Classic Guide To Mobile Advertising

CONTENTS
PAGE PAGE

3 INTRODUCTION: Mobile on a gallop, stealing budgets from traditional media 35 Legal screenshots for interactive, integrated campaigns
By Giselle Tsirulnik By Susan Tillotson Bunch

5 Why invest in mobile marketing? 37 How to deliver one message to multiple platforms
By R. Cass Baker By Martin Hayward

7 Basic principles of mobile marketing 39 Five ways to increase engagement, sales and loyalty with mobile
By Stephen Upstone By Jack Philbin

10 Stop talking and listen: Two-way communication of mobile 41 Three best-practice tips for evaluating mobile ad performance
By Shuli Lowy By Bill Dinan

12 How to craft a mobile advertising campaign 43 Mobile marketing for the small- to medium-sized business
By Alison Gensheimer By Jennifer McCoy

15 Live it to sell it 45 Case study: Mobile display advertising for B2B engagement
By Judy Hamilton By Marc Keating

17 Text message marketing: Who’s opting in? 47 The power of mobile bar codes
By Derek Johnson By Laura Marriott

18 Mobile strategy should employ multiple means of engagement 49 Digital advertising convergence: Is it further away than ever before?
By Je Hasen By Dale Carr

20 Converting a mobile impression into a click 50 Overcoming mobile’s growing pains
By Lindsay Woodworth By Joe Laszlo

22 Maximizing pay-per-call proﬁts 51 Distinguishing marketing from spamming
By Earl Brown By Shuli Lowy

24 Mobile audience micro targeting in the real world 52 Will HTML5 help battle fragmentation in 2012?
By Greg Stewart By Matevz Klanjsek

26 8 tips for successful mobile app promotion 54 Tips for an e ective mobile video advertising strategy
By Micah Adler By Matthew Ellsworth

28 Mobile bifucrates into two distinct advertising practices 56 Is Wi-Fi a mobile media channel?
By Harry Kargman By Gregor Isbister

31 Mobile advertising: Why it’s got to be rich 57 To app or not to app: That is the question
By Elena Perez By Dave Schwartz

33 Case study: Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers 59 Consumers eager for hyper-relevant location-triggered messages
By sta reports By Patrick Moorhead

Mobile Marketer CLASSIC GUIDE TO MOBILE ADVERTISING PAGE 2

INTRODUCTION

Mobile on a gallop, stealing budgets from traditional media

M obile advertising works when used as part of a cross-
media campaign and dialogue. According to Berg In-
sight, mobile will account for 15.2 percent of global online ad
this guide together. Their insight and expertise is what made
this possible.

spend in 2016. The total value of the global mobile marketing These expert bylined articles o er tips on how to run and
and advertising market will grow from $3.4 billion in 2010 at measure mobile ad campaigns, targeting and location, SMS
a compound annual growth rate of 37 percent to $22.4 billion campaigns and database building, integration with print and
in 2016. stores, HTML5, iPad ads, site design, search engine optimi-
zation, paid search, in-application ads, social media, content
Mobile advertising matured drastically in 2011, with more so- creation and the e ectiveness of mobile coupons.
phisticated ad units and campaign executions. This matura-
tion has made consumers more open to mobile ads. According Also included are analytical pieces as well as thought leader-
to Nielsen’s State of the Media: Consumer Usage Report, 51 ship on the privacy debate and legal boundaries that should
percent of consumers say that they are OK with advertising not be crossed, buying mobile media, augmented reality, in-
on their devices if it means they can access content for free. ternational di erences and similarities, display ads and mobile
video advertising.
Already big brands such as The Coca-Cola Co., Starbucks,
Target and Home Depot have embraced mobile advertising, Thank you to sta reporter Rimma Kats for layout and art
proving that when it is done right, the channel can produce direction. Also, a big thank-you to editor in chief Mickey Alam
astounding results. Khan for his help and supervision during the production of
this guide.
For 2012 expect to see more integration of social into mo-
bile ads and marketing programs. Also, location will be a key Thank you also to ad sales director Jodie Solomon for convinc-
aspect of mobile marketing and advertising strategy. Larger ing others to invest in this guide and others before it.
budgets will lead to higher ﬁll rates for publishers.
Feel free to email a link to this large document rather than
With that we present the industry with the Classic Guide to forwarding the entire ﬁle. The passion is obvious in the copy
Mobile Advertising to help understand the value of mobile and the subject.
and its context in advertising and marketing. This document
presents how-to articles, case studies, trend pieces and com-
mon misconceptions to industry members with the goal of
educating readers on this fast-paced subchannel of mobile.
Giselle Tsirulnik
Thank you to all of the companies that participated in putting Deputy Managing Editor
Mickey Alam Khan Chantal Tode Lauren Johnson 401 Broadway, Suite 1408
Editor in Chief Associate Editor Editorial Assistant New York, NY 10013
mickey@ chantal@ lauren@ Tel: 212-334-6305
napean.com mobilemarketer.com mobilemarketer.com Fax: 212-334-6339
Email: news@mobilemarketer.com
Website: www.MobileMarketer.com

For newsletter subscriptions:
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/
Giselle Tsirulnik Rimma Kats Jodie Solomon newsletter.php
Deputy Managing Editor Staff Reporter Director, Ad Sales
giselle@ rimma@ ads@ For advertising:
mobilemarketer.com mobilemarketer.com mobilemarketer.com http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/
general/1.html

For reprints:
reprints@mobilemarketer.com

Mobile Marketer covers news and analysis of mobile marketing, media and commerce. The Napean franchise comprises Mobile Marketer, MobileMarketer.com, the Mobile Marketer
Daily newsletter, MobileMarketingDaily.com, MobileCommerceDaily.com, MCommerceDaily.com, the Mobile Commerce Daily newsletter, MobileNewsLeader.com, Classic Guides,
webinars, Mobile FirstLook, the Mobile Marketing Summit and the Mcommerce Summit and awards. ©2012 Napean LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.


Your customers have gone mobile ...
are you going with them?

