Mobile Advertising on MocoNews

Question Marks Loom Over The Future For Mobile Advertising

Posted by Peggy Anne Salz
Wed 13 Dec 2006 08:07 AM

Mobile advertising is indisputably a potent way to generate value: Consumers are alerted to offers they want, marketers gain traffic by providing relevant offers, and mobile operators capture more revenue from increased mobile content purchases. But will the model really deliver? Courtney Jane Acuff, an associate director at Denuo, the Publicis Groupe consultancy who has studied the market, has her doubts. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, she lists the hurdles advertisers must clear before their efforts begin to pay off. (Research firm eMarketer forecasts spending on mobile-phone advertising will grow 58% to about $860 million in 2007.) The number one obstacle is privacy. Advertisers must be doubly careful their mobile campaigns are not intrusive. And even if they manage this, they face their second biggest challenge: lack of inventory. Certain content providers are offering inventory, such as ESPN, which has advertising opportunities that can include banners and logos. They offer the ability to sponsor text messages. Fox also has opportunities, and it has taken off a bit, where advertisers can create unique content for the mobile device. But there is still a long way to go to having traditional media embrace putting content on cellphones. Finally, there is the third barrier which revolves around consumer education -- or more specifically -- a lack of it. So, is the dream of mobile advertising a pipe dream? Acuff's research shows a willingness to participate by consumers if they feel they can get something out of it. While users are open to video entertainment on their mobiles, they're not warming to video ads -- yet. This means that there is a great opportunity to educate clients about how to best think about engaging consumers with mobile video. It is not an immediate proposition but something that we are watching develop with a hopeful eye towards the future. Overall, the outlook for 2007 is upbeat, provided all parties sit at the table and figure out how to move the market forward, Acuff said. Look for more banner ads on mobile phones (Sprint offers the Sprint mobile media network and, in Europe, Orange has also opened its portal to banner ads). Mobile advertising -- based on demographic targeting, behavior targeting, time of day targeting and even zip code targeting -- may also become more the norm.

Mobile Adv & Mktg,

Virgin Mobile inks deal with Jump Tap - MocoNews

Virgin Mobile USA announced a partnership with mobile search developer JumpTap, to launch new search functionalities both within the MVNO's own content deck and off-portal across the mobile web. The new search engine, which goes live in February 2007, will direct subscribers to relevant content and will also offer recommendations based on purchases by users with similar consumer profiles. Building on the "SugarMama" mobile advertising incentive program introduced by Virgin Mobile earlier this year, the JumpTap agreement also expands the carrier's marketing initiatives by organizing and delivering relevant search information to subscribers through sponsored and organic links.

"Navigating through pages of WAP content, or trying to hit websites that aren't mobile-enabled to find that one thing you're looking for, will soon be a thing of the past," Virgin Mobile VP of mobile data services Dominick Tolli said in a prepared statement. "By simply typing in the name of a favorite artist or topic into their wireless handsets, customers will immediately pull up results of all related content from both Virgin Mobile and sites across the Web."

For more on the Virgin Mobile/JumpTap deal:- read this release

Asap.mobi on Netimperative

New mobile ad platform set for launch


By Staff 20-12-2006 12:45 PM Related:

A new mobile advertising service and consumer search tool is set to launch giving users access to job, car and property ads on their mobile phones.
The asap.mobi service lets users select appropriate criteria from a variety of drop down boxes then the service will search its database and return matching results.

Findings can be sent to an email account in addition to being accessed through the mobile handset, and will arrive in the form of colour images and neatly summarised descriptions.

The software constructs a personalised homepage for each user, tailoring content to their individual requirements and adding relevant updates.

Furthermore, users also have the option of making direct contact with the relevant agent or advertiser via phone or text message.

The Directors of asap.mobi are presently raising capital for the company, and invite enquiries from potential corporate investors and advertisers, with an offer of subscription open until 30 December 2006.

asap.mobi Plc. was set up 12 months ago by entrepreneur Peter Holsgrove, and the service is presently in a planning and development phase, with initial plans for a consumer launch targeted at spring 2007.

Peter Holsgrove, asap.mobi Managing Director, said: “In developing the product, our focus has been on providing a comprehensive solution for the unique marketing requirements of the property, recruitment and automobile industries.

"Market research has exposed high levels of sustained consumer interest in these key sectors, and there is an ever-increasing need for advertisers to reach their audiences through new integrated channels such as mobile.”

www.asapplc.com

Doc Searls reminder on Gaping Void

"there is no demand for messages"

From Doc Searls:

The bulk of advertising -- all $160 billion of it (which buys a lot of art) -- is a conversation between advertisers, media and agents for both. That conversation has enormous flywheels that were forged in the Age of Industry, and carry assumptions that are totally obsolete in a new age when the human beings we've been calling "consumers" are no longer dumb targets in a position only to absorb messages and displace cash.

Remember this essay's title? The main reason I got out of advertising and PR was this epiphany:

THERE IS NO DEMAND FOR MESSAGES

I concur with Doc. That being said, though there may not be a demand for messages per se, there's always going to be a demand for people who are better at selling your product [or idea] than you are.

And none of this is going to go away, no matter how evolved "The Intention Economy" becomes.

Posted by hugh macleod at 7:33 AM | Comments (1) View blog reactions

The Media Day of a Millenial - New York Times

Online Marketing on Tagging

Defining Tagging

Posted in Online Marketing, Web 2.0, Blog Marketing, SEO, Tagging - Bookmarking, Blogging, Blog Optimization |

This is a re-post, with minor edits, from my blog, Blog on a Stick. I felt that it was worthy of posting here too.
-Thanks Thomas

For those that are just jumping into the blog world, or the Web 2.0 world for that matter, there is a new idea out there called tagging. Much like folders or categories, it’s a way of keeping things organized.

Lets start out simple with folders.

On your computer you have folders. Maybe a documents folder for paperwork, pictures folder for pictures and so on. You’ve probably even created your own folders. “Christmas 2005″or “Work Documents” The idea is to keep your files organized on your hard drive. Simple enough.

The folder idea is our starting point for tags. Granted, folders have nothing to do with tagging, but the idea is the same.

Next, lets move to categories. Categories are set up on blogs to keep like posts together. This blog has categories like SEO, Online PR, Analytics and RSS because those are things that get posted on a lot. Categories should be specific to your blog and they make it easy for users to find information. If this blog was about cars, we may have categories like Ford, Chevy, 2006 Models, Used Cars, Hybrids and so on.

