Mobile Marketing

MOBILE MARKETING

Dr. Vijaya Baskaran

Abstract

This paper attempts to understand the underlying concepts of Mobile Marketing, which is defined as, “the use of the mobile medium as a communications and entertainment channel between a brand and an end-user.” Mobile marketing is more than a trendy new media channel; it is a powerful communication tool with considerable audience reach and awareness.Also tries to estimate the significant opportunities for growth existing in this sector, however advertising and marketing agencies are failing to promote the value of mobile marketing to clients as they wrongly believe consumers will reject this tool. A study reveals that the mobile landscape of 2012 is ripe with innumerable possibilities of nearly 5.3-billion people having mobile phones and infact more than half of mobile subscribers are willing to embrace mobile promotions, when carefully targeted and for appropriate services. Mobile data traffic is trebling every year and M-Commerce(Mobile commerce) is undergoing rampant change. Retailers and consumers are racing for devices and applications with capabilities that they’ve never had before. It is also predicted that more than 10-trillion text messages will be sent next year. Text messaging programmes will account for about $14-billion of the over $19 billion meaning lot more will be spent on mobile campaigns in 2012. Mobile advertising networks have delivered 350-billion global impressions in 2011, generating $800-million in media spend, and earning $275-million in revenue. The US market generated 50% of gross media spend, with Europe and Asia both at around 25%.The mobile web will be a leading channel in 2012. Mobile search will be the dominant activity for engaging people with branded communications, according to Google. Mobile search could become as big for Google, if not bigger, than desktop search.While the future of mobile marketing may be exciting, there is a rather glaring security risk involved with the technology that would make all of this possible. Major issues to be addressed starts with privacy. For all the wonders the Internet has brought to the world, privacy has never been at more of a risk. Essentially, mobile devices know everything about oneself where one goes, what one does, what are the likes and dislikes. Mobile marketing is the current craze in the world of advertising, but the success of the marketing strategies targeting mobile consumers hinges largely on whether a company has a mobile website. Without such a website, the marketing effort will be severely hampered as most mobile consumers are unable to navigate traditional websites with their smart phones.The detailed discussion on how innovative technologies would be greatly redefining customer engagement and experience to varying proportions is added to address the approximate direction in which mobile marketing is heading in the gadget era.

Mobile marketing can refer to one of two categories of interest. First, and relatively new, is meant to describe marketing on or with a mobile device, such as a cell phone using SMS Marketing. (this is an example of horizontal telecommunication convergence). Second, and a more traditional definition, is meant to describe marketing in a moving fashion - for example - technology road shows or moving billboards.

Although there are various definitions for the concept of mobile marketing, no commonly accepted definition exists. Mobile marketing is broadly defined as “the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communication”[1] or “distribution of any kind of promotional or advertising messages to customer through wireless networks”. More specific definition is the following: “using interactive wireless media to provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas, thereby generating value for all stakeholders".[2]

In November 2009, the Mobile Marketing Association updated its definition of Mobile Marketing:

Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.[3]

Mobile marketing is commonly known as wireless marketing. However wireless is not necessarily mobile. For instance, a consumer’s communications with a Web site from a desktop computer at home, with signals carried over a wireless local area network (WLAN) or over a satellite network, would qualify as wireless but not mobile communications.[4]
Contents
[hide]

1 Mobile marketing via SMS Marketing
2 Mobile marketing via MMS
3 In-game mobile marketing
4 Mobile web marketing
5 Mobile marketing via QR codes
6 Mobile marketing via Bluetooth
7 Mobile marketing via Infrared
8 Mobile marketing via Proximity Systems
9 Location-based services
10 User-controlled media
11 Privacy concerns in mobile marketing
12 References

Mobile marketing via SMS Marketing

Marketing on a mobile phone known as SMS Marketing has become increasingly popular ever since the rise of SMS (Short Message Service) in the early 2000s in Europe and some parts of Asia when businesses started to collect mobile phone numbers and send off wanted (or unwanted) content. On average, SMS messages are read within four minutes, making them highly convertible.[5]

Over the past few years SMS Marketing has become a legitimate advertising channel in some parts of the world. This is because unlike email over the public internet, the carriers who police their own networks have set guidelines and best practices for the mobile media industry (including mobile advertising). The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and the Mobile Marketing Association, as well, have established guidelines and are evangelizing the use of the mobile channel for marketers. While this has been fruitful in developed regions such as North America, Western Europe and some other countries, mobile SPAM messages (SMS sent to mobile subscribers without a legitimate and explicit opt-in by the subscriber) remain an issue in many other parts or the world, partly due to the carriers selling their member databases to third parties. In India, however, government 's efforts of creating National Do Not Call Registry have helped cellphone users to stop SMS advertisements by sending a simple SMS or calling 1909.[1]

Mobile marketing via SMS has expanded rapidly in Europe and Asia as a new channel to reach the consumer. SMS initially received negative media coverage in many parts of Europe for being a new form of spam as some advertisers purchased lists and sent unsolicited content to consumer 's phones; however, as guidelines are put in place by the mobile operators, SMS has become the most popular branch of the Mobile Marketing industry with several 100 million advertising SMS sent out every month in Europe alone.

In Europe the first cross-carrier SMS shortcode campaign was run by Txtbomb in 2001 for an Island Records release, In North America it was the Labatt Brewing Company in 2002. Over the past few years mobile short codes have been increasingly popular as a new channel to communicate to the mobile consumer. Brands have begun to treat the mobile shortcode as a mobile domain name allowing the consumer to text message the brand at an event, in store and off any traditional media.

SMS Marketing services typically run off a short code, but sending text messages to an email address is another methodology. Short codes are 5 or 6 digit numbers that have been assigned by all the mobile operators in a given country for the use of brand campaign and other consumer services. Due to the high price of short codes of $500-$1000 a month, many small businesses opt to share a short code in order to reduce monthly costs. The mobile operators vet every short code application before provisioning and monitor the service to make sure it does not diverge from its original service description. Another alternative to sending messages by short code or email is to do so through one 's own dedicated phone number. Besides short codes, inbound SMS is very often based on long numbers (international number format, e.g. [phone]), which can be used in place of short codes or premium-rated short messages for SMS reception in several applications, such as product promotions and campaigns. Long numbers are internationally available, as well as enabling businesses to have their own number, rather than short codes which are usually shared across a number of brands. Additionally, long numbers are non-premium inbound numbers.

One key criterion for provisioning is that the consumer opts in to the service. The mobile operators demand a double opt in from the consumer and the ability for the consumer to opt out of the service at any time by sending the word STOP via SMS. These guidelines are established in the MMA Consumer Best Practices Guidelines[6] which are followed by all mobile marketers in the United States.
Mobile marketing via MMS

MMS mobile marketing can contain a timed slideshow of images, text, audio and video. This mobile content is delivered via MMS (Multimedia Message Service). Nearly all new phones produced with a color screen are capable of sending and receiving standard MMS message. Brands are able to both send (mobile terminated) and receive (mobile originated) rich content through MMS A2P (application-to-person) mobile networks to mobile subscribers. In some networks, brands are also able to sponsor messages that are sent P2P (person-to-person).

Good examples of mobile-originated MMS marketing campaigns are Motorola 's ongoing campaigns at House of Blues venues, where the brand allows the consumer to send their mobile photos to the LED board in real-time as well as blog their images online.
In-game mobile marketing

There are essentially four major trends in mobile gaming right now: interactive real-time 3D games, massive multi-player games and social networking games. This means a trend towards more complex and more sophisticated, richer game play. On the other side, there are the so-called casual games, i.e. games that are very simple and very easy to play. Most mobile games today are such casual games and this will probably stay so for quite a while to come.

