Hold The Phone! - Third Screen Media
October 2007

Mobile Advertising Technology Providers

In the first four installments of Third Screen Media’s byline series for The Messenger, we reviewed the mobile advertising ecosystem and three of the four working parts that are crucial to the market’s efficiency and success. First, we spoke with Matt Jones, director of mobile strategy and operations for Gannett Digital, to discuss the opportunities and challenges that face publishers in the mobile world. Then, we learned about the carriers and their unique position in the ecosystem through a Q&A with Richard Williams, the executive director of digital media operations for Verizon. And in the latest byline, we provided our perspective on technology providers and their essential function as the enabler of this ecosystem. In this final installment of the series, we’ll shift our focus over to the agencies—those making the decisions to bring advertising campaigns to the mobile platform.

The Need for Mobile Measurement
By Laura Marriott | May 31, 2007

To View the Direct Article, Please Click HERE.

Consumer acceptance will be paramount to increasing mobile marketing and advertising spend. And bringing additional marketing dollars into the mobile category is critical for growth for all industry players.

Today, the dollars for mobile marketing spend controlled by brand marketers might be characterized as "test and learn." Before allocating a more significant budget to mobile, brands require a deep understanding of:

• The role the medium plays in the overall mix
• Consumer acceptance of brand messaging
• Consistent guidelines and best practices to ensure rapid deployment across brands and geographies
• Evidence of effectiveness and value

As with the Internet, measurement will become a crucial element to quantify the mobile opportunity to drive brand involvement. But mobile works differently.

The mobile value chain presents a complex model for effective measurement, given the number of players involved and the necessary access to information that has historically been available in operator networks only. So what must we, as an industry, do to drive the brand spend and marketing effectiveness measures?

Define ad currencies. It's pretty simple when you think about it, but defining what we're measuring is the perfect place to start. In mobile, we have mobile Web, downloadables, mobile search, mobile video and television, and so forth, all of which must have a set of currencies on which to base measurement.

Define the currencies and sync with existing guidelines. Equally important is to define the ecosystem and each player's role.

Quantify elements for success. Once you have the currencies, define the success elements for mobile, allowing brand marketers to understand what works.

Measure the medium. Once you have all the tools in place, measure mobile's effectiveness in cross-media marketing communications initiatives (similar to the XMOS and ROMO studies conducted by Marketing Evolution). Determining what and how much to allocate to mobile is critically important to driving ongoing spend to the channel.

According to Tom Daly of Coca-Cola, measurement will be the next element to help a brand determine the right mobile spend and prioritize mobile against other media. What's important is gaining the input and leadership from the critical players in the ecosystem. And it will take the cooperation of all key constituents -- including professional organizations, leading brand marketers, content providers, and wireless operators -- to develop a measurement initiative that achieves the level of information brands require to move ahead with their mobile investments. Are you ready?

Hold The Phone! - Third Screen Media
May 2007

Mobile Advertising Technology Providers

In this edition of Third Screen Media’s ongoing byline series for The Messenger, we’ve opted to turn the attention to those folks behind the scenes that are delivering the necessary solutions and services to make mobile advertising a reality: the technology and its essential providers.

In our overview of the mobile advertising ecosystem, we’re looking across the value chain and highlighting each player’s offering and their relationship to each other.  We’ve already discussed the content providers — companies like <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />USA TODAY, MSNBC and The Weather Channel—who’ve come to mobile en masse to engage a swiftly growing wireless content audience and provide an extension of online and television programs and services. Next we spoke about the carriers, companies who play a unique role—one unseen in the world of traditional advertising, such as print, broadcast, and even the wired Web.

Ask any individual involved in mobile advertising and they’ll tell you that the next big growth surge in the industry hinges on the adoption of innovative technologies on the mobile platform, so it behooves us now to look at these integral players.  Technology providers and enablers are flocking to the mobile channel, whether new startups or companies that have made their mark on the wired Web. Even cell phone manufacturers—including Sweden’s cellphone giant Nokia—are getting in on the action, capitalizing on a market that is projected to reach $19 billion in just four years.

In order to understand technology’s vital role in the provision of advertising on cellphones, it’s important to note that the planning and buying process, whether online, television, radio or print, exists largely as a non-integrated effort, requiring separate solutions and agency arms to grapple with the complexities of each particular media type. And in the instance of the Internet, they’ve had years to tinker with the delivery of advertising with the introduction of each new technology.  Advertising buyers and sellers initially came together in a simple ecosystem with basic banner ads: no animation, no video, just a banner or text link with rudimentary measurability. Over time, the medium evolved into animated gifs, and eventually additional providers brought in an exciting new—and difficult—form of advertising: rich media, which grew to encompass in-page and streaming video.

