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Mobile Entertainment & Commerce
...the analyst view
Edition Forty - 10th October 2007 |
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Mobile marketing booming, despite messaging technologies
There can be do denying that mobile marketing is taking off. Increasingly big brands, media companies and others are starting to dip toes in the water and rolling out small scale campaigns using the channel.
But, despite the enthusiasm for mobile marketing, there are barriers holding back even higher growth rates, with more than half of brands not yet employing the use of either text messaging (58 per cent) or multimedia messaging (60 per cent) systems for marketing purposes, according to Airwide Solutions.
As brands have learned about mobile marketing, the perception that SMS is a reliable and measurable medium has increased with the number of brands that find SMS too complicated for marketing dropping significantly from 24 per cent in 2006 to just eight in 2007. Additionally, more brands now know how to measure its effectiveness with uncertainty about how to do so dropping from 18 per cent in 2006 to 11 per cent in 2007.
In contrast, however, the perception that MMS is difficult to use has grown from 14 per cent in 2006 to 29 per cent in 2007 and concerns about reliability have grown from 12 in to 34 per cent in the same time frame.
Almost half of big brands are also concerned that mobile marketing is too intrusive, with many feeling that customers will perceive messages as spam. Of these, 41 per cent are unsure how to rectify the problem by targeting specific audiences. Over a third of brands (36 per cent) would require detailed information on how the user responded to the message, and one in five want proof that the message has been received by the user’s handset – concerns mirrored by recent high profile issues with TV text voting.
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Brands accelerating use of mobile as a marketing tool, finds study
An independent survey of 50 global brand-name companies commissioned by Airwide Solutions, a mobile messaging infrastructure and application provider, finds that 28 per cent of companies have already launched live SMS-based marketing campaigns and 18 per cent have launched live MMS campaigns.
Growth in the sophistication of mobile marketing campaigns was reflected in the number of brands considering implementing both SMS and MMS mobile marketing in the next 12 months, which doubled to 28 per cent since a similar survey in 2006.
The survey also found that more brands are looking to spend a greater proportion of their marketing budget on mobile campaigns in the near future with 71 per cent of brands projecting to spend up to 10 per cent of their budget on mobile marketing within two years’ time.
Brand experience with mobile marketing is increasingly positive as more brands are getting higher response rates from their campaigns. The percentage of big brands who said that up to 10 per cent of recipients of mobile marketing campaigns requested more information as a result of receiving a mobile marketing message grew from 32 per cent in 2006 to 58 per cent in 2007.
And the news is even better for financial transactions with 73 per cent of brands stating that up to 10 per cent of recipients subsequently undertook a financial action as a result of the campaign, compared with 28 per cent in 2006. Every responding brand agreed that their most recent mobile marketing campaign was successful in increasing customer familiarity of their brand.
Most significantly, the experience of brands using mobile marketing demonstrates that the actual campaign response rate is even higher than the expectations of those who have not yet implemented mobile marketing.
According to the survey, 57 per cent of brands not yet using mobile marketing anticipate that customers will request more information, while 83 per cent of brands that have already implemented campaigns said they received requests for more information.
The numbers for financial transactions are even higher with 38 per cent of inexperienced brands stating that they expect consumers to undertake consequent financial actions while 82 per cent of experienced brands have said that recipients completed a financial action as a result of being sent a mobile marketing message.
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Gorillabox aims to revolutionise mobile TV business model
Gorillabox, a new fully managed mobile TV enabler, claims that it is set to turn the mobile TV industry on its head when it launches this week with a proposition to stream video content to any mobile handset, anywhere in Europe and the US.
Central to the Gorillabox proposition is a unique fixed fee commercial model, which will allow network operators, content owners, brand owners and ad agencies to take advantage of the benefits of mobile TV but without the hidden costs of the traditional revenue sharing model.
Christian Harris, founder and CEO of Gorillabox, echoes these words: “There’s been a lot of hype around mobile TV. But we’re looking to cut through that hype and show brands, content owners and mobile operators that mobile TV also makes commercial sense.”
