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TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

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Bridging the gap with mobile

Mobile is the platform for next generation of advertising. The statistics show the potential, and the industry big wigs agree that this is where the brands should be. Now the big question is not why, but how the brands can get on the mobile platform and make this the part of their brand marketing ecosystem. This was the key point of discussion at the recently concluded Mobile Marketing Association Forum held in Singapore. The market figures show that across the region mobile is the first point of contact for brands with the consumers because this is one device that is always on, and is the prime source of communication for all the consumers. During his presentation at MMAF, Ashutosh Srivastav, CEO, Mindshare Asia said

Global mobile media sales top $100 billion in 2011

2011 was the first year that global consumer spending on media content, apps and services for mobile phones broke through the $100 billion barrier, according to the Global Mobile Media Forecast from Strategy Analytics. Consumers will increase spending on mobile media from $121.8 billion in 2011 to $138.2 billion in 2012, a 13.4% jump, predicts Strategy Analytics, a research and consulting firm. At the same…

Samsung Overtakes Nokia to Become the World’s Biggest Mobile Seller

After 14 years at the top, Nokia (IW 1000/61) has finally been overtaken by Samsung (IW 1000/12)as the world leader in mobile sales. We can’t say we didn’t see this coming. Over the last few months, Nokia has been hit with an avalanche of bad news. Even with its partnership with Microsoft Corp. (IW 500/16) to release the ambitious new Lumia 900 smartphone and the wildly aggressive marketing campaign that accompanied it, the company has found itself unable to capture its share of the market, posting a $1.2 billion loss last quarter.

Hispanics to Spend $500 Million on Mobile Apps in 2012

Hispanics are early adopters of both tablets and smartphones, and also more likely than whites to go online using mobile devices. All of that activity will add up to a sizeable pile of cash for device retailers and app stores in 2012. According to December 2011 research by advisory firm Zpryme, adult US Hispanics will spend $17.6 billion on mobile tech devices in 2012, a 30% increase over the previous year. It also estimates that Hispanics will spend $501.1 million on mobile apps by the end of the year.

Mobile Share of Paid Search Keeps Growing

Recent reports from IgnitionOne and Marin Software indicate that mobile is at the forefront of paid search growth, and the latest quarterly trend report from Performics appears to support mobile’s growth. Looking at its aggregate client base, Performics notes that mobile paid search spend accounted for 17.8% of all paid search spend in March 2012, up from 14.7% in December 2011, and more than triple the 5.1% share it held a year earlier. In fact, in dollar volume, the report notes that spend volume is close to 5 times higher on a year-over-year basis, as advertisers have jumped into the fray to catch this trend. Even so, mobile is not cannibalizing desktop, just growing at a faster pace.

Personalization is key to mobile commerce success

Personalization is not a new concept in marketing, but it is definitely going to be a key factor in the success of mobile commerce. However, marketers need to realize that getting consumers to buy a product or service is not as important as providing a tailored experience that gives them exactly what they want and need. Nowadays, consumers crave contextually relevant and targeted information. Additionally, consumers always have their mobile device with them, and instead of thinking about how to make their next sale, brands and retailers need to focus on personalizing their efforts to better reach their audience.

Unilever’s Dove promotes beauty products through multichannel digital effort

Unilever’s Dove is using mobile advertising to encourage consumers to get involved in a broader digital campaign that promotes healthy skin and the brand’s personal care products. The mobile ads are part of Dove’s “Show us Your Skin” campaign that advocates for real women to submit photos of themselves looking their best with clean, healthy skin. The ads are running within TV Guide’s iPhone application.

Mobile devices and local search: Reaching a tipping point

If you own or run a business that relies on local traffic, you need to pay attention.  The proliferation of connected mobile devices – specifically smartphones, tablets and others such as iPod touch – means your customers and potential customers that are on the go are always connected. No more need for a laptop or desktop to look up your product or service. Forget about the Yellow Pages. We are talking real-time, hyper-local search.

