Vibes Newsletter Q3 2010
Welcome to the Vibes Newsletter for Q3 2010. As you know, the mobile marketing industry moves fast, and we spend a great deal of time and energy insuring we not only keep up, but stay ahead of the game.
We hope the content provided below offers you some keen insights into the power and breadth of mobile marketing. We're firm believers in the value of text messaging, and if you want to learn more about what mobile marketing can do for you, don't hesitate to give us a call.
60% of U.S. Adult Consumers Notice Mobile Responses in Ads
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and its official research partner, Luth Research, today released the June 2010 U.S. Mobile Consumer Briefing, MMA's monthly survey of U.S. adult consumers about their mobile marketing behaviors and opinions. Available exclusively to MMA members, the new survey found that 60 percent of respondents have noticed an ad that allows a mobile response, and 39 percent have noticed at least one within the past week.
Based on Luth Research's online panel, SurveySavvy, each MMA U.S. Mobile Consumer Briefing collects answers from a demographically representative sample of more than 1,000 U.S. adult consumers. Conducted June 28 through July 2, the survey asked consumers the following questions about their usage of their mobile phone and some of its features, including:
- Their mobile phone's manufacturer
- Their cellular service provider
- When they last noticed an ad allowing a mobile response
- Media types where they noticed an ad with mobile response
- Best media types for mobile response
- Preferred mobile response method
The new survey found that Apple iPhone owners and young adults ages 18-24 years are the consumer groups most likely to have seen an ad today with a mobile response option. The survey also found that 70 percent of mobile users who noticed ads with a mobile response capability saw them on TV. Desktop and laptop PCs were the next most common media channel, followed by radio.
The survey's other key findings include:
- Among those who noticed a mobile response ad on TV, one third responded. Asians, Hispanics and adults ages 35-44 were the most likely to use their mobile phone to respond to a TV ad.
- Response was highest in the media outlets with the lowest ad awareness. At least half of those who noticed mobile response ads in the cinema, in a print newspaper, in a print magazine or through direct mail had responded.
- Texting a keyword to a short code and calling a number were the top preferred methods of mobile response. Texting a keyword was most likely to be preferred by young adults ages 18-34, and adults ages 45 years and older significantly preferred calling a number.
- Asian mobile phone users were most likely to prefer sending an e-mail response, while Hispanic mobile users were most likely to prefer texting a keyword.
"The Consumer Briefing shows that the mobile channel is a highly effective way for brands and others to obtain responses from U.S. adults," said Peter A. Johnson, vice president of market intelligence, MMA, and author of the study. "This effectiveness includes extensive reach across all adults and within certain demographic groups, such as young adults and Hispanics. But brands and agencies should pay close attention to which media outlets offer the best mobile response opportunities."
"This survey shows that brands and agencies no longer can afford to overlook opportunities for mobile-enabling traditional media such as print, direct mail and broadcast," said Jacqueline Rosales, EVP, Business Development and Client Service, Luth Research. "Not only are a growing number of consumers exposed to ads that include a mobile call to action; they're frequently responding. This awareness and usage also gives brands and agencies additional options for tracking the effectiveness of a particular media channel, such as by using different short codes for newspaper ads and radio commercials to determine which ones really resonate with consumers."
Available exclusively to MMA members, each MMA Consumer Briefing includes a 2-to-3-page executive summary, all survey questions and up to 50 tables of detailed results. Survey responses are provided both in aggregate and in cross-tabulation by standard audience demographics, such as age, gender and income, as well as wireless carrier and handset manufacturer.
Source: MMA
12 Reasons for Businesses to Consider Mobile Advertising
Let's take a look at the 12 reasons why you'd want to seriously consider mobile advertising now and in the years ahead:
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Mobile Usage Hours Per Year
Mobile phone is in the possession of the average user for 5,840 hours per year via conversational advertising.
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Rate at Which Text Messages are Read
According to research conducted by Pew Internet in September 2009, texting is the primary reason that teenagers will sleep with their cell phone next to them.