Now we get to tagging. Tagging is much like categories, only they are not usually topics you post on a lot. They are like mini categories almost. The idea is to tag each post with some specific phrases that are not in your categories, but that you feel are important to the post.

I’ve written about American Idol a few times on my blog, Blog on a Stick, but not enough that I feel the need for a category. So I’ve tagged each post with American Idol plus any contestant names that I’m talking about in the post. This helps when tag search engines like Technorati come by and index my posts. They’ll read those tags and offer them up in their tag based searchs. It’s also good to note that your categories will be read as tags too so there is no need to duplicate your category names in your tags.

Basically, tags are just one more way to increase exposure on your site. There are many more ways than regular search engines to get traffic and tagging is one of them.

So how do you tag? It’s easy really. Check your blogging software and see if they have a Tag or Technorati field. If so, just put your words in there and it’ll do the rest. Or, you can add tags to any post by adding rel=”tag” to any link. There is also a nice Tag bookmarklet over at Andrew Beacock’s Blog. That can just be added to your bookmark bar and clicked on when you want tags created.

Once your blog post is live, make sure you ping it by going to Pingoat or PingOMatic. Most blog software will automatically ping for you so you don’t have to worry about that.

If you have Wordpress, check out the Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin. It’s a great way to include tags with your posts and has many features.

A common misconception with tags is that your link has to go to technorati.com. That’s not true. Technorati will allow any link to be a tag as long as it says rel=”tag” in it.

A lot of Web 2.0 applications are also starting to use tagging more. You can tag photos in Flickr, bookmarks in del.icio.us and documents in Writely. These tags are for searches within their own system. Instead of categories or folders, they choose to use tags to keep your documents organized and searchable.

If you aren’t using tags, you’re missing out on traffic. Tagging is free and easy and can increase your blog exposure.

Interesting note: If you use a Mac and have 10.4, you can get info on a document and put space separated words in the comments area. Then, when you use Spotlight to search, they’ll show up. It’s like you have a tag search built in to the OS.

Helio on Marketing Daily

Helio's Buddy Beacon Extends Positioning

by Emily Burg, Monday, Dec 11, 2006 5:00 AM ET

"DON'T CALL IT A PHONE" Helio, the wireless venture of EarthLink and SK Telecom, is building its marketing on the proposition that it offers unique social networking capabilities. Its Buddy Beacon feature, available on the $225 GPS-enabled Drift handset, allows members to use satellite technology to broadcast their location to friends on their Buddy List. When they turn on Buddy Beacon, their Buddy List friends with Helio devices can spot their physical location on a map along with a nearby address. Members can add up to 25 buddies to their Buddy List. Helio will explore ways to integrate ads naturally into this process for the coming year, said Craig Shapiro, Helio's head of content strategy and acquisition, at the Mobile Marketing Forum in Los Angeles earlier this month. "Our demographic pays a premium for our services, so ads should feel natural," Shapiro said. "Local search is going to be big for us in 2007, and our devices with GPS capability offer a unique capability to add value." Helio also just opened its first of five flagship stores on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA, in time for the holiday retail season. The 4,000-square-foot store was built to encourage Helio members and prospective members to hang out, incorporating a lounge-like feel. "Helio stores are designed to be unlike anything else in the wireless world," said Helio CEO Sky Dayton, in a statement. "They truly embody the Helio spirit of design and the lifestyle of today's young consumers. Now people can experience Helio firsthand while they shop for new exclusive devices or test our cool services. Or our members can cruise by to meet up or just hang out with friends." Helio, which has been a heavy advertiser on local L.A. radio station Indie 103.1, will be hosting in-store broadcast of the station's programming, as well as live music events, to promote the store's launch. Helio made its debut seven months ago as the only brand allowing its users to access MySpace wirelessly from handsets. Targeting the same 20-something male audience as competitors Amp'd, Boost Mobile and Virgin, Helio needed to differentiate itself to get customers to buy its proprietary handsets (the least expensive of which is $100) and pay a monthly or a la carte fee for its suite of multimedia services. Cingular Wireless is now finalizing a deal to put MySpace on its mobile phones. Emily Burg can be reached via email at emily@mediapost.com

Yahoo Panama on Online Marketing Blog

Yahoo Panama - Interview with John Slade of Yahoo!

Posted by Lee Odden in Online Marketing, Search Industry News, Yahoo, Interviews, SEM, Spotlight on Search |

Spotlight on Search: Interview with John Slade of Yahoo!

There has been quite a bit of buzz on the paid search marketing front with the launch of the new Yahoo! Search Advertising platform aka “Panama”. At the WebmasterWorld Pubcon conference in Las Vegas, Yahoo! announced the launch during a sponsored lunch. Dan Zarrella did a good a review of that session here.

Our YSM account recently went through the upgrade and we’re going through the process of getting familiar with all the new platform features. After talking to my contact at Yahoo PR as well as Mona Elesseily from Page Zero who has written a book about the Yahoo Search Marketing program, I thought it would be good to get some insight directly from Yahoo for Online Marketing Blog readers. John Slade, Senior Director of Yahoo Global Product Management was kind enough to field a few questions for me.

How has the upgrade roll out been going and when do you plan on having everyone moved over?

The upgrade has generally been going quite smoothly. We’ve noticed that most people experience a brief period of disorientation when they get started in the new platform – like when you move in to a new house and need to figure out where your silverware ended up. Once people make it through their orientation to the new platform, we’ve been quite pleased with the responses we’re hearing from customers. We are targeting a complete transition of all of our US advertisers by the end of the Q1 2007.

What are the major differences between the new advertising platform and Yahoo!’s legacy product?

The new platform represents an especially major breakthrough for advertisers because it’s:

• Easier and More Effective: Yahoo! consulted hundreds of advertisers to develop a campaign management work flow that is more intuitive and will provide more effective controls and tools than other competitive products.
• Action and insight-oriented: Our new campaign management application will provide advertisers with more visibility and insight into their performance and more control over how to improve it. This ultimately provides Yahoo! users with a better online experience.
• Built for the future: With the launch of this new platform, Yahoo! will in the future be able to provide advertisers with many more targeting, format and distribution options.

What can you do now to run a campaign that you couldn’t before?

With the new platform, advertisers will have access to many new capabilities for managing their campaigns.