The wireless ecosystem comes with added complexity, as it consists of more than just advertising buyers and sellers. An additional entity—the carrier—brings in an entirely new player into the advertising mix. Carriers are unique players on the platform, as they have moved beyond simply providing bandwidth. Carriers play a very active role and rightly so, as they have spent many hundreds of millions of dollars building extensive networks. Their customers, also numbering in the many millions, represent a very valuable consumer base—the recipients of targeted advertising.

And now, with the introduction of mobile advertising, there is a compelling opportunity to eliminate the separate media silos in mobile, integrate the planning and buying process, and reach consumers with interactive, innovative and creative advertising across the four mobile media types: video, WAP, downloadable applications and MMS. Enter the technology providers.

The wireless advertising ecosystem is faced with addressing multiple media format complexities while still in its infancy. Not only are four media types developing simultaneously, but tech savvy publishers, advertisers and agencies also expect immediate measurement and immediate integration. In short, they expect the ecosystem to learn in a short timeframe—a mere 12 months or so—what traditional and online advertising across multiple media formats had years to learn. With multiple screen sizes, resolution options and numerous device types, the mobile handset presents a world of management and delivery intricacies that call for a consolidated platform that simplifies the complexity of effective and efficient advertising across multiple mobile media types.

With each media type, the technology necessary for delivery is complex and unique. Solutions that consider the dynamics of each advertising campaign—and specific media type requirements—are now in place to address these complexities.

For now, WAP has become the de facto landing spot for many of the initial and most current mobile ad campaigns. While similar to the wired Web, WAP banner advertising is in many ways much more complex. With more than 1,600 cellphones to consider, each with its own coding and requirements, the role of the technology provider becomes paramount.

Mobile downloadable applications are one of the hottest, latest developments.  And for good reason.  The arrival of dynamic ad insertion—where the ad changes over time and as appropriate to the user within an application—has led brands to explore this delivery method with great zeal.  Downloadable applications offer a richer experience than WAP and continue to grow in popularity as more content comes to the third screen.

Comparable to HTML e-mail, MMS (Multi-Media Services) offers another avenue to reach consumers on mobile, complete with banner, video or scrolling text.  With challenges of its own—including a lack of cross-carrier standards—MMS provides a one-to-one relationship between consumers and their respected brands, but the idea of spim (mobile spam) exists. Currently, it’s the least developed and utilized media type in mobile advertising.

Video promises to be the next new delivery model for mobile advertising, as brands are seeking ways to capitalize on the popularity of online video content.  Numerous mobile devices are now capable of receiving and displaying video files or streams received over the mobile network. To date, most of the videos received and viewed in the mobile space have been limited to a file sent to the mobile device for playback, but Verizon’s V-cast, MobiTV and now Qualcomm’s MediaFLO are popularizing streaming and broadcast video offerings. To date, we’ve seen that video’s slow growth in mobile advertising is in part due to the still-forming value chain of technology providers needed for dynamic ad insertion.

Regardless of the media type, the delivery of advertising requires players that understand the complexities of mobile advertising and know that in order to capitalize on the market’s growth, it’s essential that it’s all made simple for the buyer.  To this end, integrating the four mobile media types into one central dashboard for both buyers and sellers will certainly help to facilitate and accelerate the success of the emerging mobile advertising industry.

Our final issue in this series will look at the buyer—the advertising agencies—to see how their role is shaping the industry and leading more brands to join this exciting, growing marketplace.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

What’s Working in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Mobile Advertising?
By Mike Baker, CEO of Enpocket

2006 marked some major milestones for mobile advertising.  Many of the carriers have figured out their mobile ad strategy and have either launched a media network or set the wheels in motion. The availability of “carrier grade media” has quelled advertiser grumbles that mobile lacks reach and adequate reporting on unique impressions.  In 2007 we’re seeing many of the big brand advertisers beginning to test mobile to build the business case for their 2008 media spend.  With a number of diverse campaigns under our belts, we are now beginning to see just what is moving the needle with mobile.

As with other forms of interactive advertising, mobile advertising is all about measuring and optimizing ROI.  And like online advertising, one of the key metrics is the display advertisement click-through rate (CTR). It is no secret that mobile has been delivering CTRs that are orders of magnitude higher than the Web, averaging around 4%.  But we are seeing some campaigns that yield much higher results – as high as 7, 10, and 12%.  There are a number of ways to optimize CTRs in mobile advertising, including demographic targeting, behavioral targeting, predictive analytics, creative optimization, and creating an overall  compelling “ad experience”

Let’s break down one high-performing campaign that is getting click-throughs in the 7 to 8% range.  The advertiser, a large import auto manufacturer, is running a mobile program that successfully leverages multiple mobile mechanics to engage and entertain consumers. To drive traffic to its mobile web site, the brand is simultaneously running mobile banners ads on the Sprint Mobile Media Network and displaying in-venue a short code messaging promotion tied to a music sponsorship.  Once at the automaker’s Web site, the consumer can browse features of certain car models, download thematically integrated ringtones and wallpapers, send them to a friend, and find the nearest dealership.

