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M3
Mobile Marketing e-Newsletter (December 2009)
Santa takes on texting at Burnsville
Center
By Scott Carlson Santa Claus may be still receiving bags full of letters at the North Pole. But these days, Jolly Old St. Nick is also embracing a new form of communication: cell phone texting.
In what is a first for a Twin Cities shopping center,
Burnsville Center officials announced that children, in addition to visiting
Santa Claus at their mall, can also, for a nominal fee, receive text messages
from him.
“Santa can now send children mobile phone text
messages that he ‘cant w8 2 visit them xmas eve’ and tell them about his
preparations for the big night via Web videos,” said Burnsville Center officials
in a press release, referring to Santa texting that debuted last week.
Santa texting is part of a bigger online marketing
push at Burnsville Center to drive shopper traffic and sales to the mall during
the holiday season, said an executive at Burnsville Center’s corporate parent,
Chattanooga, Tenn.-based CBL & Associates Properties Inc.
“We are working to implement this program at 86 CBL
shopping centers across the country,” said Barb Faucette, CBL vice president of
corporate mall marketing. “This company did test the program in a few areas last
year, but we are the first shopping center developer to launch the program
nationwide.”
In giving Santa’s In giving Santa’s communications a high-tech update,
Faucette said, “We thought [Santa texting] was clever, something fun, trendy and
different that would appeal to children. We think it adds to the whole holiday
experience for the kids.”
Competition is Great: A Comparative
Look at iPhone, Blackberry, and Droid
By Eric Ruttenbur
As winter
draws near, the mobile handset space is heating up. Just in time for the holidays,
Verizon Wireless released a new smartphone called the “Droid.” The Verizon Wireless hype machine is
in full effect via a barrage of ads touting “Droid does.” But does it live up to the hype? How does it compare with the existing
titans, iPhone and Blackberry? Read
on to find out more.
BlackBerry is the old dog on the block. The BlackBerry is a smartphone
coming from business roots and it still excels at business functions such as
e-mail capabilities and security.
For example, using the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), you can remotely wipe
a device should it get stolen or lost.
However, it runs on a proprietary platform that leaves a lot to be
desired in terms of usability, performance, and open development. Also, the learning curve on the
BlackBerry is quite high for a first-time user.
Options on slightly older models such as the Curve, 8830 World Edition,
Bold, etc. can be somewhat difficult to find.
Menus can get cluttered very fast.
Setting up accounts and getting the smartphone up and running can require
a tech geek’s assistance for some.
Furthermore, BlackBerrys are slow.
Startup times, web browsing, and even navigating applications lag behind the
competition. You can get some
quality time snoozing-in while waiting for a web page to load on a BlackBerry. Lastly, the BlackBerry App World has
apps, but most are not “polished” like their Android or iPhone equivalents. This
can be very frustrating for a user that paid good money for a smartphone looking
for great apps to accompany it.
iPhone
The iPhone
originally came out Summer 2007 and is only available on AT&T. It is still king in terms of
usability and sleekness. What can I
say, it’s Apple! They have
consistently created intuitive interfaces in all of their devices from the iPod
to the iPhone. Most customers seem
to find the iPhone easy to use even though it does not have a physical keyboard. And although it does not have a
removable battery, there are multiple charging options available including car
chargers, USB to your PC, etc. In
addition, it is very thin and light compared to the Droid and BlackBerry.
It uses a proprietary platform called iPhone OS, but allows
developers to create applications for it which can be sold on the App Store (if
approved by Apple). There have been
numerous complaints about Apple’s approval process. That said, there are still over
100,000 apps in the App Store, so if you’re looking for quantity, the iPhone has
it! Apps range from the just plain
silly (iSteam – simulates a steamed up screen) to very useful (iSplit – helps figure out how to split up a restaurant bill w/ tip
and tax).
Droid
The Droid is
the new kid on the block. It was
released November 6, 2009 and it is only available on Verizon Wireless. The Droid was developed via
collaboration between Verizon Wireless, Motorola, and Google. It is slightly thicker and heavier
than the iPhone, but feels very durable.
The droid features a 5 megapixel camera with Flash. The Droid also features a physical
keyboard, but it can take some getting used to as the keys are very tight and
almost flat. I am not sure it was
worth adding the weight and size for the keyboard in this case. It features an interchangeable
battery so if your battery is running low, you could put another one in. It also supports Wi-Fi and has a GPS
chip.
The Droid runs
an open-source platform called Android 2.0.
Open-source means that anyone can take a look at the building blocks and
customize it to their needs.
Android-powered devices feature access to the Android Market which currently has
almost 20,000 apps. In my experience
with the Droid, I have found it to be intuitive and very responsive. If you already use Google services,
transitioning to the Droid will be very easy.
In fact, if you store your contacts in Gmail, Outlook, or Facebook, you
will not even need to pay to have your contacts transferred over from your old
phone to your new smartphone. The
Droid will automatically sync this information for you. Also, one of the first
things I noticed after setting up my e-mail account is that the default new mail
tone is a rather loud, robotic voice saying, “Droooiiiiiddd.” It was a bit much! Of course, this can be easily changed
to be a different tone or silent.
Another nice perk is pre-installed Google Maps with turn-by-turn
navigation. For VZW subscribers,
this means the $10/month for VZ Navigator is no longer necessary! The Droid also features native
one-touch, voice-activated Google search right on the home screen. It is very convenient to have Google
available wherever you go.
Conclusion
I wouldn’t say the Droid is an “iPhone killer,” in the
sense that a happy AT&T iPhone user should switch to Verizon Wireless for the
Droid. However, I will say that the debut Droid is a comparable and
capable device. By capable, I mean that
it is many devices in one. It can
replace your existing alarm clock (with the optional
multimedia dock), Tom-Tom (with the optional car mount), iPod, or even your
computer in most cases. Give the
Droid another year or two and I believe it will compare to the iPhone in all
aspects including size/weight, apps, and ease of use.
