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GUEST COLUMN: Real Reasons Why Traditional Media Can Really (Still) Win Big In Mobile Advertising

Martin Wilson — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 07:49:31 +0000

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mobile advertising is certain the hot topic at CTIA, where Mobile Web And Apps World Forum (Ajit Jaokar’s CTIA partner event) was standing room only. (Well done Ajit!) Players from across the ecosystem are anxious to explore new models to monetize inventory, apps and services. However, as I pointed out during my panel — moderated by well-known analyst and author Chetan Sharma – there’s still is a lot of mileage left in established models such as text and MMS approaches to advertising before we focus too much of our effort on the whiz-bang new ad units and creatives. In his guest contribution, Martin Wilson – MSG columnist and owner of Indigo 102, a strategic consultancy with a focus on media and mobility and a deep understanding of the local space— argues that traditional media owners also have a lot of untapped energy and assets.

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Advertising based on location is set to be the most valuable and highly contested sectors as players including AdMob, AOL/ Third Screen Media, Jumptap, Millennial Media, and Quattro Wireless jockey for position. Who will be in the winners’ circle? So far, traditional media owners and directory publishers appear to be the laggards and not the leaders in this race – although they clearly have the capabilities mix to dominate this space. Why are they hell-bent on missing the boat? Martin Wilson argues traditional media owners and directory publishers can still be among the champions, not the casualties, provided they act fast.

Mobile advertising has come a long way in a short time. No need to ask ourselves when it finally be the “year of mobile advertising” because the recent flurry of activity tells us mobile advertising has arrived.

First, it was the milestone acquisitions – Google buying AdMob, Apple snapping up Quattro Wireless and Opera surprising us by purchasing AdMarvel. Then it was the funding – Millennial Media led by New Enterprise Associates and Glam Media led by Aeris Capital – that sealed it. Mobile advertising has been validated.

Almost overnight our attention has turned from fixed online advertising to mobile. Now mobile – a personal device that enables brands to market to an audience of one – is widely regarded as the Next Frontier companies must conquer. Little wonder that companies – including Apple, Facebook, Google, Millennial Media and Yahoo – are lining up to do just this.

The market is crowding and muddying our understanding of what matters most.

Predictably, we want to reuse our understanding of old media (online and TV, for example) to comprehend the role and importance of mobile, the new mass media. Thus, we are fixated on size and those players with high volume inventory. Unfortunately, mobile advertising is not just the same numbers game.

Take the narrow view communicated in a controversial report by U.S. research agency Interactive Data Corp (IDC). It estimated the total 2009 mobile advertising spend in the U.S. at around $290 million, a figure based on total page impressions. It calculated market share according to share of total spend and concluded Millennial Media leads the pack with 18 percent ($51 million), followed by AdMob with 14 percent ($40 million), Google with 10 percent ($28 million) and Quattro Wireless in sixth place with 7 percent ($21 million.).

It was also reported by IDC that Glam Media counts 160 million monthly visits to the sites they control or represent, resulting in some 2.5 billion page views. Does this make them a market leader?

Maybe on paper.

However, as I argue in this column, it’s not about page impressions. That is not where the battle will be fought (or won, for that matter).

RAISE YOUR GLOVES

The money is in local advertising, or more accurately advertising based on location. That’s not just my view. Google has been clear about its interest in local online mobile content – and its intention to own the space. In its fourth-quarter earnings call, Google described local mobile advertising as a “huge” opportunity and more recently at the 2010 Mobile World Congress (MWC) claimed to have made mobile its number one priority.

Interestingly, going local (delivering advertising based on location) brings with it a whole new challenge. For one, it is infinitely more difficult to deliver relevant advertising to people
(which is the way brands must deliver advertising on a personal device such as our mobile phones). The opportunity to target an individual based on location is hugely powerful, but the room for error in these brand messages is frightfully slim. Get it wrong and the advertising performance diminishes — significantly.

Put another way, local advertising can’t be a matter of hit-or-miss. Generic advertising is a “fail” and tactical, targeted advertising is – literally – spot-on.

But it sounds easier than it is. This approach – though essential – flies in the face of how we measure advertising success. Suddenly, our singular focus on numbers and quantity (high volume and market share) is irrelevant. Local means delivering quality advertising. It also requires a totally new skillset, a whole new understanding of what we mean by context and how we should deliver relevant advertising.

WHAT IS ‘LOCAL’

If you say ‘mobile’ and ‘local’ in the same sentence, two scenarios spring to mind: ‘where I am now’ and ‘where I am going to be’. But which one is it? It depends. A common mistake is to assume your current location is important, that your location at that point in time is key.

Often it is not.

Mobile is about being ‘mobile.’ It’s about roaming. Mobile location can be a related to a number of things, places nearby or places close to my final destination. Deciding what is relevant is core to the success of any service or proposition delivered via mobile. I’m amazed by the number of services that get it completely wrong.

Why? Because there is more to delivering a mobile location service (let alone location relevant mobile advertising) than knowing the location of the individual. Companies need a detailed knowledge of what is really nearby.

In the U.K. alone, there are over 30,000 recognised places or points of interest. And that’s before you take into account synonyms, postcodes and street names. Linking them together in a meaningful way is no simple task. What are the postcodes or streets in London’s West End or Soho? The taxonomy is complex. When expanding a location to deliver results the relationship between places is important to get right – otherwise the service will deliver meaningless results and fail in the consumers eyes.

With so much as stake, I wonder why companies are so willing to take risks. By adding location to the mix they think they are growing the size of their inventory. In reality they also increase their chances of failure.

Currently, mobile advertising companies work on serving relevant ads based on generic attributes such as country, mobile network, handset type, time of day or theme of the page content. Add location as an attribute and everything changes. Relevancy – potentially down to a micro level – has to be on the mark. Delivering advertising based on locations becomes a mammoth task with a very different set of management challenges.

FREEDOM OF CHOICE

Advertising is content and people will pay with their attention. The structure of the content is important, and keep in mind at all times that mobile is a ‘pull’ medium. Give the people what they want and need. Provide enough information to attract, influence and help inform the decision or action.