Why is this advertiser achieving such great response rates?  It’s simple: the user experience is compelling; indeed some would say the production values and quality of entertainment offered are better than the often times tepid mobile content consumers are offered for purchase.  Consumers are cruising through messaging, content downloads, viral mechanics, and Wap surfing in a rich, immersive mobile experience.  Perhaps as important as the results is the ability to measure them.  The program is anchored with a carrier grade media buy on Sprint.  Because the advertising is running with a carrier, the performance can be tracked down to the unique user.  And, the tracking and reporting of engagement and conversion activities, spanning across mechanics, becomes a dashboard for measuring the ROI of the entire program.

To realize mobile advertising’s unique potential, brands need to think “beyond the click” to the overall advertising experience.  Why would a consumer choose to spend time with the brand and its marketing message?   This isn’t your father’s internet – it’s the world of the personal media device and we’re learning that reflexive “web think” often times misses the mark and squanders the opportunity. 

Most importantly, successful mobile advertising requires tracking and reporting that effectively measures the ROI of the entire program: not just the unique reach and click-throughs, but key conversion and engagement mechanics that occur after the click, such as downloads, video viewing, opt-ins, and call center activity.

If a brand isn’t receiving great reporting from its mobile program, it’s not gathering the learning required to understand what is truly moving the needle and how to invest in future mobile programs. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Mobile to beat all advertising odds
Russell Buckley, Managing Director, AdMob

Despite the popular belief that mobile advertising is a new kid on the block, it’s actually been around for almost ten years in one form or another. However, it’s only recently been delivering on its promises and the consistent ROI desired by marketers.

The first forays into mobile advertising were via Push SMS alerts. Marketers figured that if you could send the right message to the right person at the right time, this would be an effective call to action.

But there have been issues with this approach. Firstly, outbound SMS is expensive in relation to the response rates often generated. Secondly, even with opt-in permission, messages received at the wrong time are frequently regarded as little more than spam.

In addition, there was the whole creative issue of restricting the experience to SMS. While a text message can connect emotionally, the opportunities for marketers are somewhat limited. It suits an offer-led approach, while pure brand messages are hard to paint in text only.

The next phase of mobile advertising was more successful with SMS helping consumers ‘pull’ information from other channels. Consumers would enter a competition or vote in response to a TV programme, download a ringtone or request more information from a poster. This approach has proved more successful and is still growing very quickly. Now it’s only a matter of time before SMS short codes become as important an element of advertising as including the website address.

The mobile internet

However, it’s the growth of the mobile internet that will mark the next big step in mobile advertising.  The mobile internet has really taken off in the last 12 months, with 29 per cent of <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />UK mobile owners using it, according to analyst firm, M:Metrics.  But with connection speeds getting faster slicker handsets making for better usability and the promise of fixed price data packages starting to be introduced, this figure could easily be dwarfed very quickly. To millions of people it’s also more readily accessible than a PC and, therefore, actually their preferred method of browsing.

For advertisers, this presents an opportunity to deliver highly efficient and measurable advertising similar to that conducted online. If we look at the kind of advertising that consumers could browse on their mobiles, the problems of first generation mobile advertising disappear. There is no high cost of messaging and it can’t be confused with spam as we’re asking consumers to click if they’re interested.

Today we can use text links and banners, with richer graphics, images and eventually audio and video round the corner, once fixed rate browsing is more widespread.   

Like the PC-web, the mobile web is also a global opportunity. When you put up a mobile web site, it’s accessible from all over the world and will be found and used by people everywhere.

So what kind of advertisers are already taking advantage of the mobile web as a marketing channel?

Firstly, as you might expect, it’s companies that are trying to sell content and products related to the mobile itself. This might range from operators and handset manufacturers to ringtone and games retailers, as examples. For these advertisers, it’s a no-brainer to advertise in this new channel and stories abound of ROI’s in excess of 4 times that they enjoy online.

But the other much more mainstream group is major blue chip brands themselves. Just as we saw a rush to build websites back in 1995/6, so we’re seeing marketers realise that if nearly a third of their potential audience are already using the mobile web, they need a presence there too. And once they’ve built a site, they need to find a cost-effective way to promote it.

The future

The future of mobile advertising lies in a company’s ability to take advantage of high traffic mobile web sites through Pay-Per-Click business models.  For most mobile web sites this offers new revenue streams and a profitable business model.   The most cost effective method of doing so is to reach out to mobile web sites through mobile advertising marketplaces that deliver content from the advertiser straight onto targeted mobile sites.  Here, everyone is a winner.

As such, mobile is bound to outperform, in the same way that the PC web would be the best way to promote a normal web site, over and above any other medium. It’s time to get on the bandwagon or you will miss out. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />