A great tool for brainstorming
May 10, 2013 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
We’ve been looking for something like Trello for a long time. Trello Is promoted as a project management system. As a digital marketing agency we’ve got that down. What was really missing was a global collaborative space to share ideas and brainstorm. At the core of Trello are cards that are used to share and organize ideas. People can collaborate using tablets, smart phones and traditional browsers. This is ideal when trying to brainstorm with folks in different locations and time zones. People can also vote and share ideas outside of the group. As more of the best creative’s in the business ditch their commute and learn how to work from home apps like Trello become very valuable. Think of it as a digital whiteboard that doesn’t end up a scribbled mess, or have the words “do not erase”, scrawled above it. I’ll let you know how it goes.
More here https://trello.com/
Recent poll : 71% of consumers would consider using a mobile coupon on a date!
April 30, 2013 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
When my wife and were saving for a first home I remember going through a phase where I printed out coupons for free entrées in local restaurants. These coupons and other discounts like the entertainment card would always raise eyebrows with the wait staff. It was especially fun when your coupon was rejected and had to be returned to you. ” Sorry sir this is only for our Plattsburgh location, you will need to pay the entire check” . After a while I gave up on them as I am sure many restaurant goers did. But now as I pull out my iPhone 5 redeem a 50% off Groupon at a nice local seafood place it just feels a lot like handing them your American Express card. In fact American Express has even built in some offers with foursquare. Waitstaff response “that’s cool”.
Our recent recession combined with rapid acceptance of smart phones has really changed this whole process from something very difficult to something so easy so that it’s just second nature for many people now. In fact a recent study has shown that only 9% of consumers believe using a coupon would label someone as “cheap”. So here’s the big number – 
71% would consider utilizing a coupon on a date and not attempt to hide it! However I would most likely not recommend this on first dates. see study below via Warc
US consumers rely on coupons
AUSTIN: Consumers in the US are spending less on meals at restaurants, new clothes and higher-priced groceries than five years ago, while relying more on discounts and coupons, a survey has found.
RetailMeNot, a digital coupon site, polled 1,101 consumers online for the financial literacy edition of its Shoppers Trend Report and found that more were actively saving money than before.
“Consumers are emerging from the Recession of 2008 having learned a valuable lesson, that saving money is a good thing,” said Trae Bodge, senior editor for RetailMeNot.
“Today’s consumers have higher expectations for what they can do with their hard-earned paychecks,” he added. “They also want more for their money and are willing to take the necessary steps to ensure that they get it.”
Significant proportions of respondents had reduced their outlay on meals at restaurants (49%), expensive groceries (44%) and new apparel (46%).
At the same time, 51% of consumers who used coupons stated they used them more today than five years ago, while 37% said they used them more than a year ago.
Economic factors were the main reason for the increased usage of coupons, either because respondents’ personal finances had declined (43%) or because the recession had made them more conscious about the importance of saving (31%).
But 23% indicated that their increased use of coupons was simply because technology had made it easier to find and use them.
“Couponing as a necessity gave people a taste for savings, and consumers will continue to look for ways to get more for their money,” noted Bodge.
In general, coupons had a positive image, with 59% of respondents regarding people who used them as “savvy” while just 9% reached for the description “cheap”.
Interestingly, some 71% said they would consider using a coupon on a date and would not attempt to hide it.
Data sourced from Wall Street Journal; additional content by Warc staff , 30 April 2013
Read more at http://www.warc.com/LatestNews/News/EmailNews.news?ID=31332&Origin=WARCNewsEmail#KRVVAcRUpLk7Ajvm.99
2012 Mobile Year In Review
April 12, 2013 Uncategorized Leave a comment
Mobile web use among teens rises significantly
April 9, 2013 Mobile, News Leave a comment
Washington DC : A recent PEW Internet study among US teens regarding their preferred method of getting online found that 78% of US teens use a mobile phone. Around three quarters of that group accesses the Internet on smart phones and tablets. 25% of that group uses a mobile device as their primary access to the Internet.
This presents an opportunity for marketers to utilize the mobile web in unique and innovative ways. The latest HTML 5 technology allows marketers to deliver an app like experience on a variety of mobile devices not just iOS and Android. Teens are interested in the go anywhere mobile experience. Companies should be looking to provide a unique mobile experience for products and promotions. In many cases the mobile web is superior to utilizing apps as access has gotten easier, no app download required, no long waits for App Store approvals and most importantly no managing expensive multiplatform app updates and launches.
Think about utilizing the mobile web for branded contests and promotions that can be updated regularly, new product launches and experiential events that may not necessitate the cost of a full-blown mobile app. The goal should be to provide an app like experience for all smartphone and tablet users.
We can take this one step further utilizing responsive web design whereby the site automatically adapts to the screen size of the device. With new smaller and mid-size tablets capturing more market share this type of responsive design will continue to gain traction. Find out more - view our recent presentation on mobile web promotion opportunities
Engage Your Consumers on their Mobile Devices
March 28, 2013 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
Photo sharing contests are a great way to connect with your consumers and prompt them to engage with your brand. And, using Facebook as the vehicle to bring awareness and participation to your campaign is fantastic … unless those consumers are primarily using a mobile device to access the Facebook platform. Currently, Facebook desktop and Facebook mobile operate like two completely different platforms. Facebook is in the midst of optimizing the mobile newsfeed to engage their mobile consumers, but that doesn’t expand to facebook apps.
Your brand spends money to advertise to and engage your consumers on Facebook; it’s affordable and effective to build your Facebook community and social media presence. The number of active daily visitors visiting Facebook on mobile devices (680 million active users) now exceeds the number of traditional desktop users.
What happens to your brand’s consumer promotional engagement on a mobile device? Is that Facebook Like-Gate page collecting mobile fans or the Facebook Photo Sharing Contest App even reaching your consumers? Currently, on mobile devices like smartphones, it’s not.
Think about it. What device do you use most frequently to check Facebook? Are you satisfied having your brand top-of-mind only from the comfort of a desktop computer? Let’s face it – your phone is a social device. You have it with you at all times. By the end of 2013, there will be more mobile devices on Earth than people. (Source: Cisco, 2013)
Don’t despair, ApolloBravo makes Facebook Apps mobile! Apollobravo builds mobile-friendly apps allowing your fans to access, view and interact with your Facebook Desktop version of the contest or sweepstakes app.And the best part is that the mobile app and the facebook app are seamlessly synced. Advertise your promotion in a Facebook Ad or simply post to your fans’ newsfeeds with the confidence to drive awareness and increase participation …. Even on a mobile device!
Check out our current Jagermeister Brother in Your Corner Photo Contest apps.facebook.com/jagercode … from your desktop OR your mobile.
Food and beverage brands lead on Twitter
March 7, 2013 Mobile, News, Social Leave a comment
A recent UK study shows brand mentions for food and beverages more prominent than music, celebrities or news updates. This points to a great opportunity for brands to develop and invest in growing their presence on Twitter. Mentions can be further enhanced by running photo contests and prompting consumers to use hashtags to be automatically entered in sweepstakes. It’s much easier to engage a brand this way then filling out a form online or even worse a mail-in sweepstakes. When integrated with mobile marketing, analytics and contest management tools Twitter can make a great primary means of entry for your next promotion or sweepstakes.
Via WARC Brands in the food and beverage, clothing and retail sectors generate the highest number of direct mentions among Twitter users in the UK, according to a report.
Drawing on a sample of 10,000 tweets made by 1,000 members of Twitter, the social media monitoring firm BrandWatch revealed that 3.6% of posts referred to a brand by name.
“This made brand names almost as prominent as television, film and sport, and more prominent than music, celebrities or news updates,” the firm’s study said.
Members of the food and drinks category yielded 32% of these messages. McDonald’s and Nando’s, the restaurant chains, Tesco, the supermarket giant, and Cadbury, the confectioner, led the charts here.
The technology sector was the subject of 11% of tweets referencing brands. Apple, and its iPhone handset, topped the category rankings, with Samsung, Microsoft and Orange following next.
While 80% of content about technology brands was generated by men, women were behind 89% of tweets in the clothing category and 73% for food and drink.
“Equal numbers of products and services were mentioned, suggesting an even split between secondary and tertiary sectors,” the study said.
“Brands ranged from large, established names including Amazon and Ford to smaller companies such as Azendi and Micro Scooters.”
Looking more broadly, the analysis showed that 38% of posts were “solo tweets”, where the user did not link with other Twitter members using tagging or a direct exchange.
A further 36% were replies to messages, while 22% were retweets, the analysis added.
Data sourced from Brand-e.biz/BrandWatch; additional content by Warc staff, 7 March 2013
Digital media leads in emerging markets
March 6, 2013 News, Social Leave a comment
Looking to promote your product in emerging markets? A recent study shows that mobile and social media are far more influential in these markets than in North America or the UK.
LONDON: The digital channels are more important for marketers than traditional media when it comes to connecting with consumers in emerging markets, new analysis shows.
The Discovery Brand Index of GlobalWebIndex, is based on the results of more than 150,000 Internet users in 31 countries, creating a single measure of the ease with which consumers can find brand messages.
It found, for example, that social media are six times more important for brands in markets such as Indonesia and Thailand than in Japan or the UK.
To highlight the difference in attitudes, consumers in the Netherlands are seven times more likely to learn about new brands and products that social media ads.
Another important digital channel is mobile, and campaigns in countries like Thailand and Vietnam are about four times more efficient than in developed markets such as the UK and the Netherlands.
Developed Internet markets, however, have different characteristics. In Japan and the United Kingdom, for example, the search is twice as important for brands in consumer buying trip digital.
Established brands also exert more power in these markets. In Japan, the brand loyal consumers outnumber those “adventurous brand” by two to one: a bit of stick from 58% to a brand once they find one they like, while 27% always like to try new products.
By contrast, consumers in emerging markets are much less fixed in selecting brand: 73% of Filipino Internet users like to try new products.
“With brands increasingly investing in digital and social media, it is critical to understand how all channels to work together, with individual metrics that cover all communications, whether they are online or not,” said Tom Smith, GlobalWebIndex founder.
