Via WARC / Comscore NEW YORK: Increasing numbers of US consumers are using smartphones to research and buy products, a report has shown.

According to comScore, the research firm, 38% of smartphone owners – an audience currently standing at 90m people – have purchased goods and services through their handset on at least one occasion.

During September 2011, some 47% of individuals who acquired products via this route bought digital items like music, ebooks, ringtones, films and television programming content, the company found.

A further 37% bought clothing or accessories directly from a retailer, with tickets to events including movies, plays and sporting fixtures following on 35%.

In a demonstration of the integration between emerging digital platforms, 34% of the mcommerce population completed transactions on daily deals websites such as Groupon and LivingSocial.

This matched the total generated by gift certificates, while 32% of the mobile customer base opted for electronics like TV sets and computers.

Ordering food for delivery or pick-up, for example a takeaway pizza, scored 31%, hotel reservations yielded 29%, physical books registered 26%, and car rentals logged 24%, as did airline tickets.

Elsewhere, 13% of shoppers buying from a phone made purchases linked to the automotive category, suggesting this channel holds opportunities for a wide range of sectors.

“In September we saw two-thirds of all smartphone owners perform shopping activities on their phones, including comparing products and prices, searching for coupons, taking product pictures or locating a retail store,” Mark Donovan, comScore’s senior vice president, mobile, added.

Looking at the location of consumers as they bought offerings through their smartphone, 56% did so at home, and 42% engaged in this pastime at work.

Another 37% did so when travelling, and 36% actually utilised mcommerce tools in bricks and mortar stores.

Other outdoor sites, such as parks, schools and restaurants, posted a combined 42%, comScore’s analysis revealed.

Data sourced from comScore; additional content by Warc staff, 7 December 2011

Independent research from IDC and IDATE   below show mobile web use surpassing wired by 2015. With the massive growth of smart phones, mobile devices, and tablets combined with declining PC sales most analysts see this happening sooner rather than later.  While many companies have put social media plans in place, most are unprepared for the wave of small screen mobile devices that will be accessing traditional websites. Contact ApolloBravo for a free mobile readiness evaluation.

via WARC.  The number of consumers accessing the mobile web around the world will surpass the fixed-line internet audience in the next two years, IDATE, the research firm, has predicted.
According to the company’s estimates, the amount of fixed-line web users worldwide should increase from almost 1.5bn at the end of 2010 to 2.3bn in 2015.

During the same period, the number of people going online via mobile devices is expected to rise from just over 1bn to 2.6bn.
The exact crossover between these two channels is due to occur in 2013, when the mobile internet beats the 2bn user threshold, and moves fractionally ahead of the traditional alternative.

Such a trend will be driven, in particular, by markets like China and India, where wireless handsets are likely to become the primary means of online access for many consumers, rather than more expensive laptops and PCs.

A key benefit following on from the rapid expansion of the internet population should be a “steady” increase in the revenues accruing to digital channels including search, social networks, video and online retail.

IDATE’s analysis further suggested the web could take 20.2% of global advertising spend by 2015, or €88bn.
This will result in the internet nearly doubling its share of advertising expenditure in 2008, when the net took 10.4% of the total outlay recorded by brand owners.

Elsewhere, IDATE predicted that ecommerce revenues would top €1.1tr by 2015.
Data sourced from IDATE; additional content by Warc staff, 20 September 2011

Take a look at our ShortQR code below and notice you can reach our site by texting or scanning the code. You’ll also notice that your phone will redirect to a mobile version of our website www.apollobravo.com .  Feel free to contact us for more information on how we can quickly integrate QR codes, short codes and mobile optimization into your next campaign.

Read more on the QR code revolution from warc.com

NEW YORK: Companies like Home Depot, Starbucks and Macy’s are using QR codes to engage shoppers.

Home Depot, the DIY chain, first used these tools in advertising and bricks and mortar stores earlier this year, a move it expects to gain popularity across the industry.

QR codes are images that can be scanned by smartphones to find out information about goods and services.

The Home Depot material made available to people “snapping” a relevant symbol included “how-to” guides and suggestions discussing different aspects of home improvement.

“This is where other large retailers are heading,” Tom Sweeney, Home Depot’s senior director for online strategy, told the Los Angeles Times.

“We wanted to make sure we were in line with the retail world. It’s definitely coming into its own and becoming a more prevalent way for retailers to connect broadly and engage with customers.”

Colin Gibbs, an analyst at GigaOm Pro, the research firm, equally believes enthusiasm for such tactics was noticeably growing among brands.

“Advertisers are regarding them as the hottest new tool of mobile advertising,” he said.

“They love QRs because they’re cheap and easy to deploy, and you can put them anywhere from print ads to the back of stadium seats.”

Last month, Starbucks rolled out a “scavenger hunt” linked to a tie-up with singer Lady Gaga, and involving solving puzzles on the web.

Access to this game was secured by activating QR codes in the company’s stores, thus integrating the digital and physical spaces.

Running over several stages from May 23 to June 3, this initiative sought to encourage social interaction between participants.

“We wanted to make it so that there’s things to talk about and share,” said Matthew Guiste, Starbucks’ director of global social media.

Department store chain Macy’s unveiled a similar programme, “Backstage Pass”, in February, offering 30-second films containing fashion hints and tips.

Users could also watch longer-form content starring founders and representatives of various brands, like Martha Stewart and Tommy Hilfiger, as well as influential bloggers.

In order to educate customers, large signs were displayed in stores presenting guidance about how QR codes worked.

Martine Reardon, Macy’s executive vice president, marketing, asserted this approach yields a variety of potential benefits.

“[This] is an exciting evolution that brings our stable of fashion experts and designers directly to the customer while they’re shopping in our store, through their hand-held mobile devices,” she said.

“By providing fun and informative video features … we are connecting and engaging our customer in a personal way that enhances and adds a new element to their shopping experience.”

Research firm Forrester revealed last year that just 1% of all mobile subscribers – and 5% of the smartphone audience – had interacted with QR codes.

However, it reported 25% of people with a handset powered by Google Android, and 7% of their iPhone counterparts, interacted in this way during the three months prior to the study.

Alongside driving awareness, concerns related to privacy, a worry covering many elements of the digital sector, also need to be addressed.

“Theoretically, over time companies can build up their database and amass a collection of information that leads to a profile of who I am and what I buy,” said Julie Ask, an analyst at Forrester.

Data sourced from Los Angeles Times/Mashable; additional content by Warc staff, 13 June 2011

From Warc

MOUNTAIN VIEW: Smartphone use is increasingly influencing US consumers’ media use and shopping habits, a study has indicated.

Digital giant Google and research firm Ipsos OTX MediaCT questioned 5,013 adultswho accessed the web via these devices, and found that 93% of the sample used the gadgets at home.

Moreover, 87% did so “on the go”, a figure attaining 77% in stores, 73% in restaurants and 72% at work.

A majority (59%) logged on to the mobile web while waiting in line, 48% did so as they ate, 44% during shopping trips and 43% while travelling.

The week before the survey was taken, 81% of contributors said they had browsed the mobile internet, 77% used search engines, 68% used apps and 48% played back video.

More broadly, 72% of respondents had engaged in simultaneous media use involving smartphones and other mainstream channels at some point.

This included 33% watching television at the same time as using the wireless web, 29% who went online through a PC, 27% for gaming and 22% for reading print media.

“Mobile search is often prompted by cross media exposure,” said Selina Rennie of Google’s Agency Team.

“Over two-thirds of smartphone owners have carried out a search on their smartphone as a result of traditional media.”

When discussing specific activities, 82% of smartphone subscribers employed email services on their phone and 63% visited social networks.

Similarly, 82% researched and read news, 75% exploited navigation tools, 65% enjoyed entertainment content, and 45% managed their finances, social life or travel arrangements.

An extra 46% of participants used ecommerce sites, 43% viewed video-sharing portals, 38% visited general consumer websites and 26% official brand platforms.

Turning to shopping, 79% of the smartphone audience used their handsets for commercial purposes. Some 78% had located retailers, compared prices or searched store inventories, and 69% sought out product information, such as by scanning a barcode, watching online video or reading reviews.