Bigger, Faster, Better than the Web
The web revolution created the next generation of Companies are now allowing employees to bring
giants — companies like Google, Amazon, and eBay their own devices into the workplace — a concept
went from nothing to multi-billion dollar market that would have been unheard of just a year ago
caps in less than a decade. Today, mobile is helping — and new mobile-based ventures are receiving
fuel a new generation of giants — companies like staggering amounts of money from Silicon Valley
Facebook, Groupon, and Zynga have reached venture capital firms.
multi-billion dollar valuations in half the time of
their predecessors … and all without an IPO. Companies now have a window of opportunity
to think about how mobile can transform their
The mobile revolution will be like its web business as radically as the web did. By making
predecessor with two important exceptions: mobile a part of their overall digital strategy,
companies can transform their relationships with
Mobile will be more transformative than the their customers in even greater ways than they did
web … because mobile devices are always with the web.
with your customer.

Mobile is going to evolve at a much faster pace
MOBILE
… because we’ve learned a lot from the web.
In fact, mobile shipments outpaced desktop/
laptop shipments last year. The race is on.

The initial e ects of this mobile revolution are
already being felt. The iPad single-handedly killed
WEB
the netbook market. Apple’s massive success with
the iPhone and iPad has presented a significant
threat to established mobile giants like RIM, Nokia,
Microsoft, and Motorola.

How does a company create a mobile strategy
that will get them into the mobile market quickly,
and provide a scalable plan for the future?

Find out in “4 Steps to Creating a Mobile Strategy”

Download at appcelerator.com/white-paper-4-steps

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Why invest in mobile marketing?
By R. Cass Baker

F
or global brands today, it is less about questioning dress it while on the go. It may be scheduling an im-
whether to invest in mobile marketing. Now it is a mediate home service request, signing up for a new
matter of how and how much. credit card before a big vacation or even shopping
for a car.
Perhaps most importantly, it is a question of why to in-
vest in mobile marketing. Through mobile devices, consumers can quickly assess
the information they need to make a decision, making
In the beginning, mobile marketing was about brand them even more determined to buy right now.
building and consumer engagement. It was about
bright, shiny, interactive marketing designed to en- If you can deliver the right mobile experience at the
gender loyalty, awareness and brand promise. And it right time — and in the context of a broadly integrated
was about showing innovation and life in an emerging marketing campaign — you win.
advertising channel.
Connecting the dots
Today, it is about much more. It has to be. When the rubber hits the road, most brands find it dif-
ficult to connect the dots between mobile engagement
Mobile’s growth and mobile sales.
According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Oc-
tober 2011 “State of Mobile Measurement” report, The reality is that revenue through mobile marketing has
the growth in mobile advertising spend and consum- very little to do with mobile marketing in its own right,
er usage requires sound measurement and reliable and everything to do with understanding your consum-
methodologies to understand audience behavior and ers and the purchase experiences they desire.
ad e ectiveness.
Increasingly, today’s consumers are turning to mobile at
As with any other marketing investment, C-level execu- pivotal points in a sales process.
tives expect a measurable, high-value ROI in the form
of new revenue and profits. It is no longer good enough Success depends on guiding the consumer through a
to o er applications or mobile games, and to justify the seamless, end-to-end experience — from initial mobile
investment in the form of fans. impression through to Web sites and call centers — to
create targeted, data-rich experiences that drive high-
So why invest in mobile marketing? value, high-margin purchases.

Invest in mobile If you can craft the right experience from start to fin-
While consumers are busier than ever, they also are more ish, the mobile channel is incredibly measurable, proven
heavily engaged. and successful.

They are on their mobile devices day and night. And one Without question, mobile can play a pivotal role in driv-
thing is clear – when they are researching a specific ing significant, incremental revenue to your business this
product or service from these devices, they are ready year. Success depends on tying its impact all the way
to buy. through to the ultimate outcome — sales.

Consumers research a brand on mobile because they R. Cass Baker is executive vice president of Leapfrog Online,
have an urgent need, and they are looking to ad- Evanston, IL. Reach him at cbaker@leapfrogonline.com.


Basic principles of mobile marketing
By Stephen Upstone

T
o make mobile marketing programs achieve maxi- While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, there is
mum impact and long-term value, it is essential a basic framework and set of guidelines that can be
to move beyond one-o initiatives and create a applied across the majority of mobile marketing ini-
holistic strategy for targeting customers. tiatives to drive results. Whether you are a brand,
agency, wireless carrier or publisher, the following
This is done using robust mobile platforms that incorpo- strategic approach will set you on course to achieve
rate a full range of tactics. maximum results:

The first step is to identify your business objective: is it Reach – mobile reach means establishing the first point
to raise your brand’s profile or build loyalty and prevent of mobile interaction, such as a banner ad on a mobile
customer churn? Web site or QR code on a billboard and the call to action
that drives the mobile user to click.
After identifying the objective, the next step is to ex-
amine your audience. Understanding your audience and By carefully choosing publishers and media targeted
how they interact with their mobile device will help you to the audience you wish to engage, you cost-e -
develop a campaign that delivers value to the consumer ciently maximize reach and the opportunity to get
and drives financial success. your message in front of as many target customers


paigns can deliver participa-
tion rates of more than 30
percent with numerous inter-
actions per consumer, result-
ing in a high level of active
consumer engagement with
the brand every day.

For example, Argos, a large
British ecommerce site, took
the decision to develop a new
mobile channel in order to
create a flexible way for its
customers to interact with it.

Developing mobile services
such as Text and Take Home
has generated new revenues.

as possible. In 2009 alone, Argos’ mobile channel delivered more than
$100 million of incremental revenue and the service has
Engage – once the consumer has responded to a call to generated over 100 percent year-over-year growth of
action, you are now ready to engage and convert them the user base.
into a profitable relationship.
For another example, National Geographic lever-
This interaction can be a mobile site, landing page or aged mobile and social media to promote “The
mobile application. Last Lions” film and increase contributions to its
Big Cats Initiative.
Providing customers with something interesting, timely
and relevant like coupons, social media promotions and Engaged consumers visited a mobile Web site, entered a
rewards, will help create the engagement that is neces- sweepstakes, and posted on social media sites, increas-
sary to make the campaign successful. ing both ticket sales and donations.

