Mobile Marketing Issue 2

Issue Two | July 2010

News | Views | Analysis

STARS & PIPES We turn the mobile spotlight on the US

HYPE PAD?

Love it or not, the iPad has arrived with a bang

FLAT BROKE

Why unlimited data plans are giving operators a headache

BANKING ON MOBILE

Consumers in emerging markets are doing it on their handset

7-PAGE GUIDE TO MOBILE AD NETWORKS INSIDE THIS ISSUE

s

ds

FEtod IL CTaIy! E VE

InMobi CEO Naveen Tewari outlines the reasons behind the firm’s growth

e n te g Mo r Aw b th a il e r e

E M F M OBFEC AW AR IL T I AR KE E VE M Ef ar fecti T DS IN ketin G v e

s

Peak Performance

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contents

3

Tuck In! Welcome to our second print edition, and at the risk of repeating what we said last time round, it’s another cracker, with a feast of mobile goodies for you.

We’re delighted to have recruited the services of Tomi T Ahonen, a legend in mobile circles, to kick off the issue with a cautionary word about some of the hype surrounding mobile advertising.

It’s as controversial and as thought-provoking as you would expect from one of the world’s leading mobile thinkers.

Helen Keegan is back with her personal take on the mobile marketing world. In this issue, she calls for a better model for mobile app distribution. And app developer David Mannl from Mippin offers advice on porting apps from one mobile platform to another.

In our big interview, we talk to Naveen Tewari, CEO of mobile ad network InMobi. The company has expanded rapidly in the past few years and is now one of the world’s largest and most successful ad networks. Tewari tells us how they did it.

We also present an in-depth guide to the world’s leading mobile ad networks.

If you’re thinking of using mobile as an advertising channel, and are not sure which ad network to work with, we hope our guide will answer most of your questions.

And we turn the spotlight on the US, examining how mobile marketing is being used and perceived in the country.

On top of all that, we’ve managed to find room to squeeze in pieces on the iPad, m-health, m-banking, and the possible imminent demise of flat-rate data plans. Plus, we give you the lowdown on our Awards programme, the EMMAs (Effective Mobile Marketing Awards), which are up and running and open for entries now.

Feedback to our first issue was universally positive, and the digital version has now been viewed almost 2,000 times. We hope you enjoy this one as much as the last. In the meantime, check back into mobilemarketingmagazine.com for your daily fix of news, views and analysis.

David Murphy Editor

Cover story 18 Peak Performance InMobi CEO Naveen Tewari explains how targeting and analytics underpin the company’s global mobile advertising platform

Thought leadership 5 Reality check Mobile expert and author Tomi T Ahonen urges brands to cut through the hype of mobile advertising to get to what really works

26 Flat broke The explosion in data usage fuelled by flat-rate plans is causing a real headache for mobile operators. So what action are they taking to solve the problem?

The real world 20 Focus on the United States We take a close look at mobile marketing in the US. Who’s doing it, what are they doing, and what do people make of it? All backed up by lots of juicy stats

17 Dev zone Mippin co-founder David Mannl urges app developers to think about the user experience when porting apps from one mobile platform to another

34 Off-deck Helen Keegan calls for traditional publishers to get involved in mobile app distribution

Technology 6 Keep taking the tablet Apple’s iPad has taken the world by storm. But what does it offer as a mobile marketing channel?

28 Liquid asset Mobile banking and payment services are booming in emerging markets, as people turn to their mobile to compensate for the lack of bank branches and ATMs

Best practice 31 Say hello to the EMMAs Everything you need to know about the EMMAs (Effective Mobile Marketing Awards) – our new Awards programme for the mobile marketing business. We’re taking entries now

24 Smart attack Mobile technology and applications are starting to have an impact in the healthcare sector, but there are issues to overcome if m-health is to go mainstream

Business Models 9 A guide to mobile ad networks Over seven pages, we list all the facts that matter about the world’s leading mobile advertising networks

32 Campaign showcase We turn the spotlight on some recent mobile marketing campaigns for Marks & Spencer, Jobsite and BlackBerry, that have combined innovation and creativity with outstanding results

Editor: David Murphy - david.murphy@mobilemarketingmagazine.com +44 (0) 7976 927062 Commercial Director: John Owen - john.owen@mobilemarketingmagazine.com +44 (0) 7769 674824 Contributors: George Cole Design: Nathan Taverner, The Page Design Consultancy Ltd - info@thepagedesign.co.uk Print: DS Print - sales@dsprintltd.com Special thanks this issue to: Jo Murphy, Rowan Chambers, George Cole, Mick Rigby, Mike McLauchlan, Nathan Taverner, Ben Tatton-Brown. Mobile Marketing is published by Dot Media Ltd., 15 Loraine Gardens, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 1PD. www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

July 2010

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thought leadership

5

REALITY CHECK Mobile guru Tomi T Ahonen cautions brands to be wary of mobile advertising hype

M

obile advertising is hot. Japan passed $1bn in annual revenues in 2009. The analysts estimate that total global mobile advertising spending grew explosively last year, by anything between 85 and 100 per cent. Mobile advertising stories dominate mobile industry news. However, advertisers are picking up dangerous levels of expectation, and are headed for some severe disappointments. All currently popular ad formats have their drawbacks, and it’s important to be aware of them.

Let’s start with the locationistas and the applicationistas. Location-based services can indeed be compelling, but only in niche uses. The Minority Report movie-style personalized ads, delivered to our phones via location information, is a decade-old myth, commercially impractical and perceived by consumers as spam. But hundreds of companies new to location-based offers are now freshly peddling that same myth. There is nothing wrong with a mobile coupon, but delivering it based on geographical proximity is pointless. A well-designed and targeted opt-in coupon campaign will get better results, and won’t incur the location positioning costs or drawbacks.

Applicationistas Applicationistas are even more prevalent today. Apple’s iPhone introduced the idea of ‘adver-apps’, free applications that are sponsored by a brand. There is no doubt that some mobile experiences are better delivered via an app than, say, a web service - mobile games are one good example - and the iPhone experience is wonderful for the end-user. But what of the reach? iPhones are in the pockets of 4 per cent of Americans today (6 per cent if we add iPod touch and iPad). In Europe you’ll reach 2 per cent, and in the rest of the world about 0.1 per cent of the total population.

Android and Windows Mobile are no better. RIM’s Blackberry has a modestly larger reach, but even the most widely used smartphone platform, Nokia’s Symbian, gets you only 7 per cent of the world’s mobile phone population (and barely over 1 per cent in the US). A smartphone app can be exciting and cool, but to plan a mobile advertising campaign which fails to reach 93 per cent of all mobile phones is poor planning.

Then we have banner ads. Major ad networks deliver billions of mobile ads monthly worldwide. But a banner ad on a mobile phone is as poor an advertising idea as a

“All currently popular ad formats have their drawbacks, and it’s important to be aware of them” banner ad on the internet. It is hated by the audience, who soon tune out. Why? Because banner ads are interruptive. We hated interruptive ads on TV, radio and the web. We will hate banner ads on our phones as well.

The world’s most common form of mobile advertising is delivered via SMS text messaging. SMS has almost 4bn active users. Some text messaging campaigns are innovative, but most SMS advertising in use today is simply unsolicited spam. In many markets, the biggest SMS spammer is the mobile operator itself.

How about those fantastic response rates? Many mobile ad networks say their response rates run from 1 - 4 per cent - a tenfold improvement over the internet. Others boast of campaigns that delivered 20 – 30 per cent response rates on mobile. Surely this is proof that mobile advertising is a winner.

July 2010

Mobile advertising is growing strong, yes. But most mobile ad campaigns are not going to achieve anything like a 20 per cent response rate. Most are designed by digital agencies and talent whose core competence is the web. They think in terms of legacy mass media and copy tired ad concepts based on interruption. Such mobile adaptations of failing concepts will also fail on mobile.

To achieve success on mobile, the creative talent needs to learn that mobile is as different from the internet as TV was from radio.

Valued content For mobile advertising and marketing to transcend beyond interruption, and become valued content that delights, informs or helps us, it has to be personal, and it has to start from the principle of opt-in. No longer is the goal to create the memorable image, slogan, TV spot or jingle. Now, brands and their agencies need to learn to build a dialogue with individual customers, learning about them and their preferences, and then make each marketing communication seem like a unique person-to-person interaction.

It can be done. BMW proved it with its Winter Tyres campaign that ran on MMS and WAP. Rather than spam millions, BMW took a tightly targeted campaign for only 114,000 opted-in BMW owners, and achieved a 30 per cent conversion rate. An analysis of the BMW campaign at Forum Oxford found that BMW generated new tyre sales worth $45m (£30m), at a total campaign cost of under $120,000. It is the most effective marketing campaign BMW has ever run.

If you’re looking at mobile, that’s the type of campaign to study. Much of the rest, you can take with a pinch of salt.

To read an extended version of this article, with more about the BMW Tyres campaign, head for: www.mobilemarketingmagazine. com/content/reality-check-0

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6

technology

Publishers have flocked to the iPad: there were over 1,000 apps available for the device when it launched

Keep taking the tablet Apple’s iPad has taken the world by storm, with 2m sold in the first two months.

But what does it have to offer as a mobile marketing channel, asks George Cole

T

here’s no doubt about the winner of this year’s award for the most eagerly-awaited electronics product: Apple’s iPad. After all the hype, the iPad went on sale in the US over the Easter weekend, shifting 300,000 units on the first day of launch and, after launching in nine other countries including the UK, 2m in the first two months. The iPad’s supporters say it will transform computing, revolutionise publishing and even change the way we

watch television. But what impact will it have on mobile marketing and advertising?

The iPad is a tablet computer, with a 9.7-inch touchscreen, compared with the iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen. It comes in two versions, a $500 (£330) wi-fi only model, and an $830 unit which also includes 3G connectivity (the data service costs $15-30 per month). At its launch, more than 1,000 iPad apps were available, and the iPad will also run the 150,000 or so apps cur-

rently available for the iPhone.

The iPad is not the first tablet computer, but then, the iPhone wasn’t the first smartphone, and look how it transformed the mobile phone market.

Rosy future Some see a rosy future for the iPad: “iPad blurs the line between a laptop and a mobile,” says Tom Hume, managing director of app developer Future Platforms. “The iPod was like a Trojan horse,” he adds, “People

saw it as just a replacement for the Walkman, but its effect on the music industry was radically different. It’s possible that the iPad could have the same impact on the publishing and advertising industries.”

The iPad’s ability to offer good quality video on a large glossy screen offers the advertising industry new opportunities, says Hume: “Apple has invested in advertising [earlier this year, Apple acquired Quattro Wireless for $275m] and I

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

7

The Guardian is one of the many publishers that have released an iPad app. Its Eyewitness photography application was produced in conjunction with camera maker Canon

wouldn’t be surprised to see the iPad as part of this strategy.”

But others are not convinced about the iPad’s potential for mobile advertising. “To me, it’s not a mobile device,” says Christian Louca, managing director of mobile marketing firm, YOC UK. Louca sees the iPad as more of a home-based device, used for web browsing in a kitchen or living room.

But surely many users will be carrying their iPads around with them? Louca remains unconvinced: “I don’t consider the [Sony] PSP a mobile device and you can use it to access the internet, just like the iPad. And if you already have a laptop and a smartphone, why would you want an iPad?” he asks.

