Red Cross attracts $190K in pledges via Text 2HELP program

By Mickey Alam Khan

December 4, 2008

Push red at the Republican convention

Mobile subscribers pledged more than $190,000 since September to the American Red Cross through its text message program.

Revived this time to help victims of Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, the recent Red Cross’ Text 2HELP effort is being claimed as the mobile industry’s most successful nonprofit text fundraiser. A major reason for its widespread acceptance is the extensive publicity that the Text 2HELP program received from politicians, social media sites and the media.

“I think the key to it is promote, promote, promote,” said Mike Campbell, senior vice president at VeriSign Inc.’s VeriSign Messaging and Mobile Media division in Boston.

The Red Cross received the $190,000 in donations through 38,091 text messages.

VeriSign Messaging and Mobile Media powers the mobile application and mobile messaging transactions and delivery in conjunction with The Wireless Foundation, a nonprofit founded by members of CTIA – The Wireless Association.

Text 2HELP donations go to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to offer shelter, food, counseling and help to victims of the many disasters nationwide.

Subscribers of participating wireless carriers can donate $5 up to five times per month by texting the keyword GIVE to 2HELP (24357).

“The range needs to be an amount that people can feel comfortable donating on the spot when they have the inclination to donate,” Mr. Campbell said.

Charges for these donations will appear on the subscriber’s mobile phone bill each month. They can also be debited from prepaid account balances for those mobile consumers without a contract.

Standard text messaging rates may apply to those texted donations.

The participating carriers include AT&T, Alltel, Sprint, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular.

The popularity of the Text 2HELP program has convinced the Red Cross, VeriSign and the Wireless Foundation to extend its life to Dec. 31, two months past its deadline.

Another consideration for the extension was the need for donations as more disasters strike the country – tornadoes, the worst flooding in the Midwest in 15 years, early wildfires in Western states such as California and an active hurricane season with Dolly, Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike.

The Text 2HELP program also introduces a new class of donors into society, aside from those responding to direct mail, television, print or online appeals.

The Red Cross aims to raise $100 million this year for its Campaign for Disaster Relief. More than $65 million has been raised, as of Nov. 20.

The Text 2HELP program was first launched to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. It is initiated whenever a large-scale disaster occurs that the Red Cross determines will require considerable national assistance.

The most recent Text 2HELP effort was pushed extensively and across channels. Campaigns for presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain as well as the CMO Council, the National Football League and the Boston Red Cross promoted.

In addition, the Red Cross promoted the program on social media platforms such as Twitter and on the Red Cross blog at http://www.redcrosschat.org.

The Red Cross has also created a Text 2HELP widget for social media users to run on their Web sites.
Other charities can learn from the Red Cross’ experience with text fundraising.

“I believe that this is a very viable channel in that there are people out there who still want to donate during these tough economic times,” Mr. Campbell said.

“What the mobile channel allows charities to do is take advantage of a whole different group of people who want to donate but it should be easy for them to donate,” he said.

Editor in Chief Mickey Alam Khan covers advertising agencies, associations, research, and column submissions.

Guinness taps mobile for pint campaign

By Giselle Abramovich

December 3, 2008

Ale and hearty

Irish brewer Guinness has launched The Great Guinness Pint Contest, an interactive mobile program meant to engage consumers with the brand.

The program asks consumers at participating businesses to rate their pint of Guinness via their mobile phone. Each time consumers rate their pint they are entered into a sweepstakes in which the winner gets a trip to the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, Ireland, during the company's 250th anniversary.

“Guinness is really big on quality in terms of its beer and the way that it is served,” said John Lim, CEO of Mobile Card Cast, Tarrytown, NY. "Guinness believes that raising the quality of its product will ultimately mean more sales."

Mobile Card Cast is powering the Guinness program.

Who's tops
The top performing accounts - bars or restaurants serving Guinness - in each market will receive a celebration party.

“This is great fun for an establishment’s patrons,” said Seth Kaplan, managing partner of Mobile Real Estate ID, Tarrytown, NY.

“They get to interact with the product and service they’re receiving, give immediate feedback to the bar, and oh, yeah, they have a chance to win a trip,” he said.

Live drawings will be held on the television sets in each of the participating establishments for the trips to Dublin.

A plaque will be presented to the bar for serving one of the “Greatest Pints of Guinness in America” as voted by the consumers.

The night will culminate with a toast to the account for its accomplishment.

This program is part of a bigger mobile effort built off the pride of Guinness and its loyal consumers.

The Guinness Quality Mobile Program is the first of its kind.

This program allows consumers in a non-invasive way to tell the bar or restaurant how much they enjoyed or disliked their pint.

While the consumer rates the pint, the bar or restaurant is now measured against its peers.

Also, the program creates a competition within markets and amongst establishments that serve Guinness.

10-pint scale
Consumers are asked to rate their pint on a scale from one to 10 via text message. They are asked to text "GREAT" to the short code 88500 for a chance to win the trip to Dublin.

Table tents, coasters and posters within participating bars and restaurants will promote the program.

Additionally, a tip card will be available to patrons, which will give them tips on how to rate a pint of Guinness.

“I think Guinness chose mobile because, No. 1, it is the most popular form of communication these days, especially SMS,” Mr. Kaplan said.

“It is pretty much guaranteed that everyone who walks into a participating bar or restaurant has a cell phone and can interact with the program, without ever having to fill anything out," he said.

Associate Editor Giselle Abramovich covers ad networks, advertising, content, email, media, messaging, legal/privacy, search, social networks, television and video.

African Mobile Culture

Cellular Networks are very competitive in Africa and the local population has adopted mobile technology en masse. Because most of the local population in Africa are still very poor they have formed behaviour pattern on mobile phone usage that takes advantage of cost saving deals from competing cellular networks.

Most locals use two or three sim cards from different cellular networks. There are even handsets available in the market that takes two sim cards to make switching between different cellular networks easier. These handsets are imported from China, and sold through independent retail outlets. Obviously none of the cellular networks support this trend and do not offer such handsets in their retail outlets. It does however make life much easier for the local market and for the business traveller. The best solution for the business traveller is to keep their primary number and phone roaming on their normal network. Particularly if it is a Blackberry or smart phone to continue to receive emails, and smses, and be available in case of an emergency.

Audi lets consumers take test drive on mobile

By Giselle Abramovich

August 22, 2008

Good carma

Automobile manufacturer Audi of America has launched a mobile application for the iPhone to introduce its new Audi A4 luxury sports car.

Audi is using the iPhone motion sensor to let consumers steer a digital version of the new A4. Factory Design Labs designed the game titled, “Audi A4 Challenge.”

“We are right in the middle of the A4 launch and mobile is a great way to interact with consumers,” said Jeri Ward, general manager of marketing and strategy at Audi, New York. “We are using television slots for broad awareness, and to reach our tech-savvy, sophisticated consumers we turned to the iPhone.”

Audi agency Factory Design Labs is a Denver, CO-based interactive shop. Besides Audi, other clients include Oakley and The North Face.

The A4 Challenge lets players maneuver the course and race against the clock to beat their own personal best time.

Steering feel

The 2009 A4 is promised to be bigger, faster and more efficient than the previous models. It is jam-packed with luxury, leather and technology.

Audi A4 Challenge is free and available on Apple’s iPhone App Store.

The vehicle itself will be available in September.

Audi has also launched a site that allows users to experience and learn more about the car.

Consumers can go to http://www.truthinengineering.com/a4/iphone from the iPhone to access content such as videos, wallpapers, an exterior color customizer, a dealer locator link and a link to install the application.

With this initiative, Audi is targeting smart, sophisticated consumers who tend to be early adopters as well.

“With A4 being such a high-volume product, we are trying to introduce new consumers to the brand,” Ms. Ward said. “Our customers tend to be more tech-savvy and use the Internet for automotive research.”

Ms. Ward also said that Audi is targeting consumers 25-54, but with that demographic, people like to try more things, are leaders in auto-buying and are early adopters.

The application will be promoted using more traditional media such as online banners on Audi sites.

“Mobile is a unique way to engage consumers with the brand and highlight things that are core to the A4’s acceleration and its overall performance as a vehicle,” Ms. Ward said.

“We have various links on our site to drive the use of the widget,” she said.