Analyze – measuring the success of your ongoing The campaign boasted nearly a 50 percent click-
campaign will help you adjust your strategy as your through-rate.
campaign progresses, so make sure you have a strong
technology platform that enables this capability. There is no doubt that mobile marketing campaigns can
deliver great results, when deployed in the right way.
One of the strengths of mobile is that it is highly mea-
surable, making it easy to track how quickly you are con- The trick is to know your audience, develop a compelling
verting customers and how much this is costing. user experience with engaging creative and content, and
analyse to optimize media placement, creative, call to
Developing a robust mobile marketing strategy can de- action, and ultimately, results.
liver extremely compelling results.
Stephen Upstone is vice president of sales at Velti,
Well-run, large-scale SMS promotions and loyalty cam- London. Reach him at supstone@velti.com.

Open Rich Media Platform for Mobile

Check out the latest rich media
examples created with miSpot, or
go to m.goldspotmedia.com on
your mobile browser.

Stop talking and listen: Two-way communication of mobile
By Shuli Lowy

F
or many companies, mobile marketing simply means
capturing as many phone numbers as possible and
pushing out marketing messages to their database.

While lists of phone numbers may be useful points of
contact, each phone number belongs to a unique per-
son with speciﬁc interests, income levels, preferences,
prejudices and wishes.

Marketers often lose sight of the people behind the end-
less pile of numbers. They overlook the unique opportu-
nity mobile provides for going beyond the numbers and
getting to know something about the users.
their opinion will feel better serviced. When possible, use
Unlike a commercial, newspaper ad, or billboard in which unique coupon codes for each consumer. This will enable
there is no room for a two way communication, mobile you to track their purchases and thereby predict what
marketing has the ability to spur a dialogue between a their future purchases may be.
consumer and a company.
Instead of receiving a cookie-cutter mobile coupon
This is inﬁnitely more valuable since it creates a personal promising a 10 percent discount, imagine a consumer
connection between the mobile user and the brand and getting a text that reads:
helps marketers optimize their messages by ensuring the
content caters to the characteristics of each individual “Samantha, we just got in beige heels that go perfectly
end-user. with the green dress you bought. We’re putting them
aside for you in size 8.5.”
Here are a few ways to spur a two-way communica-
tion with your consumers: Without doubt, the latter option would be considerably
more e ective at driving sales.
Use your mobile campaigns to take polls. Ask consumers
to text in their favorite athlete, dish on a menu, article If you listen to the voice of consumers’ mobile activity,
of clothing, or anything else connected to your business. you can respond to them in the appropriate language.
Increasing the multi-directional communication allows
This information will allow you to learn more about your companies to build personal connections with each con-
consumers and may also provide interesting insights into sumer and target their messages appropriately—ensuring
how you run your business. each message is relevant and desirable to the end-user.

Allow consumers to text comments about your product Wise marketers realize that the goal of mobile marketing
or service to your customer service department. This will is not just to acquire contacts, but rather to build rela-
make it more convenient for individuals to provide feed- tionships and long-term value.
back on their purchase experience and for your company
to improve its products accordingly. Shuli Lowy is Beverly Hills, CA-based manager of client
services and marketing Manager at Ping Mobile. Reach
Additionally, consumers who have the chance to voice her at shuli.lowy@pingmobile.com.


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How to craft a mobile advertising campaign
By Alison Gensheimer

M
obile advertising is no longer a niche technology The steps to get there are simple and often overlooked.
market where only large brands with the ability
to carve out a percentage of their digital media Step one
budgets dominate. Start with the end in mind.

Today mobile media has a budget of its own. It is not When we began as marketers and media buyers, we did
just about the media. Platform advancements have taken little without a clearly deﬁned goal.
one-time static and dull banners and turned them into
valuable engaging experiences. However, innovative technologies made it more di cult
to measure, so we all started throwing things at the wall
In short the mobile advertising industry is a lot more just to see what would stick.
complex today. Therefore it is imperative that a mobile
advertiser has a complete and ﬂexible plan when ap- Not anymore.
proaching their mobile strategy.
Advancements in targeting and end-to-end reporting en-
A successful mobile advertising campaign is a combina- able us once again to have a goal. Goals can be as simple
tion of goals, statistics, creativity and an intuitive knowl- as generating clicks or as complex as in-store visits.
edge of the mobile consumer.


You should try drawing the full mobile advertising user
experience on a piece of paper and handing it to anyone
sitting next to you.

Do not stop there. Once the ad is in QA ask you coworker
or friend to test it. You will learn a lot about how the
average user engages by simply asking.

Once live, check your reporting regularly to see if us-
ers are participating they way you hoped. If not then
change it.

Step four
Either way, a clearly deﬁned goal is essential to proving Be creative and do not be afraid to try something new.
the value of your mobile advertising plan. We were only able to arrive at this moment because
those before us succeed and failed. They put themselves
Step two out there.
Understand and respect the consumer.
To quote Steve Jobs, “Be hungry, be foolish.”
As more devices enter the mainstream, the more con-
sumers are bombarded with advertisements. Also be ready, it may not work. But what you have gained
is something greater. You now know something that no
You likely have a great brand, one that you are very one else knows, that it did not work.
proud of, but just because your brand is great does not
naturally mean that consumers will give up their time Finally, pick the right mobile advertising partner. The
and energy to engage with it. right partner is hard to ﬁnd.

The formula is simple. O er consumers value in a quick First and foremost they will be interested in tracking as
engaging manner. much of the user experience as possible.

Two clicks and they are in. No reporting, no go.

Step three Additionally, they will challenge you to think through
Consider the complete user experience, not just the your goals, target, placement and end-to-end
media advertisement. The advertisement is just user experience.
the beginning.
Lastly, the right partner does not stop working for
Think through where the user entered the ad. What did you when the campaign goes live – that is the
they give up to engage with your brand? What will they easy part.
do next?
They work throughout the entire campaign, op-
We are operating on one of the most highly timizing and suggesting changes that achieve
interruptible channels – phone calls, text messages, a your goals.
tunnel – all these things can take your consumer out of
the mobile advertising experience. Alison Gensheimer is director of customer development at
Velti, San Francisco. Reach her at agensheimer@velti.com.