Among other findings of the study are that consumers in Hong Kong are more likely to trust the price comparison and consumer review sites in the search for online information products.
And Sweden produced the lowest score online BDI, indicating that the Swedes are the least likely of any nationality to use the Internet to interact with brands or product search.
The data comes from GlobalWebIndex, additional content by WARC staff, March 6, 2013
More Americans are dual screening
March 5, 2013 Mobile Leave a comment
Recent studies indicate that more and more Americans are dual screening, primarily using their tablet or smart phone while watching TV. More viewers we are engaged with content in multiple ways. This could include the sports fan checking out-of-town scores on his smart phone while watching the game on TV. The couple checking IMDb on a tablet to settle a bet over what year a movie was released. And sadly, more often than not workers clearing out some old emails on their laptop while watching Modern Family. Advertisers should explore more opportunities to reach dual screeners. Interacting with televised content by uploading photos sharing tweets or Facebook posts is growing in popularity especially among affluent consumers as the study here suggests.
SAN FRANCISCO: Most wealthy Americans use laptops, smartphones and tablets at the same time as watching television, research has found
The latest Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent Barometer surveyed 1,055 affluent adults, defined as those who claim an income of at least $ 100,000, and included 192 high net worth consumers with an income of at least $ 250,000.
The Barometer established that 64% of Americans were dual screening on a regular basis. Most preferred to use his laptop (63%), but nearly as many smartphones used (58%) and tablets (53%).
“The technology is truly integrated into [consumers] lives to the point they find it difficult to stop using a device, even when they are engaged with one or two others,” said Steve Kraus, chief research and insights officer for Ipsos MediaCT, luxury Daily.
Just over half the sample used social media platforms while watching TV, with Facebook twice as likely to be used as any other network.
“The widespread media multitasking puts a higher premium on the involvement of consumers,” said Kraus. That means that “really reach them with messages that attract attention of consumers and talk to important consumer values.”
When asked what media channel that would be hard to live without, fully 70% of respondents said they would be your laptop.
Two-thirds could not live without your smart phone, but only one-third described their tablet.
The survey also found that affluent consumers are more optimistic about the state of the economy and their personal perspectives from which the merely affluent.
As a result, luxury marketers must “continue to focus on higher-end, ultra-rich consumers,” said Kraus.
“Luxury projections for growth are modest to affluent as a whole, and we currently see no signs of a return to widespread aspirational luxury shopping behavior that characterized pre-recession America,” he added.
Data supplied by Luxury Daily, additional content by WARC staff, March 5, 2013
57% Facebook users go mobile. Now how to reach them.
January 21, 2013 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
Excellent info-graphic courtesy of QWAYA via Social Media Today.
Facebook’s growth on mobile devices is a good indicator of how rapidly smart phone subscriptions are growing globally. Out of Facebook’s nearly 1,000,000,000 active monthly users 57% are accessing via mobile phone. If you’ve developed a great mobile website or mobile promotion, The Facebook Newsfeed is a fantastic way to drive traffic there.
Explosive mini tablet growth to fuel m-commerce, and hasten PCs decline
January 15, 2013 Mobile, News Leave a comment
Here come the mini tablets. Or are they just big phones? With devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note its hard to tell. But if that size doesn’t work for you there’s many more like the iPad mini or Kindle fire HD. The widespread availability and low cost of these new devices is accelerating the mobile impact on PC shipments, and the PCs role in e-commerce. Results from research firm Gartner indicate that PC shipments were down 4.9% to 90.3m units, a drop which it did not attribute solely to a weak economy. ”Tablets have dramatically changed the device landscape for PCs,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner, “not so much by ‘cannibalizing’ PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs.”
Additionally these mini tablets are highly portable and are being used more and more for impulse purchases. Like a phone many have built-in 4G access, cameras with QR code scanners, and even NFC near field communication. Here’s a list of several hundred mobile devices that are NFC enabled. http://goo.gl/IrqDX
So how does this all impact mobile commerce? One example, at CES we saw a demo from the first chain of NFC supermarkets in Paris. So forget about 3-D or HD have just old-fashioned 2-D where consumers can quickly scan to purchase items and have them ready for pickup or delivery. So in fact you could have a C store display in a Metro station linked to a vending machine for a fast automated shopping experience. Read more about the NFC supermarket here http://goo.gl/JfY8Z
NFC and QR code scanning is just the beginning. Engaging consumers in this way allows brands to opt in consumers for future offers, promotions, more product info.
Questions about m-commerce? Reach out to ApolloBravo the consumer engagement experts. http://www.apollobravo.com/contact/
Mondelez International, the snacks firm which split off from Kraft Foods adopts mobile first position
January 11, 2013 Mobile Leave a comment
“Our goal is to become one of the top mobile marketers in the world. By investing 10% of our global marketing budget in mobile, we believe we will open opportunities in the marketplace,” said Bonin Bough, its vice president, global media and consumer engagement.
Note to Chief Marketers: Get in the social currency game.
December 7, 2012 Social Leave a comment
This survey shared by socialmediatoday is another in a long string of data pointing to the fact that among consumers interacting with brands it’s more about social currency then social media. The study points out the disconnect between brands and consumers. Here are a few of highlights.
- 65% of consumers connect with a brand for the games, contests and promotions
- 79% to take advantage of special offers and discounts
- People are connecting with brands via social media because they expect something in return
- Consumers see this as social currency
- When CMO’s or asked this same question they believed that these consumers were looking for content and only 27% of the same CMO’s believed that consumers were seeking special savings, experiences or rewards.
That’s a big disconnect. So the challenge for marketers is to engage consumers as the first step in starting a conversation. Pony up your social currency at the front door. This is especially true with new product introductions or brand extensions which 55% of consumers want to hear about.
From the looks of things not many CMOs and marketers are putting enough weight to the idea of social currency…
And one more chart just in case the message is not loud and clear. Read more about the study here http://goo.gl/rc3ev
ApolloBravo Presenting at MoDevEast
November 28, 2012 Uncategorized Leave a comment
The first three weeks after launch are crucial to the long term success of your app. Don’t wait until after your app’s launched to layout your marketing plan. Brad Beckstrom, Managing Partner of ApolloBravo, will walk you through the latest strategy for cross-platform app launches: including marketing tools every developer should embrace. Primarily, we will highlight activities developers can focus on outside of the traditional app store placement.
Stop by our presentation @modeveast It’s Launch Time. How to Market Your App During the Crucial Launch Phase. 2PM Thurs 11/29/12 event details tickets http://ow.ly/fE456
Things are tough for Greece but great for Greek yogurt. Read this post for a free PinkBerry yogurt
October 25, 2012 Mobile Leave a comment
New Loyalty App for PinkBerry Yogurt. Customers can download the PinkBerry App and get a FREE yogurt with unlimited toppings. The app includes several unique features including:
- Facebook gifting
- Rewards – replacing their old Pink card punchcard program
- In app payment options
- Flavor finder
- And some of the standard store locator social sharing options
Consumers can also instantly share ideas and comments with a promise from PinkBerry to respond in 24 hours.
Scan for the APP.
Note to retailers: it’s time to replace tear pads and punch cards. How a sub shop chain got 650,000 new loyalty members
October 24, 2012 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
- New mobile web ordering and payment accessible to all smart phones via a new HTML 5 platform
- A QR code to check in and claim your points or join the program
Consumer Engagement and Instagram
October 23, 2012 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
When you think about it photos are a great way to engage consumers. Whether it’s through contests, experiential marketing or social media, photos are king. When a consumer includes your product in a great photo it’s the ultimate complement for your brand. Try this experiment, go to any products Facebook page and click on photos, then click on photos of……. and you will see the sometimes “very interesting” ways consumers are engaging with that product through photography. With the growth of Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest a photo can now have a much larger audience. It’s also gotten much easier for the consumer to add a quick hashtag or tag your product on Facebook. Check out this YouTube video of how shoe brand Aldo is using Instagram to vastly enhance the visibility of a street team promotion.
ApolloBravo offers branded photo sharing solutions for your contest, event or social media campaign. We create campaigns that maximize photo sharing across multiple platforms and encourage consumer check-ins with photos.
Mobile show-rooming spells trouble for unprepared retailers
October 22, 2012 Mobile Leave a comment
Show-rooming points to big troubles for brick-and-mortar stores. Recently while shopping for a new refrigerator I thought I would give showrooming a try. It’s pretty easy to do, you can use an app like Amazon or Red Laser and quickly scan barcodes on appliances other items in any store for a quick comparison. To capitalize on this trend many online retailers are offering free shipping and set up for large appliances. My results – I could’ve saved $250 online. However the retailer was prepared and offered free set up, haul-away and a gift card. Lesson learned if you’re going to showroom give the salesperson at least a shot at matching the price. For retailers think about embracing show rooming with your own scannable codes and price match offers. Make sure you remind consumers about services and guarantees you may not get from online retailers. More about growing show rooming trends.
VIA WARC
CouponCabin, the deals website, and Harris Interactive, the polling firm, surveyed2,361 adults, and reported that 43% of people owning a smartphone or tablet participated in this activity.
Upon being asked if they were worried that this might cause bricks and mortar stores to go out of business, some 44% of the panel proved “not at all concerned”.
A further 41% were “somewhat concerned”, while 12% were “very concerned” and 3% were “extremely concerned”, the study found.
By category, the uptake of such behaviour was highest when considering home electronics, hitting 50%. Entertainment products like books, DVDs and CDs logged 40% here.
These figures stood at 31% for the apparel segment, as well as 29% for footwear, and 24% for desktop PCs, the analysis revealed.
Overall, a 97% majority had ultimately bought an item researched in this way at a lower price than was available in stores.
Within this group, a 28% share of shoppers either “always or often” did so, and another 68% “sometimes” adopted the same strategy.
“Consumers are using technology to find as many ways to save as possible, and showrooming is a prime example of that,” said Jackie Warrick, president of CouponCabin.