Brands are now delivering promotional messages within mobile games or sponsoring entire games to drive consumer engagement. This is known as mobile advergaming or Ad-funded mobile game.
Mobile web marketing
Google and Yahoo! as displayed on mobile phones

Advertising on web pages specifically meant for access by mobile devices is also an option. The Mobile Marketing Association provides a set of guidelines and standards that give the recommended format of ads, presentation, and metrics used in reporting. Google, Yahoo, and other major mobile content providers have been selling advertising placement on their properties for years already as of the time of this writing. Advertising networks focused on mobile properties and advertisers are also available. Additionally, web forms on web pages can be used to integrate with mobile texting sources for reminders about meetings, seminars and other important events that assume users are not always at their computers.
Mobile marketing via QR codes

QR (or Quick Response) codes have been growing in popularity in Asia and Europe, but have until 2011 been slow to be adopted in North America.[citation needed] Originally approved as a ISS standard in 1997 Denso-Wave first developed the standard for tracking automobile parts in Japan.

Paralleling the meteoric rise in smart phone adoption, QR codes have become much more prevalent in marketing pieces both on and offline.[citation needed]

Acting as a visual hyper-link to a page, QR codes make it easy to jump someone to a mobile optimized offer page and as such, represent a very powerful tool for initiating consumer engagement at the time when the marketing piece is likely triggering its most emotional response—the impulse moment.[citation needed]

Its potential for tracking offline sources and delivering the types of analytics previously reserved for online tracking makes another powerful reason that marketers are flocking to QR codes in droves.[citation needed]

Some recent high-profile campaigns include Billboards by Calvin Klein in Times Square, Starbucks and Lady Gaga teaming up on a QR code driven scavenger hunt and the recent addition of QR codes for every SKU in Home Depot and Best Buy Stores.

QR codes are an open source technology and many free generators can be found with a simple google search.

Companies specifically offering integrated marketing solutions are typically merging code generation with tracking features and a variety of mobile landing page solutions to capture leads, make sales and provide more product information.
Mobile marketing via Bluetooth

The rise of Bluetooth started around 2003 and a few companies in Europe have started establishing successful businesses. Most of these businesses offer "hotspot" systems which consist of some kind of content-management system with a Bluetooth distribution function. This technology has the advantages that it is permission-based, has higher transfer speeds and is also a radio-based technology and can therefore not be billed (i.e. is free of charge). The likely earliest device built for mobile marketing via Bluetooth was the context tag of the AmbieSense project (2001-2004). More recently Tata Motors conducted one of the biggest Bluetooth marketing campaigns in India for its brand the Sumo Grande and more of such activities have happened for brands like Walt Disney promoting their movie 'High School Musical '
Mobile marketing via Infrared

Infrared is the oldest and most limited form of mobile Marketing. Some European companies have experimented with "shopping window marketing" via free Infrared waves in the late 90s. However, infrared has a very limited range (~ approx. 10 cm - 1meter) and could never really establish itself as a leading Mobile Marketing technology.
Mobile marketing via Proximity Systems

Mobile marketing via Proximity Systems, also referred to as Proximity Marketing, relies on GSM 03.41 which defines the Short Message Service - Cell Broadcast. SMS-CB allows messages (advertising, public information, etc.) to be broadcast to all mobile users in a specified geographical area. In the Philippines, GSM-based proximity broadcast systems are used by select Government Agencies for information dissemination on Government-run community-based programs to take advantage of its reach and popularity (Philippines has the world 's highest traffic of SMS). It is also used for commercial service known as Proxima SMS. Bluewater, a super-regional shopping centre in the UK, has a GSM based system supplied by NTL to help its GSM coverage for calls, it also allows each customer with a mobile phone to be tracked though the centre which shops they go into and for how long. The system enables special offer texts to be sent to the phone.

[pic]

Mobile Banking

The cashless society moved one step closer today with the launch of an app to that allows smartphone users to send money from their handset.The Pingit app, released by Barclays bank is an app for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry handsets, that allows users to link their mobile phone number to their bank account and make payments to anyone who owns a mobile phone in the UK. Initially only Barclays customers will be able to make payments with the app but all UK banking customers will be able to make payments from early March. While other mobile money transfer apps already exist - such as the PayPal app - Pingit users are only required to have a UK bank account and UK registered mobile phone. But the system still requires the person making the payment to own a smartphone, in contrast to a more accessible electronic payment scheme, like the M-Pesa system used in Kenya where any mobile phone can make a payment. The use of phones as ”digital wallets” is already common practice in Japan, where widespread deployment of electronic readers allow people to pay for goods or transport using NFC-enabled phones or cards.The practice of paying using a mobile is forecast to take off globally over the next two years, with analyst house Juniper Research predicting that global transactions will rise to $50bn by 2014, double the worth of transactions in 2011. Barclays is suggesting a range of uses for Pingit such as splitting a bill in a restaurant or making payments to small traders who can’t handle card transactions.Payments of up to £300 a day can be made using Pingit, with the money moved between the two accounts using the Faster Payments service in as little as 30 seconds. After downloading the app Pingit customers must register to link their phone to their bank account. Once registered, making a payment using Pingit requires the user to enter the phone number of the person they want to make the payment to, enter the amount they want to pay and any message and hit send.Anyone with a UK-registered mobile phone and a UK bank account can receive a Pingit payment. Non-Pingit users can register to receive a payment via Pingit through the Barclays website, and will receive a text message confirming the payment. The app is protected by a five digit pass code in order to prevent someone using Pingit to make payments if a smartphone is lost.

[pic]

Location-based services

Location-based services (LBS) are offered by some cell phone networks as a way to send custom advertising and other information to cell-phone subscribers based on their current location. The cell-phone service provider gets the location from a GPS chip built into the phone, or using radiolocation and trilateration based on the signal-strength of the closest cell-phone towers (for phones without GPS features). In the UK, networks do not use trilateration; LBS services use a single base station, with a 'radius ' of inaccuracy, to determine a phone 's location.

Meantime, LBS can be enabled without GPS tracking technique. Mobile WiMAX technology is utilized to give a new dimension to mobile marketing. The new type of mobile marketing is envisioned between a BS(Base Station) and a multitude of CPE (Consumer Premise Equipment) mounted on vehicle dashtops. Whenever vehicles come within the effective range of the BS, the dashtop CPE with LCD touchscreen loads up a set of icons or banners of individually different shapes that can only be activated by finger touches or voice tags. On the screen, a user has a frame of 5 to 7 icons or banners to choose from, and the frame rotates one after another. This mobile WiMAX-compliant LBS is privacy-friendly and user-centric, when compared with GPS-enabled LBS.

In July 2003 the first location-based services to go Live with all UK mobile network operators were launched.
User-controlled media

Mobile marketing differs from most other forms of marketing communication in that it is often user (consumer) initiated (mobile originated, or MO) message, and requires the express consent of the consumer to receive future communications. A call delivered from a server (business) to a user (consumer) is called a mobile terminated (MT) message. This infrastructure points to a trend set by mobile marketing of consumer controlled marketing communications.[7] Due to the demands for more user controlled media, mobile messaging infrastructure providers have responded by developing architectures that offer applications to operators with more freedom for the users, as opposed to the network-controlled media. Along with these advances to user-controlled Mobile Messaging 2.0, blog events throughout the world have been implemented in order to launch popularity in the latest advances in mobile technology. In June 2007, Airwide Solutions became the official sponsor for the Mobile Messaging 2.0 blog that provides the opinions of many through the discussion of mobility with freedom.[8]

GPS is playing an important role in location-based marketing. There are many options for this including [2]

Augmented RealityThe arrival of powerful smartphones and computers with built-in video capabilities means that you don 't have to wait for the AR effects as you do with TV. They can simply be overlaid onto real life. Step forward Apple 's iPhone, and phones using Google 's Android operating system, both of which are capable of overlaying information on top of a picture or video.