However, Srini Dharmaji, founder and CEO of interactive mobile media solutions company GoldSpot Media, insists that the iPad is: “A mobile device like a laptop. It will be something that people carry wherever they go.” He adds that iPad users will access content through a browser or apps, although there are some issues, such as the iPad’s lack of support for Flash, used by around 80 per cent of websites. Apple is promoting an HTML5 solution: “A lot of content sources like CBS are ready to deliver MPEG4 video to the iPad rather than Flash,” says Dharmaji. Indeed, Apple is promoting HTML5enabled sites as being “iPad Ready”. The iPad presents content developers with new challenges: “How do you put text or links alongside video, or have overlays?” asks Dharmaji.

GoldSpot Media has developed the miAPI client SDK (software development kit), which allows publishers to render video ads in any mobile screen size, and in various formats, such as full screen or split screen. The company’s mobile advertising campaign creation tool, miSpot, enables publishers to run the same interactive video ad campaign on the iPad and iPhone.

Major brands A number of major brands, including Toyota, Unilever and FedEx, have been quick to embrace iPad advertising. They have signed deals with publications launching digital versions on the iPad, such as Time and Newsweek. The advertising fees range from $75,000-300,000.

Whether this support is due to the iPad’s novelty value, or a long-term commitment to the iPad platform, remains to be seen. What is certain is that content developers will be testing new ways of displaying ads on the iPad. Publishers are trying to develop advertising business models for digital magazines, and as yet, there’s no industry-wide model for determining the success of a digital ad campaign.

Ben Cusack, group marketing director of the mobile and digital communications business, Mobile Interactive Group (MIG), notes that: “We’ve had a lot of interest from our clients regarding the iPad. Publishers and brands are excited, but are wary over how consumers will use the device.”

Mark Slade, managing director of mobile advertising agency 4th Screen Advertising, says his company is upgrading its SDKs to work for the iPad: “You can use video overlay and offer rich media ad formats,” he says.

The iPad is likely to sell well in vertical markets like medicine and education, which opens the way for targeted advertising. But Fiona McLean, head of corporate communications at education solutions provider RM, says: “There will have to be safeguards to ensure that any advertising on the iPad can be appropriately managed or be disabled.”

Native functions The iPad’s potential for mobile advertising and marketing is difficult to determine, as Slade observes: “You can do more on a mobile device from an advertising perspective, because advertisers can link with the native functions of the phone. Functionality on a mobile device is stronger; for example, you can’t do augmented reality on an iPad. And location is a very strong USP for mobile: you can only use that with iPads that offer GPS. The biggest pull the iPad will have for advertisers will be its larger screen, rather than its additional targeting capability as an advertising format.”

MIG’s Cusack notes that successful mobile advertising is often context-based, using information such as location and personal data to offer more targeted advertising. Such data will be hard to acquire through an iPad: “The jury is still out as to how people will use their iPads, but remember that mobile advertising on the iPhone was slow initially - it took a while for people to adapt to the device and its functionality,” he says. Dharmaji adds: “We are quite happy with the way mobile marketing is developing.

And as for the effect of the iPad, we will have to wait and see.”

July 2010

“To me, it’s not a mobile device...if you already have a laptop and a Smartphone, why would you want an iPad?” Christian Louca, YOC UK

News International’s iPad app for The Sun in the UK costs £4.99 a month

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business models

9

A guide to

mobile ad networks

We present an in-depth guide to the world’s mobile advertising networks

J

ust a couple of years ago, you could have counted the number of mobile ad networks on the fingers of two hands, if not one. How quickly things have changed. As the number of mobile sites has increased - not to mention the incredible emergence of the market for mobile applications - and more brands have decided to join in the mobile revolution, dozens of ad networks have been launched, with the intention of matching publishers with advertisers and advertisers with mobile users.

In preparing this round-up of mobile ad networks, we identified more than 40 such companies, and invited all those we found to take part.

More than half have done so; others, for whatever reason, have declined.

Those that did take part were asked to supply information relating to the nature of the ad network they operate. Is it transparent, which means the advertiser knows exactly where their ad will appear, or

blind, in which case, they can pick the type of site, but not the actual site?

Targeting options We also asked about targeting options, and about the way in which inventory was sold: CPM (cost per thousand impressions); CPC (cost per click); or CPA (cost per acquisition). We also asked ad networks about their minimum spend, the number of publishers and/or applications in their network, and for the number of monthly impressions, in the key markets of the United States, and the big five European countries: UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Finally, we gave everyone who responded the opportunity to tell us, in a few words, what makes them special.

So that’s them talking, not us, but most, we were pleased to find, resisted the temptation to big themselves up too much, choosing instead to err on the side of credibility.

Over the next six pages then, you’ll find a comprehensive

rundown of the world’s mobile advertising networks, plus, on p15, some thoughts from the companies participating in the survey about some of the major trends that they are seeing in the emergent mobile advertising ecosystem.

In-application advertising Advertising within mobile applications.

This is increasingly popular, as an advertiser advertising an iPhone app within another iPhone app knows that they are reaching a captive audience of iPhone users.

Average fill rate This is a measure of the percentage of ads delivered per ad request.

Key to terminology: Blind/Transparent In a blind ad network, the advertiser can specify the type of sites or applications, they would like their ads to appear on, but cannot choose specific sites or apps.

In a transparent network, the advertiser buys inventory on a specific publisher site or app, just like taking an ad in the Financial Times, as opposed to The Sun. Blind networks tend to sell more inventory on a CPC (cost per click) basis (see below), whereas transparent networks represent premium inventory and sell more on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis.

CPM/CPC/CPA CPM is cost per thousand, from the French word for thousand ‘mille’. Here, inventory is sold at a given rate per thousand people visiting the site and seeing the ad.

CPC is cost per click, where the advertiser only pays each time someone clicks on their ad.

CPA is the affiliate model, cost per acquisition, where the advertiser only pays when an agreed action has been performed, such as making a purchase, or requesting more information.

Targeting Most ad networks offer a degree of targeting, by factors such as demographics, geography, and handset type. We asked companies to list their targeting parameters in order of importance (as they see it).

July 2010

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10

business models 4th Screen

Adenyo

Adfonic

AdFrap

Type of business

Mobile ad agency and ad-serving platform

Ad network

Ad network

Launch Date

February 2006

Mobile marketing software platform

2005

July 2009

January 2008

Operates

Europe, N. America, Asia, S. Africa, Australia

N. America, Europe

Worldwide

Worldwide

Sales offices

London – UK, Dublin, New York, LA & Sydney

Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Dallas, New York, Paris, Aix-en-Provence

London, Paris

London, Madrid

Blind/Transparent

Transparent

Transparent

Both

Both

CPM/CPC/CPA (%)

80/20/0

75/25/0

5/95/0

20/80/0

In-app advertising?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Ad formats

iSlide (touch to call, touch to download app, touch to find my nearest, touch to SMS); Banners; Text Links; Interstitials; Video (pre and post roll); Tenancy links; Icons; Editorial integration

Text ads; Static and animated banner ads; App banners; Expandable, full screen and roll-over banners (SMS, APP and WAP); Site dressing; Sponsorship; Post click actions: Clic2web, Clic2call, Clic2video

Banners – graphic and text; Text links

Banners – animated and static; Text; Interstitials; Tenancy & Sponsorship; Rich Media

Targeting

Target demographic; Age; Gender; Handset type; Operating system; Wi-fi/ mobile network provider; Geography; Operator; Time of Day; Day of week

Endemic audiences (Intenders on Mobile); Location (down to 1,000 feet); Gender; Age; Household income; Device and device capabilities; Operator; Education

Country; Mobile platform; Mobile device; Age; Gender; Mobile operator; Wi-fi; Mobile browser; Keywords/ tags; Day part; Device capabilities; API support for real time parameters

Country; Operator; Handset brand; Handset OS; Handset features; Date/time; User Profile

Restrictions

Publisher-dependent

IAB restrictions

No adult or gambling

Publisher-dependent

Min spend (US$)

n/a

3,000 (test campaign)

50

2,500

No. of publishers/ sites/apps

50+ key publishers

1000+ publishers; 500+ apps

750

122

Unique Publishers

80%

30%

40%

40%

MonthLy Impressions

Total: 1bn + US: 100m UK: 700m France: 50m Germany: 70m Italy: 20m Spain: 50m

Total: 1.3bn US: 900m UK: n/a France: 350m Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: 50m

Total: 500m US: 150m UK: 100m France: 15m Germany: 10m Italy: 5m Spain: 10m

Total: 1.6bn US: 464m UK: 88m France: 80m Germany: 112m Italy: 144m Spain: 56m

Average fill rate

n/a

20%

55%

88%

3 recent advertisers

Masarati Direct Line Wagamama

Nissan Land Rover Axa

Vodafone Bing FooCall

n/a

Contact address

info@4th-screen.com

info@adenyo.com

paul.childs@adfonic.com

charles@adfrap.com

they say

4th Screen Advertising is the world’s leading premium mobile advertising agency. We offer brands and advertisers more than just a click - we offer them engagement and effective, targeted, ROI-driven campaigns. Brands need to work harder to distinguish their offering, which is why we’re constantly developing new rich media formats and solutions through our ad server Mpression.

Our publisher clients include global mobile networks operators like Vodafone and O2, while The Guardian, ITN and FHM are among the media companies who trust us with their mobile inventory. Our advertiser clients include household names such as Coca Cola, Barclaycard, Direct Line, Green Flag, Disney and Natwest.

Adenyo enables agencies, brands and mobile carriers to develop, target, execute and measure fully integrated marketing strategies and campaigns in the mobile economy. Adenyo powers four technologies: mobile marketing and ad serving; mobile storefronts; mobile coupons and payments; and mobile analytics. Together, these technologies provide a mobile marketing software platform that enables customers to quickly create marketing campaigns using a web-to-cloud (SaaS) model that is independent of applications, distribution and mobile devices. Adenyo has delivered thousands of successful mobile campaigns for the world’s most demanding organizations; allowing brands to capitalize on the unique opportunities that only mobile can deliver.

Adfonic’s self service mobile advertising marketplace gives both advertisers and publishers the most comprehensive set of campaign management tools.

Using Adfonic’s intuitive user interface, advertisers can set up campaigns, upload creatives and monitor performance, with real time reporting and analytics.

Publishers can add their mobile sites or applications (iPhone, Android or J2ME) in minutes using the online tools, and then integrate the auto-generated code to start displaying ads.

An Adfonic Developer wiki is available for reference and support in addition, publishers can monitor their earnings using our real time reporting and analytics tools.

Whether managing publisher inventory or advertiser campaigns, our core business objective is returning the maximum results to our partners through the use of our revenue-optimizing platform, sheer hard work and professionalism.

We’ve deployed an advanced campaign management suite, optimal inventory management system and detailed analytics, providing our partners with a real time view of the metrics that are important, with the tools and know-how that deliver the best results.

