forms users fill out to receive content and apps. But it’s a risky business and operators are increasingly reluctant to share the data that will save them from becoming dumb pipes. Fortunately, other technologies coming online (such as server-side solutions and on-device portals) also allow publishers and advertisers to identify the individual user’s device and context. Now advertisers and publsihers have to work together to fill in the gaps.

Walczak explains: “What we do is identify users by device and identify their device as they enter a site on our publisher network. From there we can aggregate information and create a behavioral profile based on a variety of criteria. Our approach to behavioral targeting is then geared to bringing the three main components online advertisers have grown accustomed to into the mobile sphere, telling them who users are, what they do in real time and what ads they tend to be most responsive toward. If you can combine the three in a mobile context, you’ve got a heat-seeking missile. You’ve also finally leveled the playing field somewhat between mobile and online.”

Granted, collecting contextual data is a tall order – but the effort will likely pay handsome dividends. After all, the majority of users who access mobile search on-the-fly are not surfing for fun; they are searching for answers.

Mobile Search And Its Implications For Search Engine Marketing, a OneUpWeb white paper I admire, has put an interesting spin on this. Comparing mobile search to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the white paper notes that mobile users tend to use search to satisfy “personal-survival” needs such as finding a hotel (shelter) and locating a good restaurant (food). These needs are followed by “personal-security” needs such as accessing weather information or creating personalized information environments with the help of favorite songs, images and social networks. Users are likely to put “personal-survival” needs first and local mobile search that can offer relevant results and even connect the consumer to the merchant with a phone call will become must-have survival services.

The good news is mobile search says a lot about user intent and already allows for the delivery of targeted advertising. (Watch for ODP-mobile search solutions and tie-ups that will put the content owners in control of the experience.) The better news is it also allows for new forms of search-related value-add services and new delivery schemes. An excellent example of this is Proxpro, a U.S.-based provider of mobile search, proximity social networking and location-aware tools for mobile professionals. Its patented technology and algorithms allow users to discover people nearby who match pre-specified interests. The service then sends a text message to both and, if both agree, a face-to-face meeting can take place within minutes. (Watch for an interview with Julian Bourne, Proxpro CEO and founder, next week. I’m told he’s gearing up for a new product launch and a couple of other surprises.)

Walczak doesn’t quite share my vision of social search, but he can imagine intelligent agents that – like butlers – could undertake searches across mobile and online platforms for content and services sure to please their masters. “We believe that mobile will be the catalyst for intelligent agents or Semantic Web 2.0. These are tools that don’t just return links about a subject as in a Web search, but rather are designed to find answers based on an evolving understanding of what a mobile user’s interests, needs and style of using information are. The agent actually learns the decision-making process of its user.” He continues: “The implications for targeting are enormous, and mobile will be at the center of it. In theory what it entails is knowing not just that a consumer is interested in shopping for a car, or even that their tastes seem to run in the direction of auto type A versus auto type B, but the chain of personalized decision criteria and the decision-making process.”

But this vision is fast becoming reality. I’ve interviewed several start-ups for my VisionGain report – and warmly invite other companies in this exciting space to contact me directly.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 at 1:31 pm and is filed under Mobile Marketing, Mobile Search, White Papers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.