Live it to sell it
By Judy Hamilton

W
ith the rapid adoption of smartphones by con-
sumers, the pressure on traditional marketers
to go mobile is mounting.

Unfortunately, many marketers have succumbed to the
shiny object syndrome and a lot of throw-it-out-there
campaigns have been created just so their brand can be
viewed as leading-edge.

This lack of strategy has turned mobile consumers o
and hurt mobile marketing e orts in general before
marketers even really got started.

The good news is that marketers are now taking a
step in the right direction to solve this by seeking help
from agencies and developers that have experience
with mobile.
The bad news is that the conversation between mar-
keter and mobile professional often seems to focus
on which smartphone to develop for or disputing mo-
bile Web versus native app or QR code versus near
ﬁeld communication.

These are important options to consider, but there is a
fundamental step that is being missed.

Understand the smartphone user
As a brand marketer, have you actually experienced what
your mobile customer does?

In other words, do you own a smartphone?

The number of marketers moving into mobile who an-
swer “no” to this question might shock you.

Why is this important? It is like trying to market a new
high-performance sports car when you have never actu-
ally driven a car.

Marketers must take the time to understand what their
customers want at that critical moment in time when
they opt-in to engage with a brand. Equally important is
determining how you can reward customers for partici-


pating in this highly coveted one-to-one medium.

With mobile marketing, you must always put yourself in
the head of the customer who will be asking, “What is
in it for me?”

No agency or developer knows your product or your cus-
tomers better than you do.

But, do you know what your customers want when they
are out and about, smartphone in hand?

The only way to really figure this out is to get mobile
yourself and become your own perfect mobile customer.

If you experience what your customer does on a daily
basis, you will not only see where your product can be
truly useful to them, but also the potential for alliances them all about your beer.
with other complementary brands that can extend your
reach and increase your ROI. However, a more valuable solution for your customers
would be to list all the pubs in the area that carry your
For example, say you are a marketer for a microbrewery beer and use geo-location to show them where the clos-
and you want to place an outdoor ad highlighting your est one is that is currently serving it up.
latest craft ale. You could simply provide a link on your
ad that takes your customers to a mobile site that tells Even better, you could partner with each of the local
pubs and post a QR code coupon that when scanned of-
fers customers 10 percent o of a bucket of wings for
every friend they bring with them.

Marketers who o er rewards and benefits to their mobile
customers, not only make a sale, they make satisfied cus-
tomers who are more than likely to do it again.

To really understand today’s mobile smartphone custom-
ers, marketers have to walk a mile in their customers’
shoes – literally.

What you will find at the end of your long walk is that
all you really want is to find the closest tall, cold one and
maybe get a deal on a snack if you bring your friends.

In other words, you have to live it to sell it.

Judy Hamilton is founder/CEO of TerraTap Technologies
Inc., New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. Reach
her at judyh@shaw.ca.


Text message marketing: Who’s opting in?
By Derek Johnson

W
hen you look at a recent Pew Internet study segment having the
on Americans and SMS usage, it is no surprise highest past participa-
that 18-24 year olds send and receive a ton of tion rate in a text mes-
text messages. sage campaign, it was
actually the 25-34 age
On average 18-24-year-olds are sending and receiving segment with an aver-
almost 110 text messages per day. It is no surprise either age 58 percent partici-
that as you look at text messaging with each older age pation rate.
segment, there is a significant drop in usage when com-
pared to the 18-24-year olds. The 18-24-year-old
segment came in sec-
How big of a drop? Well 18-24-year-olds send more ond at a significantly lower 42 percent participation rate.
than double the text messages as 25-34-year-olds and
23-times the amount of text messages as users who are The second key di erence we found was that gender
65 or older. played a predominate factor in the likelihood of having
participated in a text message marketing campaign.
Most would assume that with higher text message us-
age within the youngest age segment, there would also While the Pew Internet study found that text message
be a higher percentage of participation in text message usage by both males and females varied by only two per-
marketing campaigns. centage points, 40.9 percent and 42 percent respectively,
our survey results indicated there was a much greater
This assumption that age segments that send more text di erence in their past participation in a text messag-
messages are more likely to have participated in a text ing campaign. It was found that 39 percent of females
messaging campaign is incorrect. reported to have participated in a text messaging cam-
paign, while males were 9 percentage points higher, at
In August 2011, Tatango released a report based o a 48 percent.
survey of 500 U.S. consumers, which explored this con-
cept. In the report, we detailed two key di erences be- Most interesting was that in the 55-plus age segment,
tween text message usage and the likelihood of having the di erence between male and female participation
participated in a text message marketing campaign. in a text messaging campaign was nearly 20 points,
40 percent and 21 percent respectively.
The first di erence we found was that while there was
a rough correlation between sending and receiving text So what can we learn from this study? I think the
messages and having participated in a text messaging most important takeaway is to not discount text mes-
campaign, the di erences between younger and older sage marketing as only something that will appeal to a
age segments were not nearly as recognizable. younger customer.

While the biggest gap in text message usage be- While the older age segments may not be sending as
tween age categories was a staggering 23-times, many text messages as the younger generation, older
past participation in a text messaging campaign pro- age segments are not to be forgotten when planning and
duced less than a two-times di erence between executing your text message marketing campaign.
age segments.
Derek Johnson is the CEO of Tatango.com, Seattle. Reach
It was also found that instead of the 18-24-year-old him at derek@tatango.com.

Mobile strategy should employ multiple means of engagement
By Je Hasen

C
TIA reports that mobile phone penetration
in the United States is greater than 96 per-
cent with more than 300 million current wire-
less subscribers, 72.5 million of which are using
smartphones (comScore).

Now let us consider the large number of operating sys-
tems – iOS, Android, Microsoft’s Mango, BlackBerry –
and the ever-increasing di erent devices in use.

Savvy brands understand that we are each individu-
als when it comes to our mobile devices. Leading
brands such as Macy’s, MillerCoors and Ford under-
stand this concept, and provide multiple options for
mobile engagement.