He adds: “As well as enabling brands to engage more directly with their customers, we’re going to show marketeers there’s money in mobile TV. Because of our agreements with UK operators, we’ll guarantee to pass on all the revenue to our clients so they can easily track the effectiveness of their mobile TV marketing campaigns. As Gorillabox only works with available technology our hold on the audience is huge, with over 100 million handsets in the EU and the US that can consume our streaming content now.”
Unlike many other companies Gorillabox will also offer its clients either an ‘à la carte’ menu of mobile TV services, or the ability to use Gorillabox as a full turnkey provider to plan, execute and manage and track their mobile TV campaigns. This includes everything from ingesting and encoding the content, designing, deploying and maintaining the mobile site through to managing the billing, optimising the site for search and offering advertising opportunities within the site. “And unlike other many other providers we’ll also be able to replicate the mobile TV campaigns anywhere in Europe or the US,” adds Harris.
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More than half of mobile execs don’t use content services they sell
More than half the delegates at last week’s Mocollywood show in London do not use the mobile content service on their mobiles, according to a study by Buzz City at the show.
And in the eternal quest for a future killer application, is the mobile industry looking to ride on the back of the user-generated content wave? It doesn’t seem so – as 72 per cent of respondents believe that mobile social networking services are only in their infancy as an emerging niche, and nothing more than an extension of existing PC sites, such as Facebook.
BuzzCity asked delegates for their views on the mobile content and mobile social networking market’s prospects in the next three years. The mobile internet is the most popular application used on a daily basis amongst industry executives (56%) – this will be encouraging news for operators who have invested hefty marketing budgets into take-up of internet on the move.
However, on the flip side, mobile TV and music downloads were among the highest scores in the “never used personally” category, despite operators continuous efforts to counter this.
When it comes to how money will be made in three years time in the mobile content industry, 38.8 per cent of respondents believed that mobile advertising was the most likely source of revenue generation; with a further 30.5 per cent believing that flat monthly fees would replace current pay per download charges – a shift which is starting to happen already from operators.
When asked which brands will emerge as the market leaders in the future mobile social networks landscape, the top two choices were those brands which already lead in the PC-based social network world – Facebook and MySpace. However equal ranking was given to Google, alongside a “brand that we haven’t heard of yet”.
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Hello magazine goes mobile with subscription service
Fans of celebrity gossip and the inside track on lavish and gaudy weddings will soon be able to get access to such info on mobile following the mobilization of Hellomagazine.com by marketing agency Incentivated.
Readers will be invited to sign-up for content such as celebrity news and photos on a subscription or pay-as-you-go basis via the website. Content is supplied via Premium Rate SMS and MMS. In the second phase of the campaign, Hellomagazine.com plans to build a mobile internet site from where consumers will be able to download content.
It is intended that the service will also be advertised on mobile operators’ portals, where hellomagazine.com exclusive mobile content will differentiate it from the competition.
Since its launch in 2001, hellomagazine.com has been the UK’s leading celebrity news site, with more than 1 million unique users per month. ABCe figures, released in July, reveal 3 million plus visits and over 18.5 million page impressions each month. Its readers spend an average of £37 per month on mobile bills, 118 per cent more than the national average of £17, according to Ofcom — 76 per cent of them are under 40.
Hellomagazine.com editor Verity J Smart says: “The Hellomagazine.com mobile offer represents yet another opportunity to keep our readers up to date on celebrity news and is a natural extension to the website presence. The juicy little snippets of information the mobile service is set to deliver guarantee readers will always be up on the latest happenings in the lives of the rich and famous - wherever they are and whenever it suits them. And this is exactly the sort of comprehensive celebrity news service we are dedicated to providing.”
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Universal Music to distribute to mobile in global digital deal…
Universal Music to distribute its music digitally, in multiple formats starting in South Africa following an agreement with integrated mobile solutions company iO Global. The agreement will provide access to Universal’s extensive music library of more than 300,000 tracks.