Emerson makes bigger push into mobile with new marketing campaign

Technology and engineering company Emerson’s latest update for its ongoing “It’s Never Been Done Before” marketing campaign includes a much bigger commitment to mobile as the company looks to reach C-level executives who are increasingly attached to their smartphones. The campaign highlights the company’s innovation and engineering expertise in projects around the world. The recent update includes a bigger in-app advertising buy, more mobile video content and a newly optimized mobile site that has been translated into nine languages.

Why are marketers forgetting to optimize their mobile campaigns?

Too many marketers are hopping on the mobile bandwagon without fully considering the consumer experience they are delivering after the call to action. Currently, many brands and marketers are running mobile campaigns that lead consumers to unoptimized landing pages, making them pinch-and-zoom to view the content. This shows that companies are clearly not testing their initiatives and simply just putting them out there.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

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Forecast: Mobile retail marketing spending to reach $15B in 2012

Marketers will spend $15 billion globally on mobile retail campaigns in 2012–a 50 percent increase over 2011–according to a new forecast issued by Juniper Research. The firm adds that mobile retail marketing spend is accelerating faster in North America and Western Europe than it is in the Far East and China.

Global market for mobile video $30bn by 2017

GIA (Global Industry Analysts) says the market for mobile video services is projected to reach $30 billion by 2017, primarily driven by factors such as continued deployment of high-speed mobile networks, increasing availability of sophisticated mobile phones that enable users to download and play videos, introduction of economical data plans by service providers and growing popularity of social networking sites among mobile users. Robust demand from developing markets such as Asia-Pacifica and Latin America also augurs well for the market.

Mobile Shopping Creates a $15bn Opportunity for Retail Marketing and Advertising in 2012

A new report from Juniper Research has found that value of mobile retail marketing will reach $15 billion globally by 2012 as digital adspend moves to mobile and mobile coupons gain acceptance. This is a growth of 50% over 2011. The New Face of Shopping The report found that the smartphone, and more recently the tablet, has increased the capabilities of both the modern shopper and the mobile retail marketer. The marketer now has new marketing channels to attract the mobile shopper, but equally the shopper has more access to competitive product and pricing information before making a purchase.

Android, Samsung top U.S. mobile phone market

Android has widened its lead as the top smartphone OS in the U.S., according to the latest stats from ComScore. For the three months ending September, Google’s mobile platform grabbed 44.8 percent of the market, an increase of almost 5 points from the prior quarter. Apple’s iOS retained second place with a 27.4 percent share of U.S. smartphone owners, up slightly from the previous period.

Mobile ad market growing strong

S. KOREA – With the number of smartphone users in Korea on the rise, the mobile ad market is expanding amid signs of a broader shift in the advertising industry toward portable devices. While conventional ad markets for newspapers, magazines and TVs remain sluggish, smartphone users here are now exposed to 1,000 ads per month, promising new territory for advertisers and media firms.

Survey: Publishers Continue Cross-Media Diversification, Begin to Monetize Mobile

Magazines and newspapers in the U.S. and Canada are becoming more confident in their strategic mobile plans as they diversify their offerings and discover new ways to derive revenue. According to a new survey from the Audit Bureau of Circulations and ABC Interactive, “Going Mobile: How Publishers Are Maturing and Monetizing Their Offerings,” the number of publishers who say they have a well-developed plan for the mobile market rose to 59 percent, up from just 28 percent in 2009. And 67 percent said it was important to their strategic future to earn revenue from both ads and subscriptions.

Google Mobile Ad Sales See $2.5B Run Rate

Google’s mobile ad run-rate is a cool $2.5 billion and growing. But will mobile search revenues continue to double or swell greater? One of Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) big future bets is paying off well in the present, as the search engine’s mobile ad revenues are tracking to bank $2.5 billion in 2011

Mobile Brings New Opportunities for Local Retailers

Ecommerce sales are growing fast, but the vast majority of consumer spending still takes place offline in local stores. A large portion of those sales are influenced by online research, most of which is conducted on the desktop. But increasingly, consumers are taking advantage of the sophisticated capabilities of smartphones to do more of this online research while in a store or on the go.