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Ability to Get to Users All Times of Day
According to research conducted by Pew Internet in September 2009, texting is the primary reason that teenagers will sleep with their cell phone next to them.
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Mobile Advertising Spending
Messaging dominated mobile advertising spending in the last decade.
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Mobile Advertising App Activity
80% of apps on the iPhone App Store are downloaded 10,000 or less.
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Far-Reaching
The mobile Internet is becoming a mainstream activity for hundreds of millions of users around the world (in developed, and also developing countries where mobile is often the first screen.)
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Response and Engagement
Text's reach and ease of use for customers (and potential customers) to respond provides unprecedented levels of response and engagement.
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Campaign-Friendly
Brands can use a series of messages over a number of hours.
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Communication as a Core Strategy
At the core of all mobile consumption is communication. Mobile devices offer the opportunity to create a strategy that seamlessly integrates with the brand's marketing communication strategies.
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U.S. Statistics
In the U.S. 300 million users send over 4 billion texts a day-an average of 13.3 per user. Almost 65% and 50% of mobile users in their 40s and 50s, now regularly send texts.
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Acceptance of Mobile Advertising
U.S.
Conversational advertising in the U.S. will be worth US $47.8 million in 2010, rising to US $2.04 billion in 2015.
Conversational advertising will represent 8% of total mobile marketing messaging activity in 2010, but will be dominant model in marketplace by 2015, commanding 72% for total mobile marketing messaging.
U.K.
UK will more likely be more accepting of Conversational Advertising than the US, with 60% of respondents interested in the concept.
In 2010, Conversational advertising in the UK will be worth US $131 million, and representing 11% of total mobile marketing messaging revenues. By 2015, Conversational advertising will be worth US $670.3 million and represent almost 80% of total mobile marketing messaging revenues.
India and China
India (along with China) will be one of the mobile superpowers. The country will have 686.6 million mobile subscriptions by the end of 2010, and is forecast to cross the 1 billion mark in 2013. Mobile advertising in India is expected to grow from US $4 million in 2009 to US $20 million in 2010.
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Strengths and Benefits of Mobile over Traditional Advertising Campaigns
Personal Relationships:
Traditional advertising fails to capitalize on the personal relationships consumers have with their mobile devices.
Are mobile ads reaching you? How has this changed in the past 6 months to one year? Will you consider mobile advertising for your business this year?
Source: Technorati
Who's Calling? Some More Than Others
The idea that Americans are talking less on their phones and texting more might be true in many instances, but you can exclude a couple of groups of people from that category.
In a report released Tuesday, Nielsen, a consumer data and trend-tracking agency, said blacks are talking on their phones more than ever before, on average more than 1,300 minutes a month. Hispanics, the "next more talkative group," talk on the phone 826 minutes a month.
Compare these numbers to whites, who only use 647 minutes a month of talk time, half the average of blacks.
In a blog post on Nielsen's Web site, the company said it carried out the study in March by analyzing the phone bills of 60,000 mobile phone subscribers in the United States.
Nielsen found that women talk on the phone more than men - 22 percent more, or an average of 856 minutes of talk time a month, compared with 667 minutes for men.
The study also looked at the number of text messages sent each month and found that blacks and Hispanics text more than most, sending around 770 text messages a month. Whites were not far behind though, with an average of 566 text messages sent a month.
There was one finding in the study that probably didn't need much research: Teens text more than anyone else, sending and receiving an astounding 2,779 text messages a month, on average.
The report says that with each age bracket the number of text messages sent each month tends to fall by half. Although teens were close to 2,800 messages a month, those 18 to 24 years old sent and received only 1,299 messages a month.
Finally the report found that mobile subscribers who live in the South speak on the phone more than those in any other area in the United States.
Source: NY Times
African Refugees to Reconnect with Missing Kin Via Text
Eadya Julia fled her native southern Sudan nearly three decades ago at the height of a war between the south and the north. "For more than three years, we kept running from one place to another," said Julia, who lives at a refugee camp in northern Uganda. During the movement, her oldest son was separated from them and joined a group running in the opposite direction. He was 4 at the time. They have not seen him since.