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

11 Aditic (Sofialys)

AdMob

Admoda/Adultmoda

adsmobi

Amobee

Ad network

Ad network

Ad network

Media buying agency

January 2006

June 2006

Ad exchange

February 2010

2006

Worldwide with a focus on Europe and Asia

Worldwide

Worldwide

Worldwide

Worldwide

Paris, Singapore

San Mateo, CA (HQ), London, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Singapore, Mumbai

London

New York, Montreal, Paris

California, London, Tel Aviv

Semi-blind

Blind

Predominantly blind

Transparent

Transparent

30/60/10

n/a

5/95/0

20/80/0

50/50/0

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

WAP and web apps; Banners; Text; Banner + text; Interstitials; Retractable banners

Banners, including multipanel banners; Text; Click to download/call/URL/ maps/listen/take a survey/ canvas/scrolling canvas/ social canvas/full screen expandable/interactive video; Video; Search

MMA-standard banners (animated and static) and text ads

Banners; Text ads; App sponsorships; Interstitials; Animated GIFs; Rich media

Banners; Text; Click to call; SMS; Video; Rich media; In-game; In-call

Country; Operator; Handset make; Handset model; Gender

Country; Device; Operator; Phone capabilities; Demographics; Location; Bespoke targeting for managed accounts

Channels; Country; Operator; Device; Antidevice; OS; Device capabilities (e.g. video streaming, video download)

Country; Device; Operator; Location; Content category; Keywords; Age; Gender

Demographic; Location; Operator; Handset make; Model; Time of day; Contextual

No adult

No adult, local restrictions on alcohol and gambling

No adult (Admoda)

No adult or gambling

No adult

50

None

None

500

5,000

250

15,000+ publishers; 4,000+ apps

3,500 (combined)

2,900+ publishers

200+

50%

n/a

10%/80%

0%

70%

Total: 400m US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

Total: 15.4bn US: 7.3bn UK: 640m France: 350m Germany: 220m Italy: 120m Spain: 80m

Total: 3.3bn (combined) US: 242m/397m UK: 21m/45m France: 11m/33m Germany: 13m/34m Italy: 8m/42m Spain: 15m/12m

Total: 4bn US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

Total: 4bn + US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

95%

85%

45%

29%

100%

n/a

02 Taptu Citroen

Vodafone Gillette Fox mobile

Buongiorno Discovery Channel Sears

Google Nokia Skype

julien.oudart@sofialys.com

jabraham@admob.com

info@admoda.com

contact@adsmobi.com

info@amobee.com

Aditic is an online market for publishers to maximise revenues from mobile advertising and advertisers to get higher ROI from their mobile campaigns. Aditic is a semi-blind network where advertisers can bid in real-time on inventory categories and operators’ portal traffic. Advertisers bid on categories (e.g. Sport) as on any other blind ad network, but can also bid on a specific site, application or operator’s portal, for which we give higher visibility/ transparency.

The service also comes as a white label platform for mobile operators and will be launched in several markets in 2010 as a co-branded (with operators) sales channel.

Aditic also offers optimised yield management in addition to free access to our API/SDK library.

AdMob is one of the world’s largest mobile advertising networks, serving more than 15bn mobile banner and text ads per month across thousands of leading mobile websites and applications.

AdMob helps advertisers connect with a relevant audience of consumers on mobile devices and gives publishers the ability to effectively monetize their mobile traffic.

Incorporated in 2006, AdMob provides the tools, data and business models that are fuelling the explosive growth of mobile media in more than 250 countries worldwide.

Our role in the mobile advertising eco-system is all about traffic - high quality, targeted traffic.

When a campaign is ready, brand or otherwise, we can help supply eyeballs. We are the only ad network that vets publisher signups, and we reject, on average seven out of 10 signups. The net result being that advertisers run their ads on quality sites/ apps. This contributes to our 90% advertiser re-book rate.

Publishers that do make it onto Admoda/Adultmoda are rewarded with payouts of 65 - 85%. Adultmoda is the only adult mobile advertising network.

adsmobi is a mobile media buying platform that focuses on placing successful mobile campaigns for mobile advertisers. adsmobi delivers premium advertising traffic for advertisers through partnerships with leading mobile mediation and optimization platforms. adsmobi matches agencies and brands, with the best mobile publisher inventory to achieve their mobile ROI goals. adsmobi focuses on the advertiser “buy side” of the mobile advertising ecosystem. The adsmobi ad server will help effectively manage media spending, with the flexibility to target a desired audience at the right time, in the right place, on the right device.

Amobee is the world leader in advertising solutions for mobile operators, with the most deployed telco-grade ad-serving solutions in the world.

Amobee’s platform is the industry’s largest mobile advertising exchange dedicated to connecting publishers, advertising agencies and brands to premium inventory in real-time, on a global scale. Customers include Telefonica and Vodafone Group PLC, along with hundreds of off-deck publishers.

November 2009

July 2010

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12

business models B!mobile

BuzzCity

Hands

InMobi

Type of business

Ad network

Ad network

July 2006

Ad network

Launch Date

January 2010

Ad network and ad server platform August 1999

August 2007

OperateS

Worldwide

Worldwide

Brazil

Worldwide

Sales offices

UK, US, Italy, Spain, France, Netherlands, US, Russia

Singapore (HQ), Shanghai, Paris, Jakarta, Mumbai, San Francisco, Bangkok, Johannesburg

São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro

San Francisco, London, Singapore, Bangalore, Tokyo

Blind/Transparent

“Quality Blind”

Blind

Transparent

Blind

CPM/CPC/CPA (%)

10/90/0

0/100/0

100/0/0

n/a

In-app advertising?

Yes

Soon

Yes

Yes

Ad formats

MMA banner standards (dynamic & static); Text; Text link under banner; Interstitials; Prestitials; Expanding unit; Pre- and post-roll video; Click to call; Click to video; Click to apps; Click to maps; Click to YouTube; Click to Twitter; Click internally to app

Banners – graphic and text

Banners; Sponsorships; Personalized mobile ‘hot sites’

Banners; Text

Targeting

Territories; Operator; OS; Point of access; Devices; Caps: unique users, impressions, spending; Custom data from publisher categories or demographics

Geographical; Seven media channels; Handset make; Handset features; OS; Time of day

Gender; Age; Interest; Channels; Publishers

Site types; OS; Handset features; Handset model; Countries; State/region/city; Operator

Restrictions

No Adult

None

Publisher-dependent

None

Min spend (US$)

500

20

None

n/a

No. of publishers/ sites/apps

50

2000+ publishers

60

3000 publisher sites

Unique Publishers

100% (where we manage CPM)

80%

n/a

n/a

MonthLy Impressions

Total:1bn (end-2010 forecast) US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

Total: 3bn US: 170m UK: 80m France: 30m Germany: 30m Italy: 20m Spain: 10m

Total: 20m US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

Total: 7.5bn US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

Average fill rate

70%

100%

n/a

n/a

3 recent advertisers

Peoplesound Blinko

Gillette Doritos Yellow Pages

Samsung Mercedes-Benz Microsoft

n/a

Contact address

bmobile@buongiorno.com

hish@buzzcity.com

contato@hands.com.br

europe@inmobi.com

they say

B!mobile is a fast-growing mobile marketplace that enables advertisers, publishers and app developers to get the best benefit from the mobile advertising market.

B!mobile is a B!Digital division and part of the Buongiorno Group, (Italy, MTA STAR: BNG) a trendsetting, independent mobile media and technology company driving the burgeoning mobile entertainment industry. B!mobile leverages Buongiorno Group’s mobile experience to maximize the ROI generated by each and every click.

BuzzCity is a mobile media company offering brand owners and agencies access to a global advertising network on the mobile internet. The network is made up of publishers from across the world and BuzzCity’s own mobile media properties, which allow advertisers to target consumers in communities of common interest.

Low minimum buy and spend prices allow advertisers to optimise campaigns on low budgets.

BuzzCity provides marketers with opportunities to reach its audience via its easy to use campaign planner.

Hands is a premium mobile ad network, working exclusively with the major and most respected publishers in Brazil, and owning a platform that perfectly adapts any campaign and any mobile site for all types and sizes of existing devices.

Hands also offers personalized consultancy and develops mobile ‘hot sites’ for advertisers.

InMobi is the world’s leading independent mobile advertising network.

We reach over 179m consumers in over 125 countries every month. With millions of targeting options - including smartphones dozens of impactful creative options, and the industry’s most advanced analytics platform for both publishers and advertisers, we are a true global mobile advertising platform.

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

13 Jumptap

Madvertise

Mobilike

mobiSolv

Smaato

Ad network

Ad network

Premium ad network

December 2005

June 2009

October 2009

Ad network, ad optimisation platform

Mobile advertising optimization platform

2006

August 2005

Mainly US

Germany, Austria, Switzerland

Turkey

Worldwide

Worldwide

Cambridge, MA (HQ), New York, Los Angeles, Israel, Canada

Berlin

Istanbul

India, US, UK

Redwood Shores (HQ), Hamburg, Singapore

Both

Both

Transparent

Both

Both

80/20/0

50/50/0

100/0/0

30/60/10

10/90/Emerging

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Banners; Text; Homepage takeovers, roadblocks, interstitials; Expandable banners; Location-based; Tap to video/social networks/call/gallery; Overlays; Pre-roll video; ‘Jumptap Slider’; ‘Jumptap Windowshade’

MMA-standard banners; Text taglines; Animated GIFs; iPhone creative (320x53)

Banners (including rollover, expandable and floating); Prestitial; Interstitial; Overlayer, Sponsorship; Advertorial; Content integration; Video seeding

Text; Image; SMS; Click2Call

Banners; Text; App sponsorship; Interstitials; Animated GIFs; Locationbased ads; Rich media

Geography; Subscriber data; PRIZM data; Contextual; Equifax Validated User Data; User generated and user managed profiles

Handset make; Handset model; OS; Content channels; Access technology (wi-fi, operator); Day/time of day; Capping (frequency, budget); Location (country, city, post/zip code); Demographics

Device; Mobile operator; Age; Sex; Location

Geographical; Handset; Operator; Behavioural

Country; Device; Operator; Location; Content category; Keywords; Age; Gender

Publisher-dependent

No adult, violence, content morally harmful to young people and children, or that glorifies or contains radical political ideologies

No adult or gambling

No (country dependent)

No adult or gambling

n/a

75

5,000

100

Defined by our ad network partners

1000+ premium sites, apps and operator portals

300

26

2000+

3,000+ publishers with sites and apps

n/a

10%

100%

n/a

n/a

Total: 8bn performance/ 900m premium US: 7.8bn/800m Other: n/a

Total: 60m US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

Total: 119m US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

Total: n/a US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

Total: 4bn US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

n/a

90%

10%

85%

29%

GE Starbucks Toyota

TUI Germanwings Jamba

Turkcell Garanti Bank Samsung

Nokia Samsung CitiFinancial

Google Skype Nokia

julie.ginches@jumptap.com

christian.schnorfeil@ madvertise.de

info@mobilike.com

info@mobisolv.com

info@smaato.com

Jumptap is the consumerdriven mobile advertising marketplace built on transparency, privacy, and preference. We enable publishers, advertisers, developers and carriers to engage with consumers in the most effective, efficient and transparent manner.

We deliver the most relevant ads, driven by consumer intelligence, which drives both higher engagement and CTRs, which in turn delivers much higher ROI for our advertisers and higher yields and increased fill rates for our publishers.

Madvertise is a highly efficient “mobile only” ad server, with specialized targeting options for the mobile web.

Our service product “madvertise app CatAPPult” ensures top position in app stores, with a top 25 placement guaranteed. The platform is open to long tail publishers and app developers. We serve highquality ads, and deliver the highest CPCs/CPMs in the German-speaking market.

Mobilike is the biggest premium ad network in Turkey (60% market share), with the most diverse collection of publishers in our market.

Progressive banner formats such as floating, expandable, prestitial etc. are used exclusively by us in our market.

