Mobile Social Networks To See Sky High Ad Revenues By 2012?

If you were to believe mobile social networks about their advertising predictions, they will by 2012 be raking in between $28 to $52 billion dollars in ad revenue. Given that normal online ad revenue only broke $27 billion for the first time in 2007, and with predicted drops in ad budgets due to the economic recession, the mobile predictions seem a bit hard to swallow.

Colin Gibbs of RCRWirelessNews brings us these predictions from Informa Telecoms & Media, and they may seem outrageous. They do to me, anyhow. Traditional online topped $27 billion globally with devices (PCs) people are more accustomed. But mobile is something that is still in a state of relative infancy in a large portion of the world. Yes, mobile handsets are everywhere, but how many places use them beyond their phone features on a regular basis? Japan is well known for their tendency to do everything from their handsets, but in countries such as the United States, you might see us doing simple checks for sports scores or the weather; intensive, fully- interactive browsing is not quite the norm. Yet.

The iPhone has changed this somewhat, and with the 3G model expected to launch soon, people may spend a bit more time doing things from their mobiles. But I have to posit a question: Will it be checking their pre-existing accounts on sites like Facebook? Or will it be going to mobile-only sites such as Buzzd? While Informa says the whole lot will boom, I think the picture is a little more complex. [Full Story]

Email to a friend.

About This Post
Published: April 26, 2008
By: George Seybold

This article is filed under:
Mobile Marketing | Social Networking

Would you like to provide feedback?

Free Music @ Starbucks!

Starbucks will be giving away millions of songs next month as it launches its new cooperative venture with Apple. From October 2nd to November 7th more than 10,000 locations nationwide will offer customers a “Song of the Day”. Packaged in redeemable iTunes gift cards these complimentary cards will be handed out by Starbucks partners in stores everywhere.

You may recall that Starbucks and Apple reached launched the partnership in music delivery along with the new iPod line up earlier this month. Starbucks said it will give away 1.5 million downloads per day for a total of more than 50 million free songs. Customers will be able to buy music wirelessly at all Starbucks coffee shops without paying Wi-Fi connection fees.

Email to a friend.

About This Post
Published: September 24, 2007
By: George Seybold

This article is filed under:
Branding | Integrated Marketing | Mobile Marketing

Would you like to provide feedback?

Marketing on Mobile Phones

How we might use mobile devices to reach our customers is the question on many marketer’s minds. In this post I will explore the future of mobile marketing.

The Phone @ Home
The mobility of the device and the extensibility of the emerging platforms enables capabilities not yet realized. The device, made aware through GPS and environmental triggers, can morph and become more effective depending on its environment.

Let’s consider the phone at home. A mobile phone’s capabilities are extended to match that of the Logitech Harmony remote - not a simple feat. The phone would double as a remote as it controls your entertainment system, your lighting and also, remarkably, continues to act as a phone.

The Phone in the Store
Now consider its extension into a retail store. The phone recognizes that you are in a CompUSA, modifies its interface to display current promotions in the store. The consumer can easily thumb through the advertisement, check whether it is in stock and even get ‘directions’ to the item. But let’s extend the thought one degree further.

The phone, and by this time the term begins only to loosely apply, enables the shopper to price compare the product with those that are similar and other specials advertised locally.

As marketers we can only imagine the possibilities, but the discussion always seems to go back to ‘how can we enable promotion without violating privacy and personal preference?’

Timely, Relevant and Accessible
I don’t think the answer is as far removed as some would have us believe. We all have our preferences and certainly would like to set when we will allow interruption and when we will not. The nuance we must consider as marketers is that we must be relevant, timely, and accessible, but avoid interruption. This means that we must maintain our contextual relevance to the current activity, provide a simple method for the device owner to opt-out and above all treat our customers as we would want to be treated.

Ultimately the phone then becomes an asset to the consumer; it enables the consumer to make smart choices on price and more importantly on the features they value.

Mobile Software
The iPhone is the best-to-date implementation of a platform that lends itself well to the scenario described above. The almost button free phone allows software to do the heavy lifting required. The software is the only way to achieve full operability.

I don’t remember where I read it or heard it, but someone said recently that the reason the Asian Manufacturing Machine has not been able to gain strength in the software and OS space is because they lack the design expertise. For this reason I also see an incredible opportunity to develop the mobile platforms here in the U.S.

The marketing machine that is America can garner a strong foot-hold early on and embed it or enable it through the platform. The end result is a mega-market B2C opportunity that has yet to be flushed out. But one thing is certain, it is coming and it will be measurable or marketers will not embrace it; and it can not be interruptive or the consumer will dismiss it.

Email to a friend.

About This Post
Published: August 21, 2007
By: George Seybold

This article is filed under:
Mobile Marketing

Would you like to provide feedback?