Ms. Ward expects that as people download the application, it will be marketed virally.

“Mobile is very consistent with our progressive DNA,” Ms. Ward said.

“Our cars progress and so do our marketing approaches,” she said.

NBC adds interactivity to Olympic WAP site

By Gabrielle Kalika

August 13, 2008

NBC Olympics gets feedback via mobile

NBC Universal is enabling interactive survey features on its Olympics WAP site.

NBC has tapped MobileVerbs’ mobile on-demand platform to let visitors to its Olympics WAP site click on a banner which links them to an active poll or survey. NBC’s research team will then gain immediate access to users survey results and visitor feedback in real-time via a hosted dashboard.

“With NBC we have put together a mobile service for the NBC Olympic WAP site with which they can collect feedback and responses from the target audience,” said Parmeet Chaddha, founder/CEO of MobileVerbs Inc., Freemont, CA. “We are using the platform to set up the serving capabilities.

“The results are being delivered in-real time so as people are giving in their results, the results are being immediately delivered to the market research team,” he said.

The on-demand mobile marketing service from MobileVerbs will allow wireless market research capability on NBC’s Olympics WAP site.

Due to this software, the NBC campaign response is reported to have significantly grown, which illuminates the benefits of using mobile marketing to reach target users.

Mr. Chaddah also said that the key element here is to quickly receive and deliver information to and from consumers.

“From the time NBC contacted us to set up this particular service capability, they were really looking for results to respond in real time, in order to track user responses. It took no more than two hours to set it all up,” he said.

“For consumers it is having the ability to really get their feedback in terms of results and alerts, and how it will be useful,” he said. “This way they get what they want, and NBC sees higher consumption.”

The MobileVerbs platform is said to be unique because of its Situational Relevance Engine, which allows marketers to target their campaigns to wireless users' current context, so that the ads consumers receive are relevant to their current situation.

In addition, the service provides analytics and campaign performance results in real-time. All campaigns and interactive mobile programs are setup within hours from a hosted campaign management tool, without any programming or codes necessary. The campaigns are delivered via email, SMS, MMS, WAP or Web.

MobileVerbs' mobile marketing services cater to various media markets such as digital marketing agencies, direct marketers, media brands, and youth-focused retail brands.

“Obviously it’s a very critical opportunity for us,” Mr. Chaddah said. “We are a young company so this is a huge proposition.

“We will be enabling NBC to deliver highly interactive mobile campaigns, set up in literally hours,” he said. “The way we position our company is a one stop shop mobile platform, so whatever kind of service you are, our platform really supports the entire lifestyle of mobile.”

Editorial Assistant Gabrielle Kalika covers banking and payments, commerce, content, database/CRM, media and music. Reach her at gab.kal@hotmail.com.

Beam's Hornitos tequila runs mobile marketing campaign

By Dan Butcher

August 14, 2008

Taking the bull by the Hornitos

Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc.'s Hornitos tequila is using mobile to engage its technologically-savvy consumers and increase brand awareness.

Hornitos partnered with BuyYourFriendADrink.com to offer consumers the opportunity to buy Hornitos cocktails for friends via mobile phone or email. The media partners for the "Buy Your Amigos Hornitos" campaign are Valueclick, Askmen.com, Break.com, ESPN Deportes, Going.com, Playboy.com and Yahoo.

“The strategy behind the program is to get consumers to talk about Hornitos in the bar, get them to buy it for each other and get new people to sample the product,” said Gary Ross, associate brand manager for Sauza, the Deerfield, IL-based tequila devision of Beam. “Our target demographic is men roughly 25 to 34 who identify more with a premium brand.

“We like to focus on cutting-edge technology like mobile, because we know they are using it,” he said.

Location-sensitive entertainment listings service buzzd is implementing the campaign on mobile.

Tequila sunrises on mobile

Legal purchase-age consumers can use their mobile phones to visit the mobile site at http://Hornitos.mobi or the Hornitos Web site at http://www.BuyYourAmigoHornitos.com to send a personalized note and prepaid gift card to friends.

Beam claims the mobile site is the first-ever to let consumers buy their friends drinks.

Hornitos has agreements with 115 participating bars in 14 different large U.S. markets: Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, NC, Chicago, Denver, Houston, New Orleans, New York, Scottsdale, AZ, Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington, DC, Chicago and Dallas.

This program is open to any bar or restaurant that wants to join.

Hornitos partnered with BuyYourFriendADrink.com to build this program, which allows gift recipients to receive their drink gift via email, gift card or text message.

With the text-messaging capability, users can access their gifts via mobile phone while at participating bars or restaurants.

Gift recipients can find out which bars and restaurants in their area accept the gift cards and codes either online or on the mobile site.

“This is our first time running a mobile marketing campaign,” Mr. Ross said. “We have other cutting-edge-technology marketing programs and we hope to continue to expand on them going forward.”

Last year, Hornitos launched one of the brand’s most aggressive advertising and re-positioning campaigns in years, supported by a $15 million marketing spend.

“We do print advertising for the brand, but the call to action for this campaign has an online focus,” Mr. Ross said. “We’re running some online media placements driving people to our dedicated site, working with brands like AskMen.com and Playboy.com to post banner ads, both static and rich media.”

Hornitos is also tagging national print advertisements with 2D codes in Playboy magazine with a note to consumers saying “Scan the code. Get the girl.”

By using the scanning program on a mobile phone, legal purchase age consumers can snap an image of the bar code located in the print advertising and be taken directly to a site featuring a bonus picture of Miss July.

Consumers can visit m.hornitostequila.com to download the free software for mobile phones.

Hornitos, originally available as a Reposado tequila, unveiled two additional variants—Hornitos Plata and Hornitos Añejo.

Hornitos also introduced its “sip, shoot and savor” strategy in direct response to an evolving category and consumer demand for a Hornitos variant for all consumption occasions.

“Sip, shoot and savor” educates consumers on the diversity of tequila: Hornitos Plata is versatile enough for mixed drinks, Hornitos Reposado can be enjoyed as a shot and Hornitos Añejo should be sipped.

In addition to Hornitos, Beam Global Spirits & Wine’s brands include Jim Beam bourbon, Canadian Club whisky, Courvoisier cognac, Maker's Mark bourbon, Laphroaig Scotch whisky, Larios gin, Whisky DYC, Teacher's Scotch whisky, DeKuyper cordials and liqueurs, Knob Creek bourbon and Starbucks liqueurs.

“Our consumers are obviously very big users of mobile technology,” Mr. Ross said. “The ability to share Hornitos with a friend, wherever they are, is a very appealing part of the program.”

Staff Reporter Dan Butcher covers banking and payments, carrier networks, commerce, database/CRM, manufacturers, music and software and technology. Reach him at dan@mobilemarketer.com.

A|X Armani Exchange debuts SMS campaign

August 20, 2008

Wielding a mobile A|X

Luxury retailer A|X Armani Exchange is doing a text-to-win promotion to compile a database of names for future SMS marketing.

The “A/X $1,000 Shopping Spree Sweepstakes” call to action can be found on the retailer’s shopping bag. It asks customers to text the keyword AX to short code 276264 for a chance to win a $1,000 shopping spree.

“For retailers, mobile adds the notion of accountability and gives retailers a CRM spine,” said Conrad Lisco, creative director at 5th Finger, New York. “The channel can help retailers create a means for unique interaction outside the store.”

5th Finger does not handle the A|X Armani Exchange effort.

Once consumers text in, they receive this message: "Welcome to TEXT AX! Msgs up to 3x/mo. Std. carrier rates may apply. To opt in, reply w/Zip Code. To opt out, text STOP. For more info, text HELP."

More money for Armani

Once consumers reply with their ZIP code to opt in, they are entered into the sweepstakes.

After they have entered, the double opt-in comes into play.

Participants are asked to reply WIN to further confirm their interest in the sweepstakes.

The confirmation text tells participants to visit the sweepstakes' dedicated microsite for more information.

The winner will be drawn randomly Oct. 30.

Opted-in consumers are also added to a database of names and sent special SMS promotions up to three times a month.

“I applaud brands that are now getting into mobile because they are truly paving the way for other retailers to jump onto the bandwagon,” Mr. Lisco said. “Most brands know mobile is going to be big, but they are looking for examples of the channel in use to better understand.