We provide the most professional advertising space buying experience, with extensive booking and reporting options.

mobiSolv focuses on mobile advertising and marketing using the mobile web. In the process, we create a synchronized ecosystem to integrate advertisers and publishers, offering solutions for exploring, marketing and monetizing through WAP/mobile portals. Our vision is to achieve precise targeting, while simplifying mobile advertising for advertisers and publishers.

Smaato is a pioneering mobile advertising company that operates the SOMA (Smaato Open Mobile Advertising) mobile ad optimization platform, and partners with publishers, developers, ad networks and operators. More than 3,000 publishers have signed up with Smaato as a partner to monetize their content in 215+ countries and Smaato is managing 4bn ad requests per month.

SOMA’s unique feature is the aggregation of more than 36 ad networks globally to maximize mobile advertising ARPU.

July 2010

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

14

business models Sponsormob

Todacell

WapStart

YOC

Type of business

Affiliate/CPA network

Ad network

Ad network

Launch Date

December 2006

October 2009

June 2007

Ad network

2005

Operates

Worldwide

Europe and N. America

CIS

Europe, USA

Sales offices

Berlin

London, New York, Los Angeles, Bombay, Toronto

Moscow

Berlin (HQ), UK, Spain, France, Austria, Belgium

Blind/Transparent

Blind

Transparent

Blind

Both

CPM/CPC/CPA (%)

0/0/100

30/70/0

1.5/98/0.5

60/30/10

In-app advertising?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Ad formats

MMA-standard banner and text ads

Banners; Text; Animated GIFs; Customized sizes; Rich media: Sponsorship

Banners; Text: Banner plus text

Banners; Expandables; Multi-tap expandables; Inapp sponsorship; In-app widgets: integrated non-display; Text links; Sponsorship; Interstitials; Animated GIFs; In-car display

Targeting

Country; Operator; Handset make; Handset model

Device; OS; Browser type; Operator; Category; Location; Time

Operator; Handset make; Handset model; Location (country and district); Site categories; White/black lists

Device; Operator; Demographic; Geography; Time; Content; Frequency

Restrictions

Country-dependent

No adult or gambling

No

No adult or religious

Min spend (US$)

None

2,000

3.50

n/a

No. of publishers/ sites/apps

500

20

30 publishers; 350 sites; 30+ apps

1000+

Unique Publishers

75%

25%

n/a

98% (premium network) 35% (blind network)

MonthLy Impressions

Total: 250m US: 52m UK: 21m France: 9m Germany: 44m Italy: 4m Spain: 7m

Total: 1bn US: 400m UK: 200m France: 50m Germany: 50m Italy: 50m Spain: 100m

Total: 380m US: 4.8m UK: 355,000 France: 4.5 Germany: 800,000 Italy: 103,000 Spain: 20,000

Total: 1.3bn/600m US: 637m/n/a UK: 208m/84m France: 65m/102m Germany: 104m/276m Italy: 13m/18m Spain: 13m/42m

Average fill rate

n/a (CPA only)

60%

100%

n/a

3 recent advertisers

Fox Mobile Comscore checkitmobile

Nokia Google O2

EA Games Buongiorno Nokia

Peugeot Paramount NatWest

Contact address

info@sponsormob.com

uriah@oasis-pr.com

sales@wapstart.ru

christian.louca@yoc.com

they say

Sponsormob is the world’s first affiliate/CPA network for the mobile internet.

We provide advertisers with our proprietary solution for mobile adserving and conversion tracking for the mobile web and iPhone applications.

Statistics can be broken down into many different mobile-specific categories.

These include handset model, network operator and location. Affiliates can monetize not only their iPhone or BlackBerry traffic, but also turn their regular feature phone visitors into leads and sales.

Todacell is a mobile display ad network for advertisers and publishers, which optimizes publisher ad performance. The company’s publisher-centric ad flow management technology analyzes publisher inventory and ad performance, enabling the optimization of their display ad inventory, which results in more effective campaign results for Todacell’s advertisers.

For advertisers and agencies, Todacell provides complete transparency and ensures that advertisers and agency planners know exactly where all of their advertising will appear.

We are the largest ad network in the Russianspeaking CIS countries, with over 350 mobile sites and applications. Our unique proposition is our open auction system, where the advertisers set their own CPC or CPA prices. We find the best match for the requested audience at the set price.

Find the audience and rates that work best for your needs, then scale the traffic as much as you need by increasing the campaign limit in minutes. Our targeting and analytics tools ensure the most effective results. Additionally, our moderators and analysts ensure the highest quality content for our clients.

YOC sells advertisements across CPC, CPM and CPA. In January 2010, YOC became the first company to offer both blind and premium blind networks on top of its existing premium open network.

Its open network receives over 600m monthly page impressions in the UK and its blind networks (collectively called the Ubiyoo Marketplace) received more than 1.3bn ad requests from publishers in Europe, North and S. America, Australia, Asia and S. Africa at launch.

YOC clients include CocaCola, News International, Mercedes-Benz and Nike.

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

15 Luxury car maker Maserati recently launched a mobile ad campaign with 4th Screen Advertising

Market trends We gave everyone who took part in our round-up of mobile ad networks the opportunity to tell us about some of the trends they are witnessing in the marketplace. From what we heard, it’s clear that mobile advertising is making great strides, with apps continuing to steal the limelight.

“With the continued smartphone growth, apps remain centre stage,” says Mark Slade, managing director of 4th Screen Advertising. “It’s predominantly iPhone, plus others including Android and Ovi, therefore brands are looking for in-app advertising opportunities that are truly going to engage the audience.”

Slade’s reference to Android is significant. Apple may have had the mobile apps marketplace more or less to itself for the best part of a couple of years, and is still the dominant player, but informed opinion suggests that Android is on the rise, and will pose a major threat to Apple’s dominance before too long.

“What we’re now seeing is a number of emerging platforms and devices reaching the bar that Apple raised with the iPhone launch,” says Thomas Schultz, managing director, EMEA, at AdMob. “Our metrics show that Android already accounts for 10 per cent of smartphone ad requests in the UK, and the HTC Hero and Dream devices are the third and fourth top handset models.”

In a recent survey, AdMob found that more than 70 per cent of iPhone developers plan to develop for Android over the next six months.

And at InMobi, Rob Jonas, VP & managing director

Europe, notes that after the iPhone fever of 2009, smartphone adoption has been exploding, while the entry of large players like Google and Apple into the market has validated the importance and potential of mobile advertising.

User experience Jonas adds that the user experience on mobiles is also improving, and that the ads are following suit. He cites an app from Coca Cola which had a bottle of the drink on the screen. Users could shake the phone and the drink would fizz depending on the amount it had been shaken.

“More and more brands are approaching mobile in an integrated way, using new rich media ad formats to engage with their customers.”

Mark Slade, 4th Screen Advertising

“This kind of experience on the phone leads to rapid adoption,” says Jonas. “Smartphones provide a tremendous opportunity for brands to create attractive and engaging advertisements.”

4th Screen’s Slade agrees, saying that brands and agencies are starting to realise the potential of mobile as an engagement platform. “More and more brands are approaching mobile in an integrated way, using new rich media ad formats to engage with their customers.”

This is a development that pleases Slade, who feels that the proliferation of “blind” mobile ad networks, where advertisers don’t know exactly where their ad will appear, and pay on a CPC (cost per click) basis, has forced mobile into being a direct response channel too early. But KF Lai, CEO of mobile media network Buzz City, disagrees. He feels mobile should be more direct, not less.

He says: “We regularly survey consumers using the mobile internet and ask their opinion on how businesses can better interact with them. One of the most powerful pieces of insight we received recently was that over 90 per cent of those surveyed had bought products or services directly through their mobile. They are comfortable making these direct purchases, but there are few advertisers who provide them with the opportunity to do so via ads with in-built calls to action. Mobile advertising has been dominated by businesses using the medium to raise brand awareness and most have overlooked using it as a sales channel.”

Social mobile At Todacell, CEO Moshe Vaknin notes that social networking is going mobile.

“Beyond Twitter, we’re seeing a migration of social networking activity to mobile platforms,” he says. “This includes the mobile social networks like MocoSpace, as well as originally web-based social networks like

July 2010

Facebook. This is creating new time- and location-based mobile social networking ad opportunities which we’re tapping into.”

Vaknin says Todacell is also seeing the growth of non-phone mobile devices, with demand from advertisers to run campaigns on devices like the iPad and the Kindle.

And Christian Louca, managing director of YOC UK, believes that mobile search will become one of the most lucrative ways of generating advertising dollars going forward. He says: “From a brand perspective, you want to drive people to your destination site. If you think how the internet works, it’s through the searching of topics, keywords and themes.

That’s the way in which mobile will progress, and when it does, the potential for brands and businesses to engage with their audience using location and contextual data is massive.”

Rapid progress The mobile advertising business may have been overhyped, but it’s hard to argue that it is now making rapid progress, as evidenced by the sheer number of mobile ad networks in our round-up. Indeed, in addition to those companies that took part, there were another 20 or so who declined to do so.

Mobile ad formats are also evolving rapidly, with the creation of innovative rich media mobile ad units, with equally innovative calls to action. And as the ad networks make these units available, so more mainstream brands are turning to the mobile channel as another way of engaging with their customers and prospects.

As Tyler Nelson, chairman & chief executive officer at Adenyo puts it: “The mobile economy is growing at an astonishing rate and global brands are beginning to realize its potential to extend their reach, interact with their customers with far greater precision and gain immediate feedback and measurement.”

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

thought leadership

17

DEV ZONE David Mannl, co-founder and creative director at app creation platform and app developer Mippin, argues that cross-platform mobile application creation is about more than just porting the code

W

ith the mobile industry still moving full steam ahead at breakneck pace, developers and content owners find themselves in a situation where they are struggling to port their services and applications quickly enough to all the new platforms that are emerging.

This year alone, we’re set to see brand new mobile operating systems from Samsung, Microsoft and Symbian - all of them with their own software development environment, and with different user interaction metaphors.

And did I mention that each of these will probably come with their own app store? Don’t get me wrong - competition is good, but the cost of porting your services across all of these platforms will leave a big dent in your annual mobile budget.

Common mistake A common mistake I’ve seen recently is where applications have been ported from one platform to the other, but the underlying device-specific user experience has not been taken into consideration.

So what are the big differences in a device’s user experience that can’t be ignored when designing and programming multi-platform apps and services?

User Interface interaction - At the risk of stating the obvious, the biggest difference is, of course between touch and nontouch devices. The requirement to make your app or mobile web service adapt to the interaction with a stylus or finger is a must-have nowadays.

Getting this right is a good stepping stone, but to become the next 5-star app, you will also have to learn how to utilize gestures to improve the user experience.

Making these work across capacitive (iPhone/most Android) devices, and resistive touch (Nokia N97) screens requires a

One-click versus zero-click access When the iPhone launched two years ago, just one click away seemed like a revolution in terms of quick access to content.

And now that concept has been pushed even further by companies like Google, Samsung and Nokia, which offer zero-click

lot of tweaking. In some cases you will be better off reverting back to placing buttons in the User Interface.

access in form of interactive homescreen widgets. These widgets deliver the content

Hardware buttons - An iPhone application requires you to implement a Back button as part of the user interface, while most other modern smartphones, including BlackBerry, Android and Windows Mobile devices, have a dedicated hardware Back button. Make sure you utilize the hardware buttons to ensure your app feels as “native” as possible.