Global Mobile TV Subscribers to grow $792M by 2014

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In the latest report (Global Mobile TB Forecast to 2013) conducted by Market Research, the Mobile TV Subscription is predicted to acquire an increase in the number of mobile TV rollouts in the world. The number of mobile subscribers will grow at a CAGR of roughly 43% between years 2011 and 2014 to reach almost 792.5 million by end of 2014. Report also revealed the streaming technology to dominate the mobile TV subscriber base by the end of year 2014.

Various factors seen to support this anticipated growth include operators’ service pricing models and the availability of handsets that can support good picture quality at high data transfer rate.

The global mobile TV market has been witnessing a significant growth over the years, on the back of its ability to stream the content from the television on the move, according to Market Research.

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

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Sizing the Mobile Payments Market

Mobile payments, though they have yet to take off substantially in North America, are a hot topic, with major companies like Google joining startups in the space and hoping to grab a slice of billions of dollars in potential transactions. Research firms disagree on the current size of the nascent market, but project strong growth in mobile payments and their users.

Fueled by smartphones, daily deals, merchants embrace mobile marketing in a big way

Retailers can no longer rely on the flashing neon sign or the “clown on the corner” to draw in customers who are walking past the storefronts with their heads down looking at their mobile devices. That’s the message from Borrell Associates, which says it is seeing a dramatic shift in how small and mid-size businesses are embracing mobile advertising and mobile promotions. Mobile advertising is fast becoming the go-to choice for local businesses across the U.S., thanks to the fast spreading of social media, smartphones and daily deals and coupons…

Global Location Based Advertising Market to Reach $12.8 Billion by 2017

GIA announces the release of a comprehensive global report on Location Based Advertising (LBA) markets. The global market for Location Based Advertising is projected to reach $12.8 billion by the year 2017. With mobile Internet gaining in popularity and the proportion of smartphone sales increasing, LBA market holds enormous potential. The market is driven by favorable factors including spurt in number of GPS and Wi-Fi enabled phones, increased merchandising and shopping activity among consumers, growing popularity of mobile commerce, and increasing usage of Location based Social Network Services.

Smartphone Users Most Engaged with Ads While Shopping

Different mobile activities lead to different behaviors and engagement levels. With smartphones able to perform a variety of tasks, from communicating to information-seeking to shopping and beyond, consumers are spending more time with them than ever. And marketers have more chances than ever to reach them via mobile.

Smartphone growth changing mobile habits

As more Americans make the upgrade from traditional cellphones to smartphones, mobile habits are changing significantly – a development that should not be lost on businesses and their marketing departments. According to recent figures from research firm comScore, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used a mobile phone during the three month period ending in July. Of those, 82.2 million owned smartphones, a 10 percent increase over the three month period ending in April.

Consumers Demand Personalized Messaging Across All Verticals

Brands of all stripes are working toward delivering personalized messages to their target audiences. Despite their best efforts, however, consumers say certain industries are not meeting their needs. Service providers, such as cable and utility companies, and regulated companies, such as insurance and finance brands, appear to be behind the curve in terms of delivering personalized digital experiences.

Asia-Pacific leads the world in smartphone use: Google/Ipsos study

ASIA-PACIFIC – It seems then when it comes to mobile phones, and smartphones in particular, there is no market quite like the Asia-Pacific. The region is ahead of the world’s most advanced economies in terms of smartphone and overall mobile phone penetration, a joint study by Google and Ipsos has found. The report, Smartphone Research on Mobile Internet and Market Trends, spanned 30 markets globally and 11 markets in Asia-Pacific. It found that the region as a whole had the highest mobile phone penetration in the world and a willingness to use those phones to shop and play that outstrips other markets.

Mobile internet – driver for mobile

The mobile communications market has been experiencing a global upswing. Smartphones, in particular, are appealing to even more consumers. This year, it is anticipated that around 400 million smartphones will be sold around the world. Above all, in Western industrialized nations, this boom is occurring at the expense of feature phones, which do not offer the diverse range of smartphone functions. These are the latest GfK Retail and Technology findings prepared for IFA 2011, which is taking place in Berlin.