You also need to remember that ‘local’ at a micro level is all about offering rich content – which can be challenging to deliver and scale. At the other end of the spectrum, ‘local’ at a macro level is all about providing comprehensive content – which can be challenging to deliver with added-value and competitive differentiation. A rule that applies to both types of ‘local’ content: Content gives a service credibility, interest and value if there is a valid reason (that consumers can understand) why a particular content is shown to them at a specific point in time.

Poorly targeted content is more than a potential annoyance. For many consumers, being exposed to irrelevant content (this includes advertising) on their mobile phones represents a ‘fail’ that interrupts what they are doing and – depending on data plan – costs bandwidth and money. Get it wrong and deliver the wrong content and the consequences can be severe and instant.

Content also needs to be inclusive not exclusive. If a user wants a pizza place nearby, they mean it (!) The service should deliver them details on the restaurant nearby and not the one 15 miles away simply because that business owner paid a premium for it.

Put another way, a location-based social network service should offer people loads of places people can check-in to, and not just the ones a handful of ‘power users’ know, mark and promote. Likewise, a local guide service must have all the places of interest for a town or city, not just the well—known ones in the surrounding area.

Why do local services need to be all-inclusive?

Because the consumer is empowered. They are spoilt by choice and demand the content they want. The Long Tail taught us all that one-size-fits-all doesn’t work in entertainment content. And there is mounting evidence that the same focus on the mainstream will no longer be tolerated in location-based services.

Relevance, as I have shown, is critical in content services.

The consumer’s perception of relevancy is enhanced when:

• They are offered greater choice
• They are empowered to select from a range of options
• They are ultimately responsible for the due diligence and decision

Of course, offering a broad choice of content (in this case, location related information and location relevant advertising) requires the service provider has a stockpile of content to start.

WHAT REALLY COUNTS

Above all, a location-based service has to pass the toughest road test there is. It has to show the consumer what they know is there. Put simply, consumers judge the true accuracy and relevancy of a local service by its ability to offer breadth, choice and insight into the places and businesses they know are nearby.

If the service can pass the test, it earns consumer trust.

Thus, a shopping guide needs to list the shops nearby and not the ones across town. It needs to drill down to the hyperlocal level and present up shops in the area – even better if lists the shop they can see in the distance. Then they can feel secure knowing the service is up-to-date and mirrors the real world around them. (And isn’t that what we all expect of a service that professes to offer local information?)

The same goes for mobile advertising. A guide to city nightlife should be chock-full of bars and clubs and their promotions.

How do service providers get their hands on all this content and advertising?

They partner with companies that have it as their stock in trade.

Take the directory publisher Yell in the U.K. It boasts over 2.3 million business listings –that satisfies the requirement for basic core and structured content. Yell also has over 200,000 searchable online advertisers – that fulfils the demand for depth of differentiating content.

Surely tapping into this content (listings and advertising) is the first – and essential – step to building a strong foundation of content linked to location. What’s more, it’s shortcut to offering the wealth and breadth of content – including familiar content – that consumers have come to demand.

It seems self-evident. But some companies fail to grasp it. In the last weeks I have seen a number of services – TopTable, Grub.it, Center’d to name just a few – come to market with neither basic core and structured content nor in-depth and diffentiating content. Predictably, they were instantly knocked by consumers.

IT TAKES TWO [OR MORE]

As I have shown, the success of a service linked to location depends on the breadth and depth of content (listings and advertising) it offers. It’s content that has long been the lifeblood of directory publishers, but nowhere is it written that these giants will beat the nimble newcomers moving on their turf.

Granted, it will take time for these newcomers to learn the ropes and collect and index the location linked information core to competitive edge. However, there is little reason for more traditional media players, who sit on a stockpile of location linked content, to assume that time is on their side.

Take the case of uLocate Communications, a location services company, headquartered in the U.S.

Sensing a business opportunity it moved fact to fill the gap in the current mobile advertising environment and recently launched Where Ads, a hyperlocal and holistic ad network that pulls together local ad providers that work in other mediums, including directory services, coupons, events and other aggregation services.

Partnerships will be increasingly important. Even for the traditional players it is unlikely that they will excel alone. The recent pairing of directory publisher DexOne and Yelp in the U.S. is a testament that neither company has the critical mass and/or appeal to succeed in isolation.

The new network underlines the importance of getting the right players to the table. Strategic partnering brings a new dimension to the service offer and delivers value to the consumer. But it’s knowing whom to partner with that will decide if a service flies or fails. Picking the right partner requires knowledge and focus. It also helps if the partners we choose have a track record in local and a proven ability to generate revenue.

While the newcomers may have the ambitious mobile strategies, it’s the traditional media owners and directory publishers from the online space that have mastered the capabilities necessary to convert consumer activity (a need/desire to know what’s really nearby) into revenue.

Case in point: Pages Jaunes, the French directory publisher. In 2009 the company counted 885 million visits and online revenues of €461 million. That’s equivalent to €0.52 per visit – a staggering conversion to value. Imagine a scenario where consumers conduct the same number of searches using Google – it’s nowhere near the same conversion rate (or revenues for the advertiser, I might add).

Make no mistake: No other organisation can even potentially come close to the conversion rates and value delivered by traditional media owners and directory publishers. Their ability to create value is inextricably linked to their superior capabilities. They have infrastructure, sales teams and existing customers to target.

In the online space traditional media owners and directory publishers lost their edge to search giants such as Google and Yahoo and have been struggling to catch-up ever since. Mobile is a new game with new possibilities. It’s also a space where location linked content – and lots of it – combined with the capabilities to deliver this content when/where consumers need and appreciate it most can mean the difference between success and failure. These market conditions play in favour of traditional media players and directory publishers. Now it’s up to these companies to recognise their advantage and work with the right people/companies to evolve their businesses, embrace mobile and deliver what users demand.

THE TAKEAWAY

Context, relevance, critical mass and content quality are all key components to a successful and sustainable service in the local mobile space. Who will own this space? Hard to say. But don’t be too quick to write off the traditional media owners and directory publishers that lost the plot in online. They could make a collective and explosive comeback in mobile. Success will be achieved by the companies that see the opportunity, accelerate their efforts, focus on their core strengths and bring the people and partners on board who have mobile expertise.

Get this right and you’re more than fit for the fight ahead.