This has led to a number of successful mobile marketing
and advertising programs.

Macy’s multichannel approach
In spring 2011, Macy’s launched its Backstage Pass pro-
gram, which engages shoppers in-store via multiple calls
to action to use a mobile device.

Recognizing that not
all its shoppers have
QR code readers, the
iconic department
store added a short
code to in-store Shoppers can even enter a sweepstakes to win Macy’s
signage, giving con- gift cards.
sumers a choice and
ensuring that no one The program has gained wide acclaim and interaction,
is left out. sparking Macy’s to implement a second video series for
the fall shopping season. Click here to watch the video.
When the QR code is
scanned, or the short code is texted shoppers are for- MillerCoors scores with sports fans
warded to a backstage look at a video from the designer MillerCoors, the second largest beer company in
of their choice including Kenneth Cole, Sean “Diddy” America, recognizes that beer and sports go hand
Combs, Tommy Hilﬁger, Michael Kors, Rachel Roy, Jes- in hand.
sica Simpson and Martha Stewart.
The company designated nearly 75 percent of its ad
The videos o er design suggestions, style tips and more. spend to sporting events in 2010.

The brand’s goal was to include mobile calls to action in
its national print, radio and TV advertisements to give
potential customers an opportunity to interact with the
car brand on a personal level.

The ﬁrst phase of FordDirect’s program included add-
ing short codes to its national ads for the Ford Year
End event.

The car company was able to generate more than 1,000
leads across 38 regional dealer groups and achieve a
12.5 percent conversion rate.

In 2011, Ford is projected to spend $1.3 billion on ad-
vertising, primarily targeted at creating leads that turn
into sales.

As part of that e ort, FordDirect has now expanded its
mobile marketing program to include all of its print and
TV advertisements. The program has achieved a 15.4 per-
cent lead conversion rate.

The success of these programs has led to an expand-
ed program which includes QR codes among other
However, MillerCoors recognizes that there is a substan- mobile channels.
tial opportunity to take these advertisements to the next
level. By adding a mobile element to its advertisements, Give the customers
MillerCoors is able to connect with customers and build what they want
lasting relationships. With a myriad of ways
for people to consume
MillerCoors tapped Hipcricket to run a cross-media mar- mobile content on a host
keting campaign, leveraging traditional mobile elements, of mobile devices, why
to help increase awareness of the Coors Light brand dur- should a brand’s mo-
ing Super Bowl XLV and the Miller Lite brand during the bile playbook only have
2011 NCAA tournament. one play?

These campaigns included QR codes, mobile Web sites, By choosing to implement only a QR code or only
SMS and contesting. an iPhone app, for example, brands are exclud-
ing a large portion of their potential customers.
The campaigns resulted in over 159,000 interactions
from 86,000 mobile participants and over 60 percent of However, by implementing a mobile strategy that em-
which fell into one of MillerCoors’ key demographics – ploys multiple means of engagement, brands give the
the 21-34 age range. customer choices in interaction – and this has proven to
be a very successful strategy.
FordDirect focuses on leads
FordDirect, a joint venture between Ford Motor Co. and Je Hasen is chief marketing o cer at Hipcricket, Kirk-
its dealers, implemented its ﬁrst mobile program in 2010. land, WA. Reach him at jhasen@hipcricket.com.

Converting a mobile impression into a click
By Lindsay Woodworth

A
great mobile advertising campaign is just not a
well-designed ad banner, QR code or SMS dis-
played to a targeted audience. A great mobile
campaign is one that converts an impression to a click
and a click to an engaged customer.

Many companies are missing the mark in mobile. Too
many mobile advertisements and QR scans take users to
a desktop-sized Web site instead of a mobile site.

Mobile landing pages and mobile microsites provide a
mobile-friendly and hyper-focused experience that is
designed to accomplish the singular goal of your adver-
tising e orts – conversion.

Mobile landing pages provide the critical next step in
an advertising message and can easily be leveraged
even if an advertiser does not have an existing company
mobile site.

A shockingly high 63 percent of marketers are not mea-
suring or do not know the return on investment of their
mobile campaigns, according to a King Fish Media study
conducted in May 2011. ing time at an airport – calls to action must be appropri-
ate for the mobile user.
A mobile landing page created in support of a mobile
advertising campaign also o ers an extended level of There needs to be a measurable response beyond general
valuable metrics for the advertiser. branding information.

So how can mobile advertisers best leverage mobile Here are a few examples:
landing pages?

Similar to online advertising, start by connecting the
campaign messaging and design of the mobile advertise-
ment to its landing page.

Once you have converted an impression to an engaged
viewer, an e ective headline that can be read in three
seconds or less and an obvious call-to-action come
into play.

Considering the characteristics of an anytime, anywhere To achieve success with mobile advertising, advertisers
mobile audience – on the soccer ﬁeld, in a store, or kill- need to map out the entire mobile user experience.


That determines the best approach to copy, creative, de- 4. Do not use Flash or fancy JavaScript. Not all phones
sign and technology. support it.

Here are a few best practices for mobile landing pages Mobile engagement
and common pitfalls to avoid. 1. Take advantage of the mobile channel’s unique fea-
tures such as click-to-call, interactive maps and loca-
Messaging and copy tion-based promotions.
1. Keep copy very concise and put the most important
information at the top. When you think you have cut 2. Provide a link to your main Web site to allow viewers
down on copy, cut some more. the option of using the site they already know. This is
also a common request for tablet users.
2. Make it obvious what you want your viewers to do.
Development
Design 1. Minimize the load time. It does not matter how in-
1. Create ﬁnger-friendly buttons and well-spaced links triguing your content is if it takes too long to load. You
to eliminate the possibility of frustrating viewers that hit risk a negative brand impression and lost page views.
the wrong link.
2. Keep page titles short allowing viewers to know what
2. Keep the design clean and make sure graphics are page they are on. Mobile browsers and bookmarks typi-
readable even when sized down. If viewers have to scroll, cally display between 25-40 characters.
make them scroll down, never across.
Lindsay Woodworth is director of market-
3. Maintain a consistent brand look so consumers feel ing at 2ergo Americas, Arlington, VA. Reach her
comfortable interacting with you via the mobile channel. at lindsay.woodworth@2ergo.com.