• Geo-Targeting – Enables advertisers to display their ads broadly or to narrow their distribution down to specific metropolitan areas, allowing them to better target their customers, customize their ads and control their costs.
• Ad Testing – Allows advertisers to easily test multiple versions of their ads to determine the message that works best for their customers. They can also choose to let our systems automatically optimize serving to the ad that performs best on clickthrough rate.
• Goal-Based Campaign Optimization – If an advertiser has business metrics they’re trying to hit, such as a CPA, ROI or ROAS goal, our systems can automatically adjust their ad rotation and bids to help them meet those goals.
• Campaign Budgeting and Scheduling – Allows advertisers to create, budget and schedule individual advertising campaigns for greater control over their advertising strategy and spending. Advertisers also have the option to place an account and/ or campaign daily spending limit to increase budget control.

What are the fundamental differences between the new Yahoo! Search Advertising platform and Google AdWords? What are the competitive advantages?

The new platform allows advertisers to:

• See what kind of volume of leads is available for any given campaign or ad
• Understand how search marketing campaigns impact immediate and deferred transactions
• Define a standard business goal like “Cost Per Action” (CPA), then let the system automatically find the most cost-effective way to deliver against that goal
• Take action on campaigns at the very point of insight
• Manage campaigns with the level of control and at the level you want with the tools that best fit their needs/experience

How much of an impact on new Yahoo! advertiser acquisition do you think the new sign up process will have?

Our new sign-up process has been streamlined and simplified with the goal of getting new advertisers up and online as quickly as possible. We’re optimistic that this new process will make it easier for more and more advertisers to take advantage of the quality leads which Yahoo can provide them.

Can you provide an overview of the upgrade process for existing advertisers?

When an existing advertiser is invited to upgrade to the new platform, they will be notified up to two weeks prior to their upgrade date. When that date comes, two links will appear within their current Sponsored Search account – one that will take them to a preview of what their account will look like after the upgrade, and one that will allow them to initiate the upgrade process.

Once an advertiser sees these links, we recommend:

• Logging into the account and accessing the preview. This will allow an advertiser to become familiar with how their current listings will be transferred to the new account structure.
• Initiate account upgrade. If an advertiser is ready to upgrade to the new Sponsored Search, click on the “Upgrade Now” button that will be displayed within the account. Because the upgrade process can take up to eight hours (during which time advertisers will not be able to make any changes to their account), we recommend initiating the upgrade at the end of their business day, to minimize any disruption to the account.

We expect that many advertisers will want to upgrade as soon as possible, but Yahoo! will work to accommodate advertisers that wish to defer the transition until after the holiday season. Alternatively, advertisers that wish to upgrade even earlier than their scheduled date, they can request to be migrated as soon as possible through the upgrade reservation page.

What was the motivation to offer the upgraded version to new advertisers before existing advertisers?

We’ve been offering existing advertisers the ability to request upgrades to the new platform for several months now. At this point, in addition to that reservation system, we were confident enough in the platform that we wanted to offer the new, streamlined sign-up process to new and prospective advertisers as well.

In your video interview with WebProNews, you mention that the platform is built to be extended to support things like graphical advertising or mobile ads. Along those lines, what kind of enhancements do you have planned for 2007?

Plans for future versions of the new platform include introducing additional distribution options, targeting capabilities and pricing models, whether it’s by demographic, behavior or by combinations of these factors. In addition, the platform will be able to support all kinds of ad formats - from graphical to rich media – and many different kinds of distribution, from a cell phone to a television set.

What resources are available for advertisers that want to learn more?

We have a complete Upgrade Center for advertisers that want to learn about the upgrade process. It contains hints, FAQs, tutorials, and more. It’s available at newsponsoredsearch.yahoo.com.

Thank you Lee for this opportunity to discuss our new platform with you and your readers.

Thank you John! Readers might also be interested in the Yahoo Search Marketing blog.

Om Malik on a potential Google Phone

Forget iPhone, Think Google Phone

Written by Om Malik- Posted Sunday, December 17, 2006 at 12:33 AM PT

The Observer of London is reporting¹ that Google² might be working with HTC and mobile/telecom giant Orange to build a Google Mobile Phone, which could possibly have Google software inside the device, and would be able to do many of the web tasks smartly. The device, article speculates, could go on sale in 2008. (Of course, we would all have forgotten by then… if it doesn’t happen.) Orange and Google, both declined to comment.

Their plans centre on a branded Google phone, which would probably also carry Orange’s logo. The device would not be revolutionary: manufactured by HTC, a Taiwanese firm specialising in smart phones and Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), it might have a screen similar to a video iPod. But it would have built-in Google software which would dramatically improve on the slow and cumbersome experience of surfing the web from a mobile handset.

It would be interesting to see if this comes to fruition. Google, in recent months has become increasingly aggressive about its mobile ambitions³, and is pushing into the carrier space, though there have been some snags⁴.

Google Phone, if you think about it is a reasonable speculation. Google has been aggressive in developing location based services, has amp-ed up its local search and mapping services. In addition, it has also been mobilizing its applications such as GTalk and GMail. YouTube, the video arm of Google, is beginning to embrace the mobile ecosystem.

Normally, one would not spend too much energy on this bit of news. However, presence of Andy Rubin on Google campus gives us a reason to pause.

Who is Rubin? He was one of the co-founders of Danger⁵, the company that makes the Sidekick devices. He sold his last company⁶, Android to Google for an undisclosed amount of money, and he has been holed up in Mountain View, California campus of Google, doing something.

No one knows what, but since Android was focusing on mobile, it is safe to assume that he just might be involved in Android. Danger, as you might know has become a multimillion dollar business based off the “compress web and take it mobile” technology developed by Rubin and others. Businessweek had reported⁷ that Android was working on a cell phone operating system.

One source familiar with the company says Android had at one point been working on a software operating system for cell phones. … In a 2003 interview with BusinessWeek, just two months before incorporating Android, Rubin said there was tremendous potential in developing smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner’s location and preferences. “If people are smart, that information starts getting aggregated into consumer products,” said Rubin.

For Orange, this could be a valuable asset in its triple play ambitions. The company owns broadband businesses across Europe, and has access to 3G networks, and is owned by France Telecom. It could use Google’s web expertise to take on its rivals, by offering web-mobile hybrid phones, and at the same time get a slice of mobile advertising revenues. I know, sounds far fetched, but not out of the real of possiblity.

AdMob on Advertising Age

Former YouTube Sales Head Lands at Mobile Ad Company

Tony Nethercutt Joins Start-up AdMob

By Alice Z. Cuneo

Published: December 12, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (Adage.com) -- Former YouTube head of sales Tony Nethercutt has joined one of the hottest start-ups in the mobile-marketing space, AdMob.

Tony Nethercutt was named VP-advertising sales for AdMob.