“As showrooming becomes more widespread, some stores are concerned and are changing their strategies, offering new incentives and providing special offers to keep shoppers buying at their retail locations.”
Research from Deloitte has suggested that over 50% of consumers were likely to be carrying smartphones when Christmas shopping this year, compared with 40% last year.
“Those [chains] who adjust and are able to be nimble with their customers will have a great holiday,” said Alison Paul, retail and distribution sector leader at Deloitte. “Showrooming is a phenomenon, but it will not end retail as we know it.
“Retailers recognise that having the customer in the store is nine-tenths of the battle,” she added. “There’s nothing like the immediate gratification of walking out with what you came to get.”
Data sourced from CouponCabin/Chicago Tribune; additional content by Warc staff, 22 October 2012
67% of smartphone users say mobile friendly sites turn visitors into customers
September 26, 2012 Mobile, News Leave a comment
The following post originally appeared on the Google Mobile Ads Blog.
In this world of constant connectivity, consumers expect to find the information that they want, when they want it – especially when they’re on the go. We know that this applies to their web browsing experiences on mobile, so we took a deeper look at users’ expectations and reactions towards their site experiences on mobile. Most interestingly, 61% of people said that they’d quickly move onto another site if they didn’t find what they were looking for right away on a mobile site. The bottom line: Without a mobile-friendly site you’ll be driving users to your competition. In fact, 67% of users are more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly site, so if that site’s not yours, you’ll be missing out in a big way.
- When they visited a mobile-friendly site, 74% of people say they’re more likely to return to that site in the future
- 67% of mobile users say that when they visit a mobile-friendly site, they’re more likely to buy a site’s product or service
- 61% of users said that if they didn’t find what they were looking for right away on a mobile site, they’d quickly move on to another site
- 79% of people who don’t like what they find on one site will go back and search for another site
- 50% of people said that even if they like a business, they will use them less often if the website isn’t mobile-friendly
- 48% of users say they feel frustrated and annoyed when they get to a site that’s not mobile-friendly
- 36% said they felt like they’ve wasted their time by visiting those sites
- 52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company
- 48% said that if a site didn’t work well on their smartphones, it made them feel like the company didn’t care about their business
Study : Marketers Underspending on Mobile Marketing
August 31, 2012 Mobile, News Leave a comment
This is something we see a lot and it is part of the reason there is such a big opportunity in mobile. With many companies devoting less than 1% of their total marketing budget to mobile the door is wide open to reach consumers in this category that has arrived.
NEW YORK: via WARC US marketers should increase their spend on mobile marketing by a factor of seven, according to a study commissioned by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).
The research by Marketing Evolution, a marketing measurement and analytics firm, concluded that the optimized level of spend on mobile advertising for US marketers in 2012 should be 7%, on average, compared to the current budget allocation of less than 1%.
“Finally, we are able to give marketers a level of empirical data that takes out the guesswork,” said Greg Stuart, CEO, MMA Global.
He added that the research “offers a baseline for further discussions on what a rebalanced marketing mix should look like to achieve a stronger ROI on every dollar they spend.”
The precise level of spend will of course depend on the marketing goal and industry category. The study also indicated that mobile’s share of the media mix will only increase in the future, to at least 10% by 2016 as more people use smartphones.
Rex Briggs, CEO of Marketing Evolution, said: “It’s clear that marketers, on average, are spending significantly less than they should on mobile and are losing out on sales and profits by settling for a sub-optimal media mix.”
The information was welcomed by B. Bonin Bough, vice president of Global Media and Consumer Engagement at Kraft Foods.
“We’re committed to making a difference in mobile innovation,” he said, “so I’m very pleased that the MMA is leading the industry with this valuable data.”
The MMA estimates that mobile marketing in the US is currently worth $26bn.
Data sourcd from MMA; additional content by Warc staff, 31 August 2012
Contact ApolloBravo for a free mobile + social readiness evaluation.
Three “Must do” marketing investments.
July 11, 2012 Mobile, News, Social Leave a comment
Excellent article on 3 must do marketing investments shared in Tech crunch. Before making the investment companies need to explore how mobile, social and content can be linked and delivered efficiently. With over 50% of search now conducted via apps and mobile devices is important to put mobile 1st in this trio.
Summer signals the beginning of budget season. Before making marketing investment decisions, analyze this year’s three marketing must-haves: social media, content marketing and mobile. While aspects of these marketing formats may not have direct costs, they all require budget and resources.
1. Social Media
Social media provides platforms, enabling marketers to interact with their target audience. Social media involves more than a Facebook page or Twitter account. It requires an integrated social media strategyincluding a social media persona to ensure it’s an integral part of your marketing.
- Assess current social media presence. Is your brand present on appropriate social media networks? Are you actively managing your presence? Are there emerging social media platforms relevant to your firm, focus, or target market where you must establish your presence?
- Evaluate your brand’s portrayal across social media platforms. Is your brand consistently presented? Do your branding guidelines need to be enhanced?
- Determine the engagement level you need on social media platforms. Remember, you can’t rely on three tweets a day written by your agency. You need a human face behind your social media presence. Ensure you’ve got appropriate in-house resources to respond to social media requests.
- Create relevant content to feed social media needs. Assess requirements across content formats and social media platforms. Include formal content marketing as well as social media interactions like Facebook comments and Twitter responses.
- Support your social media presence with targeted advertising. Do you need to enhance your social media presence with related paid advertising? Consider the use of social media ads.
2. Content Marketing
Content marketing is promotion-free information that fuels social media and overcomes purchase decision hurdles. (Here’s an outline of content marketing’s basic steps.)
- Analyze content marketing needs. Assess the existing content within your organization. Then determine where you have content marketing needs and where you have holes in your existing offering. Specifically examine the entire purchase process and social media interactions.
- Integrate content marketing into an editorial calendar. Determine where content is needed, the format and topic required, and the timing of its creation based on your assessment. Incorporate this information into a plan across platforms to ensure it’s synched with your promotional calendar. Plan for content reuseto extend the life of each element.
- Acquire appropriate resources for your content creation team. At a minimum, you need an editor and a copy editor. While you can encourage employees and customers to contribute content, determine where you need additional support. Don’t underestimate the need for designers, photographers, writers and technology support. These resources can be internal, freelance or agency-based.
- Expand content marketing reach. Make it easy for readers to share your information with social sharingbuttons. Where appropriate, use advertising to promote your content and build an audience.
- Ensure content marketing closes sales. Content marketing by itself can’t drive sales. It needs calls-to-action and related dedicated promotional codes. Further, create tailored landing pages and streamline the sales process to efficiently convert prospects to sales.
3. Mobile
Mobile is a must-have for every business with a retail presence or that competes with a business that has a retail presence since mobiles and tablets go shopping.
- Be present on mobile search. Mobile search is separate from web search. Local businesses that people seek on-the-go must be findable on mobile search.
- Build a mobile website. Don’t just assume people can read your web-optimized site on a mobile device. Create a streamlined mobile website focused on the information customers want on-the-go.
- Build a mobile phone number house file. If you don’t have a mobile phone list, start building one now.
- Optimize your emailings for mobile devices. Email is the primary content consumed on mobile devices. Ensure readers can easily read and take action on your emailings via a connected device.
- Assess need for a mobile app. In the past year, mobile app usage has surged ahead of mobile web, according to Flurry. Depending on your business, this shift may require investment in a mobile app.
According to IBM’s State of Marketing 2012, marketers face an array of challenges. Top on their lists are channel and device choice expansion and customer collaboration and influence. This is no surprise given social media’s exponential growth, increased smartphone usage, and the quick adoption of tablets. These elements require new ways of engaging and selling prospects and customers through content marketing and social media delivered via various mobile devices.
At a time when marketers need additional funds to test these emerging channels and platforms, more than a quarter of those surveyed believe their biggest challenge is financial constraints and ROI accountability. This is to be expected in light of weak economic growth. Many businesses using social media, content marketing and/or mobile are still testing these strategies and haven’t developed effective tracking yet.
Smartphones influence 160bn in store sales in US. Is your website mobile commerce ready?
July 2, 2012 Mobile Leave a comment
via Warc.com
According to the advisory firm, smartphones are due to impact 5.1% of all retail store sales in the US in 2012, equivalent to $159bn in revenues. Such a total can be compared with an anticipated $12bn in pure m-commerce returns.
The influence of these devices should also grow “exponentially” between now and 2016, shaping 17% to 21% of sales, or $628bn to $752bn, by 2016, when mobile commerce attains a value of $30bn.
Based on a survey of 1,071 nationally representative consumers and 1,557 smartphone users, Deloitte reported 48% of people own a smartphone.
Some 58% of this group use their mobile for “store-related” shopping, climbing to 68% for 25–34 year olds.
The analysis also stated uptake of this activity rose 40% after the first six months of device ownership, and people using phones in this way are 14% more likely to convert in store.
Similarly, 49% of smartphone users had engaged in this pastime when buying electronics and appliances, doing so on 60.9% of shopping trips. This gave mobile an “influence factor” of 8.3% over category purchases.
A further 46% of this audience used these gadgets in general merchandise outlets, department stores and warehouses, typically on 52.5% of visits, yielding an “influence factor” of 6.7%.
Elsewhere, 38% of smartphone users employed their handsets while making acquisitions in the clothing and footwear segment, with a 56.2% frequency. Wireless devices thus impacted 5.9% of sales in all.
Additionally, 35% of this audience turned to smartphones in the food and beverage category, generally on 58.2% of shopping occasions, results meaning they played a role in 5.7% of decisions.
Overall, 61% of people participating in this kind of activity accessed their handset in store, while 52% did so on the way to these outlets, 45% on the night before, 17% two days earlier, and 10% a week prior to attending a bricks and mortar vendor.
Alison Paul, Deloitte’s retail and distribution sector leader, said: “Mobile is an important tool for retailers to incrementally drive traditional in-store sales, strengthening the relationship between retailer and consumer to increase engagement and loyalty.”
Data sourced from Deloitte; additional content by Warc staff, 29 June 2012
Social media explained with beer
April 18, 2012 News, Social Leave a comment
Our official entry into the social media explained with, craze. We think it’s best explained over a cold beer.