Another 52% contacted a retailer, 40% had sourced coupons, and 28% redeemed virtual discount vouchers.

Within the 74% of individuals claiming to have previously made purchases because of using a smartphone, 76% bought goods at a bricks and mortar outlet and 59% did so from a PC.

Additionally, 35% snapped up a product straight from their phone, 27% looked to mobile websites and 22% turned to apps for the same reason.

Where people bought goods through a smartphone, the average annual expenditure hit $300, with 48% of relevant consumers buying entertainment items, as electronics and apparel both secured 45%.

Conducting research on a smartphone and then buying in-store remains the most common path to purchase, with 67%, but 9% of respondents had taken the opposite route.

Elsewhere, 23% undertook investigations on a wireless device and then a bricks and mortar store before completing transactions on the web.

A further 16% researched and purchased on a phone, with a trip to a store sandwiched in the middle.

Having been asked to describe mobile advertising formats they could recall, 45% of those polled referenced banners and graphical ads, and 43% mentioned executions on a website they had viewed.

A 35% share remembered ads embedded in apps, standing at 34% for paid-search listings, 28% for SMS and 21% for video and location-based alternatives.

“In terms of advertising, smartphone users are not only noticing mobile ads, they are receptive to them: 82% notice ads on their smartphones, half of which take action,” said Rennie.

Data sourced from Google; additional content by Warc staff, 10 June 2011

Contact us for more information on how to reach consumers with smart phones in retail.

Ubiquitous smartphone uptake provides great opportunity for retailers utilizing mobile coupons.

1 in 3 Smartphone Shoppers Accesses In-store Coupons

Almost one in three (31%) US smartphone owners who use their device for shopping frequently/often access promotional coupons in-store for in-store redemption,according to a March 2011 study from the etailing group and Coffee Table. Data from the report indicates this is the most common in-store usage of smartphones, beating other popular activities such as looking for competitive pricing on Amazon.com (29%) and at other retailers besides Amazon.com (26%). Twenty-six percent also check product ratings and reviews.

9 in 10 Marketers Use/Plan to Use Social Media

A combined 89% of marketers use (53%) or plan to use (36%) social media marketing, according to a study conducted by Unica. Data from the report indicates of those planning to use social media, 26% plan to use it in the next 12 months and 10% plan to use it more than 12 months out. Rich media marketing, with 87% combined usage/planned usage, and mobile marketing, with 85% combined usage/planned usage, have similar statistics to social media marketing. The numbers on rich media marketing in particular (50% current usage, 23% expected usage in 12 months, 14% expected usage in more than 12 months) are almost identical. For mobile marketing, however, the numbers skew more toward planned usage, with a 43% current usage rate. Twenty-five percent of marketers expect to employ mobile in the next 12 months, and 16% plan to use it in more than 12 months. Via Marketing VOX

Reach out to ApolloBravo for more information on linking mobile and social campaigns.

• Reach: Cell phone penetration is currently 89% of the US population. By way of comparison, this is better than penetration figures for cable TV, home internet access, and PC’s in the home.
• Acceptance: In the USA, over 102 billion text messages are sent each month, and over 1 trillion globally.
• Ubiquitous uptake: Mobile phones offer a reach never seen before by any other medium. Today there are more wireless mobile devices than televisions and computers combined.
• Globally There are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers (that’s 77 percent of the world population). What other medium offers that reach?
• Texting Nation: Of the 272 million US cell phones currently subscribed, over 96% of them are SMS capable. (CTIA 2010)
• Many mobile Web users are mobile-only, i.e. they do not, or very rarely use a desktop, laptop or tablet to access the Web. Mobile-only in India 59 percent, even in the US it’s over 25 percent of subscribers. Still think you don’t need a mobile site?
• High response rates: More than 5x as many people respond to mobile messages as compared to traditional, off-mobile call-to-action campaigns (94% of received text messages are read) 97% of consumers carry their phone at retail. (PMA 2010)
• Targeting: The mobile medium is an inherently intimate medium enabling highly targeted, one-to-one communication with audiences & lots of potential for personalization and up-selling.
• The Wireless Web: Over 3 billion targeted mobile ads are served every month.
• Widespread availability of unlimited data plansis critical to penetration of mobile media usage, it drove mobile media in Japan, now it’s driving the US with unlimited data plans starting at $25 per month
• Global: Europe is the most mature wireless market with (96%) penetration rates, followed by Japan (88%), the United States (89%) CTIA 2010
• Despite all the media hype, and vast sums pumped into developing and promoting native apps, more consumers use their browser than apps in developed nations. Only a minority will use Web or apps exclusively.
• Over 30% of visits to Facebook are Mobile, over 40% for twitter.
• In 2011 over 85 percent of new handsets will be able to access the mobile Web.
• Comscore (Febuary 2011) estimates that 80 percent of mobile subscribers in US and Western Europe have a phone that can access the mobile Web. 48 percent of US and 61 percent of W. Europeans have a handset with an HTML browser (this proportion is increasing fast), the rest have WAP browsers.

