via Warc.com NEW YORK: Companies making the most effective use of digital media typically adopt a distinct set of strategies in areas like mobile, social networking and data analytics, a study has argued.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the advisory group, polled 489 US firms with annual sales of over $500m, and identified a selection of “top performers” boasting the strongest revenues, growth, margins and innovation credentials.

It revealed that 50% of these leading players planned to spend a minimum of $1m on building mobile tools for their customers to use in 2012. The same was true of just 29% of other enterprises.

Moreover, 66% of the premier digital businesses described their interaction with consumers on mobile devices as “quite or very significant”, measured against 45% of all the corporations assessed

A 30% share of “top performers” deployed social networks to reach shoppers, versus 37% of firms not attaining such a status. But while 41% of the former group yielded “significant benefits” from this tactic, a smaller 24% of “the rest” said the same.

“Interestingly, though, there seems to be little connection between use of social media for external communications and actual commercial success,” PwC study stated.

“We have found that the organisations that achieve solid results from their social media efforts are those that use it not only as an outreach platform but “also as a method to listen and engage.”

By contrast, the companies enjoying the most impressive returns are making greater usage of social media internally, and 36% should spend at least $1m on this channel in 2012, standing at 22% for “the rest”.

Similarly, although 56% of the entire panel intend to collect more consumer data in the next year, this rises to 66% for “top performers”. Exactly 50% of the best organisations will exploit such insights for R&D, falling to 28% elsewhere.

Some 89% of top performers also agreed their company had a strategy in place that was likely to succeed, and 86% said their CEO actively championed new technology to achieve success. This beat average scores of 68% and 60% in turn.

More specifically, 63% of the highest-ranking operators believed that their chief information officer and chief marketing officer had a “strong” or “very strong” relationship, a total that fell to 42% of all featured corporations.

“Leading firms … understand that being behind the curve on the strategic use of technology not only puts their firms at a competitive disadvantage, but weakens their ability to interact and strengthen relationships with customers,” PwC said.

Data sourced from PricewaterhouseCoopers; additional content by Warc staff, 3 February 2012

Cable operators beware. It’s becoming all about the WiFi. More and more consumers are getting their TV on multiple devices including iPads, smart phones, Roku and other wi-fi devices, and less and less via traditional cable. With Netflix,Hulu, Amazon, Apple others providing a lot of the content there is  declining demand for traditional cable, but a growing need for  HD content delivered via WiFi.   Contact ApolloBravo for innovative ways to reach this changing audience.

Via Warc

NEW YORK: Television viewing habits are changing in the US, with young consumers watching more content on the web and via mobile phones, a study has found.

Altman Vilandrie & Company, the consultancy, and Research Now, the survey firm,polled 1,000 adults to discuss evolving attitudes in this area.

They found only a third of 18–34 year olds view shows as they are first broadcast every day, compared with the figure of 58% posted by panel members over 35 years old.

A 60% majority of 18–34 year olds also watch online video once a week or more, and 11% play back TV programmes and movies on a mobile phone on a daily basis.

Using laptops or desktop PCs while the TV was on is also “common for all age groups”, and 28% of people owning a tablet like the iPad use this device at least 50% of the time they are in front of the television.

Overall, 20% of respondents now spend less on cable TV than in the past – what the study described as “cord shaving” – as online video platforms meet their needs, a total rising from 15% in 2010.

Within this, 24% of 18-34 year olds with cable services have seriously considered “cutting the cord”, although only between 3% and 4% of all consumers had actually done so thus far.

“Consumers are removing the shackles of the traditional primetime TV line-up and creating their own personal networks of preferred programming and viewing times,” said Jonathan Hurd, a director at Altman Vilandrie & Company.

In an example of the growing integration between TV and the web, 23% of Netflix subscribers reported this was the main reason they paid for broadband, and 22% would downgrade their connection if they no longer used the streaming service.

Elsewhere, the study showed 41% of 18–34 year olds would prefer to utilise a smartphone, tablet or computer keyboard to change TV channel than use a remote control.

Similarly, half of 18–34 year olds wanted to access modified programme menus, such as a screen offering apps or pictures of the content available, rather than the current style of TV guide.

High-definition formats were popular among 75% of 18–24 year olds, suggesting service providers can attract a younger audience with excellent picture quality.

Data sourced from Altman Vilandrie & Company; additional content by Warc staff, 9 September 2011

• 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

We found it interesting that politicians are up in arms about Apple and Google smart phones tracking location data. Carriers have been doing this for years as part of their service well before the iPhone or android phones were introduced.

Folks on Capitol Hill are probably very concerned that anyone knows their location at any time.  Sounds like a great opportunity for a company to introduce some sort of blackbox phone or app that blocks carrier data tracking.