I feel that
all three devices are great in their own respects. If you’re a business user concerned
with security, I would recommend a BlackBerry coupled with the BlackBerry
Enterprise Server at your workplace.
Otherwise, if you are happy with your carrier, then stick with the device your
carrier supports: iPhone for AT&T
subscribers and Droid for Verizon Wireless subscribers.
Here’s a chart
pitting the three devices against each other across various capabilities.
Isn’t
competition a great thing? We can
just sit back and watch the innovation develop!
Shoppers Hunt for Online Deals
By Monica Alleven
The National Retail Federation (NRF) says more Americans planned to shop online
on Cyber Monday than last year. Citing a survey conducted for Shop.org by
BIGresearch, the NRF says 96.5 million Americans planned to shop on Cyber Monday
this year, up from 85 million in 2008.
An estimated 3.8 percent of Cyber Monday shoppers shopped from a mobile device
like an iPhone or BlackBerry.
The Wall Street Journal also reports that Black Friday saw greater use of mobile
phones to make purchases. Mobile online payments through PayPal surged nearly
650 percent, according to the report. TheFind.com reported searches from mobile
devices this year were up to about 200,000 from 5,000 on Black Friday in 2008,
the report said.
Meanwhile, carriers hoped to cash in on
some of the Cyber Monday craze with Web-only deals. For a limited time via its
site, Sprint is offering five devices for free with a new two-year service
agreement.
Among the featured devices: the Samsung
Reclaim, LG Rumor2, SCP-2700 by Sanyo, Motorola i776w and Sierra U598. The
Samsung Exclaim is going for $49.99 after rebate and with a new two-year
contract.
Four Ways to Simplify a Mobile Marketing Campaign
By Sean Carton
If you're going to develop
mobile marketing that works, you have to pay attention to four simple things:
•Where is the person
you're trying to reach? Location-based technologies (such as those found in the
iPhone and in Android phones with Google's new location-finding technology) mean
that you can take advantage of someone's physical location when targeting your
messages.
•What are they doing?
A businessperson trying to figure out where to get a cab, take a client to
dinner, or find their way to their hotel in a strange city is a much different
target than some 20-something out for a night on the town. Targeting messages
based on the context of the consumer's situation makes your message much more
effective.
•Who is the person
encountering your mobile marketing? While figuring this out isn't all that
different from what we normally do when developing ads in any medium,
understanding who you're trying to reach in the context of where they are and
what they're trying to do is vital for reaching consumers.
•Why are they using
their device? Are they trying to communicate with their friends? Are they trying
to find something? Are they trying to entertain themselves while sitting on the
subway?
Make no mistake about it:
mobile marketing is different than any other form of marketing because it's the
context that matters as much as the content. As we move forward in our efforts
to reach consumers with mobile marketing, developing campaigns that address
these four simple questions will help you develop mobile marketing strategies
that work.
Survey: Future Spend For Mobile Marketing
By Mobile Marketing Watch
We hear a lot from so-called “industry experts” or
analysts who make huge claims as to how mobile marketing is going to “take off”
this year, or that this year “isn’t quite the year for mobile marketing” and so
on. Most of the time these claims
are based purely on opinion and lack any real substance.
A new survey decided to go directly to the source —
meaning major brands and advertisers themselves– to see just how mobile
marketing is working out for them, and to get an understanding as to how they
plan on spending their marketing dollars using the mobile channel in the future.
100 leading agencies were surveyed to compile an
in-depth analysis of mobile advertising performance and forecasts of future
spending. Dubbed “The State of the
Industry,” the survey compiled data to provide a critical view on where the
industry stands today, where the industry is and is not, and why agencies and
publishers are planning to buy mobile in the future.
The survey indicated that 60 percent of non-mobile
marketers are planning to employ some form of mobile advertising in 2010. Subsequently, the increase in mobile
spend was one of the more surprising aspects of the survey’s results. Out of those surveyed; 31 percent of
agency respondents stated they will invest between $100K and $249K next year,
while more than 15 percent stated they plan on investing over $1 million.
More than half of Q4 mobile campaigns will represent
between 1 percent and 10 percent of their client’s total spending, but for a
few, the number could be an impressive 40-50 percent. Overall though, nearly three quarters
of the respondents stated that they had developed mobile campaigns for
themselves or their clients, while around 28 percent hadn’t utilized mobile at
all. To me, a leading agency that
doesn’t utilize the mobile channel for their clients shouldn’t be a leading
agency at all.
When it comes to how mobile marketing is performing
overall, 78 percent of respondents said the medium met their campaign goals,
while an additional 9 percent said mobile performed “beyond our wildest
expectations.” Nearly one third of
respondents stated that mobile has become an “indispensable” part of their media
mix, while another 67 percent ranked mobile as “somewhat valuable” and only 2
percent said it wasn’t valuable at all.
It’s interesting to note that nearly 89 percent of
respondents indicated that mobile was only a small part of a much larger
multi-platform buy, and that internal resources remain the number one barrier to
entry into the mobile channel. More
than 80 percent of agencies surveyed, who have participated in mobile campaigns,
have hired or developed internal resources to support them. Agencies expressed concern over the
fact that it still involves multiple partners to “expertly execute on the
promise of mobile media,” meaning things like technology partners, metrics,
buying networks and app developer resources, among others.
Still, it’s always interesting to get a better
understanding of how mobile is being used and what the future plans are for
those who are actually involved in the practice of mobile marketing. |
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