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STAYING MOBILE

9 August 2007 SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

Helen Withycombe listens to the buzz of the mobile marketing craze.
The mobile industry is on the edge of a very profitable precipice. The market continues to grow exponentially – worth $120 million in 2004, $250 million in 2005 and predicted to hit $1 billion by 2009. After years of gaining momentum, the mobile industry is finally ready to leap into space and we are all likely to be along for the ride.
In Australia, most interaction with mobile marketing has been via promotional activities, usually SMS-based. But Matthew Costello, business development manager of 5th Finger, believes this to be merely the tip of the iceberg and says that we cannot overestimate the importance of mobile in the marketing mix.
“Mobile marketing is now making strong reaches into branding and awareness campaigns, such as using the themes songs for VB or The Big Ad as ring tones, or direct marketing such as barcodes sent to mobile phones with specific offers to drive purchase. Mobile will continue to develop in terms of what it can offer both consumers and marketers with overseas estimates stating that 80 percent of brands intend to include mobile in the next 12 months in their marketing plans.”
The beauty of mobile marketing is the personal nature of the relationship it allows a brand to build with a consumer. A clever mobile marketing campaign will engage consumers in a way the passive nature of traditional media will never permit. Claire Gunn, director of Breeze Tech, believes part of the allure of mobile is the ease with which it allows advertisers to communicate with the elusive and media savvy 18 to 30 demographic in a variety of ways. Young consumers are notorious for their lack of interaction with traditional media, while their penchant for multi-tasking makes it difficult for marketers to hold their attention.
“Direct response type content such as electronic vouchers can drive consumers to the marketer’s retail outlets,” Gunn explains. “Other content can let the user interact with the marketer’s brand such as video clips, interactive games and event reminders. In addition, handset-based applications are now allowing users to download a range of rich content, such as view live news feeds on demand and get true location-based services – such as the traffic news.”
But while mobile is particularly suited to the younger generations who have grown up with a mobile in their back pocket, the beauty of the medium is the depth of its reach. In 2005, the level of mobile penetration in the global market was estimated to be at 89 percent, with 100 percent expected to be achieved by 2008. Most of us have experienced some form of mobile marketing, whether it was an SMS reminder or a technologically astounding example of viral marketing. Cameron Franks, general manager of Mobile 365, however, believes mobile has untapped potential for brands and businesses in terms of relationship building.
“I think it is still considered a niche industry and, although everyone is aware of its growing importance, they have still not quite yet grasped the opportunity and worked out how to use it to best effect,” he says.
Ashley Porter, managing director of eHound, agrees, and has faith that the new technologies appearing on the mobile horizon daily will make the tool a more effective instrument.
“Tools like location-based services,” he clarifies, “whereby consumers can access information on their mobile device, with key criteria being automated in the background, either based on network technologies – such as handset location – or personal preferences identified by the subscriber, such as product or brand preferences.”
Location-based services are heralded to revolutionise mobile marketing, making the medium more effective for the advertiser and more relevant to the consumer. Jason Jercinovic, managing director of Communicator Interactive, believes location-based services and particularly ‘proximity marketing’ are definitely the way forward.
“With print and mobile coming together through hypertag technologies such as Bluetooth, marketers can now target consumers without relying on existing telecommunications’ infrastructure and the price-tag associated with reliance on these delivery methods. Often new users are brought into the mobile marketing experience as they ‘stumble’ across these mobile transmitters at tradeshows or at point of sale. The user experience is excellent and the value is realised immediately by the consumer, which can create a tremendously positive brand association.”
Bluetooth marketing is certainly rocking the mobile world, with many heavy hitters such as Coke and Lexus including it in their artillery. Claire Gunn’s company Breeze Tech focuses on this area of the market.
“Bluetooth marketing in particular can enable companies to send location-based relevant content to the mobile phones of potential customers,” she explains. “Wireless mobile marketing has huge potential within the outdoor advertising industry. Using Bluetooth technology, outdoor advertisers can transform a static poster campaign into an interactive experience for the consumer. They can send content such as images, video clips, mp3 files, ebusiness cards, evouchers, calendar reminders, games etc. enabling the consumer to truly interact with their brand. Depending on the type of content offered, there is the potential for the advertiser to create a successful viral marketing campaign.
“As Bluetooth marketing is location-based, this ensures content sent to consumers’ phones is relevant for them at that particular point in time. For example, a visitor to a motor show could receive a video clip of the latest concept car. It also lets the consumer stay in control as they can either chose to download content or switch their Bluetooth functionality off if they do not wish to receive marketing messages via this channel.”
Location-based services are expanding in response to consumer demand, and not all require the bang and sparkle of Bluetooth or infrared technology. Search giant Sensis is moving in this direction as it converts its internet-based product to the small screen. These bite-sized versions of Sensis include Whereis, Sensis SMS – a version of the White and Yellow Pages – and a mobile search engine that is location aware and serves up results based on the proximity and relevancy to the searcher. Sebastian Baldwin, group manager of Sensis Wireless, is excited about the leaps in technology that have permitted the company to branch out in this area of the market.
“One of the new technologies Sensis has employed enables us to format our content once and to publish across the spectrum of mobile devices that are in the market. Not only does this improve our production efficiencies, but it enables us and our advertisers to reach people and provide a great user experience regardless of how big or small their screen size, or the mark-up language of their mobile device.
“The ability to use the location capability of mobile networks is another technology we have employed, as is GPS technology. Mobile devices with built in GPS chips are now in the market, which we are utilising in our mobile location and navigation applications.”