Multitasking - The ability to keep your service or application running in the background can dramatically improve the user experience. Nobody likes to wait for content to download if the phone could do it automatically on the user’s behalf or at a set time/interval. Most modern smartphone operating systems do support that kind of implementation, except for iPhone (iOS4 will offer some basic background processing capabilities) and Windows Phone 7, where you have to use push notifications as a work-around. It’s time-intensive for developers to implement these two completely different approaches, and it also requires modifications to the interaction design of your application.

“This year alone, we’re set to see brand new mobile operating systems from Samsung, Microsoft and Symbian - all of them with their own software development environment”

July 2010

Your iPhone app may look great, but care must be taken when porting any app across to multiple platforms to guarantee a high-quality user experience

straight onto your device, instead of hiding the content behind an icon that has to be launched. Having designed and developed these types of applications, I can say with confidence that retention rates and usage soar significantly if you can offer this additional functionality for phones that have the ability to utilize them.

Best-in-class service In summary, it’s not enough to technically port an application from one platform to another. If you want to create a best-in-class service with a fanatical user base, it requires a complete rethink of the entire user experience. Try to utilize interaction patterns that the user is already familiar with on the target device as much as possible. Do that, and you’ll be laughing all the way to the top of the app store rankings.

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

18

business models

PEAK PERFORMANCE David Murphy talks to InMobi CEO Naveen Tewari about the mobile ad network’s rapid growth and global expansion

S

ometimes a company just seems to come out of nowhere. While Facebook and Twitter are household names today, it’s only a couple of years since barely anyone had heard of them. The same can probably be said of InMobi. The mobile advertising network is in the middle of a major growth spurt, having more than doubled its number of monthly impressions between January (7.5bn) and May (16.7bn) this year alone. It recently launched a $2m (£1.3m) giveaway to mobile applications developers, waiving its usual 40 per cent revenue share for any app developer who includes mobile advertising via InMobi’s network in its mobile apps.

Global expansion Backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sherpalo Ventures, the company launched in 2007 as mKhoj, focusing initially on the Indian market. Having made a name for itself there, it expanded across the rest of the world last summer, and now has offices in India, the US, the UK, Japan, S. Africa and Singapore.

Serving ads from blue-chip companies, on over 9,000 devices, to users in 108 countries, and with 4,000 publisher partners, it is the largest independent mobile ad network in the

world, second only to AdMob overall, now owned by Google of course. Given its recent growth rate, it’s not inconceivable that InMobi could even topple AdMob before the year is out. So how has InMobi come so far, so quickly?

“The key thing for us has been a relentless focus on our technology platform, to ensure that it’s scalable, that it makes it easy for publishers to monetise their mobile properties, and just as easy for advertisers to target users with relevant, contextual advertising,” says InMobi CEO, Naveen Tewari.

Tewari talks a lot about targeting. A significant amount of development resource has gone into InMobi’s technology platform. It enables advertisers not only to target the type of people they think might be interested in their message, but also, to find other mobile users who “look” like them too. InMobi calls this Mobile Customer Discovery.

“An advertiser believes he knows his customer, based on certain facts and parameters, and this is true to a certain extent, but there are always going to people outside of the target group that the advertiser does not know about,” says Tewari.

“We reach 180m mobile users a month, and based on their previous behaviour, we can predict

“Over the next three years, we’ll see things move towards a much more engaging model, more creative, and informed by data” Naveen Tewari, InMobi

with some confidence which ones are going to be relevant for any given advertiser.”

By tracking clickthrough activity on the ads on its network, and feeding this back into its analytics engine, InMobi enables advertisers to target new prospects who are likely to be interested in their message. So confident is the company about the predictive abilities of its analytics engine that it preloads ads for those users it thinks are most likely to respond to them, so that the response time is faster. It also maintains servers in 4 countries to minimise response time for users, wherever they may be.

“Most ad networks treat targeting as a rule, but we see it as a guideline,” says Tewari.

“You can’t hardcode it into the system; you have to build in the flexibility to learn from what users do on their mobile and feed that back in to future marketing campaigns.”

Complete transparency If he’s not talking targeting, Tewari will probably be talking about measurement.

“Measurement is the heart and soul of what we do,” he says.

“We fervently believe in CPC (cost per click) and we offer advertisers complete transparency about the performance of their campaigns. We offer much

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

19

better monetisation for publishers, and we have significantly improved ROI for our advertiser clients.”

At the heart of InMobi’s measurement offering is AdROIt, which uses a system called ‘goal seek’ that enables advertisers to track key mobile advertising campaign objectives (e.g. quotes for car insurance; reviews on a new digital camera; requests for hotel rates) on a CPA (cost per acquisition) basis, and then links this performance to a myriad of possible influences, such as the advertising creative, publisher, and consumer targeting details.

From zero to projected $35m (£23.3m) revenues for 2010 within three years has been some journey for Tewari and his team. But he believes it’s over the next few years that mobile advertising activity is really going to ramp up, and talks of the “ridiculous opportunity” ahead. “According to Morgan Stanley, there will be 6.5bn mobile users by 2014, with 43 per cent of them using 3G” he says. “That’s way ahead of the number of people on the web, or watching TV, so the reach is just incredible.

“Between 2005 and 2009 on mobile, it was all about push-based communications, mainly SMS and mainly from mobile content companies.

Over the next three years, we’ll see things move towards a much more engaging model, more creative, and informed by data. Video advertising will take off in a big way over

Wheels of fortune

For the launch of its FZ-16 bike, motorcycle maker Yamaha wanted to raise interest and awareness among the youth population.

In partnership with InMobi, Yamaha ran an ad campaign which targeted mobile users on community and social networking mobile sites. The ads featured a call to action for users to click through to videos showing the TV commercial for the bike, plus

the next six – 12 months, as platforms and devices become more sophisticated,” he tells Mobile Marketing.

And InMobi’s part in all this? “When you look at these numbers, and then you look at the efficiencies on the content

InMobi in numbers Today

Jan 09

Monthly impressions

16.7bn

420m

Publisher partners

4,000

500

Active Advertisers

250

60

Users

180m

50m

Countries served

180

8

Offices

7 countries

3 countries

Employees

130

50

video interviews with people who had tried out the bike, offering their opinion about its performance. The TV commercial and user review videos both featured a call to action inviting people to find out where Yamaha Motorcycles’ retail outlets were located. Those who clicked on the ads could also download free mobile wallpapers for their phone, showing the bike in action.

side and you look at increasing data speeds, then it’s clear that the mobile ecosystem is set to go through the roof over the next five years,” says Tewari.

“We are looking at something like 20 – 25x growth, and we are in a good position to take part in that growth across every country and every continent in the world. If we can continue to deliver fantastic results for advertisers and publishers, then we should be a significant contributor to the evolution of the mobile marketing ecosystem, over the next five years.”

Given what InMobi has achieved already, in just three years, it would be a brave man to bet against it.

July 2010

The campaign was a hit.

The clickthrough rate averaged out at 1.6 per cent, with spikes of up to 6.6 per cent on some days. 10 per cent of people who clicked on the ad watched the review video, 6 per cent watched the TV commercial, and 7 per cent of all people who clicked on the ad requested the details of the store locations, showing the power of mobile advertising to drive retail footfall.

An InMobi campaign for Reebok leveraged the IPL cricket tournament for a viral campaign which enabled users to download a team jersey wallpaper and send it to friends

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

20

the real world

FOCUS ON THE UNITED STATES After a slow start, the US mobile marketing sector is beginning to build up a head of steam, writes David Murphy

F

or a country so deeply tuned in to the art of selling and advertising, it’s fair to say that the US has been somewhat slow out of the blocks where mobile marketing is concerned. Until fairly recently, many Americans had never sent a text message, and before the iPhone and its App Store came along, the idea of using a mobile phone for anything other than voice calls was anathema to much of the American population.

But Michael Becker, N. America managing director for the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) believes there are good reasons for this. He points out that it was only four years ago that the MMA released its Consumer Best Practices document that outlined industry guidelines for best practice in mobile marketing, and that it was only in March last year that US carriers came together under the MMA’s stewardship to consolidate their individual carrier playbooks on messaging-related mobile campaigns into the document.

“It’s still early days,” says Becker. “The practicality of doing a lot of this stuff did not exist until a couple of years

ago, and the rules were not commonly understood until one year ago.”

Ubiquitous coverage Tyler Nelson, CEO of mobile marketing firm Adenyo, agrees with this assessment, noting that the US only

“Best Buy are using mobile as a connective glue that ties the experience of all their media together” Michael Becker, MMA

achieved ubiquitous cellular coverage across urban markets a few years ago. “If you cannot get a dialling tone to make a call, then how will you ever trust your mobile to carry out mission-critical applications like consumer banking?” he asks. “In Europe, coverage is ubiquitous, so the trust has been built, and this is why, in the European marketplace, you have been able to accelerate mobile marketing, because it has become a trusted channel, so if you want to act on an offer you have just received on your mobile, you can. This sort of implicit trust is only just beginning to seep into the US marketplace now.”

With the infrastructure now in better shape, however, mobile marketing activity in the US is beginning to ramp up. The MMA’s Becker says that after a period in which mobile campaigns were fuelled by whatever budget was left over from the online activity, leading brands such as CNN, Procter & Gamble, Target and Best Buy are now taking the channel much more seriously.

“Best Buy are using mobile as connective glue that ties the experience of all their media together,” says Becker. “So

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

21

“A good smartphone app or campaign is only one element of a successful multichannel strategy; how you reach people on feature phones is key” Tyler Nelson, Adenyo

StatAttack Mobile Content Usage % Share of US Mobile Subscribers

Total Mobile Subscribers Sent text message to another phone Used browser Used downloaded apps Played games Accessed social networking site or blog Listened to music on mobile phone

Mar 10 100 63.7 30.1 28.6 21.8 18.7 13.2

Top Smartphone Platforms % Share of Smartphone Subscribers

Total Smartphone Subscribers RIM Apple Microsoft Google Palm

Feb 10 Nov 09 Change 100 100 N/A 42.1 40.8 1.3 25.4 25.5 - 0.1 15.1 19.1 - 4 9 3.8 5.2 5.4 7.2 - 1.8

Dec 09 Change 100 N/A 63.1 0.6 27.5 2.6 26 2.6 21.6 0.2 15.9 2.8 12.1 1.1

Top Mobile Operators % Share of Mobile Subscribers

Total Audience: 13+ yrs old Verizon AT&T (Cingular) Sprint T-Mobile Tracfone

Mar 10 100 31.1 25.2 12 12 5.1

Dec 09 Change 100 N/A 31.2 - 0.1 25 0.2 12.1 - 0.1 12.1 - 0.1 4.8 0.3

Top Mobile Handset Makers % Share of Mobile Subscribers

Total Mobile Subscribers Samsung Motorola LG RIM Nokia

Mar 10 100 21.9 21.9 21.8 8.3 8.3

Dec 09 Change 100 N/A 21.2 0.7 23.5 - 1.6 21.9 - 0.1 7 1.3 9.2 - 0.9

Source: comScore MobiLens 3-month avg. ending Mar. 2010 vs. 3-month avg. ending Dec. 2009 Total US Age 13+

The Starbucks Card mobile phone app enables users to check their balance, track rewards, and even pay for drinks via their phone

they are using an app, a mobile site and text messaging, with a call to action on price tags in their stores inviting consumers to text in to get a price comparison.”

Coca Cola is another brand using mobile to good effect, says Becker, with an “under the cap” loyalty programme.