As a result of the deal, mobile network subscribers can download and consume Universal’s music library on mobile devices and PCs either as full music tracks, albums or ring-tones. International artists with Universal include 50 Cent, Kanye West, Eminem, Mariah Carey, Amy Winehouse, Mika and Maroon 5.
“This new partnership with iO global enables us to deliver the next wave of digital music in South Africa,” says Steve Harris, Marketing Director, Universal Music. “The mobile entertainment platform from iO global gives network operators the opportunity to seamlessly deliver music from our extensive libraries to subscribers in any format. This agreement will enable consumers to easily access our musical content on the go, whether they are using a mobile phone or PC. Having this kind of flexibility is the future of digital content.”
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… while Paramount Pictures develops mobile marketing strategy for movies
Paramount Pictures is making a foray in to using mobile marketing with the development of The Stardust Love Predictor mobile service around its hot new release Stardust. Mobile marketing specialist Enpocket has delivered the service for the release of the film, showing in cinemas from 19 October.
The Stardust Love Predictor will be rolled out across Paramount’s global mobile network with UK, Spanish, German, Swedish, Dutch and Danish versions included on country specific Stardust mobile internet sites.
"We are pleased Enpocket could extend the reach of Paramount’s Stardust wap site with the innovative "love predictor" application. It’s a great compliment to our mobile strategy for this motion picture," says Giovanni Maruca, Director of Mobile, Paramount Pictures.
In tune with the film’s strong theme of destiny, Love Predictor enables consumers to enter names and birthdates to find out how well matched they are with the object of their hearts desire.
“The mobile mechanic fits perfectly with the core demographic of the film, principally 14 – 30 year old females. We see mobile as a key channel to help build anticipation and engagement around major feature film releases,” says Heath Tyldesley, Director Interactive Marketing, Paramount Pictures.
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The Global Mobile WiMAX Congress
28-30 November, Cannes
The Global Mobile WiMAX Congress is the place for the executive management of service providers to get the information they need to make the right decisions on mobile WiMAX. The congress is focused tightly on service provider strategies in response to the mobile WiMAX threat/opportunity, and evaluating business models for success in this marketplace.
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Mobile Content Manager
UK, London 40k-50k
A top London advertising agency is looking for someone who can build their mobile proposition.
They already deliver world class campaigns on multi-platforms, what they need is someone who is passionate about mobile, knows about mobile, and can expand their offering on mobile platforms in clever innovative ways.
For more information and to apply please click here
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Bango and AnimationFC score with top football clubs
AnimationFC is set to become the UK’s number one football mobile content provider with the help of Bango. By the end of the year, 70 football clubs in the league will have a presence on the mobile web including Tottenham Hotspur FC, Newcastle United FC, West Ham Utd FC and Aston Villa FC.
“Football clubs are keen to engage directly with their fans no matter where in the world they are,” said Gavin Skelhorn, Director of AnimationFC. “By providing a bespoke solution for each club with Bango’s technology powering the sites, we are giving the clubs an easy on-ramp to the mobile web. Now users can directly experience their favourite club and buy fun and exciting content on their mobile phones over the internet.”
THQ Wireless and Terraplay deliver multi-player mobile games via T-mobile connected
THQ Wireless this week announced that four multiplayer mobile games will appear on T-Mobile’s UK ‘Games LIVE’ service, from October 2007 onwards.
Games being offered to T-Mobile users include Top Trumps: Star Wars, Top Trumps: MotoGP, and Top Trumps Football Legends, offering the first major convergence of classic battle card games on mobile, providing mobile users with an opportunity to play online multiplayer gaming battles.
Adam Comiskey, THQ Wireless International VP commented “The Top Trumps series has consistently delivered classic competitive gameplay that has seen worldwide commercial success. Being able to bring the live entertainment of competitive elements to mobile games is the next step in consumer proposition for us.”
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This highly anticipated 4th edition of the mobile gambling report, provides a vital analysis of the current and future status of the mobile gambling market.
Through interviews with key players in the mobile gambling sector it offers both regional and UK forecast data on: service adoption; average wager; total wager and gross win and discusses recent developments in the market for mobile-delivered casino, lottery and betting services.
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