“Education and better understanding of the channel will break the barriers and pull more retailers in,” he said.

A|X Armani Exchange did not return calls to confirm who is powering this text initiative.

Armani Exchange is the youthful label created by Italian designer and entrepreneur Giorgio Armani.

With Armani Exchange, Mr. Armani created a casual, yet sophisticated collection for the young, urban and sexy.

The brand designs, manufactures, distributes and retails fashion and lifestyle products, including apparel, accessories, eyewear, watches, jewelry and music.

“Mobile is helping retailers connect with consumers through an interactive brand-building experience and by offering information at different points in the purchasing process,” said Lars Albright, vice president of business development with Quattro Wireless, Waltham, MA.

“For example, some retailers offer detailed product reviews that can be used in-store during the shopping process for access to instant information,” he said.

“Other retailers are promoting SMS text clubs and sweepstakes through mobile to help further deepen the relationship between the consumer and the brand."

Armani Exchange is not the first luxury retail brand to go mobile.

Polo not solo
Just last week, Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. launched a mobile commerce service to let consumers buy products through their handsets.

Ralph Lauren claims to be one of the first luxury retailers nationwide to launch a mobile commerce site and incorporate Quick Response codes in advertisements (see story).

Also, leading luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana has proved that mobile advertising is effective as well as fashionable by running a mobile campaign on the Nokia Media Network.

The D&G mobile effort demonstrates that brands that have relied on traditional forms of media are now benefiting from the targeting and high response rates that mobile offers.

The D&G campaign promoted the brand’s teen-focused fashion catalog, while increasing awareness during the Men’s Fashion Show in Milan, Italy in June.

The banners led consumers to a D&G mobile Internet site where they could download a branded game to their handset, as well as view a catalog and download branded wallpaper.

D&G's mobile campaign received an average click-through rate of almost 10 percent (see story).

“Generally, retailers are finding that mobile advertising is an effective new medium to help them reach new consumers and build their brand," Quattro's Mr. Albright said.

Retail is an industry that probably has the most to gain from mobile marketing, said Michael Foschetti, managing director of mobile marketing firm mobisix, Charlotte, NC.

Mobile has the power to deliver exclusive offers to opt-in consumers and drive in-store traffic as well.

Still, most retail brands have been slow to adopt mobile.

“Messaging offers the greatest opportunity today for delivering messages from retail brands to opt-in subscribers,” Mr. Foschetti said. “It's simple, ubiquitous and measurable."

He also said that SMS adoption across all demographic groups creates scale.

More than half of all text messages are sent by people over 35.

“Armani's entrance into the mobile space underscores that top retail brands across segments should consider mobile, not just brands catering to teen audiences,” Mr. Foschetti said.

“Retail brands, or other stakeholders in the space, should focus their mobile strategies on what would create the most value for all stakeholders - sales,” he said.

Associate Editor Giselle Abramovich covers ad networks, advertising, content, email, media, messaging, legal/privacy, search, social networks, television and video. Reach her at giselle@mobilemarketer.com.

Law logs on to chat rooms

The head of the MXit social networking site has defended his site amid the furore concerning "slut" lists - but The Sunday Independent has learnt that MXit and other such services will be regulated under amendments to be passed to the Film and Publications Act.

Iyavar Chetty, the acting head of the Film and Publications Board, said, once the amendments were passed into law, all social networking sites would be required to monitor their services closely to ensure they were not dealing with any kind of behaviour in chat rooms that would lead to the abuse of children.

"If there is any evidence that the sites are not complying with the legal obligations, prosecution will follow," he said.

Chetty conceded that policing such sites, popular among teenagers, on a 24-hour basis was impossible. Instead, there would be a reliance on a "sense of social responsibility" on the part of users and the people who run the sites.

"They have not demonstrated that they are policing it to conclude that there is no risk to vulnerable children. Because [of this] the government has been compelled to take limited measures," he said.

Chetty was adamant these measures would not see the government or any authorities prying into the privacy of individuals. But, he said, it would be expected of operators of sites to have monitors who would be able to identify signs of potential abusive behaviour and to take steps to block people from entering sites.

Herman Heunis, MXit's chief executive officer, this week defended the five-year-old free instant messaging service saying there were sufficient security measures in place.

MXit has about 9-million members in 120 countries, and the number is growing, with more than 10 000 South Africans registering as new users on the site daily. Five percent of subscribers use the chat room facility. About 250-million messages are sent a day.

Heunis said it was because of security measures and monitors that the service provider was able to act almost immediately to stop the defamatory "slut" and "bastard" lists that had circulated in person-to-person communications among users in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.

He believed the latest "list" debacle had been blown out of proportion. While he did not know the real number of defamatory lists circulated, indications were that they numbered more than 270.

"We investigated every complaint and communicated with the complainants. Over 30 were received initially and we deleted every single list off the network," he said.

Reintroducing payment for the forwarding of messages as one of the measures to halt the spread of the lists had seen a 98 percent drop in forwarded messages. "It stopped that chain letter effect," said Heunis. "What do people expect us to do? Must we monitor every message that goes out? That is illegal. People have a right to privacy."

But he admitted that, because the internet was continually developing, criminals would find a way to abuse the system. "People should realise that … if you insult someone on the internet you can be sued."

The company's website also contained information and tips for parents, safety tips for children and a list of the 10 most important security measures to remember.

Heunis said he was saddened by what he believed was a witch-hunt against a service that was aimed at getting people to communicate.

He was especially upset by allegations that MXit's management had known for years that the service was being abused by the youth and criminals. In the past year, a number of teenage girls had gone missing after meeting people via MXit.

Heunis emphasised that these, and other problems that had arisen, originated from the public chat rooms, and only in instances where the user had not abided by the rules.

"Revealing personal information in any public chat room is extremely irresponsible as the possibility of criminal elements being present is a reality. It becomes dangerous when people who meet in public chat rooms agree to meet in person and various newspaper reports all over the world have borne witness to this.

"The brutal reality is that criminal elements worldwide have been on the internet for years and, unfortunately, MXit is not spared this evil."

He said the latest scandal did not involve the chat rooms, but the facility that enabled users to send attachments, such as pictures or messages written and saved in MXit.

But Chetty questioned the effectiveness of MXit's security measures. "There have been reports of abuse of the MXit site for over a year. Parents have been complaining. If MXit was only alerted to problems because of what happened in recent weeks, then there is no reason to believe that they have adequate measures in place," he said.

While he and Jody Kollapen of the Human Rights Commission believed that social networking and instant messaging services were important communication tools with a lot of potential for education and entertainment, they also believed those who ran them should do more to ensure they were not abused.

"In providing a service that has got the potential to be abused and damage peoples' lives there must be a parallel programme to address such [matters]," said Chetty.

Kollapen said he would like to see site owners focusing on educating parents on how to monitor what their children were doing on the internet.


This article was originally published on page 3 of Sunday Independent on August 10, 2008

Coca-Cola runs mobile campaign for Coke Zero, loyalty program

By Giselle Abramovich

August 4, 2008

Zero to hero

Coca-Cola Co. is running a mobile campaign via the ChaCha mobile answer service to generate interest in its loyalty program and Coke Zero soft drink.

The soft drinks giant is one of ChaCha’s first advertisers. ChaCha has been charged with enabling a conversational relationship between Coca-Cola and the millions of users of its answer service.

“Since our launch we have experienced explosive growth,” said Jay Highley, chief marketing officer of ChaCha, Indianapolis, IN. “This growth made us realize that we have the power to help advertisers by letting them target our audience.”

Coca-Cola and ChaCha kicked off their mobile marketing engagement at the Allstate Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 27.

With targeted responses and event-based marketing, Coca-Cola engaged users in a new and innovative relationship to encourage interactive conversations.

Using ChaCha’s service to deploy ads, Coca-Cola so far has seen a 5.2 percent click-through rate, compared to 1 percent to 2 percent industry averages.

In addition, Coca-Cola will gain a deeper understanding of its consumers as well as a simple way to track usage patterns and customer data during the campaign.

Here’s how it works.

Users can call 1-800-2CHACHA or text questions to ChaCha (242 242) on mobile phones and receive answers within minutes.

After receiving a text back with the answers, users receive another text with the Coca-Cola promotion.
The promotion encourages users to join the My Coke rewards program and to try out the Coke Zero soft drink.

The SMS also includes a link to the My Coke Rewards WAP site.

ChaCha is helping Coca-Cola transform traditional and static advertising into dynamic mobile campaigns, in-venue mobile marketing and targeted offers to most mobile phone users regardless of their handset type.

The service couples ChaCha’s Mobile Answers – claimed as the fastest growing mobile application in the world, attracting a new user every 10 seconds – with analytics and reporting.

This way, marketers such as Coca-Cola can engage consumers and stay top of mind with relevant, personalized mobile information about its brand, products and promotions.

ChaCha’s demographic is unique in that 53 percent are repeat users, the company claims. Also, 83 percent consider the service to be very valuable.

The average user uses ChaCha over 30 times per month. Eighty-eight percent hear about the service from a friend.

Users are ages 18-34 and use the service socially and for utilitarian purposes.

“Our service is unique because our users trust our brand, making them more receptive to advertisiements served through our services,” Mr. Highley said.

"The Coke campaign is our flagship and was targeted in terms of geography,” he said. “We believe this campaign is a significant extension of other branding and marketing initiatives because we allow for a very intimate, one-on-one relationship.

“For advertisers we are basically creating an opportunity for them to reach, talk with and engage our loyal user base. The ads are part of the user’s interaction and are not intrusive at all. Our advertisers get great reach.”

Mobile Marketer's Classic Guide to Mobile Advertising

August 11, 2008

Mobile Marketer's Classic Guide to Mobile Advertising

Welcome to the first edition of Mobile Marketer’s Classic Guide to Mobile Advertising.

Targeting advertisers, media planners and buyers, agency executives, publishers, teleservices pros, carrier officials and service providers, this guide is chock-full of information on how to conceive, execute and analyze mobile ad campaigns.

Mobile advertising is at a critical juncture in its history. Marketers have expressed interest in reaching consumers on the go through opted-in marketing, advertising and promotions. But not too many know their way around this latest wing of the multichannel marketing industry.

This guide aims to solve that problem.

Senior executives from key advertising agencies, service providers, site developers, ad networks, analytics companies, email specialists, search marketing firms and publishers have contributed time and wisdom to put together a how-to guide for seasoned practitioners and first-timers.

The list of contributors to this guide includes representatives from Bango, Limbo, Crisp Wireless, Havas Digital’s Mobext, Enliven Marketing Technologies, AdMob, Telescope, Mobisix, Return Path, 5th Finger, QuickPlay Media, Avot Media, Medio Systems, Pivotal Veracity, Greystripe, Zumobi, Range Online Media and Steak Media.

Also on that list are executives from Quattro Wireless, go2 Media, Omnicom's Prometheus, AdaptiveMobile, Safecount, Dynamic Logic, MRI-The Boston Group, GoTV Network, SiteSpect, Velti, Acision, Interpublic Group of Companies Inc.’s Draftfcb and Air2Web.

The articles offer best-practice tips, educational points of view and analysis. The case study on Johnson & Johnson is worth reading, as is the research on measuring ad effectiveness on the mobile Web.

Mobile Marketer’s Giselle Abramovich scored a scoop with her detailed feature on Playboy’s plans for mobile. The publisher offers a decent roadmap for most of its peers, highlighting the potential of leveraging content and advertising across several channels including mobile.

Another outstanding feature is the extensive survey on global mobile marketing trends as seen by key Draftfcb officers worldwide.

Draftfcb is known for its branding and direct marketing expertise. So the agency was well suited to deliver a fairly accurate snapshot of mobile advertising and marketing’s prospects this year and in the future.

It’s no exaggeration to say that mobile advertising is about to revolutionize the way that marketers reach out to consumers for branding or customer acquisition or customer retention purposes.

Of course, it bears keeping in mind that the mobile channel is the most personal of all, so extra caution is advised while devising and deploying mobile ad campaigns. Each ad or campaign must respect the consumer’s privacy, while making sure that the advertiser’s brand experience is not diluted.

But there is no doubt that a well-targeted mobile ad campaign will strengthen bonds between brand and consumer. The ads must lead to information or offers of value to the consumer. Keep them simple, keep them straight and keep them results-oriented.

The authors of the 30-plus articles in this guide play a vital role in the mobile advertising, marketing and media ecosystem. Their insights and analysis will help you in your mobile advertising efforts as you work on your multichannel outreach plans. Reach out to them and those companies featured on every page of this guide.

To Giselle Abramovich, Dan Butcher, Gabby Kalika and Jodie Solomon – many thanks for their help in making Mobile Marketer the preeminent publication covering mobile marketing, media and commerce.

Also, thank you to marketing consultant Rob DiGioia for his art direction on this guide. It is a labor of love that shows in word and image.

Please read Mobile Marketer’s Classic Guide to Mobile Advertising from cover to cover and circulate to colleagues, clients and prospects. Please also visit http://www.mobilemarketer.com and sign up for our free newsletters that offer the latest news and analysis on mobile marketing, media and commerce.

We hope you benefit from this guide and look forward to featuring your mobile advertising wisdom and work in the next.

Browsing evolution blurs lines between mobile and PC Web

July 30, 2008

Ray Anderson is CEO of Bango

By Ray Anderson

Many great things come in two parts – the megapixel sensor and digital photography, the carbon fiber filament and the light bulb, baseball and Babe Ruth. The history of the Internet is no exception.

As with other inventions, the Internet’s evolution involved a technology introduction (part one) and then general mass-market adoption (part two). This two-part approach again is playing out in the latest phase of the Internet – the mobile Web.

The first part in the development of the mobile Web started in 1998 when the WAP Forum introduced WML 1.1, effectively creating a new separate Web for mobile devices. This saw limited success outside the mobile decks, created by the world’s various mobile network operators.

Part two – the mobile mass market – remains elusive.

Today, the browser likely is the key to moving part two of mobile Web evolution forward.

The Apple iPhone has raised public awareness for browsing the Web on mobile phones – a trend that all the other handset providers have been quick to follow.

Whether it is the new mobile players such as Apple and Microsoft (with Windows Mobile) or the established mobile leaders including Nokia with its N Series, the one consistent element is a full Internet browser.

Mobile operators such as Sprint are helping accelerate this by providing transcoding capabilities to ensure all phones can see the traditional Web sites without the need for special mobile sites to be built.

With this seed now sown, it’s clear that a unified Web is upon us, blurring the lines between desktop Web sites and those built for mobile.

As part two of the mobile Web plays out, it’s time for anyone with a Web site to get up-to-speed with mobile visitors. There are two things to think about.

First, now is the time for business – especially larger brands – to understand how much of the overall traffic to their PC Web sites comes from mobile devices.

Brands need to be prepared to modify their Web sites so that they can track this audience and appeal directly to them using the appropriate marketing tools.

Next, it’s also critical to ensure PC site looks good on a range of new and old mobile handsets.

You may find, for example, that operator transcoding is breaking your site or making it look unattractive. You can use DeviceAnywhere from Mobile Complete to test different handsets from different countries.

Brands that move in this direction now will be better prepared for what’s shaping up to be a familiar scenario.

After all, part two of the PC Internet did not really take off until the arrival of the first truly consumer-friendly Web browser with the launch of NCSA Mosaic in 1993. This made it easy for anyone with a PC to reach Web sites by typing the now familiar URL that had started to appear on every TV show and in every magazine.

We all know the rest of the story with the famous Web gold rush in the late ’90s. It was a great time, especially if you saw it coming. For those that missed out the first time around, now’s the time to make sure you are prepared to capitalize on the second Web gold rush – on mobile.

CellSigns’ Mobile Agent brings real estate info to mobile

July 30, 2008

Mobile real estate

CellSigns Inc. has made it easier for home buyers to make purchase descisions with the release of Mobile Agent, its real estate search tool for consumers on-the-go.

Home buyers can now drive around their local market, see any home for sale and get property information on that home, including photos and detailed descriptions, via their handset. Real estate brokers and agents can deploy an SMS mobile access tool.

“Many home buyers today do lots of online research, but they leave their desktops when they start to get more serious about buying a home,” said Mark Ford, CEO of Cellsigns, Philadelphia.

“We saw an opportunity in the marketplace to power mobile real estate info, and we wanted people have just a standard mobile phone to have access, so decided that text messaging was the primary mechanism to reach the largest audience,” he said.

Using Mobile Agent 2.0, home buyers can quickly search by property address, street name, Multiple Listings Service number or agent name from any mobile phone and get information via SMS, MMS and CellSign’s mobile Internet site.

Mobile Agent

Mobile Agent provides such features as photos delivered to consumers’ mobile phone with a detailed property description and a list of comparable properties in the area.

Other features include text-to-client immediately sending listing information to clients or other agents and click-to-call letting consumers instantly connect to their agent or broker.

Property descriptions include all the relevant pricing information, square footage, acreage, up to 12 pictures and the number of beds and baths, among other details.

Mobile homes

Home buyers can request additional information via CellSign's real estate text messaging service, including details about taxes, school districts and whether or not the property has air conditioning, a garage or basement.

Also, home buyers can log in to the web site to plot the homes they have viewed on an interactive map.

Mobile Agent works on all mobile phones without any downloads or special training.

The Mobile Agent offering has been launched market by market to thousands of real estate agents. The service currently covers 20 major metro areas and more are being added daily.

Major markets served by Mobile Agent include Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dallas/Ft. Worth, the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, OR, and Orlando, FL, along with with Boston and Seattle.

“We have pretty much 100 percent coverage of properties listed by real estate agents and brokerages in our current markets, and we’re adding between five and ten new markets per month,” Mr. Ford said.

The RE/MAX 4000 office in Grand Junction, CO, has added a Mobile Agent portal to its Web site.

In about a month or so, CellSigns will release a Mobile Agent application downloadable from the iPhone App Store.

The service is free for consumers other than carriers’ data charges, while for agents and brokers it is subscription-based.

Subscribers get mobile search for all buyers, full reporting on all activities of buyers in their market, including every property they have viewed, a widget portal on their Web site and offline tools allowing agents to hand out a how-to card telling consumers how Mobile Agent works.

The package also includes a listing tool letting subscribers advertise their own listings and on-property signage with a call-to-action urging prospective buyers to text in a property ID keyword to a specific short code.

There is also an active chat feature that lets consumers chat live with a broker or agent through interactive SMS sessions via handsets or instant messaging via computers.

CellSigns created a YouTube video to promote the Mobile Agent platform.

“Right now we’re the only ones offering this service,” Mr. Ford said.

“Other companies do SMS marketing for real estate companies, but their technology is limited to property IDs at specific listings and their coverage is limited to the agents on their service," he said. "They might cover roughly 10 out of the 60,000 properties for sale in the Philadelphia market, while we cover 100 percent of them.

“We’ve given consumers a free mobile tool for getting real estate information, and our partners have a tool to advertise their own listings and communicate with their buyers.”

by Staff Reporter Dan Butcher

Jack in the Box uses mobile to boost sales

July 30, 2008

Egg head

West Coast fast food franchise Jack in the Box is experimenting with Near Field Communication-enabled phones.

It teamed with Bay Area Rapid Transit and Sprint to launch a technological trial that allowed participants to pay their BART fare and Jack in the Box tab using their mobile phones. Trial participants also downloaded content from Sprint just by waving their phones in front of smart advertisements.

“The strategy for Jack in the Box was to drive sales in-store and at the same time track those sales,” said Mohammed Khan president and founder of VivoTech, Santa Clara, CA.

BART, Sprint and Jack in the Box tapped VivoTech, which developed the NFC software for the mobile phones and the over-the-air card provisioning servers that Sprint used for the trial.

Participants were able to remotely download their BART fare and Jack Ca$h gift cards onto their mobile phones, check their card balances, review previous transactions, automatically top up their cards and use their phones to pay for BART fares and Jack in the Box food.

VivoTech also provides the contactless payment devices that read the NFC-enabled chips at Jack in the Box restaurants

How does it work? It’s simple.

Walk up to any BART fare gate with a specially-equipped Sprint wireless phone and pay for their ride by tagging the phone on a reader located on top of the gate.

Once through the gate, the 230 trial participants held their specifically-equipped Sprint mobile phone up to certain Jack in the Box and Sprint smart advertisements on BART station walls and download either directions to the nearest Jack in the Box restaurant or content from Sprint.

Then, after taking the train to their favorite Jack in the Box location, participants used their phone to pay for their meal.

This trial gave participants the benefit of receiving discounts and offers which companies usually only provide to customers participating in their loyalty programs,” Mr. Khan said.

In the past, other pay-by-mobile-phone trials have just allowed customers to pay for goods and services using a credit card tied to their phone, which often prevented them from automatically receiving the discounts merchants provide.

However, in this trial participants automatically got those special discounts.

For example, participants automatically got a 6.25 percent discount BART provides those who purchase high-value tickets.

The technology lets riders avoid spending time buying a paper ticket and makes BART greener.

Sprint is currently evaluating the results from the preliminary trial of this new technology.

This technology can make life easier since users can manage their daily commute and make payments using the one device they carry with them throughout the day,” Mr. Khan said.

By Giselle Abramovich

Slifter debuts location-based shopping for BlackBerry

July 30, 2008

Shop Slifter

Consumers using Research In Motion’s BlackBerry smartphones can now download Slifter, a free ad-supported location-based mobile shopping tool.

Using the application, BlackBerry smartphone users can now search local store inventory for products, Hot Deals and promos. they can surf through product information, images and maps, and save products and promotions into a mobile Shopping List to share with friends in their address book.

“We’re really excited to be working with BlackBeryy and at the rate of pickup and the enthusiasm we feel from the wireless community,” said Alex Muller, CEO of Slifter, New York. “Slifter is for people walking or driving around thinking, ‘I wish I knew where I could go to get such-and-such item.'

“We’re excited to be bringing this to market,” he said. “We’re using technology to facilitate what people are doing in the real world.”

Mobile product search provider Slifter uses GPS technology to let consumers search and share more than 300 million products and various promotions at more than 150,000 retail stores across the country.

In addition to most BlackBerry devices, the downloadable application is available on Web-enabled Sprint phones, while AT&T subscribers, iPhone users and others can access Slifter’s mobile Internet site at http://slifter.com.

Slifter’s downloadable application is also available on Helio handsets and Nokia phones via its Download Now mobile store.

The company claims that within a few months the majority of U.S. carriers will make Slifter available to their subscribers.

“The application is specifically designed for each specific handset and carrier to make sure the consumer’s experience is optimized,” Mr. Muller said.

For example, BlackBerry users can download an application that is specific to the carrier to which they subscribe.

Slifter customers enter a keyword, product name, model number or UPC code to find a product.

They can then view product availability, price and promotional information and detailed directions to the nearest store.

The downloadable application automatically identifies the consumer’s location, while visitors to the mobile Internet site type in their ZIP code to get location-specific results.

“We’re getting into next-generation capabilities to help consumers make purchases in a way they could only do on a computer before,” Mr. Muller said.

To download Slifter for free, BlackBerry customers can visit http://slifter.com on their handhelds and click on “Try the Slifter download.” Standard data plan rates from carriers apply.

Slifter is free to consumers. Retailers can list their products for free, but they can also choose to advertise to get more exposure via paid placements on consumers’ shopping lists or Slifter’s Hot Deals page and banner ads on Slifter’s WAP site.

In addition, if a consumer searches for a generic keyword such as “digital camera,” the top result is a paid placement.

These ad placements are pre-programmed to match each consumer’s location.

“A lot of retailers are looking to offer back-to-school promotions on Slifter,” Mr. Muller said.

Nikon, LG and Discount Tire have all run ad campaigns with Slifter.

“Retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, Macy’s, Diesel and Best Buy are looking for interactive avenues to drive sales,” Mr. Muller said. “With the current economy, many companies are cutting back on their marketing budget, so they want the most trackable, most effective use of those marketing dollars.

“With more advanced data features, higher-resolution screens and GPS capabilities, mobile has really emerged as a viable means of marketing, it’s finally emerged,” he said.

“The pay-per-click model of mobile marketing is trackable and ROI-driven, so instead of paying for a billboard irrespective of performance, you pay based on how many people click through to a local product’s landing page.”