Within the small world of AR, one of the best-known apps is that built byLayar, which – given a location, and using the iPhone 3GS 's inbuilt compass to work out the direction you 're pointing the phone – can give you a "radar map" of details such as Wikipedia information, Flickr photos, Google searches and YouTube videos superimposed onto a picture you 've taken of the scene. For Americans, it will also pull in details from the government 's economic Recovery Act – so that if you 're on Wall Street and want to see how many billions went into which building, it will show you.

Or, more usefully, Yelp offers an augmented reality application that will show you ratings and reviews for a restaurant before you walk in – the sort of thing that could make restaurants quiver with delight, or shudder in horror.

Or maybe it wouldn 't need to know where it is; only who it 's looking at. A prototype application demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February took things a little further again. Point the phone at a person and if it can find their details, it will pull them off the web and attach details – their Twitter username, Facebook page and other facts – and stick them, rather weirdly, into the air around their head (viewed through your phone, of course). "It 's taking social networking to the next level," says Dan Gärdenfors, head of user experience research at The Astonishing Tribe, a Swedish mobile software company.

And there are fabulously useful applications: at Columbia University, computer science professor Steve Feiner and PhD candidate Steve Henderson have created their Augmented Reality for Maintenance and Repair (Armar) project. It combines sensors, head-up displays, and instructions to tackle the military 's maintenance needs: start working on a piece of kit, and the details about it pop up in front of you. Imagine if you could put on a pair of special goggles when you needed to investigate your car 's engine, or a computer 's innards, and the detail would pop up. That 's the sort of idea that Armar is trying to implement, though for the military at first..

Yet it 's fashion which seems to have leapt quickest into this technology. The T-shirt with AR in London Fashion Week was developed by Cassette Playa, a label that has been worn by Lily Allen, Rihanna and Kanye West. Carri Munden, who designed it with the Fashion Digital Studio at the London College of Fashion, described it as "mixing reality and fantasy". Adidas, too, has launched trainers with AR symbols in the tongues: hold them to a webcam and you are taken to interactive games on the Adidas site.

The process by which the strange symbols get translated into images is simple enough: the website takes the feed from your webcam (you have to explicitly allow it to do so, so there are no security worries) and analyses it for the particular set of symbols that the program is looking for. (Some easy calculations mean the symbols can be detected whichever way up you hold the item.) Videos and pictures are then sent back to you.

Andy Cameron says that the arrival of an open-source, hence free, AR tool kit has let companies build their own AR applications, using Flash – the pervasive animation and video technology used for many online ads and YouTube 's videos – "which immediately meant you had huge penetration, because Flash is everywhere". (Something like 98% of all computers are reckoned to have Adobe 's Flash Player installed.)

"If you build your AR application with Flash, then you can get it out to everybody in the world with a computer with a webcam," says Cameron.

Benetton is using AR in its latest campaign, called "It 's My Time" which aims to get members of the public to put themselves forward as potential models, and uses AR to show more details about existing models. But its first most visible use of AR was last year in issue 76 of Benetton 's Colorsmagazine, a quarterly fashion product. Dozens of pages have AR symbols: hold the page up to a webcam, and you see film and more photos of the person on the page. "The Colors editor and the creative director of Fabrica got very excited about it," says Cameron.

Cameron can see huge potential which could even revive the fortunes of print advertising. "Think of a commercial page, an advert, in a fashion magazine. It 's pretty expensive. With this – and this is the way that the more hard-nosed people in Benetton saw the advantage – it means that you can get more products on the page." Print an AR code, get people to come to the site, and you can show them so much more, while measuring the return from your effort.

The technical cost is a tiny part of the overall effort. "The printing and photography cost [of the advert] is the same. And the development cost is pretty small."

And of course where advertisers go, the publications that house them are sure to go as well. Esquire magazine in the US and Wallpaper* in Europe have done "augmented reality" editions, with Robert Downey Jr coming to life on the cover of the former, and AR text providing videos and animation in the latter. But there are more possibilities for journalism using AR: for example if you "geotag" newspaper articles (so that you say that an item relates to a particular place) then someone visiting a site could learn about events relevant to the area via their smartphone.

Book publishers too are leaping in: Carlton Publishing will release an AR book in May, featuring dinosaurs that pop out of the pages when viewed, yes, through a webcam. Future releases include war, sport and arts titles which will also have extra AR elements.

Yet in media it 's the advertisers who are most excited. The possibilities of geotagged, targeted adverts – which in effect hang in the air until someone comes along to find them with a smartphone – or of AR adverts which open up a whole new world of opportunities (and perhaps discounts or loyalty bonuses) when you follow them through – are yet another glimpse of the holy grail ofads that know exactly who and where you are.

Is there a risk that we 'll all become AR 'd out – that it will become boring as advert after advert invites us to hold it up to a webcam? "What 's hot today is ancient history tomorrow," says Cameron. "There have been a lot of bad uses of this technology with a rush to use it. We have had the chance to reflect on what it means and how to use it. The key is that it should be an enhancement of the stuff on the printed page."

Even so we 're still in the early stages, he argues. "It 's very primitive – having to use a webcam, holding a magazine up to it. Obviously we 're really interested in the opportunities with handheld devices. It 's very frustrating that the iPhone doesn 't allow access to the live video stream." (Nor does it run Flash, another problem for would-be AR designers.) "People in design are very annoyed with Steve Jobs," he observes. "We don 't really understand why Apple won 't allow that."

Given that access, he says, "you could hold your iPhone up to a billboard and get something amazing right there". What about the alternative, such as Google 's Android-based Nexus phone? "It looks like you could do it on that," he says. But of course the iPhone is a target market. "Maybe Apple wants to keep that for itself," Cameron says. "Maybe they 're lodging patents. Or maybe the processor on the iPhone isn 't fast enough."

[pic]

[pic]

Denmark based online retailer LazyLazy, was recentlyinterviewed by Internet Retailer. In the interview CEO Søren Filbert had this to say about our augmented reality merchandising software, the Webcam Social Shopper (WSS):

”17% of our visitors are using this and they are converting two to three times more.”

Now, that’s a great stat, but when you couple it with data we’ve previously noted in this blog…

• Online retailer Banana Flame saw a 50% improvement in conversions on the “add to cart” button after integrating WSS (more Banana Flame data here).

• WSS is proven to help young women make more informed purchase decisions – “Seeing it on helped me decide” (Link)

… it becomes a trend. It shows that augmented reality can provide real value for people, which subsequently provides real value (i.e. ROI) for businesses.

Privacy concerns in mobile marketing

Mobile advertising has become more and more popular. However, some mobile advertising is sent without a required permission from the consumer causing privacy violations. It should be understood that irrespective of how well advertising messages are designed and how many additional possibilities they provide, if consumers do not have confidence that their privacy will be protected, this will hinder their widespread deployment.[9]

The privacy issue became even more salient as it was before with the arrival of mobile data networks. A number of important new concerns emerged mainly stemming from the fact that mobile devices are intimately personal and are always with the user, and four major concerns can be identified: mobile spam, personal identification, location information and wireless security.[10]

t is no secret that there is an exponential growth in mobile shopping. Nearly 73 million mobile users ages 14 and up will browse or research products and services on their phones in 2012, according to a study by eMarketer.

Businesses would be wise to consider the entire end-to-end experience from clicking on an ad to completing a sale.

If you are looking to convert mobile ad spending to money in the bank, you should consider the following:

1. Get a mobile site. Seems pretty obvious, right? Their are systems that can take your existing Web site and convert it for mobile or help you build a new one quickly.

Make sure the mobile site is easy to use. Think about how mobile customers will be using your site on the go and keep the most pertinent information easily accessible.

2. Expect comparison shopping. It is easier than ever to quickly check information from multiple businesses, so what sets you apart from everyone else? Do you have a special offer, better selection, free shipping or great customer service?

Make sure your mobile site addresses – in its limited screen real estate – why the search should stop with you.

3. If you want mobile ads to drive mobile purchasing, “secure” is your keyword.The idea of sending your credit card out into the ether from your phone is still a little weird, but people are getting more used to it.