I am sure they would get a lot of customers in DC.

See original article from 2009 here. You can watch actual tracking in the video. http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention

Tell-all telephone

Green party politician Malte Spitz sued to have German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom hand over six months of his phone data that he then made available to ZEIT ONLINE. We combined this geolocation data with information relating to his life as a politician, such as Twitter feeds, blog entries and websites, all of which is all freely available on the internet.

By pushing the play button, you will set off on a trip through Malte Spitz’s life. The speed controller allows you to adjust how fast you travel, the pause button will let you stop at interesting points. In addition, a calendar at the bottom shows when he was in a particular location and can be used to jump to a specific time period. Each column corresponds to one day.

NEW YORK via Warc.com: Smartphones are playing an increasingly important role in shaping the purchase decisions of US shoppers, a study by Google and Ipsos OTX has found.

The two firms surveyed 5,013 smartphone owners, and reported that 81% regularly surf the net via this route, while 77% access search engines, 68% leverage apps and 48% stream video.

Simultaneous media use was also widespread, as 72% of those polled were active on their touchphone when consuming other channels, including 33% doing so at the same time as watching TV.

More broadly, 93% of participants used gadgets like the iPhone and alternatives powered by Google Android at home, suggesting they have grown beyond solely being deployed on-the-move.

Search engines proved the most-visited category of website, as 77% of interviewees logged on to these platforms through their phone, beating social networks, ecommerce portals and video-sharing services.

Overall, 90% of mobile enquiries entered on properties such as Google and Bing resulted in some form of concrete outcome, be it buying something, travelling to a store or calling a company.

Indeed, 24% of contributors recommended brands and products after inputting a search enquiry in this way.

Elsewhere, 71% of respondents had searched the mobile web in response to advertising, with traditional media ads registering 68% here, measured against mobile’s 27% and online’s 18%.

Another 82% could recall viewing ads on a wireless handset, and half of this group engaged in a positive reaction, incorporating 49% making a purchase and 35% going to a website. Mobiles are also exerting a growing influence as a “shopping tool”, with 79% of people possessing smartphones having used them to compare prices, find product specifications or locate retailers.

Exactly 74% have previously bought goods and services as a consequence of using smartphones for parallel purposes, whether it be in stores, online or from mcommerce platforms.Similarly, 70% had employed their phones for these reasons when in bricks and mortar shops.

Local information was revealed to be especially popular, as 95% of the audience looked for such content on a handset, and 88% took action within a day of tracking down relevant material. A 77% share contacted a company, with 61% calling on the phone and 59% attending a physical outlet.

“Make sure you can be found via mobile search as consumers regularly use their phones to find and act on information,” the study said.

“Incorporate location-based products and services and make it easy for mobile customers to reach you because local information seeking is common among smartphone users.”

Further recommendations included developing a meaningful cross-channel strategy, and taking advantage of mobile advertising which taps in to concurrent media usage.

Data sourced from Google; additional content by Warc staff, 28 April 2011

Contact ApolloBravo for more information on reaching mobile shoppers.

For years we have looked to the UK Europe and Asia as a mobile marketing crystal ball. As trends emerge from markets with more mature mobile consumer habits (and carrier ecosystem) we can get a very good gauge of how consumers will be utilizing mobile in this country. Traditionally the US has been a year or two behind other markets in mobile usage and adoption figures. However the app / smart phone explosion in the US after has sped up the process. So we see similar numbers as presented in this study only about a year away in the US. Is your company ready for the mobile web explosion that’s headed to our shores? Reach out to ApolloBravo for a complementary corporate mobile readiness evaluation. Pay special attention to the nearly 70% of consumers accessing the mobile web via their phones.

From wark.com and IAB

LONDON: Consumers in the UK are adopting an increasingly diverse range of mobile habits, from browsing the web while on the move to using their phone when watching TV.

Industry body the IAB and research firm Connect Insight asked 500 people who regularly utilise applications and the internet, or download content, via handsets to keep a “media diary” for a week. These data were supplemented by six digital focus groups to gain a rounded picture regarding the daily role of wireless devices.

On average, individuals engaged with their mobile 18 times each day, going online most frequently among the pastimes assessed.
Indeed, 66% of contributors “couldn’t live without” such gadgets and 58% believed they helped ensure life was more organised.

Elsewhere, 40% of the panel had participated in one of the featured activities having witnessed advertising communications.
Some 69% of respondents accessed web-based content through a mobile browser, as opposed to links, shortcodes, apps and equivalent tools.

A further 27% agreed their phone assumed the status as “first choice” when it came to consuming content at least once a week.