Learn more : Sources, ComScore.com , MobiThinking.com, CTIA.com, Gartner.com, Pewfoundation.com

NEW YORK: A majority of brand owners are planning to increase their mobile marketing activity this year, a study has found.

Trade bodies the Association of National Advertisers and Mobile Marketing Association surveyed senior executives, mostly drawn from the ANA’s membership – and found that 88% of the panel intended to follow such a route.

Interviews were then conducted with 97 client-side marketers that had expressed a desire to make enhanced use of this channel in 2011.

The report also found 62% of the panel had used the medium last year, alongside 26% expecting to run their first initiatives.

To date, 71% of corporations had afforded responsibility for this discipline to an existing in-house unit – generally digital marketing teams – while 19% assigned these duties to a newly-created group.

Regarding budgets, 75% of participants projected expenditure levels on behalf of their brands would climb by an average of 59%.

At present, contributors already boasting a mobile presence had collectively adopted around 12 different formats to promote products.

The top five – deployed by at least half of the featured firms – were mobile websites, apps, SMS, display ads and search.

Among the main advantages of embracing this form of communications were portable web access, and the capacity to deliver content and deals to consumers on the move.

Furthermore, it was argued to offer convenience in terms of providing immediate customer and sales support, and help build loyalty. However, only 25% of executives stated their previous mobile efforts had performed “extremely” or “very” well, and another 53% described these programmes as “somewhat” successful.

The characteristics demonstrated by the most effective marketers included a longer history of using mobile, utilising a larger number of individual platforms and pursuing an integrated strategy.Establishing meaningful measurement tools and employing a wide variety of monitoring techniques also typically yielded stronger results.

Similarly, the absence of metrics to properly allocate mobile within the media mix and an ability to prove ROI were named as two primary obstacles to greater uptake.

A lack of understanding on the part of key colleagues had also slowed this process, the ANA/MMA research revealed.
“Mobile is clearly a fast-growing platform for marketers, but it has yet to attain its full potential,” said Bob Liodice, the ANA’s president/ceo.

“With the anticipated increase in adoption this year, we expect to see fresh, innovative approaches, increased brand-building success, and better accountability for this exciting channel.” Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola was praised by respondents for its mobile advertising, and retailer Target received accolades having combined the mobile web with reward programmes and a “wish list”.

Data sourced from MMA; additional content by Warc staff, 2 February 2011 http://goo.gl/4nMdh

Contact ApolloBravo for a free mobile marketing readiness evaluation. 703-548-3400

Via Advertising Age 01.27.10 J. Spero

In 2009, the media buying community discovered mobile media works. Advertisers in a broad range of verticals shared results proving mobile is an effective medium for driving awareness, acquisition and purchase. “Is this the Year of Mobile?” can be retired. Media buyers are being asked — ‘What’s your mobile strategy for 2010?’

Many factors contributed to the development of the mobile ecosystem and the excitement we see. Dozens of companies, including the MMA and the IAB, worked to build the foundation of mobile media. It all came together in 2009 as mobile web usage exploded, with more than 61 million people in the US accessing it in December 2009, according to Nielsen. In 2010, agencies, advertisers and publishers will need a plan for mobile.