Editor’s note: Martin’s next column will focus on how companies should evolve a digital strategy that harnesses mobile to complement existing digital services and thus generate more value. As he shows us: in digital, the outcome can be worth more than the sum of the parts.

Martin Wilson has been involved in digital media for over 14 years, during which time he gained a wealth of experience in the fixed line and mobile Internet. In January 2008, Martin established Indigo 102, an independent consultancy, to assist organisations (including digital advertising agencies, directory publishers, media owners and online service providers) take their brands – and value propositions – mobile. In this role Martin has supported the development and launch of mass market mobile services across three continents. You can contact Martin directly (martin@indigo102.com) and follow on Twitter (@indigo102).

Best & Brightest: COM #207 Amazon Gets Physical (?); Passion & Infolust; The Smartphonosphere; Comparing Ad Networks PLUS COM #206 Recap

Peggy Anne Salz — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:22:03 +0000

This week the Carnival of the Mobilists (COM) brings the best of mobile blogging to Volker Hirsch over at Volker on Mobile. Regular Mobilists – including Russell Buckley from MobHappy, Mark Jaffe from Mobile Mandala, Andy Favell from mobiThinking and WIP Jam — submitted a thought-provoking selection of posts.

How can/should brands monetize our passion? What happens when cloud computing shifts app development to the Web? Will Amazon have to offer us an in-store experience? And how do the mobile ad networks really stack up? Read on and find out!

Volker didn’t provide his pick of the posts, so allow me to present mine. My vote goes to mobiThinking for consistently providing valuable resources and how-to guides. This time it’s a look at the latest mobile ad metrics reports from AdMob, Millennial Media, Quattro Wireless, BuzzCity, InMobi and Smaato, which made its debut this month with the Smaato Mobile Advertising Metrics. The new report reveals for the first time a Click Through Rate (CTR) Index by handset operating system. It also shows a comparison of mobile ad network fill rates (worldwide and U.S.) and found that Quattro Wireless (recently acquired by Apple) and Millennial Media are the top performing mobile ad networks in the U.S. (More in the MSG DATA POINTS stats pack later this week.)

Great job Andy!

Thanks also to Andy for hosting COM #206 over at mobiThinking last week in my place, allowing me to attend client meetings, complete the Netsize Guide and navigate London during some horrible snow storms. As Andy put it: it was a “baptism by fire” – but the results did throw off some interesting sparks (!)

COM #206 showcased thought leadership from a great line-up of Mobilists, including Antoine RJ Wright, Tomi Ahonen, Ajit Jaokar, Judy Breck at Golden Swamp, Mark Jaffe at Mobile Mandala, and Caroline Lewko and Thibaut Rouffineau over at WIPJam.

Are smartphones really innovative? Who will win the battle for smartphone market supremacy in 2010 and beyond? Does Google’s Nexus One change all the rules (and the ecosystem)? Are app stores “soooo 1980s”? How could tablet PCs be harnessed for education? What are the 2010 predictions highest on developers’ radars? Read on and find out!

BTW: registration is now open for WIPJam at Mobile World Congress (MWC). Caroline tells me that she has 200 MWC passes to give away to eligible developers that attend WIPJam. (That’s a value of €500 – so a good deal indeed!)

The Jam takes place Thursday, February 18, and you can find out more here.

And finally, my usual call for contributions and contributors.

Regular readers will know that I now keep the tents at the Carnival. (Put another way, I coordinate the COM and ways to grow its reach and influence.) If you are interested in joining, hosting or sharing your ideas, please contact me directly (peggy@msearchgroove.com). You can also follow COM on Twitter (@COTMobilists).

MOBILE GROOVE PODCAST: It’s ALL about Google!; Google’s Plan To Dominate Mobile; Why Are Android Orders/Sales A Mystery?

Peggy Anne Salz — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:54:11 +0000

Another edgy podcast. We take a fresh look at the Google acquisition and zero in on the detail and data the market is missing. We also discuss the phenomenal popularity of Android apps and what can happen when Chrome and Android converge. Another hot topic: mobile valuations and what the AdMob acquisition means other ad networks moving forward. Finally, we raise our goblets of Rock to European media companies that (unlike many U.S. publishers) have mobile strategies in place that are sure to pay off – big time!

Mobile Groove — the monthly podcast I produce with Inma Martinez, leading digital media strategist, “free radical” and advisor to venture capitalists — zeroes in on Google, dissecting its mobile strategy and asking some uncomfortable questions.

ANDROID SHIPMENTS

There’s no denying the phenomenal popularity of Android apps. But how many Android devices have shipped and how big is the Android market – really? Great questions and we wish we had the answers. For some reason, it’s radio silence at Dell and across the 10+ manufacturers in the Open Handset Alliance. Inma will continue to dig for facts and figures, but right now your guess is as good as ours. Listen in and let us know.

GOOGLE’S GAIN

Google snaps up AdMob for $750 million in stock. Is Google banking on a boom in mobile advertising? Or does this latest spree (AdMob and Gizmo5) lay the groundwork for a much larger (and much smarter) scheme to dominate mobile? Inma’s take: Google is doing more than acquiring capabilities to take on rivals (Gizmo5 allows Google to take on Skye, for example). “The Web giant is buying up distribution relationships with mobile publishers – even if it has to buy it at a loss.” (By way of background, AdMob served ads for more than 15,000 mobile Web sites and applications worldwide with a sharp focus on iPhone apps.)

RIVAL AD NETWORKS

AdMob’s price tag sends a clear message to the market: no one (!) can offer a cheaper price for a mobile ad network that has created similar value. What does this mean for Millennial Media, JumpTap and other ad networks making their mark? And while we’re at it: what is the impact on mobile valuations – period? Inma is looking forward to huge deals that show mobile is a serious and solid industry.

GOBLET OF ROCK

This time we salute Europe’s media superstars for harnessing mobile to produce fantastic results. From great apps to sharp monetization strategies European publishers are showing they “get” mobile. Inma’s pick: The Daily Telegraph and an awesome iPhone app she encourages us all to take out for a spin. Since I’m still reeling from an excellent presentation I recall from the last Mobile Marketing Forum in Berlin, I raise mine to The BBC – specifically, BBC World and Tom Bowman, VP Strategy and Operations, BBC Advertising Sales. In addition to developing a cross-platform strategy that has placed mobile in the middle from the get-go – it has also monetized it through mobile advertising with fantastic results. This approach has allowed the BBC to become a Broadcaster 2.0. (More details on the BBC World mobile advertising strategy and the results it has delivered to date in my bi-monthly column for my favorite trade publication, EContent magazine. You can read all the columns here.)