Simultaneous media use is another widespread habit, given that 70% of the sample deployed a mobile at the same time as being exposed to a different medium. This is most commonly the case for TV, as 53% of those polled leveraged mobile media while viewing television broadcasts between 9pm and midnight.

From 6am to 9am, the mobile information of greatest interest concerned finance, weather and travel, a position held by entertainment, shopping and maps in the 3pm to 6pm slot. Entertainment, music, sport and games then took over, as people sought to relax after work.

“The implications of this consumer behaviour for advertisers are huge,” Alex Kozloff, the IAB’s mobile manager, said.

“Mobile is a hygiene factor that every brand should be thinking about to make sure the customer experience is a positive one.”

Data sourced from IAB; additional content by Warc staff, 3 February 2011 www.warc.com

RESTON, VA: US email habits are undergoing a dramatic shift, with more and more people checking their messages on their phones.

Visitors to email websites fell 6% between November 2009 and November 2010, according to comScore.

But use of mobile email climbed 36% over the same period and now covers 78% of the nation’s smartphone population, in what the research firm is calling an “email evolution”.

Around 153 million Americans visited email sites such as hotmail.com and gmail.com during November 2010, spending a collective 43,474 minutes on the site and viewing 38,204 pages.

These totals are 6%, 9% and 15% lower than their equivalents for November 2009.

The drop-off in usage is sharpest among younger demographics, though the number of over-55s actually increased from the previous year.

In all, 70m Americans used their mobiles to access email during the month.

This not only represents a 36% increase in users, but a 40% increase in daily users – suggesting that accessing the services has become routine.

Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile, suggested the trend towards mobile is part of the general fragmentation of media use observed over recent years.

“From PCs to mobile devices, whether its email, social media, IM or texting, consumers have many ways to communicate and can do so at any time and in any place,” he said.

“The decline in web-based email is a byproduct of these shifting dynamics and the increasing availability of on-demand communication options.”

Data sourced from comScore; additional content by Warc staff, 24 January 2011 http://goo.gl/4Fvxf

Contact ApolloBravo for a Mobile Marketing Readiness Evaluation. 703.548.3400

Mobile Year in Review Video 2010. A two minute look at amazing growth.

By Ylan Q. Mui

Back-to-school shopping deals are just a text message away this year as retailers wade into the brave new world of mobile commerce.

JCPenney sent customers texts with the latest fall clothing styles and discounts, and even print ads encourage users to send a text for special sales alerts. Sears and Kmart promoted a mobile app that allows shoppers to order merchandise and have it shipped to a nearby store, while American Eagle gave away free smartphones to anyone who tried on jeans. But many retailers are still waiting to see whether mobile shopping will pay off after the novelty wears off.

About 29 percent of consumers said they planned to use their phones to power through their back-to-school shopping lists, according to a survey this summer by consulting firm Deloitte. About 38 percent of those shoppers said they intended to check prices, while 30 percent were looking for discounts and coupons. Alison Paul, Deloitte’s U.S. retail leader, called mobile technology a “wide open area of experimentation.”

“This back-to-school season will inform retailers and consumers as to who is doing that well and who is doing that consistently,” she said.

Industry experts and techno-evangelists have long predicted a day when people no longer make the long trek to the mall or even tether themselves to their desks to shop. Now, as more Americans are snapping up smartphones that can access the Internet and boast large-screen displays that make it easy to browse for clothes or microwaves, the future may not be far off.

The number of cellphone subscribers who have smartphones has grown to 25 percent this year from 16 percent in 2009, a study by market research firm Nielsen shows. That could help fuel the growth of what was a $1.2 billion mobile shopping market last year in the United States , according to ABI Research, a consulting firm.

Richard Mader, the executive director of the technology standards group for the National Retail Federation, a trade association, said stores are experimenting with mobile shopping in several ways.

The first step, he said, is usually through marketing and advertising, similar to many of the back-to-school campaigns. Kmart Chief Marketing Officer Mark Snyder said the chain’s mobile app, called Kmart2Go, is targeted toward busy moms. The company launched it just before the holidays and has been trying to teach shoppers how to use it.

“It takes a while for her to understand the power of these things and how they can serve her,” Snyder said.

In fact, retailers say their top two mobile retailing goals are to drive sales to their Web sites and offer price and product information — not to complete the sale on the phone, according to a study by NRF and Forrester Research. Retailers also reported in the study that mobile browsers generate an average of 3 percent of traffic to their Web sites and account for 2 percent of online sales.

Read more from the Washington Post http://wapo.st/aZHFEw

Contact ApolloBravo for more information about Mobile Coupons and Promotion. www.apollobravo.com

Via GSMA Mobile World Congress – Barcelona

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