iMediaConnection
8 April 2005

Unwired for the Future (Part 2)
By Dawn Anfuso, Editor

Enpocket's president explains the popularity of ring tones, and tells us why mBlogging will gain significance.
Mike Baker is president and COO of Enpocket, a global mobile media company. Baker is responsible for executing Enpocket's day-to-day operations, as well as for creating the strategy that is enabling Enpocket to sustain its rapid growth across the globe. Baker also serves on the company's board of directors. We talked with Baker recently to learn more about where the mobile marketing industry is going this year. Read the first part of the interview here.

iMedia: Where does mobile fit in a brand’s overall marketing strategy?

Mike Baker: Mobile is the most personal and targeted means of reaching the consumer so it’s becoming a more commonly used supplement to traditional marketing campaigns. Forward-thinking marketers are using mobile as a key piece of their entire media mix, as it provides a means of interaction off outdoor, TV and print media, and can drive consumers to out-of-home locations such as stores at designated times of day. However, given the personal nature of the medium, we continue to emphasize in our campaigns consumer control and quality of consumer experience.

iMedia: Do campaigns have to be more sophisticated now that many brands and media companies are embracing the idea?

Baker: Many of today’s most successful mobile campaigns are still very straightforward. As richer multimedia applications come into play, the technology might be more sophisticated but participation should be just as easy. With that said, companies will start to use color and video as part of their messaging and WAP marketing and, if executed correctly, these will deliver richer, more responsive customer experiences. The message should always remain the same though -- sophistication should never impede user experience.

iMedia: How do you measure the effectiveness of a campaign?

Baker: The success of a campaign needs to be judged not only on the response metrics, i.e., how many affirmatively responded to a call to action, but also the impact of the marketing message on those who did not respond. For this reason, we advise advertising clients piloting programs in the medium to conduct research on what I call the qualitative metrics. What percentage of the audience views the brand more favorably? What percentage would be more likely to purchase the product advertised? After individual campaigns, we survey participants to find out what they thought of the campaign and how it has affected their perception of the client. We are an extremely research-oriented marketing company and this information has been invaluable with the growth of our organization and success of our clients’ mobile strategies.

iMedia: What role can mobile content and mobile community applications play in making this an even stronger marketing channel?

Baker: If a brand can really enrich and entertain its consumers, this can create a greater loyalty from the consumer. First-generation mobile marketing was more informative and offer-driven; the next generation will be more about offering branded content and applications that consumers really love to use.

iMedia: Why are ring tones and ring backs so popular?

Baker: Ring tones and ring backs are popular because they help us make our mobile devices more personal and add an element of individuality to our handsets. They draw attention to us on an individual level and let others learn more about us. They really are almost a means of expression. Industry insiders now watch the ring tone charts and not the singles charts to keep track of who the hot artists really are. With full track music downloads on the horizon, ring tones will start to sound even better.

iMedia: Why do you think mobile blogging will share success in the way blogging has on the internet?

Baker: Mobile blogging will add a greater element of immediacy to blogging and will undoubtedly help build user-generated content. MMS picture and video and text messages can be instanteously added to a blog within seconds no matter where a blogger might be. With a high number of camera phones on the market, people are now looking for new ways to share memories and ideas with friends, family and the world at large. The mBlog is opening new opportunities for this to become reality.

iMedia: How are mobile blogs most effectively utilized?

Baker: With the continuing growth of camera phones and the interest in picture mail, mBlogs will be a great place to document and store images. Our research has found that many people take photos with their mobile handsets, but don’t really have a place to put the photos they have taken. Mobile blogs are a great solution to this challenge.

In the months to come, mBlogs will also be built into other applications. So football fans might use an application that sits on their mobile for scores and stats on their favorite team. With an mblogging option they will be able to post images and their opinions on the game, and even subscribe to the mBlog of their favorite player.

iMedia: Is the mobile phone eventually going to replace the PC?

Baker: Whoever predicts exactly how this pans out will be a very rich person. For the foreseeable future, text-heavy tasks will be done on the PC but an increasing number of services will go mobile. With the forthcoming releases of Walkman and iPod mobile phones as a proof point, I feel that a lot more digital entertainment will be consumed over mobile.

Data from the most recent Mobile Media Monitor (one of our research products) shows the three current demand areas in mobile to be picture mail, the ability to send and receive video, and applications that favor listening and downloading music. I’m sure services that fulfill these criteria will gain mass adoption; however, I also think we’ll also see services emerge that consumers didn’t even think they wanted until they actually saw them.

iMedia: What can we expect from Enpocket in 2005?

