Complete summary of Ontella case study; contains both Part A and Part B. Includes all tables mentioned in the case study.

1. ONTELA
CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND
POSITIONING
BBA 2k13 (B)

2. INTRODUCTION:
 In April 2008 Joe Levy, was
considering how to position PicDeck
 PicDeck service allowed wireless
subscribers to transfer pictures from
mobile devices to computers, email
inbox and other networks
 Service was said to “help bridge the
gap between phone and PC”

3. Intro Continued…
 Ontela’s service offered more value and a
convenient mobile imaging experience
 Expected to increase high-margin data service
 Also expected to increase customer use
 Wireless carriers were sold the technology, who
further branded and priced the service for
subscribers
 Subscribers paid a monthly fee to carriers for the
PicDeck service
 Ontela received portion of that revenue

4. Competitive Positions Strategy:
 Need to identify customer segments
 Several major questions to be answered such
as:
 The best way to determine appropriate
audience
 The segments that will provide biggest
opportunity
 How to balance need of subscribers with the
carrier’s goals of decreasing churn and
increasing revenue
 How much the company’s future depends on

5. BACKGROUND

6. Background: Mobile Services and
Media convergence :
Mobile Phone Services:
 U.S mobile phone service industry earned
$150 billion in revenues in 2007
 Data services segment (e.g. Internet data
plans, text messaging, picture messaging,
other multimedia transfers) had grown
exponentially
 Voice revenues were expected to decrease
as a percentage of total ARPU.
 Wireless carriers would be dependent on
unique and high value data services for
profits and competitive differentiation

7. Camera Phones and Media
Convergence:
 Camera phone was developed by Daniel A.
Henderson in 1993 under the name “Intellect”
 Since then camera became a ubiquitous feature
on cellphones
 Advancements included increased MP and
video capability
 Photos were generally saved in the camera as
JPEG files
 Major Manufacturers: Nokia, Motorola,
Samsung, LG Electronics, Siemens

8. Continued…
 As handset manufacturers began to offer
cellphones with large screens and High
resolution cameras, various types of digital
media began to converge
 Music, Pictures, Videos, Games became
comprehensive for wireless users
 The evidence was the increasing popularity
of smartphones like Apple’s iPhone
 In 2007:Smartphone handsets represented
34% of total wireless communication handset
market

9. Continued…
 Social networks like Facebook and
Myspace demonstrated web-based
media integration
 Such sites specialized in a certain
type of media like picture storage or
business networking connectivity
 Example: Facebook partnered with
Google’s Picasa

10. THE PICDECK
SERVICE

11. In that period, the methods for transferring the
images from phone to other media or users were
complex and less efficient. The techniques used to
transfer pictures from phone to other media or users
were:
 Transfer via USB cord from phone to computer
 Send wirelessly from phone via MMS or Bluetooth
to other media or users
 Send as an email from mobile phone
 Upload photos via wireless network to carrier’s
proprietary website

12.  Ontela’s PicDeck offered:
 Smooth and consistent transfer of pictures
 Transfer of photos without pressing any extra
button
 The destinations could be any user’s PC, email
inbox and websites such as Facebook and
Picasa.
 In April 2008, the PicDeck had been adopted by
two regional wireless carriers and then by the
national carrier which were:
 Cellular South
 Cincinnati Wireless
 Alltel

13.  Being the first provider, Cincinnati Wireless
branded the technology as “PicSender.”
 Matt Phillips and Jim Richmond commented
on its uses, accessibility, convenience,
simplicity and adaptability.
 The following exhibit explains how it works and
its features:

15.  As the wireless industry began to pick up the
technology, Ontela was hopeful about the
future growth of PicDeck. However, Levy
realized that for maximum growth
opportunities, he would have to come up with
a strong value proposition to national wireless
carriers.

16. SEGMENTATION
RESEARCH

17. Persona 1:
 Married, aged 42
 Mother of three
 Part time work; main focus at home
 Not a computer whiz
 Use digital camera to take family pictures
 Finds it difficult to transfer pictures from
device to PC; seeks family help to free her
camera memory
 Wants easy transfer of pictures to her
computer

18. Persona 2:
 27 year old real estate agent
 Constantly out on roads showing houses
 Little time for himself
 Not a hardcore user of internet
 Likes old-fashioned ways in business
 Old model cell phone; hesitant to upgrade
 Likes things that are simple

19. PERSONA 3:
 16 year old
 Middle class family
 Many friends and a boyfriend
 Lived entirely through the internet age
 Active Fb and MySpace accounts
 Also uses Photobucket, but less frequently
 Has a phone with a good camera

20.  Likes taking pictures
 Sends 20 to 30 picture messages per
month
 Finds it difficult to transfer pictures to
her PC and wants it to be easier
 Wants to be able to do things from
her phone

22. ANALYSIS OF DATA

23. Need for Quantitative Study:
 Following were some of the reasons that gave rise
to the need of quantitative study:
 Segmentation should not be completely based on
qualitative data as it does not provide us with
complete information
 It is too risky to base whole marketing strategy
and sales decisions on qualitative personas.
 Qualitative personas do not cover all aspects and
attributes
 As Qualitative study lacks facts and figures,
therefore we require quantitative study as well

24. Overview of Quantitative study:
 The methodology used for quantitative study
involves:
 A Questionnaire was designed for a national
survey as shown in Exhibit 1
 Formation of groups or clusters on basis of
responses obtained from respondents as shown
in Exhibit 2
 Further questioning from same respondents about
their demographics and media habits in Exhibit 3
 Profiling of clusters of respondents on the basis of
results obtained from exhibit 3 in Exhibit 4

25. Exhibit 1:
 A questionnaire was designed to collect data about
the preferences and behavior of respondents related
to mobile devices and imaging
 This survey was conducted by a market research firm
 A National survey of 2000 respondents selected from
lists of mobile phone customers ranging from 15 and
onwards was conducted
 The questionnaire mainly dealt with the following
areas of study:
 Current Mobile phone behavior
 Camera experience
 General technology aptitude
 Price sensitivity

27. Exhibit 2:
 Exhibit 2 shows cluster analysis of customer
preference data
 The answers to the questions reported in
Exhibit 1 enabled the research firm to form six
clusters. Each cluster had a distinct response
pattern
 Cluster 1 had the largest response rate of 24%
and Cluster 2 had the lowest response rate of
12% while the response rate of the rest of the
clusters fell in between this range

29. Exhibit 3:
 In Exhibit 3 the research firm asked the same
respondents some more questions related to
demographics and media habits.
 Questions related to demographics involved:
 Age
 Gender
 Marital Status and children
 Data usage, message and family packages
 Questions related to media habits involved:
 Tech Magazines, celebrity Magazines, fashion
Magazines, women’s Magazines, homemaking
Magazines, sports Magazines, and/or Web sites
 No. of hours spend on the internet
 %age of people who pay their own bills

31. Exhibit 4:
 Exhibit 4 reports profiling of 6 clusters
 Exhibit 4 basically shows the output of the
questions asked in exhibit 3 about the
demographic and media habits of the
respondents

33. Thank You!