Before joining AdMob as VP-advertising sales, Mr. Nethercutt headed ad sales for YouTube. Prior to joining YouTube in May, he worked for four years at Yahoo as director of media strategies. When Google acquired YouTube, Mr. Nethercutt and another former Yahoo colleague at the video-sharing site were let go; their departures underscored the acrimony between rivals Google and Yahoo.

Links marketers with mobile content
AdMob, founded this year, is a global mobile advertising marketplace that links marketers of all sizes with mobile-content sites. It handles more than 400 million page views per month in 160 nations. Like YouTube, AdMob is funded by Sequoia Capital.

Mr. Nethercutt's task is to further broaden AdMob's advertiser base, building out new revenue models and sales teams. "We're looking to find additional ways for advertisers to take advantage of the opportunities on the mobile web," by making it "simple and easy" for an advertiser to get that reach across mobile web, Mr. Nethercutt said.

AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui said hiring Mr. Nethercutt underscores AdMob's move into offering for larger marketers advertising rates based on cost-per-thousand viewers. "We're targeting high end customers," said Mr. Hamoui.

AdMob began with a self-serve tool allowing cost-per-click text ads on mobile websites. But AdMob will now compete with established players Third Screen Media and Enpocket. It also will compete to some extent Google and Yahoo, which offer search ads on their own mobile properties.

The challenge, Mr. Nethercutt said, "is simply education and continuing to build out what's possible. Like any nascent medium, it's early," as some marketers "still don't have a line item for interactive or interactive video," he said.

'Evangelizing the medium'
"We're taking responsibility for taking out and evangelizing the medium." Mr. Nethercutt noted that whatever advertising is done on the mobile web has to be respectful of consumers.

Mary Ann O'Loughlin, senior VP-consumer practice, Ovum, estimated $150 million was spent on mobile marketing in the U.S. this year, up from $45 million in 2005. Spending is projected to grow to $1.26 billion by 2009. She agreed with Mr. Nethercutt that the key issue is not to alienate mobile phone users. "Mobile is very personal," she noted.

Mr. Nethercutt, 48, who has worked in the ad business for 22 years, started with TV sales before moving to interactive at DoubleClick Network and Carat Interactive.

MX Alliance on Mobile Advertising

Mobile Advertising - a Rethink of Business Models needed?

The promise of wireless to be an effective and powerful tool for reaching targeted market segments makes it the hottest new medium for advertising and marketing. During the past year, both the U.S. wireless and the consumer brand communities have begun exploring mobile advertising through in-depth focus groups, market trials, and experimentation with different formats. Analyst group IDC believes common themes are emerging from the mobile advertising market trials that, when viewed collectively, highlight the need for wireless service providers and advertisers to revise their business models.

The unique nature of wireless devices and wireless usage characteristics creates a number of advertising format opportunities that will prove beneficial to both advertisers and wireless service providers. Wireless service providers have access to vast amounts of customer data that could be leveraged to create more effective advertising messages that reach customers on an individual basis. In addition, mobile advertising presents a significant new revenue opportunity for wireless service providers who are facing continued erosion of voice service pricing. Although mobile advertising holds enormous potential for both the wireless and advertising industries, IDC analysts warn that there are a number of key issues involved.

"Early market trials are showing just how different the mobile advertising environment will likely prove to be," says Scott Ellison, vice president of IDC's Wireless and Mobile Communications group. "The real impact of mobile advertising will be forcing both advertisers and wireless service providers to substantially alter their highly successful business models to adapt to this very new but very different medium. Without fundamental model adaptation, both communities risk alienating the very customers they serve and strive to reach."

According to Ellison, the new business models will need to adapt to a range of issues, including different wireless user tolerances and receptivity to mobile ads, different mobile advertising formats, sharply compressed ad rotation cycles, and advertising that relates to individual user characteristics. Successfully addressing these issues in addition to creating ads that are effective and engaging, yet unobtrusive, will prove to be the ultimate challenge for the two industries. In addition, wireless service providers will be forced to view themselves as media companies instead of as telephone companies.

Posted by MXAlliance on August 09, 2006 at 09:36 AM in Mobile | Permalink

The Yahoo mobile scoop - TechCrunch UK

Yahoo! closes London mobile div in push for Go

from TechCrunch UK & Ireland by noemail@noemail.org (Mike Butcher)

What lies ahead for Yahoo! and mobile? It sounds like Yahoo! Go for Mobile will be given a big push, now that Yahoo! is downgrading its SMS messaging services in favour of services which run over the mobile data network.

The evidence has come in the form of the closure of Yahoo!’s mobile division in London.

In the last couple of months about 15 or so people, mostly engineers in the Mobile division in London, have been made redundant and Yahoo! is to shut down some services in Europe like Yahoo! Tones, Premium SMS Mail Alerts and Compose SMS in Yahoo! Mail.

In an email to TechCrunch a Yahoo! spokesperson officially confirmed the company is “phasing out Yahoo! Tones and premium SMS alerts over the next several months to focus on the mobile services that are core to Yahoo!’s future growth. We are going to continue to focus on creating unique and compelling services, such as Yahoo! Go for Mobile, that make using the Internet on mobile devices fun and engaging for consumers, as well as look to further extend the reach of Yahoo!’s leading sponsored search and branded advertising services into the mobile experience.”

Sources say Marco Boerries - the guy who runs Yahoo! Connected Life in the US and was formerly the brains behind Sun Microsystems’ StarOffice - wants full control of all the resources in his business unit, and it looks like the London team was surplus to requirements.

We gather some of the London developers made redundant were offered jobs in the US or in Hamburg with Verdisoft which Yahoo! acquired in February last year for $96m. Who used to run Verdisoft? Marco Boerries.
One former Yahoo! mobile employee spoke to TechCrunch, who said: “It is just funny that they had to let the whole engineering team in London go to refocus in such a way. That is more a result of them being the only engineers that did not report into Marco Boerries.”

All engineering teams in Yahoo! report into Zod Nazem, Yahoo!’s CTO, except for the engineers in Yahoo! Connected Life. They all report into Andreas Meyer, VP of engineering. Who is Meyer? He has worked with Boerries since 1989, variously on Starsoft and Verdisoft. His current boss is Boerries. Again.

Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see what Yahoo! does with Swedish mobile company Kenet Works, which made mobile social software for Sweden’s Playahead.se. Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri put the price of Kenet at EUR 16.6 million, according to Gigaom. Kenet Work’s presence software allowed for quite sophisticated mobile social networking, linked with online, so expect to see some of that turn up in the Go service next year.

Ovum on Mobile TV advertising

Ericsson and NRK test consumer acceptance of mobile TV advertising

Ericsson and NRK, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, have launched a two-month trial of mobile TV advertising across three of NBC's channels, including a 'made for mobile' programme based on a popular Norwegian TV show. Twenty local and national brands are participating and advertising will be provided by Proximity Oslo, part of global agency BBDO. The promise is to deliver highly personalized, interactive advertising formats which the parties are hoping will provide value, win acceptance and in some cases be offered in return for discounts.

Read the full article here

MDA Mobile Internet Figures

Q3 2006 – MOBILE INTERNET FIGURES CONTINUE TO GROW

The number of mobile phone users accessing the internet on their handsets is rising. According to figures announced today by the Mobile Data Association (MDA), a total of 40.7 million users were recorded as having used their phones for downloads and browsing the mobile internet in the UK during the third quarter of 2006. The total number of users recorded in July was 13 million, which had increased to 14 million by September.

According to research from Nielsen/NetRatings, a WAP-enabled mobile phone is the second most popular digital device owned by Britons, after the PC, with 57% of the survey owning a phone that could access the internet. (source: BBC.co.uk)

Increasingly tech-savvy, mobile users expect their phones to give them more features, flexibility and the handiness of the desktop on the move. Key features such as mobile e-mail and mobile web are becoming more popular as they become easier to use, with improved download speeds and connectivity. And it’s not just ringtones and games downloads that the mobile internet is being accessed for, historically a major driver of WAP usage –as the MDA recently reported, Google topped the list of sites most accessed via mobiles, followed closely by chat sites.

For information on how to set up your phone to use the mobile internet, please visit
http://www.text.it/mobileweb/tips.cfm .

And if you’re looking for a list of useful and entertaining sites to view on your handset, have a
look at: http://www.text.it/mobileweb/topsites.cfm

Article posted by:
Anuj Khanna, Director, Mobile Media Group, MDA
Also Marketing & Operator Partnerships Director,
Netsize Group

Ericsson and NRK launch customized mobile TV advertising

Ericsson and NRK launch world first - customized mobile TV advertising

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN -- (MARKET WIRE) -- December 06, 2006 --

Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) have launched a trial of personalized mobile TV advertising. The trial sees advertisers employ customized marketing with individual mobile TV viewers, with content provided by agency partner, Proximity Oslo, a part of the Global BBDO network.

The two-month trial is commencing in Norway early this month and is open to the public. Volunteers will be able to access NRK's two TV channels and five of its radio channels. A made-for-mobile 24/7 TV program based on the popular Norwegian TV show På tråden (On the Line) will also be available during the trial. Customers can use their handsets to interact with the show's host via voting and chatting, and can contribute content by uploading photos and video clips.

Advertisements will be interactive, customized to ensure their relevance to individual users, and tailored to the user's age, gender, location and personal interests. Advertising content will also span an array of formats including videos, banners, ticker texts and branded downloadable content.

Content will be accessed via a downloadable client, a Java application providing fast channel switching, interactivity and the new personal advertising features.

Gunnar Garfors, director of Developments at NRK, says: "We are now welcoming the mobile TV of tomorrow. Bonuses include fast channel-switching, built-in interactivity and easy access to new services. And many viewers even appreciate adverts, as long as they are relevant and may help lower the price of the service."

Kurt Sillén, vice president, Ericsson Mobility World, says: "Customized mobile advertising adds value to existing mobile TV services. Our solution makes it possible for viewers to interact with their trusted brands, and it provides the advertising industry with an innovative, high-involvement customer marketing tool."

Anders Gulbrandsen, client manager, Proximity Oslo, says: "This is a great opportunity to mix the attention you get from traditional TV advertising with direct response and dialogue with the consumer."

The trial's results may also form the foundation for the establishment of a mobile TV advertising business model. For broadcasters and operators, the mobile TV application may result in a higher number of viewers, increased traffic and new revenues from advertising and paid interactions, such as voting or downloads of sponsored content. This opens the way for new advertising formats, widens target groups and builds customer loyalty while giving end-users an enhanced TV experience.

The new interactive mobile TV advertising application is an end-to-end solution based on existing technology. It enables mobile phone users to watch live or on-demand streamed TV programs and interact with preferred brands or shows.

The trial is run over existing mobile network infrastructure and will use current commercially available mobile phones.

Twenty domestic and international companies across the range of industries are taking part as advertisers.

Rhythm NewMedia

Rhythm NewMedia Opens European Headquarters in London; Announces Key Appointments

LONDON -- (MARKET WIRE) -- December 06, 2006 -- Rhythm NewMedia, a turnkey supplier of ad-supported mobile video, announces today the expansion of its London office with additional appointments to serve as the hub of Rhythm NewMedia's AD sales, client services, and engineering support operations for the UK. The office is located near Oxford Circus in the heart of London's West End.

Rhythm NewMedia recently closed its Series B round of $18 million in venture funding to expand sales and marketing activities.

Owen Hanks, Director of Advertising Sales for Rhythm in London, comments, "I am delighted with the strong team Rhythm now has in place in London to locally support our upcoming launches. We are actively looking for additional staff -- business developers to support mobile operators, advertising sales professionals and producers for video programming."

New appointments at Rhythm NewMedia London include Nisha Malhan, Director of Business Development, formerly Head of Film Partnerships at Orange UK. Nisha has also worked at the Walt Disney Internet Group, where she was a Wireless Business Development Manager for the EMEA region. Paul Lyonette, formerly at Primesight, joins as Advertising Account Manager. Antoine Barbier has joined as a Post-Sales Engineer, supporting Rhythm's commercial deployments in the UK. Antoine joins Rhythm from Inexbee Software, where he worked as a post-sales consultant at SFR and other mobile carriers in France.

About Rhythm NewMedia

Rhythm is a company enabling ad-supported mobile media, end-to-end. Rhythm is developing a broad suite of mobile advertising offerings, and is currently the market leader in ad-supported mobile video with a tested and scalable commercial solution. Rhythm's technology enables advertising that has broad reach, sharp targeting, precise frequency management, and effective customer engagement and acceptance. Rhythm's system automates key business processes and enables measurement and reporting to each member of the mobile advertising value chain. Rhythm is currently working with leading mobile operators, brands, content providers and advertising agencies worldwide. www.rhythmnewmedia.com

Blyck, Sugar Mama and Xero Mobile - Textually.org

Coming to (free) mobile phones for youths: Ads

Pitching itself as the world's first advertising-supported phone company, a Finnish company called Blyk plans to roll out a free mobile phone service next summer aimed at 16- to 24-year- olds, first in Britain and then elsewhere in Europe. The IHT reports.

"Under the plan, subscribers would fill out a questionnaire on the Internet that includes personal details and interests and then receive a telephone SIM card offering an as yet unspecified number of voice minutes and text messages per month. Advertisements sent to the phone would be based on the answers.

... A couple of variations are being tried. Virgin Mobile USA started a program in June, called Sugar Mama, that allows users to earn one minute of talk time by watching a 30-second commercial on a computer or receiving a text messages on their phone and then answering questions to prove they paid attention. Another company, Xero Mobile in Los Angeles, plans to test an advertising-supported phone service in January aimed at students in U.S. universities."

Google on ad-funded free phones - Textually.org

Google CEO sees free mobile phones, funded by ads

Web search leader Google Inc's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, sees a future where mobile phones are free to consumers who accept watching targeted forms of advertising. CNN reports.

"Schmidt said Saturday that as mobile phones become more like handheld computers and consumers spend as much as eight to 10 hours a day talking, texting and using the Web on these devices, advertising becomes a viable form of subsidy.

"Your mobile phone should be free," Schmidt told Reuters. "It just makes sense that subsidies should increase" as advertising rises on mobile phones".

... The Google executive said his own company had no plans to directly give away phones itself, nor is he aware of any effort by partners such as phone makers Nokia or Motorola or mobile operators like Vodafone to make such a radical move, he said.

Schmidt acknowledged that mobile phones may never become totally free to the consumer. Newspapers are still not completely free a hundred years after they started relying on advertising, but they certainly are inexpensive, he noted.

The company, which will derive virtually all of its expected $10 billion in revenue this year from selling text ads to computer users who use Google to search the Web, has said previously it expected mobile phone advertising to match computer-based ad revenue over time."

Whatever happened to.... Motorola 's idle screen?

Opportunity on the Third Screen

I thought that the quote at the end of this announcement article yesterday by Motorola was spot on.

"It's incredibly valuable real estate on the home screen of the [mobile] phone."

Motorola was talking about its plan to release new dynamic idle-screen technology, called Screen3, by year’s end. The technology, “essentially pushes Internet information to a mobile phone's main screen. Thus, users can get news updates or the latest weather forecasts with just a glance at their phones, without having to open sluggish WAP browsers or other applications.” Yes, I realized this offering was originally announced at CTIA six months ago, and that all of the Pointcast comparisons have already been made. But I don’t think that’s the most interesting angle here.

Instead, I believe that this announcement denotes another early milestone of a mobile major player aiming to capitalize on the immensely valuable real estate of the mobile phone screen. This 1”x1” display has until recently been overlooked as a vehicle for information communication. Always with you and referenced perhaps dozens of times per day, it carries a lot of possibilities with it. Right now my own background screen is terribly boring calendar. Updated news and weather information would be a great replacement, if only just a first step to more personalized content.

And along those lines, when there’s content, there’s an opportunity for advertising. It surprises me that advertising on mobile phones has barely begun to take hold. I blogged about it in my post, The New New Thing – “New New Media,” back in April. Since then, I’ve started to see a few ads when I’ve checked sports scores through my WAP browser.

For me, this development is interesting from both a consumer standpoint and VC one. How will the ads be displayed in a manner so as to not become too intrusive? Unlike a PC browser where ads and content can be displayed simultaneously, the physical space for advertising in conjunction with content is limited. How will ads proliferate in a manner not to propagate attention theft? It seems all too easy to annoy people if all they want to do is make a call or quickly check a piece of info. From a VC vantage, I am excited about the potential for infrastructure companies to spring up supporting this advertising medium, like mobile ad networks or ad insertion providers.

Dynamic marketing messages and (pushed?) personalized content – coming soon to come to a mobile phone near you.

Posted by on September 30, 2005 4:21 PM | Permalink

Vodafone Mobile Ads - WSJ

Technology Journal: Vodafone Gives Mobile Advertising a Push
By Cassell Bryan-Low The Wall Street JournalNovember 30, 2006
VODAFONE GROUP PLC is ramping up its efforts to push ads to its cellphone- service customers in a move that -- if successful -- could help shape the nascent mobile-advertising industry. Vodafone, the world's largest cellphone-service provider by revenue, recently laid out plans to launch a mobile-advertising service in conjunction with Internet giant Yahoo Inc., starting in the United Kingdom in the spring. The two companies will jointly develop the look and feel of the advertisements that will likely include a variety of formats from banner ads to short video clips. Vodafone also will use Yahoo's sizable sales force to sell to advertisers, rather than spend the resources on building its own. The past year has seen a rash of alliances between cellphone-service providers and Internet companies. Joint efforts have included enabling Internet searches via mobile phones, where carriers are hoping advertisers will pay to place small text ads that appear when users search for certain keyword phrases -- such as " London hotel." Vodafone, based in Newbury, England, recently said it is working with Google Inc. to launch such a service for its customers, due early next year. Vodafone's partnership with Yahoo, however, goes a step beyond many mobile- advertising initiatives because Vodafone and Yahoo plan to use customer information to target their efforts. Yahoo's technology, which Vodafone will use as part of the arrangement, enables advertisers to direct their message at people depending on gender, demographic group, location and user behavior. Yahoo, meanwhile, will be able to harness Vodafone's knowledge about its customers that also includes knowing where its customers are when they use the phone. "We can build up a social-interest profile over time," says Vodafone's head of strategy, Alan Harper. Vodafone will deliver ads only to customers who opt in to the service, Mr. Harper says. For those who do, Vodafone will collect details such as the mobile user's age and gender at sign-up. Then, over time, it will build a profile of customers' interests based on their activities over their phone. For instance, Vodafone could track their favorite types of music or which sports they like to watch. "The whole benefit and potential of advertising on the mobile is targeted ads, " says Nicola Walton, a London-based analyst at research company Informa Telecoms & Media. One key hurdle, she says, is that many carriers don't manage the information about their customers in an efficient way. "They might have that information but it's stored in about 20 different places." To help make ads interesting to customers, Vodafone says it will offer discounts on services such as mobile television, games and sending pictures via text messages. Vodafone's Mr. Harper says details of discounts and what services they will be available for remain to be worked out. But he says they could include offering certain mobile television channels free or giving a discount on the price of games. Executives from Vodafone and Yahoo declined to spell out how much revenue they hoped to generate from their mobile-advertising efforts. "We are early in the game," says Marco Boerries, a senior vice president at Yahoo. "But the initial test results look very promising." Just 0.5% of global advertising spending currently goes toward ads on cellphones, and advertisers and phone companies are still figuring out formulas for setting ad rates, according to Ms. Walton, the analyst. It is also still unclear to what extent consumers will tolerate ads. But many marketers are keen to explore ways to target customers more precisely than ads on television, online or print. As stiff competition and price declines eat into revenues, Vodafone and many of its telecom-industry peers are being forced to reassess their business models. Vodafone's sales across its core market of Europe slumped 1% to GBP 11.8 billion, or about $23 billion, for the six-month period ended Sept. 30. Growth at Vodafone's operations in emerging markets helped boost the company's total revenue, which was up 7.2% to GBP 15.6 billion. Advertising is just one type of new revenue stream Vodafone is trying to tap into. It also is in the process of rolling out fixed-line broadband offers as well as introducing new services that customers can access over both their mobile phones and via their computers. Vodafone hopes that together these three new areas for the company will account for some 10% of its revenue in about three or four years, or roughly GBP 3 billion based on the latest fiscal year ended in March. For now, the Vodafone partnership with Yahoo covers just the U.K., Europe's largest online-advertising market. Mr. Harper says Vodafone is looking to introduce advertising in other countries, but won't necessarily partner with Yahoo in each case. And, as Vodafone expands into broadband Internet access for the home, it also hopes to deliver ads to its customers via the personal computer.

Nic Brisbourne on Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising a separate category

his is a brief follow on post from Mobile advertising getting overfunded??? a couple of days ago

Market research reported on MarketClusters sizes the mobile marketing market in 2006 at $311m of which 63% was SMS. That leaves WAP advertising globally as a maximum of $115. If that is all or mostly WAP advertising it is a small market, but enough for the start-ups I listed last week to get started on.

I was at an e-consultancy last week where the leading online adserving vendors pitched their stories. (They run these events regularly for different industries and they are great learning experiences, but it has always struck me as strange that the vendors are willing to stand up one after the other and do their dog and pony shows.) Mobile is on their feature list now. Not prominently, but getting there. This has me wondering whether mobile advertising will emerge as a distinct category.

This question applies for most areas of mobile - mobile games has emerged as a separate category, mobile gaming hasn’t etc.

This leaves me thinking that as with the wired web until there is traffic it is difficult to separate the winners from the losers.

Mobile RSS on Marketing Shift

Phone makers and software developers are continuing to expand the choices on how we digest information on mobile devices. Although the displays and storage capacity on mobile devices are improving, getting just the info you want via RSS and avoiding the junk is imperative.

Microsoft and Samsung just announced the Ultra Messaging i600, a smart phone that include RSS Feeder software, while Nokia released new RSS reader software called WidSets.

NewsGator, one of the leaders in RSS aggregation, has teamed up with FreeRange to develop NewsGator Go software, which enables syncing of content between Java mobile phones and the company's desktop and web-based readers.

Opera has upgraded its Mini browser to version 3.0, which includes an RSS reader.

This growth in software for mobiles will expand the opportunities for RSS ads. When you factor in that ads delivered to mobiles tend to have much higher click through rates than their desktop counterparts, creating ads optimized to mobile readers seems like a good investment.

Red Herring on Mobile TV

Mobile TV Guide Coming

Roundbox and TV Guide team up on listings for cell phone TV.
December 4, 2006

By Adena DeMonte

Bob Shallow, vice president and general manager of TV Guide Mobile Entertainment, said that carriers have been effective promoting the availability of video through services and on phones, but they’ve failed to promote “tune into” structures that help users find content.

“One of the key messages we’ve been hearing from the market is that there is a demand for guidance,” said Mr. Shallow. “We believe what we’re delivering helps some fundamental problems… getting people comfortable with mobile TV devices, helping with the discovery of content, and improving usability of mobile TV services.”

Read the rest of the article here

Refresh and Hands On - Tech Digest

Nokia World: Hands On Mobile talks football, mobile advertising and its Mobizines rival

I wrote about Refresh Mobile and its award-winning Mobizines mobile application yesterday, but it looks like it’s got competition. Another company exhibiting at the Nokia World conference is Hands On Mobile, which you might know from mobile games like Call Of Duty 3 and Spider-Man, but which has moved into other areas of mobile content.

This includes HOMBRE, which might sound like a Mexican condom brand, but actually stands for Hands On Mobile Run-time Environment. And it sounds quite like Mobizines, in that it’s a Java application for your phone which serves up stories, information and other content, and updates regularly using your mobile’s connection to get new stuff.

“If someone’s already got a website, this is an easy way of mobilising that,” says Eric Hobson, president and general manager of Hands On EMEA & SE Asia. “We can take a feed off a website, suck that up into a Java application, and have it dynamically updating, with a lot of the graphics stored in the application itself, so it loads up quite fast.”

Silicon.com on Mobile Advertising

Advertising: Mobile's next big thing

By Jo Best

Published: Thursday 30 November 2006

The era of mobile advertising is upon us - according to new research, revenues from ads on phones will skyrocket by the end of the decade.

ABI Research predicts that by the end of this year advertising on mobiles will generate global revenues of $1.9bn. The analysts reckon that it will also achieve double-digit growth over the next five years.

ABI Research believes that the click-through rates that mobile advertising promises - two to three per cent, compared to 0.2 per cent for internet ads - will generate enthusiasm for the model among advertising buyers, although it predicts that such rates won't last as the novelty wears off for consumers.

The advent of phone ads will present advertisers with both challenges - how to make sure consumer don't get annoyed with ads arriving on a very personal device - and opportunities to reach consumers in a more individual way.

Click here to see silicon.com's rundown of the top 10 mobile design classics.

Among the operators already planning to trial advertising to handsets in the UK are VodafoneO2. and

A separate report by industry watchers Informa Telecoms and Media predicts that by 2011, mobile advertising will be worth $11.5bn, with mobile TV being the most lucrative vehicle.

Wireless from A to Z

Click on the links below to find out more…

A is for Antivirus
B is for Bluetooth
C is for The Cloud
D is for dotMobi
E is for Email
F is for FMC
G is for GPS
H is for HSDPA
I is for i-mode
J is for Japan Air
K is for Korea
L is for LBS
M is for M2M
N is for NFC
O is for Operating systems
P is for Pubs
Q is for QoS
R is for Roaming
S is for Satellite
T is for TV
U is for UMTS
V is for Virgin
W is for WiMax
X is for XDA
Y is for Yucca
Z is for Zigbee

Adotas article on Mobile Ad Budgets

Plan Ahead, Mobile Marketers: Why It’s Now or Never to Map Out 2007 Mobile Ad Budgets

Written on

November 30th 2006

Author

by Omar Hamoui |

The mobile internet has matured. Timing, pricing, and new ROI models are allowing everyone from Big Brands to Startups get on board and leverage the explosion in consumer usage of the mobile Internet.