Poll 81% of consumers commented about a brand online, 15% received a response from the brand.
April 2, 2012 Mobile, News, Social Leave a comment
Brands have a great opportunity to close the consumer engagement gap via social media. Brands are spending millions of dollars to reach consumers via traditional outbound marketing while many customers are already knocking at their door. Great survey.
Via WARC LONDON: Marketers in the UK are failing to engage consumers making comments about their brands on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, new research has revealed.
Marketing Week, the trade title, and Maritz Research, the insights provider, polled 1,000 adults, 81% of which had uploaded opinions about goods specific and services on the web. A further 77% expected to do so in the future.
Some 85% of the participants who had entered comments on the net concerning a brand did not receive a reply. In all, 47% would be “happy” to hear back from a business in such a way, and 32% would “love” this kind of response.
“The large percentage of people who had never been contacted after posting a complaint is a real example of where companies are missing a trick,” said Maya Robert, content editor and social media manager at uSwitch, the price comparison website.
When discussing the 15% of consumers who had received a message from a brand, 32% “loved” it and 47% ranked their engagement simply as being “OK”.
“I think we will always be surprised by how much people want you to be visible and step in and give help,” said Stuart Handley, EMEA director of communication for Dell, the IT group.
Nearly half of the panel had utilised social media to air their views relating of companies, with 24% providing favourable feedback in this way and 23.5% “venting feeling” to friends and family.
For 14% of interviewees, this medium had been a “last resort”, and 8% opted for such an approach in anticipation of achieving a rapid reply from the organisation involved.
Overall, 74% of contributors who had mentioned brands on Facebook generally adopted a positive tone and 26% complained, figures hitting 17% and 5% respectively for Twitter, and falling to 10% and 2% for YouTube.
Among those shoppers making remarks about goods and services online, 58% would have a “higher opinion” of corporations that responded, the analysis added.
When complaining, 74% of customers were seeking an apology, 39% sought offers or vouchers, 34% wished to be thanked by a firm and 29% hoped to gain financial compensation.
“More than 90% of the incoming traffic on our social media channels is customer-related comments or issues,” said Jakub Hrabovsky, head of web relations and social media at Vodafone, the telco. “The vast majority just want a solution and don’t care whether you apologise or offer them compensation.”
Data sourced from Marketing Week; additional content by Warc staff, 2 April 2012
contact ApolloBravo for consumer engagement strategies.
Innovative technologies to enhance television advertising
February 20, 2012 Mobile Leave a comment
Advertisers look at ways to add a 3rd dimension to TV ads. No special glasses required, just your smart phone. Including a product specific mobile landing page linked to a QR code in TV ads is a great way to reach smart phone owners. Combine that QR code with a mobile short code and easy to read keyword and you reach an even broader audience. Instantly deliver product details, special offers, dealer locator and a buy now button. Contact ApolloBravo for more info on linking our ShortQR codes to a mobile optimized product specific landing page with buy now capabilities.
Via WARC NEW YORK: A majority of US brand owners are interested in exploring innovative technologies and services to enhance their television advertising, a study has found.
The Association of National Advertisers, the trade body, and Forrester Research, the insights group, surveyed 124 advertisers in 16 major industries in the US.
Overall, television should take 47% of media expenditure this year, a figure which had grown by six percentage points compared with similar analysis published in 2010.
Some 76% of respondents reported that media budgets will be “stable” in 2011. Another 62% thought their media agency was well-equipped to help them exploit the changing viewing trends and possibilities which are currently observable.
Among the shifts set to reshape the TV market this year is the rising uptake of alternative measurement methodologies, to be coupled with existing data from Nielsen, which remains the most trusted source.
For 72% of interviewees, the quality and accuracy of information provided by set-top boxes, for example those offered by TiVo or Apple, is likely to improve in the next few years.
An additional 47% stated that unique visitor or viewer numbers would eventually become the industry standard for measuring audience figures across different channels. Advertisers expressed rising confidence in set-top box technologies capable of targeting ads at specific customer segments. Nearly three-quarters of marketers had a “strong interest” in this area.
Elsewhere, almost half of participants are testing or plan to utilise “advanced” television advertising, such as by including interactive features in spots on video-on-demand platforms or cable stations, in the coming 12 months.
A further 18% of the panel had already leveraged “synchronised” ads on at least two screens – say, PC and television – while 31% expected to deploy this kind of model in 2012.
In all, digital is still the top priority for advertisers, 70% of which will spend more on web ads in 2012. Social media and mobile came next in this list.
Indeed, ads on the latter channel were the main video alternative to linear 30-second spots when contributors considered areas where they were likely to boost expenditure in 2012, the study said.
Data sourced from Forrester; additional content by Warc staff, 20 February 2012
The best digital firms move fast
February 3, 2012 Mobile, News, Social Leave a comment
via Warc.com NEW YORK: Companies making the most effective use of digital media typically adopt a distinct set of strategies in areas like mobile, social networking and data analytics, a study has argued.
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the advisory group, polled 489 US firms with annual sales of over $500m, and identified a selection of “top performers” boasting the strongest revenues, growth, margins and innovation credentials.
It revealed that 50% of these leading players planned to spend a minimum of $1m on building mobile tools for their customers to use in 2012. The same was true of just 29% of other enterprises.
Moreover, 66% of the premier digital businesses described their interaction with consumers on mobile devices as “quite or very significant”, measured against 45% of all the corporations assessed
A 30% share of “top performers” deployed social networks to reach shoppers, versus 37% of firms not attaining such a status. But while 41% of the former group yielded “significant benefits” from this tactic, a smaller 24% of “the rest” said the same.
“Interestingly, though, there seems to be little connection between use of social media for external communications and actual commercial success,” PwC study stated.
“We have found that the organisations that achieve solid results from their social media efforts are those that use it not only as an outreach platform but “also as a method to listen and engage.”
By contrast, the companies enjoying the most impressive returns are making greater usage of social media internally, and 36% should spend at least $1m on this channel in 2012, standing at 22% for “the rest”.
Similarly, although 56% of the entire panel intend to collect more consumer data in the next year, this rises to 66% for “top performers”. Exactly 50% of the best organisations will exploit such insights for R&D, falling to 28% elsewhere.
Some 89% of top performers also agreed their company had a strategy in place that was likely to succeed, and 86% said their CEO actively championed new technology to achieve success. This beat average scores of 68% and 60% in turn.
More specifically, 63% of the highest-ranking operators believed that their chief information officer and chief marketing officer had a “strong” or “very strong” relationship, a total that fell to 42% of all featured corporations.
“Leading firms … understand that being behind the curve on the strategic use of technology not only puts their firms at a competitive disadvantage, but weakens their ability to interact and strengthen relationships with customers,” PwC said.
Data sourced from PricewaterhouseCoopers; additional content by Warc staff, 3 February 2012
Smartphones fuel m-commerce
December 7, 2011 Mobile Leave a comment
Via WARC / Comscore NEW YORK: Increasing numbers of US consumers are using smartphones to research and buy products, a report has shown.
According to comScore, the research firm, 38% of smartphone owners – an audience currently standing at 90m people – have purchased goods and services through their handset on at least one occasion.
During September 2011, some 47% of individuals who acquired products via this route bought digital items like music, ebooks, ringtones, films and television programming content, the company found.
A further 37% bought clothing or accessories directly from a retailer, with tickets to events including movies, plays and sporting fixtures following on 35%.
In a demonstration of the integration between emerging digital platforms, 34% of the mcommerce population completed transactions on daily deals websites such as Groupon and LivingSocial.
This matched the total generated by gift certificates, while 32% of the mobile customer base opted for electronics like TV sets and computers.
Ordering food for delivery or pick-up, for example a takeaway pizza, scored 31%, hotel reservations yielded 29%, physical books registered 26%, and car rentals logged 24%, as did airline tickets.
Elsewhere, 13% of shoppers buying from a phone made purchases linked to the automotive category, suggesting this channel holds opportunities for a wide range of sectors.
“In September we saw two-thirds of all smartphone owners perform shopping activities on their phones, including comparing products and prices, searching for coupons, taking product pictures or locating a retail store,” Mark Donovan, comScore’s senior vice president, mobile, added.
Looking at the location of consumers as they bought offerings through their smartphone, 56% did so at home, and 42% engaged in this pastime at work.
Another 37% did so when travelling, and 36% actually utilised mcommerce tools in bricks and mortar stores.
Other outdoor sites, such as parks, schools and restaurants, posted a combined 42%, comScore’s analysis revealed.
Data sourced from comScore; additional content by Warc staff, 7 December 2011
Inbound Marketing versus Outbound Marketing
November 2, 2011 News, Social Leave a comment
This is a great info-graphic visualizing how inbound marketing stacks up against traditional outbound marketing. We call inbound marketing, consumer engagement primarily because we see it as two-way communication where marketers provide value and are rewarded. See more about inbound marketing and our consumer engagement services here
Via Mashable
Thanks to the Internet, marketing has evolved over the years. Consumers no longer rely on billboards and TV spots — a.k.a. outbound marketing — to learn about new products, because the web has empowered them. It’s given them alternative methods for finding, buying and researching brands and products. The new marketing communication — inbound marketing — has become a two-way dialogue, much of which is facilitated by social media.
Another reason why inbound marketing is winning is because it costs less than traditional marketing. Why try to buy your way in when consumers aren’t even paying attention? Here are some stats from the infographic below.
- 44% of direct mail is never opened. That’s a waste of time, postage and paper.
- 86% of people skip through television commercials.
- 84% of 25 to 34 year olds have clicked out of a website because of an “irrelevant or intrusive ad.”
- The cost per lead in outbound marketing is more than for inbound marketing.
Inbound marketing focuses on earning, not buying, a person’s attention, which is done through social media and engaging content, such as blogs, podcasts and white papers. This content is interesting, informative and adds value, creating a positive connection in the eyes of the consumer, thus making him more likely to engage your brand and buy the product. So it costs less and has better a ROI.