Bottles of Coke have a code under the cap that consumers can text in to in order to join the programme. He adds that US airlines such as American Airlines and Delta are enabling customers to check in via mobile, and mobile couponing campaigns are also becoming popular.

In September 2009, coffee chain Starbucks launched an iPhone application version of its Starbucks Card prepaid card. With the app downloaded to their iPhone, the user enters their Starbucks Card number, and the phone becomes their Starbucks Card, enabling them to check their balance, track the “Stars” they earn toward free drinks, and reload the card from the phone, using a credit card. In some stores, users can also pay for drinks via the iPhone app.

And according to KF Lai, CEO of mobile media firm BuzzCity, the Starbucks activity is part of a wider trend among the retail sector.

“Retailers are using mobile to enhance the shopping experience,” says Lai. “Their experiments with text programs, mobile sites and iPhone apps have so far proved successful, so we are expecting a higher rate of adoption in 2010.”

But Adenyo’s Nelson describes the majority of packaged goods companies’ efforts in mobile as still “highly

July 2010

Best Buy invites consumers to text in while in store to compare its prices with other stores

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

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the real world

experimental”, and says the mobile marketing industry needs to engage in some serious thought leadership to help client-side marketers understand that having an iPhone application does not equate to having a mobile strategy.

“We need to get clients thinking about what reach an iPhone app gives them,” he says. “It may get the marketing team excited, but it will not deliver an exciting return on investment compared to other channels. A good smartphone app or campaign is only one element of a successful multichannel strategy; how you reach people on feature phones is key.”

Turning point In this respect, says Diane Strahan, VP mobile services at Neustar, the relief effort for the earthquake in Haiti may prove to have been a turning point. “That was the campaign that taught Americans how to use text messaging,” she says.

“More than $40m (£27.8m) raised in 40 days through mobile giving, and for a lot of people, that was the first time

Smartphone ownership is growing rapidly in the US. Nielsen says that by the end of 2011, smartphones will outnumber feature phones

Americans took to text messaging with a passion after the Haiti earthquake, raising millions of dollars for the relief effort via SMS donations

they had used text messaging. The carriers learned a lot from that campaign too, about how a concentrated focus could be applied to create something incredibly good for humanity in just a few weeks, and this has thrown the spotlight on the opportunities for non-profits on mobile. This is going to be appearing on a lot of conference agendas.”

The Haiti mobile giving effort was indeed a remarkable one, and there are other encouraging signs that, as a nation, America is fast getting used to the idea of doing more on mobile. Research firm comScore’s MobiLens survey for the three months ending March 2010 revealed that 63.7 per cent of US mobile subscribers had used text messaging on their mobile device, up 0.6 percentage points compared to the three months prior. 30.1 per cent had used their browser, an increase of 2.6 percentage points, while 28.6 per cent had used a downloaded app (up 2 per cent), and 13.2 per cent had listened to music on their mobile phone (up 1.1 per cent).

Another research firm, Nielsen, has predicted that there will be more smart-

phones than feature phones in the US market by the end of 2011. Nielsen makes this prediction in spite of the fact that only 21 per cent of American wireless subscribers were using a smartphone as of Q4, 2009, compared to 19 per cent in Q3, 2009 and 14 per cent at the end of 2008.

“The Haiti mobile giving campaign was the campaign that taught Americans how to use text messaging” Diane Strahan, Neustar

But Nielsen says the share of smartphones as a proportion of overall device sales rose to 29 per cent for phone purchasers between October 2009 and March 2010, while 45 per cent of respondents to a Nielsen survey indicated that their next device will be a smartphone. In a blog post, the company said: “If we combine these intentional data points with falling prices and increasing capabilities of these devices along with an explosion of applications for devices, we are seeing the beginning of a groundswell. This increase will be so rapid, that by the end of 2011, Nielsen expects more smartphones in the US market than feature phones.”

So with the infrastructure improving, smartphone ownership rising, and major brands starting to embrace the mobile channel, things look nicely set for the next stage of mobile marketing’s evolution in the US. The sector may have got off to a slow start in the country, but no one can deny that it is catching up fast, and with two US firms, Apple and Google, battling it out for control of the market, the pace of change can only quicken during the rest of 2010.

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

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technology

Swedish company Great Connection has developed a system that sends an ultrasound image of a baby to the expectant mother’s mobile

SmarTattack Innovative mobile health applications and services are emerging, but they need to extend beyond smartphones, says George Cole

M

ary has developed a nasty-looking rash on her arm and wants to see a doctor about it. The problem is that it’s Saturday afternoon and she won’t be able to book a doctor’s appointment now until Monday morning. So, Mary switches on her 3G mobile phone and has a video consultation with a registered doctor.

It may sound like a futuristic scenario, but the 3G Doctor service offers such facilities to adults living in the UK and Ireland today. 3G Doctor is an example of how the mobile phone could be at the heart of a growing mobile health (m-health) market. Datamonitor forecasts that the telehealth monitoring market in N. America and Europe will grow from $3.3bn (£2.1bn) in 2009, to $7.7bn in 2012.

The number of telehealth subscribers worldwide will reach 55m in 2016, according to the analyst, Inmedica.

Elderly population Health costs are expected to explode over the next decade, as the elderly population increases (there are now more than 600m people over the age of 60) and the number of people with chronic diseases grows. CSMG (Cambridge Strategic Management Group) estimates that

the m-health market is worth $1.9bn across Europe. However, this still accounts for less than 1 per cent of European expenditure on healthcare, although CSMG sees the market being worth $5.8bn in 2014. “While the m-health market is creating significant opportunities for new players to enter the sector, there is no silver bullet for its success,” says CSMG senior vice president, Susan Simmons. “New collaborations and new business models with

“Mobile operators are in a strong position in the m-health market, because they already have a relationship with the consumer” Olivier Beaujard, Sierra Wireless

traditional healthcare players [and the mobile telecoms industry] will be key to establishing the m-health industry for the long term.”

M-health could increase health service efficiency and reduce costs. The idea of using a mobile phone for m-health isn’t new, says David Doherty, 3G Doctor’s head of business development. “Health is one of the biggest drivers for the adoption of the mobile phone,” he says. “Many people purchased a mobile phone in case they need to make a 999 [emergency] call.

NHS Direct [a UK telephone health consultation service] estimates that more than 80 per cent of calls are from mobiles.”

Doherty adds that the mobile phone is a natural device for m-health: “It’s highly personal, portable and always on. There’s

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

25

a huge opportunity to leverage the abilities of this mass medium device.” Olivier Beaujard, vice president of market development for Sierra Wireless, says: “Mobile operators are in a strong position in the m-health market, because they already have a relationship with the consumer through their billing systems.”

Telecoms infrastructure Many companies have now entered the m-health market, including Orange, which set-up Orange Healthcare three years ago. “We are not a healthcare provider,” says Herve Algrin, sales development director for Orange Healthcare. “We provide the telecoms infrastructure and interoperability for the m-health services.” Orange Healthcare operates throughout the EMEA region, including France, the UK, Romania, Kenya and Egypt. M-health services can include remote health monitoring, appointment reminders, prescription ordering, personal emergency response services and more.

In developing countries, medical information or advice could be delivered to people in remote locations via SMS. Don Jones, Qualcomm’s vice president of health and life sciences, says: “There are some smart m-health applications being developed. A Swedish company, Great Connection, has created a solution which sends a baby’s ultrasound image to the expectant mother’s smartphone.

“AT&T is working with Vitality, which produces wireless pill bottles. These tell patients when to take their medication using audio and visual reminders. If these are ignored, a message is sent to the patient’s cellphone.”

Tim Baker, marketing communications manager at Mobile Distillery, describes how m-health services can be used with diabetic patients, who need to monitor their blood glucose levels. “The normal

Mobile technology could be used to help ensure that elderly patients have taken their medication when they were due to

way is for the patient to take a test, write down the results and then take the piece of paper somewhere. But it’s possible to transmit the results from a glucose meter via Bluetooth to a smartphone. The phone has an app which asks the patient what they have just eaten, and then sends this information and the glucose results to their healthcare worker via a secure server. It’s fast, efficient, and it happens in real-time.”

Mass market These solutions are impressive, but 3G Doctor’s Doherty warns: “This is an industry driven by technologists and researchers, who are always looking at adding things to a device. If m-health is to become mass market, it needs to reach as many people as possible, and that means using technologies such as SMS, mobile internet and video messaging. If you develop a health app for the iPhone, you’re only going to reach a small percentage of people with phones.”

Doherty adds that it’s possible to use today’s mobile phone technology for smart m-health applications, such as a built-in warning system which replaces specialised handsets with panic buttons: “Why not have a phone which sends an alert to a relative or friend if the owner’s handset hasn’t been touched after a pre-set time?” He also dismisses the idea that elderly people can’t manage mobile

phones: “I recently taught an 82 year-old woman how to text her daughter. Elderly people are resourceful.” Sierra Wireless’s Beaujard says: “A challenge is to make devices that are easy for consumers to use.”

The m-health market is highly fragmented, so standardisation and interoperability are major issues. The Continua Health Alliance (CHA) aims to address these issues by establishing m-health industry standards based on technologies such as Bluetooth and wi-fi. CHA is a non-profit, open industry alliance of more than 233 companies that includes medical device manufacturers, handset manufacturers, network operators and application services companies.

CHA recently demonstrated an end-to-end m-health solution using a pulse oximeter, a device which measures the oxygen saturation of a patient’s blood, and an Android phone.

CHA president Rick Cnossen, says: “This is a nascent market and the different segments need to come together.” Cnossen adds that other issues that need to be addressed include developing viable business models; ensuring clinicians’ have the tools and the time to cope with m-health services; and developing robust security systems.

Another hurdle is regulation.

“One of the biggest questions is whether using m-health services on a handset turns your mobile phone into a medical device, which has to be regulated,” says Cnossen. “The regulations are behind the technology,” says Qualcomm’s Jones. “If I download a heart rate monitor app to my phone, does that app need to be certified?” Orange Healthcare’s Algrin insists: “A mobile phone is not a medical device; it’s just a data transfer device.” No doubt these and other issues will eventually be resolved, because so many parties are so keen for the m-health market to succeed.

July 2010

“If m-health is to become mass market, it needs to reach as many people as possible” David Doherty, 3G Doctor

3G Doctor offers users video consultations with a registered doctor via mobile

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

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business models

Flat broke

Operators have been caught out by the amount of data being consumed by customers on flat-rate plans. So as operators like O2 in the UK scrap flat-rate data, what will be the impact on mobile marketing? David Murphy reports

“Carriers need to make sure customers pay for what they use and control it” Steven van Zanen, Acision

I

f there was one message ringing out loud and clear from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year, it was this: that mobile operators have a huge problem on their hands dealing with the massive explosion in data usage from customers on flatrate data plans.

It’s ironic really, given that many operators saw increased data ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) as the answer to falling voice and SMS revenues.

The problem is that while these data plans do generate additional revenue for the operators, the strain they put on the network is such that operators are barely covering their costs, let alone making a profit from them. As a result, they are being forced into unplanned and unbudgeted network upgrades. And with smartphone penetration increasing, the problem is only going to get worse.