Mobile internet use doubled in two years: ONS

Six million people accessed Internet over mobile phones for the first time. A new study by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that the number of people connecting to the Internet using a mobile phone has nearly doubled in the past two years. The study showed that there were 17.6 million mobile phone Internet users in 2011, representing 45% of Internet users, compared to 8.5 million users (23% of all users) in 2009.

Asia-Pacific region remains a leader in the world’s mobile market

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Asia-Pacific is ahead of the world’s most advanced economies as far as Smartphone and overall mobile phone penetration, report said.

In a study conducted by Google and Ipsos, the Asia-Pacific region remains leading in the global mobile market. The region is ahead of the world’s most advanced economies in terms of Smartphone and overall mobile phone penetration.

The report (Smartphone Research on Mobile Internet and Market Trends) spanned 30 markets globally in which 11 markets were from Asia-Pacific. In its totality, the region had the highest mobile phone penetration in the world with the willingness to use those phones to shop and play, stripping out other markets.

Report further said that more consumers from Asia-Pacific region find their Smartphone more interesting than TV, compared to US consumers. Four countries surveyed in APAC had a higher Smartphone penetration – Singapore (62%), Australia (37%), Hong Kong (35%), and urban China (35%).

The APAC takes a lead at 78% compared to US region (31%).

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

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How to choose a winning mobile strategy

The executives who make the decision on strategy already have first-hand experience and an existing relationship with their phone. They understand the importance of mobile and are constantly reminded by friends and family that its influence is becoming increasingly broad on all levels. Secondly, the numbers are simply impossible to ignore. Businesses are moving their strategies in line with the evolving user behavior and companies of all sizes and sectors are putting mobile at the center of their business strategy.

comScore Reports June 2011 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share

The study surveyed more than 30,000 U.S. mobile subscribers and found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.3 percent market share. Google Android continued to gain ground in the smartphone market reaching 40.1 percent market share in June.

Nokia still top mobile maker in Q2, but Apple grows 142 percent y-o-y

According to the IDC’s worldwide mobile phone tracker, vendors shipped 365.4 million units in 2Q11 compared to 328.4 million units in the second quarter of 2010. The 11.3-percent growth was lower than IDC’s forecast of 13.3 percent for the quarter and was also below the 16.8 percent growth in 1Q11. The feature phone market shrank 4 percent in 2Q11 when compared to 2Q10.

Nielsen Data Points to Continued Android Dominance in the US Smartphone Market

Google’s Android operating system isn’t backing down amid growing competition within the US smartphone market. Android now represents 39 percent of the US smartphone ownership market as of June 2011. That information comes from the latest Nielsen data. The data largely backs up the claims made three weeks ago by Google CEO Larry Page, who says Android-powered devices are being activated to the tune of 550,000 units a day.

8 in 10 Mobile Users Browse Products/Services

About eight in 10 (81%) US smartphone/tablet users browse or look for products and/or services with their mobile devices, according to the July 2011 Prosper Mobile Insights mobile survey. This was slightly more than the 80% who use their mobile devices to locate a store or store hours (more than one answer permitted). The top two choices among the eight offered respondents were about twice as popular as any other response. The next-most-popular mobile activity, researching specific products (56%), was performed by 43% fewer smartphone/tablet users. The only other activity performed by more than half of respondents was receiving text messages with special offers (53%).

Mobile Users Expand Their Search Habits

More than 91 million US consumers will use the internet through a mobile device at least monthly by the end of this year, eMarketer estimates, and research shows that the increase in on-the-go web usage goes hand in hand with more search activity for local content. According to research from comScore and the Local Search Association, 22% of all US mobile owners used search on their phone in January 2011, up from 16% a year earlier.

Apple Tops Nokia, Samsung to Become World’s Top Smartphone Maker

As evidenced by the fact that Apple now has more cash on hand than the US Treasury, Apple’s unprecedented growth continues and it doesn’t appear that even Nokia and Samsung can slow the momentum. According to a new report published Friday by Strategy Analytics, Apple is the new king of the global smartphone world.

