Texting News

80108 Media launches an SMS 'thumbcast' info service

MediaWeek reports on today's launch of 80180 Media, a company hoping to deliver targeted, opt-in text messages to users across the country:

80108 Media, which launches today following a short beta-test period, publishes timely content via SMS messaging in 15 urban areas, with an initial focus on the Boston area. Mobile users can opt in to the free service by visiting 80108.com and providing a cell phone number. The company will automatically “text” users short messages announcing upcoming events in whatever content categories they have indicated interest in, such as music, fashion, kids or local sports.

The text content is designed to be timely and insider in nature, according to 80108 CEO Rob Adler, aimed squarely at the text-loving 18-34-year-old demographic. Text will be written by “mobile correspondents” in each urban area that will send out missives on events roughly three times per week per category. Former Nielsen Business Media editorial director Sid Holt is now vp, programming, for the new service.

For now, they promise not to send you any advertisements, but they acknowledge that they will eventually have to figure out a way to monetize the idea:

We plan on introducing upgrades for select premium features down the line. For the time being, we're focused on cultivating our subscribers and collecting feedback.

News Roundup: Recent Developments In Mobile / SMS Marketing #6

MediaPost's Online Media Daily reports that major ad network 24/7 Real Media will begin serving up mobile ads:

PREPARING ITS PUBLISHERS FOR AN expected wave in mobile adoption, ad network 24/7 Real Media is adding mobile ad serving and reporting to its Open AdStream ad management platform.

About a dozen publisher clients have begun implementing the Open AdStream Mobile Edition at an incremental cost, according to Ali Mirian, product manager of publisher solutions at 24/7 Real Media. A key selling point is that Open AdStream negates the need to purchase, install, learn and maintain a stand-alone technology for mobile ads, he added.

 

 

And how big is that wave they are expecting?

 

Despite slow adoption, technology companies and advertisers are still jockeying for position. Mobile advertising, for one, is expected to double this year to more than $878 million, according to market research firm eMarketer. Worldwide, Piper Jaffray recently projected that mobile search revenues will generate $11 billion by 2008.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported this week that small businesses are beginning to build mobile websites:

Johannes Tromp says the Web site for his South Carolina bed-and-breakfast generates good business. But last fall, he found a way to reach even more potential customers: He made a version of the site for cellphones.

Mr. Tromp signed up for a mobile Web address with the newly available suffix "dot-mobi" and used a self-starter kit from a company called Roundpoint Ltd. to build www.kilburnie.mobi, the mobile site for his Inn at Craig Farm. He says he's gotten a surprisingly good response, with 30 to 40 new calls per month from interested travelers who heard of his inn by accessing the cellphone site.

 

 

How Magazines Succcesfully Utilize The Mobile Platform

In yesterday's  Mobile Insider column, Steve Smith addressed in an interesting question:

PUTTING A MAGAZINE BRAND ON phones seems a bit redundant. Aren't magazines portable already?

He elaborates this point, stating that "it may not be clear to many magazine readers, however, why they would want or need their brands on a handset, since few magazine traffic in breaking news even on the Web. How pressing is my need for Vanity Fair "on the go?"

Nevertheless, some magazines have already built successful (and not coincidently, useful) mobile presences:

Consumer Reports managed a good translation of its brand, but that was a no-brainer. Bringing CR guides to the point of purchase on a phone just replicated the common practice of tearing relevant pages from the magazine to carry into the store.
...

Car and Driver got it right by recognizing how much its enthusiast audience loves car images. Yes, the reviews are all here -- but so are the huge and fairly high-res images on every page. And C&D limits its TOC to a few key elements and then lets the user drill into the archive with excellent search tools.

And last but not least, Maxim, the popular lad-mag, has an extremely popular WAP site:

...in this case it takes the mobile snack approach and gives users a new nibble of each every day. The lads who remain brand loyalists can cherry-pick the items they like most about Maxim and get satisfied daily. The Maxim WAP site has only been up since late last year and it already gets between 500,000 and 1 million monthly page views. The advertising is already there, and it can get pretty sophisticated. On my most recent visit, the site ran an ad for a mobile content firm that identified and mentioned my handset model in the text link itself.