“The problem is that operators have never been able to get high penetration or revenue for things like mobile TV and instant messaging, so when 3G came along, they had this pipe, but there were really no devices that could use the extra capacity,” says Steven van Zanen, VP product mar-

keting at Acision. “Then in the last couple of years, we have seen this phenomenon where even a small device like the iPhone can generate something like a fixed-line experience on a mobile. Added to that, because of the limited uptake of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) initially, and the fact people didn’t know what they were paying for it, carriers introduced flat-rate prices to increase penetration, and no one thought through what it would mean.”

What it has meant is severe network congestion in urban areas, with O2 UK CEO Ronan Dunne apologising late last year for the poor quality of the network’s coverage in London, and a dawning realisation among operators that something has to give, as smartphone ownership increases.

It was no real surprise, then, when O2 in the UK announced in June that it was scrapping unlimited data plans. Instead, customers will get a monthly data allowance of 500MB, 750MB or 1GB as part of their tariff. Once this has been used, if they want more data, they will have to pay for it.

Andrew Bud, executive chairman of mBlox, is surprised that the operators

didn’t see the problem they were creating for themselves.

He says: “If you give people access to a resource which is associated with ever-increasing usage, then you mustn’t be surprised when you get ever-increasing usage, so I do not understand why they were caught on the hop.”

Graded plans So much for the problem, what’s the solution? Bud believes more operators will follow the model adopted in Scandinavia, and now by O2 in the UK, where operators have raised the price of data plans, and put hard caps on the volume of data included in these plans. “It’s been proven

The iPhone has been a prime factor in the explosion in data usage that has caused such a massive headache for mobile operators

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

27

beyond doubt now that they don’t need to offer promotional rates, so they will have to grade the plans and charge more for the higher capacity plans,” he says.

Acision’s van Zanen agrees with this assessment. “Carriers need to make sure customers pay for what they use and control it,” he says. “People will still be able to buy a data plan for £5 a month, but for those on the lowest-priced plans, operators will reserve the right to reduce the level of cover or performance at peak times, but they will try to do it in such a way that the customer hardly notices.”

So it’s really a question of policy control, as Joanne Steinberg, director of marketing at Bridgewater Systems, explains: “Policy control allows operators to manage the bandwidth across the subscribers more efficiently and to differentiate between the gold business plan and the basic plan and offer more tiered services,” she says.

If they think they are going to have to pay extra for this, they might think twice. mBlox’s Bud thinks it will encourage brands to use the Sender Pays model it has been promoting for the past few years, in which the advertiser brand, rather than the consumer, picks up the cost of the data download associated with the campaign it is running.

Acision’s van Zanen believes there is an opportunity for operators to deliver a guaranteed Service Level Agreement (SLA) to brands looking to reach people via the mobile web. He says: “If I’m Google and the cell is congested in London, then AdWords is out, so that affects my business. So the carrier could play the SLA card to help certain applications to operate properly in those situations.”

Additional features Alternatively, an operator could allow a third party such as Facebook to use its messaging services as if they were

“The data that operators have needs to be analysed in a completely different way, not just for customer retention, but for marketing optimisation, to maximise the value of the relationship” Saverio Romeo, Frost & Sullivan At first glance, this looks like bad news for anyone engaged in mobile marketing.

After all, if someone is used to a data plan that allows him or her to go online on their phone whenever they want, there’s more chance they will be exposed to mobile advertising, and more likelihood that they will respond to mobile campaigns that involve using data services on their phone.

the brand’s own, with additional features not available to regular customers, to create a supercharged Facebook Messaging service that offers users everything they need to communicate with other mobile users on Facebook.

“Operators have been targeting enterprise customers, but purely to buy voice or text,” says van Zanen. “They now have an opportunity to start

Operators will look for deeper co-operation with brands to enable them to make the most of mobile as a marketing channel

making money out of the fact that they are the ones who control who gets the best-quality access to a service.”

Inbal Ben Ami, product marketing manager for Comverse mobile internet, agrees that operators will seek to co-operate more with brands, allocating more bandwidth for a video download service, for example, in return for a share of the mobile advertising revenues it generates.

And Bridgewater’s Steinberg believes that operators will start to use mobile advertising and commerce as a way of subsidising data usage. “Where a commercial transaction takes place on the device, the operator will take a percentage of it, and this revenue stream will subsidise the network investments operators need to make to take account of increased data usage,” she says.

It’s all a very long way away from the days when mobile operators made all their money from voice and text, and as Saverio Romeo, industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan points out, it has important implications for operators.

“Ericsson reported recently that for the first time, the use of data had overtaken the use

July 2010

of voice and text. So mobile users’ behaviour is changing, and this places a demand on operators to understand their customers’ behaviour,” he says. “The data that operators have needs to be analysed in a completely different way, not just for customer retention, but for marketing optimisation, to maximise the value of the relationship. Operators are investing in the tools to do this, but they are only at the beginning of the process.”

In the meantime, O2 is unlikely to be the last operator to call time on flat-rate data.

People may be nervous about interacting with QR codes and other types of mobile marketing activity if they think it’s going to cost them

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

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the real world

LIQUID ASSET For people in developing countries, where banking infrastructure is limited, the mobile phone is becoming an indispensable financial services tool, says George Cole

M

illions of people are now carrying a bank around in their pocket. Mobile banking, or m-banking, is set to explode over the next few years, and surprisingly, many m-banking users will be in the developing world. According to McKinsey, around 45m people without traditional bank accounts are using mobile money, a figure that could reach 360m by 2012.

McKinsey also reports that in less than three years, this sector could generate $5bn (£3.24bn) annually in direct revenue.

The reason why consumers in developing countries are embracing m-banking is simple: ease of access. For every 10,000 people in developing countries, there is one bank branch, one ATM, but more than 5,100 mobile phones, says

McKinsey. The GSMA (GSM Association) reports that in Bangladesh, only 13 per cent of the population has access to a bank, with 130m people having no access to formal financial services.“In India, people are using mobile internet above a PC, because it’s cheaper and easier to get online,” says Tom Smith, managing director of Trendstream, a social media research consultancy.

Spending priorities A survey of mobile banking across different territories conducted by Lightspeed Research and Trendstream found that 28 per cent of respondents in India had used a mobile banking service in the past month, compared with just 5.1 per cent in France. Paul Berney,

EMEA managing director of the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association), says: “Mobile is probably the only medium that can reach the mass of the unbanked.” Berney adds that a lifestyle survey of people on

of people,” he says. Berney also points out that in Kenya, mobile operator Safaricom offers the M-PESA service, which allows users to borrow, save or make payments via SMS. It now has around 8m users.

“In Western Europe, the big focus is on m-banking, but in developing countries, m-remittance and m-payment are addressing more familiar needs” Diarmuid Mallon, Sybase 365 very low incomes found that their main spending priorities were on clean water, electricity and mobile telecoms. “I find it amazing that mobile phones are so important to this group

The mobile messaging and commerce company Sybase 365 has joined forces with Kenyan mobile commerce services provider MobiKash Afrika to launch a mobile wallet solution

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

29 for the unbanked and semiunbanked in East and Southern Africa. It is currently being piloted in Kenya. Diarmuid Mallon, senior product marketing manager on Sybase 365’s m-commerce team, says: “In Western Europe, the big focus is on m-banking, but in developing countries, m-remittance and m-payment are addressing more familiar needs.” Mallon points out why m-payment services are so popular. “A lot of people are working away from home, and they need to send funds back home.”

Many migrant workers are doing this by topping up friends’ or family members’ phones with talktime minutes and text: “It’s a way of sending say, $10, by proxy, and there are no fees or foreign exchange rates to worry about. Airtime is now a common currency,” says Mallon.

In S. Africa, mobile services provider MoPay has teamed up with MobiKash Afrika and Sybase 365 to offer m-commerce services to the unbanked. The service could also be used by governments and NGOs (NonGovernmental Organisations) to distribute funds across the country. In March 2009, the S. African-based mobile financial services platform provider Fundamo signed a deal with network operator MTN to use Fundamo’s Mobile Wallet solution for its mobile banking services, which will be offered to more than 80m subscribers in 21 territories.

“People are spending money on inefficient financial services,” says Fundamo CEO,

Research has found that people on low incomes prioritize their spending around clean water, electricity and mobile telecoms

“This will be the biggest revolution since the invention of money” Hannes van Rensburg, Fundamo Hannes van Rensburg. “Sending money to another person is an expensive exercise and can be insecure. Mobile can be successfully deployed and utilised, and the SIM card offers a secure solution.”

In 2009, the GSMA launched its Mobile Money for the Unbanked (MMU) programme, supported by a $12.5m grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Some $5m of the grant has been used to help support network operators in Africa, Asia and Latin America establish m-banking services.

Around 130 projects have been deployed, with 60 of them operating on a commercial basis.

Great opportunities MMU’s goal is to reach 20m people - who are either unbanked or living on less than $2 a day - by 2012, but Gavin Krugel, director of mobile money at the GSMA, admits that there are challenges in achieving this target: “There are great opportunities for banks and mobile network operators to work in partnership, but banks don’t always see this.”

Seema Desai, the MMU’s senior programme manager, says another challenge is encouraging consumers to use m-banking

services on an ongoing basis: “It’s been a mixed response,” she notes, “with some services like M-PESA achieving a 60 per cent usage rate, but for others, deployment is low –perhaps 1020 per cent.” Desai says it could be that a killer application in one country is a low priority in another, and that there is a need to educate consumers and get them to trust m-banking services. “A one-size fits all approach simply does not work,” adds the GSMA’s Krugel.

Fundamo’s van Rensburg believes there’s a need to educate everyone involved in the m-banking ecosystem, and that another challenge is complying with local banking regulations. “And you have to develop commercial models – what to charge and how.”

Sybase 365’s Mallon says that incentives, such as offering a free three-month subscription to an exchange rate service if a person makes a transaction, can help: “You have to encourage consumers and then follow up to stimulate usage,” he says. Spiwe Chireka, Frost & Sullivan’s Africa information and communication technologies industry analyst, says that most m-banking services in developing countries have been about: “Telecoms providers expanding their revenue and subscriber base.” Chireka sees three big issues facing m-banking markets. The first is regulation – can you allow telecoms providers to play in the financial sector? “Unless regulation allows for this, telecoms operators could find themselves simply becoming a pipe for m-banking services,” she tells Mobile Marketing.

Another problem is that it is difficult and expensive to launch m-banking services: “If you are a telecoms provider, you have to find a way of getting your database to talk to the financial company’s database and that isn’t easy,” says Chireka. She notes that small and medium-sized

July 2010

Consumers in emerging markets routinely send mobile airtime to friends and family members as a form of currency

telecoms companies, like Tigo - which operates in about a dozen African countries - have not yet entered the m-banking market. The third hurdle is that companies offering third party m-payments platforms are facing barriers: “A vendor like Comviva is having difficulties entering the market because the larger telecoms players often prefer to develop solutions in-house,” notes Chireka.

But despite these challenges, there is much optimism for the prospects of m-banking in developing countries.

“This will definitely become a mainstream offering,” says the GSMA’s Krugel. Fundamo’s van Rensburg is even more emphatic, saying: “This will be the biggest revolution since the invention of money.”

Using the phone as a payment mechanism is proving popular in countries where bank branches and ATMs are in short supply

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

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MARKETING AWARDS

MOBILE MARKETING AWARDS

best practice

31

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EFFECTIVE MOBILE MARKETING AWARDS

EFFECTIVE MOBILE MARKETING AWARDS

Say hello to the

EMMAs

Introducing our new awards programme for the mobile marketing industry The Effective Mobile Marketing Awards (aka the EMMAs) is our new Awards programme for the mobile marketing business that recognises the effectiveness of mobile marketing campaigns, applications, sites and other activities in the mobile channel.