To make your potential customers feel extra-safe, tell them how your mobile site has been “secured” payment-wise.

4. Offer discounts through mobile. If your user wants to see your product in person at your store before buying, a mobile coupon or discount card could help her seal the deal once she has visited.

Try integrating with mobile coupon applications or leveraging QR codes. Skip the little plastic discount cards and find a 21st century way to do the same thing.

5. Check your reviews. Before buying, there is an excellent chance that your buyers are going to check out the reviews on your products and business first.

If there are negative reviews out there for either, see what you can do to address them, and make sure your score is 4-5 stars.

Social Anticipation: Using The Intention Web For Experience Marketing

But Facebook may already be moving quickly to eliminate that risk. On Feb. 1, Facebook signed a deal with Bango PLC, a small London firm that provides mobile payment services. And the social-networking giant is expected to announce major advertising plans Feb. 29 at a splashy event in New York.

Analysts say Facebook won 't let such a big opportunity in the mobile market go untapped, especially with its plans for an initial public offering that could value the company at as much as $100 billion.

"There has never been a media property, to my knowledge, with 400 million users and no revenue model," said analyst David Berkowitz, vice president of emerging media for digital-marketing agency 360i. "The only form of media that has come close is the Bible, but at least that gets you to church to pay dues. Facebook will undoubtedly pursue other revenue streams, but mobile advertising will need to be one of them."

According to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Menlo Park company generated $3.71 billion in revenue in 2011, and about 85 percent came from advertising.

Ad revenue

That revenue comes from ads displayed when Facebook 's 845 million monthly average members log on using desktop, laptop or mobile Web browsers. Yet as more people around the world adopt smart phones and tablets, Facebook has been working hard to develop its own apps for mobile devices.

The push has been paradoxically successful for Facebook. On one hand, the company anticipates the growth rate in mobile users will continue to outpace its overall growth rate "for the foreseeable future."

But mobile apps don 't have the space to display the same ads that appear when users log on through a computer.

"Our users could decide to increasingly access our products primarily through mobile devices," the IPO registration said in a section about investment risks. "Accordingly, if users continue to increasingly access Facebook mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers, and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users, our revenue and financial results may be negatively affected."

But Facebook is expected to make major announcements to Madison Avenue executives at an event called fMC. The company has booked the American Museum of Natural History in New York for a six-hour, invitation-only event for marketing industry heavyweights. Facebook will stream video from the event, although not from the party afterward.

The company is remaining tight-lipped about what it plans to announce. The invitation says it will "share our newest solutions, actionable insights and proven strategies that demonstrate how marketers can use social technology to drive business growth."

Heading the event will be Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook 's high-profile chief operating officer; Chris Cox, vice president of product; and David Fischer, vice president of advertising. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is not listed on the invitation.

Generating excitement

Rebecca Lieb, digital advertising and media analyst for Altimeter Group of San Mateo, said the event could be like the "up-front" meetings that network television executives host for critics when they tout the next season 's new shows.

"They 're going to pull out all the stops, and make this sexy and splashy to generate a lot of excitement," Lieb said.

The industry publication Advertising Age reported that Facebook might announce a version of its new Timeline member-profile pages for companies and brands.

Timeline turns a member 's profile page into a photo-rich online scrapbook, while apps such as Spotify or the Washington Post Social Reader share what 's being heard or read.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/20/BUKS1N8SL2.DTL#ixzz1n6VTz5eU

[pic]

Jeremiah Owyang coined the term “Intention Web” to describe social media which captures and promotes users’ future plans. Where the asynchronous web is about the then, the real-time web is about the now, Intention Webproperties are about the later.

Event and experiential marketers seem to have been focused on using social media as a sort of historical record of their activities, posting content, including transcripts, photos, videos, Powerpoint presentations etc. after the fact.

Otherwise, the community has begun to embrace the now, talking about what’s happening on Twitter, Facebook and the like, by promoting and encouraging attendees to share their personal experiences real-time during speaking sessions, concerts and brand experiences of all types. By attracting and leveraging as many followers as possible marketers are able to broadcast updates and engage audiences well beyond the physical experience.

But what about the future? Aside from simply listing an event on Facebook, Linkedin or your favorite social network, what are you doing to build excitiment, drive anticipation, generate audience and foster community before your event takes place?

There are a few Intention-based social networks that specialize in driving this anticipation. Here they are, along with some ideas for how to best use them in your event marketing program.

[pic]

Dopplr: “Dopplr is a service for smart international travelers. Dopplr members share personal and business travel plans privately with their networks, and exchange tips on places to stay, eat and explore in cities around the world. Dopplr presents this collective intelligence – the travel patterns, tips and advice of the world’s most frequent travellers – as a Social Atlas. You can use Dopplr on a personal computer and a mobile phone.” Setting up a profile is easy. Then you can build your network easily by inviting friends from: Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Outlook, or type in your own email addresses. Travel plans need to be fairly specific, and the carbon footprint section is interesting. While Dopplr is not about events, its a great resource for travel planning for a specific city with restaurants, hotels and activities explored in each location. Look for more mobile integration for Dopplr with their iphone App and recent acquisition by Nokia.

[pic]

Meetup: “The world’s largest network of local groups. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.” This group-centric site makes it really easy to find groups and their activities in locations where you are or are traveling to. You basically have two options: Find a Meetup Group or Start a Meetup Group. Finding a group is easy. Just type in a few keywords, and the site will serve up all the groups in your area that meet on the topics you’re interested in. Once you select a group, you’ll be brought to their page where you can sign up for “meetups” post pictures, and participate in the group forums. You can also share group activities with Facebook and Twitter. To create a group is also simple, but there is a nominal cost ($12 – $19 per month depending on length of commitment) to keep the group listed. Once you’ve created a group you can invite folks to join, promote your group r meetups through the site or other channels or simply wait for them to come to you via keyword search.

[pic]

Plancast: “Plancast is the easiest way for you to share your plans with friends and discover what others are doing in the future.” This lightweight application allows users to keep tabs on what people are doing in real life. Simply create a profile (name, picture, location, bio) and you’re on your way. From there you can post What you’re planning, When it occurs and where it happens. You can subscribe to other users, or they can subscribe to you, this way plans are shared. Plancast seamlessly integrates with Facebook, Twitter and Google Buzz, so your plans can be posted across your social networks, and subscribers (think friends, followers, etc) can be invited to join you on Plancast. Once you post your plan, others can plan on attending or participating. Plancast is an easy way to organize nights out, tweetups or major events. It’s all about the subscribers, so build your network and use Plancast to get together.

[pic]

Tripit: “TripIt turns chaos into order by making it easy for anyone to: Organize trip details into one master online itinerary — even if arrangements are booked at multiple travel sites, Automatically include maps, directions and weather in their master itinerary, Have the option to book restaurants, theatre tickets, activities and more right from within the online itinerary, Safely access travel plans online, share them, check-in for flights, or print an itinerary.” The interesting thing about Tripit is the ability to share your plans with others. Like Dopplr, this functionality can help users organize formal or informal meet-ups in cities where they are traveling to. You can add friends through email address books (e.g., aol, gmail, hotmail, live, msn & yahoo), my entering individual email addresses, or through Linkedin. Tripit also has a host of applications to try out from iGoogle integration to groups which let’s you track the itineraries and locations of people within groups you assign. Check out the interactive map that plots where people are traveling to. Tripit Pro also has some interesting functionality including tracking your frequent flyer program points and getting travel alerts. No other service does a better job integrating with social media applications like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Google, etc. Its a great tool to organize not only your own itineraries, but those of your entire team.