Read the rest of the article, including an innovative fee-based application from InStyle @ Media Post's Mobile Insider.
 

 

NY Times: "New Bar Codes Can Talk With Your Cellphone"

Has the successor of the CueCat finally arrived? And will consumers embrace it this time around? It appears that the answer to both of those questions is Yes, in Asia at least.

It sounds like something straight out of a futuristic film: House hunters, driving past a for-sale sign, stop and point their cellphone at the sign. With a click, their cellphone screen displays the asking price, the number of bedrooms and baths and lots of other details about the house.
...
With a wave, the phone can read encoded information on everyday objects and translate that into videos, pictures or text files on its screen.

“The cellphone is the natural tool to combine the physical world with the digital world,” that executive, Cyriac Roeding, the head of mobile-phone applications for CBS, said the other day.

What kind of applications are we talking about? Well, let's look at some of the examples already in use in Asia.

In Japan, McDonald’s customers can already point their cellphones at the wrapping on their hamburgers and get nutrition information on their screens. Users there can also point their phones at magazine ads to receive insurance quotes, and board airplanes using their phones rather than paper tickets. And film promoters can send their movie trailers from billboards.

...

In Japan, some highway billboards have codes large enough for passing motorists to read them with their phones. Hospitals put them on prescriptions, allowing pharmacies to instantly scan the medical information rather than read it. Supermarkets stick them on meat and egg packaging to give expiration dates and even the names of the farmers who produced them.

One of the most popular uses in Japan has been paperless airline tickets. About 10 percent of the people who take domestic flights of All Nippon Airways now use the codes on their cellphones instead of printed tickets.

So what's the holdup here?

Advertisers say they are interested in offering similar capabilities in the United States, but cellphones in the States do not come with the necessary software. For now, consumers have to download the technology themselves.

So it's simple a matter of time--two things need to happen. 1) We need phones with higher resolution cameras, and 2) we need phones capable of running simple software. What might speed up the deployment of those two pieces of the puzzle? How about the impending release of the iPhone.

Ultimately, though, it will be up to marketers to let the major cell phone carriers know how badly they want this technology in consumers hands:

In Japan, the codes did not become mainstream until the largest cellphone companies started loading the code readers on all new phones a few years ago. Now, millions of people have the capability built into their phones, and businesses, in turn, are using them all over — on billboards, street signs, published materials and even food packaging.

The Atlantic Divide + Recent News In The Mobile Ad Market

Two pieces caught our eye today at MediaPost's Online Media Daily.

First, a new study seems to dispel the notion that America lags behind Europe when it comes to non-voice services:

AT LEAST WHEN IT COMES to mobile content that doesn't require fast networks or high-end devices, European and American consumption habits are more similar than is generally believed, according to a new study from M:Metrics and Buongiorno, the multinational digital entertainment company.

Two interesting findings come to light:

While text messaging is still far more prevalent in Europe, use of ring tones and graphics are very similar....and 80% of mobile music revenue comes from ring tones.
...
Also, the U.S. actually outperforms most European countries when it comes to using mobile email and instant messaging.

So what's the catch?

...Use of mobile video, photo messaging and music correlate closely with penetration of 3G (third-generation high data-speed carriers), and penetration is considerably higher in European markets.

And what does that mean? US consumers are far from averse to using new, high-speed data services--they simply are not available to them on a widespread basis. The summer debut of the iPhone, coupled with continued mass investment in high-speed data networks (supported by high-paying business customers) should lead to a closing of this gap.