There are 13 categories, including a Grand Prix award which will be voted on at the Awards Ceremony, taking place in London in December.

In each category, we are concerned only with one thing: effectiveness. We want to find, and recognise, the mobile applications, campaigns, websites and other promotions that have best succeeded in meeting campaign objectives, whether that’s to raise brand

awareness, drive sales, increase loyalty, or whatever the brand was seeking to do.

We have secured the services of some of the best names in the business to join our judging panel, including Jonathan Bass, managing director of Incentivated; Russell Buckley, vice president, global alliances at AdMob; Jeremy Copp, vice president, Mobile Europe at comScore; Ben Cusack, creative director at Mobile Interactive Group; mobile specialist Helen Keegan; Nick Lane, CEO of mobileSQUARED; Alex Meisl, chairman of Sponge; John Mew, head of mobile at the Internet Advertising Bureau; and Bob Wootton, director of media & advertising at the ISBA.

EMMAs category breakdown: Most Effective Mobile Advertising Campaign Most Effective Mobile Application - b2c Most Effective Mobile Application - b2b Most Effective Mobile Operator Opt-in Subscriber Database Campaign Most Effective Mobile CRM/Enterprise Messaging Campaign Most Effective Sales Promotion/Direct Response Campaign Most Effective Mobile Site Most Effective mCommerce Solution Most Effective Location-based Service/Campaign Most Effective Bluetooth Marketing Campaign Most Effective Mobile Couponing or Barcode Campaign Most Effective Mobile Search Campaign Grand Prix Award

ENTER NOW! For more on what we’re looking for in each category, and to enter, head for:

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com/emmas Most effective b2c mobile app will be one of the most keenly-contested categories in the awards

The EMMAs will honour the most effective mobile activity, across 13 categories

It costs just £100 to submit an entry.

The deadline for entries is 27 August 2010.

You can find full terms and conditions on the website.

July 2010

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32

best practice

Campaign Showcase We throw the spotlight on some recent mobile marketing campaigns that have caught our eye

“Cracking Campaign Gromit!”

Marks & Spencer (M&S) has delivered a number of mobile ‘firsts’ for a retailer, including a Back to School mobile internet site; weekly SMS alerts for in-store promotions; and a mobile magazine accessed via on-pack 2D barcodes.

For Christmas 2009, the company wanted to use mobile to drive people to its e-commerce website. M&S had the rights to use Aardman Animation’s iconic Wallace & Gromit characters, and briefed mobile marketing agency Incentivated to mobilise W&G with a

fun, engaging, viral campaign to encourage shoppers to choose M&S gifts.

The centrepiece of the campaign was an M&S Wallace & Gromit Mobile Gift Site, where customers could choose M&S Christmas gifts for themselves, and pass their ‘wishlists’ on to their friends and family members.

To drive traffic to the site, a text message was sent to M&S’s opted in customer database. Banner ads were placed on mobile internet sites, search ads were placed within mobile search engines, and Facebook and Twitter updates were broadcast, containing links to the site.

The site contained one of Wallace’s famous inventions to help customers choose presents they might like to receive for Christmas. Customers started by completing a few fun questions which the W&G contraption used to profile the customer as a type of cheese (e.g. Ravishing Roquefort, Gorgeous Gouda), and recommend appropriate gifts.

Customers were then prompted to send their wishlist on to friends and family via MMS (picture messaging),

prompting a viral effect by encouraging the friend to view the product range and costs, and crank the contraption themselves and receive their own set of gift suggestions.

Friends received a free themed picture message, and customers received free themed wallpapers for their phone as a thank you. In addition, a mobile service triggered an email to customers, taking them to the e-commerce site.

Results The campaign attracted M&S customers of all ages. It exceeded visitor and repeat visit targets, and provided valuable insights about using SMS, mobile advertising and search.

A third of all visitors to the site completed profiles and sent them to friends. 28 per cent of visitors to the mobile site supplied email addresses, triggering personalised emails linking to marksandspencer.com. The site reached approximately 10,000 people who visited 1.4 times each. 16 per cent of visitors downloaded a vCal mobile calendar alert, reminding them of their last order dates for goods purchased through the ecommerce website for delivery

before Charistmas. Interestingly, clickthrough rates from the banner ads were higher among the over-35s than among the under-35 age group.

The campaign convinced M&S senior management about mobile as a channel to deliver innovative and creative connections with customers, create strong word of mouth advocacy, convert interest into sales, and develop long term loyalty.

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

33

In Touch One of the reasons for the explosion in smartphone usage is the success of touchscreen devices. Last year, BlackBerry maker RIM entered the touchscreen market with the launch of the BlackBerry Storm 9500.

RIM and mobile advertising firm Out There Media teamed up to create and manage a mobile ad campaign that targeted the under-26 year old market across Austria with information about the new handset. The campaign ran for two weeks in August 2009 and was delivered to Vodafone subscribers via the Vodafone live! portal. Visitors to the portal were offered a free

Justin Timberlake music video as an incentive to watch a short, 15-second ad.

February 2010 in support of Jobsite’s nationwide TV advertising activity.

Featuring 15 second edits of the TV creatives, the ads appeared prior to requested news and sports reports on key mobile sites such as Sky and ITN, and on the news services of network operators, including Orange and 3. This was one of the largest UK mobile video campaigns to date, with the Jobsite ads being shown more than 2m times by the end of the two month run.

It was also the first mobile video campaign in the UK to be shown across multiple carriers, apps and publishers at the same time.

Results

Results By the end of the two-week campaign, the BlackBerry Storm ad had been viewed a total of 140,000 times. The ad achieved a clickthrough rate of 5.5 per cent, and the Justin Timberlake video was streamed

a total of 2,101 times to mobile phone users. The conversion rate for the entire campaign came in at a hugely impressive 27.5 per cent.

“The effectiveness of mobile advertising is obvious: we are exactly where we want to be, tapping new target groups with successful campaigns like this one,” says Carsten Wallmann, carrier marketing manager for RIM’s Vodafone Business Unit in Germany.

Out There Media CEO Kerstin Trikalitis adds: “This is a great example of targeted mobile advertising in action.

We believe very strongly in the power of reaching out to consumers directly, and we are very happy to witness through all our campaigns that mobile advertising is an ideal way of doing so. Targeted and appropriate campaigns, such as the ones that we have run for Emporia and RIM, prove that this approach can achieve great results.”

Just the Job At the start of the year, mobile agency Yodel Digital created a mobile ad campaign for the recruitment site, Jobsite.

“Jobsite have been advertising on TV for the last year and a half using a number of highly successful TV commercials staring Max Beasley. As the campaign and the business evolved, it became clear that there was an opportunity to take this winning TV creative into other areas,” explains Yodel chairman, Mick Rigby.

“In addition to the TV, mobile pre-roll and online video on demand was added to the media schedule.”

The campaign ran throughout January and

The campaign delivered a 427 per cent increase in traffic to the Jobsite mobile site. It also proved to be incredibly strong against other advertising media such as TV and print, with 40 per cent of people who saw the Jobsite ad seeing it on their mobile.

“We’re always looking at new ways to reach and engage with our target audience and are well known for being the first to try innovative new solutions,” Jobsite group marketing director, Felix Wetzel, tells Mobile Marketing.

“Yodel Digital are known to be pioneers in the UK mobile space so were the obvious

July 2010

choice for us when looking to explore this area.”

Yodel’s Rigby adds: “Mobile is going to play a big part in recruitment in the not too distant future. Now is the time to get the learnings to take advantage of the lack of competition in the market. As one of the leaders in the sector, it was important to be ahead of the curve to understand what could be achieved.”

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

34

thought leadership

OFFDECK

Mobile specialist Helen Keegan calls for an alternative approach to mobile app distribution

D

ownloaded any apps lately? How was it for you? I must admit, I’m finding it an increasingly frustrating experience.

Because ironically, the more choice we get – there are now approaching 200,000 apps out there, according to a recent whitepaper from Bango - the more difficult it is to find anything decent. The app developers themselves don’t like it much either. Not only do they have to decide which platform(s) to develop for, they also have to worry about that wonderful word: discoverability. They might have the coolest, neatest, most useful app on the planet, but if they don’t market the socks off it (which requires both a skillset, and a budget of a size most don’t possess), the chances of it being found by users are slim.

Media owners But there is a solution, and I’m a little surprised that it has not been adopted already.

I think there’s a big opportunity for media owners to take on the role of trusted third party distributors of mobile applications.

They have the trusted brand, after all, so their customers/viewers/readers are more likely to have confidence in the quality of an app that they have chosen to distribute or endorse, rather than one they stumbled across in an app store.

By media owners, I mean anyone from large broadcasters and newspapers such as Sky, CNN and The Daily Mail, to niche websites and magazines. Let’s say, for example, that you’ve designed an app that enables you to enter the registration number of a second-hand car you’re interested in, that

then returns details of the number of previous owners, the mileage on the clock each time the car changed hands, and the approximate market value of that make and model of car, given its age. I have no idea whether such detailed information would be freely available to include in the app, but if it were, and you had created it, what better place to distribute it than via the What Car website and magazine? The app developer gets a highly targeted audience of car enthusiasts, while the publisher gets a share of the revenues, either from sales of the app or from in-app advertising or sponsorship. In addition, the publisher can also collect key audience data, giving them the opportunity to market other mobile apps and services to that customer down the line through use of in-app advertising slots and links back to their mobile website.

The key point being that the publishers would have several app developers pitching them to endorse their application, and would take on the role of the trusted intermediary, using their in-depth knowledge of the subject to evaluate each app on their readers’ behalf, and endorse the one(s) they thought could deliver real value to the readers. As a media owner, the publisher would also have the ideal vehicle to explain to readers what the app is all about, and what you actually get for your money.

Exactly the same principle would apply to a hotel-finding or flight-booking app.

Instead of searching through dozens of apps on any given app store, the consumer would go to their usual, trusted source of travel news and information, where they

would find a few recommended apps to choose from, with the publisher having gone through the process of evaluating dozens of apps and choosing the best ones to offer its customers. It has to be a better way of doing things than just dumping app after app after app in the app stores and hoping that somehow, people will find the one they want.

And if a media owner gets behind this, and has their ‘Game of the week’, their ‘Useful app of the week’, and their ‘Random but looks kind of interesting app of the week so why don’t you try it’, then developers won’t have to rely solely on getting into the Top 20 charts on the app stores in order to reach customers and make money.

Financial Opportunity At the same time, media owners understand advertising; they know what their customers want and who they are, and what the financial opportunity might be, and this is invaluable information to guide individual developers and small development houses to focus on specific markets and customer needs and wants, rather than creating apps for people like themselves.

In this increasingly fragmented world, branding is important, and will continue to be important. And sometimes, piggybacking on someone else’s brand trust to get your product to market is extremely valuable. So come on media owners, think outside the box, help your audience get into mobile apps, and support up and coming content talent. And while you’re at it, you might just make some money.

July 2010 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

‘‘SocIAL IS DEAD LonG LIvE ThE vALuE WEB ’’ ThE FuTuRE IS AGnoSTIc

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Instead of setting marketing budgets around devices and delivery methods, the switchedon marketer will be looking at providing a user journey that is channel agnostic. Today’s marketer needs to understand what the consumer wants, and how to execute it quickly.

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