MobAds: Delivery Channel
Mobile marketing and advertising are on the verge of going mainstream as important new ways for brands to communicate with consumers nationwide and globally. As the mobile market evolves and grows, mobile carriers, existing web service operators and advertising agencies have looked for new ways to monetize services and develop new sources of revenue. Brands and marketers are paying increasing attention to the mobile channel because it allows highly targeted campaigns that reach specific segments of interest to advertisers.
As major brands and agencies have actively unfolded mobile ads campaigns, the market followers are also quickly moving into mobile space. Their pace to exploit opportunities in mobile ads has opened the door for a number of specialized agencies, aggregators, and other enablers.
Advertising via mobile channels is of growing importance and many new methods for reaching subscribers with marketing and advertising campaigns are being developed. Depending on the target market and the mobile channel employed, a campaign can use precise demographic information that maximizes marketing and advertising spending on particular segments. This precision results in demonstrably higher customer response rates than campaigns using other mediums.
The highly personalized nature of mobile phones, their ubiquity, and their increasing media capabilities make these ideal devices for reaching out to consumers to extend brand marketing as well as to advertise products and services.
Different types of technologies used to deliver them to mobile customers
- Message Type Ads – SMS and MMS
- Audio Type Ads – Ring Back-tone Ads
- Video Type Ads – Idle Screen in Mobile Phone, Mobile Video and Mobile TV, Video ARS
- Search Type Ads – SMS and Browser based Search
- Location based Ads (LBA) – Local Search
- Navigation based Ads (NBA) – Ads delivered over Navigation Devices
- Mobile Codes Type Ads – Number and Bar Code based Mobile Ads and Marketing
- Social Networking Service based Ads
- Mobile Game based Ads – In-Game Ads and Sponsored mobile game Ads
- Bluetooth based Proximity Type Ads
-Mobile Commerce Type Ads – Mobile Voucher, Mobile Coupon and Membership, Mobile Survey
The Mobile Advertising Opportunity
The digital revolution led to a major development of online internet which is now capturing significant advertising revenues from traditional media. Mobile internet is having another major impact on the media industry.
In media, there are two distinct revenue sources: sell content, or earn money from selling ad inventory. The key is to increase ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) and to retain subscribers by creating stickiness. Content is key to a mobile operator’s activities in bringing people to visit the mobile WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) pages.
SK Telecom, Korea’s leading mobile operator, has set up its own content services such as MelON, the ubiquitous music service, which can be experienced both on the mobile and internet. And SKT also created AirCROSS to capitalize on the mobile internet advertising growth. AirCROSS was set up in 2000 as a separate mobile advertising and marketing subsidiary, because SKT believed that mobile internet will be like regular internet, another unique media type. Things have picked up speed since 2005.
The Role of Mobile in the overall Media Mix
Mobile can become a bridge between conventional broadcasting and on-line, off-line marketing activities, based on accurate targeting. The unique characteristics of mobile can provide marketers with a more effective and strategic approach to planning an integrated marketing mix.
Also, due to the unique emotional bond that most consumers have with their mobile phones, such devices can provide a more intimate and trusted means of delivering a message to customers. With the help of mobile subscriber profiling, marketers can deliver a much more effective “narrow-cast” marketing message, like using precision-guided “smart bombs”.
The State of Mobile Advertising and Promotion
Push tools
SMS (Short Message Service), MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), MOA which can only be used once the consumer has “opted-in” to receive messages. (MOA is the term used for the waiting screens before a WAP page loads, where maximum 3 different ads per day are allowed to be rotated)
Pull Tools
Banner ads and search based ads through the mobile internet.
Ring-back tone services
These include services such as Biz-Ring or Event-Ring where you download a prerecorded promotional messages and use it as ring-back tone. Another type of service is a corporate jingle ring-back for callers waiting to speak to any employee of a corporate subscriber, such as the MiniCar Ads, or Corporate Jingles etc.
Most Popular Mobile Advertising
In the beginning it was all SMS push, but now the other types are growing. For example, mobile content providers are now working with mobile WAP pages which just started last year.
Also, now that there is a flat fee for mobile internet in many countries, banner advertising on mobile will grow. Previously the government would not allow banner advertising. They wanted to insure that users would not receive large bills for looking at banners. Now banner ads are allowed but only for subscribers who pay a flat fee.
All these tools are used for narrow-casting targeted groups and are intended for users to respond to the ads to get more information and increase purchase motivation.
Most Effective Mobile Campaigns
Are those that are involving Sampling and Promotion. When people get something without charge, it really works. They first get an SMS, they are asked to participate, and when they participate, they get a free “gift”.
About the Gillette Campaign
Gillette asked to develop an innovative campaign to promote the launch of its new product, the “Fusion” razor. As an initial step, the team extracted the appropriate target group from the entire database of “opt-in” subscribers in order to communicate effectively through this mobile tool.
Then the team sent push SMS, MMS and MOA messages to a selected group of 1.2 million people. The response mechanism was a confirmed call button that connected to Gillette’s landing WAP page, where they could download a coupon for a free sample.
The results: 491,423 people visited Gillette’s mobile WAP pages, a whopping 40% response. And 240,000 people downloaded the coupon and received a free sample of the product distributed nationwide. This response rate was phenomenal and the campaign was a huge success, greatly exceeding the expectations of the client.
Gifticons
These are a smart gift coupon delivery service. The Gifticon idea started from campaigns where the subscribers were sent an SMS to download a free coupon which enables them to get a free gift at a local convenience store.
People who sees information about the free sample program on various media like on-line banner ads are invited to visit the client’s homepage and simply enter their mobile phone number. They then received an SMS which guided them to download a bar-code. When they visited a participating store and showed the barcode to the cashier, they would receive the free gift.
With this strategy, companies like Coca-Cola successfully launched their new bottle design at a significantly lower cost compared to past sampling activities.
Gifticons are creating a new marketing trend. After successful campaigns, Gifticons is becoming a way to give gifts when away from home to make your loved ones happy, i.e. buying chocolates for your wife on Valentine’s Day even from a distance, but they will be extended to flowers, books and other items too.
Strategies for Mobile Advertising
Marketing via SMS/MMS:
This is a quick and easy to implement polls use existing messaging infrastructure and advertisers establish direct relationships through the mobile phone with customers who opt in to their programs. There isn’t much excitement here, and the potential is limited.
WAP banner ads:
Handset users who look at WAP sites fundamentally have time to waste (i.e. they’re a commuting-hand-free audience).
Location-based advertising:
Mobile phone users get beckoned in to the nearest boutique or café with a well-timed ad.
Video ads on cell phones:
As an extension of common advertising techniques using the mobile platform, it remains unclear if the average user is willing to pay for video services.
In-game advertising:
Advertisers are working to insert their brands into your mobile games.
Online coupons:
People carry their phones, and their mobile coupons, everywhere.
Interstitial ads:
These are ads that play during the dead time during downloads. When implemented effectively, they actually provide information that is both useful and immediately actionable.