[pic]

Upcoming: “Upcoming is a community for discovering and sharing events. It can help you find stuff to do, discover what your friends are doing, or let you keep private events online for your own reference.” You’ll need a Yahoo ID to join Upcoming, as it is a Yahoo property. Once you’re in you can create a basic profile. Adding friends is a bit more challenging, you need to know their names or do a search for existing members. Alternatively you an invite users via email. Finding events is as simple as entering a subject (keyword) and location, and upcoming will seve up all upcoming events in your area. Adding an event is also quite simple. Other features include integration with music sites like Ping.fm, Pandora and iTunes to add concerts. Additionally, you can join groups to subscribe to their forums and events, or check out places to get information on all the happenings in your favorite locales. The only interaction with other social sites on Upcoming seems to be the ability to share events on Facebook. Upcoming seems to be more about posting and finding events than driving community or building personal profiles for interaction.

In conclusion, these are just some of the Intention Web sites you’ll find out there. Facebook and Linkedin already have some pretty robust event applications. And sites like Socializr, Baseloop are more geared toward smaller, friendly get-togethers. Deciding which application(s) to use is largely dependent on what you’re trying to accomplish. For managing travel to other cities with groups of folks or across your communities, consider Tripit. For connecting with your communities on the social web and sharing plans, Plancast is the way to go. For promoting your community look to Meetup. How are you using the Intention Web to build anticipation and coordinate your plans?

MOBILE MARKETING - AUGMENTED REALITY BROWSERS

Augmented reality is a hot new area for Research & Development in the Mobile Tech & Marketing field. Emagin defines it as "a display in which simulated imagery, graphics, or symbology is superimposed on a view of the surrounding environment". Wikipedia defines it as “Augmented reality (AR) is a field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time.”

[pic]

Companies like Layar are already creating a buzz in Europe (Layar is a global application, available for the T-Mobile G1, HTC Magic and other Android phones in all Android Markets. It also comes pre-installed on the Samsung Galaxy in the Netherlands. More at http://www.layar.com/ - see video demo below)[pic]Techcrunch.com reported a couple of days ago that Daniel Wagner, a virtual reality researcher at Graz University of Technology in Austria, is proposing two ways to make AR browsing better: panoramic and bird’s-eye zooming. More details here - also, check out the video below:[pic]Mobile tech and augmented reality interfaces are at their infancy...looking forward to the exciting developments in the years to come! The hotel and travel industry can probably benefit immensely from this technology - imagine the superb applications that can be developed with regards to sight-seeing, tourist info, concierge recommendations and even hotel & facility mapping!

OGILVY&MATHER

from Product to Experience from Place to Everyplace from Price to Exchange from Promotion to Evangelism

But increasingly, we are seeing a new and more powerful approach – evangelism. By this I mean creating a mission and brand experience that are so inspiring to consumers that they engage with you – and share their enthusiasm with others. What makes evangelism so powerful today is how it marries the oldest form of persuasion – word of mouth – and the newest – social networking and Web 2.0.

Marketing in a fragmented, multichannel world needs a powerful heart. The key ingredients are emotion and passion. As a marketing leader of the future, you must know how to find the energy and passion in what you are selling.

4 Critical Types of Mobile Info Customers Want Now!

US mobile commerce sales including travel grew to $6.7 billion in 2011, an increase of over 90% from 2010. This is despite retailers being slow to offer attractive mobile shopping options. eMarketer projects US m-commerce sales to grow at a 55% compound annual rate from 2010 to 2015.

This expansion is driven by a combination of increasedsmartphone ownership, enhanced use of smartphone functionality and improved m-commerce options. Market researcher Forrester expects one billion customers will have adopted smartphones by within the next four years, with America accounting for 257 million smartphones and 126 million tablets.

Unsurprisingly, but still impressively, Apple, Google and Microsoft will hold 91 per cent of the US smartphone market, and 98 per cent of the tablet market, according to the report.

Meanwhile, public wi-fi is set to grow from 1.3 million to 5.8 million, presumably in order to offer browsing to the widespread device use.

The report says that 350 million workers will use smartphones, while 200 million will take their own device to the workplace and 70 per cent will use tablets for their role.

Ted Schadler, a principal analyst at Forrester and a report author, said: "Mobile is the new face of engagement. Businesses should stop thinking about it as a small website on a tiny computer, and start thinking about mobile as being deeply embedded systems of engagement. That turns out to have huge implications."

What mobile information are your prospects and customers looking for?[pic]

Retail mobile content usage increases

While mobile entertainment, food and travel content consumption continues to increase, mobile retail content has experienced exponential growth in the number of subscribers accessing content according to comScore. This translated to 21.2 million mobile users as of September 2011. In terms of usage, 17% accessed mobile retail sites almost daily, 28% did so at least once a week, and 55% did so one to three times per month. Additionally, other shopping-related content categories, namely classifieds, auction sites and shopping guides, also experienced high growth.

[pic]

Mobile devices generated 12.6% of total website traffic in the fourth quarter of 2011, up 102% from the 6.3% recorded a year earlier, according to the Walker Sands Quarterly Web Traffic Report. Unlike the using Web, mobile use is not only about visiting and interacting with websites, though that is one of the activities of untethered consumers. As Chuck Martin points out in his book, The Third Screen, “mobile is about tapping into technology-based platforms while on the go; it 's about downloading and using specific, customized features that enhance the mobile consumer 's productivity, performance and even entertainment breaks while leveraging locations and time as never before”.

4Ps Drive m-commerce (& the mobile marketing you need to meet it!)

When it comes to mobile commerce, the traditional 4Ps of marketing rule. While the specific percentages vary, market research regarding mobile shopping tends to be consistent. Here are the 4 Ps of m-commerce in order of importance and what marketers must do to supply this information.

1. Place. Consumers need to be able to find your business while they’re on-the-go. According to comScore, about one third of those surveyed sought a retail location. Actionable Marketing Tip: Ensure customers can find your retail establishment. This translates into being easily findable on platforms where potential customers are searching. At a minimum, have your address and phone number on your mobile site and mobile search. On mobile devices, also don’t overlook the effectiveness of options like Yelp and maps.

2. Price. Before they purchase, today’s budget conscious consumers check and compare prices on their smartphones to ensure they’ve gotten the best deal possible. Unlike research earlier in the buying cycle, these shoppers are ready to purchase. If your competitor has a better price, you’ll loose the sale even if the customer’s in your store. Actionable Marketing Tip: Ensure prospective shoppers can find your product prices via their smartphone even if they’re in your store because they may prefer using their mobile device to talking to a sales clerk. While competing on price is a slippery slope, if a buyer’s checking prices on their smartphone, it’s a good bet they’re ready to close the deal. This is the time to give them your best price or risk loosing the sale. Also, understand that you’re not only competing against direct competitors but also against big players like Amazon and e-bay who have popular mobile apps.

3. Promotion. Provide mobile shoppers with your best offers since they’re likely to be ready to close the deal. Smartphone research shows they buy a wide range of products via their phones including cars. (Yes–you read that correctly!) Bear in mind that promotions encompass all forms of marketing communications, so offer mobile buyers a choice of how they want to engage with you via their smartphones. Actionable Marketing Tip: Ensure your promotions reach your on-the-go customers. Have a mobile website with current product pricing, be findable on mobile search (which is separate from website search), and build a file of mobile phone numbers to send customers time sensitive messages.

4. Product. Today’s consumers research products before they buy. They don’t just check your site and your competitors’. They look for product reviews and other third party information to help their decision-making.Actionable Marketing Tip: Have a mobile website including product information. Include a phone number answered by a real person to answer last minute questions prospects may have. Further, monitor what’s being said about your retail establishment and product offering on third party sites including ratings and reviews such as Yelp, TripAdvisor or even Amazon. Don’t rely on your average rating. Read through the reviews since prospects will! Where appropriate respond to negative reviews without being defensive.

Regardless of your business focus, it’s critical to have a mobile marketing strategy that answers prospective consumers’ questions about your place of business, prices, promotions and products. Remember, your prospects may be in a competitor’s retail establishment when they decide to buy from you or vice versa.