Baker: Enpocket is investing heavily in the continued development of technology infrastructure for mobile marketing. Shortly, we will be introducing a significantly enhanced version of our core mobile marketing product -- the Enpocket Marketing Engine -- that will allow marketers to execute text-based and mobile internet-based campaigns on a common platform with unified reporting and analytics.

On the content side of our business, we will be introducing new ways for mobile consumers to find people with similar interests (be it for dating or other interests) and to communicate with people not just through texting, but also instant messaging, pictures, voice and video.

We also will be rolling out advertising programs featuring highly targeted mobile internet inventory that essentially is delivered to a consumer in a “push” from within a contextually relevant content activity. Lastly, we will be continuing our pioneering work in connecting communities of consumers across operators, branded services and even countries. We believe that our P2P Mobile Platform will encourage more consumer interaction and drive revenues for our clients.

One overriding theme that you’ll see from our work is that marketing and content needs to go hand-in-hand. If you’ve built an exciting application, mobile marketing is the most logical way to let your audience know about it as a WAP link can drive recipients straight through to the service. Sprint has already shown earlier this year how this can work in action with its successful Valentine’s Day launch of Match.com Mobile, which used our text messaging services to drive consumer registrations for the service.

iMediaConnection 7 April 2005

Unwired for the Future (Part 1)
By Dawn Anfuso, Editor

Enpocket's president provides a glimpse into the future of mobile marketing, and explains the role of a mobile media company. Mike Baker is president and COO of Enpocket, a global mobile media company. Baker is responsible for executing Enpocket's day-to-day operations, as well as for creating the strategy that is enabling Enpocket to sustain its rapid growth across the globe. Baker also serves on the company's board of directors.
We talked with Baker recently to learn more about where the mobile marketing industry is going this year.

iMedia: What can we expect from mobile marketing in 2005?

Mike Baker: The U.S. has definitely been trailing Europe and Asia for the last few years and this all stems from the fact that mobile adoption rates have been slower here. But the U.S. is now one of the real growth stories and with 180 million subscribers we’ve got more than four times as many subscribers as evolved mobile markets like the UK.
Consequently, brands that had just been dipping their toes in the water in 2004 are starting to roll out mobile campaigns that are an integral part of the media mix and not a simple add-on. This year we might see one or two campaigns that use MMS (allowing audio, video and animation in the body of a message) from operators pushing content services, but the main messaging medium will continue to be SMS. The difference is that mobile programs will be better planned and focus on delivering value to the brand and the consumer.

We’ll start to see more innovation conceptually in 2005. The mobile will start to be seen less as an alert or interaction tool and more as a means of entertaining and building ongoing dialogue. Community applications that enable peer-to-peer communications over the mobile internet, such as mobile blogging and dating, are taking off and we are already speaking with companies that recognize the branding opportunities opening up. On the entertainment side, we’re also seeing production companies moving into mobile video content. 2005 promises richer experiences for mobile consumers.

iMedia: Do you expect the U.S. market to mature in the same way as seen in Europe and Asia where mobile usage and technologies are more advanced?

Baker: Because each culture is different, it’s difficult to say that the U.S. market will advance in the same exact ways. For example, WAP usage in the U.S. is much higher than it was in Europe at the same point of innovation. Also, there are some applications like picture mail, mobile dating and games that seem to be catching on faster here than elsewhere.

iMedia: What do marketers need to understand prior to delving into a mobile marketing campaign?

Baker: Getting it right the first time is extremely important. If the user experience does not live up to the hype then your customers might not try the service again for a long time. Marketers need to think about a couple of key questions: How are we inviting consumers into a dialogue with our brand using the mobile channel? And what are we offering the consumer of value? Effective mobile marketing campaigns need to be perceived by consumers as valuable, be it a discount voucher to try a new coffee beverage or the ability to receive a fun bit of branded mobile content like a ring tone. Lastly, advertisers need to integrate mobile marketing into existing campaigns and leverage these existing assets -- using mobile to improve the ROI of their total marketing spend.
iMedia: What exactly is a mobile media company?

Baker: What we do is combine entertainment and marketing for the mobile channel, just as a Yahoo! or MSN might do for a brand on the internet. So we might research a consumer segment for a brand, media company or carrier, decide on how an application should be built for this target audience, build it, deliver it to handsets and ensure that it is marketed effectively.