Marketing is ‘moving to mobile devices’

Businesses aiming to achieve a complete customer view for marketing have been advised that more advertising spending is moving to mobile devices. Windsor Holden, the principal analyst at Juniper Research, said that while mobile advertising, which covers tablets, smartphones and cells, really took off in 2010, its potential has still yet to be realized.

Mobile Market: Samsung, top handset manufacturer in the US mobile market

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The latest report of comScore revealed Samsung as the top handset manufacturer with an overall market share of 25.3% while Google Android continued gaining ground in the Smartphone market with 40.1% market share in June.

For the three-month average period, Samsung ranked as top OEM with 25.3% market share (0.08% up). LG came closer at second spot with 21.3% market share (equivalent to 0.4% points), and Motorola on third rank with 14.5% market share. Apple strengthened a post at fourth with 8.9% while RIM at fifth with 7.9% market share.

Meanwhile, Google Andriod made it on top rank with 40.1 market share (5.4% up) in the Smartphone market. Apple grabbed the second rank with a market share of 26.6% (1.1% up) while RIM came third with 24.3% market share, followed by Microsoft at 5.8% and Symbian (2.0%). More of the report here

TheTMSway Weekly Radar on Mobile Marketing and Business

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A survey of 300 US companies shows rapid rise in mobile budgets

Mobile advertising is advancing rapidly and many of the issues that slowed progress in early years have been addressed, for example constraints imposed by network and mobile phone limitations have radically improved through developments in, respectively, mobile broadband and smartphones, according to a survey. A new survey by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has indicated that the mobile advertising issues of highest concern to marketers are consumer privacy (40 percent) device operating system fragmentation (39 percent) and lack of standardised metrics (31 percent).

Advertisers Work to Integrate Mobile into Cross-Platform Campaigns

Most plan to integrate campaigns targeting mobile users into broader efforts. Mobile advertising is on the upswing, with eMarketer estimating US advertisers will spend just over $1.1 billion on the medium this year, rising to $1.5 billion in 2012. But for many marketers, mobile is still in the relatively early stages, with sporadic or disconnected efforts not tied to an overall marketing campaign.

Internet mobiles drive 27% rise in online retail

ONLINE retail is booming, despite tough times from the high street, with traffic to online retailers up 27% in the second quarter of this year. The latest BRC-Google retail monitor found that the increase in retail search volumes was driven by people looking for online stores on their mobile phones. Such mobile search volumes were up 216% year-on-year. The growth of retail search volumes for multi-channel retailers (usually those using stores and the internet) reached 14% in the second quarter of 2011, compared with 21% for pure online retailers.

Battle for media advertising dollars still hot

Dubai: As the preferred platform for advertisers, newspapers in the UAE accounted recorded $425 million (Dh1.56 billion) worth of ads during the first half of the year. This represent a decline from the $478 million recorded during the same period last year, according to Parc (Pan Arab Research Centre) figures. Magazines managed to stage a recovery in pulling ads. They took in $112 million in advertising which accounts for 16 per cent of total ad spending in the region. Television attracted a marginal increase to total $65 million, accounting for a 9 per cent share of the overall amount spent.

Mobile advertising to surpass $1.2 billion this year

With smartphone penetration on the rise, more advertising agencies are leveraging mobile platforms to promote products and services. According to a new survey from J.P. Morgan, budgets devoted to the medium are expected to nearly double in 2011 to $1.2 billion. J.P. Morgan analysts expect mobile will become a bigger digital marketing platform as data traffic continues to surge.

China’s mobile Internet poised for drastic growth

An audience is waving his cell phone and having a “tennis match” with a player shown on the computer screen. No matter who wins the match, the player must have lots of fun as his face is streaming with sweat. In the 9th International Mobile Phone Industry Exhibition held in Tianjin Binhai International Convention & Exhibition Center recently, the audience could feel the Internet life brought by mobile Internet and intelligent cell phone by means of interactive experience activities held by the exhibitors.