In line with the mobile Internet’s surge in popularity comes new research from Jupiter Research which predicts that total advertiser spending on mobile messaging and display advertising will grow from $1.4 billion in 2006 to $2.9 billion in 2011.

Specifically, Jupiter analyst Julie Ask states that over the next 12 months, online advertisers will use mobile as part of their marketing mix and even more importantly, 22 percent of U.S. online advertisers are engaged in mobile marketing.

Read the whole article here

Marketing Shift blog predicts the downfall of Digg

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

The Downfall of Digg is Forthcoming and Here is why


It's only a matter of time. Another site will rise up from nowhere and Digg will slowly fade into oblivion. It is hard to imagine right now with the size and coverage of Digg.com but it is coming.

Everyone has heard the stories about Digg being run by a select few users and the corruption that coincides with it. Anti-Digg stories being removed, accounts being deleted and large scale cover-ups all around that would make Whitewater proud.

I'll preface this by saying I like Digg. It is useful and usually full of interesting stories, but what I have experienced is the true reason why someone else will come and take over the Digg empire.

Digg's fundamental principle is social-generated content, the new media where the users are the reporters and that only stories that the users aka "Digg-nation" finds interesting. But this principle is in jeopardy as the blogosphere has buzzed many times about "Digg-Gangs" and how certain users who digg something carry more weight then other digg users which allows stories to get to more prominent positions such as the home page and category home pages.

Now I can understand why this is in place. To help prevent spammers and such from getting their stories in a prominent position but the negative effect of this is you are isolating new users who are submitting quality content.

Let me give you an example. I listen to sports radio about 20hrs a day and have a multitude of RSS feeds that are sports only, so I am pretty on top of the news in the sports world. I highly doubt there are many more people that are on top of sports news more then myself and being that the Digg/sports section is pretty poor, I thought I would help contribute by submitting new and breaking stories in hopes that the sports section of Digg would pick up and it would be a bit more interesting.

2 days ago I submitted a story to Digg regarding the Arizona Cardinals name of their new football stadium, and it ended up with 17 diggs. Well, yesterday while going through my RSS feed, I saw that the same story had made the digg/sports home page. One of them with 11 Diggs which is less then my submission and another with 470 Diggs and counting. Both stories were submitted well after mine, and the one currently on the sports home a whole day after.

After contacting a few of the prominent "Diggers" in the sports section (who asked to remain nameless), I asked them all the same question on how their stories always get "dugg" and I was taken aback by the answers. These "diggers" all have some sort of advanced notification system, from email list servs, message board, and even IM bots to notify their digging network.

This has become a major problem with Digg where a select few groups are controlling the contents of various sections. There is no motivation for the millions of other users who aren't a part of a digg-army and just want to submit good content in order to make a section better but can't make any contributions because people aren't using the digg system like it was designed.

If Digg plans to expand into other areas such as they have sports, entertainment, and others the system needs to be revisited and tweaked or else the other sections will face the same mediocrity that plagues the newer categories.

I'm sure this story will get buried or deleted from Digg like the others, but Digg it here

Posted By Evan Roberts at 11:19 AM
Permanent Link: The Downfall of Digg is Forthcoming and Here is Why | Comments (36)

Today's Wireless Data News

* Revver Teams with Verizon Wireless to Bring Best User Generated Content to V CAST Original news source
Revver, Inc., marketplace for viral videos, announced it will provide its user-generated and copyright-friendly video content directly to the mobile phones of Verizon Wireless V CAST subscribers. As part of the agreement, beginning in early December, Revver videos will be available to Verizon Wireless’ customers with V CAST-enabled handsets, including the Chocolate (LG VX8500) and MOTOKRZR K1m.

* YouTube Agreement with Verizon Wireless Marks First Step to Deliver Video Entertainment to Consumers on the Go Original news source

YouTube, a consumer media company that enables people to watch and share original videos through a Web experience, announced that, in early December, its leading video entertainment service will be available to people on mobile devices. In its first strategic mobile distribution agreement, YouTube will enable Verizon Wireless V CAST consumers to access a selection of YouTube videos from their mobile phones exclusively for a limited time.

Nokia and Yahoo! Extend Internet Experience to the Mobile Mass Market Original news source
Nokia and Yahoo! extended their partnership to offer Yahoo! branded services including Yahoo! Mail and Messenger on Nokia's wide range of mobile phones operating on the Series 40 platform. Yahoo! services will initially be available on the newly announced Nokia 6300, the Nokia 5300 XpressMusic and the Nokia 5200. Moving forward these services and the ability to synchronise Yahoo! contacts, tasks and calendar on the PC and phone will be added to an even wider range of Nokia's Series 40 devices.

eMarketer on Mobile Ads

Mobile Ads Clicking Around the World

DECEMBER 1, 2006


According to the "Mobile Marketing and Advertising" study from ABI Research, the market for advertising on mobile phones will experience double-digit growth rates over the next five years.

"There are very good reasons to use the mobile phone to reach consumers," said Ken Hyers of ABI. "Unlike a TV or a PC, a mobile device is truly unique to the end-user. That allows a more customized relationship with the recipient of the advertisement. Advertisers can obtain a lot of information about end-users, through the websites they visit and the purchases they make, helping them construct tightly targeted campaigns."

Advertisers also like the fact that, while the typical click-through rate for an Internet banner ad is around 0.2%, the click-through rate for mobile banner ads is in the range of 2-3%.

"I think that performance will go down over time as the novelty wears off," said Mr. Hyers, "but for now, it represents sensational performance."

Mobile marketing is dedicated line item

Consumer Product Marketers Expand Mobile Advertising

Mobile marketing is a dedicated line item in the budgets of big consumer product marketers, Jay Emmit, president of the Americas, mBlox, a global mobile transaction firm, told some 400 attendees at the 2006 Mobile Marketing Forum, according to Advertising Age. The banking and financial sectors were responsible for some of the more innovative uses of the emerging medium in the past year, as when MasterCard used text messaging as part of its fraud-alert program. P&G, which won the Mobile Marketing Association's first Overall Excellence award, has developed the Ad Lab, a program where key marketing executives on more than a dozen brands have been educated in mobile opportunities such as mobile video and text messaging. As a result, a flurry of new efforts and programs will be rolling out from P&G brands starting next year.

For the full story click here.