Meanwhile, this week saw a number of big mobile ad deal announcements:

  • Search-centric digital agency iCrossing this week tapped JumpTap to give its clients a mobile edge. Under the partnership, iCrossing will provide its clients with ad placement on the mobile Web sites of U.S. wireless carriers through JumpTap's white-labeled mobile search and advertising system.
  • Yahoo this week showed off a mobile advertising platform called Yahoo Mobile Publisher Services, allowing publishers to post and manage mobile ads on Yahoo. Advertisers include Pepsi and Hewlett-Packard.
  • In the latest example of major marketing deals in the mobile space, MTV Networks this week launched a series of mobile Web sites with Pepsi-Cola North America and Intel Corp. on board as charter sponsors -- marking the first time MTV has sold ads against its mobile portfolio. The Intel and Pepsi brands will feature prominently on the MTV and Comedy Central mobile TV channels, as well as the new MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central mobile Web sites.

News Roundup: Recent Developments In Mobile / SMS Marketing #5

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Yahoo is making a major mobile advertising play. Not wanting to play second fiddle to Google in the next great advertising market, they are striking preemptively, building the first broad mobile advertising network:

The company plans to announce on Tuesday that it is creating a mobile advertising network that will allow marketers to place ads not only on its mobile services, but also on those of other online publishers. And Yahoo is offering tools to help publishers customize their content for easier use with its mobile search service.
...
The company hopes to start delivering text, display and video ads on third-party mobile Web sites by the summer, Mr. Boom said.
...
Advertising on sites arrayed for mobile phones is a tiny market, but it is expected to grow quickly, and a number of companies, including the leading wireless carriers, are jockeying for position.

The Financial Times took a look at Twitter, a mobile mini-blogging service, that is "the talk of Silicon Valley."

Silicon Valley is abuzz over a new mini-blogging service for mobile phones that some predict will be a mass-market hit with the reach of a YouTube or MySpace.
...
Users of Twitter post short messages – up to 140 characters – that can be viewed either on a website or on mobile phones. "Twitter probably wouldn't have existed before blogging, when people learned to be more transparent," Mr Mayfield added.
...
Though launched publicly last summer, use of Twitter started to take off in the middle of March after it was adopted by technology bloggers attending the South by Southwest conference in Texas. As people like Mr Mayfield lauded the service on their blogs, interest spread quickly among the Valley's key opinion-formers.

Finally, we hear over at MediaPost that CBS is testing the mobile video waters:

CBS has struck a deal with Sprint to make ad-supported versions of "Jericho," "Evening News with Katie Couric" and other TV programs available on mobile phones.
...
For the Sprint deal, CBS will include pre-roll ads as well as video ads during the natural breaks of "Evening News." Clips from other shows, including "CSI," and "Survivor," also will be available on Sprint as part of the deal.

News Roundup: Recent Developments In Mobile / SMS Marketing #4

In The UK, The Register reports that kids will soon receive free phone call and text message credits, in exchange for listening to advertisements.

A mobile phone start-up will offer UK teenagers free phone calls and texts in return for listening to adverts from this summer.

Blyk, the company behind the scheme, has already signed Buena Vista, Coca-Cola, L'Oreal Paris, and Yell.com for the British launch. It is rumoured to be close to a network deal with Orange.

The company will target 16 to 24 year olds, who will "earn" free phone calls and text messages in exchange for receiving adverts on their phones. (Via Textually)

Textually also caught wind of some extremely interesting news on targeted mobile advertising. Targeted to what exactly? To the weather. Read the full piece at The News & Observer:

The next time you check a cell phone's Internet weather report on a cold and rainy day and see ads for umbrellas and Caribbean vacations, it might not be a coincidence.

Proving that not even Mother Nature is untouched in the online advertising boom, Atlanta-based Weather Channel Interactive plans to announce this week a mobile marketing technology that aims to match ads to the weather at a person's location.

The announcement of this "weather-triggering" technology is expected at the CTIA Wireless industry show in Orlando, Fla.

"Coca-Cola could advertise a hot beverage when it is cold outside and could advertise a new Coke Zero when it's hot outside," said Louis Gump, vice president for the Weather Channel's mobile division.

The technology relies on a system that labels and organizes every U.S. ZIP code, town and city. It delivers appropriate weather information and advertising when a person enters a location on a search form.

And finally, on a lighter note, Mobile Whack reports on the LG Electronics sponsored National Texting Championships:

LG Electronics will be holding their LG National Texting Championship in Hollywood at Paramount Studios and in New York City at the Roseland Ballroom. The contest is open to the public and will be held on March 31, 2007. Contestants will compete for $10,000 for the East/West Coast title and then advance to the finals in New York City for $15,000 and the National Texting Championship title on April 21, 2007.

Important New Research On Consumer Acceptance Of Mobile Advertising

Last Thursday, Harris Interactive released an important study of the prospects for mobile marketing. According to their press release, they, "examined current levels of consumer interest in mobile phone advertisements, preferred advertising formats and the willingness of consumers to be profiled."

They heralded an interesting, though far from surprising finding:

"Historically, U.S. mobile phone users have been resistant to receiving mobile phone advertisements, but, according to our research, cell phone users are more willing than ever to receive advertising," said Judith Ricker, President of the Marketing Communications Research Practice at Harris Interactive. "To make their mobile campaigns more effective, advertisers should take note of how cell phone users are most interested in being contacted. Advertisements need to have a clear value proposition, be relevant and allow recipients to control how they are profiled."

Harris studied three different aspects of mobile marketing, and there are interesting findings all around:

 

 

Incentive-based advertisements

 

According to the study, a surprising 35 percent of adult cell phone users are willing to accept incentive-based advertisements. Of these adults, 78 percent say the best incentive would be cold hard cash, followed by free minutes (63%), free entertainment downloads (e.g. ring tones, games; 40%) and discount coupons (40%).

 

Preferred method of delivery

The survey further reveals that over half (56%) of those who are at least somewhat interested in receiving ads on their cell phone say they would prefer to receive them via text message, while 40 percent would like to receive them as a picture message.

 

 

Privacy and control matter

Just under three-quarters (70%) of respondents who are at least somewhat interested in receiving mobile advertising are also willing to provide information about themselves to their cell phone provider in exchange for an ability to customize the service to their needs.

 

Harris found that 66% of consumers considered the ability to Opt Out essential to their acceptance of mobile advertisements. More than half of all consumers receptive to mobile advertising wanted to see those ads arrive as text messages. It would seem that Club Texting's simple, handset based opt-in / opt-out SMS marketing program is most consumers' ideal kind of mobile advertisment.

Source: Harris Interactive press release

Mobile Marketing Commentary

Over at Media Post's Online Media Daily, Angela Steele of Starcom USA opines on the future of Mobile Marketing. She identifies a number of challenges that lay ahead, but she sees light at the end of the tunnel. We've culled some highlights from her piece below:

Although mobile devices have penetrated nearly 80% of U.S. households and SMS has penetrated over one-third of all users, data services drastically lag behind. Only a fraction of consumers report using data services and the mobile Internet. It seems that in the rush to advance the mobile market, the consumer is the holdup.

If we truly want to maximize the marketing potential of mobile channels, we all need to rally around the consumer and encourage their mobile behaviors. Here's how.

...

The challenge is that mobile marketing cannot be successful as an added-on silo, but should be an integral component at the heart of the marketing plan. In the earliest stages of the planning process, smart marketers must ask, "What are the objectives of the campaign and how will mobile deliver on those objectives?" then decide early on which mobile strategies will enhance the broader campaign idea."

She identifies a number of key points to keep in mind:

We as marketers must offer value to be welcomed in consumers' beloved, personal devices -- or in any medium for that matter. Whether we're informing, entertaining, or enhancing existing mobile experiences, brand interactions need to offer something of relevance and value.

As marketers, we must befriend the carriers and cooperatively develop solutions to add non-intrusive, welcome value for the consumer.

 

What ultimately matters most is the ability to impact consumers and then prove that impact. Clients pay their agencies and wireless companies to impact consumers. Marketers have fixed budgets and therefore need to make choices among media channels.

Expected return is the driver of those choices, and without standardized, third-party metrics, mobile return is difficult to quantify and compare to widely accepted media options such as TV, print and online. In order to vie for fair share of the marketing pie, mobile needs to offer accountability standards comparable to other contact points in marketers' arsenals. The future success of the mobile channel depends upon standardized accountability.

 

 

Services like Club Texting's Opt-In SMS services for nightclubs, promoters, retail, and magazines addresses these challenges--customers choose to receive messages, which are comprised of content that they desire to know about, and they do so by simply messaging a phrase to a 5 character SMS short code, which overcomes the consumer accessibility/reluctance obstacle.

 

Microsoft Buys Tell Me, & Other News

News comes across the wires today reporting that Microsoft has bought TellMe, the nation's largest provider of voice activated mobile search technology:

MICROSOFT FINALIZED A DEAL WEDNESDAY to purchase TellMe, a directory assistance provider and voice-activated mobile search firm, giving Redmond a possible edge in the race to develop a better mobile search tool.

Greg Sterling, principal of Sterling Marketing Intelligence, said that despite the manual dexterity mobile search users are developing, using a tiny keyboard still offers a sub-par user experience.

"There's still usability problems that are pretty significant," he said. "Keying in search queries is awkward. This is really about improving usability, and driving consumer adoption."

Over at MediaPost's Mobile Insider Blog, reporter Steve Smith discusses some promising developments in mobile video--driven as he sees it by increasing localization and targeting of content:

In recent weeks, however, I am finding mobile video content that is good enough, sometime free enough, to merit attention. One quiet entrant in the race towards must-see mobile TV is Weathernews' LiveLocal service. This $4.99 a month application works because video is simply one piece of an excellent design that brings me all the local weather news I need in four screens. My default location pops up with an attractive image of the local weather cam, and I can flip through radar, forecast, alerts, and weather details in four clicks. But the best part of this service is that it also aggregates news stories from my local news stations. I get all the little newsy snippets from the morning, noon and evening telecasts, often within an hour of them airing. What makes this video work where so many others fail for me? Immediacy and relevance. The content is laser-targeted to my on-the-ground needs. There are too few applications right now that give us the local must-have info a mobile user needs in the car and on the street. There is a good reason why MapQuest is the most popular mobile app by a longshot. And LiveLocal has immediacy and on-demand choice. This information is very close to the surface of the deck, so I don't have to drill through menus and folders of the high-eyebrowed Katie Couric and bad Leno jokes to get what I want.

And on a lighter note, C|Net breaks down the history of the emoticon:

Author Vladimir Nabokov said in a 1969 New York Times interview that "there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile--some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket."

Now, nearly four decades later, there is just such a typographical symbol-- :-), or :) for the minimalists, and it'd be tough to find a tech-savvy person who hasn't leaned on it. There's also a special typographical symbol for a frown-- :-( -- and one for a cool dude in sunglasses -- B-) -- and one for a wink -- ;-). There's even a typographical sign for wearing a baseball cap-- d=D.

These are emoticons (or emotive icons), the arrangements of letters and symbols that have been inserted into e-mails, message board posts, and instant messages since the fledgling days of the Internet. "Fledgling days," in this case, refers not to the mid-'90s when people were beginning to learn what AOL was, but to the early '80s, when accessing the Internet was largely limited to research universities and defense contractors.

 

News Roundup: Recent Developments In Mobile / SMS Marketing #3

MediaPost's Marketing Daily reports that McDonald's is reviving its 'Morning Impaired' Marketing Campaign, integrating online video, as well as SMS messaging:

The company said it's reupping the effort that it crafted to promote its breakfast menu offerings. This time around, consumers will be invited to create videos about their own morning challenges--like maybe how hard it is to get up and get moving.
...
The way the new contest works is that consumers offer their e-mail addresses in exchange for a code to print out a coupon for a free sausage McGriddles sandwich. Consumers can upload their videos to MorningImpaired.com. Then they cast votes for their favorite clips on the site. McDonald's will select three people to serve as characters on the site describing what makes their mornings particularly dysfunctional.
...
But that's not all: Consumers who opt-in to receive more marketing messages from the company can receive short codes via their cell phones, prompting even more offers.

We also hear that "FOX NEWS CHANNEL IS THE latest net to strike a deal with Third Screen Media to carry ads paired with its TV content, reports TV Week. Third Screen provides the software to deliver ads on cell phones. Other nets that work with the company include CBS and ESPN."

Finally, Textually rounds up some articles about IN2U, Calvin Klein's new 'Text Speak Fragrance':

Calvin Klein's new fragrance, "in2u" is targeted at the hip 20-somethings of the MySpace generation, with a name that draws on text message shorthand used by the so-called "technosexuals" - a buzzword Calvin Klein trademarked last year. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

"The cylindrical white plastic and glass bottles - the brainchild of famed New York designer Stephen Burks - clearly draw inspiration from the iPod, which itself has become a generation Y icon.

It launches with it's own social network, whatareyouin2.com where hipsters are being invited to create their profiles prior to the launch - "register now connect later," the site implores.

The fragrance - available in both his and hers versions - will go on sale in the United States and Europe April 1."

Read also related articles from The New York Times.

(Textually.org)

News Roundup: Recent Developments In Mobile / SMS Marketing #2

The perennially hip SXSW festival will be making all sorts of information available to their attendees via SMS:

 

All band and film schedules will be available on demand to attendees' mobile devices via interactive SMS. Important festival information will be available on the go by texting requests to Wiredset's 56658 shortcode.

In addition to the on-demand schedule, attendees can sign up for text alerts on the SXSW web site. Band, film listings and festival updates are available to cell phone users and SXSW registrants can get alerts and updates specific to their badge type such as last-minute schedule changes, special events and breaking news. (PR Newswire)

 

R&B group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have just launched a mobile fan club:

Mobile marketing company Smart SMS Corp. and  R&B recording artists Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have entered into an agreement to launch the group’s first-ever   mobile fan club. The venture will allow music fans to receive texts with artist-related updates and enter to win a variety of prized memorabilia,  including tickets to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s upcoming concert tour. Smart SMS and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony will split the net revenue on each 99 cent premium text message. (BusinessWire)

Meanwhile, in Europe, Random House is promoting the release of a new book via SMS:

 

Book publisher Random House is offering consumers the chance to read the first chapter of its new book for free on mobile.

 

It has partnered with content provider ICUE to provide a service which delivers the opening chapter of its latest business manual, 'Life's A Pitch' via SMS.

Consumers are also sent details on how to claim a 40% discount from shops on the book itself. (NMA)

Find The Nearest Starbucks With An SMS

While many publications have been buzzing  over the launch of Starbucks' new SMS store locater service, you know SMS has gone mainstream when the service's debut merits mention in everyone's favorite tabloid, The New York Post:

By sending a text message with your ZIP code to "MYSBUX," customers will receive the address of up to three nearby Starbucks, plus their phone numbers. There is no charge beyond a cellphone user's regular text-messaging fees.

The company has also created a specially formatted locator to fit the small screens of Web-enabled mobile devices such as the BlackBerry or Treo. Customers can tap into the store locator at Starbucks.com and get the nearest locations, plus info such as the closest WiFi stores, in addition to directions and maps.

The service is also linked to in-car GPS navigation systems.

If you're interested in the tech specs on this project, head over to the MSDN blog to learn how Starbucks utilized Microsoft's MapPoint Web Service 

News Roundup: Recent Developments In Mobile / SMS Marketing

The growth of the Mobile Marketing sector continue to be dramatic. SMS short codes are proliferating. Patrons waiting on line outside of nightclubs text their way onto VIP lists, so that they can skip the lines next weekend. House hunters send off text messages to interactive ad displays in the windows of real estate brokers' offices. Every day brings new developments. Here are some of the most exciting new uses of mobile technology:

New York Magazine Mobile: New Yorkers (or tourists) can send the name of a restaurant or bar to the short code GONYC, and within moments they will receive the establishments address, phone number, and other info. If you don't know the name of the place you're looking for you can send in a a type of cuisine and a zip code or neighborhood. You can also punch in 'bar' and a zip to get a list of recommended bars in that area.

