2007 October 22 « Direct Marketing Observations

Archive for October 22nd, 2007

The Convergence of Mobile Marketing

Lets face it, the cell phone is an extension of who you are. Back in the day, it used to be that your car was how we determined your social status. The bigger and flashier the car, the “more important” you seemed to be. To that end, the bigger and badder your cell phone is, the bigger and badder you are, right? Wrong.

To the mobile marketer, all cell phones are created equal. The space that they are most interested in, is the 2×2 real estate above your key pad. More importantly is your demographic, not the type of phone you have, but where do you as a ptential customer reside. Because, to the mobile marketer, your 2×2 real estate is the beach head to marketing nirvana. You and your phone, which are inseperable, are what they want.

eMarketer projects that the global budget devoted to mobile brand advertising will rise to $3.5 billion in 2011, up from $123 million in 2006. Thats less than 4 years from now. Are you as a marketer prepared for this? As a consumer are you prepared for the onslaught of potential mobile marketing intrusions?

According to eMarketer’s forecast:

During the forecast period, mobile direct marketing is projected to grow from $1.5 billion in 2006 to $16 billion.
In 2007, mobile brand marketing spend – $277 million – is expected to constitute just 10 percent of total mobile ad spending, which is projected to reach nearly $2.8 billion.
By the end of the forecast period, mobile brand ad spend – nearly $3.6 billion – is expected to make up 22 percent of total mobile ad spend.
Total mobile ad spending is projected to grow from nearly $2.8 billion in 2007 to nearly $5.0 billion in 2008 (79 percent year-over-year [YOY] growth) and $7.5 billion in 2009 (51 percent YOY growth).

Factors driving the growth:

Mobile text messaging has become more or less a mass-market service worldwide
Mobile music is climbing the rungs of the mass-market ladder
There are mobile-centric tribes of users in both advanced and developing economies, where the mobile screen is the first place where marketers can reach them, according to eMarketer.

But mobile marketing campaigns need to be relevant and hiccup-free so that they don’t turn off consumers sensitive to ad exposure, Nearly two-thirds of respondents to a Maritz Research survey of Gen Y consumers said they were unlikely or definitely unlikely to subscribe to text retail offers sent to their handsets. Moreover, a full 84 percent of mobile users in an Ingenio survey conducted by Harris Interactive said text messages sent by companies would be unacceptable:

So that means, that although the numbers are certainly going to spike and escalate over the next 4 years, marketers are still unsure as to what means will work in marketing to people via their mobile device. The technology is virtually in place, but users need to trust the ad and marketer. They need to trust the brand.

To that end, there is potential in the industry, provided marketers don’t drive the consumer away before they have even begun. What do you think should happen? What do you think might happen? How can marketers utilize social networks to better achieve their mobile marketing goals?

The 10 things I thought when I dropped my Treo.

Published October 22, 2007 Marketing , Mobile marketing Leave a Comment
Tags: cell phones, iphones, Marketing, Mobile marketing, mobile phones, treo

I dropped my Treo the other day, cracked the screen, and someone called me immediately after. I couldn’t hear them or see who the caller was. At that moment a couple of things flashed through my mind:

1. Oh Shit. I’m screwed. I’m totally screwed.

2. Sweet I get to get a new phone, what should I get? The iphone is cool.

3. What if I lose all of my contacts? I’m screwed some more.

4. I really don’t feel like forking over 3 hunge even if they give me a $200 rebate, it’s all bullshit anyway.

5. What If I get the call and I can’t talk??? That’s so professional. Hello? Hello? I said hello!

6. Maybe if I just take the battery out and blow on it, It’ll be cool.

7. If they can’t fix it, I’ll just get a free flip phone. I’ll simplify my life.

8. What do I really need in a phone anyways, I just need to talk right? Besides, email and web access are so overrated.

9. Blackberry’s are cool

10. I am so dreading going in the phone store. It’s like being in a freightcar of techno idiots.

Well, ultimately I did have to go in and the tech took my phone away. I was hoping they would just give me a new one, no questions asked. He even said, “let me see if we have a replacement”. Nope, he comes back 10 minutes later and says, “Good news, our tech guy was able to fix it, It’s not perfect but we saved you some money.”

I was pissed. I wanted a new phone. Even a new old one would have been cool, now I just have an old, new one. It looks like it’s been gnawed on by my neighbors dog. I admit, the emotions are raw. All of those thoughts and yet in the end, I’m still stuck with this cruddy piece o’ crap Treo. I’m complaining because my Treo seems so “old and antiquated”. I loved it once, now it’s like a set of worn out tires. They work, but they look like hell.

What has all of that flashy marketing done to me? What has marketing done to all of us? It’s a phone. How do you feel or how would you feel should something happen to your phone?