Mobile Marketing Issue 7 - September 2011

Issue Seven | September 2011

News | Views | Analysis

Open for business

OpenMarket’s Alex Moir explains the virtues of mobile payments and crediting

SMS rules.OK?

Why brands and businesses of all sizes still put their faith in text

The 3 stages of Mobile From Newbies to Connoisseurs, we reveal how brands go mobile

Mobile Asia-Pac Style We turn the mobile marketing spotlight on Asia-Pacific

Game On

Why the mobile world is getting excited about gamification

5 Alive

Dinner Time: Book your table at the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony

Jo Re in u ta s De il S at t ta um he ils m M In it 2 ob si 0 ile de 12

The secrets of HTML5 revealed

Hook customers with enterprise text messaging.

Built in-house and developed over ten years, our mobile messaging platform ‘iris’ delivers account managed or self-service, fully automated or manual-send SMS and MMS messaging that our clients use to communicate B2C, B2B and B2E.

Ask us about ‘FISH’!

As the ships dock, M&J Seafood sends picture messages to encourage B2B sales. Meanwhile, M&S enables consumers to donate

by PSMS to support charities encouraging sustainable fishing.

2m people /mth respond to SMS ads.

Call us on 020 7392 2323 or scan the mobile bar code to visit www.incentivated.com No code reader? Text CODE to 62233 for a link to a reader for your phone.

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contents

3

David Murphy Editor

Cover story 20 Open Champions OpenMarket’s Alex Moir talks mobile crediting and payment

Thought leadership 5 How brands go mobile VisionMobile MD Andreas Constantinou reveals all

The joys of HTML5 revealed

50 Off-deck

Helen Keegan reflects on the frantic

40 Laser focus

BigTime CEO Dimitris Papazisis looks at how operators are using SMS Mega-promotions to great effect

43 Mobile entertainment made

social, meaningful and

revenue-generating

Akazoo’s Apostolos Zervos on the socialisation of mobile entertainment

45 Mobile commerce comes of age

mBlox CEO Andrew Dark looks at the rise and rise of mCommerce

19 Dev zone

pace of change in mobile marketing

The real world 27 Focus on Asia-Pacific We take a look at mobile marketing, Asia-Pac style

Technology 7 It’s playtime Rene Magri looks beyond the hype at the current mobile buzzword: Gamification

13 Sending out an SMS George Cole explores the power of text

Business models 30 Join us for the Mobile Retail Summit We preview our major new conference, set for January 2012

32 Real-time bidding opportunity Adfonic’s Wes Biggs looks at real-time bidding in mobile advertising

34 SMS for all Txtlocal’s MD Darren Daws on why no brand can afford to ignore SMS

38 Mobile made simple Silvio Porcellano, CEO of mob.is.it, gives the lowdown on his company’s mobile web platform issue seven | september 2011

News | Views | Analysis

Open fOr buSineSS

OpenMarket’s alex MOir explains the virtues Of MObile payMents and crediting

SMS ruleS.OK?

Why brANds ANd busiNesses of ALL sizes sTiLL puT Their fAiTh iN TexT

The 3 STAGeS Of MObile froM NeWbies To coNNoisseurs, We reVeAL hoW brANds go MobiLe

MObile ASiA-pAc STyle We TurN The MobiLe MArkeTiNg spoTLighT oN AsiA-pAcific

GAMe On

Why The MobiLe WorLd is geTTiNg exciTed AbouT

5 Alive

The secreTs of hTML5

Dinner Time: Book your table at the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards Ceremony

Jo re in us ta de il su at th ta m e ils m M in it 20 ob ile si de 12

W

elcome to the 7th quarterly print edition of Mobile Marketing.

At 52 pages, it’s our biggest ever, but the way things are going in mobile right now, we’re not sure how long that record will stand for.

So what have we got for you? We have Andreas Constantinou from VisionMobile, outlining the three stages of going mobile. We have Helen Keegan, talking about the frantic pace of change and innovation in mobile marketing. And we also have Dimitrios Kontarinis from Velti, extolling the virtues of HTML5.

In our Regional Focus piece, we turn the mobile marketing spotlight on AsiaPacific, a region housing countries that are past masters at the mobile marketing game, like Japan and S. Korea, as well as others that are just starting to explore it.

We also look at the market for SMS marketing services, examining how a simple text message can drive new business and engender customer loyalty for small and large businesses and brands alike. And we lift the lid on gamification, looking at how brands and mobile operators are using games, competitions and rewards in the mobile channel to attract new customers, and retain their existing ones.

In our cover story, we talk to OpenMarket’s Alex Moir, who urges brands and retailers to consider mobile crediting and mobile payments as a way of engaging with consumers. And in our Application Showcase feature, we put three newspaper iPad versions to the test.

Also in this issue, we preview our 2012 Mobile Masterclass series as it goes international, with events in the US and Germany, to add to the UK program.

And we look ahead to 2011 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards ceremony. With almost 150 entries, it’s going to be harder than ever to pick the winners this year, but all will be revealed at the gala dinner on 3 November in London. Find out how to book your ticket on p10.

As ever, enjoy the issue, and check into www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com for all the latest news on a daily basis.

Best practice 10 It’s Awards Time Judging is underway, and if you want a place at this year’s Awards Ceremony, there’s no time to lose

16 The mobile knowledge

Our latest venture offers training in all aspects of mobile marketing for brand and agency executives

27 Application Showcase We take a look at three newspapers’ iPad editions

36 Mobile Masterclass Our Mobile Masterclass series goes international in 2012. Details here

45 ad:tech London 2012 We look ahead to this year’s show

Subscribe today and guarantee your copy If you want to be sure of receiving your copy of the print edition of Mobile Marketing four times a year, you can subscribe today to go on our controlled circulation list. It costs just £30 (UK); or £40 (rest of the world). To take out a subscription, just send an email to: subscriptions@mobilemarketingmagazine. com and we’ll respond telling you what you need to do.

Editor: David Murphy - david.murphy@mobilemarketingmagazine.com +44 (0) 7976 927062 Commercial Director: John Owen - john.owen@mobilemarketingmagazine.com +44 (0) 7769 674824 Business Development Manager: Richard Partridge - richard.partridge@mobilemarketingmagazine.com Contributors: George Cole, Andy Penfold, Helen Keegan, Rene Magri Design and Production: Alistair Gillan, AQ2 Mobile - info@aq2.info Print: Advent Print Group info@advent-colour.co.uk Special thanks this issue to: Jo Murphy, Rowan Chambers, Alistair Gillan, Rob Thurner, Adrian Nabarro For a paid subscription please email: subscriptions@mobilemarketingmagazine.com One Year Subscription Rates – UK: £30.00; ROW: £40.00 Mobile Marketing is published by Dot Media Ltd., 15 Loraine Gardens, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 1PD. www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

September 2011

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June 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

thought leadership

5

How Brands GO Mobile VisionMobile MD Andreas Constantinou reveals all

M

obile apps underpin today’s innovation in digital media, and most of the money going into mobile apps is coming from brands and corporations going mobile.

To date, tens of thousands of companies have ‘gone mobile’, from physical and online retailers (Walmart, Amazon) to music companies (Sony); international sports teams (Chelsea FC); newspapers (The Guardian); transport institutions (TFL); social networks (Facebook); and car manufacturers (BMW). In going mobile, each company has extended the reach of its brand, while at the same time injecting much-needed funding into the mobile app economy.

To understand how brands are going mobile, VisionMobile researched over 50 leading international and regional brands, through one-to-one interviews with digital agencies, media, retail and internet companies across five continents.

In all verticals, we found that all companies go through a three-stage journey as they extend their digital strategies into mobile. We call it the brand journey through mobile.

The Newbies In their first steps in going mobile, most companies think of an app as a way to ‘advertise’ whatever product or service they are

providing. Most early apps are developed for the iPhone, since the platform is perceived as simple and accessible, providing a clear structure to use and develop on. Distribution is straightforward, since the Apple App Store offers publish-oncesell-everywhere convenience.

Typically, these apps do not do much more than promote the physical or digital service the brand is offering. During this Newbie life stage, all that brands want to do is experiment, and see what is possible on this new digital medium.Efforts are focused primarily on providing apps that extend the brand’s PR and advertising efforts.

At the same time, very little thought is given to how the effectiveness of an app is going to be measured, other than number of downloads and maybe the frequency with which it’s used.

The Street-smarts Once the first mobile apps are out in the field, senior executives start to demand much more from the channel. The key question for Street-smart brands becomes, “How can we use this mobile channel to provide a better service?” Or, “How can we help customers make their

life easier?” In the initial stages of any organisation’s foray into mobile apps, the tendency has been to subcontract the app development to a mobile software house or their digital agency.

Now that demand is scaling, Street-smarts are bringing more of the design and development in-house, outsourcing only basic coding functionalities to freelance developers. The objective behind this is twofold: to provide better integration with the current digital or overall business strategy; and, just as importantly, to have tighter control on cost, process time and overall quality.

Platform-wise, Street-smarts extend their apps to Android handsets, and increasingly, to those platforms featuring web browsers. Global brands integrate mobile offerings within their overall advertising strategy, viewing apps as an advertising channel, an avenue for community interaction, or even as a channel for cross-selling users from one product to the next, as indeed they are.

The Connoisseurs Connoisseurs are the experts - the brands with a successful digital business, whose move into mobile has been integrated

“Very little thought is given to how the effectiveness of an app will be measured”

September 2011

within their overall strategy early on, as another touch-point.

Connoisseurs are more business-case savvy, looking into the potential returns, before any investment is made. The final decision depends on budget size, and we find that, although in most cases the digital marketing directors make the final decisions, board members and senior officers are becoming more involved in the approval of design and functionality concepts and business case.

Brands across all verticals are following the same journey through mobile, but they are at different stages of mobile maturity. Most verticals have not made it to Connoisseur status yet, with the exception of games and media companies. Games are one of the most mature verticals, with mobile-only versions of traditional games and social games being developed for mobile for more than five years. At the opposite end of the spectrum, healthcare companies are clearly within the Newbie stage, and exploring the many intersections of mobile with health services.

Over the next year, companies across verticals will be evolving in their mobile maturity, and in doing so, we should see brands emerge as a primary source of mobile innovation. Very interesting times indeed.

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Thousands of Apps.

Thousands of Publishers.

Thousands of Advertisers.

All Mobile Platforms.

Millions of Consumers. One Global Leader.

Millennial Media is the mobile advertising platform offering brand advertisers, developers and publishers the only set of specific, scalable audiences, robust reporting tools, thousands of apps and the largest reach imaginable. Plus our ability to target and engage consumers is unparalleled. As an innovative technology leader, our mobile decisioning, ad serving and mediation platforms are powering the largest companies, applications and advertisers in the media business today. Visit www.millennialmedia.com to learn more.

Š2011 Millennial Media, Inc. All rights reserved. All product names and images are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

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technology

7

IT’S PLAYTIMe Rene Magri examines the increasingly popular mobile phenomenon of gamification, and find’s there’s a lot more to it than playing around

September 2011

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8

technology

I

“It is clear to us that the benefits of gamification are even greater for long term campaigns as we learn more” Guy Krief, Upstream

t’s not uncommon for the world to be taken by storm by a buzzword. Gamification is the latest one to hit home. The concept of game-like mechanics applied to non-game environments and contexts has been around for decades. McDonalds, Coca-Cola, and virtually every supermarket on the planet - think loyalty card schemes have used game-like tactics to further the engagement level of customers, increase loyalty, and ultimately, extract more value out of them.

So if gamification is nothing new, why all the current excitement? The term gamification has been coined only recently, pretty much giving a definition – linguistic for that matter - to a set of attitudes that has been in existence for decades. And as with every buzzword whose main measure of success is to make previous buzzwords a thing of the past, gamification has now earned a place in the marketing lexicon.

Game mechanics Foursquare, the location-based social service, has contributed greatly, in showing how adding game mechanics to a service can assist with the retention, usage levels and promotion of the same at minimum cost, if any.

A Foursquare user, typically, would check in to a place, say a café, and collect badges, depend-

The Gamification of Gossip

A

LLKPoP is the top English-language gossip blog in S. Korea. With over 3m monthly unique users, the site had a good foundation from which to grow.

Site owner Johnny Noh approached gamification firm BadgeVille, looking to increase particular behaviours on the site.

Within a couple of weeks, BadgeVille implemented its Gamification Program on the site, giving ALLKPOP access to widgets, badges and related game-like mechan-

ing on how many times he/she checked in into that particular place. As a user checks in more often, so they get badges associated with these behaviours.

The user gets to ‘brag’ about becoming a ‘Mayor’ of a place with his friends, using other social services such as Facebook and Twitter. Ironically enough, Facebook launched Places, an equivalent service, and thus the user helps with getting the service viral. Foursquare reached around 10m users with no marketing budget. Badges, points,

or every month. Such is the popularity of these programmes among subscribers that the revenues generated by the text interactions is more than sufficient to cover the cost of running the campaign, including the prizes, with enough left in the kitty to turn a respectable profit, both for the operator, and for the marketing technology partner, who typically takes a revenue share, with no upfront fee – and therefore no financial risk for the operator – for creating, launching and managing the campaign.

Typically for these companies, the gamification element of their offering forms part of a much wider suite of services, to complement the service stack they offer to clients, be they brands or mobile operators.

Loyalty schemes like Tesco’s ClubCard programme are a good example of gamification, even though they existed before the term had been coined

and the whole viral gamification thing, helped immensely.

Mobile operators are among the biggest users of gamification techniques. Working with their marketing technology partners, including companies such as Upstream, Velti and BigTime, they run large-scale SMS promotions, typically offering daily cash prizes of a few hundred pounds, with one bigger prize - a car perhaps – to be won every week

Increased loyalty BigTime CEO Dimitris Papazisis contends that gamification is “the next layer of sophistication for mobile marketing”. With gamification, he says, the operator or brand generates increased loyalty from customers, while at the same time gaining a deeper understanding and insight into what those customers like and what they dislike.

African operator MTN is one of the companies BigTime is working with in this field, on a promotion called the ‘Mega Millions’ campaign. Papazisis says

ics to use on the site, as well as custom-made badges for specific actions. The targeted behaviors were such things as ‘Commenting; Sharing links; and Following the brand on social networks like Facebook and Twitter’.

The gamification makeover resulted in a 104 per cent increase in Social Sharing; a 30 per cent increase in commenting; and a 30 per cent increase in pages read on the site. The announcement of the Social Rewards Program itself received over 3,000 comments, where one comment read: “I am on the Top 10!! Must get on the Top 5!!” This reads like the trajectory of the site itself.

