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

apollobravo — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:47:46 +0000

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.

More shoppers use smartphones to study, find, buy .USA Today

apollobravo — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:06:07 +0000

Some 19% of Americans will use their mobile devices for shopping this holiday season, according to a Deloitte survey. The number is twice as high for young consumers: 39% of those 18 to 29 say they’ll use their phones to find store locations, obtain coupons and sales information and research products and prices. One-quarter of all who plan to use their phones to shop say they will make purchases on the devices. Read More.

More shoppers use smartphones to study, find, buy – USATODAY.com.

Mobile Search is Changing : New Location Aware Push App

apollobravo — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:51:29 +0000

From Read Write Web : Mobile startup Aloqa launched earlier this week at the MobileBeat conference, revealing their innovative interface for location-aware search. Their new application proactively seeks out nearby businesses, services, events, and even Facebook friends and presents them to you in a colorful yet streamlined interface. The app essentially lists everything that’s nearby – with no need for you to perform map-based searches or launch a browser. Instead, all you have to do is look at your phone.

Mobile Search Should be “Push,” Not Pull

The concept behind Aloqa’s app offers a unique vision for mobile search that’s quite different from how most people use their phones today. Currently, if you’re looking for nearby restaurants, for example, you would first launch a mobile mapping application like Google Maps, let it locate you, and then perform a search for “restaurants.” Once the results loaded, you could tap on the various pushpins to see the info about restaurants nearby, including names, phone numbers, and addresses.

In Aloqa, however, that same search would be much simpler. In fact, it wouldn’t be a search at all. Instead, you would just tap on the icon for restaurants and immediately see a list of those nearby. When you see the one you want (oh look, there’s sushi!), a second tap will display a window where you can choose to go to the business’s web site, display the location on a map, call the business, or send the info to a friend.

This same sort of functionality can be used for anything from restaurants to retail stores to gas stations and ATMs. It can also help you find events that may spark your interest, like a nearby concert for instance.

ApolloBravo can optimize your mobile brand presence on mobile apps and devices. Contact us for additional information.

Great Survey Results: US Smart Phone Explosion Text and Web Usage 2009 Executive Summary

apollobravo — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:27:40 +0000

The smart phone explosion is driving fantastic mobile web growth enabling companies to enhance their text campaigns with embeded mobile web links.

From MMA Luth Research’s recent omnibus survey of wireless phone users with text or web access capabilities fielded from June 9 to June 11, 2009, netting 1001 respondents with demographics balanced against U.S. Census data. Of those who completed the online poll, 64% said their phone was equipped with the ability to access the Internet, with a significant number under 55 years of age. Of those who had the capability, close to half (43%) said they use it, with a significant number of users also under 45 years.

More than three-fourths (76%) of those who access the Web using their phone say they have an unlimited usage plan. Their primary activity is checking email (87%), followed by “get scoring news or weather updates” and “locate a business, address or name”, both at 68%. More than one-third download games, music or other content or watch a video.

The vast majority of respondents (88%) had text capabilities with their phone as well, especially those under 55 years or with household incomes under $100,000, and 40% of those who are able to text have an unlimited text plan, while 30% are charged for each text message.

Of those with texting capabilities, less than one-fourth (24%) have opted to receive messages from a company via text on their mobile phone, with a significant number under 45 years of age. Of those who have opted in, 71% have also opted out. More than half (51%) of those with text capabilities have said they have received a marketing or ad text message, with 30% having received ads and 18% having received an offer or coupon.

Contact ApolloBravo for information on integrating SMS Text, text-2-win and mobile coupon campaigns with the mobile web.

Juniper: Real ROI Will Propel Mobile Ad Spend To $5.7B Within Five Years

apollobravo — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:51:00 +0000

Mobile Marketing Watch: Good news for mobile marketing service providers: Spending on mobile advertising will see strong growth even while other channels suffer during the global recession, according to Juniper Research.

Mobile ad spend will grow to $5.7 billion by the year 2014, Juniper forecasts in a report released this week. According to a press release, the firm surmises that according to its research, “The need for engagement with the consumer, and a quantifiable ROI, meant that mobile was increasingly being perceived as a key medium through which to pursue this strategy.”

Other findings from Juniper’s new report:

Mobile Internet will become the most popular mobile delivery channel for advertisers in 2009, and will attract the largest proportion of mobile adspend throughout the forecast period.
Mobile Cost Per Clickthrough (CPC) and Cost Per Mille (CPM) rates have fallen sharply over the past year in large part due the negative impact of the economic downturn.
Mobile advertising response rates remain substantially higher than those in other media.