One customer might choose just to use us to build an mBlogging application, another might license our marketing services and technology -- it really depends on what they want out of the mobile channel. However, the most successful mobile marketers are the brands that integrate mobile campaigns with each other and with their overall marketing vision.

iMedia: What hurdles do marketers face with choosing a mobile marketing partner?

Baker: Marketers need a mobile partner that can deliver a turnkey solution. In our experience, marketers aren’t well served from doing business with just an aggregator or a creative company. Marketers should look for a company that can work with them from concept through implementation. This includes not just the connectivity infrastructure and application development, but also the ideation, creative and campaign management. With rich media this is even more important as creative needs to be adjusted to handset type and delivered in a particular way to different consumers. Because this is such a new space, there are very few companies that can offer a complete mobile solution. 

iMedia: How does Enpocket work with brands and agencies?

Baker: Brands work directly with us on direct-response campaigns. Agencies use our tools and service to fulfill programs that they have pitched into their clients. We have found that the technical constraints of the medium require us to work closely with agency creative personnel. Our clients, both brands and agencies, tell us that they find great value in our knowledge of what has worked in Asia and Europe, as well as our ideation and creative experience in the medium. We look forward to the day when the agencies have developed a better understanding of how to leverage their skills to deliver value to their clients through the mobile medium. We want to help them to do what they do best and let us take care of the technology, production and operations.

iMedia: Which market segments are making the most of the mobile channel? Which others will emerge in 2005?

Baker: Right now, the mobile channel is probably being best utilized by advertising clients who are selling goods and services that can be purchased through the mobile phone -- the mobile operators as well as the media companies, each of which have started to build a knowledge base from running text-participation campaigns. In 2005, we are starting to see more CPG companies using the mobile channel, and using it as a branding tool as well as a direct-response mechanism. We’re also seeing activity from quick serve restaurants, travel, consumer banking/finance and the emerging breed of mobile content providers such as ring tone, Java game and wallpaper companies.

Tomorrow: The popularity of ring tones, and the growth of mBlogging.

MEDIAWEEK 4 April 2005

Video Keeps Going Mobile  By Mike Shields

Video content is popping up left and right on various mobile devices. Just last week, Microsoft launched MSN Videos, which includes content from programmers like MSNBC.com and Fox Sports, primarily for its iPod-esque Personal Media Center devices. Also, hardware manufacturer Viseon, which makes Voice Over Internet Protocol phones, announced plans to distribute TV content to digital telephone users.

What’s interesting about the announcements last week is that companies are rushing to offer content on mobile devices that very few people have. Until recently, mobile content has been moving toward a phone-centric world, with aggregators like Verizon’s VCast, MobiTV, and SmartVideo all gearing up for an explosion in sales of super-sophisticated “3G” phones, which offer crystal-clear TV images.

That is still the direction most observers expect the business to head, as cell phones become more pervasive. (Last week, mobile media company Enpocket released a survey indicating that 65 percent of the population has access to a mobile phone, a larger percentage than those with home Internet access.)

While video content on handheld devices is still in an experimental stage, the bet most providers and content aggregators are making is that video is going to drive mobile content usage. “Carriers think that video is going to be the killer application for users to upgrade,” said Noah Elkin, senior analyst at eMarketer.

But which device will consumers use to view this mobile video content? It’s still far too early to tell, as the options--PDAs, laptops, BlackBerries, iPods, PlayStation Portables, and even Microsoft’s PMCs--continue to multiply. “The industry, in the next couple of years, is anticipating broadband connectivity everywhere,” said Elkin. “A lot remains to be seen.”

For the immediate future, content providers, aggregators and hardware manufacturers will place content everywhere, until users tell them exactly where they want it. That might explain why Microsoft is pushing content to not only its PMCs but other platforms. And, in the current media environment--where phone companies, cable companies, electronics manufacturers and even traditional utilities are able to deliver content to consumers--there is likely to be much trial and error with mobile content distribution.

“Companies that connect are also media companies all of a sudden,” said Joel Lunenfeld, vp of media services at Moxie Interactive. “Along with connectivity comes content.”

Yet in the end, most believe that the phone will win out as that elusive “third screen,” for consumers. “People want to carry one device,” said Lunenfeld, who works with Verizon Wireless. “The phone is always going to win. That’s what you carry with you.”

“Convergence is where we are headed,” agreed eMarketer’s Elkin. “I don’t think the future is that we are all going to be wearing cargo pants with pockets for all of our devices.”