Latest Developments:

1. AkihabaraNews says the NTT Docomo Japanese operator 's working on verbal language translator for smartphones voice translation platform will use cloud technology to convert one language into another, with a delay of just two-seconds.The now bust text-to-voice firm Spinvox offered tech that could translate voicemails, which turned out to be powered by nothing more than call centre workers.NTT Docomo is currently testing its service on approximately 400 people until the end of March, using Japanese and English languages.Accuracy for Japanese-to-English is around 90 per cent, and approximately 80 per cent for English-to-Japanese, according to the report.

2. The Sharp Aquos phone will convert 2D content to 3D ‘at the touch of a button’.

The Android Gingerbread powered device will allow streamed content like Orange TV, videos and games to appear in 3D on the 4.2" Aquos LCD screen without the need for 3D glasses.

Users will also be able to create their own 3D content on the phone 's 8mp camera, which has the ability to convert 2D content into 3D format instantly.

3. Hotels.com - which is part of online travel agent Expedia - experienced a 22 per cent spike for use of its mobile app at the weekend, as users prepared for last minute Valentine 's Day breaks.

The app, which has been downloaded four million times, had its busiest day ever on Sunday, February 12th, as searches peaked between 4pm and 10pm.

Venice, Paris and Rome all proved to be key choices with app users, receiving search increases of 138 per cent, 33 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.

4. Juniper Research says 13 per cent of North American and Western European mobile users will use their NFC-enabled mobile phone as a metro rail or bus ticket by 2016.It reckons the ability to "tap" an NFC phone containing a mobile ticket against an entrance gate has tremendous user appealAnd for operators, mobile can deliver greater user behaviour data than paper or contactless smartcard tickets.

* Worldwide mobile ticketing transactions are set to quadruple to 23 billion by 2016
* By 2016, NFC mobile tickets will represent more than 50 per cent of all mobile ticketing revenue

Though NFC mobile ticketing is still in its early stages, but it holds great promise across the entire mobile ticketing market. Metro ticketing is leading the way as an NFC ticket is a natural evolution from a contactless transport card and can leverage the existing infrastructure.

"Add to this the option of simultaneous payment and you have created a compelling user experience."

5. Facebook made $3.71 billion in revenue in 2011, almost twice what it grossed in 2010.Advertising accounted for 85 per cent of its revenue last year, with Zynga alone chipping in for 12 per cent of its revenues overall.It also disclosed 845 million active registered users, of which 483 million are described as “daily active users” and 425 million are mobile users.

6. Web analytics company StatCounter says global internet usage through mobile devices leapt to 8.5 per cent in January 2012 from 4.3 per cent last year. The figures surely reflect the surge in mobile web access from both emerging market users with no fixed web access and western users with faster and more sophisticated smartphones.

7. Pinch Analytics is software that collects anonymous usage data from mobile phone applications, and presents it in aggregated form. Using Pinch Analytics will provide you with information about how your application is being used, which you can then use to improve and enhance it.

At the moment, most mobile advertising takes the form of text messages. But telecoms firms are also beginning to deliver ads to handsets alongside video clips, web pages, and music and game downloads, through mobiles that are nifty enough to permit such things. Informa forecasts that annual expenditure will reach $11.4 billion by 2011. Other analysts predict the market will be as big as $20 billion by then.

The 2.5 billion mobile phones around the world can potentially reach a much bigger audience than the planet 's billion or so personal computers. The number of mobile phones in use is also growing much faster than the number of computers, especially in poorer countries. Better yet, most people carry their mobile with them everywhere—something that cannot be said of television or computers.

Ad spending on the Web is growing at a compound annual rate of 18.3% and will reach $73 billion in 2011, according to PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The consultancy says Internet advertising will comprise 14% of the entire global advertising market by that year.

With a 270 million mobile user base, India is one of the hottest markets out there for mobile advertisers. And it is evident from the number of mobile advertising companies that have started up in the past few years. Since Indians use the text message (SMS) facility extensively, text message advertising is considered the best option out there by many.

What is mobile advertising?

It 's time to come out of the cave, pal. Even my granny knows about it. Mobile advertising is nothing but ads on your mobile phone – as simple as that.

Ads on mobile phones serve the same purpose as ads on TV, magazines, newspapers, radio, and the internet. All these ads want to sell you something.

you take your mobile phone with you no matter where you go, don 't you? You get ads on TV, you see ads on magazines and newspapers, and you have ads all over the internet. However, there is a fundamental difference between these ads and mobile ads. The response rate for the former is not so impressive. The reason is – you can always skip those ads. You can change the channel during an ad break, you can simply overlook an ad in a magazine, and you can easily block ads in the internet using your browser. However, with mobile phones, the response rate is very high as people will surely check out text messages and attend calls. In other words, an ad on a mobile phone will never go unnoticed.

Mobiyard presents the mobile carrier with an interesting business opportunity-- become more than pipe between Advertising and the consumer. Become a true media company. We 've designed our technology platform on the premise that the Mobiyard can claim the keystone position in the mobile advertising ecosystem. Only the Mobiyard has access to the demographic and behavioral data required for campaign targeting. Mobiyard is trying to reach unique audience.

Yet the biggest selling point of mobile ads is what marketing types call "relevance". Advertisers believe that about half of all traditional advertising does not reach the right audience. We at Mobiyard make it a point to reach our exact audiences.Less effort (and money) is wasted with online advertising: half of it is sold on a "pay-per-click" basis, which means advertisers pay only when consumers click on an ad. But mobile advertising through text messages is the most focused: if marketers use mobile firms ' profiles of their customers cleverly enough, they can tailor their advertisements to match each subscriber 's habits.

Mobile marketing will be bigger than Online-Marketing

There is lot of buzz regarding mobile marketing in India. With more than 270 million (both CDMA and GSM) mobile subscribers as compared to 35 million internet users, definitely mobile marketing offers a wider audience base. Though, in spite of such huge market size available, not many media planners are looking mobile as marketing option. Recently, ad spends on mobile stood at around Rs 8/- to 10/- crores.

* Mobile marketing seems to grow bigger than any other form of digital marketing.
* The number of people using mobile is going to increase multifold.
* Chances of seeing an ad in mobile is higher using SMS or MMS or WAO Applications.
* The response rate is higher on mobile
* Advertisers can reach their target audience in a particular demographic more precisely.

Top Mobile Advertising Companies 2012

The mobile ad industry continues to expand, develop and grow as huge waves of investment and entrepreneurship flow into the sector with new mobile advertising companies being created and developed.

It wasn’t so long ago that admob was treading a lonely furrow, pioneering mobile advertising alongside one or two other players. Now the ecosystem around mobile ads is becoming increasingly sophisticated with the emergence of players in specialist segments such as Rich Media and Android advertising for example. At the same time the technology-driven acronym-tastic world of DSPs (demand-side platforms) and SSPs (Supply side platforms) has hit mobile as it converges with trends in the wider online advertising space. In addition, new companies are emerging around ancilliary services such as analytics, mobile ad landing pages and measurement.

With all these changes it can be hard to keep up. Yesterday’s hot startup can quickly become today’s dull incumbent (hi Admob!) and the hot new thing can seemingly emerge from nowhere. So here’s a run down of some of the players that are ‘ones to watch’ in mobile advertising during 2012.

Strikead – not the first to try and provide a demand-side platform (mobile media buying across many networks) but perhaps the first with the right timing and sufficient backing to make this kind of ambitious play work. With a strong management team and having just raised a big investment round these guys are aiming to remove issues such as the fragmented nature of mobile ad buying and becoming the go-to place on the buy side of mobile ads.

Atmio – with google having recently announced that a mobile optimized landing page will affect the quality score on mobile search there’s an obvious signal that there’s going to be a need for services to help create them. Enter atmio – they offer a WYSIWYG editor that can create many types of professional looking landing pages, for mobile lead generation (capturing email, phone numbers etc), mobile commerce or many other types of ads. Agencies or other advertisers can get up and running in minutes and what they offer is well ahead of the rest of the pack. If you buy mobile advertising – get to know!