This infographic from Voltier Digital highlights the differences between the two kinds of marketing. Let us know your opinions in the comments below.
Access to social networks via mobile devices booming in US.
October 24, 2011 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
Latest Comscore data shows rapid growth of consumers accessing social networks via their mobile devices. This is important for companies that want to share offers or drive traffic to their mobile website utilizing Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare, Linked in, Google and a variety of other social networks popular on mobile devices. Reach out to ApolloBravo for a mobile readiness evaluation and creative solutions for integrating Mobile + Social.
via WARC NEW YORK: Over 70m consumers in the US now access social networking sites through their mobile phones, a study from comScore, the research firm, has revealed. According to the company’s estimates, 72.2m people – a third of the entire mobile audience – logged on to these platforms via a handset in August 2011, a 37% increase on an annual basis.
More specifically, 39.9m individuals engaged in this pastime “almost every day”, a total which had expanded by 58% during the last 12 months.
Facebook led the field in terms of usage, reflecting its dominant position in the market as a whole. Some 57.3m of its members signed in from a wireless handset in August, a 50% lift year on year.
Twitter was in second place having attracted 13.4m mobile subscribers across August 2010, equating to 75% growth on August 2010. LinkedIn attracted 5.5m visitors in the same way, a 69% surge.
At present, the most popular activities undertaken by the mobile social networking audience are viewing comments from their friends on 80.3%, and posting status updates, on 69.5%.
Elsewhere, 53.2% of people had followed links to websites, and 52.9% read posts from brands and organisations.
This was ahead of the 44.8% that looked at material from celebrities and other public figures. Another 34.8% of netizens posted links to websites.
Turning to more commercial matters, 33.3% of consumers had received coupons and offers on these web properties, and 27.7% clicked on ads.
When considering the means via which mobile subscribers access social networks, comScore reported 42.3m did so through a browser, up 24% year on year, and 38.5m utilised an app, a 126% annual improvement.
Some 60% of smartphone owners logged on to social networks on these gadgets, nearly double the overall average, Mark Donovan, comScore’s senior vice president for mobile, said.
“Knowing that fans and followers engage with branded content on mobile devices opens the door to a world of opportunity for location-based services,” he added.
Data sourced from comScore; additional content by Warc staff, 24 October 2011
Are apps replacing bookmarks?
October 10, 2011 Mobile Leave a comment
If you use an iPhone, iPad, or Android device you probably rely heavily on apps to get to some of the companies you used to visit via your web browser. Think about it, Facebook on your iPhone, banking app on your Android phone, Twitter app on your iPad. Consumers are beginning to expect companies to provide access via apps and mobile websites linked via web apps (ESPN On the iPhone combines both). That’s why the growth in Apps is looking more like growth of websites in general. In addition QR codes, and links to apps and web apps delivered via SMS in many cases make it easier than navigating to a companies traditional website and bookmarking it. Need more info,see research below or reach out to ApolloBravo for a mobile readiness evaluation.
Read More Via Warc
GOTHENBURG: App downloads are set to increase rapidly around the world in the next five years, fueling growth in the subscription and advertising revenues generated through this channel.
Berg Insight, the research firm, estimated the number of apps installed by consumers on wireless devices will grow by 56.6% annually between 2010 and 2015, reaching 98bn a year by the end of this period.
More specifically, the company reported the revenues resulting from individuals paying for these tools, alongside in-app purchases and related subscriptions, hit €1.6bn in 2010.
It predicted the amount delivered by these combined activities should stand at €8.8bn in 2015, equivalent to a compound annual growth rate of 40.7%.
Apple is currently the leading source of income where mobile applications are concerned, with the firm’s App Store supplying some €1.3bn last year, a total anticipated to come in at €4.4bn in 2015.
During the same period, Google’s Android platform contributed a relatively modest €80m, but is projected to yield €1.5bn by the end of the forecast period.
The Windows Phone operating system manufactured by Microsoft is likely to assume third position in this area by 2015, although the company still has work to do if it is to catch up with Apple and Google.
Elsewhere, Berg Insight reported that in-app advertising was worth €300m last year, or 16% of all application revenues. Ad sales through this channel should be €750m in 2011 and €3.5bn in 2015.
As advertising is expected to be more of a “volume game”, Google Android is anticipated to assume a leading role, as the number of handsets utilising this operating system may be more prevalent, while Apple’s subscribers remain of higher value.
Overall, Berg Insight argued that Android would provide €1.2bn in ad revenues by 2015, versus only €39m in 2010. Apple’s comparative returns are pegged to rise from €230m to €1bn in this period.
Johan Svanberg, a senior analyst at Berg Insight, said: “Most apps are free to download and app monetisation will be a challenge for developers. Free to download monetisation strategies such as in-app advertising and in-app purchasing will be increasingly important.”
Geographically, Asia Pacific, which houses the key mobile markets of India and China, is pegged to account for 40% of all app downloads by 2015.
Data sourced from Berg Insight; additional content by Warc staff, 10 October 2011
Tablet ownership booming globally
September 28, 2011 Mobile, News Leave a comment
The rise in tablet ownership is growing faster than most industry analysts predicted. This includes smaller tablets like the galaxy tab and the new smaller Kindle from Amazon. Companies need to re-examine how their websites, micro-sites and product specific landing pages will appear on these devices as well as smartphones. Reach out to ApolloBravo for a free mobile readiness evaluation.
via WARC
NEW YORK: Nearly a fifth of consumers in China, the UK and US now own a tablet, up from less than 5% late last year, according to a new report.
Citigroup, the financial services provider, surveyed 1,800 people in these three nations, and found the proportion of respondents possessing slate devices had grown from 3% to 18% since November 2010.
Penetration has reached 21% in China, ahead of 17% for Britain and America. Similarly, 26% of the Chinese sample were “very likely” to purchase a tablet, falling to 12% for both the UK and US.
Citigroup’s analysis revealed 31% of its panel were at least somewhat keen to buy such a gadget, versus 14% late last year. In all, 77% of this group would like to obtain an iPad, climbing from 73% in the same period.
Alternatives powered by Microsoft Windows witnessed a slide from 52% to 40%, and equivalents utilising Google’s Android operating system enjoyed a two-percentage point gain, to 38%.
Price remained the “primary inhibitor” to greater uptake, mentioned by 39% of adults questioned, although a “lack of functionality” when compared with PCs was another common factor.
A 62% share of tablet owners saw it as a “toy/gadget”, growing from 44% in 2010. Meanwhile, 18% had acquired one for work, a lift from 13%, while giving someone the device as a gift logged 18%, down from 27%.
Overall, 94% of iPad owners have downloaded apps, with 63% accessing 11 or more such tools, totals standing at 79% and 37% in turn for individuals using competing products.
Thus far, 81% of the iPad population have paid for applications, measured against just 43% of customers for rival brands. Equally, iPad users had paid for 39% of apps, declining to 22% for users of other slates.
Data from the US and UK showed 67% of the tablet audience surf the web via this route, with 55% sending email and instant messages, 31% reading ebooks, 33% social networking and 17% playing games.
Looking forward, the number of people expecting to log on to social networks in this way fell to 29%, with gaming also sliding to 14%, but both pastimes are likely to see rising interest.
Elsewhere, the study reported that laptop ownership rates had climbed from 62% to 81% since November 2010, figures hitting 28% and 59% respectively for smartphones.
Data sourced from PC Mag, Barron’s, AllThingsD; additional content b Warc staff, 28 September 2011
Two independent studies show Mobile Web Usage to Surpass Wired by 2015
September 20, 2011 Mobile Leave a comment
Independent research from IDC and IDATE below show mobile web use surpassing wired by 2015. With the massive growth of smart phones, mobile devices, and tablets combined with declining PC sales most analysts see this happening sooner rather than later. While many companies have put social media plans in place, most are unprepared for the wave of small screen mobile devices that will be accessing traditional websites. Contact ApolloBravo for a free mobile readiness evaluation.
via WARC. The number of consumers accessing the mobile web around the world will surpass the fixed-line internet audience in the next two years, IDATE, the research firm, has predicted.
According to the company’s estimates, the amount of fixed-line web users worldwide should increase from almost 1.5bn at the end of 2010 to 2.3bn in 2015.
During the same period, the number of people going online via mobile devices is expected to rise from just over 1bn to 2.6bn.
The exact crossover between these two channels is due to occur in 2013, when the mobile internet beats the 2bn user threshold, and moves fractionally ahead of the traditional alternative.
Such a trend will be driven, in particular, by markets like China and India, where wireless handsets are likely to become the primary means of online access for many consumers, rather than more expensive laptops and PCs.
A key benefit following on from the rapid expansion of the internet population should be a “steady” increase in the revenues accruing to digital channels including search, social networks, video and online retail.
IDATE’s analysis further suggested the web could take 20.2% of global advertising spend by 2015, or €88bn.
This will result in the internet nearly doubling its share of advertising expenditure in 2008, when the net took 10.4% of the total outlay recorded by brand owners.
Elsewhere, IDATE predicted that ecommerce revenues would top €1.1tr by 2015.
Data sourced from IDATE; additional content by Warc staff, 20 September 2011
Big changes in TV habits among 18 to 34-year-olds
September 9, 2011 Mobile Leave a comment
Cable operators beware. It’s becoming all about the WiFi. More and more consumers are getting their TV on multiple devices including iPads, smart phones, Roku and other wi-fi devices, and less and less via traditional cable. With Netflix,Hulu, Amazon, Apple others providing a lot of the content there is declining demand for traditional cable, but a growing need for HD content delivered via WiFi. Contact ApolloBravo for innovative ways to reach this changing audience.
Via Warc
NEW YORK: Television viewing habits are changing in the US, with young consumers watching more content on the web and via mobile phones, a study has found.
Altman Vilandrie & Company, the consultancy, and Research Now, the survey firm,polled 1,000 adults to discuss evolving attitudes in this area.
They found only a third of 18–34 year olds view shows as they are first broadcast every day, compared with the figure of 58% posted by panel members over 35 years old.
