Mobile Experience

Beyond Eyeballs

In a world where consumer choice rules, it is surprising that marketers insist that the way to create awareness is to stimulate viewership.  Consumers are bombarded with well over 10,000 messages a day.  A "viewership" approach to awareness creation is a luxury only the largest marketing budgets can afford.  A more efficient approach would be for marketers to move beyond eyeballs to the proactive and deliberate delivery of experiences that would be noticed, individualized and of some sustainable value. 

The Great Divide in Mobile Advertising

There is significant experimentation underway today in mobile and social advertising.  Unlike many emerging markets, it's primarily the big brands that are leading the charge.  In fact, 2007 has been declared the "year of trial" for how advertising may transform to accommodate digital and social media.  Even with this innovation, however, there is still the constant drum beat from all the major media players for standards, for measurement and ROI rigor. 

iO sponsored an executive panel and another in its series of Mobile Experience Leadership roundtable discussions at last month's Advertising Research Foundation Conference and Expo.  It's here that the leading thinkers, media researchers and advertising practitioners gather to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with consumer engagement and relationship marketing. 

Increasing Share of Experience Creates Loyalty

A common theme stemming from the fourth iO Mobile Experience Leadership Roundtable held at CTIA in Orlando was that insufficient investment is being made within the mobile ecosystem to understand the consumer and what they really want to do.  While this is tyupical of early stage markets, we should not forget that this same lack of customer understanding contributed not insignificantly to the dampening of the first generation e-businesses. 

Advertisers as Gift Givers

David Haskins, in his Computerworld blog, recently likened advertising on mobile phones to bulldozing a rain forest to put in a strip mall.  There is clearly a debate on the value of mobile advertising as evidenced by the comments to this blog.  There are a few key themes that always come to the surface -- relevancy to the individual, lack of intrusiveness or invasion and the imperative to always deliver value to the individual.  Our advisor, Bill Harvey, who is a veteran in measuring advertiser ROI in digital media describes an alternate approach to mobile advertising. 

Elizabeth Chaney

Life's Remote Control

The mobile phone has moved far beyond being an instrument for just telephone calls... it has become a personal connection device that plays a central role in individuals' lives.  The relationship divide between the individual and the screen in fact is increasingly blurring.  And this burgeoning relationship is driving recent trends in mobile device design, moving from the smallest form factor to new feature-rich, internet-connected personal "expressions" that can deliver TV, and rich internet content.  As highlighted in the recent Poetics of Mobile Media micro-narrative posting, it is this relationship that must be considered when designing content and content services relevant to an individual's on-the-run life.

Transaction or service ... it's all about the consumer relationship

Every day it seems there is a different approach under experimentation in mobile advertising.  Advertising effectiveness pioneer and iO global advisor, Bill Harvey points out in his posting here, what's called for is a new relationship between the advertiser and consumer.  An always-on connection between the individual and the advertiser will ultimately transform the traditional advertising paradigm from transaction to relationship, from targeting to serving.  In the end, advertising effectiveness will be measured by the value and sustainability of that relationship. 

Elizabeth Chaney

People have experiences... devices have interfaces

Two review articles -- Wireless Business Forecast (Vol.3; Issue 3) and MediaPost.com -- illustrate the reality of the long-tail digital media market.  While there may be a diversity of tastes and opinions with respect to content appeal, there is one thing on which all reviewers agree -- the consumer experience must dramatically improve to catalyze the mobile digital media market. 

Most reviewers however, seem to think of the individual as a user of a device. While I agree that user interface elements are very important -- e.g. search ease and accuracy; content structure and packaging; the intuitiveness and appropriateness of the device-user interface -- these are merely the tip of the iceberg when one thinks from the perspective of the individual's holistic experience.  It's the experience for the person in the context of their on-the-run life that seldom gets reviewed. 

Experience is the key to opening the walled garden

Restrictions rarely lead to revenue, particularly in an early consumer choice-centric environment.  This same truth will likely apply to the walled gardens of the mobile operators. 

The Third Screen blog, "Are Ads the Key to the Walled Garden", proposes that ad-funded services may open walled gardens to others, thereby providing a better mobile experience to the consumer.  Enabling consumer choice is indeed the key for unlocking any proprietary mentality, particularly in a consumer-controlled world.  Advertiser funding and sponsorship will also probably stimulate uptake and growth for some period of time, for some group of individuals.  But will it unlock value?  What has yet to be proven is how to sustain continuous profitable relationships between consumers, advertisers and digital content service providers, particularly when the initial novelty of getting free content and services in exchange for viewing ads wears off. 

Reach Out and Serve Someone

In an anything, anytime, anywhere environment, consumers can have access to almost anything they seek, for the price they want, made available for them when they want it.  Ubiquitous choice has become the ultimate competitive challenge for every traditional retailer of products or services. 

If the scenario described in Gifts & Decorative Accessories is anywhere near real, retail is going to change dramatically.  In this article, a shopper in a store sees the desired product on the shelf, and at the decision moment, brings out her mobile phone instead of her credit card.  She snaps a photo of the barcode with her camera phone, scans it and sends it to a retail service such as Amazon.com or Shopping.com.  What comes back to her mobile screen is detailed product information, reviews, and a list of competing retailers within 2-3 miles of the shopper's location, with maps and directions, and maybe even more incentives to buy. 

High Value - Low Complexity Mobile Marketing

Why does mobile marketing need to be so complex?  It's a question I have pondered numerous times, and so it was with great relief I found that I wasn't alone when reading The Mobile Marketing Maelstrom. 

It is true that marketing campaigns delivered through an individual's mobile device must be careful not to violate permissions and security, but this should be the consideration for any marketing campaign using any medium, channel or touchpoint.  What is interesting from this article's discussion of different research studies (Enpocket, Forrester, WhitePages.com) is that if the focus of the campaign or ad is relevant to the individual's activity, then it is usually allowed, and in some cases, gratefully accepted.