Bluetooth Campaign Targets Theatergoers:  Square Group has revealed the results of an experiment it has been running with Bluecasting at the Noel Coward Theatre in London. The company installed a Bluetooth transmitter from Alterwave in the theatre. When someone with an active Bluetooth device walks past the transmitter, it sends out a message offering them a free video clip from the puppet show, 'Avenue Q', which is playing at the theatre.

In the first seven days of the experiment, says Square Group, 9,595 active Bluetooth devices were detected and sent messages. Of these, 703 people accepted the offer of the video download – an average of 87 people each day. (Via Textually)

 

Down2Night - "The guys over at Synapse Life (a productivity suite) released today a new mobile nightlife service called Down2Night. Down2Night lets you use your cell phone to post and receive notices of events that are going on at your favorite local venues. Seattle is the first city covered by the service.

In contrast to a mobile coupon service like Movoxx, which pushes their nightlife deals to your phone, Down2Night has a web interface that lets you pick venues, add, and vote for the events that show up on your phone. Each night of the week you choose, Down2Night will send updates of the top voted event for each venue you’re subscribed to. The top event can be something listed by the venue’s owner, or even a big birthday bash being held that night. As the service grows, the most likely business model is the local advertising market. Everyone, though, is eager to get a hold of the elusive 18-35 crowd that makes up Down2Night’s target market." (Via TechCrunch)

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

Mobile Marketing & The Nightlife Industry: The Basics

As recently as a few years ago, the average nightclub’s marketing efforts amounted to a team of promoters passing out flyers to whomever he saw fit. But then email marketing stormed on to the scene, and today, you would be hard pressed to find a nightclub without an electronic marketing strategy. By harvesting a database of patrons’ email addresses, nightclub owners were suddenly able to reach their customers directly. Smart nightclub owners sought out event marketing firms able to marry these databases to detailed demographic information. Gone were the days of randomly passed out flyers; instead, a nightclub owner could target females with a certain income residing in a certain zip code, who reported going out a certain number of nights a week.

While these efforts were great successes, they do not represent the pinnacle any longer. Once again, technology is allowing intelligent, forward-thinking nightclub owners to reach ever more precise, and ever more interested customers—increasing Return On Investment (ROI) and building lasting relationships. SMS and other text messaging technologies, which might be unfamiliar to you, are an ingrained part of life for most nightclubs’ target demographic. The 18 – 34 crowd has grown up with cell-phones in their hands, and they have been texting for the better part of a decade.

Just as email shifted the paradigm of nightlife marketing, mobile SMS marketing will do the same. A customer, particularly in the typical target demographic is rarely without cell phone in hand. Customers are now available 24 hours a day. And of course not just any customers, rather selectively targeted customers. For a generation who came of age dependent upon their cell phones, constant connectivity has altered their habits. Plans can change, and friends can be alerted. Nightclub owners can exploit this, sending out reminders, and offers, hours before, or even as events are occurring.

How can nightclub owners exploit mobile marketing to draw crowds?

Owners can send out drink specials to be known only by those in the know. They can send out invites, which customers can flash at the door. The possibilities are endless. And just like email, the messages can be forward on by the customers to their friends. A wittily worded offer can spread amongst friends’ phones like a viral video making the email rounds.

Mobile marketing need not stop at the door. Owners can text patrons inside their club special offers all night, rewarding them for their loyalty, at the same time compelling them to stick around by making them feel as if they are in on something that others are not aware of.

Text Messaging is growing at a rapid pace. Nearly 65 Billion Text Messages were sent in the US in the first six months of 2006, a gain of almost 100%. With about half of US cellular subscribers utilizing text messaging—heavily weighted among those under 34—this amounts to about 80 text messages a month per user. While this may seem like a large figure, remember for a moment that the US is still considered a laggard at SMS adoption when compared to Europe.

Do you have a mobile marketing strategy yet?

SMS Revenues Set To Explode By 2012

The ClubTexting Blog has believed that SMS-derived revenues will continue to show tremendous growth for a long time, and a recently released research brief from Portio Research confirms this:

A new report from Portio Research forecasts a healthy future for SMS, which continues to be the star of the data services show with traffic volumes and revenues that continue to confound predictions. Although the growth of SMS revenues will not be as aggressive as the growth of SMS volumes due to declining prices, by 2012 global SMS revenues are expected to reach 67bn USD, driven by 3.7 trillion messages.

Yes,  that's 67, followed by nine zeros! While Asia will add about one billion new subscribers by 2012. To realize that astounding increase, "in the five minutes it takes to read this press release and in every subsequent five minute period for the next six years, 2,267 people will have bought their first ever mobile phone."

Lest the US seem left out, Portio finds that, "the US market has grown much faster than expected."

There is a $67 Billion dollar pie baking in the over--do you offer your customers mobile data content yet? Do you have a mobile marketing strategy yet? Do you communicate to your customers via SMS, "the cheapest, quickest and easiest to use form of peer-to-peer mobile communication?"

If not, perhaps it's time.

Exciting New Developments For Mobile Marketing

Will 2007 be the year that Mobile Marketing goes mainstream? It appears so.

On Wednesday, Media Technology Futures highlighted a few interesting developments:

In Europe, mobile phone operators are taking the lead with the likes of Vodafone partnering with Google (to pair Internet searches with link-based advertising) and Yahoo (to develop banner ads and short videos). Yahoo is displaying ads on WAP sites accessible to subscribers with advanced mobile phones in 19 countries. The mobile customer will see the ads when they hit Yahoo's home page on their phones. By clicking on the ad, the phone will dial the company directly or send more information. Companies that are working with Yahoo include P&G, Intel and Pepsi in countries like the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Brazil and India.

A company in the Netherlands, HotSMS , is currently delivering a free, ad-sponsored SMS offer.

In the U.S. Sugar Mama is offering prepaid customers additional minutes as long as they watch online ads, answer questions by SMS or fill out surveys about products and services. Xero Mobile is targeting the college market (true gabbers, as we all know) with subsidized talk time in exchange for viewing advertising.

Meanwhile, Hearst Magazines, the publisher of many popular magazines, is rapidly expanding its mobile offerings, recognizing that the time has come to reach their readers in new, innovative ways:

New mobile sites for Seventeen, Cosmo Girl, and Cosmopolitan are now available in the magazines section of Verizon Wireless' Mobile Web 2.0 service. Sites for Esquire, Good Housekeeping, House Beautiful, Popular Mechanics, and Redbook are on the way, along with additional carrier deals.

What spurred the move?

But as consumers and advertisers migrate away from print, Hearst is making a bigger push to beef up mobile. "The new mobile sites for all of our magazines will have richer, more interactive content and will be tied more closely to the magazine's editorial content, in addition to being free to any consumer," said one company spokeswoman.

Just what sort of shift are we looking at? Is it a minor one? Or are we witnessing the first rumblings of a complete realignment of the mediascape? Ask CBS:

UNDERSCORING ITS AMBITIONS FOR THE so-called third screen, CBS on Wednesday announced the creation of CBS Mobile as a new division within CBS Interactive.

Among its mobile ventures to date, CBS has struck content deals with wireless partners including MediaFlo, a division of Qualcomm, Verizon's V-Cast service, Amp'd Mobile and Cingular. It has also introduced video breaking news alerts for CBS News and text-message voting for shows including the Emmy Awards, among other mobile plays.

 

 

 

Pages

Get started for free!

Sign up now