September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

9

TopShop Goes SCVNGing

U

K retailer Topshop has teamed up with gamification firm SCVNGR for its new student campaign, making it the first brand outside of N. America to do so. From 5 September, Topshop’s student fans have been able to play the bespoke SCVNGR game via an app on their smartphone, completing challenges and earning rewards and exclusive offers.

SCVNGR challenges players to check-in to places, snap photographs, or complete a challenge. As they do so, players earn points and start unlocking real-world rewards at over 12,000 locations. Anyone within a 500m radius of a Topshop store can play the Topshop SCVNGR game. Students download the free SCVNGR app for iPhone and Android, tap ‘Places’ and search for ‘Topshop’, and can then start taking part in the fashion-themed challenges immediately. The game works on a points system; players choose the reward they want and then do the challenges needed to accumulate that number of points.

Topshop’s style challenges include activities such as snapping a photo of your favourite ‘back to college’ outfit at

the campaign helps MTN in a number of ways.

“First, we are helping MTN with incremental revenue,” he says. “We reduce churn as we increase loyalty through the promotion. An important addition is the profiling of consum-

the campaign generated twice the response rate of traditional campaigns, with the help of realtime profiling tools to adjust the gaming mechanics throughout the campaign.

“It is clear to us that the benefits of gamification are even

Badges and medals of honour, like these from Badgeville, are a big part of the gamification scene, rewarding users for their loyalty

Topshop, or telling SCVNGR which item you think most represents the brand’s trends. Rewards include a 20 per cent discount instore, and entry into a competition to win a £500 shopping spree. The campaign runs from 5 September until 23 November, in two phases, with different challenges and rewards in each phase.

“We’re always looking for new and innovative ways to engage our customers,” says Topshop managing director, Mary Homer. “Following the popularity of SCVNGR in the US, we wanted to offer our student customers the ability to interact with our brand, on and offline in a more fun and engaging way.” part usually go beyond money.

“Rewards are essential to modify behaviour, but what is also very important is the social side of things. The name on a leader board; the unlocking of yet another badge; and the ‘bragging rights’ associated with unlocking the next level of the ‘Game’, all prove to be an integral part of what makes gamification the ingredient for increasing loyalty, engagement and customer value to brands,” he says.

Endless possibilities

ers. Through gamification, we give MTN a deeper profiling of the users through the interaction they have had with the campaign, and the questions and quizzes they answered. And we do this with a simple technology: SMS.” Upstream has used gamification techniques to increase data usage for another operator, TIM Italy. According to Upstream VP of innovation, Guy Krief,

greater for long term campaigns as we learn more,” says Krief.

“The longer the campaigns are, the deeper the relationship with the client becomes, and the higher the effectiveness and the value for both us and them.”

But while there are often handsome prizes on offer in gamification campaigns, Thomas Twigg, mobile solutions manager at Velti, believes that the motivations for users taking

Of course, gamification is not purely a b2c play. Using gamelike mechanics in the enterprise to instil loyalty, motivation and competition for higher results is not new. Corporations, especially sales-driven organisations, where healthy competition between staff is encouraged and necessary, have used games-like elements – say leader boards with the top sales people, or call centres using a ‘points’ system for the most positive calls handled - for decades.

In fact, the possibilities are pretty much endless. Virtually

September 2011

any business can benefit from gamification, and as the successful case studies keep on emerging, it seems sensible to assume that those mobile operators that have not yet succumbed to its appeal, will at least be paying it closer attention.

The trick, of course, is not to overcook things. As BigTime’s Papazisis says in an interview elsewhere in this issue (see pp4041): “We advise operators to run a maximum of two promotions each year to give their subscribers room to breathe; otherwise, an SMS Mega-promotion can create a sense of fatigue among their subscribers.”

Clearly then, as Papazisispoints out, brands and operators have to pay close attention not to abuse their customer’s trust. Customers give over precious time to brands to participate in promotions, based on their perceptions of trust and value. So if everything under the sun is gamified, and every service gets a gamification makeover, it goes without saying that it will be pretty much game over.

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10

best practice

It’s AwarDs Time Tickets are on sale now for the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards 2011 Ceremony, but they’re going fast…

EFFECTIVE MOBILE MARKETING AWARDS

Platinum Sponsor

Bronze Sponsor

Supported by

Media Partners

S

o, the deadline is closed, the entries are in, and even as you read this, the judges for the 2011 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards, headlinesponsored by Upstream, are hard at work narrowing down some outstanding entries to produce a shortlist in each of the categories.

The shortlist will be announced towards the end of September, with the Awards Ceremony set for 3 Novenber at Delfina in London. The event will include a Drinks Reception, Gala Dinner, and of course, the presentation of the Awards themselves, which recognise the best and most effective mobile marketing campaigns, projects and platforms. These are the ones that have best succeeded in meeting campaign objectives, whether that’s to raise brand awareness, generate sales, attract donations, or whatever the brand behind the campaign was seeking to do.

As last year, we have been struck, though not surprised, by the very high standard of the entries, and choosing the winners will be no easy task. That job falls to our esteemed judging panel, made up of Jon Mew, head of mobile at the IAB; mobile specialist, Helen Keegan; ex-Incentivated commercial director and mobile training specialist Robert Thurner; Camerjam founder, James Cameron; Andy Favell, editor of mobiThinking; MobileGroove founder and editor, Peggy Anne Salz; Nick Lane, chief analyst at research firm, mobileSQUARED; and Mobile Industry Review founder and editor, Ewan MacLeod.

The judging panel will be chaired by Mobile Marketing editor, David Murphy.

September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

11

Y

ou can book your table at the Awards now by emailing John Owen: john.owen@mobilemarketingmagazine.com or call him on +44 (0) 77696 74824.

Or book via the website.

A table of 10 costs £2,250 (plus VAT), and tickets are available on a first come, first served basis. Numbers are strictly limited to 250 guests. On settlement of the invoice, you can choose the location of your table from the floorplan.

ony Awards Cerenm n Delfina, Lo do

Book Now

rketing www.mobilema / magazine.com ny awards/ceremo

There are also opportunities remaining to join Upstream and Propel as sponsors of this year’s event. For details of these sponsorship opportunities, contact John Owen using the details above.

Last year’s event was a fantastic celebration of all that’s best in mobile marketing, and from what everyone who attended told us, a great night, and a great networking event too.

Make sure you don’t miss out on a great evening’s networking - book your table today

“Sponsoring the effective mobile marketing awards in 2010 was a great move for us, and we had no hesitation in signing up again this year.

Effectiveness underpins everything we do for our global client base, so these awards, celebrating mobile marketing effectiveness, are a perfect fit. We look forward to meeting many of you at this year’s awards ceremony. If it’s half as much fun as last year, it will be a great night.”

Alex Vratskides, CEO, Upstream

For sponsorship and table reservations please contact John Owen, tel +44 (0) 77696 74824 or john.owen@mobilemarketingmagazine.com For more information, head for www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com/awards Any queries, address them to: awards@mobilemarketingmagazine.com

September 2011

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12

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technology

13

Sending Out an SMS It’s old-fashioned, low-tech, and unrivalled in its ability to generate response.

George Cole gets to grips with the $100bn mobile messaging business

I

n an age of smartphones and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), many brands and businesses are finding that SMS is still the most cost effective and efficient means of reaching clients or customers. According to Portio Research, the mobile messaging market was worth $179bn (£110bn) in 2010, with SMS accounting for almost 64 per cent of revenue.

Universal access Caroline Doussot, head of mobile marketing at the digital security and mobile marketing firm, Gemalto, says: “Its low cost, universal access, and interoperability across devices and networks, [means that] SMS is the most effective way for companies to get their message to their target demographic.

The ability of SMS to offer direct-marketing, coupled with an interactive experience, gives mobile operators and brands an opportunity to engage in a real dialogue with consumers.”

A large SMS marketing ecosystem - that includes mobile operators, platform providers, application developers and global aggregators - has developed, to help brands and businesses take advantage of text messaging.

Txtlocal offers bulk SMS and online SMS text services. The company’s Web SMS service can be used for sending high volumes of text messages. SMS Gateway is an API (Application Programming Interface) for sending and receiving texts on the net, and the Email to SMS Gateway allows users to send and receive text messages from any email program.

Txtlocal managing director Darren Daws says: “More companies are choosing to spend a larger percentage of their marketing budget on mobile advertising and applications. The benefits of SMS are clear, and campaigns need to capitalise on this by using SMS to support their overall marketing strategies, and use messaging as the main force driving customers to the internet.”

Daws notes that in a recent presentation at the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) Forum, Gavin Mehrotra, director of international media for the Coca-Cola Company, stated that: “SMS is the number one priority at Coca-Cola in mobile.”

Papa John’s Pizza has used Txtlocal’s platform to market special offers at times when it wanted to build sales, and

reports that SMS activity increased sales growth over the three days of the campaign by 31.7 per cent, with a 4.8 per cent redemption rate. Independent travel agency Sackville Travel

operates on more than 800 GSM networks in 180 countries. Clients include financial services institutions, clubs and societies.

BulkSMS.com director Richard Simpson says that SMS is as

txtNation’s Danny Marino advises brands using SMS to keep things simple

found that its traditional marketing methods were producing dwindling results. With Txtlocal, Sackville designed an SMS campaign to promote flights tailored to its database by destination, which resulted in hundreds of calls a day, and enabled Sackville Travel to halve its spending on traditional marketing.

Self-help service BulkSMS.com offers a variety of online-based SMS services that organisations can use to send and receive text messages from any PC with an internet connection. Its self-help service

September 2011

popular as ever. “SMS is normally limited to 160 characters, and so you can open and read a text message very quickly – it engages you.”

Simpson adds that the ability of smartphones to embed web links into an SMS message, and the speed at which SMS messages can be sent and received, have also helped to increase the use of SMS for marketing.

TextMagic offers a self-service SMS gateway, which allows clients to manage their bulk text messaging needs. The company provides desktop software and a web interface, which can be

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14

technology

“Modern SMS marketing software enables millions of texts to be sent at the touch of a button and reach target audiences almost instantly” Oscar Jenkins, Dynmark used to send SMS messages to clients. “We also have a range of other products, most notably, email-to-SMS, which allows our clients to send text messages and receive replies via email,” notes TextMagic marketing manager, Priit Vaikmaa. Clients range from DHL and PepsiCo, who use the service to notify employees of sudden changes in work schedules, to indepen-

SMS Marketing can deliver excellent ROI for small, local businesses, like Shelly’s retaurant in Warrington, which uses Txtlocal’s platform

dent beauty salons and dentists, which use it to remind clients of upcoming appointments “When we ask our clients what they like most about text messaging, they usually say: ‘It’s fast, reliable and cost-effective’” adds Vaikmaa. Small businesses have noticed an increase in appointment attendance. In general, businesses can improve customer support and relations, but Vaikmaa says: “If you are sending messages to customers, the key is that your message is short and to the point, includes a

and being personal. If it isn’t relevant, it’s wasted. And don’t overuse the channel; too many marketing messages sent to the phone will turn the customer away from the brand.”

Oxygen8 Communications’ mobile marketing platform handles the targeting, delivery and analysis of text messages, and allows clients to design and deliver mobile marketing

paign management software, mFUSION, allows clients to run interactive SMS campaigns. txtNation’s clients include the NHS, Gameloft, txtLoan and the charity, Help for Heroes.

“The most important thing is to keep the consumer journey simple and clear, especially for a substantial ROI for mobile marketing campaigns, “ says Danny Marino, txtNation territory

call to action, and provides value to the recipient.”

Time-sensitive Dynmark International offers a range of mobile marketing and mobile advertising solutions for bulk messaging. Users can control their own services, or have them managed by Dynmark.

“Modern SMS marketing software enables millions of texts to be sent at the touch of a button and reach target audiences almost instantly, making it ideal for time-sensitive marketing activities,” says Oscar Jenkins, Dynmark’s chief executive. “Not only is SMS marketing quick to deploy, it is much cheaper than other direct marketing tools, such as print, telephone marketing, and email. It also has a more personal touch, that resonates well with consumers.”

Dynmark’s clients include Carphone Warehouse, Gala and HDNL. “An SMS message is less likely to be ignored or thrown away, and it is more likely to remain on a recipient’s phone for some time, as it is not taking up either physical or data space.

These brand reminders increase awareness and galvanise brand loyalty,” adds Jenkins. He says that the key factors for a successful SMS campaign include: “Always having explicit permission to communicate using SMS;

Gemalto works with brands and operators with its Intelligent SMS solution

campaigns through a web-based application. “With a highly targeted approach, companies can add SMS to a campaign to achieve unprecedented real time consumer interaction,” says Shane Leahy, Group CEO at Oxygen8. “For example, a customer responding to an advert by texting in to a shortcode can receive an immediate call back from a sales person.”

“This is a low-cost route to rapid return on investment,” adds Leahy, “with marketing messages rapidly delivered to highly targeted individuals, sales opportunities followed up, and real-time measurement of the customer response. Mobile is a perfect way of achieving highly personal marketing, while reducing costs.” txtNation offers various SMS solutions, including an API that allows companies to develop their own billing or SMS services. txtNation’s mobile cam-

manager, EMEA, “SMS is an interactive and immediate channel to engage with users. Companies running marketing campaigns should ensure that what is delivered to users is clear, concise, and directly relevant.”

Interactive SMS Gemalto’s Doussot says that opt-in SMS campaigns provide a great opportunity for brands to engage in a direct, one-to-one relationship with consumers.

Gemalto’s Interactive SMS platform enables brands to engage in a simple dialogue with subscribers, or run direct marketing campaigns. These may include discount coupons, surveys, customer service messages, location-based information, alerts that a particular product has arrived, and more.

As a result, the brand can reduce costs, increase ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) and also engender customer loyalty.

September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

15

Mobile operators, brands and SMS Around the world, mobile operators are launching mobile marketing programs that enable brands to target customers who have opted in to the program.

Turkish operator Turkcell began the trend as long ago as 2002, and at the last count, had 12.4m subscribers opted in. Out There Media runs opt-in mobile ad programs for several operators, including Maxis in Asia and T-Mobile in the US, as does Alcatel-Lucent, with its Optism platform.

In the UK, two operators have launched programs.

Orange Shots made its debut in February 2010, and has around 1.2m users who have opted-in to receive SMS and MMS campaigns. Orange describes Shots as: “A fully interactive service that allows brands to communicate with its customer base in a variety of ways.” The company adds that tailored SMS campaigns are a win-win for brands, as well as customers, with advertisers continually seeking new and innovative ways to engage with consumers. Customers are rewarded with access to exclusive, interactive content, and offers that are tailored to their interests.

Orange works closely with agencies and clients, and the operator says it is continually looking to develop new products and services. Brands associated with Orange Shots include Motorola, Unilever, Starbucks, Peugeot, Cineworld and Samsung. Brands can target consumers by age, gender, handset, and location. Orange can also segment its audience by interest and behaviours, and the operator has developed models that highlight users who have a liking for certain brands. Orange says: “We use all the information our users have given us to provide a highly targeted campaign, delivering the right message, to the right user, at the right time.” In a recent Herbal Essences campaign, some 85,852 SMS messages were delivered, resulting in 18,682 site visits and 15,950 sample requests.

O2’s opt-in SMS service is called O2 More. Nick Pestell, head of agency sales at O2 Media, says:“O2 “Permission-marketing puts the user in control of their mobile marketing experience,” says Doussot. “The trade-off is clear, with the consumer letting us know their preferences, so we can customise our services and make relevant offers to them.”

Mobile operators like 02 and Orange are offering brands access to subscribers that have opted into SMS and MMS messaging campaigns (see panel).

Media provides a sophisticated data offering, in which we match brands with our customers, in order to form equally beneficial relationships. We view our offering very much as a partnership, using market leading data insights to offer clients marketing solutions which will add to any brand or response campaign.”

Sectors involved with O2 More, include, retail, travel, FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) and entertainment. O2 sets out certain conditions with its partners. “Users never receive more than one message per day; the messages should be simple and relevant to the customer, with an option to opt out being given on each message,” says Pestell.

O2 More uses a number of targeting variables when working on campaigns including location, age and gender. It also uses the preference information supplied by customers when they join the service. Pestell says that because O2 More’s campaigns are powered by actual customer data, rather than just past browsing habits, it can offer clients better targeting, and a greater insight into its customer base. O2 More currently has 2.5m opted-in customers, or around 11 per cent of O2’s customer base. Pestell says he expects this number will rise substantially during the course of the next year.

This makes good sense, says Huub Patijn brand development manager at mobile data specialist, Acision. “Mobile operators are under pressure and are having to offer larger SMS bundles for lower prices,” he says. “By offering some form of advertising on their mobile and SMS bundles, it helps keep the business sustainable.”

Opening up your SMS service to brands offers both potential

benefits and pitfalls, adds Patijn, “Many operators are concerned about the cultural sensitivities of their subscribers, which is why alcohol brands may be banned in some territories.”

Mobile messaging media company Blyk is the media sales manager for Orange UK’s opt-in mobile marketing service, Orange Shots. “The benefits for Orange are that it’s an additional revenue stream,

September 2011

“The benefits for Orange are that it’s an additional revenue stream, and enables them to develop a different relationship with their customers” Alex Franks, Blyk UK

and enables them to develop a different relationship with their customers; many of us only ever hear from our operator when they send us a bill,” says Alex Franks, managing director, Blyk UK. “Brands can have an open dialogue with consumers, and we can use profile information to ensure that consumers receive highly targeted, relevant messages. It’s a good way of creating an energised audience.”

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

16

best practice

The mobile Knowledge

eet Come and m us at ad:tech -22 Sep, London, 21 Stand 368

Our new venture, the Mobile Training Academy, will offer training in all aspects of mobile marketing for brand and agency marketers at all levels of seniority and knowledge. Rob Thurner, mobile specialist and advisor to MTA, explains how

“P

ut your best people on mobile. It’s where the puck is headed.” This call to action from Google’s Eric Schmidt poses a critical challenge for clients and agencies engaged across the whole spectrum of marketing communications. Regular readers of Mobile Marketing will be in no doubt about the impact mobile is having as a true gamechanger for today’s global brands. The time has come for all business executives to grasp the changing habits of consumers and the central importance of mobile to delivering a seamless customer experience. At each stage of the customer lifecycle – acquisition, transaction and retention – mobile provides a unique level of personalised, targeted, time- and location-sensitive rich brand engagement and interaction. Mobile also provides real time measurement of response for precise ROI analysis. So why does mobile command a mere 2 per cent or 3 per cent of today’s marketing budgets, and precious little attention to boot?

Many brands choose to brush the mobile question under the carpet, or pay lip service to embracing mobile – due, in part, to a lack of awareness of mobile and the benefits it can deliver for an organisation. For many, a mobile strategy comprises a branded app, often developed at considerable cost, attracting a modest number of downloads and providing a worrying lack of engaging content, or a decent user experience. More often than not, the app is an afterthought, shares little in common with valuable consumer insight or the brand’s marketing strategy, and does not fit the data strategy. This response misses the opportunity. Unfortunately, it is all too common. So what’s the answer?

Core communications channel The good news is that mobile has now moved from a “bolt on task”, delegated to a junior marketing executive, to a core communications channel, with its own budget line and agenda point at the Board meeting. We have data from comScore and the GSM Association (GSMA) to prove growing mobile penetration and usage for a growing number of actions, as well as case studies demonstrating seismic shifts in brand awareness, interactions and transactions via mobile.

And, of course, a relentless wave of new smartphones and tablets which redefine where, when and how we use our mobiles to engage with our preferred brands.

Following many false dawns, the “year of the mobile” has already arrived, and mobile will feature prominently for years to come.

The genie is out the bottle. Consumers get

it. Brands must catch up and put mobile at the heart of their marketing and service strategies.

Mobile training is a key priority for brands, their agencies and the smartest graduates seeking dynamic, fast-moving and rewarding careers in business and commerce. The Mobile Training Academy (MTA), a Mobile Marketing initiative, will provide marketers with well-informed, inspiring and impartial training to share knowledge and help brands develop and improve their mobile capabilities. MTA will deliver training and development services in three areas (see panel).

Bespoke approach One size does not fit all. Each brand has distinct audience groups, with diverse handset use and mobile behaviours. Each brand, and each brand manager, CRM manager or eCommerce manager within the same company, will have different training needs.

To reflect this diversity, the Mobile Training Academy will offer off-the-shelf and bespoke training programmes to meet their needs, catering for mobile novices, those with a successful, or not-so-successful first experience of mobile, and for the seasoned mobile marketer in fine-tuning mode. MTA training will be run off-site for multiple brands, or at your offices for a more in-depth exploration of your precise needs.

September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

17

Horses for courses - the MTA’s 3-stream approach to mobile training Knowledge-based Training

Best Practice Implementation

Overcoming Obstacles

First, the basics. Mobile is a broad topic, which presents brands with a unique set of legal, technical and data-based challenges, and a range of ‘formats’ they may deploy to engage their customers and prospects. These include messaging, mobile internet sites, apps, mobile advertising, location-based services, barcodes, coupons and mobile commerce. The optimum mobile solution for a retailer may differ significantly from that of an FMCG, financial services, pharmaceutical or media brand, as its ‘product’, its ‘location’, its creative assets and terms and conditions of use will vary. In addition to generic mobile training, therefore, MTA will offer format- and sector-specific programmes, tailored to the specific needs of specific brands and sectors.

Second, implementation. Once marketers have got to grips with the basics, they need to develop a mobile strategy which serves their unique needs, target audience profiles, and their mobile usage patterns, brand strategy, data infrastructure and business processes. This stage requires the definition and refining of mobile requirements; the production of a mobile brief; the allocation of a mobile budget; and the selection of the most appropriate and best value mobile specialist(s) to execute mobile campaigns. In addition, marketers need to know how to evaluate mobile performance, by measuring the mobile campaign and constantly finetuning to optimise mobile budgets. The MTA has pulled together a team of industry experts who have real world expertise in designing, planning and implementing major mobile marketing programmes in the UK and globally.

Mobile is a trigger for disruptive change for most organisations, and brings farreaching challenges to the person or team tasked with integrating mobile into the business. Experience shows that inertia comes from many quarters, often from those whose support for an innovative, progressive new platform may appear to be taken for granted. The stakeholders, whose support is vital, and whose obstruction may derail even the most watertight mobile proposition, are numerous. Consider the conflicting agendas at play between the marketing, sales, legal, financial, IT, data and operations departments. Successful mobile companies pull it off by empowering mobile champions to wave the mobile flag, and secure Board level support to overcome those resisting mobile adoption. At MTA we have partnered with development experts in the fields of leadership and organisational change to design a curriculum to support the mobile champion to effectively influence t h e i r stakeholders, and lead a programme of change across their organisation.

MTA will offer training on all aspects of mobile, including the current hot topic – the fusion of mobile and social media

Mobile is touching every aspect of everday life are you ready for the revolution?

Learn how to put location-based marketing to work for your brand

MTA training will be run by a team of our industry’s leading mobile practitioners whose insights are derived from hands-on experience of developing and delivering mobile campaigns for some of the world’s biggest brands. Their training programmes will be illustrated with practical examples of the world’s most pioneering mobile work.

All training will be highly interactive: you’ll need to come along with an open mind, and a fully charged phone.

Defining the MTA vision The mobile sector can best be described as collaborative and open. As consumers, we use our mobiles to create, share and com-

ment on mobile content and campaigns.

This principle sits at the heart of MTA’s mission. We will develop and deliver the training you want. We will build an academy of members which will meet regularly, face to face and virtually, to keep the training agenda up to date, and to monitor the content and quality of training delivered.

Get involved To find out more, email knowledge@mobiletrainingacademy.com or text KNOWLEDGE to 88600

September 2011

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Book NOW www.festivalofmedia.com/asia. Follow us on #FOMASIA11 Confirmed speakers for 2011 include:

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thought leadership

19

DEV ZONE Dimitrios Kontarinis, VP, Innovation at Velti, looks at the appeal of HTML5 for mobile apps, sites and advertising

M

obile will soon be the superset of online internet, with Gartner Research predicting that mobile internet users will overtake online by 2014. HTML5 is the dominant technology for the new superset, and thus a key pillar of the evolution of the internet.

HTML5 enables both technological harmony and business agility, and delivers a superior user experience. It’s a relatively new technology that is used to develop rich media applications over latest generation, 4th screen devices (PCs, mobile phones, tablets and connected TVs) and resolves mobile landscape fragmentation. It brings together online and mobile internet, sites and applicaThe HTML5 mobile site Velti developed to support its presence at this year’s Cannes Lions festival

tions, and it is essentially the cornerstone of the new rich media internet superset.

Technology of choice Aside from the convergence HTML5 brings, it is becoming the technology of choice when it comes to rich media ads, as underlined in Steve Jobs’ Thoughts on Flash article.

Consumers are more accepting of rich media ads. A Nielsen study on iAds (which are HTML5) has shown these are twice as memorable as TV ads. HTML5 is acknowledged as the dominant technology of the near future, and is being championed by both Google and Apple, with the rest following and gradually endorsing.

HTML5 gives mobile sites applicationlike characteristics, such as caching, which enables a site to function even when offline, or access to GPS and other phone sensors, enabling location- and context-relevant functionality in the browser.

HTML5 can also be used to create extremely interactive ads within mobile apps, through the use of SDKs (Software Development Kits). This way, HTML5 in-app ads can get access to level controls of the phone, making them engaging and fun to interact with. This is perhaps one of the reasons HTML5 ads have a higher rate of acceptance from consumers than traditional ads.

Furthermore, with the use of native OS wrappers, HTML5 can be used to create native apps for cross-platform use. This gives the developer the freedom to select the distribution/marketing channel through which an app can be distributed. So, for example, an app with the same look & feel and marketing and business objectives can be distributed directly through the publisher site, without going through the app store and the related approval process. Or, if the publisher chooses to do so, the app can be distributed

September 2011

through an app store, leveraging the app store’s promotional power, and paying the respective fee). Or in fact, the publisher can choose to do both. They can choose a web app that feels like an app and smells like an app but does not need app store approval, to quickly and continuously test the waters.

This could work well for vertical apps for a TV channel promoting a certain show, with frequently-changing UIs (User Interface) to help decide on the best. Then once optimal implementation is reached, the app can be published through an app store to leverage on the app store’s promotional power. Alternatively, native apps can be used to promote their twin web apps.

New capabilities Another important feature of HTML5 is that it can bring new capabilities to digital advertising, similar to Flash, but without the need for a plug-in. So through an expandable banner, a brand can offer a consumer the option to register for a newsletter or even make a phone call. The banner itself can be the app. This allows traditional advertising distribution channels and networks to deliver targeted, dynamic marketing activities. Finally, HTML5 allows for very granular activity tracking, enabling advertisers to fine-tune their targeting.

Creating sites and apps in HTML5 is easy with tools like 5ml, which makes the building of a site as easy as making a presentation slide. It also opens up the creative arena to minds that do not necessarily have the coding skills needed to develop in HTML5, facilitating collaboration among people with different skillsets.

It’s early days for HTML5 for sure, and there’s a lot of hype around the technology.

Given what its capable of, however, virtually all of it seems justified.

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

20

business models

OPEN CHAMPIONS Alex Moir, general manager, Europe, at OpenMarket, explains to David Murphy how mobile payments and crediting can act as a starting point for engaging with consumers

T

he mobile world is awash with start-ups, all of whom have a big idea that is going to change the world. Or that’s the plan at least. But in amongst all the new kids on the block, there is a much smaller group of companies who have been there since day one, shown their resilience, and proved that they have a business model that has legs.

OpenMarket is one of those companies, and unusually for a company that has stayed the course - it launched as MX Telecom in 2000, before being acquired by Amdocs and changing its name in 2010 – it’s still doing today, pretty much what it started out doing 11 years ago, processing mobile payments and messages across the globe.

And lots of them too. OpenMarket general manager, Europe, Alex Moir, estimates that the company handles around 1bn transactional payment and messaging “events” per month.

International organisation Perhaps not surprisingly, given the nature of the business he’s in, Moir is keen to stress the solidity of the company’s offering. “We are reliable, backed by an international organisation, and provide connectivity to anywhere in the world,” he tells Mobile Marketing. “1bn events a month may sound impressive, but the platform is capable of many multiples of that, through dual geographic, redundant data centres in the US and Europe.”

What OpenMarket does, essentially, is to remove the pain and complexity for businesses who want to interact with their customers via mobile, whether that’s through messaging; payments for digital - and, in time, physical - goods; mobile video; mobile crediting; voice shortcodes; and a raft of other engagement mechanisms.

It’s why b2b partners such as Sponge, Tigerspike, We Love Mobile, Telecom Express and Digital Chocolate, as well as larger brands with in-house mobile expertise, like Virgin Atlantic and the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), turn to the company to provide the infrastructure and back-end on which their mobile marketing campaigns can run.

“The value we add is as a technology provider,” says Moir.