A pilot program to reconnect missing loved ones targets refugees like Julia, whose story is a norm in camps across Uganda. "Like Facebook...it enables refugees to use mobile phones to register themselves with their profiles, search for loved ones and subsequently reconnect via an anonymous database, using SMS or mobile Internet," said Christopher Mikkelsen, director of Refugee United. "The mobile phone refugee family locating program aims to outfit UNHCR and other NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] with a collaborative tool as well as empower refugees."
Mobile phone companies MTN and Ericsson have teamed up to provide free cell phones to Sudanese living in select refugee camps in Uganda, said Adem Summertas, the country manager for Ericsson. In addition to the phones, MTN has provided a toll-free number for refugees to access a questionnaire and create profiles into a database. Once the refugees and other displaced people are registered in a central database, the information is accessible to refugees and aid agencies, experts said. Refugee United will also provide the service via computers online, said Simon Kaheru, a publicist for MTN Uganda.
Julia said the service gives her hope that her oldest son will be found. "Much as we are alive with his brothers, sisters and dad after many years on the run, I believe, he too is alive," she said. "I do not want to think he died."
The pilot program will be conducted in Uganda, Kenya and Sudan this year with plans to expand in other countries with larger refugee populations. Providing the service will take a lot of team work, said Mwambu Wanendeya, a vice president at Ericsson.
"Refugee United will create, maintain and update the database; while Ericsson will provide the mobile applications, technology and system integration to enable the application in mobile networks," Wanendeya said.
Phone companies such as MTN will host and offer the service in their networks, while the United Nations refugee agency will jump-start the program in Kenya and Uganda, according to Wanendeya. The program will empower refugees and aid groups in their search for missing relatives, experts said. It will also fill a gap left by traditional search methods.
Currently, searches are limited to the use of aid agencies operating in various refugee and displaced peoples camps. "Part of the justification for the project is the amount of time a person ... spends traveling between camps looking for loved ones is eight to 12 years," Kaheru said. Africa's cell phone market is booming, and most people even in poor neighborhoods have access to one. In contrast, only 2 percent of people in Africa have direct access to computers, making the service via mobile phones highly relevant," Kaheru said.
Aid agencies have started the drive to register refugees. "The success rate of this pilot project here and in Kenya will determine how fast it can be rolled out to the rest of the world," Summertas said.
Source: CNN
Vibes Media and the Dew Tour
Verizon Wireless understands the power of unique fan engagements, and once again they chose Vibes Media to bring their sponsorship of the Dew Tour to life.
Challenge
Not only does the Dew Tour present a technical challenge, with several screens and multimedia integrations, but the programs themselves must be innovative and engaging in order to compete with the barrage of audio and video experienced at an event like the Dew Tour.
Solution
Vibes created a complete mobile experience for the Dew Tour, unleashing an array of programs allowing fans to interact with the Verizon brand. Our Text / Pix-2-Screen programs enabled fans to have their messages and pictures appear on in-venue screens, an SMS Scavenger hunt kept fans engaged throughout the venue as they searched for clues, Dew Tour Alerts kept fans in the know about tour happenings wherever they happened to be and, finally, various digital content, including music and app downloads, were made available through SMS entry-points. These programs worked seamlessly with one another to create an engaging and memorable fan experience.
Results
Vibes Media helped Verizon Wireless initiate engaging conversations with over 10,000 unique fans during just five stops of the Dew Tour.
Vibes Media is on the Move
Not only has Vibes continued to make moves in the mobile marketing industry, but recently we also made a much more physical move. In late August, Vibes moved to our custom-built office space at 300 W Adams, 7th Floor.
We couldn't be more excited about the space, and we hope the energy from our new office will be seen in the continuation of our relentless focus on helping our clients interact with their customers in innovative and engaging ways.