January 29, 2008
The Triple Play of Mobile Marketing
by Per Holmkvist, Managing Director, Mobiento
The mobile operator has a unique opportunity and responsibility in the mobile marketing value chain. Never before has one player in the marketing value chain had so big influence on the development of a new marketing channel. It is as if the print shop would rule the world of print advertising, or if the ISP would be an important player in the online advertising value chain.
The mobile operator holds three major mobile marketing roles; The Enabler; the Advertiser; and the Media owner. These roles have been important in different stages of the mobile marketing industry, chronologically:
1. The Enabler. For advertisers to be interested in a new media, it requires reach. Reach is created when a lot of people understand a media and how to use it. In order to make this happen it is very important that the operators strive to set common commercial and technical standards, not just nurturing their own walled garden. In the beginning of mobile marketing common messaging short codes was a very important step. Today setting understandable data traffic business models )read: flat rate) and supporting mobile ad format standards is equally important for the continued development of the industry.
2. The Advertiser. The mobile operators’ marketing departments’ use of the mobile channel seems obvious today, although some operators have been very slow in the adoption of it. The role as early adopter, showing what is possible in mobile marketing and allocating budgets for it, has been and is very important. If the mobile operators themselves aren’t using mobile marketing, who should?
3. The Media owner. It is now dawning on most mobile operators that there might be a new revenue stream in mobile advertising. It is quite a late awakening as the opportunity is not new. For example, who knows how many voice mail sms alerts that have been sent without utilising the spare space in them? A problem is that the operator revenues derived from mobile advertising will be minor in the beginning, compared to voice or messaging for that matter. However the mobile operator portals will provide the best reach and the most detailed segmentation information for advertisers, so to make advertisers interested, again the mobile operators’ role is very important.
Hence, the mobile operators’ contribution is necessary to continue to drive mobile marketing and advertising forward. However, to reach the full potential the mobile operators must not only get the above three roles working internally. Mobile operators must also work together, towards common goals. Having worked closely with mobile operators in all three roles, the impression is that in an often vast organisation one hand seldom knows what the other hand is doing. Mobile operators lack a common mobile marketing approach that all their units know and strive for.
For the mobile operator with the mobile marketing opportunity looming ahead this is a problem. For the industry as a whole it is catastrophic. The problem lies in the mobile operators’ transition from technology enabler to media house. This is a quantum leap, which has to be made in short time. Some of their employees will never understand it, but most of them must.
The final realisation a mobile operator must make is that not only must they get common mobile marketing goals internally; they must also start cooperating with other operators. Mobile advertising revenues will continue to be minor unless all operators realise it is not about the traditional operator vs operator competition.
It is about mobile advertising against print and TV advertising.
Some mobile operators have come very far, some have barely started. But all players in the mobile marketing value chain should work for pushing these giants to take the necessary steps for continued evolution.