“We provide the tools and the platform that enables brands and their agencies to put their creativity to work.”

And work it does. A campaign - still live - for the DEC’s E. Africa drought appeal raised £1m in text donations in the first four weeks after it was launched.

As part of the project, OpenMarket also set up an SMS campaign to solicit optin for gift aid. This generated a 60 per cent response rate.

Moir is proud of figures like these, but feels some frustration at the reluctance of retailers selling digital goods to add mobile payments to their toolset.

Customer engagement “Research we commissioned from mobileSQUARED and LightSpeed Europe looking at mobile payments and crediting as a customer engagement channel for retailers showed quite clearly that there is a consumer appetite for sub-£10 transactions being conducted through the mobile and billed via operator billing,” he says. “We believe retailers are missing an opportunity here, because unless these consumers who are happy to spend up to £10 through their phones have a PayPal

Sponsored Feature September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

21

Mobile crediting campaigns, like this one for Dr Pepper are popular with brands and consumers alike

account or some other stored value, they will be lost.”

The research found that while a significant proportion of respondents had concerns about spending more than £10 via the mobile, with the sale charged to their phone bill or taken from their available credit, below the £10 threshold, many consumers were comfortable with the idea of paying by phone.

“Below £10, the research reveals that it’s actually very appealing to charge the sale to mobile, rather than having to enter credit card details,” says Moir. “We can automatically and securely identify the user when they access the internet from their mobile device, and therefore provide a very low friction, simple experience, where they choose the product, confirm they are happy with the price and then the transaction is complete.

This contrasts very favourably with credit card, or even stored

value mechanisms, where more key strokes are necessary to complete a purchase.”

And as Moir explains, there’s more to it than payment. “We see it as the starting point for an engagement process where retailers can leverage the channel for CRM, loyalty and marketing,” he says. “Once the consumer is comfortable with the idea of mobile micropayments – and our research and the latest figures from PhonePayPlus showing a 77 per cent drop in consumer complaints over the last two years show they increasingly are there are lots of opportunities to take it further, and we can take the complexity that is inherent in mobile out of it for them.”

Mobile crediting One of these opportunities is mobile crediting, where a brand offers mobile talk time or texts as a reward for a consumer, perhaps as part of an on-pack promotion, or, as one UK credit card company is doing, as loyalty points related to the amount of money spent on the card.

In 2009, working with mobile marketing agency Sponge, OpenMarket ran a ‘Gimme Credit’ campaign for Coca-Cola brands Fanta, Dr. Pepper and Sprite that offered consumers 50p credit for every promotional pack they bought. Coca-Cola declared the campaign its best-performing sales promotion campaign of the year, and when it was repeated

in 2010, the results were even better. Moir says there is pent-up demand for mobile crediting campaigns, and that they will increase in number in the UK next year as more operators open up access to them.

In fact, he says, attitudes to mobile payments and crediting are beginning to change.

OpenMarket is already providing an in-app billing solution for the mobile games firm, Digital Chocolate, and he says that other companies in the same space are showing interest.

Attitudes from companies in the gambling sector are also beginning to change too, says Moir.

“Traditionally they don’t look any further than the payout rates, and when they compare these to credit cards, all they see is that they have to give away a greater percentage of the revenues,” he says. “But when we ask them to think of this as a marketing or acquisition cost, and about all the consumers they will attract because of the impulsive nature of paying by mobile, rather than entering credit card details, they can see where we’re coming from.”

More than anything though, Moir says he is encouraged by the growing number of brands putting mobile at the heart of their marketing strategy.

“Google has famously talked about being a ‘Mobile First’ company, but in fact, we are seeing this attitude all around

“The value we add is as a technology provider. We provide the tools and the platform that enables brands and their agencies to put their creativity to work” Alex Moir us,” he says. “Unilever’s Lynx Stream campaign used mobile as a prime engagement channel with consumers, but despite being based on an app, it went way beyond the app, and we were engaged to integrate SMS and MMS for picture and message delivery and a WAP download link, to ensure the campaign reached out beyond smartphone users. All the hype is around apps, but any brand that wants mass engagement knows they also need text and MMS, and to make something like push notifications work cross-platform is non-trivial. It’s not particularly glamorous, but it’s one of the things we do best, and it’s why our brand and agency partners put such faith in us.”

What the People Think Earlier this year, OpenMarket, in association with mobileSQUARED, surveyed 1,000 consumers in the UK about their attitudes towards mobile payments and mobile crediting. The stats below are taken from the survey, unless otherwise stated… per cent of consumers think that providing credit/debit card in • 55formation • 62 per cent of respondents said they would be more likely to buy via a mobile is a disincentive to making a purchase. a product that offered mobile credits, rather than a similar, com- peting product that didn’t.

24 per cent would prefer micropayments of under £10 to be • charged to their mobile account.

75 per cent indicated a positive response to brands offering mobile • credits as part of a promotion.

• 56 per cent said it would be “very useful” to receive a refund or • 31 per cent of consumers who have made a purchase on mobile goodwill gesture through their mobile phone, where the value is less than £10. did so on impulse (Source: IAB)

September 2011 Sponsored Feature

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22

the real world

Focus on Asia pacific A mix of mobile-dependent emerging markets and hightech heartlands, the Asia-Pacific region is a hub of mobile marketing activity. Yet its potential is far from fully-realised, as Andy Penfold reports

I

t there’s one thing that unites markets in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of mobile marketing activity, it’s growth. From the tech-savvy markets in S. Korea and Japan to the emerging markets of Indonesia, Thailand, or Vietnam, mobile marketing is a clear growth area, as marketers realise that mobile phone use is spreading fast through these varied populations. And that’s without even mentioning the staggering scale of China, and the opportunities presented by a population of 1.3bn increasingly mobile people.

According to a recent report from eMarketer, the Asia-Pacific region contains 56 per cent of the world’s mobile consumers.

The report, titled Asia-Pacific Mobile: Redefining the Digital Landscape, forecasts that mobile ad spend in the three largest markets – China, India, and Japan –will rise from $2.01bn (£1.23bn) in 2011 to $3.94bn in 2015. The report also predicts

that mobile internet penetration will reach 42.1 per cent in the region by 2015.

“There is a dramatic contrast between highly advanced mobile countries such as Japan and S. Korea, and huge developing nations like China and India,” says Noah Elkin, eMarketer principal analyst, and author of the report. “And within the emerging markets in particular, there is a second divide, where the majority of mobile users own simple prepaid phones, and a small but growing number sport smartphones and advanced feature phones.”

So the markets in the AsiaPacific region present opportunities, but the opportunities are different country to country.

Asia-Pacific displays a diverse range of economic development. Japan, for example, still acts as a barometer for the kind of technology we’ll see in the UK in years to come, while in Thailand, for example, a legacy

feature phone is the sole way that many people access content on the internet.

“The countries are quite different,” says Anna Pikina, European sales director at BuzzCity. “Indonesia is similar to the more developed markets, such as Australia and Singapore, and I would say Malaysia is somewhere in between, if you’re talking about penetration of smartphones. However, if you compare APAC markets with European markets, they’re not quite the same, because they do have a lot of areas in APAC where the mobile internet is the only way for the people to access the internet.”

Market diversity The diversity of markets is represented by the various hardware in use in Asia-Pacific countries. In general terms, smartphone penetration is rising, but in practical terms for marketers, featurephones

“There are Chinese companies selling what they call ‘smart featurephones’ which are devices that offer similar functions to a smartphone, but that are still low-cost phones Anna Pikina, BuzzCity

September2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

23

“There is a dramatic contrast between highly advanced mobile countries such as Japan and S. Korea, and huge developing nations like China and India” Noah Elkin, eMarketer Japan is one of the most advanced mobile marketing nations

and legacy phones are the most widely-used devices.

Magnus Jern, CEO and founder of Golden Gekko, says: “Feature phone sales (let alone ownership) still outnumber smartphones four to one in the region.” The mobile marketing trends reflect the devices in the market, he says. “The focus is still on messaging and SMS campaigns, rather than mobile web and apps, due to the large base of legacy and feature phones in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.”

BuzzCity’s Pikina agrees.

“Smartphones are not very widespread, although you do see a lot of penetration from BlackBerry and later Nokias,” she

says. “There are also Chinese companies selling what they call ‘smart featurephones’ which are somewhere in between. These are basically devices that offer similar functions to a smartphone but that are still low-cost phones.”

The types of brand using mobile are somewhat different to the West, too. Pikina says: “In SE Asia, campaigns tend to come from banks, and government agencies for education.”

Golden Gekko’s Jern says big brands can, however, see the opportunity in the region. “Big global brands such as Unilever, P&G, and Coca-Cola have all done lots of mobile campaigns, but mostly based on experi-

mental budgets, and not with a long-term objective in mind.

This is now starting to change, with Unilever recently proclaiming mobile as its top advertising channel in the future, with an initial focus on emerging markets,” he tells Mobile Marketing.

Mobile advertising growth But as feature phone use is on the rise, so mobile web ad campaigns are also gaining traction. And, in many cases, the numbers involved are pretty eye-popping. Mobile ad network InMobi issued a report on the region in June, which excluded SMS-based campaigns. It says that the network is growing by 10 per cent every quarter, with

September2011

India, Indonesia and Vietnam contributing the greatest portion of mobile impressions in the region.

Between January and April of this year, mobile web-based impressions accounted for 16.9bn of the 18bn impressions on InMobi’s network during the period, an increase of 8.9 per cent over the previous quarter.

In-app impressions accounted for the other 1.1bn, up 28.7 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

Of the total 18bn impressions, 13.7bn came from feature phones (an increase of 8.1 per cent over the previous quarter), while 4.3bn came from smartphones, a quarter-on-quarter increase of 16.3 per cent.

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24

the real world

“Smartphone penetration is low, but featurephone usage, and Nokia in particular, is incredibly strong in the majority of these markets” Nick Lane, mobileSQUARED

“Smartphone inventory is quickly increasing, but feature phones still hold a majority in Asia, especially in emerging markets,” says Atul Satija, VP and MD of APAC at InMobi.

“However, based on InMobi’s data, these markets tend to show the highest engagement rates, with smartphones igniting even higher interactivity due to theirrich media capabilities. Adoption of smartphones and telco competition will drive data costs down, promoting faster smartphone growth.”

Mobile research company mobileSQUARED has also reported huge growth for mobile internet use in the region. In a report for mobile ad network Smaato, mobileSQUARED says that by the end of 2011, there will be 671.5m mobile internet users across Asia – a growth of 22 per cent in the last 18 months.

“Smartphone penetration is low, but feature phone usage, and Nokia in particular, is incredibly strong in the majority of these markets (such as India, and in SE Asia),” says Nick Lane, chief analyst at mobileSQUARED. “In markets like China, you also have local manufacturers that are very affordable. Feature phone prices are affordable – though for much of these markets, the consumer will amortise the cost over a long period, so the handset replacement cycle is a lot longer in most of Asia.”

According to the report frommobileSQUARED, the Asian mobile internet landscape is dominated by China. By the end of 2011, the company says that China will have 400m mobile internet users - it added 80m mobile web users in 2010 and will add a further 86m this year.

A report by ABI Research highlights just how significant the growth of Chinese mobile internet usage is. The report looked into how Chinese people respond to ads on their mobiles.

Neil Strother carried out the research at ABI. He says: “We asked if people had ever clicked on an ad on a mobile, and the ‘yes’ answer was 65 per cent.”

Strother says that the equivalent UK figure is just 17 per cent.

And, while he is keen to point out that the Chinese survey was done online, which leans the findings towards tech-savvy urbanites in China, he says the message to marketers targeting Chinese consumers is clear. “It’s maturing pretty quickly. It’s a lot of eyeballs, a lot of users, and if indeed it progresses as expected – with many people continuing to use mobile devices and shifting even more activity (brows-

The Nike Training Club app was a hit in China, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong as consumers embrace their smartphones for non-core uses

September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

25

BlackBerrys are popular in Asia-Pacific

ing, search, commerce, wallet) towards smartphones – there will be a lot of media consumption and marketing opportunities out there.”

Strother sees huge opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region in more general terms, too.

“Advertisers are trying to reach the masses, so it’s pretty easy to go with text-based campaigns.

They’re pretty clever - it can be triggered with TV or outdoor print. It’s meeting people as they’re out in the course of their day, and then using their mobile phone as a component. Unlike in the West, where it may be driven off apps or email or web to mobile, it’s more likely to be outdoor mobile, and the mobile component is usually text.”

Tech-savvy population That’s the story in the emerging markets in Asia, but the Asia-Pacific region also has some mobile markets that are as mature as those in the West, if somewhat different. Singapore, S. Korea and Japan all have techsavvy populations compared to the territories with lower GDP. The region also incorporates Australia, which behaves more like the West in terms of it’s mobile usage.

Says Adfonic COO Paul

Childs: “Generally speaking, the majority of campaigns we are seeing across Asia-Pacific still tend to be mobile contentrelated. However, we are seeing a shift to smartphone campaigns, particularly in Japan, which promote mobile apps. Australia is starting to replicate the UK market, with similar campaigns from mobile operators and leading brands starting to come through mobile ad networks.”

As mobile internet usage continues to soar in the region, so higher-end innovation in developed markets gets more sophisticated. While more brands are beginning to use QR codes in the West, in developed Asian markets, this practice is already widespread. In S. Korea, for example, Tesco’s ‘Homeplus’ division has developed a virtual store concept that allows commuters to do their grocery shopping via their handset, by replicating a store shelf on a poster, complete with QR codes.

Girlswalker.com in Japan has also used QR codes to allow women to buy modelled clothes at live fashion shows.

This kind of innovation, combined with the massive populations for whom the mobile is the sole internet-enabled screen, means the Asia-Pacific region represents massive opportunities for marketers.

“Asia Pacific probably has the largest number of mobile internet users in the world, and represents the biggest opportunity for mobile marketers, with countries like China and India giving advertisers access to billions of mobile internet users for display advertising purposes,” says Adfonic’s Childs.

“With innovative markets like S. Korea and Japan leading the way for mobile sites and applications it is only a matter of time before advertisers and brands start to tap into these markets.”

September 2011

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September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

best practice

27

Application Showcase David Murphy gets his daily news fix on the iPad, comparing the tablet offerings of three newspapers from across the world

South China Morning Post

T

he leading Hong Kong English language newspaper launched on the iPad in July 2010, with the most recent version update on 15 May 2011. It’s free to download, and navigation is locked in landscape mode in order to: “create a more visually engaging design, with improved usability”, according

to the blurb on the App Store.

When you launch the app, you get a screen showing you which issues are available to download. Once you have chosen one or more, the issue downloads. The 2 September issue we looked at had a front page with links to the top story in each of 10 sections. News, Business, City, China, Asia, World, Sport,

Insight, Opinion and Today in Photos. Along the bottom of the page is a row of icons.

‘Store’ takes you back to the home screen to download more issues. ‘Library’ displays all the issue you have downloaded that are available to read. According to the ‘Help’ icon, the ‘Front Page’ tab should take you back to the front page of the section you are currently in, though every time we hit it, no matter which section we were in, it took us back to the front page of the whole paper.

Page Viewer displays a thumbnail image of every page in each section to enable you to jump to the story you want. Clicking on a new section changes the thumbnails to display the pages in that section. The final icon, ‘Latest News’, takes you a Latest News page which looks nothing like the rest of the app; it’s just a list of the latest news stories

September 2011

in four sections: Hong Kong, China, Business and Sport.

These stories are only available on a subscription basis. Click on any of them, and you get a screen inviting you to sign up to SCMP.com for the sum of HK$399 (£32) per annum.

Click on any story to read it. Within the story, swiping up takes you to the next page of the story, while swiping left takes you to the next story, and swiping right takes you to the previous one. You can also navigate using a left and right arrow icon at the bottom of the screen. Clicking on a photo enlarges it.

There is no facility to share stories via email or social media, though for stories written by staffers, an email icon and email address is included at the head of each story. The icon is just there for display purposes, however. It doesn’t open an email, or do anything else for that matter, when clicked.

Overall, the South China Morning Post looks good and works well on the iPad. It’s great that it’s free, but it certainly doesn’t look cheap.

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best practice

The Times

“There are no daily pricing options, something that more than a few of the users who have posted reviews of the app on the App Store complain about.”

R

upert Murdoch has famously put the online edition of The Times behind a paywall, charging £2 per week (with the first 30 days for £1), for access to The Times and Sunday Times online and iPad editions.

The iPad edition is free of charge for the first 30 days for new customers. After that, access costs £9.99 for 30 days.

There are no daily pricing options, something that more than a few of the users who have posted reviews of the app on the App Store complain about.

The most recent version of the iPad edition, updated on 13 June 2011, offers multiple editions on big news days, plus what the newspaper describes as: “an improved reading experience in both orientations”.

On the day we checked it out, 2 September, the front page of the iPad edition featured great photos of two British medal winners from the World Athletics Championships, though clicking on these did not take you through to the relevant story, which was something of a surprise.

Options on the front page include an ‘Editions’ tab which

allows you to select the edition you want to read (today’s, yesterday’s, etc.) There are also left and right arrows to scroll to the next story, and a ‘Help’ icon, which brings up a panel explaining what each of the tabs and icons is for, though for some reason, one of the icons is not explained here. Perhaps that’s because it seems to duplicate the functionality of another.

There’s also a ‘Stories’ tab, which lists the different sections of the newspaper, so you can jump to the one you want. Selecting any of the section options, such as World, Arts, Sport etc., changes the list of headlines and photos (or the start of the story where there is no photo). Swipe this to the left to see all the stories featured in that section.

Once within a story, there are no options to save or share it, and we could find no obvious way to get back to the front page of the relevant section from

within the story, other than by using the ‘Stories’ tab. Swiping upwards or downwards seems to move you through from one story to the next, or to the next or previous page of the story you were on, but as this can also be achieved by swiping left or right, it seems odd that the up or down swipe isn’t employed to take you back to the start of the section instead.

The Times’ links with satellite broadcaster BSkyB are put to good use, with embedded Sky News video links on some stories. Clicking on a photo enlarges it, but we saw no evidence of the sort of slide show functionality offered by the WSJ. There is also no facility to change the size of the text.

Overall, this is a good-looking app, that is easy on the eye, and fairly easy to navigate using the ‘Stories’ tab, but could have been easier still with a little more thought for the user interface.

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Wall Street Journal

T

he WSJ offers two options – you can buy a single daily edition for £1.49 or subscribe for a week for $3.99 and get four weeks free. This, the app points out, is 67 per cent cheaper than buying on an issue-by-issue basis. Subscribers to the paper edition get the iPad edition thrown in for free.

The front page is text heavy and not particularly visually appealing. Upholding its financial credentials, there’s a ‘My Watchlist’ tab at the top of the front page where you can see the prices of the stocks you are following, plus a ‘Get Quote’ tab to enable you to find the current price of any others.

You can navigate through the paper’s various sections simply

by swiping left and right until you end up back at the front page again, though there is nothing to tell you where you are (e.g., p5 of 50). Alternatively, you can use the ‘Sections’ tab at the bottom right of each page.

Among the options here are the ‘Now’ edition, which, for subscribers (as opposed to single issue purchasers) offers updated news throughout the day. Singleissue purchasers can access the front page of the ‘Now’ edition, but when they click on an article there, all they get is a link to the Subscription window. Subscribers also get a 7-day archive downloaded for reading any time, including offline. Single issue buyers can read any purchased issue

offline. Alongside the ‘Sections’ tab is an ‘Edition’ tab where you can choose your default edition (US, Europe, or Asia). Note that a single purchase only buys you access to one edition.

Click on a story and it takes over the screen. Click on an image and you get a larger version.

Click on this, and you get a slide show of other images related to the same story. In the case of the 2 September front page story about Libya, this totalled 32 images, including some dramatic ones, such as the youth, accused of being loyal to Colonel Gadhafi, being held at gunpoint by rebel forces; and the shot of a Libyan fighter plane, in flames, heading vertically towards the ground, just a second or so from impact, after being shot down by rebels.

You also get graphics. Another 2 Sep story on the UK phone hacking scandal showed these off to good effect, with a fantastic graphic showing how all the players in the scandal are linked. Click on any of the names to see more about the individual and their involvement.

To get back to the article, click the ‘Back to Article’ button. When reading an article, you get a couple of additional tabs at the bottom of the page.

September 2011

‘Save’ enables you to save the article. You can then access your saved articles from the Start Screen, which you get to from the ‘Sections’ tab. The second tab, ‘Share’ offers the option of sharing the article via email, Facebook or Twitter. You can also bump the point size up and

down when reading an article From the article itself, however, it’s less clear how to get back to the page you were on, though it turns out to be a downwards swipe.

Overall, the Wall Street Journal iPad edition is clean, easy to navigate and boasts

some neat functionality, in particular the photo slide shows.

The single edition purchase option is also welcome for occasional readers who don’t want to commit to a monthly, or even weekly, subscription.

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business models

Join Us For The Mobile Retail Summit A major one-day conference and exposition looking at all aspects of mobile in the retail channel

O

n 26 January 2012, Mobile Marketing is staging the Mobile Retail Summit. This new, one-day conference and exposition aims to give retail executives a thorough grounding in all aspects of mobile marketing, enabling them to leave the event in a position to devise their mobile strategy, or improve on their existing one.

The day is divided into four sessions, each looking at a specific aspect of how retailers can put mobile to work.

Session 1

Session 2

Session 3

The first session, ‘On Device’, looks at how retailers can engage with consumers, and sell to them, via the mobile itself, through mobile sites and apps.

This section of the conference will explain how to build sites and apps and integrate them with your back-end systems; how to drive traffic to your site; and how to get your app downloaded, in an era in which the world is awash with mobile apps, and app discovery is key.

The second session, ‘Driving Footfall’, explores how mobile can be used to drive people into your High St. stores.

This session will include presentations on mobile CRM and loyalty campaigns, including how to build an opted-in mobile database, and the overlap between mobile and social media. It will also look at mobile advertising, and how you can use location-based services and advertising to get people in store.

The third session, ‘In Store’ looks at how retailers can use mobile in store for customer service, and to drive sales.

This section of the conference will include sessions on the use of QR codes and barcodes in store to enable customers to find out more about products on display. It will also cover mobile coupons and vouchers, and mobile payments, investigating the many options that are available to retailers.

Date: Thursday 26 January 2012 Venue: Victoria Plaza, 239 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 1EQ

September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

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Check out the site

Session 4

Alongside the conference,

The final session, ‘The Future’ looks at the future of mobile in the retail channel, in the nearand longer-term. This session will include sessions on iPad kiosks and queue-busting solutions; the connected changing room; and the use of Augmented Reality in store to help consumers find their way around, and target them with offers. It will also include live demos of some of the hottest mobile marketing technologies and tools out there.

there will be an exposition featuring leading mobile solutions providers with a proven track record in the retail sector, plus mobile surgeries, where retailers can get answers to their specific questions.

The Mobile Retail Summit is a fantastic opportunity to get to grips with mobile, find out more about the stuff you already know about, and learn about the new opportunities coming to the fore in this fast-changing sector.

Retailers can book their free pass at www.mretailsummit.com.

People not in the retail industry can attend on payment of a ÂŁ595 delegate fee.

For more details of sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities, please contact john.owen@mobilemarketingmagazine.com

Event Overview: One-day conference programme, packed with insightful keynote speakers Exposition, with exhibiting opportunities for 20 solutions providers Retailer case studies highlighting the highs and lows of their move into the mobile channel mCommerce Surgeries, offering 1-on 1 meeting opportunities with senior executives from the retail industry Packed full of networking opportunities throughout the day

Free for Retailers to attend

September 2011

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business models

Real-time bidding opportunity Wes Biggs, CTO at mobile ad network Adfonic, looks at the emergence of real-time bidding in mobile advertising, and explains what it means for the sector

I

“2011 has seen the first deployments of real-time bidding on mobile, and a series of high profile publishers and advertisers have swiftly embraced the technology”

f you’ve been involved in buying or selling mobile advertising in the last 12 months, it’s more than likely you’ll have heard the term real-time bidding, or RTB, on the periphery of myriad discussions.

Whether in the technical discussions of software engineers, the blustery pitches of sales representatives, or the quizzical enquiries of agency stakeholders, the movement from more traditional methods of trading mobile advertising inventory to a fully automated, real-time auction process, is proceeding apace. Understanding RTB and the impact it will have on the way the mobile advertising market operates paves the way for the next step in the fast and furious evolution of mobile advertising, and provides opportunities and challenges for both buyers and sellers.

Established approaches

sites. Where this isn’t possible, or to address remnant inventory, often quoted at between 60 and 70 percent of the total available, publishers typically enlist one or several ad networks, often integrating using in-house technology that divides up ad requests between buyers on the basis of geography or platform.

This approach, often termed an ad router, brings more buying partners into the mix, but doesn’t necessarily solve issues with fill rate. To better address these, some publishers use a daisy chain approach, whereby, if an ad request is not filled by network A, it is sent to ad network B, and so on until an ad placement is available. This addresses fill, but doesn’t necessarily mean that the ad chosen will yield the highest value, and it may introduce unacceptable latency between the ad request and the response.

This problem led to yield op-

might get first shot at filling iPhone requests from users in France, for example, based on the eCPM generated over the past hour or day.

While yield optimisers are effective in terms of eCPM, they are also highly complex, requiring one-off integrations with dozens of ad networks, and being reliant on earnings data that is often not updated or accrued in real time. For these, and similar technical reasons, the majority of mobile supplyside platforms (SSPs) tend to run a hybrid daisy-chain/yield optimisation system, with the ability to manually manage the flow of inventory.

Enter RTB. In a real-time bidding scenario, the daisy chain is gone: each ad request is shown to all interested buying partners in an instantaneous auction model. The buying partners must implement what is called a bidder, and have a split second

Publishers of mobile websites or applications who have ad space to sell have a number of established approaches to monetising their inventory. Direct selling and sponsorships or tenancy arrangements are still common, especially on premium

timisation platforms, which use historical data to predict which buying partner will provide the best value for a given ad request, based on attributes such as the user’s country and device type.

Yield optimisers dynamically route traffic; an ad network

to decide whether there is an ad available to serve against the request, and if so how much they are willing to pay to serve it. The highest bid received within the designated time period (usually 50 to 100 milliseconds) wins the auction, and the auctioneer

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33

accrues payment and serves the winning ad. With several thousand ad requests per second coming through across various exchanges, the onus is on the auctioneers (SSPs) and the bidders (primarily ad networks) to provide robust, highly scalable technical solutions and tools to make it easy for their customers - publishers and advertisers - to participate in the auction.

Industry momentum 2011 has seen the first deployments of real-time bidding on mobile, and a series of high profile publishers and advertisers have swiftly embraced the technology. In February,

group AccuStream. While no precise figures are available on the prevalence of RTB, a rough guess is that 5 to 10 per cent of ad requests currently use realtime bidding methods, including both OpenRTB and proprietary implementations. That already equates to billions of monthly ad impressions, and further launches in 2011 and early 2012 could increase the share of RTB traffic in mobile to nearly a third of the market.

The benefits The benefits for publishers are straightforward: real-time bidding maximizes the value of each ad request. Like proceed-

market. Sophisticated self-service campaign management and inventory buying systems like Adfonic’s become consolidated buying points, offering reach across tens of billions of ad requests per month.

As more exchanges become RTB-enabled, demand-side platforms (DSPs) and demandside networks (DSNs) are likely to emerge as significant drivers of campaign spend. Pure-play mobile DSPs are an emerging part of the market, with some ad networks using the term today,

variable pricing model, but there are some clear use cases that are likely to push this forward.

For example, consider geotargeting: a unique feature of the mobile market is the in-built ability in many applications and devices to access the user’s GPS location on an opt-in basis.

An emerging group of advertisers is willing to pay substantial premiums - sometimes from 20 to 50 times the normal blind bid price - to reach users that can be ringfenced within a specific area, such as attendees of

although they are by necessity buying from RTB and non-RTB exchanges, as well as other networks. Some ad networks are likely to emerge as both RTB bidders and auctioneers, playing a dual buyer and seller role.

a music festival or some other popular event.

RTB facilitates this by providing standard ways for user data such as location to be passed to all interested bidders. It’s not hard to envisage scenarios where an advertiser might be willing to pay one price for general awareness and another, higher price to target users within a defined radius of a specific location.

Ultimately, advertisers that can accurately measure their customers’ lifetime value may engage with RTB as a platform to vary their bid based on expected ROI of different audience segments. This might take the form of a maximum bid, or a premium to be paid when certain criteria are met.

Changes in behaviour

Some advertisers will pay as much as 20 to 50 times the normal blind bid price to reach users that can be ringfenced within a specific area, such as people at a music festival

work officially began on the OpenRTB Mobile specification, and the first OpenRTB Mobile 1.0 exchange was launched in April by mobile SSP Nexage, with demand partners including Adfonic, and high-profile inventory including Rovio’s Angry Birds. Other mobile RTB exchanges have been announced

by Mobclix, AdIQuity, Admeld and others.