Maximizing pay-per-call profits
By Earl Brown

A
s pay-per-call marketing professionals we must The standard qualifying window eliminates the
deliver more than just prospects on the phone. We need to delay call response with a filter intercept,
also need to provide our advertiser clients with but caller’s interests and innate skepticism must
the advice and expertise needed to help them wring out be considered.
maximum value from their calls.
The most likely setup is calls are answered live by the
Call tracking and call management are obviously im- advertiser’s sales team during business hours with
portant features, but there are many other elements a overflow and after-hours calls going to a call center
successful pay-per-call campaign needs to evaluate or voicemail.
and prioritize.
Telephone technology captures caller ID and contact in-
Every component must be weighed to determine formation even if the caller hangs up without leaving a
the contribution each makes to the campaign’s message. Is it OK to call them back? Probably OK if a call
overall success. back notice is included in a pre-recorded message.

Objective: The first thing to look at is the campaign’s
objectives. What is the advertiser’s goal? Sales? Promo-
tion? Information? Branding? Lead generation?

Each aspect needs to be carefully analyzed in order
to provide the advertiser with the most interested,
qualified prospects.

Product: Is it unique? Complicated? Specialized? Does it
take experienced sales people to handle prospects’ ques-
tions or can call center agents do the job?

The beauty of the pay-per-call model is the ability to
take general-interest calls and walk prospects down the
purchase path through the research and shopping stages
to the purchase point, but you can bet the caller has
questions that need specific answers.

Call source: What’s the caller responding to? A mobile
display ad or video? SMS message? Publisher’s skyscrap-
er? Web form? Yellow Pages? Breakout microsite?

Advertising encourages prospects to call for information,
and pay per call provides the one thing advertiser’s prize
above all else – customer engagement.

Response: How are calls answered? Advertiser’s sales
team? IVR? Call center?


ence and is being replaced by direct-
response CPA.

As this trend grows, the e ectiveness
of every ad, listing, click and impression
will be scrutinized thoroughly.

A click to a Web site pales in compari-
son to the value of a telephone inquiry
by a motivated prospect.

Performance and accountability
Advertisers do not want impressions or
clicks. They want clients and customers.

Performance and accountability is now
the name of the game.

The current interest shown by Google,
Commission Junction and Linkshare
to name a few, proves that PPCall
is here to stay, and the demand by
advertisers to buy calls is evidence
that this new marketing model is
gaining traction.

Advertisers also are beginning to real-
ize that unlike most other forms of CPA
marketing, PPCall is easy to understand,
quick to learn and tough to game.

And, that the 40 percent average PPCall
conversion rate is ten times better than
the 4 percent average conversion rate of
a liate marketing.

They are obviously interested in the product or they Mobile is the ideal platform for generating, tracking and
would not have called in the first place. delivering PPCalls.

There are a lot of other aspects a successful pay-per-call Chief marketing o cers need to know how to maximize
campaign must consider: their PPCall ROI, which they can do by targeting, filter-
ing and appealing to their market.
Audience profiling, creative production, IVR greeting,
mobile video, pricing, fraud, tracking, recording, data This helps to better allocate their media budgets.
portal, analytics and account management.
Earl Brown is CEO of ValueLeads, Santa Barbara, CA.
PPC, CPM and similar advertising is losing influ- Reach him at ebrown@valueleads.com.

Mobile audience micro targeting in the real world
By Gregg Stewart

W
ith global mobile advertising spend projected er, remains extremely challenging today due to the
to reach $20 billion in 2015 (Gartner Research, technological fragmentation that exists at the de-
June 2011) it is hard not to be excited about vice, operating system and browser levels of the
mobile marketing. mobile ecosystem.

The global proliferation of smartphones and tablets, the In addition, for reasons related to technical complex-
emergence of HTML5 as a mobile browser standard and ity and consumer privacy concerns, the sophisticated
innovations such as location-based services, direct mo- ad serving systems that enable direct demographic,
bile payments, and augmented reality promise to revolu- behavioral and contextual targeting and retargeting in
tionize how retailers, brands and marketers engage and the world of online display advertising have not yet been
interact with consumers. fully developed in the mobile ecosystem.

One-to-one marketing For online marketers used to operating in the traditional
Mobile may well be the medium that for the first time desktop display environment, the complexities of the
enables marketers to consistently deliver one-to-one current mobile ecosystem can seem daunting.
messages that engage, delight and inspire consumers to
immediate action. However, opportunistic mobile marketers have devel-
oped innovative data-driven approaches to audience
The development and broad-based deployment of targeting that exploit this complexity to gain improved
such engaging mobile-optimized content, howev- campaign performance.

One such approach is progressive targeting.

Progressive targeting
While traditional online marketing relies on buy-
ing tra c from sites with demographics that
match those of target users and that consequently
are expected to convert well, progressive target-
ing is a structured analytic approach to mobile
marketing that empirically and precisely identi-
fies which segments convert well and which ones
do not.

Within progressive targeting, a “segment” is de-
fined as a multi-variate combination of click
stream data elements and, in general, the more
complex the data available, the more precise the
micro-targeting.

With such an approach, the fragmentation
of the mobile ecosystem becomes a power-
ful enabler of enhanced audience targeting and
campaign optimization.


are not.

These learnings can be im-
mediately fed back into the
media buying targeting sys-
tems, with a clear and im-
mediate positive impact on
campaign performance.

The most sophisticated mo-
bile campaigns integrate
click stream data such as
lead quality, sales and life-
time value from the adver-
tiser’s customer relationship
management system.

Depending on the advertiser,
o er and campaign, these
variables could indicate an
app download or installa-
tion, a call to a sales cen-
ter, a Web site login, use of a
free trial service, upgrade to a
premium service, a purchase
or any other consumer ac-
tion that the advertiser is able
Segmentation is accomplished by visualization to track through a Web site, app or
of the click stream data from one or a series of call center.
test campaigns.
Such tracking enables highly-optimized targeting of seg-
A simple yet e ective click stream data set would inte- ments that are most likely to convert on the o er, even
grate data elements from both the ad network and the for long tail campaigns.
mobile media buyer’s systems.
Although fragmentation in the mobile ecosystem con-
Click stream data from a mobile ad network typi- tinues to be a challenge for retailers, brands and mar-
cally includes timestamp, handset, carrier, encoded keters, it is possible to take advantage of the resulting
publisher or site identiﬁer and category, channel or complexity to improve audience targeting and overall
keyword designation. campaign performance.