My takeaway: Juniper’s findings underscore the fact that high–and highly measurable–ROI and improved consumer relations have long been a selling point for mobile marketing. For one thing, a decent message-sending platform will let you see how many people received and acted on a marketing offer. Meanwhile, messages to a consumer’s phone–such as a text message–work to foster a sense of personal relationship between a customer and a business or brand.

Mobile Marketing Watch Juniper: Real ROI Will Propel Mobile Ad Spend To $5.7B Within Five Years : Mobile Marketing Watch – The Pulse Of The Mobile Marketing Community.

Contact ApolloBravo about our innovative Mobile AdReach product that combines SMS, Mobile Web and a Mobile ad network in one solution.

TheHill.com – Texting the new political Super Weapon

apollobravo — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:17:20 +0000

Textings Political Triumph by Ben Goddard

New media came into its own during the 2008 campaign with the successful use of the Internet for organizing, communicating and fundraising. Many proclaimed the new age of digital campaigns was upon us. Well, we haven’t seen anything yet. Phones are taking over as the cutting-edge political communication device — and I don’t mean those old-fashioned phone banks with their push polls, voter ID and GOTV calls that interrupted so many pleasant dinner hours or favorite TV programs in the past. Those anonymous rooms filled with rows of paid phone operators with their voter registration lists are being pushed out of the game by mobile media.

Mobile phones deliver a reach never before seen by any medium. Eighty-six percent of the U.S. population has a cell phone, providing more reach than cable TV, home Internet access and personal computers. There are more wireless devices in use than televisions and computers combined — and those numbers are growing most rapidly among Latinos, millennials and Americans over 30 years of age.

Of the 262 million cell phones currently subscribed in the U.S., over 95 percent are SMS-capable. Americans using those phones send some 70 billion text messages each month. That is a lot of communication going on out there. Most frequently, text messages are sent and received by younger Americans. Over 75 percent of 18-to-29-year-old mobile phone users are frequent users of text messages. But it’s not just a young person’s game. The fastest-growing group of texters is “soccer moms” who have figured out the best way to reach kids who don’t return calls to their cell phone is via text. As those moms have become more familiar with texting, they’ve used it to reach their peers, creating a viral growth in text messaging among adults, in particular opinion leaders who are so valuable to an issue advocacy or political campaign. They have quickly adopted texting as a quick, easy and reliable way to communicate throughout their busy days. Research, admittedly conducted by mobile marketers, shows that 94 percent of text messages are read.

About five times as many people respond to mobile messages as compared to traditional, off-mobile call-to-action campaigns.Public officials have now begun to endorse mobile media as well. It is difficult to send an e-mail from a Metro car, for example, but simple to text one word and four digits of a short code. The person sending the text gets an immediate response and an invitation to join a movement for change.

In the 2008 presidential campaign, Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) experimented with pages on Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking sites, without great success. Now-President Barack Obama did a better job by producing great content and engaging visitors in a dialogue. Obama even used text messaging to announce Delaware Sen. Joe Biden (D) as his vice presidential choice and to promote some events. In the few short months since the Obama/McCain campaign the technology has become more sophisticated and the users more engaged. The potential uses of mobile media are virtually unlimited.

Look for more and more cell phone messages in the 2010 campaign and in issue advocacy efforts in the months ahead. The technology is opening up whole new communication channels. But, as always, the tool is only as good as the message it carries. The challenge for political practitioners will be to devise creative messages that make best the use of all those phones.Goddard is a founding partner of political consultants Goddard Claussen.

Mobile Ads Catch Fire Among iPhone Users

apollobravo — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:51:31 +0000

One-half of those who see ads respond

They are not quite as pesky as pop-ups, but are consumers responding to mobile ads or simply ignoring them?

One in three mobile users who recalled seeing a mobile ad said they responded to it in some way, according to Q4 2008 research conducted by Limbo and GfK NOP. Among iPhone users, that response rose to one in two.

The research indicates that iPhone users are more than twice as likely as non-iPhone users to browse the mobile Web on their phone and more than three times as likely to use location-based services, including maps, restaurant locators and friend finders.

Among iPhone users, SMS, mobile Web and in-game ads were all about equally likely to be recalled, at around 18%, while mobile TV and video ads experienced 6.6% recall and mobile radio 11.1%.

Limbo, a mobile social network, found that 33% of non-iPhone mobile users recalled seeing mobile advertising in Q4. Some 41% of iPhone users recalled seeing commercial messaging. Most of the ads viewed were SMS messages.

“iPhone users do more things with their phones. They’re more likely to use SMS, location-based services and networks,” said Rob Lawson, Limbo’s CMO and co-founder, who attributes the difference to ease of use and the availability of diverse applications. “I think over time we’ll see that gap between iPhone and non-iPhone users start to narrow as people move away from pure SMS handsets.”

Contact ApolloBravo for the latest mobile advertising strategy.

Mobile Ads Catch Fire Among iPhone Users – eMarketer.

Advertising on Mobile Phones Now the Norm And a significant number of users say they respond to such messages

apollobravo — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:58:08 +0000

-By Mark Dolliver

NEW YORK Advertising on mobile phones is becoming an increasingly mainstream phenomenon, to judge by a Limbo-GfK Technology Mobile Advertising Report released today. (Limbo is a mobile social network whose free services to members are supported by the revenue from mobile ads.)

Thirty-three percent of Americans with mobile phones said they recalled seeing mobile advertising during the fourth quarter of 2008. Among those with iPhones, the figure was even higher, at 41 percent. “The vast majority of these ads were seen in SMS text messages,” the report notes.

What do people do when they receive mobile advertising? One-third of those who recalled getting such ads said they “responded in some way,” with the most common form of response being to call a toll-free number included in the message: “16 percent of ad-aware consumers recall doing this.” Women were almost twice as likely as men to say they responded in some way to a mobile ad they’d received. In a breakdown by age, 18-24-year-olds were the most likely to report having done so. Perhaps most encouraging for advertisers, says the report, “is the fact that one in seven people also reported that they had bought a product or visited a store as a result of seeing a mobile advertisement.”

Among other tidbits from the report: “More than 162 million consumers used text messaging in the fourth quarter of 2008,” up 16 percent from fourth-quarter 2007. Ten percent of Americans with mobile phones used location-based services in last year’s fourth quarter, with the figure rising to 22 percent among 25-34-year-olds.

http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3i265790c0e524ea2ba72bae754877cf17

Contact ApolloBravo for more information on our mobile advertising platform.

Nokia 2D Barcode Promo at CES

apollobravo — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:58:31 +0000

Nokia is running this 2D bar code promotion at CES, Good example of using SMS to deliver a scanable 2D bar code. Drives booth traffic and demonstrates the capabilities of smart phone technology. Text Nokia to 99134 and click on the link.

Contact ApolloBravo for a demo of how barcodes are generated on mobile websites and linked to SMS promotions. www.apollobravo.com

Mobile Web Replacing Wire Web: Report

apollobravo — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:29:09 +0000

From moconews.net

opera browser

When it comes to emerging markets, there’s been a lot of talk of how the mobile web will be the dominant way that people access the internet. Now there’s evidence from Opera Software (OSL: OPERA), the browser makers, who in its October “State of the Mobile Web” report, found that the mobile web is replacing the wired web in Southeast Asia. Looking at data and metrics from its mobile browser Opera Mini, the company found that page views per user in Indonesia and the Philippines are significantly higher than the worldwide numbers. Page views in the Philippines alone grew more than 1120 percent this year. In Indonesia, each user browsed 358 pages on average in October 2008, “well above the global average”.

Highlights from the report:

– In Southeast Asia, among mobile Web users, Google (NSDQ: GOOG) is the dominant player in the search engine space, with Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and Live Search vying for second place. Friendster is the premier social-networking site in the region, with hi5 coming in second. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is dominant in the region, with brands like Sony (NYSE: SNE) Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC) and Huawei competing for a distant second place.

– Opera Mini users viewed more than 5 billion pages in October. Each person using Opera Mini viewed approximately 242 pages on average. Since September, page views have gone up 12.2 percent. Since October 2007, this number is up 326 percent.

– The report also includes a look at the ten most popular sites in the ten countries with the highest amount of traffic. In the US, UK, Egypt and India, Google.com is the most visited web site. In Indonesia, Ukraine, South Africa and Poland, it is the second most visited website. In China, it is third, and in Russia, sixth.

Release | Report

Contact ApolloBravo Mobile Marketing about our Snd2Phone platform with automated mobile web site creation.

Photo Credit: ricardoalvarez

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