Across the mobile display market, an estimated 1.35 trillion ad impressions will be served in 2011, according to analyst

ings at a traditional auction house, the more bidders in the audience, the more likely an ad impression is to be sold, and to fetch a competitive price. SSPs, like auctioneers, make money on each sale, and thus have significant incentive to deploy full-featured and highly scalable RTB exchanges.

For buyers, RTB provides the widest access to available inventory. Demand-side ad networks with sufficient technical nous gain the ability to bid against the whole of the RTB-enabled

Today, most campaigns are bought on a fixed-price basis: the advertiser agrees a CPC or CPM price and campaigns are served out across inventory sources that fit the targeting criteria. In this context, targeting typically includes technographic features: device type or platform, mobile operator and territory, as well as limited publisher information such as channel or vertical.

RTB expands this by encouraging bidding on audience. In the online display advertising space, RTB has co-evolved with the emergence of a market for user demographic and behavioural data, allowing use cases such as retargeting, where an advertiser pays a premium to reach a consumer who has previously expressed interest in their product. The data ecosystem for mobile is still in its infancy, however, due to the lack of ubiquitous cookie technology across mobile handsets, as well as industry-wide privacy concerns. This means that mobile may be slower to evolve to a

Sponsored Feature September 2011

What it all means RTB on mobile is an important development that will further position mobile advertising as the emerging dominant advertising platform. The ability for publishers to maximise their inventory value and advertisers to extend their reach and buying efficiency will drive widespread adoption in the coming year. As these developments progress, expect the capabilities for planning and buying media campaigns to undergo significant and fastpaced evolution.

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business models

SMS For All Txtlocal managing director Darren Daws explains to David Murphy how the company attempts to make mobile marketing and communications affordable and ROI-positive for businesses of all sizes

O

“The way we see things, any business should be able to use the power of mobile to generate new business” Darren Daws, Txtlocal

ne of the most appealing aspects of mobile marketing is that there is virtually no barrier to entry. Businesses of all shapes and sizes can, and do, use mobile to stimulate interest, generate new business and build customer loyalty.

This is particularly true in the field of outbound SMS communications to an opted-in database of customers and prospects. As Txtlocal managing director Darren Daws tells me almost as soon as we start talking, a small business such as a pub, restaurant or hairdressers can roll out a text messaging campaign to 100 people for less than £5, in less than a couple of minutes.

“The way we see things, any business should be able to use the power of mobile to generate new business,” he says.

Pay-as-you-go Txtlocal started out in 2005 with the small and medium-sized business (SME) sector firmly in its sights. “There were other companies out there doing what we do, and some of them had a lot of marketing money to spend, but they were all focused on big brands, charging large set-up fees and monthly retainers,” says Daws. “We decided to go to market with a pay-asyou-go type model that would enable any business of any size to try mobile marketing, without

making a huge financial commitment, and see if it worked for them. Our view was that if we had 10,000 companies spending £10 a month with us, that was a good business to start with.

In fact, Txtlocal now has more than 75,000 companies on its books - proof, if any were needed, that the business model was a sound one. And while small and medium-sized businesses have taken to the Txtlocal approach to mobile marketing with enthusiasm, the company’s client list also includes some much bigger organisations. Manchester United Football Club, and a small web outfit called Google that you might have come across, to name but two.

As you might expect, the smaller number of large businesses on Txtlocal’s books account for a disproportionate amount of the company’s revenues, though Daws says it’s not as high as the traditional 80:20.

And while Txtlocal’s approach has attracted big businesses, he says the company remains committed to its SME heartland.

“We try to make the process as simple as possible for our clients,” Daws tells Mobile Marketing. “If a customer wants a shortcode, all they need to do is type in the word they want to use on the Txtlocal website, and if it’s available, they just enter their credit card details and it appears immediately on their account. Automating things in this way makes it quicker and slicker for our customers, gives a better service and also helps us to stay lean and mean and keeps our overheads down, so we can remain competitive.”

Ongoing communications Of course, a mobile messaging platform is not much use without someone to send the messages to, so Txtlocal helps its clients to build an opted-in list

Txtlocal’s work for fostering solutions helped to increase the number of people expressing an interest in fostering by 40 per cent

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of mobile numbers by offering a free inbound keyword on 60777 that they can publish on their marketing collateral, inviting consumers to text in to register for, and opt in to, ongoing SMS communications.

“We do have a few customers who use us for that alone,” says Daws. “We don’t mind though.

If you collect 10,000 mobile numbers, at some point, it’s inevitable that you are going to want to send them a text message.”

There’s no shortage of case studies showing the results that the Txtlocal platform can achieve (see panel). With that side of the business now well established, Daws and his team are looking to move things on. The company has recently introduced MMS (Multimedia Messaging) capabilities, making it as easy for clients to upload an image and send an MMS, as it is to send a text-only SMS. It has also launched a free mobile web page-building service.

This enables a business to create a mobile website, including text, photos and videos. The company can then update any part of the site, such as the Offers page, via their Txtlocal control panel, and for businesses such as restaurants, the site can include a form to enable a customer to book a table, with the booking confirmed via a text back to the customer’s phone.

Once the site is built, the business can publicise it with a text to its database containing a link to the site. Each link is a unique URL, enabling the business to see who clicked on the link, and what sort of device and operating system they were using. “If you were thinking of launching an iPhone app and you found that only 1 per cent of your clickthroughs came from Apple devices, this is a quick and easy way to avoid wasting a lot of money,” says Daws.

Another recent addition to the company’s portfolio is a service that takes an HTML email that a company might use as a weekly or monthly newsletter to clients and prospects, converts it to a mobile web page, then sends a text message with a link to the page, enabling recipients to view the email, correctly formatted, on their phone.

Next on the agenda, says Daws, is a mobile ticketing platform, due to launch in the next few weeks, that will enable any business to send tickets for events, or discount vouchers, with the ability to track voucher redemption via the platform.

“We have a very solid platform that is well liked and well used by our customers, but we don’t want to stand still,” says Daws.

“We firmly believe that mobile is for any business; that’s our mantra. There’s still a huge amount of growth out there, and we intend to leverage it by doing more with our existing clients, and finding new ones who have not yet discovered the power of mobile marketing, but who will, and in our experience, once they do, they never look back.”

One of txtlocal’s recent campaigns was for the cancer charity, Marie Curie

SMS IN ACTION

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO), based at the London Coliseum in the heart of the city, is one of the world’s largest opera companies, performing everything from popular classics and operetta, through to more contemporary work and rarely-performed musicals. ENO uses Txtlocal’s platform to communicate last-minute ticket offers. “We are able to mitigate any short-term sales downturn by maximising the value from unsold ticket inventory,” says ENO marketing manager, Jonathan Broad.

ENO’s ROI has been exceptional, with response rates well above industry standards. “Looking at the last two campaigns, we spent a total of just over £500 on text credits, which yielded £8,000 gross profit, ” says Broad. That’s an ROI of 16:1.

“Txtlocal is superb and exactly fits our needs,” he continues “There is no contract or tie-in, which was the downfall of other providers. Our account handler always responds effectively and promptly. The online dashboard and functionality is intuitive, extremely simple and easy to navigate.”

GroundScope GroundScope provides an online managed ground transport service, including business taxis, chauffeur driven cars and coaches for major companies.

As part of its service, GroundScope needs to ensure that it sends customers confirmation of their bookings, and provide reassurance that their vehicle and/or chauffeur will arrive on time. To do this, it uses the Txtlocal system to automatically send a text to a customer 30 minutes before their collection time. The text reminds the customer of their booking, and includes the telephone number of the car driver, putting the traveller and driver in direct contact.

The Txtlocal system integrates with GroundScope’s booking system through a sophisticated API Gateway. The Txtlocal SMS API gateway is a simple interface which enables the automatic sending, receiving and receipt of SMS messages directly from a server, business application or website.

In addition to the loyalty the system engenders in customers, the text messaging solution has also resulted in a reduction in lapsed bookings and forgotten collection times.

“For GroundScope, customer service is key, as we are available 24/7 every day of the year to handle a query, says managing director, John McCallion. “We needed to work with a system that operated in the same way. The Txtlocal system is easy to use and allows us to keep in contact with our customers at all times.”

Beautology Beautology operates three beauty practices in Bristol. The company uses Txtlocal’s system to remind customers about forthcoming appointments, reducing the number of no shows, whilst also giving customers the opportunity to cancel their appointments. Customers receive a text message from Beautology the day before their appointment.

The company has had great feedback from its customers, who appreciate the reminder service. The system has also resulted in a 100 per cent fall in the number of missed appointments.

“The Txtlocal service is easy to use, quick and effective,” says Beautology’s Nick Hayward.

Sponsored Feature September 2011

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the real world

MOBILE MASTERCLASS SERIES 2011 Taking business mobile • Meet senior executives from different industry verticals • Champion an area of mobile expertise exclusively • Lead mobile surgery roundtables and meet all attendees

UPCOMING EVENTS TRAVEL

MOBILE SPORT & LEISURE MASTERCLASS

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FINANCE

MOBILE BRAND & AGENCY MASTERCLASS 22 NOVEMBER 2011 • LONDON www.camerjam.com/events/mobilebrand Confirmed attendees include: Comet, Aviva, American Express, Visa, Booking.com, Air France, Science Museum, Mediacom, Carat, Zenith, Aegis

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES Sponsorship opportunities are limited to 6 per event and selling out fast.

To get your brand in front of the digital decision makers from any of the sectors listed above, contact John Owen on +44 (0)7769 674824 john.owen@mobilemarketingmagazine.com

September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

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MOBILE MASTERCLASS SERIES 2012 Covering UK, US and German markets The Mobile Masterclass series, organised by Mobile Marketing and Camerjam, brings together mobile experts and brands looking to deploy mobile marketing in their business. Each event targets a different vertical, and is free for executives from that industry to attend.

The series has been incredibly well received, with feedback from speakers and delegates alike praising the format – 15-minute, quick-fire presentations, followed by in-depth, “speed-dating” mobile surgery sessions.

David Murphy, Editor, Mobile Marketing

In 2012, the Masterclass series goes international, with events in the US, Germany, and the UK. For the complete 2012 schedule and details of how to register for free to attend, head for www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com/masterclass

UK

US

GERMANY

FEB

Retail

MAR Brand & Agency

FEB

Finance

MAR Retail

MAY Finance

FEB

Travel

APR

Finance

MAY Retail

FEB

Brand & Agency

SEP

Retail

JUN Travel & Tourism

OCT Retail

SEP

Automotive

SEP

Automotive

OCT Finance

SEP

Sport & Leisure

JAN Health, education & public sector

NOV Brand & Agency

DON’T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT

“The 2011 Masterclass Series has given us “It's opened our eyes to what we need to the opportunity to meet face to face with be doing on mobile and things we hadn't senior executives from different industry verticals considered. We'll take that away and work and has proved an excellent forum for driving out where we're going next will mobile.” new business.”

Al Gerrie, Ecommerce Manager, Kelaine Olvera, Marketing Director, Velti Office Shoes www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com September 2011

38

business models

Mobile made Simple David Murphy hears from Silvio Porcellana, CEO of mob.is.it, about his plan to deliver a solution that enables agency partners to quickly and easily create mobile sites, for any brand, that are optimised for any mobile device

I

“We want to become the leading partner for web and marketing agencies that need a reliable and effective solution for their mobile web needs” Silvio Porcellana

t’s fast becoming acknowledged that a mobile website is a must for almost any business, before you even look at which platforms to develop apps for. It’s self-evident really: any app can only reach the people using the operating system it’s designed for, whereas a mobile-optimised site is a catch-all that a brand can use to potentially engage with anyone on a mobile phone with a browser. And if they want to develop apps for their target audience’s key platforms too, that’s all good and well.

The problem is, building a mobile site can sometimes seem like something of a black art, particularly a transactional site that integrates with back-office systems, and possibly, an eCommerce platform too.

This is the challenge that Silvio Porcellana is aiming to address with the launch of mob.is.it. It’s a platform that enables brands or agencies to build mobile-optimised sites quickly, easily, and cost-effectively.

Porcellana, a seasoned web veteran who sold his first startup, FantaStock, in 2000, and went on to found the leading Italian search business, SEO Italy,

says he is particularly keen to work with agencies on a whitelabel basis, enabling them to add mobile to their toolset, without having to invest in expensive, skilled resource.

Effective solution “We want to become the leading partner for web and marketing agencies that need a reliable and effective solution for their mobile web needs,” says Porcellana.

“To have an in-house solution is time consuming and costly: we have a state-of-the art product and we want to share it with our partners, helping them deliver the best solution for their customers and working with them to create an holistic approach to online business, where no opportunities are missed, and no markets are neglected.”

There are three versions of the platform, including a free, ad-supported one; a ‘Pro’ version with unlimited facilities; and a ‘Limited’ version that offers some of the functionality of the Pro version. But affordability is key; even the full version of the platform, Porcellana tells Mobile Marketing, will cost a user no more than €150 a year.

“The fundamental idea behind mob.is.it is that we want to bring the mobile web revolution to everyone,” he says . “This core value will define itself in three ways. The first is that anybody can build a mobile website.

Secondly, anyone will be able to access the site, whatever type of device they have, because of the platform’s device-recognition capabilities. And thirdly, everyone will be able to afford to do it, because we are not out to get filthy rich from this.”

Building blocks At the heart of the mob.is.it platform is a templating system that enables users to build mobile sites using “widgets”. These are independent components such as Content Block, Picture Gallery and Geo List that are used as building blocks to create the site. “The idea is to give the user an effective and easy tool to create their mobile-optimized website, without requiring any programming, nor any knowledge of the complex mobile devices/browsers landscape,” says Porcellana. “It’s a WYSIWYG system. By choosing a template from among the hundreds the

Sponsored Feature September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

39

Taking a mobile specialist mobile HTML5 Today is the leading Italian online magazine for everything about HTML5 and CSS3. mob.is.it planned and implemented the publisher’s mobile web strategy, including everything from the design of the mobile site, to API integration.

Simply displaying the desktop site on a mobile - even a smartphone without any optimization and customization, would have both looked ugly and been virtually unusable, so taking the layout, content and navigational needs as a starting point, the company developed a solution for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry Torch devices, which enables users of these phones to enjoy the full HTML5 Today experience, with a true native interface and look and feel.

At the same time, mob.is.it was keen not to leave any users behind, so it also created a mobile web solution for older phones that allows anybody to fully experience the site and its contents, whatever their device capabilities, screen and power.