Click stream data from a mobile media buyer’s platform Progressive targeting based on visualization of multi-
typically includes campaign name, creative identiﬁer and variate click stream data is one such proven approach.
links to the campaign hierarchy.
Gregg Stewart is vice president of new media platforms at
Visualization of the click stream data will clearly iden- Neverblue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Reach
tify segments that are out-performing and those that him at gregg.stewart@neverblue.com.

8 tips for successful mobile app promotion
By Micah Adler

C
onsumers have an insatiable appetite for down- or sheer “wow” factors that can equal the power of a
loading the hottest new applications that reside top ranking.
among the half a million crowding the app stores.
The challenges of app promotion are complex and can
As a mobile marketer, this spells both challenge and op- easily consume large chunks of your marketing budget.
portunity. Those 500,000-plus apps are competing with But they do not have to.
yours for users. How can you ensure that they will ﬁnd
and download yours? The following eight simple and proven best practices can
help you improve your mobile app marketing results and
The solution is in loyal user acquisition. achieve your business goals.

Loyal users are those who take an action, such as an in- With app ad copy, less is more. Unlike traditional ad copy,
app purchase or registration. And the key to attracting mobile real estate is limited.
loyal users is app store visibility.
Keep your ad text short, punchy and straight to the point,
There is no amount of buzz, PR, one-o ad campaigns and make your call to action immediate and valuable.

Write your landing page for mobile consumption. When
composing your app store landing page, do not focus on
how it will look on the desktop, but rather how it will
look on mobile devices, since this is where the majority
of app download decision-making will occur.

Drive downloads through your title. When creating your
app’s title, look beyond your brand and also consider
terms of app store search results and conversion of users
who arrive on your app store landing page. For example,
if you have a photography-oriented app, speak to the
functionality of the app in its title by referencing a fea-
ture such as “picture color.”

This way you are just as likely to appear in the
app store search results for a user looking for a
“photography” solution.

Work with as many tra c sources as possible. Using just
one tra c source like a mobile ad network, real-time
bidding platform or incentive based program can limit
your results.

It is better to work with as many tra c sources as pos-
sible. This will enable you to reach your largest potential
audience, realize the lowest-possible acquisition cost,


and also protect your app from audience saturation. users. You should be actively targeting organic users be-
cause they are the most likely to become your loyal users.
Focus on loyal users. Loyal users are most critical to your
business success. Consider di erentiated or alternative categories. Your
app probably fits into a number of categories and, while
However you cannot rely solely on your tra c sources to your gut instinct may be to place it in one of the most
deliver them. It requires your initiative. popular categories, you may fare better in an alternative
category with a higher ranking opportunity.
To get loyal users we recommend the following:
For example, it might be better to rank fifth in a smaller
your success metrics and goals category as opposed to 25th in Games.

Know which tra c sources drive loyal users. Based on
loyal users your definition of a loyal user, you need to understand
how many loyal users you are generating from each ad
network and tra c source, and at what cost.
Drive and track downloads from organic users. Organic
users are those who actively seek and download your app Measure and recalibrate to get the mix right.
without any paid marketing influence.
Micah Adler is CEO of Fiksu, Boston. Reach him
They have a much higher lifetime value than ad-driven at micah@fiksu.com.


Mobile bifucrates into two distinct advertising practices
By Harry Kargman

T
he current mobile advertising landscape has bifur- of success. The context of where the ad appears is less
cated into two separate and distinct advertising relevant, if relevant at all.
practices. The ﬁrst is the direct response opportu-
nity where advertisers are looking for reach and conver- The challenge of this model from a publisher per-
sion based upon pre-deﬁned metrics. spective is that it creates a race to the so-called bot-
tom from a pricing perspective – commoditizing the
This practice is less concerned with the quality and con- value of tra c, in general, since the price per click
text of where the ads run and more concerned with per- from a adult site, blog, social networking site or ama-
formance – getting the lowest pricing on a cost-per-click teur Web site, has the same value as that of a well-
(CPC) basis or numeric conversion on acquisition metrics known, professionally edited, nationally recognized site
such as downloads of a particular application from the or app.
iTunes app store.
The context of where the ad appears is only as relevant
Reach and conversion in so far as the performance.
In the performance game, the advertising serves as a
means unto an end, meaning the goal is a click to a site A site or app is only rated upon a conversion metric
or downloads of an app, and they are the sole metrics against one another.


For those advertisers looking to achieve a very spe- ported across most mobile-optimized sites and apps.
cific goal, where brand-safe context is irrelevant,
this approach is best served by negotiating the Therefore, advertisers and marketers can easily create,
lowest CPCs possible while measuring campaign manage and measure these campaigns and produce them
performance rigorously. in scale.

The downside of this approach is that it does not However, the challenge with this simplistic approach is
take into account potential brand dilution or even making the e ectiveness of the creative, or lack thereof,
harm since CPC campaigns tend to run on bottom- work from a campaign objective standpoint – a.k.a a
basement sites. high engagement rate.

While many smaller advertisers who buy keywords or A standard display banner on a rich HMTL5 or xHTML
choose performance campaigns may not want to pay a site or within a iPhone or Android app will be lost in the
premium to assure transparency in site relevance and content surrounding it.
context, those brands which spent years and untold re-
sources to create and build their brands should be very If the campaign is measured for e ectiveness via metrics
careful when buying in this way as performance cam- such as click-through rate, it is natural that the rate will
paigns do not come with transparency. be suppressed – if the content is more attractive than
the ad.
Context and placement
The second approach is a display advertising opportunity Therefore, there needs to be innovation to this approach
where context and placement of the advertisement on a where the display advertising and branding objectives
site or app is considered a critically important compo- are met by having the advertising creative be supported
nent in the overall campaign objective. by the content around it.