Developing Markets Show Rapid Ad Growth

Data shows there are now two developing markets in the world’s top 10 ad markets, China and Brazil, and the addition of Russia will make three in 2013. China is now the third-largest ad market in the world, with spending of $26.1 billion USD in 2010, and is catching up quickly with second-placed Japan, which spent $46.1 billion in 2010. This represents 57% of Japan’s spend. In 2013, China is expected to spend $39.1 billion, 83% of Japan’s predicted $47.4 billion in ad spending. Similarly, Brazil, at sixth place, is even closer to the fifth place UK: 81% of the size of the UK in 2010 and will be 91% in 2013. Russia, which was in 13th place in 2010, will be in ninth in 2013.

Smartphone shipments expected to reach 1B by 2016: study

Smartphone shipments are expected to reach 1 billion annually by 2016, up from 302 million in 2010, per a new study by Juniper Research. In order for the smartphone market to grow, the Juniper predicts that price points must come down, specifically to a retail price $150. The study also shows that handsets that can morph into other devices will see a particular increase.

IT spend by wealth managers to top $4.6 bn by 2015

Asia-Pacific spending on IT by the wealth management industry will top $4.6 billion by 2015, a significant growth rate of 8% over a five year period, predicts Ovum in a new forecast. In Asia-Pacific, China and India will be the major driver with a compunded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% and 12.5% respectively compared to 8% in Australia and 7% in Korea.

Nigeria to pioneer mobile marketing in Africa, MMA

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Nigeria is expected to pioneer mobile marketing in Africa, taken from its record of more than 90 million mobile phone users and over 50% penetration.

In the gradual growth of mobile marketing in Nigeria, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is said to align with those in the marketing chain to structure the market, segment mark and move further for the expansion of the media as channel to marketing.

Prior to its plan of establishing a West Africa office, MMA has told African paper, Business Day, that it would brief stakeholders in the region on the benefits of the council and would conduct forum for telecom operators, senior marketing management on how to create revenue generating service to stimulate advertising and marketing income. Roundtable and panel discussions on strategic issues on short codes, regulatory matters, SMS best practices, and other relevant topics on West Africa will also be expected.

The body also organizes basic course that entails the principles of marketing. According to MMA, the course doesn’t turn the participant into an expert but it gives him/her formal understanding of mobile marketing including location marketing, where the marketer can actually confine the message to a geographic zone.

TheTMSway made Hong Kong Tramway a real time interactive touch point

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As Martiros artist ad campaign made a hit at Hong Kong Tramway, mobile users were able to experience an exciting and personalized manner of meeting in person with the long hailed ‘one of the most successful and collected living contemporary Master Artists in the world’.

The Damina Gallery is a place that displays masterpieces of artists from US, Asia, and Europe – that includes Martiros, who is one of the most successful and collected living contemporary Master Artists in the world celebrating the love of life and freedom. With his art exhibits scheduled from May 9 to 28, 2011, all supporters of Martiros were invited to acquire for VIP invitations in an exciting and more personalized manners.

The interactive campaign, powered by TheTMSway via its telecom-free “touch point” system which associates   the new short codes (TMS Shortcodes) to the TMS code search engine (TMS Search), was launched and made a hit at the Hong Kong Tramway inviting all supporters to use the TMS code: VIP 2011 to receive a personalized invitation to meet Martiros in person. The call to action was: “visit TMSsearch.com on mobile to enter the code”.

Attached to the TMS code, an interactive (mobile) site was accessible where mobile users could watch videos as regards to Martiros and his works. Users were given also the privilege to specify a schedule of which they preferred to personally meet with the artist. The interactive site (automatically optimized for mobile and tablet devices) was also integrated with location map and social functionalities where all supporters can share the event to friends via emails or across Facebook and Twitter spheres.

From the tramway transformed into an interactive touch point, the campaign was ‘tagged’ by TMS to provide with real time metrics and data about user’s interaction, engagement, and social sharing behaviors.