Branding on Mobile – Big Business, High Stakes

Branding on Mobile – Big Business, High Stakes

Mobile is now a mainstream device for data consumption. Within the least year, two strategic acquisitions demonstrate the respect for – and interest in – the mobile market by big players. In May 2008, comScore, Inc. snapped up M:Metrics, Inc. for more than $44 million. This just a few short months after privately held Nielsen Company bought privately held Telephia, Inc. for an undisclosed amount.

Mobile Becoming Marketing Darling

The two acquisitions confirm that major consumer marketers will pay big bucks to get good information on mobile demographics, such as activity profiles, times of peak usage and the difference between males and females in accessing and using mobile data. Telephia, (now Nielsen Mobile), was a leading provider of syndicated consumer research to the telecom and mobile media markets, and is being incorporated into the company’s A2/M2 program to measure consumer usage of digital technology on any platform. With the acquisition of M:Metrics, comScore plans to measure combined Internet usage across both PC and mobile-based platforms.

Until recently, TV and the PC were acknowledged as the top two sources for digital information. TV virtually dominated the field until the ‘90s, when PC and Web usage began a major surge. However, mobile is the darling of the 21st century.

What does this mean to you as a mobile service provider – or as a mobile web designer or marketer? A lot.

Branding Moves to Phones

Let’s take the example of a major soft drink manufacturer who is in the habit of spending millions on TV and PC (Web site) advertising. Now the company is looking to mobile for brand marketing and promotions. Short code or SMS campaigns offer instant promotions, and the costs – and stakes – are high in these campaigns.

For example, the company might send an SMS message that will offer a free soda at a convenience store close to the mobile end user. It will want to measure how many people pick up the message and act upon it. In a mature market, that measurement may reflect nothing more than the brilliance – or lack thereof – or the campaign. However, in this emerging market, other factors can creep in.

Performance Critical for Branding, End User Loyalty

There are two components in this emerging market that can take precedence over the marketing message in terms of user satisfaction. First: the design itself. Does the mobile application download quickly and accurately? Are there things that could be done to better optimize the application for the target customer base? Second, in the mobile ecosystem, there are many players between the application code and the consumer, and some of them are dependent on loading, handoffs, and service provider/device interactions.

Since brand image is a key component to mobile promotions, if the message is late, or if the consumer never receives a requested response, not only is the opportunity lost, but the brand image can suffer significantly.

Major brands understand that they need continuous performance monitoring and measurement to know how well their mobile promotions are performing. Not knowing that you have a poor-performing application compounds the problem. Poor performance detected early enough can help you limit the loss of user loyalty.