Business 2.0 19 April 2005

WIRELESS REPORT
How Your Cell Phone Will Become an Ad Machine
By Matthew Maier

If you want to get a sense for where marketing is heading, look no further than Teen People. The publication, owned by Business 2.0 parent Time Inc., last week announced that it will integrate mobile phones into its marketing plans. The magazine will send out weekly updates and breaking news -- along with targeted advertisements and promotions -- via SMS to subscribers.

While the Teen People announcement likely flew right under most people's radar, it actually represents one of the largest commitments yet to using mobile phones as a marketing tool. The vaunted "third screen" in consumers' lives (after television and the PC monitor), the cell phone has long been considered a potentially important marketing and advertising tool, if only because it's the one device consumers carry with them throughout the day. But no one has figured out how to get the advertising to the phone without annoying the recipient. Text messaging is the first step because it has become an increasingly important means of communication for young consumers. Driven by shows like American Idol -- which generated nearly 14 million votes from subscribers via SMS this season -- along with SMS campaigns from McDonald's (MCD) and Coca-Cola (KO), short messaging is slowly becoming a more mainstream form of interaction.

Now companies including Flytxt -- the folks running Teen People's mobile marketing campaign -- Enpocket, and m-Qube are helping media firms extend their marketing reach to mobile phones. Even advertising agencies like Foote Cone & Belding and BBDO have recently announced partnerships to help clients develop mobile marketing strategies.

Early evidence suggests that only the savviest of marketers will succeed. A recent study conducted by Ball State University's Center for Media Design found that of the one in four students who reported receiving unsolicited ads via cell phone, the vast majority couldn't recall who sent the message or what product or service was being peddled. Precisely because the phone is such a personal device with a well-defined role, unsolicited ads on a phone are seen as especially obnoxious and immediately discarded. In the Teen People instance, Flytxt hopes to overcome the distaste for unsolicited ads by sending breaking news updates and other content only to consumers who "opted in" and provided their own subscriber info.

It's a critical distinction. Folks who have willfully passed along their contact info are an eager bunch. The very people who salivate at having the latest news at their fingertips correlate strongly with the type of people willing to listen to a targeted marketing message. That could get marketers drooling if they know that the 17-year-old girl who signed up for updates from Teen People is likely to respond well to an advertisement for Seven jeans.
Mobile marketing will require more than repurposing existing content to fit a small screen. Smart marketers who take into account the personal aspect of the mobile handset -- and understand the opportunities and challenges presented by a device that travels with folks anywhere -- will have access to a highly responsive group of consumers. And the final piece of good news is that response rates for mobile subscribers are as high as 70 percent, compared with 10 to 15 percent for traditional marketing campaigns. The opportunity is there. It's up to marketers to figure out how to reach us before we tune them out.

Enpocket Mobile Media Monitor US reveals mobile phone ownership is now greater than home internet penetration

Enpocket, a global mobile media company, has unveiled the latest findings from its flagship survey, the Mobile Media Monitor. This quarterly study helps marketers keep up to speed with the ever-changing patterns of consumer mobile phone usage.

US mobile phone adoption has grown by 25% in the last 9 months, with 65% of the population now ‘mobile’. For the first time this is higher than the number of home internet users (63%).

Although voice communication is the main reason for using the phone, data and multimedia services are capturing the imagination and becoming a key usage driver. For example, almost 40% of mobile owners are now regularly sending and receiving text messages.

But it is with picture messaging / MMS, text messaging’s younger and better-looking brother, where the most interesting movement has occurred over the last quarter. 22% took a photo with their camera phone and 12% sent/received MMS in the same period. This represents an increase of 57% for camera phone use in just 3 months, and 33% increase in MMS use in the same period. This strongly suggests that the 2004-2005 holiday season saw significant purchase and gifting of camera phones.

Amid this market movement, a youth-led trend is emerging. 18-34 year olds are embracing non-voice services more than the whole base – effectively becoming mobile super users.

34% used their camera phone and 21% sent/received an MMS. This segment also shows the greatest desire for enhanced cell phone services, and are most likely to personalize their handsets with ringtone downloads.

While the US market is still playing catch-up with Europe in terms of penetration, it is as ‘market ready’ for next generation enhanced services and applications. Video calling, music downloads, sports highlights, watching movie trailers and, especially picture sharing applications all have broad appeal, and have a natural home on the handset.

Phase 4 of the Mobile Media Monitor analysis was based on 1000 telephone interviews undertaken by NOP World for Enpocket Insight in March 2005, and relates to the period January 2005 – March 2005. The base was representative of US cell phone usage.