On the occasion of so much excitement in the mobile space Inma also raises a second goblet of Rock to ACCEL Partners, for taking the dive and staying dedicated to mobile. By way of background, ACCEL recently sold two of its portfolio start-ups for a total of $1.5 billion. (AdMob went to Google for $750 million in stock and Playfish went to games publisher Electronic Arts for about $300 million.)

Until next time – keep it fun!

Listen to the podcast here, [17:27]

GUEST COLUMN: Straight Talk On Mobile Marketing & Advertising; Why 2010 Will Be THE Year

Matthew Snyder — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 21:06:39 +0000

This month was marked by a string of good news stories that speak volumes about the state of mobile marketing and advertising. From the milestone acquisition of AdMob by Google for a cool $750 million in stock, to the news that Millennial Media had raised nearly $16 million in growth capital, to the milestone statement from Paul Palmieri, Millennial Media’s President and CEO, that the mobile advertising market is “about to pop,” the evidence for a significant upswing in 2010 are mounting. Matthew Snyder - CEO and Founder, ADObjects-Inc, and a welcome addition to MSG’s roster of guest columnists – connects the dots in this comprehensive post recounting the highlights of the Global Mobile Marketing Forum (MMF) event last week and gives us a glimpse of the future of mobile advertising.

Naturally, the news that Web giant Google was getting in on the action in mobile by acquiring AdMob created an atmosphere of excitement and optimism at the Global Mobile Marketing Forum last week in L.A. But it was more than a mood; it was a quantifiable trend. Mike Wehrs, President & Chief Executive Officer, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), reported that mobile marketing shows an increase of 40 percent over last year.

What’s more, mobile is a line item in more budgets. Mike gave us the example of German carmaker Volkswagen, which is “doing things exclusively with iPhone Apps independent of other media channels”.

Another sure sign that mobile marketing has arrived full-force was the announcement by Microsoft (just prior to the event) that it had decided to join the MMA. In fact, Microsoft became the organization’s inaugural Premier Member, reflecting Microsoft’s commitment to both the association and the mobile marketing industry. As Charles Johnson, General Manager, Microsoft Mobile Advertising, put it in a press statement: “As mobile advertising has grown in significance, the time is now for carriers, OEMs, publishers and advertisers to join forces to capitalize on that growth.”

REAL RESEARCH

Peter Johnson, VP Research, Mobile Marketing Association, provided us the latest findings from the Research and Metrics Committee. A highlight: leveraging coupons and loyalty programs are winning customers. It is found to be the most successful of all the mobile marketing approaches (!).

Another surprise is spending. To date the average media spend by agencies on mobile is still only 1.8 percent of the total spend. However, those agencies that have experienced successful mobile marketing have already moved mobile up to account for 2~3 percent of their overall spend.

In 2009 spending on mobile marketing was $1.7 billion in total. But there was a potential for $2.5 billion, if we think back to the boost in spending shown by companies successful in mobile marketing.

Success breeds success – and encourages more spending. To get there from here the industry needs more education and a sharing of best practices. To this end the MMA is working to encourage knowledge sharing worldwide and making sure best practices are better evangelized.

BRAND SUCCESS

But the real proof that mobile is at the top of the agenda comes from the major players pushing the envelope.

COCA-COLA COMPANY: Tom Daly, Group Manager, Strategy and Planning, Coca-Cola Company, revealed what it looks for in mobile agencies. It may not be easy to get into Coca-Cola, but it’s worth it. According to Tom, Coca-Cola is “working with over 400 brands in 200 countries with a minimum of $8K per brand per country, and it is growing and we are looking for new partners.” His checklist for agencies: The company looks for three things.

1) Talent and environment
2) Thought leadership
3) Account management process.

As he summed it up: “We look for best in class to take Coca-Cola to the world leaders in creative mobile marketing and transparency is key.”

AT&T INTERACTIVE: Matt Crowley, CMO, AT&T Interactive, argued local and search are the real drivers for mobile advertising. As he put it: Today the total of mobile ad spend is about 70 percent (display and SMS) compared to 30 percent search. But he expects this will change to 25 percent (display and SMS) and 70 percent search in 2013. In fact, local search is the driver. “We have seen over 250% YOY mobile search network growth and our goal is to pre-load the YP mobile app with local search on every device.” Matt added that AT&T counts 79 million subs and 22 million on Medianet, AT&T’s mobile portal. “There is over 22 percent access of Medianet daily.”

CNN: Louis Gump, VP of Mobile, CNN, talked about the future of news on mobile. He asked the audience how many look at news on their mobile before they get out of bed in the morning and about 30 percent answered they did. No wonder mobile is at the center of their strategy. CNN has a freemium model (offering the mobile website free and a paid CNN app).

The company debated the pricing for this, but decided on the $1.99 price as a way to keep mobile moving forward as a profit center to propel initiatives across all the mobile strategies of CNN. As Louis put it: “We wanted a dual revenue stream, and at $1.99, yes, there was debate over prices from $0.99~9.99. But we chose that price as we doing this for marketing. We want mobile as a sustainable business platform. He continued: “We need not only the one-way free route, but a way to sustainability 3.5 and 10 years down the road.” To date 34 percent of users access CNN news only on their mobile phones. This means over one-third of users are only getting their news from CNN and only via mobile. Connect the dots, and “mobile is now the channel for CNN to reach a different demographic of people.”

Interesting to note: CNN doesn’t limit its focus to the iPhone. Instead the mobile strategy is holistic and covers four platforms:

1)   Mobile website (with 11~12 million users per month – free and ad-supported)
2)   Text messaging (breaking news alerts)
3)   Video- on-demand and streaming (to distribute clips much more widely)
4)   Apps (and here the news is the September 27th release that has changed the way news is consumed on the iPhone)

FUTURE OF MOBILE

Charles Johnson, Head of Mobile Advertising for Microsoft led an engaging panel on the future of mobile advertising. Ken Wilner, CEO, Zumobi, stated that that key to mobile is “engagement”. Yes, acquisition is important, but once you obtain a consumer, the on-going engagement is second to none as mobile is with the consumer all the time, everywhere. Frank Babieri, CEO, Transpera, was particularly bullish about the outlook for video. In his view, of the users that access online video that also access mobile video, “more then 62 percent of the time they will access it from mobile.” Another data point to keep in mind (from Charles): We replace our phones every 12~18months and we’re due to make those purchases soon. Smartphones will likely be the ones we chose, attracted by all their cool features and the great mobile Internet experience. Thus, 2010 will be the year of mass-device transition, and that will accelerate our industry even further.

BANKING: Bruce Withers, Head of Mobile, Wells Fargo, shared his mobile banking vision. He should know. Wells Fargo has been nominated as one of the top mobile banking solutions in North America and part of that success is linked to their sharp focus on youth (Gen Y and Millennials) that are part of the larger group of mobile professionals that need banking services on the go. Some key stats illustrate the success of a multi-approach mobile strategy.

•   Text messaging alerts: the user averages about 19 requests per month
•   Mobile website and iPhone application: users engage in about six sessions per month.
•   Location: Wells Fargo has added unique features in their iPhone App, including an ATM finder and direct links to wellsfargo.com.

CROSS-MEDIA: Mike Carter, CEO, MyThum and Tiffany Gerhard, Sr. Manager, Marketing- Emerging Capabilities, BestBuy, had a great session on the success of cross-media marketing for a retail brand. For me it was one of the highlights of the day – particularly if we consider that BestBuy was doing NOTHING in mobile two years ago. Now, they have holistic strategy and results that speak volumes (literally). The strategy includes mobile as part of the marketing mix, but it is also core strategy to the company’s CRM strategy. Tiffany pointed out that mobile is a key link in clinching the sale – and everything that follows. “The use case quite good for us is when many of our customers come into the store that find when a product is out of stock. They can just go to their BestBuy application and click-to-buy in one action and then have the product delivered right to their home” But it doesn’t stop there. Mobile allows the company to support the buying process with information and interaction with customers. “Everyday now is a learning process for us to get better with mobile.”

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Throughout the event execs and speakers raised a variety of interesting points and challenges.

•   Zaw Thet, CEO, 4Info, brought our attention to the need for an industry-wide initiative to establish a mobile cookie. Today the next best thing is the user’s telephone number or UID on the iPhone. By using this we can recognize and build cross-media campaigns for targeting users from platform to platform.
•   Chetan Sharma, Chetan Sharma Consulting, stated we are finally seeing the growth of the networks. Now, mobile has surpassed the data card (!).
•   Michael Shim, Head of Mobile Sales, Yahoo, reported that Yahoo’s growth of 54.8 percent is greater then the average for the industry of 45.4 percent with the mobile Internet. Yahoo is doing unique ad solutions for apps and working on a slew of cross-media campaigns (with clients such as Subway) that link the Web to mobile.

INSIDE INNOVATION

The MMF event also recognized companies and campaigns pushing the envelope and spearheading mobile adoption. The MMA received hundreds of submissions in 12 categories from companies across the globe and winners for the Fifth Annual Global Mobile Marketing Awards were selected by the MMA Awards Selection Committee, a body comprised of global industry leaders from wireless carriers, technology and content providers, agencies and industry publications.

I had the honor of sitting on the panel of judges, a privilege that gave me a first-hand look at the campaigns. The campaigns that were real eye-openers for me in terms of real ROI and creative excellence came from agencies such as: Mobile Dreams Factory (Mini Mobile Dealer), AKQA (Gap Style Mixer), F.biz (Trident Fresh) MyThum (Rogers/Live Nation live ticketing solution) and the Pizza Hut iPhone App from Pizza Hut.

My takeaway: We kicked off the MMF event asking ourselves if 2009 was the “year of mobile” – again. Maybe not. But 2010 is going to be an adventure. With budgets coming back, mobile showing up on marketing budgets and the advance of smartphones, the stars are aligned for 2010 to (finally) be the year of mobile is 2010. With the stars aligned it’s up to the industry to deliver – with solutions that scale and turnkey cross-media strategies with mobile at their core.

Editor’s note: Matthew Snyder is CEO and Founder of ADObjects-Inc, a cross-media strategic consultancy focused on revenue-generating, customer acquisition, brand building and business development solutions for clients determined to make the most out of mobile. Clients/Partners include: Bing, CBS Radio, Canadian Music Week, Nokia and Mobility Ventures, as well as a variety of media companies and major brands. During his career at Nokia, where he held a number of positions including Device Program Manager and Global Director of Strategy in the Multimedia Group, he architected Nokia location-based services strategy and mobile search application. MSearchGroove is proud to be an associate of ADObjects, joining a vibrant team of professionals including Chetan Sharma, Founder and President of Chetan Sharma Consulting, a management consulting and strategic advisory firm, and Roman Kikta, a renowned venture capitalist, wireless pioneer, seasoned entrepreneur and author. Feel free to contact Matthew directly (matt@adostrategies.com) or follow him on Twitter (matsnyder2001).

DATA POINTS: Don’t Forget The Featurephones When It Comes To Mobile Ads; Motorola’s Droid Sales Strong; Mobile Coupons On The Rise; Mobile Social Nets Grow In Emerging Markets

Carlo Longino — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:09:18 +0000

TWO-THIRDS OF MOBILE AD IMPRESSIONS ARE DELIVERED TO FEATUREPHONES, according to the latest Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting (SMART) from ad network Millenial Media.

While the iPhone OS was the leading smartphone platform on Millenial’s network, with 33 percent of smartphone share (ahead of BlackBerry’s 31 percent), Samsung was the top device maker, thanks to the predominance of featurephones. The company also said the US mobile web audience grew to 64.8 million users, and that its ad network reached nearly 80 percent of them.

The report also features a section on mobile app analytics, provided by Mobclix, which says that the iPhone App Store is the biggest on the block, with 115,000 apps, and also leads in downloads, with 100 million per month. Android Market is a distant second, with 20 million per month, and BlackBerry App World even further back in third, delivering 300,000 downloads per month.

Millienial adds that traffic to advertisers’ sites represented almost half of the mobile campaign destinations on its network in October, while app downloads accounted for about 30 percent. Source

The bottom line: Mobile web use – and the market for mobile ads – continues to grow. But don’t overlook smartphones, which still account for a huge chunk of the mobile web market.

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THE MOTOROLA DROID SOLD 250,000 UNITS IN ITS FIRST WEEK, according to GigaOM and based on a report from mobile analytics company Flurry. The new Android device, available only on Verizon Wireless in the US, has been well received by commentators, and now, apparently, by the market as well. Flurry says that the sales are more than four times those of T-Mobile’s MyTouch 3G in its first week of sales in August, but of course pale in comparison to the 1.6 million iPhone 3GS devices sold in its first week. Source

The bottom line: Is Motorola clawing its way back from the precipice? Could be – since software has long been its Achilles heel, turning to Android could turn out to be a smart choice, and one that saves the company.

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MORE THAN 3 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE UK HAVE REDEEMED A MOBILE COUPON, says Juniper Research in a new report. The analyst firm says that mobile coupons enjoy a redemption rate six times higher than traditional paper coupons, again highlighting the viability of mobile marketing to deliver results for advertisers and brands. Source

The bottom line: Mobile coupons seem like a no-brainer, if only because people are less likely to forget to bring their phone to a shop than a paper coupon! But combined with opt-in campaigns and any number of targeting techniques, they represent a valuable resource for retailers.

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THE NUMBER OF MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING USERS IN LATIN AMERICA AND AFRICA WILL INCREASE TENFOLD BY 2015, says a new report from analyst firm Frost & Sullivan and mobile social networking provider Colibria. F&S says the market will amount to 527 million users and be worth $2.4 billion in six years, reflecting the increased popularity of the services, but also the prevalence of mobile as an Internet channel in emerging markets. Source

The bottom line: It’s easy to predict the growth of mobile social networks, but anybody eyeing the space has to keep in mind how people in emerging markets use their mobiles and access the internet primarily through them.

DATA POINTS: Who’s Got The Biggest Reach?; AdMob Hits Another Milestone; Marketers Not Sold On Twitter; Big Growth For Data Traffic; Euro Ad Market value Leaps; 3G Growth In Turkey

Carlo Longino — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:29:39 +0000

NIELSEN SAYS MILLENNIAL MEDIA HAS THE BIGGEST MOBILE AD NETWORK IN THE US, MAYBE: the research firm released a list of the five mobile ad networks with the biggest reach in the US, but with the caveat that it’s not standing behind the list with much confidence. Nielsen says it’s difficult to measure reach with any real accuracy because publishers may use multiple networks on their sites, and if a publisher appears on a site at all, they’d get credit for all its visitors. Furthermore, the data came from the networks themselves, rather than an independent source.

That said, the ranking of ad networks according to potential monthly visitors is:

1. Millennial Media: 45.6 million
2. Third Screen Media: 28.6 million
3. AdMob: 25.7 million
4. MSN Ad Network: 25.4 million
5. Jumptap: 23.4 million
6. Quattro Wireless: 23 million
Source

The bottom line: Nielsen’s warning makes it hard to put a lot of faith in these numbers, but as the company itself pointed out, overall, they illustrate the reach mobile ad networks can now offer, alongside all of their other benefits like effective targeting. So, in some way, having the biggest reach isn’t as important as having the right reach – that is, targeting the correct audience – for each advertiser.
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ADMOB TO SERVE UP ITS 100 BILLIONTH AD sometime over the weekend, the company said in an email. It’s certainly a big number, reached in three years or so, and the company says it’s now serving more than 8 billion impressions per month across its network. Source

The bottom line: Admob continues to grow its number of impressions, but as the above point indicates, it’s not all about quantity. Establishing significant inventory is important, but going forward, that won’t be an issue, as the previous point shows. Effective targeting and other enhancements will be key to unlock the real potential of mobile advertising.
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MARKETERS ARE STILL SKEPTICAL ABOUT TWITTER, with just 8 percent saying they think it’s a “very effective” promotional tool, while 50 percent say it’s “somewhat effective”. Consumers feel the same way, with half of them saying it’s “not that effective” or “not at all effective” for promotions. Source

The bottom line: These numbers are striking, given all the hype surrounding Twitter at the moment. But instead of undermining social media’s value to marketers, perhaps they reflect an understanding that social networks really don’t work as outlets for traditional advertising and promotional efforts, and that successful social media marketing requires a different approach. It seems clear that consumers don’t want their social networks polluted with impersonal advertising blasted at them from marketers, so a different, more conversational and personal – and less overtly promotional – approach is needed.
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MONTHLY DATA TRAFFIC WILL EXCEED 2008′S YEARLY TOTAL WITHIN 5 YEARS, according to a new report from ABI Research. The company says that in 2008, 1.3 exabytes of data went across mobile networks, but in 2014, 1.6 exabytes will be sent each month. The vast majority of this – 74 percent – will be from web and internet access, with more than half of all traffic coming from computers with embedded cellular modems.

ABI says that a quarter of the 2014 traffic will be from audio and video streaming, with less than 1 percent from VoIP and P2P file-sharing. Those last two segments seem a bit low, particularly if consumers shift in large numbers from fixed to mobile internet for their primary broadband connection. It’s unrealistic to think that consumers will give up their P2P and VoIP apps when they go mobile on a PC, regardless of the blocking operators may try to do. Source

The bottom line: Mobile data traffic will obviously continue to boom – but much of the growth will come from PC and laptop use. While mobile operators will welcome the revenue bump, the question remains if their networks can handle all the activity without sacrificing performance.
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WESTERN EUROPE’S MOBILE AD MARKET TO BE WORTH €950 MILLION BY 2013, according to new research from FirstPartner. The company says that the market will see a compound annual growth rate of 50 percent over the next five years, with the U.K. leading the way. It also adds that mobile search will be the most dominant revenue stream, and that if the mobile ad market is going to really take off, the ecosystem of operators, ad agencies and sales houses will have to work closely to sell the market on mobile advertising’s benefits. Source

The bottom line: Predicating a market growth report on operators playing ball with anyone could be a risky proposition – but that’s not to say the company’s incorrect in saying the ecosystem has to align itself and work together to move in the right direction.
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TURKEY TO HAVE 30 MILLION 3G USERS BY 2013, according to Wireless Intelligence. The country’s mobile operators flipped on their 3G networks last week, and the research firm expects them to see solid growth. While Turkey may be late to the 3G game, there’s high demand for high-speed mobile data, while the infrastructure and device market has also matured, allowing for heavy growth. Source

The bottom line: Not a lot to say about this one, really, apart from the idea that high-speed data and access to mobile content and data services is a global phenomenon at this point. That said, content providers and marketers still need to work to build their local intelligence, because while the generic global demand might be there, what works and what doesn’t will vary from area to area.

DATA POINTS: Lots of App Downloads, But Not Only For Apple; US Mobile Users More Into Media Than Europeans; Entertainment Companies Into Mobile Ads; Facebook Tops on Mobile Web; US Consumers Don’t Care About Fancy Phone Features, Or Maybe They Do

Carlo Longino — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 19:31:29 +0000

MORE THAN 1.5 BILLION APPS HAVE BEEN DOWNLOADED FROM APPLE’S APP STORE, the company said this week. iPhone and iPod Touch users have racked up the downloads in just a year, with the store now holding over 65,000 applications (though that figure has been questioned by some, as it’s inflated by so-called “bulk apps”). Source

Meanwhile, GetJar, which runs an independent, multi-platform app download site, says it, too, has seen more than 1.5 billion downloads of the 50,000 apps it carries. It says the five most popular apps are Opera Mini; three mobile social networking apps, eBuddy, Nimbuzz and mig33; and Google Maps. Source

The Bottom Line: The attraction of app downloads rolls on, and not just for iPhone users. One question, though: how many of those 1.5 billion apps on iPhones get actively used? Still, in some sense, it’s not that important. The big download figures show what mobile users will do when the browsing, download and installation process is quick and simple – something that can’t be said about many previous attempts at app stores on other platforms.

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INSIGHTS ON MOBILE DATA USAGE. Peggy has passed over some stats from Comscore from the Open Mobile Summit, a top-notch conference and networking opportunity that MSearchGroove is proud to sponsor as a media partner. In fact, MSG will be a sponsor and speaker at the next Open Mobile Summit in November in San Francisco – but more about that later. The figures show some interesting points about mobile media usage, including that a higher percentage of US mobile users are mobile media users (meaning they use browsers or apps, or download media) than Europeans, at 35 percent to 28 percent.

Also, an interesting figure on UK mobile browsing habits: 74 percent of mobile browsers in the UK hit operator portals, but those portals only account for 12.4 percent of all pages viewed. This shows that users are comfortable going off-deck to find the content they want, like Facebook, which alone generates 23 percent of all the mobile page views. Facebook and the other top 20 destinations account for 67 percent of the pages viewed, though Comscore measured 167,000 sites.

Comscore also reports that mobile banner ads continue to be dominated by ads for mobile products. 65 percent of mobile banners in the US are for mobile products, while the figure jumps to 85 percent in the UK.

The Bottom Line: There has been plenty of evidence to document the growth in mobile web use, but these stats illustrate that it’s definitely coming from off-deck sites, at least in the UK. Facebook continually emerges as a top mobile web destination, revealing the desire for mobile users to stay connected to their social networks while they’re away from their PCs.

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ENTERTAINMENT COMPANIES TOP MOBILE ADVERTISERS LIST, according to mobile ad provider Millenial Media. The company has released a report of the top ten industries that are using mobile advertising – excluding mobile apps, ringtones and other downloads, which the previous data point suggests makes up the bulk of the market. Movie, TV, music and video game companies topped the list, followed by telecom companies, “portals”, dating services, retailers, consumer packaged goods companies, the automotive industry, the armed forces, education and travel companies. Source

The Bottom Line: These sorts of stats will likely vary widely based on the ad provider’s network of sites, and other factors, though they do illustrate the breadth of companies that are using mobile advertising. Still, taken in concert with the previous data point, it looks like ads for mobile services and downloads dominate.

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FACEBOOK, TWITTER TOPS AMONG YOUNG BRITISH MOBILE WEB USERS, says a new report from CCS Insight. A survey of more than 1,000 people between 16 and 35 in the UK revealed that more than a third of them regularly access Twitter and/or Facebook from their mobile device. It also found that men are twice as likely to access the mobile web as women, and that young people expect mobile content to be free. Source

The Bottom Line: Again, Facebook’s name pops up as one of the most popular mobile web destinations. That’s not surprising, but the difference in use between women and men is, at least in terms of the size of the gap. This highlights an area in which operators, content providers and handset vendors could do more.

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WHAT DO US CONSUMERS REALLY WANT IN THEIR MOBILE PHONES? A new study from online retailer Wirefly says that US consumers are most interested in basic factors when making a handset purchase, such as size and color, with almost two-thirds saying they were more concerned with these aspects than the high-tech features of a phone. Source

Meanwhile a separate survey from Data Development Worldwide found that 40 percent of US shoppers looking to make a mobile device purchase in the next three months wanted a single device that could handle a variety of tasks, such as a smartphone or netbook.

The Bottom Line: It’s hard to take much away from either one of these surveys, really, apart from a confirmation of the old adage, “different strokes for different folks.” Physical form factors obviously remain very important, but so too is functionality. Witness the reaction this week to the Nokia Surge, a social-networking-centric device that’s being launched on AT&T. Much of the online reaction was to call the device ugly, but its design stems from AT&T’s desire to sell more low-end QWERTY devices – a desire borne out of consumer demand for such devices that can make texting and emailing easier.

DATA POINTS: Mobile Advertising Upswing; Pricey BlackBerry Location Apps; Youth Mobile Internet Usage; Smartphone Penetration, Apple Rules (?); Targeting Wins (!)