A 60% majority of 18–34 year olds also watch online video once a week or more, and 11% play back TV programmes and movies on a mobile phone on a daily basis.
Using laptops or desktop PCs while the TV was on is also “common for all age groups”, and 28% of people owning a tablet like the iPad use this device at least 50% of the time they are in front of the television.
Overall, 20% of respondents now spend less on cable TV than in the past – what the study described as “cord shaving” – as online video platforms meet their needs, a total rising from 15% in 2010.
Within this, 24% of 18-34 year olds with cable services have seriously considered “cutting the cord”, although only between 3% and 4% of all consumers had actually done so thus far.
“Consumers are removing the shackles of the traditional primetime TV line-up and creating their own personal networks of preferred programming and viewing times,” said Jonathan Hurd, a director at Altman Vilandrie & Company.
In an example of the growing integration between TV and the web, 23% of Netflix subscribers reported this was the main reason they paid for broadband, and 22% would downgrade their connection if they no longer used the streaming service.
Elsewhere, the study showed 41% of 18–34 year olds would prefer to utilise a smartphone, tablet or computer keyboard to change TV channel than use a remote control.
Similarly, half of 18–34 year olds wanted to access modified programme menus, such as a screen offering apps or pictures of the content available, rather than the current style of TV guide.
High-definition formats were popular among 75% of 18–24 year olds, suggesting service providers can attract a younger audience with excellent picture quality.
Data sourced from Altman Vilandrie & Company; additional content by Warc staff, 9 September 2011
A closer look at QR codes
June 14, 2011 Mobile, News Leave a comment
As brands scramble to adapt to the rapid rollout of QR codes by retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Home Depot it’s important to understand both the user and the retailer experience. By year-end wireless industry watchers expect nearly 20% of mobile phones to have some type of QR code reader. Which leads to the question, ” what about the other 80% of users”. We believe that integrating QR codes into short code keyword campaigns solves this problem and also gives users a quick and easy way to download a reader if they don’t have one. Another important aspect of QR codes is the destination, making sure users have a good experience on their mobile device. This means building sites that automatically redirect when a QR code is scanned. It is not a good idea to send a mobile user to a traditional website as it will not be a great experience.
Take a look at our ShortQR code below and notice you can reach our site by texting or scanning the code. You’ll also notice that your phone will redirect to a mobile version of our website www.apollobravo.com . Feel free to contact us for more information on how we can quickly integrate QR codes, short codes and mobile optimization into your next campaign.
Read more on the QR code revolution from warc.com
NEW YORK: Companies like Home Depot, Starbucks and Macy’s are using QR codes to engage shoppers.
Home Depot, the DIY chain, first used these tools in advertising and bricks and mortar stores earlier this year, a move it expects to gain popularity across the industry.
QR codes are images that can be scanned by smartphones to find out information about goods and services.
The Home Depot material made available to people “snapping” a relevant symbol included “how-to” guides and suggestions discussing different aspects of home improvement.
“This is where other large retailers are heading,” Tom Sweeney, Home Depot’s senior director for online strategy, told the Los Angeles Times.
“We wanted to make sure we were in line with the retail world. It’s definitely coming into its own and becoming a more prevalent way for retailers to connect broadly and engage with customers.”
Colin Gibbs, an analyst at GigaOm Pro, the research firm, equally believes enthusiasm for such tactics was noticeably growing among brands.
“Advertisers are regarding them as the hottest new tool of mobile advertising,” he said.
“They love QRs because they’re cheap and easy to deploy, and you can put them anywhere from print ads to the back of stadium seats.”
Last month, Starbucks rolled out a “scavenger hunt” linked to a tie-up with singer Lady Gaga, and involving solving puzzles on the web.
Access to this game was secured by activating QR codes in the company’s stores, thus integrating the digital and physical spaces.
Running over several stages from May 23 to June 3, this initiative sought to encourage social interaction between participants.
“We wanted to make it so that there’s things to talk about and share,” said Matthew Guiste, Starbucks’ director of global social media.
Department store chain Macy’s unveiled a similar programme, “Backstage Pass”, in February, offering 30-second films containing fashion hints and tips.
Users could also watch longer-form content starring founders and representatives of various brands, like Martha Stewart and Tommy Hilfiger, as well as influential bloggers.
In order to educate customers, large signs were displayed in stores presenting guidance about how QR codes worked.
Martine Reardon, Macy’s executive vice president, marketing, asserted this approach yields a variety of potential benefits.
“[This] is an exciting evolution that brings our stable of fashion experts and designers directly to the customer while they’re shopping in our store, through their hand-held mobile devices,” she said.
“By providing fun and informative video features … we are connecting and engaging our customer in a personal way that enhances and adds a new element to their shopping experience.”
Research firm Forrester revealed last year that just 1% of all mobile subscribers – and 5% of the smartphone audience – had interacted with QR codes.
However, it reported 25% of people with a handset powered by Google Android, and 7% of their iPhone counterparts, interacted in this way during the three months prior to the study.
Alongside driving awareness, concerns related to privacy, a worry covering many elements of the digital sector, also need to be addressed.
“Theoretically, over time companies can build up their database and amass a collection of information that leads to a profile of who I am and what I buy,” said Julie Ask, an analyst at Forrester.
Data sourced from Los Angeles Times/Mashable; additional content by Warc staff, 13 June 2011
59% of smart phone users access the mobile web while waiting in line.
June 10, 2011 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
I’ve always been fascinated with how retailers can make waiting in line more interesting. Smart phone promotions give retailers a great opportunity to make one last pitch to consumers and keep them busy. Some companies that have a constant flow of visitors do a good job reaching consumers with digital video opting them in for text or e-mail offer alerts via their smartphone. But you don’t always need interactive video sometimes a quick call to action on a chalkboard will do the trick. The 59% of users stat is probably the least surprising in this list check out some of the others in the 70+ percent range like how consumers access their smart phones in restaurants. Read on.
From Warc
MOUNTAIN VIEW: Smartphone use is increasingly influencing US consumers’ media use and shopping habits, a study has indicated.
Digital giant Google and research firm Ipsos OTX MediaCT questioned 5,013 adultswho accessed the web via these devices, and found that 93% of the sample used the gadgets at home.
Moreover, 87% did so “on the go”, a figure attaining 77% in stores, 73% in restaurants and 72% at work.
A majority (59%) logged on to the mobile web while waiting in line, 48% did so as they ate, 44% during shopping trips and 43% while travelling.
The week before the survey was taken, 81% of contributors said they had browsed the mobile internet, 77% used search engines, 68% used apps and 48% played back video.
More broadly, 72% of respondents had engaged in simultaneous media use involving smartphones and other mainstream channels at some point.
This included 33% watching television at the same time as using the wireless web, 29% who went online through a PC, 27% for gaming and 22% for reading print media.
“Mobile search is often prompted by cross media exposure,” said Selina Rennie of Google’s Agency Team.
“Over two-thirds of smartphone owners have carried out a search on their smartphone as a result of traditional media.”
When discussing specific activities, 82% of smartphone subscribers employed email services on their phone and 63% visited social networks.
Similarly, 82% researched and read news, 75% exploited navigation tools, 65% enjoyed entertainment content, and 45% managed their finances, social life or travel arrangements.
An extra 46% of participants used ecommerce sites, 43% viewed video-sharing portals, 38% visited general consumer websites and 26% official brand platforms.
Turning to shopping, 79% of the smartphone audience used their handsets for commercial purposes. Some 78% had located retailers, compared prices or searched store inventories, and 69% sought out product information, such as by scanning a barcode, watching online video or reading reviews.
Another 52% contacted a retailer, 40% had sourced coupons, and 28% redeemed virtual discount vouchers.
Within the 74% of individuals claiming to have previously made purchases because of using a smartphone, 76% bought goods at a bricks and mortar outlet and 59% did so from a PC.
Additionally, 35% snapped up a product straight from their phone, 27% looked to mobile websites and 22% turned to apps for the same reason.
Where people bought goods through a smartphone, the average annual expenditure hit $300, with 48% of relevant consumers buying entertainment items, as electronics and apparel both secured 45%.
Conducting research on a smartphone and then buying in-store remains the most common path to purchase, with 67%, but 9% of respondents had taken the opposite route.
Elsewhere, 23% undertook investigations on a wireless device and then a bricks and mortar store before completing transactions on the web.
A further 16% researched and purchased on a phone, with a trip to a store sandwiched in the middle.
Having been asked to describe mobile advertising formats they could recall, 45% of those polled referenced banners and graphical ads, and 43% mentioned executions on a website they had viewed.
A 35% share remembered ads embedded in apps, standing at 34% for paid-search listings, 28% for SMS and 21% for video and location-based alternatives.
“In terms of advertising, smartphone users are not only noticing mobile ads, they are receptive to them: 82% notice ads on their smartphones, half of which take action,” said Rennie.
Data sourced from Google; additional content by Warc staff, 10 June 2011
Contact us for more information on how to reach consumers with smart phones in retail.
1 in 3 Smartphone Shoppers Access In-store Coupons
May 17, 2011 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
Ubiquitous smartphone uptake provides great opportunity for retailers utilizing mobile coupons.
1 in 3 Smartphone Shoppers Accesses In-store Coupons
Almost one in three (31%) US smartphone owners who use their device for shopping frequently/often access promotional coupons in-store for in-store redemption,according to a March 2011 study from the etailing group and Coffee Table. Data from the report indicates this is the most common in-store usage of smartphones, beating other popular activities such as looking for competitive pricing on Amazon.com (29%) and at other retailers besides Amazon.com (26%). Twenty-six percent also check product ratings and reviews.