By Dan Butcher

When saying no is best

July 28, 2008

Mickey Alam Khan is editor in chief of Mobile Marketer

A striking comment made at last week’s IAB Leadership Forum: Mobile event was honesty at its best and marketing at its smartest. And it came from the CEO of one of the leading mobile marketing agencies worldwide.

Vladimir Edelman, boss of the Ansible agency, was part of a panel that threw up case studies of mobile work for marketers such as Procter & Gamble Co., Johnson & Johnson and Research In Motion Inc.'s BlackBerry (see story). After outlining his agency’s work for J&J’s BabyCenter site, Mr. Edelman advised the audience to be realistic, say no to work that does not translate well to mobile and find budgets that make sense.

“This industry cannot afford bad case studies,” Mr. Edelman said. “Brands can sit this out and not worry about missing anything.”

The 300 or so executives in the audience – agency creatives, media buyers, publishers, marketers and mobile service providers – may not have immediately understood the import of those words. But it serves everyone well to reflect on the wisdom of that message.

Eyes on mobile
Mobile marketing is under scrutiny like it has never been before.

Since the Apple iPhone’s launch last year and an upgrade’s debut earlier this month, consumers have raised their expectations of the mobile phone. See the steady stream of iPhone-focused applications developed for content, media, commerce and marketing purposes.

Developers, retailers and publishers have also lavished attention on the BlackBerry platform as well as Google’s much-hyped Android.

Yahoo and Microsoft too have a dog in the game, each collaborating with the marketplace to gain a spot on the world’s most valuable real estate – the mobile phone screen.

Each widget or application brings the mobile experience closer to a computer’s. A small screen, speed and data charges are all that hinder the mobile phone’s progress as the laptop’s successor.

On the marketing side, banner ads are now quite commonplace on major mobile publisher sites. The ads are simple, not intrusive and yet eye-catching, clickable to a landing page with Web or telephone options.

Advertisers in the entertainment and automotive sectors, for example, have found a marvelous outreach channel to reach consumers on the go. Given the newness of this medium, click-throughs are high compared with computer-based email or banner ads.

Similarly, text programs are more popular now than they have ever been. Marketers are turning to SMS for promotions and mobile coupons. They are inviting consumers to sign up for alerts, updates and sweepstakes. They are building opted-in databases of immeasurable value.

Advise, revise
Smart mobile marketing agencies, ad networks, service providers and publishers will obviously tout the value of mobile marketing. They will trot out case studies as proof of concept.

But smarter players will also know when to turn down business. It is tempting to slap the mobile label on every ad campaign. After all, how difficult is it to take a short code and add keywords and before you know it, the agency has proposed an SMS campaign?

Well, the one thing mobile marketing firms do not want to do is emulate the dot-coms in their cocky heyday. Venture-capital-flush Internet companies over-promised and under-delivered. Mobile does not have the luxury of losing billions to learning lessons.

So when thinking of pitching a client, consider: Does it make sense to add a mobile component? Does it extend brand awareness? Does it serve well as a direct marketing medium? Does it build loyalty? Does it add to the database? Is the effort measurable? Does it complement other channels?

Above all, does the marketer's product or service lend itself to mobile marketing, content or commerce?

If the answer to most of these questions is no, then mobile is not a candidate for that brand’s marketing efforts – at least not at the time of evaluation.

And even if mobile is a strong possibility for the brand, agencies and marketers should invite publishers and ad networks to comment on the ad’s likely effectiveness.

Essentially, publishers and ad networks should request to see the creative before it is formally submitted. After all, they know their audience's propensity to respond to targeted content.

Given the small size, the message and branding on the banner unit must be immediately apparent. Make sure the brand lettering does not get lost in the color of the banner. The call to action should be loud and clear. Don’t be too smart by half – there’s simply no time for showing off.

The landing page experience is equally important. Ask the visitor to accomplish the call to action in one of three ways – signing up for additional information, clicking on a link to another mobile Web page or clicking on a link that dials the brand’s call center.

Any call to action on mobile must be limited to no more than three clicks. Limit the data fields to the basic details that will identify the user and his or her preferences. This tip is not based on scientific assessment, but common sense. The mobile channel does not suffer fills gladly.

Not now, darling
To Mr. Edelman’s point, realism and saying no will be appreciated by the client or the prospect. That marketer will return when his or her brand is more mobile-friendly.

The final point is budgets. Do not just settle. Mobile is not a cheaper cousin of the computer-based Internet. It has its own cost structures.

Mr. Edelman and his fellow panelists were asked at the IAB Mobile event if $50,000 to $75,000 could buy a decent mobile ad campaign. His answer: not much.

Yes, that amount could buy some testing or finger-in-the-wind analysis. But it will not have a wide effect on a larger audience.

A strong, consumer-focused mobile marketing campaign can cost upwards of $250,000, according to Mr. Edelman. It’s not hard to imagine and is worth it when it costs just about that much to wire up a Bluetooth bus stand.

“This year, moving into 2009, we’re seeing a lot more seven-figure budgets,” Mr. Edelman said.

Many marketers and agencies complain that mobile is a complicated channel. It is not. But it requires dedicated attention. It requires transparency. It requires honesty. Sometimes saying “Not now” will prevent a headache.

Why mobile and traditional media are a powerful combination

July 28, 2008

By Tim Favia

If mobile is going to be the next big ad medium, it will need the help of the traditional media formats. The biggest challenge that mobile has is engaging people on their mobile phones in a legal and non-offensive way.

Traditional media, especially radio and television, is struggling to compete with online, reinvent itself and find new sources of revenue. Radio and TV are tremendous broad reach mediums, but are desperate to create more interactivity and engagement with listeners and viewers.

There is a symbiotic relationship beginning to develop. Herein lies the opportunity.

I recently attended a conference hosted by a leading venture capital company that included presentations from the largest U.S. new media, social networking and technology companies to online and mobile startups.

The discussions quickly turned to new media business models that are designed to capture ad spend from traditional media such as TV, radio, print and out-of-home.

Numerous presenters spoke of the inevitable disintermediation of mainstream media as advertisers transition to more measurable media.

The continuing growth of online ad spend at the expense of traditional media serves notice of the success of that strategy.

Also, it suggests the viability of an alternative strategy of partnering with large traditional media companies, with still dominant broad-based access to American consumers, to evolve their medium.

A significant opportunity exists to work with the broadcast and print players to make their programming dramatically more interactive through mobile, and engage the millions of viewers, listeners and readers that they fear losing.

In turn, we in the mobile space can leverage traditional media’s unmatched reach to build valuable, consent-based relationships with the mobile users that marketers increasingly covet.

Radio’s inherently mobile nature and cost effective broad reach makes it an attractive target. Mobile marketing gives radio stations across the country the tools they need to engage listeners, create sticky programming, increase ratings and, most importantly, drive new revenues.

Mobile devices enable the opportunity to reach listeners wherever they are, and radio offers an established, cost-effective relationship with millions of listeners.

By initiating a mobile dialogue directly with listeners, radio stations of all sizes are able to grow listeners and Web traffic by creating contests and exclusive offerings via programs such as SMS text-to-win promotions and by providing fun, interactive mobile content on their Web sites.

When you combine the broad and demographically diverse reach of traditional broadcasting, with the interactive, engaging and measurable nature of mobile communication, you create a powerful basis for mass engagement.

Once engaged, users can subscribe to a myriad of free ad-sponsored mobile content, participate in contests or engage with their favorite programming. Advertisers in turn get access to millions of mobile users in a highly targeted and relevant way to deliver offers and promotional messages.

Mobile is awkward step-child of traditional channels, says analyst

By Giselle Abramovich

Neil Strother is analyst for JupiterResearch

Mobile advertising is still in its early stages but will flourish once advertisers become more educated, more capable mobile devices are introduced and wireless networks have the speed and performance to deliver rich media.

Analysts believe that because the mobile device is always with us, no matter where we are, mobile advertising will eventually become part of all ad budgets. After all, no other medium has the potential to target the consumer in real-time based on their exact geographic coordinates.

“Mobile advertising is still in its early stages in the United States,” said Neil Strother, analyst of mobile marketing and media for Jupiter Research, Kirkland, WA. “Most companies have not done a campaign on mobile and those that have are still experimenting with what works best for their brands.

