August 25, 2008
Mobile Personal Touchpoints
John A. Bunyan, Chief Marketing Officer, Comverse
Advertising is evolving, becoming more personal and the mobile phone is the latest and hottest development in the evolutionary process.
Mobile advertising is drawing intense interest due to its uniqueness as an intelligent medium that can incorporate time, context, socio-demographical data and user location that leverages an intimate and trusted one-on-one relationship with the user. It is also unique in its ability to meet the user in more than one place.
Cashing In on Multiple Touchpoints
Part of the uniqueness of the mobile device as an advertising medium is that it offers so many ways to interact with the user and elicit impulse responses.
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SMS: Advertising can utilize SMS space for targeted ads that reward users with discounted or free messaging.
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MMS / Instant SMS: Multimedia makes possible colorful banner ads and video clips.
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Ringback Tones: Users can earn “ad for cash” credits.
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Bill Statements: Excellent touch opportunity to leverage SMS and billing relationship for impulse purchases.
Advantages like these have made mobile advertising one of the industry’s hottest new growth areas. The $1.5 billion that advertisers currently spend about annually on mobile media is expected to increase almost 10-fold to $14 billion by 2011.
Subscriber Relationship: Unique and Precious Asset
To an ad network or a mobile Web portal, each consumer is just one set of eyeballs among millions in a market. To the carrier, however, every subscriber is a precious asset.
Operators can capitalize on this relationship and the wealth of subscriber data they possess. Advertisements must be highly relevant, non-intrusive, and opt-in to leverage yet safeguard the trusted subscriber relationship.
Successful New Revenue Model
Newspapers and magazines are “mixed” media models, generating revenue partly from users and partly from advertisers. Both revenue streams make the media model work.
Operators are applying this mixed model to the mobile world. Ad messages inserted in SMS messages, for example, can reduce consumer charges for SMS messages and/or bundles. Similar blends provide compelling business models for voicemail/ MMS messages, ringback tones, etc.
Getting It Right: The Right Message to the Right Person via the Right Touchpoint
A highly relevant message for one consumer can be spam for another. Guiding an advertising message to the consumer depends on the optimal use of knowledge about consumer preferences, needs and behavior – all handled with the utmost respect for consumer privacy.
Beyond a consumer’s opt-in for a particular content type, there are other key factors to consider in serving ads. Some users access the Web, others do not; some users prefer SMS, others Mobile IM. Even handset types dictate the appropriate delivery approach.
Operators hold the key knowledge assets for these decisions. At stake is the effectiveness of the campaign and protection of the operator's relationship with the subscriber.
Putting the Operator in Control
A mobile advertising solution needs to put the operator in control to leverage all appropriate consumer information. The right ad to the right person via the right touchpoint makes for the right business case.