9 in 10 Marketers Use/Plan to Use Social Media
A combined 89% of marketers use (53%) or plan to use (36%) social media marketing, according to a study conducted by Unica. Data from the report indicates of those planning to use social media, 26% plan to use it in the next 12 months and 10% plan to use it more than 12 months out. Rich media marketing, with 87% combined usage/planned usage, and mobile marketing, with 85% combined usage/planned usage, have similar statistics to social media marketing. The numbers on rich media marketing in particular (50% current usage, 23% expected usage in 12 months, 14% expected usage in more than 12 months) are almost identical. For mobile marketing, however, the numbers skew more toward planned usage, with a 43% current usage rate. Twenty-five percent of marketers expect to employ mobile in the next 12 months, and 16% plan to use it in more than 12 months. Via Marketing VOX
Reach out to ApolloBravo for more information on linking mobile and social campaigns.
Top 10 reasons your brand needs a mobile strategy + 5 bonus reasons
May 3, 2011 Mobile Leave a comment
- Reach: Cell phone penetration is currently 89% of the US population. By way of comparison, this is better than penetration figures for cable TV, home internet access, and PC’s in the home.
- Acceptance: In the USA, over 102 billion text messages are sent each month, and over 1 trillion globally.
- Ubiquitous uptake: Mobile phones offer a reach never seen before by any other medium. Today there are more wireless mobile devices than televisions and computers combined.
- Globally There are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers (that’s 77 percent of the world population). What other medium offers that reach?
- Texting Nation: Of the 272 million US cell phones currently subscribed, over 96% of them are SMS capable. (CTIA 2010)
- Many mobile Web users are mobile-only, i.e. they do not, or very rarely use a desktop, laptop or tablet to access the Web. Mobile-only in India 59 percent, even in the US it’s over 25 percent of subscribers. Still think you don’t need a mobile site?
- High response rates: More than 5x as many people respond to mobile messages as compared to traditional, off-mobile call-to-action campaigns (94% of received text messages are read) 97% of consumers carry their phone at retail. (PMA 2010)
- Targeting: The mobile medium is an inherently intimate medium enabling highly targeted, one-to-one communication with audiences & lots of potential for personalization and up-selling.
- The Wireless Web: Over 3 billion targeted mobile ads are served every month.
- Widespread availability of unlimited data plansis critical to penetration of mobile media usage, it drove mobile media in Japan, now it’s driving the US with unlimited data plans starting at $25 per month
- Global: Europe is the most mature wireless market with (96%) penetration rates, followed by Japan (88%), the United States (89%) CTIA 2010
- Despite all the media hype, and vast sums pumped into developing and promoting native apps, more consumers use their browser than apps in developed nations. Only a minority will use Web or apps exclusively.
- Over 30% of visits to Facebook are Mobile, over 40% for twitter.
- In 2011 over 85 percent of new handsets will be able to access the mobile Web.
- Comscore (Febuary 2011) estimates that 80 percent of mobile subscribers in US and Western Europe have a phone that can access the mobile Web. 48 percent of US and 61 percent of W. Europeans have a handset with an HTML browser (this proportion is increasing fast), the rest have WAP browsers.
Learn more : Sources, ComScore.com , MobiThinking.com, CTIA.com, Gartner.com, Pewfoundation.com
Carriers have tracked mobile phone locations for years
April 29, 2011 Mobile, News Leave a comment
We found it interesting that politicians are up in arms about Apple and Google smart phones tracking location data. Carriers have been doing this for years as part of their service well before the iPhone or android phones were introduced.
Folks on Capitol Hill are probably very concerned that anyone knows their location at any time. Sounds like a great opportunity for a company to introduce some sort of blackbox phone or app that blocks carrier data tracking.
I am sure they would get a lot of customers in DC.
See original article from 2009 here. You can watch actual tracking in the video. http://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention
Tell-all telephone
Green party politician Malte Spitz sued to have German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom hand over six months of his phone data that he then made available to ZEIT ONLINE. We combined this geolocation data with information relating to his life as a politician, such as Twitter feeds, blog entries and websites, all of which is all freely available on the internet.
By pushing the play button, you will set off on a trip through Malte Spitz’s life. The speed controller allows you to adjust how fast you travel, the pause button will let you stop at interesting points. In addition, a calendar at the bottom shows when he was in a particular location and can be used to jump to a specific time period. Each column corresponds to one day.
Smartphones Shape Purchase Decisions
April 28, 2011 Mobile Leave a comment
NEW YORK via Warc.com: Smartphones are playing an increasingly important role in shaping the purchase decisions of US shoppers, a study by Google and Ipsos OTX has found.
The two firms surveyed 5,013 smartphone owners, and reported that 81% regularly surf the net via this route, while 77% access search engines, 68% leverage apps and 48% stream video.
Simultaneous media use was also widespread, as 72% of those polled were active on their touchphone when consuming other channels, including 33% doing so at the same time as watching TV.
More broadly, 93% of participants used gadgets like the iPhone and alternatives powered by Google Android at home, suggesting they have grown beyond solely being deployed on-the-move.
Search engines proved the most-visited category of website, as 77% of interviewees logged on to these platforms through their phone, beating social networks, ecommerce portals and video-sharing services.
Overall, 90% of mobile enquiries entered on properties such as Google and Bing resulted in some form of concrete outcome, be it buying something, travelling to a store or calling a company.
Indeed, 24% of contributors recommended brands and products after inputting a search enquiry in this way.
Elsewhere, 71% of respondents had searched the mobile web in response to advertising, with traditional media ads registering 68% here, measured against mobile’s 27% and online’s 18%.
Another 82% could recall viewing ads on a wireless handset, and half of this group engaged in a positive reaction, incorporating 49% making a purchase and 35% going to a website. Mobiles are also exerting a growing influence as a “shopping tool”, with 79% of people possessing smartphones having used them to compare prices, find product specifications or locate retailers.
Exactly 74% have previously bought goods and services as a consequence of using smartphones for parallel purposes, whether it be in stores, online or from mcommerce platforms.Similarly, 70% had employed their phones for these reasons when in bricks and mortar shops.
Local information was revealed to be especially popular, as 95% of the audience looked for such content on a handset, and 88% took action within a day of tracking down relevant material. A 77% share contacted a company, with 61% calling on the phone and 59% attending a physical outlet.
“Make sure you can be found via mobile search as consumers regularly use their phones to find and act on information,” the study said.
“Incorporate location-based products and services and make it easy for mobile customers to reach you because local information seeking is common among smartphone users.”
Further recommendations included developing a meaningful cross-channel strategy, and taking advantage of mobile advertising which taps in to concurrent media usage.
Data sourced from Google; additional content by Warc staff, 28 April 2011
Contact ApolloBravo for more information on reaching mobile shoppers.
Geo-Location Coupon Wars heat up as Facebook enters the game.
March 16, 2011 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
Its all about location. Google and Facebook rolled out their own places apps and now Facebook daily-deals are added in several cities.
From WARC.com
Facebook takes on Groupon
PALO ALTO: Facebook, the social network, is trialling a new “daily deals” service, putting it into direct competition with early category leaders like Groupon and LivingSocial.
The Web 2.0 pioneer’s latest initiative expands on the geo-location tools developed for the company’s Places platform, and augments the promotional offers provided through Facebook Deals.
Daily deals will initially run in Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco.
Visitors can view a dedicated page detailing all the current discounts, money-off schemes and other enticements pursued by marketers, accessing this section of Facebook via a link from their personal homepage.
Similar to Google’s search engine, Facebook may have found a way to successfully monetise the long tail of small enterprises, by promising a large audience on a comparatively modest budget.
“Local businesses will be able to sign up to use this feature soon and people will be able to find deals in the coming weeks,” a Facebook statement said.
Emily White, Facebook’s director of local operations, further suggested Facebook’s social focus could now extend offline.
“You won’t get your legs waxed with friends,” she said. “You dine out, you go to concerts, you do outdoor activities. We want to make sure those experiences are maximised.”
Alongside its in-house sales unit, Facebook is working with nine firms, like restaurant booking specialist Open Table, family-orientated social shopping site Plum District and high-end equivalent Gilt City, to source offers.
Zozi, which prioritises holidays and adventurous travel trips, is another member of this group.
“We are very excited about the Facebook partnership. They are an extraordinarily strong company with the largest number of page views on the web,” said TJ Sassani, Zozi’s chief executive.
“That’s helpful when we talk to merchants.”
One problem to be overcome by Facebook, and the whole sector, is the fact many organisations, particularly smaller businesses, cannot match demand, and therefore actually make a loss.
“There are some downsides to having a huge audience,” said Greg Sterling, a senior analyst at Opus Research.
“For national advertisers, it’s double-edged as well. The minute something appears that’s any good, people will be all over that.”
Lou Kerner, a Wedbush Securities analyst, argued such a strategy pushes Facebook to the forefront of an increasingly intense online battle.
“Local is the last frontier that the internet has not conquered, and everyone is going after it with a vengeance,” said Kerner.
“This news is just kind of an evolutionary moment in Facebook’s drive to be a major player in local.”
Consultancy BIA/Kelsey predicted US consumer expenditure on “deal a day” goods and services would rise 35.1% a year in the near term, climbing from $873m in 2010 to $1.2bn in 2011, and hitting $3.9bn by 2015.
Based on an optimistic reading – where the amount of featured cities, registered users, average transactions and price beat current forecasts – BIA/Kelsey anticipated the 2015 total might reach $6.1bn.
“We expect to see some shift in local media spending resulting from the adoption of deal a day by local advertisers,” said Peter Krasilovsky, BIA/Kelsey’s vp and program director, Marketplaces.
“We also believe that deal a day doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It will become a part of the growing deals and offers landscape.”
To gain a meaningful foothold, Facebook must take on LivingSocial, which has previously received investment from Amazon, and Groupon, thought to be considering an initial public offering.
“Some investors may get spooked,” said Sterling. “In the old days, everybody worried about Google entering every segment of the market. And now Facebook is another concern.”
Data sourced from Reuters, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Financial TImes; additional cotnent by Warc staff, 16 March 2011
Reach out to ApolloBravo for the latest geo location coupon campaign tools.
Google sees mobile first future
March 7, 2011 Mobile Leave a comment
Eric Schmidt Google’s chairman and CEO presented Google’s mobile first vision of the future both at the MWC in Barcelona and the IAD meeting below. The vision makes sense as younger developers think mobile first as there are more of these devices than televisions and PCs combined. Mobile is quickly becoming the most important platform as smart phones continue to dominate new technology purchases among consumers.