“Early results, though, have been somewhat positive for brands that have committed to mobile,” he said. “But several key hurdles remain: lack of audience reach, a complex buying process and campaign metrics that show an ROI.”

Regardless of these challenges, Mr. Strother still believes that mobile advertising will grow into a significant part of the overall advertising industry.

Nic Covey is director of insights at Nielsen Mobile

But it will take time - several years.

Mobile schooling

He said there's still a big need to educate advertisers about how to approach mobile.

“Brands need to get to a place where mobile becomes a regular part of an advertising budget, not just an afterthought,” Mr. Strother said. “And, of course, it will take time to educate skeptical consumers about what they get from ad-supported mobile content and services."

The channel has its benefits.

The main benefits of mobile advertising include closer targeting of individuals – since a mobile phone is so personal – location and interaction. These are unique capabilities that have yet to be fully exploited.

Mobile is still lacking in uniquely mobile attributes, meaning that what we are still seeing are online or television-based advertising models shoehorned onto mobile.

Mobile not like PC

“What works on a laptop screen doesn’t necessarily transcribe to mobile,” said Nick Holland, principal analyst for mobile content at ABI Research, Oyster Bay, NY. “Furthermore, the companies that can invest in mobile advertising are not necessarily a good match for the demographic that will be viewing the ads.

“I am not sure how many 18-25 year olds will be motivated to buy a Toyota truck due to a banner ad on their RAZR,” he said.

Companies like Loopt and Whrrl are at the intersection of social networking, location based services and advertising that show the shape of things to come.

Mr. Holland believes mobile advertising will be strong in connecting word of mouth endorsements of products and places at not just the time when consumers are looking to purchase, but also at the exact location.

“Tie this in with real time couponing and the eventual ability to use your phone as a contactless credit card and you’ve got a very compelling proposition,” Mr. Holland said. “Okay, a little science fiction for now, but not far off.”

Rich media, rich marketers

The good news is we are rapidly moving toward a content rich multi-media mobile environment that will give consumers more choices that ever.

This will drive the industry forward, said Milton Ellis, vice president and senior consultant at Harris Interactive, Rochester, NY.

As more capable mobile devices are introduced and wireless networks have the speed and performance to deliver rich media, mobile advertising should take its place as part of an integrated advertising approach offered across multiple platforms.

“In other words, to really build a bond between a brand and consumer, the advertiser must integrate their communications message possibly across radio, TV, the Internet, and mobile devices taking advantage of the strengths and opportunities provided by each medium,” Mr. Ellis said.

Today just about everyone has a mobile phone so the reach is tremendous across all age groups and genders.

No other electronic device approaches the personal relationship consumers have with their mobile phone so that relationship must be leveraged.

To leverage this relationship, mobile advertising must:

· Be on the consumers’ terms

· Provide the right incentives

· Have to do with topics and subjects they care about

· Include the option for consumers to opt out if necessary

Gone swimmin'

The mobile advertising market is a cold swimming pool on a hot August day,” said Nic Covey, director of insights at Nielsen Mobile. “There are a few people in the water, loving it, swimming around with a lot of extra space, sipping on pina coladas while the rest of the crowd has come to the pool planning to swim, looked at the pool, dipped toes in, even, but generally exhibited an unnatural reluctance to fully dive in and take advantage of it.

“Get in the water, already,” he said.

Mobile media advertising just recently reached a point where the audience, inventory and planning tools are in place to enable a robust mobile advertising market.

Now more marketers need to accept mobile as an important media option, Mr. Covey said.

Consumers are increasingly open to mobile advertising and expect to see more of it, but are still in a sensitive development stage where one bad apple could spoil the whole bunch.

Consumers, wireless carriers and regulators are watching mobile marketing closely for a misstep, but the winning approach is simple: don’t make consumers hate or distrust you.

“It’s their phone, not yours and so if you’re a marketer and you’re advertising on this platform, you’re there as their guest,” Mr. Covey said.

It’s simple etiquette: don’t come uninvited, bring something nice, don’t overstay your welcome and try not to leave a mess.

If consumers ask you to leave, don’t be difficult about it.

Tread delicately in their hand and if you’re a good guest they’ll think about opening their doors more often – to you and others.

Today, shortcode marketing programs offer the greatest reach, but the contrast between great shortcode campaigns and weak ones is stark.

Mobile media with fixed-universe ancestry (mobile Web, mobile TV) offer consumers a familiar marketing value proposition and have the most growth potential in the coming year.

Mobile video and Internet users are the most receptive to mobile advertising because they expect that trade-off and are still getting their head around having to pay another $10-20 a month for video or Internet access.

Though mobile is a viable option for marketers today, it will be some months before it’s standard in major media buys.

Advertisers and their agencies are historically quick to move with their mouths and slow to move with their wallets.

In this regard mobile won’t be so different.

What is different is all the various avails for marketers on this platform: if they’re not ready to spend a little on a shortcode campaign, maybe they’ll try a few banner ads with click-to-call.

“Ironically, dollars will move into mobile advertising for the same reason many will stay with broadcast television,” Mr. Covey said. “For all the nuances of consumer behavior, for all the new marketing opportunities available, much of the advertising market still moves on the inclination of a chief marketing officer that he or she has an obligation to put their brands in certain places.”

Primetime broadcast television has benefited from this immensely and Mr. Covey thinks mobile might too.

Audiences can grow quickly. Content and ad inventory can explode.

But advertising dollars don’t switch overnight.

“We won’t wake up one day to a billion-dollar mobile ad market, but it will sneak up on us,”Mr. Covey said.

If media planning evolves effectively, marketers may have a difficult time calling out the success of mobile, independently.

Integrated media and marketing should continue to blur the lines of ad spending and an onus is on mobile ad sellers to creatively demonstrate ROI as a component of substantially larger cross-platform campaigns.

“Mobile is the awkward step-child of more traditional media channels, but that’s what makes it such an important opportunity,” Mr. Covey said. “It’s a close enough relative to video, Web and promotional engagements to be familiar to marketers. But it brings new life to these methods by incorporating new place and utility.

“Tapping into mobile as an advertising medium will improve the mobile consumer experience,” he said. “The greatest benefit should be to the consumer, who will see reduced costs and more options in content as advertisers offset the growth of the mobile media ecosystem.”

Bluetooth Uses

Bluetooth is a standard and communications protocol primarily designed for low power consumption, with a short range (power-class-dependent: 1 meter, 10 meters, 100 meters) based on low-cost transceiver microchips in each device. Bluetooth enables these devices to communicate with each other when they are in range. The devices use a radio communications system, so they do not have to be in line of sight of each other, and can even be in other rooms, as long as the received transmission is powerful enough. Bluetooth device class indicates the type of device and the supported services of which the information is transmitted during the discovery process.

Class	Maximum Permitted Power mW(dBm)	Range (approximate)
Class 1	100 mW (20 dBm)	~100 meters
Class 2	2.5 mW (4 dBm)	~10 meters
Class 3	1 mW (0 dBm)	~1 meter

In most cases the effective range of class 2 devices is extended if they connect to a class 1 transceiver, compared to pure class 2 network. This is accomplished by the higher sensitivity and transmission power of Class 1 devices.

Version	Data Rate
Version 1.2	1 Mbit/s
Version 2.0 + EDR	3 Mbit/s
WiMedia Alliance (proposed)	53 - 480 Mbit/s

What is Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a wireless protocol utilizing short-range communications technology facilitating data transmission over short distances from fixed and/or mobile devices, creating wireless personal area networks (PANs). The intent behind the development of Bluetooth was the creation of a single digital wireless protocol, capable of connecting multiple devices and overcoming issues arising from synchronization of these devices. Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices such as mobile phones, telephones, laptops, personal computers, printers, GPS receivers, digital cameras, and video game consoles over a secure, globally unlicensed Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) 2.4 GHz short-range radio frequency bandwidth. The Bluetooth specifications are developed and licensed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The Bluetooth SIG consists of companies in the areas of telecommunication, computing, networking, and consumer electronics.

Bluetooth Proximity Marketing

Bluetooth technology is now the latest medium for advertising and marketing. Bluetooth proximity marketing has become all the rage overseas as the newest way to connect with potential or existing customers.