Distimo – are a Dutch outfit that started off providing deep analytics into the world of appstores – offering dynamic information across iphone, android and other third party stores. They are now moving into mobile ads and beginning to offer analytics that can help app developers and brands to understand how effective their mobile advertising is. With Distimo’s capabilities they are sure to shake up mobile ad analytics, which is still very nascent.

Airpush – with millions of new Android devices out there huge amounts of new advertising inventory on android apps are being created, particularly as the paid-for app market on android has been slower to develop than on the iphone platform. Airpush provides a mobile ad network specifically for Android and claims to offer much higher CPMs than the generic ad networks that work across iphone, android and mobile web. Expect to see more of these specialist types of ad networks emerge as the market develops.

Mopub – as more and more ad networks are available, this is creating a need for mobile ad serving solutions that can integrate several ad networks (e.g. for use on different types of inventory) and allow direct ad sales or insertions by publishers/ developers. The main contender for this role Adwhirl was snapped up by admob early in its existence and promptly left to more or less rot. However, mobpub has emerged as an alternative option. Look for these guys to increasingly evolve into an SSP (supply side platform) which a strong position in the value chain as they begin to own the publisher relationship (not the mobile ad networks).

Mobpartner - with all this new mobile ad inventory being created an opportunity for cost per action (CPA) and other performance based advertising is emerging. The networks simply can’t fill all this mobile inventory on a CPM or CPC basis. Mobpartner is the old skool player in the mobile affiliate scene but it’s only really now that the market is taking off around them. With a network of tens of thousands of publishers, a decent technology platform and some strong offers mobpartner are in a good position to be one of the leaders in mobile performance marketing.

Linking Mobile – another exciting player in the mobile affiliate space, this time based in the UK, Linking Mobile are one of the first mobile ad networks to try and link the real world with the affiliate space via mobile. With innovations such as the launch of QR codes for mobile advertising these guys are pumping out some great innovations.

And finally … who is the the hottest mobile advertising company of 2012? ….

Well it’s going to be facebook. With the imminent launch of their HTML5 mobile apps platform facebook are sure to extend their facebook ads program onto mobile. This will create a vast swathe of new, highly targeted mobile inventory, that benefits from hooking straight into the social graph. The impact of this is going to be huge and could easily kill of many of current mobile ad networks, who can barely offer any targeting at all, let alone the razor sharp interest-based and demographic targeting of facebook. However, at the same time, there’s going to be new opportunities for mobile advertising companies building on top of this new facebook mobile ad platform.

As for what those projects entail – 45 per cent of companies are developing a mobile site, and 43 per cent on an app for their customers, but only 1 per cent are working on an app for their employees.

“Mobile devices are now so ubiquitous that a business without a mobile strategy is a business without a strategy,” says Jim Hemmer, CEO of Antenna. “Investment in mobile is growing at a meteoric rate, and that’s partly due to companies thinking beyond the app and beyond the idea that mobile is only critical when it comes to consumer engagement.”

• Mind Commerce estimates that global spending on mobile advertising and marketing initiatives will reach nearly $37.5 billion in 2012, a near 15% compounded annual growth rate since 2008. The Asia-Pacific region is leading the mobile charge and will chalk up an estimated budget of $15.8 billion in 2012. In comparison, Europe’s spending on mobile advertising in 2012 will be about half as much ($7.9 billion) while North America’s spending for 2012 will be $11.2 billion.

• Smartphones and tablets are playing an increasingly important role in driving mobile ad spending, with mobile searching and mapping the strongest earners. Video and audio mobile ads, meanwhile, are the fastest-growing ad segments, with momentum seen continuing through 2015.

• Mobile advertising networks are delivering 350 billion global impressions in 2011, generating $800 million in media spend, and earning $275 million in net platform and media services-related revenue. The U.S. market generated 50% of gross media spend, Europe 25% and Asia 25%, based on analysis of each network 's billed impressions by geography.

• Mobile search, especially localized search, will be the dominant activity for marketers to engage consumers with branded communications but they should not ignore the potential of downloadable applications, streaming video, and, most certainly, mobile messaging.

• Mobile advertising and marketing industry to grow by a modest 6.1% CAGR between 2012 and 2016 to reach more than $47 billion. Although there is little doubt that spending on mobile data services is huge, parts of Europe are still far behind many other global markets likely due to the strong landline system and slower migration of consumers to mobile.

• Mind Commerce estimates the world market for mobile marketing and advertising revenues will reach nearly $54 billion by 2020, up from about $29 billion today, growing at an 8-year CAGR rate of nearly 5%. Spending will grow at the fastest rates by 2020 in countries outside of the core territories of North America and Asia, most likely Australia and South America, where cellular service will finally reach parity with the rest of the world.

Only smart phones will browse?... Wrong. All phones will browse!

The Indian telecom sector is among the fastest growing global markets and has also witnessed an explosion with respect to the launch of innovative cost effective feature phones. Hitherto, Internet browsing was the most basic characteristic available on such devices, but going forward we will see feature phones becoming even smarter. For instance, many handset manufacturers are launching devices directed at mass audiences in emerging markets who can avail of many more entertainment options than just accessing the web. These handset manufacturers are also expected to bundle popular applications such as Foursquare, WhatsApp, Angry birds, Flickr, Orkut and RenRen into these phones; which was until now the prerogative of smart phone users solely. The ‘Asha’ range of S40 feature phones by Nokia which is to be released by January 2012, and new launches by Spice are some examples of this trend. Internet-enabled, dual sim phones which according to IDC currently hold 30% of the market, are also witnessing an uptick in the market. Hence, the potential for mobile advertising in both feature as well as smart phones will continue to rise.

Mobile internet users will be twice of PC internet users by the end of 2012

Vodafone India which currently enjoys a market share of close to 19%, released a report in September 2011 stating the telco’s current data customer base at about 27.5 million; up 142% year on year. Extrapolating from this figure, we can estimate the total mobile internet user base at currently close to 100 million. Given this explosive growth rate, the number of mobile internet users is expected to be twice as that of PC internet user by end of 2012. Mobiles devices will dominate the future of internet and data services because accessing it through the mobile form factor is more convenient, as compared to PCs. This is a key trend in India and other emerging markets and it will also be instrumental in attracting advertisers to start opening their purse strings towards high impact mobile advertising.

Embracing advertising across all mobile devices - feature phones, smart phones and tablets

When advertisers look to advertise in mobile devices, they consider three major factors:

1. Extensive reach for mainstream brands

2. Engagement for specially created brand specific applications

3. Targeting high net worth individuals for brands catering to such audiences

Each of these above mentioned scenarios is facilitated by a different type of mobile device. While the reach is provided by feature phones, there is higher engagement through tablets while HNIs can be targeted through smart phones. The point to note therefore is that we will see that advertisers start considering all these three devices types while charting out mobile advertising strategies because of the specificity that each of them lends. Given the explosive growth rate of mobile internet usage, there is a massive potential for advertisers to include the mobile medium as part of their marketing mix to achieve targeted and impactful campaigns.

Ad funded Mobile TV apps will gain traction

Early 2011 ushered a new era in the telecom history of India with the 3G rollout in India. Correspondingly, this brought about a new mobile consumption pattern amongst users with faster internet browsing, greater use of mobile applications and downloads, video streaming etc. One such beneficiary of the 3G rollout in 2012 is expected to be mobile TV applications which are currently at a nascent stage of usage. The heightened demand of these Mobile TV apps will attract advertisers to this innovative medium. The way I envisage this model to evolve is that mobile TV applications as a medium will emerge as a good platform for advertising; resulting in a free usage model for viewers.