Mark Hawkins — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:16:14 +0000

A NEW REPORT SUGGESTS MOBILE ADVERTISING WILL INCREASE BY 30+ PERCENT, despite the overall marketing slowdown, because of critical development anticipated by the end of the year. According to a report by Magna, the U.S. mobile advertising market will grow by 36 percent. That’s a rise from $169 million in 2008 to $229 million during 2009. Although this doesn’t reflect a significant growth on previous years, Magna explains that we will witness a resurgence in the industry in 2010 thanks to the proliferation of mobile-based subscriptions and ad-supported mobile applications. Source

The bottom line: Another reason to be optimistic about the development of the mobile advertising market in the U.S. Forecasts that growth will be stunted in 2009 are now tempered by bullish predictions for 2010. Advances in handset penetration, the spread of ad-funded content/services schemes, and a wealth of app store offerings should result in an even greater take-up of mobile advertising.

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THE MOBILE INTERNET, MOBILE EMAIL AND MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING ARE USED BY MORE THAN HALF of mobile phone users. A mobile Internet poll carried out by user experience consultancy Webcredible showed that of the respondents who used the mobile Internet (52 percent), over half (55 percent) used it primarily for emailing and social networking. Source

The bottom line: We know that the growth of mobile Internet usage is linked to the youth demographic and their particular usage pattern (transferring their fixed-line Internet/PC behavior to mobile). This study provides us with some numbers to back this up.

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SMARTPHONES REPRESENT A MINORITY of U.S. mobile device purchases, accounting for 23 percent of handset sales volume in Q1, says recent data from market research firm NPD Group. Yet as a percentage of overall handset sales to consumers in the U.S. from January through July 2008, smartphones represented 19 percent of all handset purchases compared to just 9 percent for the same period in the previous year. This rise was put down to declining prices, streamlined form factors, and Internet connectivity bringing devices into the mainstream. Source

The bottom line: It’s easy (particularly if you are focused on the mobile content industry) to lose sight of the fact that smartphones, despite the hype and their urban cool factor, remain a minority in the marketplace. The percentage is rising, but there is no doubt a large and untapped market opportunity in catering to plain-old, low-end devices.

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51 PERCENT OF U.S. SUBSCRIBERS ACCESS ENTERTAINMENT, games, news, and social information via their mobile phones every week, according to a new study published by research and consultation firm Frank N. Magid Associates. Based on a January 2009 survey of 4,000 U.S. consumers between the ages of 12 and 64, Magid says mobile content users now spend about the same amount of time with content (39 minutes) as the average user does sending text messages (38 minutes) or talking on their handset (44 minutes).

The study also suggests that mobile entertainment content like games, music, and social network services are used for longer periods of time than ‘utilitarian’ content such as news, weather and sports scores. Behaviors are split along demographic lines (as you would expect). For a whopping 80 percent of 12-34 year olds, mobile social networking is the thing to do; news consumption is dominated (79 percent) by 18-54 year olds. Source

The bottom line: Encouraging stats that outline how we use the mobile Internet and underline the role of the youth demographic. The one to watch is the richer, data-heavier mobile content consumption habits of the 12-34s. So called ‘utilitarian’ content often leads towards instant hits – quickly check the headlines, scores, and weather – but means reduced browsing time.

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AUDIENCE TARGETING MOBILE ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS OUTPACED demographic targeting campaigns by nearly four times in April, according to Millennial Media, which has released its April brand advertiser-focused Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting (SMART). It says that this translated to major increases in purchase intent for key age groups, while the complexity of mobile ad campaigns demonstrated a lift in the number of users being driven to an established destination. Source

The bottom line: These figures underline the importance of delivering relevant mobile advertising content to a known audience with known interests, as opposed to bracketing by demographics. While it’s a given that social networking and entertainment are consumed by a generally younger demographic, the ability to tailor advertising directly for people with specific interests – whatever their age – is critical to the success of mobile advertising.

Peggy adds: Indeed, as my close friend and colleague Tomi Ahonen – a late-40-ish, Scandinavian who is totally (!) into rap music and Formula 1 racing – has reminded me many times. No one fits the mould – and no one should. Plug that in your age demographics! An approach based on demographics is fundamentally flawed, with the difference that we will perhaps tolerate the mismatch between who we are and how brands sell to us on TV (commercials for pension schemes during the network news and ads for annoying ringtones on music television), but on mobile it’s spam. I’ll have more on the Millennial Media stats in a briefing with Paul Palmieri, president and CEO of Millennial Media.

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BLACKBERRY APP WORLD’S LOCATION APPLICATIONS are four times more expensive than iPhone and Android location apps, according to a Skyhook Wireless Report. The study found a marked disparity in application cost between the three stores, with the average price of a location-aware application in the Blackberry App World store being $13.60, compared with $3.60 in the iTunes App Store, and $0.84 in the Android Marketplace.

The Apple App Store has the greatest number of location-based applications (over 2,300), and the highest percentage of paid LBS apps (over 75 percent). 67 percent of Blackberry apps are paid, and 80 percent of Android Marketplace apps are free.

The report found that the most popular location aware apps were for Travel, Navigation, and Social Networking, but new apps like Music, Finance, and Games were also beginning to gain traction. Source

The bottom line: These mobile application storefronts cater to slightly different markets, so they will price their products accordingly. However, such an obvious inequality in pricing for similar applications using identical location technologies will surely persuade many prospective customers to think twice before joining the BlackBerry camp, especially when Microsoft and Palm application storefronts come online giving consumers more choice and increasing overall competition between storefronts.

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APPLE SOLD 3.9 MILLION HANDSETS DURING the first quarter of 2009 to more than double its market share, says Gartner. Smartphone sales hit 36.4 million, representing a 12.7 percent increase from 12 months earlier. The report also says that smartphone sales represented 13.5 percent of all mobile device sales in 1Q09, compared with 11 percent in 1Q08. It also reflects a doubling of Apple’s market share from 5.3 percent to 10.8 percent. Source

The bottom line: These statistics make Apple the third-ranked smartphone manufacturer by volume. Although it remains in Nokia’s shadow – Nokia still commands a 41.2 percent share – it will be interesting to see how the imminent arrival of Nokia’s application storefront, the Ovi Store, and its success or otherwise, impacts on Apple’s apparently relentless growth.
Mark Hawkins is a Director of the Mobile Data Association and a freelance communications practitioner of mobile technologies. He previously managed global communications for MX Telecom, the mobile data aggregation group. His personal blog can be found at http://amarkhawkins.wordpress.com