Via WARC
PALM SPRINGS: Marketers will be presented with a huge range of opportunities in the “mobile first” era that is resulting from increased smartphone use, Eric Schmidt, Google’s chairman/ceo, has argued.
Schmidt was speaking at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s annual leadership meeting, covered in more detail by Geoffrey Precourt, Warc’s US editor, here.
“The smartphone is the iconic device of our time,” he said at the event.Having projected in 2010 that mobile usage would surpass the PC equivalent in two years, Schmidt revealed this shift had actually already beaten such a schedule.
“It happened two weeks ago. And the PC is not going to catch up,” he said.Indeed, Schmidt stated the uptake of mobile media is “happening faster than all our internal predictions”, shown by the fact 78% of mobile web users already utilise their handsets while shopping.
Further data directly linked to advertising demonstrated the power of what Schmidt described as the “mobile first” age.Chrysler, the automaker, ran a 60-second TV spot during the recent Super Bowl, and related mobile search traffic climbed 200% after the commercial aired, measured against a 48% leap on desktop PC.
These figures hit 315% and 50% respectively regarding GoDaddy’s execution made for the same event.Perhaps the greatest potential of this medium, however, is to provide highly localized marketing and communications.
“A RadioShack ad can tell you where you are and how to get to the nearest store,” Schmidt said.Once consumers have been tempted into branches, retailers can also create barcodes to be scanned using wireless devices, and allow buyers to obtain products through contactless payments.
Permission-based services are an essential tool, and Schmidt also suggested targeted deals should prove especially attractive to shoppers.”Let’s say you need a pair of pants. [Your smartphone] tells you there’s a store on your left with a 20% discount,” Schmidt added.
“The store on your right has a 30% discount, but it’s for a brand you don’t like. The phone can, in fact, tell you what to buy. And, again, it’s tap-and-pay and off you go.”"Think of the offers mechanisms for advertisers … We’ve spent 20 years trying to get here. And now there’s an explosion in commerce.”
Elsewhere, he estimated internet ad revenues currently stand at $62bn (€45bn; £38bn) worldwide, including $26bn from the US alone.Turning specifically to online display, Schmidt valued the global market at $17bn, incorporating $9bn generated by American advertisers.Looking ahead, Google’s chairman forecast the display category could deliver $200bn in returns “within the next five to ten years”.
The largest obstacle constraining this expansion, and possibly even more rapid growth, is a simple, logistical one.”It’s too hard to get campaigns up,” said Schmidt.The advent of systems like trading desks supplying instant access to inventory, and constantly updated prices, may change such a situation.
“The new online advertising model is real time,” said Schmidt.”“It’s iterative. You don’t press the button and see what happens in the week; it occurs literally live.”Overall, Schmidt suggested that, just as the term “color television” was quickly replaced by just “television” when viewers got used to the new technology, a parallel shift is soon set to take place.
“Today we speak of digital media. The average American spends about a third of their media time online and kids are always online.”
“All media will be digital media … All this will happen within all of our lifetimes.”
Data sourced from Warc March 2011
Contact Apollobravo for more information and a mobile ready evaluation.
UK study finds new mobile web trends emerging
February 3, 2011 Mobile Leave a comment
For years we have looked to the UK Europe and Asia as a mobile marketing crystal ball. As trends emerge from markets with more mature mobile consumer habits (and carrier ecosystem) we can get a very good gauge of how consumers will be utilizing mobile in this country. Traditionally the US has been a year or two behind other markets in mobile usage and adoption figures. However the app / smart phone explosion in the US after has sped up the process. So we see similar numbers as presented in this study only about a year away in the US. Is your company ready for the mobile web explosion that’s headed to our shores? Reach out to ApolloBravo for a complementary corporate mobile readiness evaluation. Pay special attention to the nearly 70% of consumers accessing the mobile web via their phones.
From wark.com and IAB
LONDON: Consumers in the UK are adopting an increasingly diverse range of mobile habits, from browsing the web while on the move to using their phone when watching TV.
Industry body the IAB and research firm Connect Insight asked 500 people who regularly utilise applications and the internet, or download content, via handsets to keep a “media diary” for a week. These data were supplemented by six digital focus groups to gain a rounded picture regarding the daily role of wireless devices.
On average, individuals engaged with their mobile 18 times each day, going online most frequently among the pastimes assessed.
Indeed, 66% of contributors “couldn’t live without” such gadgets and 58% believed they helped ensure life was more organised.
Elsewhere, 40% of the panel had participated in one of the featured activities having witnessed advertising communications.
Some 69% of respondents accessed web-based content through a mobile browser, as opposed to links, shortcodes, apps and equivalent tools.
A further 27% agreed their phone assumed the status as “first choice” when it came to consuming content at least once a week.
Simultaneous media use is another widespread habit, given that 70% of the sample deployed a mobile at the same time as being exposed to a different medium. This is most commonly the case for TV, as 53% of those polled leveraged mobile media while viewing television broadcasts between 9pm and midnight.
From 6am to 9am, the mobile information of greatest interest concerned finance, weather and travel, a position held by entertainment, shopping and maps in the 3pm to 6pm slot. Entertainment, music, sport and games then took over, as people sought to relax after work.
“The implications of this consumer behaviour for advertisers are huge,” Alex Kozloff, the IAB’s mobile manager, said.
“Mobile is a hygiene factor that every brand should be thinking about to make sure the customer experience is a positive one.”
Data sourced from IAB; additional content by Warc staff, 3 February 2011 www.warc.com
70% of brands planning a mobile initiative in 2011
February 2, 2011 Mobile, News Leave a comment
From Warc.com results from latest MMA study.
NEW YORK: A majority of brand owners are planning to increase their mobile marketing activity this year, a study has found.
Trade bodies the Association of National Advertisers and Mobile Marketing Association surveyed senior executives, mostly drawn from the ANA’s membership – and found that 88% of the panel intended to follow such a route.
Interviews were then conducted with 97 client-side marketers that had expressed a desire to make enhanced use of this channel in 2011.
The report also found 62% of the panel had used the medium last year, alongside 26% expecting to run their first initiatives.
To date, 71% of corporations had afforded responsibility for this discipline to an existing in-house unit – generally digital marketing teams – while 19% assigned these duties to a newly-created group.
Regarding budgets, 75% of participants projected expenditure levels on behalf of their brands would climb by an average of 59%.
At present, contributors already boasting a mobile presence had collectively adopted around 12 different formats to promote products.
The top five – deployed by at least half of the featured firms – were mobile websites, apps, SMS, display ads and search.
Among the main advantages of embracing this form of communications were portable web access, and the capacity to deliver content and deals to consumers on the move.
Furthermore, it was argued to offer convenience in terms of providing immediate customer and sales support, and help build loyalty. However, only 25% of executives stated their previous mobile efforts had performed “extremely” or “very” well, and another 53% described these programmes as “somewhat” successful.
The characteristics demonstrated by the most effective marketers included a longer history of using mobile, utilising a larger number of individual platforms and pursuing an integrated strategy.Establishing meaningful measurement tools and employing a wide variety of monitoring techniques also typically yielded stronger results.
Similarly, the absence of metrics to properly allocate mobile within the media mix and an ability to prove ROI were named as two primary obstacles to greater uptake.
A lack of understanding on the part of key colleagues had also slowed this process, the ANA/MMA research revealed.
“Mobile is clearly a fast-growing platform for marketers, but it has yet to attain its full potential,” said Bob Liodice, the ANA’s president/ceo.
“With the anticipated increase in adoption this year, we expect to see fresh, innovative approaches, increased brand-building success, and better accountability for this exciting channel.” Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola was praised by respondents for its mobile advertising, and retailer Target received accolades having combined the mobile web with reward programmes and a “wish list”.
Data sourced from MMA; additional content by Warc staff, 2 February 2011 http://goo.gl/4nMdh
Contact ApolloBravo for a free mobile marketing readiness evaluation. 703-548-3400
Smart phones set to surpass mobile feature phones
January 31, 2011 Mobile Leave a comment
A feature phone can have lots of features like a mobile web browser, SMS, music, other services but these types of mobile phones are quickly being replaced by smart phones like the iPhone with apps and significantly more capabilities. 40% of all new phones being sold in the US are smart-phones. In Verizon and AT&T stores the smart phone percentage of sales are closer to 70%. Contact ApolloBravo for the latest strategies for reaching mobile consumers.
Mobile email revolution underway
January 24, 2011 Mobile Leave a comment
RESTON, VA: US email habits are undergoing a dramatic shift, with more and more people checking their messages on their phones.
Visitors to email websites fell 6% between November 2009 and November 2010, according to comScore.
But use of mobile email climbed 36% over the same period and now covers 78% of the nation’s smartphone population, in what the research firm is calling an “email evolution”.
Around 153 million Americans visited email sites such as hotmail.com and gmail.com during November 2010, spending a collective 43,474 minutes on the site and viewing 38,204 pages.
These totals are 6%, 9% and 15% lower than their equivalents for November 2009.
The drop-off in usage is sharpest among younger demographics, though the number of over-55s actually increased from the previous year.
In all, 70m Americans used their mobiles to access email during the month.
This not only represents a 36% increase in users, but a 40% increase in daily users – suggesting that accessing the services has become routine.
Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile, suggested the trend towards mobile is part of the general fragmentation of media use observed over recent years.
“From PCs to mobile devices, whether its email, social media, IM or texting, consumers have many ways to communicate and can do so at any time and in any place,” he said.
“The decline in web-based email is a byproduct of these shifting dynamics and the increasing availability of on-demand communication options.”
Data sourced from comScore; additional content by Warc staff, 24 January 2011 http://goo.gl/4Fvxf
Contact ApolloBravo for a Mobile Marketing Readiness Evaluation. 703.548.3400
Mobile Year in Review 2010
December 22, 2010 Mobile, Social Leave a comment
Mobile Year in Review Video 2010. A two minute look at amazing growth.
