Category — Mobile Interactive

Thanks to Scott Ingram who found this gem of an article: 21st century Mobile Marketing: Global insights into the world’s most advanced mobile society: Japan by Christopher Billich from Infinita inc.

This six page PDF report is a must read for anybody wanting a preview into what the North American mobile market could look like in 5 years or less.

Although there are some variables unique to Japan, most of what they’ve accomplished is as a result of early adoption of high speed mobile networks (3G+), fixed data plans, and standards across all carriers for software adoption - all things that are just now falling into place for us in Canada.

There is also a 122 page detailed report available here for $3,000 for those with research budgets at their disposal!

comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, announced last week the acquisition of M:Metrics, Inc., the recognized leader in mobile measurement.

As a combined company, comScore becomes the immediate leader in measuring the mobile channel.

Although data provided by M:Metrics has not traditionally included Canada, this move is part of a global initiative to be the leader in measuring mobile.

I met up with Bryan Segal, VP of Sales at comScore recently in Kelowna for a CMO conference on Social Media. When asked about measuring mobile, he was quick to say they are committed to providing mobile data in Canada. After the announcement came out last week, I asked him about his his thoughts on the new acquisition:

Yes we are very happy with this news, as our acquisition of M:Metrics makes comScore an immediate market leader in this space. As for Canada we are continually working to bring mobile measurement to the marketplace, and this acquisition of M:Metrics will hopefully facilitate and expedite this process.

This is good news for marketers who are looking for credible and deeper access to usage and experience data within the mobile channel. 

Having a global view of user behaviour across all digital channels will be incredibly useful as we continue to work mobile into our integrated marketing programs.

The Globe and Mail recently reported that mobile advertising was years away from a breakthrough. You can read their full article here.

Although I agree we are still in the early stages of mobile advertising, I would suggest that “years” is more likely about two years. Just as we’re seeing exponential growth in leveraging the mobile channel for marketing activities, we are now seeing similar growth in mobile inventory for brands looking to place ads on carrier networks (both on and off-deck).

In Canada, there was virtually no mobile ad inventory to buy a year ago. Today, there’s well over 5 million impressions in mobile inventory to be bought on and off-portal. Although relatively small in comparison to email or the desktop web, this is growing rapidly.

Industry insiders have indicated that the metrics are looking pretty good too.

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I’ve recently installed the Weather Network blackberry widget on my Blackberry 8800. One of the advantages of creating a device specific widget is that you can enrich the user experience beyond a typical mobile website.

The Weather Network is no exception - taking full advantage of the blackberry Java platform to delivery an intuitive and easy to manage widget.

Once you’ve downloaded the widget, you can select your city of choice for weather updates. Coming soon - the ability to add up to 5 more cities - although I believe there should be an unlimited city option like there is on the iphone weather widget by Yahoo.

The neat thing is that once your choice city has been selected, you can get the current temperature by just scrolling over the icon on your blackberry desktop. Clicking on the icon will give you a detailed forecast for that day. Using the options button, you can switch to short and long term forecasts too.

Want to try it out? Point your blackberry mobile web browser to: http://weyebb.pelmorex.com

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The Globe and Mail reported today that Microsoft is again talking to Yahoo. Get the full article here.

Seen largely as a way to counter any potential Google and Yahoo advertising partnership, a new Microsoft relationship would bolster their rating and access to the market while giving Yahoo shareholder value without raising too many regulatory eyebrows around anti-trust.

The long term play

Although still relatively small compared to the desktop web market, partnering with Yahoo now means Microsoft can also get access to their leading mobile platform.

Within two years mobile advertising in Canada will include inventory for marketers that will reach beyond Carrier on-deck portals. Already we are seeing early versions of mobile search (with proximity capabilities), mobile video, and mobile social networking sites with built-in ad-serving abilities. This market is going to be massive.

It also sets up the possibility of another takeover attempt in the not so distant future.

The CWTA just released updated stats for March 2008:

1. 1.4 billion text / SMS messages were sent in March alone! This is up from 1.2 billion in December 2007.  We are definitely trending towards 20 billion for the year (that would be double 2007 numbers)
2. 42% of messages sent from unique individuals - up from 37% in September 2007. This is really significant because it means the same people aren’t just texting more… we are actually increasing adoption & usage as a whole.

With reasonable data plans finally becoming available in Canada (as low as $7 / month for unlimited on a non-PDA device), we should be expecting huge increases in the mobile web /mobile widgets this year as well.

It’s hard to believe that shortcodes for SMS or “text messaging” is only 5 years old in Canada.

It’s also hard to believe that many marketers are still largely ignorant as to what or how SMS marketing can be incorporated into a multi-channel campaign.

For those who think SMS is not yet ready for the masses, consider this:

• 10.1 billion SMS messages were sent in Canada last year - over 1 billion in December alone
• That’s more than double (~4.3b) from 2006
• Which is more than double (~2.1) from 2005
• There are over 20 million Canadians with at least one mobile device now
• Penetration of mobile is as high as 80% in urban areas

SMS marketing is already a mass medium.

Mobile messaging is evolving. MMS (or multi-media messaging) is finally going mainstream. Rogers now has an all you can eat plan for $15 / month. 2d codes are also coming to a broader audience as a few local mobile shops are working on some retail pilots.

Tonight the CWTA is putting on a party celebrating 5 years of text messaging in Canada.

I’ll also be celebrating what is to come!

Here’s some irony for you - one week after posting about the 8,690 disruptions I experienced in April, here’s a forwarded email I received last week that I actually found interesting.  I guess 1 in 8,690 isn’t bad?

FIRST
Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112 . If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly, this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

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Be sure to check out the following two articles posted on onedegree.ca and the CMA blog this month (in case you missed their original postings)

1. Will Bluetooth Become a Sweet Tooth for Marketers? (onedegree.ca)
2. 6 Tips for building and managing consent for mobile marketing (CMA blog)

Join me on May 15th for  strategy’s Mobile Marketing Workshop at Revival in Toronto, Canada where you can learn about how to successfully integrate mobile marketing into your multi-channel campaigns.

I’ve been asked to sit on the end of day mobile marketing panel discussion entitled “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”

Well-executed mobile campaigns yield positive user response and increase customer engagement. To avoid consumer backlash, you must understand the subtleties of how to use mobile effectively.

What works in traditional media does not work on mobile!

The workshop agenda includes:

• consumer perception of mobile advertising

• campaign best practices

• emerging mobile technologies

• what works now in Canada

• the role of mobile in the marketing mix

• interactive panel with senior execs from mobile marketing agencies and technology providers on how mobile as an ad medium needs to be approached, and its distinct differences from other media

You can register for this event here. 

After the event, join me at the “Five Years of Great Text” bash presented by the CWTA.

Any questions? Comment, send me an SMS or drop me a line the old fashion way with an email.