Mobile Groove

Starting this week off with a bang. I arrived back in Germany from ThinkMobile in NYC just in time to put some of the insights I gained from the mobile social media panels during the event to good use in Vol 2 of my series of mobile advertising white papers. (Kudos to MobileMarketer’s Dan Butcher for doing an expert job of capturing the key points and messages in his coverage (which you can read here), and a big thank-you for sending me his notes from the session that brought together MocoSpace, Buzzd and Cellufun. I had to step out for some client meetings but later caught up with the CEOs, all three of which are excited about appearing on MSG in podcasts and guest columns.

I’ll follow up on those conversations next week. For now, all attention is focused on Mobile Advertising For The Masses, my new-release white paper timed to CTIA and an essential read for marketers who want to tap into mobile social networks (and the ad networks they provide) to drive positive results. This time I evaluate the analytics capabilities offered by three ad networks: BuzzCity (BuzzCity), itsmy.com (itsmy.biz), and Peperonity (AdMob). I also compare the depth and breadth of analysis they provide, and examine the need for an additional comprehensive mobile analytics package to connect the dots, fill in the gaps, and give me the big picture view of what my campaigns achieved and how I might use this insight to plan and target future campaigns.

It’s among my best work and worth the all-nighters during and since my stay in New York to put in the final finishing touches. I won’t go into the details here (for that you’ll have to download the free white paper), but I can say BuzzCity came out on top, allowing me to visibility into who my customers are (gender), where they are (location down to the U.S. state level), and handset make and model, for a start.

itsmy.com also allowed me to hone my campaign to target my key demographic, but outdated order and payment systems dampened my enthusiasm. Peperonity also had a few highpoints, but hasn’t quite reached its full potential.

BTW: I’m also pleased that I have been invited by Andrew Darling to speak on mobile advertising, social media and my key findings during Mobile Advertising & the Rise of Social Networking: What does it mean for Brands, Agencies and Service Providers?, a Knowledge & Networking Seminar organized by AIME (The Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment) that will take place in London on April 2.

Regular readers will recall that MSG has partnered with bnetTV to cover industry events such as CTIA and, more recently, Mobile World Congress (MWC). The team did an awesome job, producing 200+ interviews. I focused on analysis, and conducted some 20 interviews with senior executives at companies including abphone, BuzzCity, Movius, Gracenote, Mob4Hire, GyPSii, AdMob, BuddyMob, Gigafone, BubbleMotion, Visto, JumpTap, and SurfKitchen (in no particular order). From JumpTap’s mobile advertising strategy, to Gracenote’s new music search and share features, to SurfKitchen’s widget launch, the video interviews are a valuable knowledge resource.

Today marks the debut of these new segments on the MSG video jukebox (located in the right-hand sidebar). This week’s focus, and feature video in the player, is my interview with Shane Lennon, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Product Development at GyPSii, a must-watch company leading in the race to deliver connected and cool experiences combining information, entertainment, social networks, and location/navigation. In our interview we connect the dots in the recent string of announcements and discuss the significance for brands and advertisers.

Indeed, it’s the raft of announcements over the last weeks — including a partnership to embed GyPSii’s app on a range of LG mobile phones; the tie-up with Nokia and RIM (blackberry) to make the app available on a wide variety of their devices; and a wise decision launch an open API (allowing partners to call the shots on how they integrate GyPSii into their mobile strategy and devices) – that speaks volumes about the company’s new and stronger focus. My take: GyPSii has both the ideas and the impetus to impact our mobile lifestyles.

In addition to the interview and my analysis (below), I also encourage you to read more about GyPSii in my regular column for the bnetTV newsletter, which counts some 10,000 readers. For all my coverage and columns in one place, check out this page on the bnetTV site dedicated to MSG news and views. Thanks again to bnetTV’s Michelle and Tony Sklar for promoting MSG to their growing audience of industry executives and professionals, and to Nicole Scott for bringing it all together in some great brainstorming sessions!

Thanks to Andrea Henninge and Stuart Willett, who heads up MSG Media Solutions, this next Mobile World Congress is shaping up to be the best so far! My schedule is packed with briefings, speaking engagements (such as the Qualcomm’s Plaza Mobile Internet Forum), and a string of video interviews I’m conducting together with MSG’s own in-house film crew. Slots are going fast – so if you would like to learn more please contact Stuart Willett directly – sw@morianamediagroup.com or mobile: +44 7734 315 506.

MSG is also proud to partner with bnetTV to conduct studio interviews with an exciting line-up of companies including AdMob, BuddyMob, BuzzCity,Gigafone, Gracenote, GyPSii, JumpTap, MCN, Mob4Hire, Movius, and VISTO. The finished segments will showcase on MSG (in the customized video player in the right-hand corner), so please check back regularly. You can also look for event coverage – as well as my regular columns – on this special Events page bnetTV created exclusively for MSG.

Which brings me to this week’s column and focus on Motricity, a provider of mobile data solutions and services, ranging from mobile portals and storefronts, to messaging aggregation, to a slew of mobile operators and content providers, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Alltel, TracFone Wireless, PlayPhone, CNN, FOX News, A&E, and Condé Nast. The company had a banner year in 2008. But the real news is mobile marketing, a sector Ryan Wuerch, Motricity Chairman and CEO, tells me is poised for impressive growth.

Back with an in-depth look at Singapore-based BuzzCity – a major player in the mobile social network space whose ad-funded myGamma community targets blue-collar workers and the newly-connected middle class across emerging markets – and an exclusive interview with KF Lai, BuzzCity CEO. I caught up KF for a long overdue briefing to connect the dots in his ambitious strategy to – as he puts it – “build the number one mobile portal and Long Tail ad network in emerging markets and possibly the world.”

BuzzCity’s keen focus on serving the “unwired” in developing countries – people whose only access to the Internet is their mobile phone – made business sense from the start, allowing it to chalk up 3+ million users across 80 countries (as of December 2008). But it’s the company’s clever approach to mobile advertising that makes it the one to watch. Expect a raft of announcements kicking off at Mobile World Congress (MWC), allowing app and content providers to get more reach (and thus more revenues). This is all I can say under NDA, but think ‘social graph meets viral-marketing’ and you’re definitely on the right track.

MCN – a company that began by providing a platform for federated mobile search and has since extended its reach to providing a combination PPC content promotion and vertical paid search program – has chalked up another mobile operator win. This time it’s Avea, a newcomer mobile operator in Turkey that counts 11 million subscribers, that has signed up for MCN’s mobile search platform (for its WAP portal – wap.avea.com) for multi-category search. The deal will als…

Consider this post as a placesetter for an in-depth and exclusive Q&A today with KF Lai, CEO of BuzzCity. He pre-briefed me on the news that his company had raised $10 million financing from Naspers, a South Africa based integrated multinational media company. If you connect the dots between Naspers other media interests and then add myGamma, BuzzCity’s phenomenally successful mobile social network, you’ll understand why I’m so excited.

However, I was also caught a lit…