The parallels between the hype that surrounded the internet and the one currently surrounding mobile are impossible to ignore, but the memories of the infamous dotcom bust are still a bit fresh. So how do marketers and brands protect themselves? James Cleary, director of Amethon Solutions, explains why measurement that reports on the success of a campaign in real-time, while still protecting the subscriber’s privacy is so important to the mobile realm.
“Measuring the success of content is critical for marketing campaigns; for example, an FMCG campaign. But for the marketing groups of mobile operators the value goes far beyond this. Many mobile operators themselves have a renewed emphasis on better understanding the characteristics of their customer. Micro-segmentation and ‘customer intimacy’ are critical to offering the most relevant services and content to subscribers, thereby boosting revenue per user and reducing customer churn. Measuring the success of different types of content for a given customer segment provides a fabulous insight into the preferences and behaviour of each customer segment. Importantly, this information can be used without invading a customer’s privacy.”
And here we arrive at one of the core issues, which in part has prevented the widespread acceptance of mobile marketing. Privacy is the catch-cry of all those who oppose mobile marketing and even the marketers themselves can see that this is with good reason.
“Mobile devices are an extension of a consumer’s personal space and property, so clearly there will be little appetite for spam,” says Baldwin. “Mobiles help people to connect, organise and enjoy life on their own terms. It’s a personal medium that delivers content just for them. For example, almost all SMS messages that are sent are actually opened, indicating people’s expectations that information delivered to their mobile is addressed to them personally.”
Jercinovic agrees, but thinks this invasion may become more palatable if consumers can see that they are getting something in return.
“People consider it a very personal device, so the concept of putting ads on it is bothersome at first. Advertising has historically been the backbone of many new services, however, and people don’t seem to mind ‘skipping a few ads’ in traditional media. The bottom line is that if there is value to the consumer – sometimes as simple as getting stuff for free – this concern becomes much less of an irritant. At that point the marketer becomes the giver of a valuable service.”
The opt-in function of mobile marketing campaigns is at the heart of the medium’s privacy protection strategy, Costello explains.
“There are some clear regulatory structures we need to adhere to whereby people actually need to opt in to receive marketing messages as opposed to opt out, which is the basis of the telemarketing ‘do not call’ register.
“Location capabilities will certainly have a very interesting impact, possibly even bringing to life a whole new set of tools for marketers,” Costello continues.
“While the idea of your phone beeping at you when you walk past a specific store will be technically possible, the idea of permission, privacy, targeting etc. will make that scenario much more interesting than a simple ‘while you’re here, why don’t you call in and buy something?’.”
Privacy issues aside, mobile marketing is here to stay and is generally welcomed by advertisers and consumers alike. But the potential mobile offers goes way beyond clunky ads aimed to sell, sell, sell.
Cameron Franks is excited by these opportunities. “I believe that in Australia so far we have only really seen mobile used as a promotional tool – ‘text 2 win’ etc. and I believe that it has far wider marketing capabilities,” he says. “CRM for example – used both as an outbound push, such as reminders or offers, and inbound, like text for more information or text for a call back.
“I think where brands are doing marketing, however, they should focus on growing the interaction with the consumer and do this at standard rather than premium rate – as the aim should be brand interaction not revenue generation. For example, we have just set up a service for Nokia in Thredbo where remote phone cameras can take a picture of the slopes. Every 30 minutes they MMS this into a mobile internet site that users can then access to see what the snow conditions are like. This will be a key component of any mobile internet sites – the concept of ‘message alert and click-through to browse’.”
Jercinovic agrees that the focus should be on relationship building. “One way we have seen success in this regard is getting the consumer to interact with the brand at point of sale. The user then has an enhanced brand experience.”
With the leaps and bounds in technology, including colour screens, cameras and third generation platforms, will the lowly SMS dialogue between consumers and brands disappear? The experts believe that SMS will always be needed.
“Mobile marketing is rapidly becoming a viable commercial marketing channel,” says Gunn. “To date, SMS has been the primary medium for mobile marketing; however, marketers are increasingly beginning to send non text-based communications to reach their target audience, using either MMS or the emerging phenomenon of Bluetooth marketing. I think there will always be a requirement for SMS, however, 3G opens up the doors for marketers to offer rich digital content to consumers and in particular will increase the ability for direct response advertising.”
“You could see the success of SMS not as just a technical innovation, but also as a communication mode that doesn’t really go away when you move to 3G,” adds Costello. “Like the need for both IM and email on the PC, text and other 3G technologies will probably sit alongside each other quite nicely.”
Not only is the mobile medium like the internet, it is also the final and possibly most profitable frontier of the internet. Mobile internet will become consumers’ medium of choice, predicts Costello.
“The latest research shows that around 45 percent of internet access globally is via the mobile phone and, by 2008 in Australia, internet access via the mobile will exceed PC access. This will have a huge impact on how brands perceive mobile and what they will need to do in the future.”
Jercinovic agrees. “I think the mobile internet has the power to change general consumer behaviour in a very big way. I like to think of it not as the mobile internet, but as your personal internet. Increasingly brands and services are seeing the value of putting themselves in this value chain.”
The rise of mobile internet has also sparked an increase in user generated content (UGC) on the mobile medium, a sure sign that the medium is growing organically.
“Mobile blogging is gaining great acceptance,” says Costello. “We host the Channel Nine Citizen Journalist, where consumers MMS in news stories to be features on TV. The question isn’t really about the advantages of UGC or even quality, but acceptance. If UCG is featured online, and it attracts an audience, then marketers will be there. Interestingly though, mobile seems to be a creation point for UGC as opposed to a destination point.”
Amethon’s James Cleary leaves us with an intriguing thought, which in its simple imagery illustrates that mobile is nothing less than the way of the future.
“It’s interesting to note that the average time for reporting a lost mobile is much faster than the time to report a lost wallet or credit card – the mobile is an intimate part of our daily life. I think we are just starting to see the impact this will have in the broader marketing community.”


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