The rise and rise of the ‘Inde-developer’

Over the last couple of years, there were few independent Indian developers who focused on their skill-sets and transformed into successful companies gaining traction with downloads generated from global app stores. A case in point being Twist Mobile, an independent developer became the first developer from South East Asia to get 15 million downloads on Ovi globally. In the interest of ecosystem building, companies such as Blackberry, Nokia etc. started conducting evangelist programs whereby they organised for such home-grown developer companies to meet with budding developers from Indian colleges to encourage them to join this burgeoning field of application/game development. This is creating a movement called the ‘Inde-developer’ (independent developer) which is differing from the traditional model restricted to companies (and not independent individuals) in the field of application/game development. What is positively fuelling this trend is a thriving downloads market globally. Therefore, we believe that 2012 will mark the steady rise of independent developers which will augur well for the mobile industry ecosystem per se.

Amid all the IPO hysteria that has recently surrounded Facebook, the social network also made news by announcing it plans to introduce mobile advertising for users who connect to the site through a smartphone app. In just its first year, where the ads will only be active in six countries, that initiative could bring in more than a billion more dollars to the soon-to-be public company’s bottom line.

[pic]

Specifically, moblie research group MobileSquared predicts that within the first 12 months after Facebook mobile ads go live, there will be a $1.2 billion revenue stream that didn’t exist before. That may sound impressive, but when you factor in the number of users who are active in the mobile Facebook world, that’s only around $6.50 per user per year. Most of us could probably live with that kind of burden.

In terms of where the ad revenue will come from, MobileSquared says more than half ($653.7 million) will be driven from US Facebook users, while the UK will add $166.6 million and France, Germany, and Italy will each contribute around $100 million, The final market, Spain, is expected to draw in around $70 million in ad spend. The research firm also noted that in 2012, Google’s mobile ad revenue should be around $2 billion. So it is still the leader in this niche market, but if Facebook is able to hit the ground running at greater than half of Google’s level, that would be impressive.

[pic]

As the world increasingly goes mobile, it’s prompting a boom in mobile advertising, which is heating up and is poised for a huge year in 2012. The winners include companies such as Nexage, a real-time bidding exchange provider which told me that it hit 100 billion ads requested today through its platform.

Nexage launched three years ago and slowly built up its business before having a break-out year in 2011, when it started hitting a run rate of more than 10 billion ads served a month. It’s a nice milestone for a company that has been at the forefront of bringing real-time bidding to mobile advertising. And it shows how RTB auctions are becoming an important tool for advertisers looking to target consumers.

Ernie Cormier, Nexage’s CEO, said real-time bidding on mobile is different than online, where it’s used to unload a lot of impressions. Because mobile doesn’t support the kind of buy-side data produced through cookies, advertisers turn to publishers and exchanges to get information on users such as location, age and demographics. And with real-time auctions, advertisers can purchase the impressions they want, when they want them.

“We believe the future of exchanges is bigger in mobile than online because it’s not a place where impressions go to die,” Cormier said. “We believe RTB is critical to the growth of mobile and enables lot of things in mobile that couldn’t be possible otherwise.”

Nexage’s growth isn’t as gaudy as some other big mobile advertising names like Millennial Media, which serves up 40 billion ad impressions per month and recently filed to go public. But with its real-time bidding and mediation platform and its new private exchange,Nexage is providing valuable tools that show how the mobile advertising space is maturing and following the path of online. And now we’re starting to see advertisers increasingly look at mobile advertising as a way to reach consumers, who are rushing to mobile.

EMarketer last month upped its forecast for U.S. mobile ad spending this year to $2.6 billion from a previous estimate of $1.8 billion. It said that U.S. mobile ad spending hit $1.4 billion last year, ahead of a previous forecast of $1.2 billion. EMarketer now expects mobile ad spending to reach $10.8 billion by 2016.

That still trails online advertising, which is expected to bring in $39.5 billion this year in the U.S. But as we’re seeing, consumers are spending more and more time on mobile devices and brands are seeing big increases in engagement through smartphones and tablets. That’s going to prompt a big shift in marketing dollars as advertisers take advantage of mobile more and more.

“All of these patterns are pointing to a lot more mobile usage and engagement and interaction,” Cormier said. “You know that advertisers will follow the audience, it’s just a matter of working out the mechanics and getting players in the ecosystem with the tools they need.”

eBay Fashion

[pic]

|eBay Fashion |
|Brand: |eBay |
|Application: |eBay Fashion |
|Platform: |iOS |

Campaign Objective:
This eBay Fashion aims to help eBay fashion shoppers get the best out their shopping experience while on the go.

Description:
This app allows user to browse through the goods on sale on eBay while including added functionality such as the “Fashion Vault”, where consumers can find exclusive limited time sales, “the Closet”, where consumers can save all their favourite items.

Where this application is quite clever is that in “the Closet” users can create outfits by mixing and matching items using the outfit builder but can also “try them on” by using your phones camera.

Screenshots:

[pic][pic]

[pic][pic]

Starbucks

[pic]

|Starbucks |
|Brand: |Starbucks Coffee Company |
|Application: |Starbucks |
|Platform: |Blackberry, iOS and Android |

Campaign Objective:
The Starbucks app aims to increase the loyalty of Starbucks customers by offering them extra services that are designed to make finding their nearest Starbucks and managing their Starbucks accounts easier.

Description:
This application includes all the features that one would expect from such an app (store locator, drinks builder, food/coffee menu, job availability and manage their rewards card functionalities).

On top of this, having been one of the first brands to embrace NFC, the Startbucks app allows their customers to use their mobile device in order to pay for their drinks by scanning the code generated by this app. Consumers can also check their Starbucks card balance, reload it, view their transactions or transfer balances to another card.

Also, this new version of the Starbucks app introduces the concept ofeGifting. This allows you to send virtual Starbucks Cards on the go to your friends through email or Facebook!

MobiAD Comments:
This application is one of the few brand applications that actually create value for customers. Starbucks is very focused on improving the entire experience, including the commercial interaction, and the features built into their apps will prove very helpful for users.

Screenshots:

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]

Real Estate

[pic]

|Real Estate |
|Brand: |Smarter Agent |
|Application: |Real Estate |
|Platform: |iOS, Android, Blackberry, Palm and Java |

Campaign Objective:
This application aims to allow on the go consumers to browse real estate listings in the surrounding area without the need to visit multiple estate agents. It is available on virtually all-mobile devices, which is a rare thing in today’s iOS/Android dominated market.

Description:
Smarter Agent’s Real Estate app enables consumers to find homes for sale, apartments for rent and view recently sold properties in their immediate area using the GPS function on their device.

The application also has a search by address, community name, city or Zip code search functionality leading to search results that include pictures, price, description, mortgage estimator, taxes as well as the standard “Call to See” button allowing you to call the Estate agent directly.

MobiAD Comments:
The good thing about this application compared to other Real Estate ones is that it is linked to the “Broker Reciprocity/IDX” program which means that if the “Broker Reciprocity” logo appears on the page you will be able to see all the properties available in that area.

Screenshots:

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]

360Fashion Mags

[pic]

|360Fashion Mags |
|Brand: |360Fashion Network |
|Application: |360Fashion Mags |
|Platform: |iPhone |

Campaign Objective:
This applications is designed to allow niche fashion publications and fashion designers to showcase their content on the iPhone platform.

Description:
The 360 Fashion Mags application is designed to act as a newsstand for the fashion industry. It allows niche fashion publications, fashion designers, artists and illustrators to upload an iPhone magazine to the newsstand and gain global visibility through the itunes store.

Results:
The application is attracting an increased number of independent fashion publications, fashion designer brands and professionals.

Screenshots:
[pic][pic]

[pic][pic]

[pic]

References

1. http://www.mobile-ent.biz/

2. http://www.mobyaffiliates.com

3. http://www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk

4. http://www.mobiadnews.com/

References: 1. http://www.mobile-ent.biz/ 2. http://www.mobyaffiliates.com 3. http://www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk 4. http://www.mobiadnews.com/