The definition of proximity marketing via Wikepedia.com is “the localized wireless distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place. Transmissions can be received by individuals in that location who wish to receive them and have the necessary equipment to do so.” In other words, if you have a cell phone in the proximity of a marketing broadcast, you would be able to receive the message or advertisement.

Here’s how it works. Imagine you’re walking through a mall, and you pass a proximity broadcast station. The key is to have your phone on and in “discoverable” mode. This will allow all possible ads in the area to “hit” your phone – asking if you want to receive free content from the provider. For example, say you’re shopping for gym equipment at a specialty shop and they have a proximity marketing station set up. If your phone is in discoverable mode, you’ll receive a message asking if you want to receive free content from “ABC Company”. Think of it as a virtual billboard or flyer advertisement.

This form of advertising has been in use for quite some time in Europe, as well as various other overseas locations. There are dozens of companies already in full swing of promoting Bluetooth proximity marketing, with many more in the start up phase here in the United States today.

Proximity marketing can also be received via laptop or PDA. The range and accessibility to most Bluetooth proximity marketing depends on your equipment, many which don’t require pairing for receipt of text or graphics. The average range of Bluetooth proximity marketing is 100 meters, although with advances in technology, this distance is increasing. Although some critics of the technology claim this as a potential problem, we can refer to the virtual billboard idea. The billboard doesn’t move with the driver as they pass it on the road, but looks for an instantaneous response to the ad in the general vicinity. The same is true of proximity marketing.

Going paperless has been a concept for so long that it can be taken for granted in most businesses. Bluetooth proximity marketing is simply the next technological step for businesses to take.

Bluetooth Marketing Systems

Bluetooth, a short-range wireless system supported by many mobile devices, is one transmission medium used for proximity marketing. The process of Bluetooth based proximity marketing involves setting up Bluetooth "broadcasting" equipment at a particular location and then sending information which can be text, images, audio or video to Bluetooth enabled devices within range of the broadcast server. Other standard data exchange formats such as Vcard can also be used.

It used to be the case that due to security fears, or a desire to save battery life, many users keep their Bluetooth devices in OFF mode, or ON but not set to be 'discoverable'. Because of this, often regions where Bluetooth proximity marketing is in operation it is accompanied by advising via traditional media - such as posters, television screens or field marketing teams - suggesting people make their Bluetooth handsets 'discoverable' in order to receive free content. A 'discoverable' Bluetooth device within range of the server is automatically sent a message asking if the user would like to receive the free content.

Current mobile phones usually have bluetooth switched ON by default, and a majority of users now leave bluetooth switched on for easy connection with car kits and headsets.

Some implementations of Bluetooth proximity marketing require users to run Java applications on their phones to enable them to receive content this has the advantage that only those who to choose to will receive content. Others require no handset-side software.

The diversity of mobile phones is huge. Screen sizes and supported file formats varies greatly. To obtain the optimal user experience with Bluetooth Marketing, the Bluetooth system must be able to automatically recognize phone models and deliver the proper content automatically.

Proximity Marketing

Proximity marketing is the localized wireless distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place. Transmissions can be received by individuals in that location who wish to receive them and have the necessary equipment to do so.

Distribution may be via a traditional localized broadcast, or more commonly is specifically targeted to devices known to be in a particular area.

The location of a device may be determined by:

• A cellular phone being in a particular cell
• A Bluetooth or WiFi device being within range of a transmitter.
• An Internet enabled device with GPS enabling it to request localized content from Internet servers.

Communications may be further targeted to specific groups within a given location, for example content in tourist hot spots may only be distributed to devices registered outside the local area.

Communications may be both time and place specific, e.g. content at a conference venue may depend on the event in progress.

Uses of proximity marketing include distribution of media at concerts, information (weblinks on local facilities), gaming and social applications, and advertising.

Google launches mobile community

Google Inc. is targeting mobile enthusiasts to join the newly launched Google Mobile Community.

The new service is a social network where people who are passionate about mobile can connect with other mobile initiatives and discuss cool new applications. The Google crew is also asking users to give feedback on Google mobile products and services.

“If you've been following this blog at all, it's probably pretty clear that we're passionate about mobile technology,” said Bret Luboyeski, mobile product specialist at Mountain View, CA-based Google, in the Google Mobile Blog.

“And if you have really been following this blog, it probably means that you are passionate about mobile technology too,” he said. “Well, we've created a place for you to connect with other mobile enthusiasts.”

Google envisions the community as a place where people can discuss the world of mobile in general, including what one wishes his or her phone could do or users who are looking to buy a new phone and are not sure which one to pick.

Well, now they can ask the group.

Of course, it makes eminent sense for Google to use this community to get feedback on its own products and services. Expect the search engine giant to throw out questions about its products - a sort of test lab, if you will.

Google expects that it will get unsolicited feedback such as what people like the most about its products, what don’t they like and what features they hope to see in the future.

For example there is a review of Google maps and Tele Atlas. Also, there is a posting about Sidekick applications.

One post helps readers get started with Google's open-source Android mobile operating system and another talks about how Google Maps can save the day.

The community has already attracted a few participants since its quiet debut.

The community comes just days after Google - again quietly - launched new mobile services.

The company introduced a new mobile phone tricks channel on YouTube, installed a mobile notebook and created Gmail for mobile.

Additionally, the launch of Google Sync enables BlackBerry and smartphone users to synchronize their calendars and documents on handsets.

Associate Editor Giselle Abramovich covers ad networks, advertising, content, email, media, messaging, legal/privacy, search, social networks, television and video.

Nike runs mobile 3D campaign for soccer shoe

Nike is running a mobile campaign using 3D technology to target teens in Hong Kong to promote the launch of the sportswear giant’s T90 soccer shoe.

The campaign, which The Hyperfactory created with ad agency McCann Erickson, starts with a series of hidden codes all throughout Hong Kong in Nike flagship stores and at MTR subway stations. Consumers must find the markers and point their camera phone at them, which will summon an image of a Nike soccer shoe and ball on their screen and reveal a special code unique to that location.

“The aim for Nike was launching the new boot and letting people see its features from every angle,” said Geoffrey Handley, cofounder and head of business development for Asia-Pacific at The Hyperfactory, Hong Kong. “Hong Kong is footwear-crazy and the fact that this is happening around the time of the Olympics and Euro 2008 Tournament means everyone is in sports mode.

“It’s important to note that Hong Kong is like a digital paradise and so to really get through to the target audience, Nike needed to do something very different,” he said. “The 3D augmented reality is really taking mobile a step further.”

Once consumers get the next location, they then can text in these special codes to find out the next secret destination. Texts will also count as a sweepstakes entry to win Nike merchandise.

Hide-and-click

The codes invite users to download a mobile application that allows them to view the T90 shoe from every angle in 3D on their mobile screens.

The more codes that consumers collect, the more chances they have to win Nike gear.

Augmented reality technology enables the product to be displayed in a dynamic way in which consumers can interact 360 degrees with the product. For an example, please visit the site at http://210.48.79.8/awards/nike/.

“The shoe is pixilated onto a consumer’s phone” Mr. Handley said. “It’s almost jumping out at you.”

The campaign’s message is two-fold.

First, Nike is announcing this new soccer shoe and its features. The message is that the shoe molds to the consumer and improves performance.

The second part of the message is that Nike is an innovative company.

Hong Kong has long been a fashion-conscious and digital-savvy market. Nike wants consumers in that market to think that the campaign is innovative and new and that it is representative of its brand.

As the word has spread about this campaign, it's created quite a buzz with the Hong Kong media. But the workers in Nike stores have been the biggest advocates of the mobile effort, Mr. Handley said. They actually use it as a tool to work with when consumers come into the store.

The campaign has been going on for about two weeks. Nike plans to extend the campaign.

“Mobile is not a channel in itself,” Mr. Handley said. “It's integrated with other mediums and we basically bombarded Hong Kong consumers with billboards, stickers - I mean it was a guerrilla effort.

“With all this digital and 3D stuff, you get this little sticker that unlocks a journey into this augmented world,” he said. “It wasn’t all about selling a shoe. It's making Nike an innovative brand, unusual and different.”

Associate Editor Giselle Abramovich covers ad networks, advertising, content, email, media, messaging, legal/privacy, search, social networks, television and video.