In addition to the slick design and cross-device interface, mob.is.it also platform offers, and then personalizing it with a few clicks, you are online in minutes, with a native-looking and truly universal mobile website.”

The platform’s other USP is its cross-platform capability. For every website, two versions are created. The first is optimized for iOS, Android and BlackBerry (OS6 and up) devices, using the Sencha Touch framework, to deliver a native-looking experience on each phone.

The mobile version of the HTML5 Today site, devloped by mob.is.it

The second is a version for all other mobile devices, including older devices such as the Nokia 5000. This version leverages all mobile optimization techniques, and retains the same look and feel as the touch version. mob.is.it uses the WURFL open source Device Description Repository to serve the best version of the site for each device, making the most of the device’s capabilities, but not presenting any content in a form the device cannot display. All this, of course, is transparent to the user, who works with a single CMS (Content Management System) to manage the site and all the content on it.

Fast prototyping For agency partners, the mob. is.it platform offers some additional benefits. Apart from its affordability, the principal ones are fast prototyping, enabling an agency to quickly show a workin-progress version of the site to their customers; and even faster implementation. Porcellana says that the template-based CMS enables a user to create custom mobile websites, including customized design, widgets and functionality, in as little as two weeks. Clever stuff.

September 2011

developed a set of APIs that allowed it to perfectly integrate the user experience with all the rich content of the blog, from the ‘Hot Stuff’ section, to a useful and complete feedback form.

“When you’re dealing with mobile, there really isn’t a “one size fits all solution”, says mob.is.it CEO, Silvio Porcellano. “We try to created a rich, immersive experience for those devices that are capable of it, while at the same time ensuring that anyone with browser-equipped mobile can access a version of the site that will look good on their device.”

He readily concedes that there are a number of mobile site-building platforms coming to market, but believes his has an edge. He says: “They tend to be very expensive, especially for small-to-medium sized businesses, and they often target a very limited set of devices, usually iPhones and Android.

This is OK so far as it goes, but the reality is, the world is full of older, cheaper and less powerful devices, and these represent a huge market, that no brand can afford to ignore.

“Others offer a very poor navigational experience, or work from a cumbersome and unintuitive CMS. Our target market is non-expert users in agencies and small businesses, not rocket scientists with a major in Content Management Systems.” mob.is.it launches in beta this month in the UK and the US, with a full launch set for October. Once the initial territories are up and running, Porcellana plans to take the platform to developing countries such as S. America, Asia and Africa, as well as other European markets, such as Germany and Italy.

The platform itself is being continually developed too. By the end of the year, it will en-

Sponsored Feature

a

able any user to build a fully transactional mCommerce site, including inventory management, sales, order processing and payments. The mCommerce offering will be fully compatible with the main eCommerce solutions, such as Zen Cart and Magento, enabling users to easily integrate the mobile site with their eCommerce site.

Porcellana says he feels strongly that the mobile web is the full realization of what the World Wide Web has been promising for the past 20 years: to be fully interconnected in an open environment, where everyone can access their content, and can get in touch with whoever they want or need to, at any time, and wherever they are.

“The mob.is.it revolution is the exact fulfilment of this promise,” he says. “Empower every business and every website to be truly mobile, without all the problems of a native app, and the costs of a totally custom solution, ensuring at the same time that all users and all devices out there can enjoy and use it fully.”

It’s a lofty aim, but Porcellana is clearly determined to achieve it, and with mob.is.it, he might just have the vehicle to do so.

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

40

business models

Laser Focus BigTime CEO Dimitris Papazisis explains to David Murphy why his company is 100 per cent committed to SMS

P

“People say that anyone can take a good idea and copy it, but when you have the ingredients for a great recipe, you only get a great meal if the chef knows how to work with them” Dimitris Papazisis

erhaps the biggest challenge facing any start-up is that first key account win; the one that gives other potential customers the confidence that you can deliver on what you promise.

When BigTime CEO Dimitris Papazisis launched the company at the end of Q1, 2011 with a focus on SMS, he concedes that he expected a tough first year.

In fact, things have gone better than he could have realistically wished for, as the company found itself engaged by a number of Tier 1 operators, including two MTN operating companies in Africa, Orange Poland, and Etisalat, within the first four months.

ence of the team he has put together. “Nearly everyone here has come from other companies working with mobile operators,” Papazisis explains. “They all have extensive experience of running SMS Mega-promotions

for operators in diverse geographies, from the Middle East and Africa, to Latin America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. They know what types of promotion work in each territory.”

Papazisis likens the process of

BigTime’s SMS Mega-promotions appeal to operators and their subscribers alike

SMS focus Papazisis puts the bright start down to a number of factors.

The first is the focus on one business line – SMS. While this embraces several types of activity, from SMS chat over TV to SMS voting for TV shows and SMS ‘Mega-promotions’ for mobile operators, it is all about SMS, with no distraction coming from other activities. One knock-one effect of this is that whatever project the company is engaged on, it can assign lots of resource to every aspect of it, from copywriting and media buying, to project and campaign management.

The second factor is the experi-

Sponsored Feature September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

41

running SMS campaigns to that of a chef cooking a great meal.

“People say that anyone can take a good idea and copy it, but when you have the ingredients for a great recipe, you only get a great meal if the chef knows how to work with them. It’s not just about having good ideas, but about having the capabilities and the capacity to execute them,” he says.

And, to continue with the cooking analogy, if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, BigTime has plenty of evidence to show that its “meals” are being well received. A campaign for MTN in Zambia broke even after five days, then the following month, another campaign for MTN in Swaziland went one better, breaking even after just four days. Meanwhile, a campaign for Cellcom in Liberia achieved 27 per cent participation from the network’s subscriber base within 70 days, compared to an industry average of around 8 per cent participation.

Revenue share In fact, there’s no monetary risk for the operator involved, as BigTime makes its money through a revenue share, and covers the cost of creating and running the promotion from the money it makes, so should a campaign fail to break even – Papazisis stresses this has never happened – it’s BigTime, rather than the operator, who takes the hit.

“We are happy to revenue share, because we respect the constraints the operators face, and we are confident that the campaigns we run will perform well enough to ensure that we make more from a revenue share than we would from a fixed-fee model. For the operator, it means that the promotions we run are capex-free and risk-free.”

It’s tempting, when talking to Papazisis, to get the impression

of a man who knows how to help operators fully leverage their subscriber base. So it’s interesting then, when he starts talking about the optimum frequency of campaigns, and the importance of knowing when to turn an SMS promotion down, if not completely off.

“We are not greedy,” he says.

“We will not try to generate one more cent on the last day of the promotion. If the operator asks us to lower the volume or take a break from SMS broadcast invitations, we will respect their wishes, because we don’t want any CMO to feel out of their comfort zone. We also advise operators to run a maximum of two promotions each year to give their subscribers room to breathe; otherwise, an SMS Mega-promotion can create a sense of fatigue among the operator’s subscribers.”

This approach is reflected in a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) policy that mandates BigTime to give 2 per cent of its profits to charity. Not only this, but because BigTime itself is not consumer-facing, it donates the money back to the operator at the end of each campaign so that it can make the donation and take the benefit for it. “Maybe some people would say 2 per cent is not enough, but it is a start,” says Papazisis.

He adds that there is a legacy benefit from the campaigns. As BigTime segments and profiles the operator’s subscriber base, the company leaves the operators with a valuable asset that they can use to boost ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) long after the promotion has finished.

Open-minded What’s also interesting is Big Time’s attitude to competitors.

“We are very open-minded when it comes to partnerships and collaborations,” says Papazisis. “We

A BigTime campaign for MTN Swaziland broke even in just four days

are happy to join forces, even with a competitor, if it means we can deliver a cutting-edge solution to our clients. We have no taboos when it comes to competition. In such a demanding world, we believe it makes more sense to see your competitors as potential partners.”

One example of this approach was a campaign for Orange Poland, where BigTime teamed up with another major SMS player, InternetQ, to deliver the campaign. “They had the relationship with Orange, but we had some business concepts that they did not have, and ultimately, the client was the one

in the US, with a vast annual turnover. The company already has significant investments in shipping, aviation, energy and hospitality, and has made its first move in mobile with its investment in BigTime. The next step is a joint venture between the companies to launch BigTime Arabia, which is based in Dubai, in September.

The new venture will service clients in the Middle East and N. Africa, with Libra and BigTime operating as equal partners.

“Dubai is an amazing business hub, not just for the Middle East, but also for Europe and Africa, so it makes a lot of sense to have

who benefitted from the partnership,” he explains.

After such a strong start, BigTime is not resting on its laurels. The company has already attracted investment from Libra Group, one of the largest diversified investment conglomerates

the offices there,” Papazisis tells Mobile Marketing.

After that, who knows, but based on what the company has achieved in its first six months in business, it seems unlikely that this will be the end of its expansion plans.

Sponsored Feature September 2011

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

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business models

43

Mobile entertainment made social, meaningful and revenue-generating

By Apostolos Zervos Vice President, Business Development Akazoo

T

he intense global movement to becoming social through technology is astonishing. People love being social. Sharing thoughts, media and personal information has gone from “no way” to “OK” in no time flat. Similarly, with the advent of smartphones, iTunes and app stores, the global marketplace has also witnessed a surge in paid mobile music and content distribution services, the latter heralding the fact that mobile offers a unique opportunity for monetizing social and digital entertainment services.

What is that opportunity? It is direct revenues. Rather than ad-sponsored free services that had become the norm in the online world, mobile users are accustomed and willing to pay for the services they like to consume. Without doubt, such willingness is reinforced when coupled with the ease of mobile payment methods.

But what kind of digital and mobile services offer a high perceived value, either emotional- or utility-based? Akazoo, a social networking service offered on mobile and web, and operated by InternetQ, has taken a crack at just that question, with its recent re-launch.

Akazoo’s proposition is focused on the discovery of new music and mobile apps through personal recommendations, and the discovery of new friends through common music and mobile app tastes.

Emotional value, utility and ubiquity “We believe that the consumption of digital music and actually any other form of entertainment media is as much a social activity as it is an exercise of personal taste. Even today, some of the people you choose to ‘hang out’ with are ones with a similar ‘entertainment profile.’ Your entertainment profile is part of your identity. Therefore, bridging social networking and digital media consumption is a natural fit.

However, we want to take this one step further. We want to encourage users to create social connections based on their media tastes, because it leads to more meaningful relationships. As we achieve this, users themselves become champions of digital content that they promote with every social interaction.

In Akazoo, connections are around content, and are consummated through successful personal recommendations that are rewarded with credits, or result in community exposure. With an enormous

inventory of digital content and the ability to create meaningful connections with over 2m other users, Akazoo has achieved free-topaying user conversion rates of up to 25 per cent.

On Akazoo mobile, due to roll out in Q4, premium users can access music content, playlists and personal recommendations, and see what’s trending in their region, anytime and anywhere. The goal of Akazoo mobile is to offer a mobile experience that is complete, without obliging users to ever go online. We want to acquire paying users as much through mobile as we do through online.

Monetization Akazoo is offered directly to consumers on a pay as you go or monthly subscription model that allocates a monthly credit spend.

Users are able to top-up their accounts quickly and easily through mobile billing methods. InternetQ also offers the platform to media organizations and mobile operators aiming to monetize their content or user base, while advertising revenues are generated mostly through non-premium accounts. Our goal with advertising is more than revenue generation, we advertise brands that complement our offering, and have a distinct appeal to our demographic.

Akazoo launched in 2008 in Greece, and has since rolled out in several other countries, including Turkey, S. Africa, Russia, Poland, Spain, Germany and Austria. In 2010, it contributed €5.5m (£4.8m)to InternetQ’s revenues.

Sponsored Feature September 2011

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

44

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September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

45

Mobile commerce comes of age mBlox CEO Andrew Dark considers the rise and rise of mCommerce

M

obile commerce is by no means a new phenomenon, but has been around for the last decade. Until recently, however, mCommerce for many was more a concept than an actual reality.

It’s something that has grown rapidly over the last few years, with its influence increasing exponentially in the global consumer marketplace. This growth has been highlighted by an everincreasing amount of research looking at the development of the mobile market, showing a genuine and tangible growth that no one can ignore. The analyst, Gartner, for example, has found that 428m mobile communication devices were sold worldwide in the first quarter of 2011 while, according to IDC, this same timeframe saw the global mobile phone market grow by 19.8 per cent. Today there are roughly 4.6bn mobile users, many of whom are purchasing goods via this medium.

Golden opportunity

Mobile commerce isn’t just growing, it’s also developing in its nature. Smartphone technology has taken off rapidly, putting the power of the PC in most people’s pockets. According to IDC, the global smartphone market is on pace to grow 55 per cent in 2011, and it is predicted that global tablet shipments will increase from 16.1m units in 2010 to 147.2m units in 2015 (Infinite Research). What’s

more, comprehensive 3G and the proliferation of quality wi-fi is improving the user experience – providing better connectivity than ever before. The result is a golden opportunity: businesses and brands can tap into a new audience that has grown up with mobile technology and has a day-to-day dependency on it.

However, for businesses and brands looking to harness this opportunity effectively there are issues within mCommerce that must be overcome. Consumers have not yet become accustomed to brands entering the very personal environment that is their mobile phone. Employing the wrong mobile marketing strategy can be very costly to a brand’s reputation in a tough market where consumers rarely allow second chances. mCommerce has nuisances of its own and companies will be required to think differently than they do for any activities conducted around transactions involving purely physical goods.

One of the other obvious challenges is that most websites do not yet translate well to mobile phones – with many users experiencing compatibility problems and poor levels of service and satisfaction, resulting in their custom being taken elsewhere.

As companies gradually acclimatise and work to rectify this, they should seek out those platforms, already in existence, that can optimise mobile content and

tailor it according to the specific device of each consumer.

Another issue is privacy. A company’s failure to understand the importance of offering an “opt in” option, where the customer grants permission for a business to obtain and utilise their transaction and locational information, will carry repercussions. New privacy legislation in the EU and the US could result in companies that have not actively requested permission from the user having to opt consumers out of existing applications they have subscribed to and start from scratch, targeting these consumers to opt in again.

It goes without saying that this could prove to be very costly.

Building trust

To overcome these issues, organisations need to understand the ethical and legal concerns of interacting with users on their personal devices, as customers will gravitate to those brands and businesses they can trust.

Integrity, security and clarity have to be central to a company’s ethos, combined with intelligent, targeted marketing strategies and the right technology to build services and applications better and more quickly. If the right strategy is taken, there’s no reason why businesses and brands should not harness the growing consumer base increasingly moving its attention towards mobile devices.