The top five things you need to know about buying mobile media in 2010:

1) Ask for data. Ask for help.
Mobile advertising is 3-4 years old and evolving rapidly. There’s valuable data for media buyers and mobile sellers can educate and assist you in gathering it no matter what your target audience. Ask sellers for case studies on mobile campaigns in your category and with your goals. There are a number of free reports with valuable market data to help with planning. These include Nielson Mobile, comScore, Flurry Pulse and AdMob Mobile Metrics.

2) Learn about (don’t worry about) different platforms.
The mobile Web is accessible from most phones, and you can run your campaigns across all platforms to target mobile Web users or on a specific platform. You can take advantage of rich-media formats designed specifically for smartphones and create a more robust version of your landing page for users on devices supporting a richer Web experience. You can also reach users as they engage with apps on a specific platform or promote your own app if you have one.

3) Talk to publishers and ad networks.
Prior to 2009, ad networks drove much of the innovation in the space with their focus on mobile. However in 2010, many publishers will have ad serving capabilities and mobile rate cards due to investments in 2009. Marketers now have more mobile media options than ever before.

4) Set your expectations for what mobile can and can’t do.
Focus on your needs and let your mobile seller explain the options available. Mobile promises powerful granularity based on location, need states, device capabilities and more for precise targeting — albeit on a limited scale in 2010. Sellers can provide data to target effectively and to ensure you don’t overcut your audience.

Rich media will grow significantly in 2010, but the solutions are limited compared to online. Web-based Flash is still not available on most phones. There are different rich media solutions for different platforms; some work on webkit browsers (Android, Research In Motion, Windows, Palm Pre) and some are vendor-specific solutions for iPhone apps.

You can use tools for tracking in mobile, but third party ad serving and campaign management functionality is limited. Site-tracking offerings will improve dramatically in 2010.

5) Drive traffic, track user interactions, repeat.
Jump in. Ask sellers what brands in your vertical are active in mobile and read case studies. Start with a basic call-to-action and drive users to a simple landing page with a few relevant means of engagement. Track what happens. Mobile user behavior may surprise you — you won’t believe their insatiable appetite for video content, for example — and use the learnings from one campaign to inform future mobile campaign strategies.

Review our free mobile marketing report http://blog.apollobravo.com/mobilemarketing/

Media Buyers: Roll Your Own Mobile Strategy – Advertising Age – DigitalNext.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt put mobile at the heart of the Internet giant’s future in a special keynote at Congress late this afternoon.

Schmidt outlined how Google’s top programmers were now concentrating on mobile as their primary focus; he also pointed to recent acquisitions in the mobile space, notably AdMob.

Unveiling a new Google mantra – ‘Mobile First’ – Schmidt proclaimed that three unique areas had now converged on the mobile device: computing power, interconnectivity and the cloud: “The phone is where these three all interconnect  and you need to get these three waves right if you want to win.” He highlighted Internet phenomenons such as Spotify, Facebook – and Google itself – as leading the cloud concept across both fixed and mobile. “If you don’t use the power of the cloud you will fail,” he said.

He added that in places such as Indonesia and South Africa Google was now seeing more searches on mobile than via the desktop.

Google programmers joining Schmidt on stage demonstrated the firm’s latest developments, including efforts to merge its speech and image recognition technology; the firm impressed with a preview of an optical character recognition (OCR) tool that was able to recognise and translate a picture of a German menu into English. Google announced that German has now been added to its speech system as its fourth language.

Schmidt also provided an update on Google’s Android platform, which he said was now running across 26 different devices. He said that Android handset vendors were selling  more than 60,000 per day, a figure that has doubled over the last quarter. During an Android demonstration, Google’s Eric Tseng announced that the platform now supports Flash – the full Flash version (10.1) rather than Flash Lite – allowing gaming and movies over handsets. The announcement will give Android devices an advantage over Apple’s iPhone, which does not support the technology.

http://www.mobilebusinessbriefing.com/article/google-embraces-mobile

Learn more about the smart phone revolution and how marketers can reach today’s mobile and social consumer. Visit www.apollobravo.com