September 2011 Sponsored Feature

“Mobile commerce isn’t just growing, it’s also developing in its nature.

Smartphone technology has taken off rapidly, putting the power of the PC in most people’s pockets”

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

46

best practice

ad:tech London 2011 We look ahead to this year’s exhibition and conference, which fuses technology and digital marketing strategy

A

d:tech London 2011 takes place on 21 and 22 September, and brings together more than 8,000 advertisers, publishers, media buyers and planners with leading digital providers, to reveal the latest trends and market figures, share best practice and address industry challenges.

Conference programme This year’s conference programme is delivered in two streams. Audience and Markets will include keynotes, best practice case studies, consumer insights and blue-sky thinking.

Simon Morgan, head of mobile advertising at Google UK, will discuss the most significant developments in the mCommerce arena. Other speakers delivering presentations in this stream include Nike’s brand communications director for global football, Ed Elworthy; Baby Centre UK global publisher, Mike Fogarty Victors and Spoils CEO, John Winsor; and EuroRSCG UK CEO, Russ Lidstone.

The Media and platforms stream will showcase innovative use of technology to connect with customers; the emerging technologies shaping the market; and the strategy that is driving it, and aims to dispel some of the myths currently surround-

ing the digital landscape. Speakers in this stream include Shaun Gregory, managing director of O2 Media, who will explain the company’s approach to monetising the company 22m-strong mobile customer base media.

“Buyers and decision-makers are seeking inspiration and leadership without sales pitches, waffle or philosophical debate,” says ad:tech director, Christophe Asselin. “They just need straight talk with their peers, a genuine exchange of real experiences success and failures – and a true understanding of what does matter. We don’t aim to leave people with the ‘So what?’ feeling, but instead aim to clarify the landscape for them, refine their questioning and kill myths along the way.”

“Thanks to our partnerships with key media and associations in the mobile space, we are very excited to deliver better opportunities for the mobile marketing communities to connect with real digital buyers and decisions makers who already spend in other areas of the digital space at our show,” says Asselin. “Media buyers and business owners trust ad:tech London to inform their purchasing decisions by offering the most exhaustive digital market place in Europe.”

There’s more information on all aspects of the show, including updates on speakers, delegates and exhibitors, at: www.ad-techlondon.co.uk

Register to attend at: www. ad-techlondon. co.uk

ad:tech London - where marketing and technology converge

Expo and seminar The free expo and seminar programme are open to all visitors, and cover all areas of the digital industry, catering for both digital novices and experts.

The exhibition is a one-stopshop for reaching out to every type of technology employed in digital marketing today, including mobile, social media, ad networks, creative services, email marketing, viral marketing, media buying and more.

September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

best practice

47

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September 2011

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

48

mobile ad network directory

TM

mobile advertising

Type of business

Ad network/marketplace

Ad network

Mobile media agency

LAUNCH DATE

July 2009

April 2010

February 2010

OPERATES

Worldwide

Europe, APAC, LATAM, US, Africa

Worldwide

sales offices

London (HQ), New York, Paris, Seville

Paris, Munich, Barcelona, Mexico City, Singapore

New York, London, Singapore

blind/transparent

Blind

Blind with categories

Transparent with Blind option

cpm/cpc/cpA(%)

10/90/0

0/100/0

n/a n/a n/a

In-app advertising?

Yes

Yes

Yes

ad formats

Banners, text links, interstitials, expandable banners, rich media

WAP - banners, banner and text, text link; Web for Smartphone – ‘Favicon’, retractable banners, interstitial, banner; iPhone Android, Bada & Blackberry apps – banner, interstitial, splash screen intro, retractable banners, expandable banners; iPad - wide skyscraper, medium oblong, full banner, simple banner, splash screen, retractable banner

Standard banners, animated banners, expandable banners, text ads, interstitials, pre-roll videos, clickthrough actions (click to app store, iTunes, map, call, web, video)

targeting

Country, geo-location, platform, device, day-part, keywords, mobile operator, demographics, channels

Operator, OS, categories, device, include/exclude wi-fi, geographic location, age and gender

Contextual, demographic, channel/category, device, operating system, platform, carrier, geographic

restrictions

No adult

None

None

min spend (US$)

50

50

None

no. of publishers/ siTes/apps

8 ,000+

1,200

30,000

unique publishers

n/a

30%

n/a

monthly impressions

Total: 15bn requests US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

Total: 4bn US: 300m UK: 300m France: 500m Germany: 300m Italy: 250m Spain: 250m

Total: 30bn US: 7bn UK: 731m France: 283m Germany: 438m Italy: 106m Spain: 189m

average fill rate

n/a

70%

n/a

3 recent advertisers

Booking.com, Tesco, Mazda

La Redoute, Nissan, Toyota

Skype, Google, O2

contact address

nicola.reed@adfonic.com

alexis.perin@sofialys.com

alexander@adsmobi.com

they say

Adfonic enables advertisers to bid for display advertising space on mobile sites and apps to maximise their reach and results, and publishers to optimise the earning potential of their mobile traffic. Adfonic operates in over 190 countries and reaches an estimated 100m mobile unique users monthly. In addition to advanced targeting capabilities and reach for advertisers, and competitive eCPMs and leading iOS & Android SDKs for publishers, Adfonic offers real-time, analytics and postclick measurement including app install tracking and conversion tracking for mobile sites.

Practical and easy-to-use, the ADITIC premium ad network is one of the most comprehensive online mobile marketplaces in use today. Its numerous advantages include qualified operator traffic, premium publishers and the large number of available ad formats for smartphones, legacy phones and new tablet formats such as the iPad. ADITIC also has the advantage of being multi OS, and is therefore compatible with every device on the market today. The platform is available in three 3 languages - English, French and Spanish.

adsmobi is a global player. Many mobile ad networks have a regional focus, but through our partnership with Smaato, adsmobi is able to serve ads in more than 220 countries worldwide.

We offer extensive targeting options, including geographic, demographic, device, channel/ category, and contextual. We offer traditional (CPC and CPM) campaigns, as well as new types such as Cost-per-download (CPD) or Cost-per-ranking (CPR), for the promotion of apps. We also offer new rich media formats such as expandable, interstitial, and video.

September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

49

Ad network/mobile payments

Ad platform

Mobile ad network

Ad network

January 2007

May 2006

May 2008

December 2006

Worldwide

Worldwide

Worldwide

Worldwide

San Francisco, New York, Chicago, London, Singapore, Nairobi, Sydney, Bangalore, Berlin, Milan

Baltimore (HQ), London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Boston

London, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles

Berlin, San Francisco

Semi-blind network

Premium Blind

Blind and premium transparent

Blind

10/90/0

n/a n/a n/a

n/a n/a n/a

0/0/100

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

3D, rich media, video, social media, banners, text, full range of MMA and IAB formats

Banners, expandable ads, interstitials and a broad variety of rich media features; mobile video products; smart apps, persistent shareable consumer destinations, which include the Mobile Circular, Media Gallery, Smash It, 360° View, among others

Text, banner and rich media

Text ads, banners, HTML5-based rich media ads for smartphones and iPad, Flash-based banners for Android tablets. Dimensions: standard MMA sizes, smartphonespecific sizes e.g. (e.g. 320 x 48, 320 x 50), standard web sizes for tablets (e.g. 728 x 90). Calls-to-action: redirection to (mobile) website, redirection to mobile application store, click to call

Category, handset technology (e.g. manufacturer, device, OS), demographic, location-based

Audience, local market, tactical (carrier, device operating system, app/browser), ‘Mobiblocks’, demographic, day-part, channel, run of network

Contextual keyword, publisher channel, location, platform/OS, model, operator, day-part

Country and city, mobile carrier, internet service provider when using wi-fi, operating system, operating system version, device brand, device model, screen size, feature phone vs. smartphone vs. tablet, day/time of day

No adult, culturally sensitive, political, offensive

No adult, sensitive, offensive

No adult

No adult

n/a

Please contact to discuss

10,000

1,000

10,000+

On Request

3,000+

2,000+

50%

n/a

n/a

None

Total: 35bn US: 6.8bn UK: 725m France: 186m Germany: 574m Italy: 103m Spain: 274m

Total: On request US: On Request UK: On Request France: On Request Germany: On Request Italy: On Request Spain: On Request

Total: 2bn+ US: 1.3bn+ UK: 120m+ France: 6m+ Germany: 32m+ Italy: 6m+ Spain: 7m+

Total: 1bn US: n/a UK: n/a France: n/a Germany: n/a Italy: n/a Spain: n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

100%

Chevrolet, Coca-Cola, Emirates

See: www.millennialmedia.com

n/a

Groupon, Gameloft, iLove

marketing@InMobi.com

marketing@millennialmedia.com

avale@mojiva.com

talya@sponsormob.com

InMobi, the world’s largest independent mobile ad network, is a performance-based network which helps publishers monetize their inventory and advertisers reach their audience. Unlike other mobile ad networks, InMobi has massive scale to over 314m consumers through 35.3bn impressions monthly, mobile technology expertise in ad serving, mobile payments, and developer monetization, and real-time postclick ad optimization technology, which helps connect publishers, advertisers, developers, and consumers around the globe.

Millennial Media is the leading independent mobile advertising and data platform. We are committed to growing the mobile advertising marketplace by becoming the preferred partner to all advertisers seeking to reach mobile consumers, all application and media developers seeking to maximize ad revenue, and all mobile operators seeking to further monetize their networks. We have more than 50 reports on mobile advertising at: www.millennialmedia.com/ research. You can see examples of successful campaigns at: www. millennialmedia.com/research/ campaign-summaries/

Mojiva is the mobile ad network that reaches more than 22m users in the E5, over 555m unique users globally, and represents over 3,000 mobile publisher and apps.

Through deep and open integration with all major rich media providers and ad servers, Mojiva can provide ad agencies with every imaginable mobile creative execution across mobile sites, apps and devices.

Founded in May 2008, Mojiva is led by a team of advertising and media veterans from Google, DoubleClick, Yahoo and AdMob, with more than 100 years of collective experience in online and mobile advertising and technology.

Sponsormob is an international, mobile CPA network whose goal is to expand the concept of performance-based marketing into mobile advertising, via the mobile web.

Sponsormob’s CPA model enables its advertisers to benefit from lowrisk, performance-based advertising that delivers results. Sponsormob also enables publishers and affiliates to generate revenue from their mobile traffic. In addition, developers can advertise their mobile apps through the network or generate income by advertising within their free apps.

September 2011

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

50

thought leadership

OFFDECK With the mobile market booming, Helen Keegan calls for more smart thinking and less of the ‘me-too’ approach

H

ow was your summer? I have to admit, I’m not sure I had one. And I’m not talking about the weather. OK, I admit, I got my Glastonbury fix, and I’m not sure how I would get through the year without it, but that aside, I cannot remember a time since I started doing this mobile stuff that it has been so incessant. And it’s not just me – everyone in mobile right now seems to be completely snowed under.

This, of course, is a good thing, and the reasons for it are not hard to fathom: opportunities are presenting themselves from every imaginable angle. You have the investment community, looking at where to place their next educated bet. You have merger & acquisition activity. You have the media owners and brands who now accept (begrudgingly in some cases) that mobile will be at the heart of what they do going forward.

In each instance, you have a community of people whose knowledge of what mobile is, what it can do, and how they can make money from it, is not as deep or as broad or as they would like it to be, and so, thankfully, they turn to people like me who have been looking at this for some time now, to try to fill in the gaps. And I’m glad they do, and not just for the obvious reason.

Skills gaps Because I have a lot of time for those companies and institutions that are honest enough to acknowledge where their skills gaps lie, and then take measures to fill

them. I respect, also, those companies that, when looking to “do something in mobile” start not with the technology, but with their customers, looking at how they interact with the brand and where – if anywhere – mobile could have a part to play. (I can think of few instances where it wouldn’t, but in my experience, it is always safest not to assume you know the answer, until you’ve heard what the question is.)

I have to say though, that I have much less time for the me-too approach taken by a lot of other companies. This manifests itself in the me-too apps that are coming to market in their hundreds every single day.

I see so many similar-looking services

where people are producing almost identical rip-offs of existing popular apps and rigging the descriptions to get themselves up the rankings. To my mind, it highlights a real problem around the integrity of the app stores and the personal relevance. When you’re faced with hundreds of thousands of apps, you need to know the ones you are choosing are not rip-offs, and are worth bothering with at all.

The irony is, of course, that if you talk to anyone, they will tell you the same thing: they download lots of apps, and use very few of them more than once. Then eventually, the unused ones get deleted. So unless your app has some inherent value, whether that’s as utility or entertainment, it won’t get used, and it won’t last long on the handset, so if it’s ad-funded, the ads won’t even be seen.

The problem with this “crap app” phenomenon as I call it, is that if it continues, apps risk becoming the new ringtones, and once consumers start to think twice about downloading an app, because the last five they downloaded turned out to be rubbish, it’s the beginning of the end.

So my plea to the smart people behind

being touted around, and the irony is, there are often some smart people behind them.

It reminds me of the seamier side of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), where people put up a bunch of websites and link farms, stuffing them full of keywords, thus driving the web page up the rankings. Today, I see similar things happening in the app stores,

these me-too apps is to use those big brains to start thinking about who your customers really are, and what you could come up with that would be better than what’s already out there for them. And if you can’t do that, it’s best to go back to the drawing board. It’s a crowded market out there and you may be better doing something else with your time.

There are some great apps out there, like SwiftKey, but lots of duds and ‘me too’ copycat apps too

September 2011 www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

www.mobilemarketingmagazine.com

52

the real world

www.adsmobi.com

TM

mobile advertising

MOBILE ADVERTISING High Quality Pan-European Inventory

london@adsmobi.com

▪

+44 207 5505673

Audience Targeting

Successful Campaigns

Global Reach

30,000+

30+ Billion

220+

Mobile Developers & Publishers

Monthly Ad Requests

Countries

adsmobi is a mobile media buying platform that focuses on placing successful mobile campaigns for mobile advertisers.

Cost per Click

Cost per Download

Cost per Thousand

Rich Media Ad Formats

adsmobi delivers premium advertising traffic for advertisers through partnerships with leading mobile mediation and optimization platforms. adsmobi provides advertisers sophisticated targeting capabilities such as location, audience selling, demographics and channels categories.

Meet us at: September 21-22 National Hall, Olympia MMA Pavilion

September 21-22 Messeplatz 1 Cologne, Germany

New York ▪ London ▪ Hamburg ▪ Singapore +1 (646) 807-4596 ▪ contact@adsmobi.com

September 2011