While other metrics such as click-through rate are In essence, the advertising needs to be considered as
measured to determine e ectiveness of the cre- interesting, or more engaging than that of the content
ative, this approach at its core recognizes that con- surrounding it.
text and placement of an ad does indeed influence
consumer perceptions. Beyond the banner
Given this challenge, there are a number of mobile rich
One of the initial and guiding principles in the buying media advertising units that have recently come to mar-
decision is to situate the advertising in content that will ket from companies such as Medialets, Crisp, Vdopia,
reflect well on the brand and brand objectives. Phluant, Sprout and Celtra.

The challenge in this approach is determining if These units provide a relatively easy way for brand ad-
the creative – in many cases, the banners – have vertisers to run e ective display campaigns that gener-
the level of e ectiveness from an influence and ate consumer interest and awareness with higher click-
engagement perspective. through rates.

The advantage of standard mobile banners both on site These rich media units are less standard than those of
and in app is that they are easy to produce, tra c and banners and require more thought from a creative stand-
report on. point. However, they generate greater returns to the
brand advertiser.
The mobile industry has created Mobile Marketing As-
sociation industry-standard banner sizes that are sup- This is a great first step in the augmentation of the


advertising experience. tegrate into the content where the result is fresh
and compelling.
The second logical step – potentially leap, if you will – is
to create context sensitive rich integrations within the The industry should focus on driving engagement and
sites and apps themselves. participation while creating real value for the consumer
to participate and interact with the advertising.
A banner campaign or even rich media campaign will
have di culty competing with well-executed, contextu- The next level is to go beyond the banner by rallying
ally relevant content integrations where the advertising around a few key easy-to-create and reproduce content
is integrated into the content itself. integrations that advertisers can conﬁdently buy and
measure producing real value with overall engagement.
The concept is simple: to build advertiser-sponsored rel-
evant content extensions into the very fabric of the site Standardization of these few rich mobile content inte-
or apps. The advertising surrounds the content and in grations should be the aspiration and goal for 2012 for
some cases becomes the content. the publishing industry.

The objective of the publisher community should be Harry Kargman is founder/CEO of Kargo, New York. Reach
to create standard ways in which advertisers can in- him at harry@kargo.com.


Mobile advertising: Why it’s got to be rich
By Elena Perez

S
martphones and tablets have propelled us into By incorporating video content and image galleries
the future, where rich information and entertain- directly into creative ad units, brands give users more
ment leap o our screens, draw us in by ﬁngertips options for response.
so deeply that we crash blindly into one another while
walking down the street. The integration of Facebook and Twitter take advantage
of mobile consumers’ social media habits and extend the
For marketers, mobile’s growth represents an excep- connection between consumer and brand beyond the life
tionally personal environment in which to connect with of the campaign.
consumers and an exceptionally fertile ground to deliver
meaningful display advertising. Nielsen recently reported that 53 percent of social net-
workers follow brands and 40 percent are accessing via
Gives them what they want mobile devices.
The ability to touch, shake and spin a device adds a
new dimension of interaction that device owners love Forms for data collection, store locators, click-to-call
to explore. buttons and shopping carts directly in an ad unit drive
users further down the purchase funnel.
The portability of the device raises the bar for the kind of
media consumers expect on the go. Preserve the integrity of user experience
Tour target audience is engaging with an application or
This new mix of interaction and expectation opens the mobile Web site because they are interested in the con-
door to truly meaningful engagement. tent or information provided. Anything that disrupts that


the cost and e ort of your simple
static ad.

Measurement and delivering
ROI
Mobile rich media is 100
percent measurable.

Whether delivered to app or
mobile Web site, every one of
the interactions that are built
into a creative can be mea-
sured to give you complete in-
sight into the performance of
your campaign.

Measure the time spent en-
gaging with creative, track the
number of users who share your
brand message, how many times
a form was ﬁlled out and how far
down the funnel your creative
experience can undermine a brand’s investment. leads consumers.

Rich ads allow brands to engage without breaking conti- Rich media o ers more than just a click-through, it tells
nuity of experience, enabling consumers to watch prod- a comprehensive story of the ad unit’s success and pro-
uct demos, scroll through product specs, virtually drive a vides valuable insight for your next steps.
car and share a brand message with their closest friends
without asking them to a new environment. Mobile rich media has evolved quickly
In just a short period of time, mobile rich media has
The recent Polo Ralph Lauren sponsorship of The New evolved from an opportunity fueled by cutting-edge nov-
York Times’ iPad app made it possible to access an in- elty to one that o ers a full spectrum of creative pos-
depth catalog, complete with live video and an in-ad sibilities that meet the needs of di erent brands, indus-
unit shopping cart without leaving the app, providing a tries and – importantly – deadlines.
more seamless experience that fosters a better percep-
tion of both the publisher and brand. Now that you can use mobile rich media to deliver seam-
less experiences that rise to the expectations set by the
The self-contained experience of mobile rich media pro- dynamic devices on which they run – without getting
vides another important beneﬁt. cut on the bleeding edge - perhaps the next person who
blindly crashes into you while walking down the street
By enabling brands to lead users all the way down the will be locked into a deep and meaningful engagement
funnel to lead generation or even purchase, mobile rich with your brand.
media becomes a viable alternative to developing, pro-
moting and maintaining a mobile app or mobile-opti- Elena Perez is director of marketing at Medialets, New
mized landing page, both of which incrementally a ect York. Reach her at elena.perez@medialets.com.


Case study: Discovery Channel’s Storm Chasers
By sta reports

M
any verticals have embraced mobile advertising,
but entertainment in particular has seen early
and consistent success in tapping into the cre-
ativity and impact of the mobile environment.

The Discovery Channel is notable among entertainment’s
mobile innovators, with standout work including the
mobile rich media campaign supporting Season 4 of the
popular series, Storm Chasers.

“We wanted to create a campaign that captured the ex-
citement and spirit of Storm Chasers,” said Sal Cande-
la, mobile director of
PHD. “We knew from
previous experience
that Medialets could
deliver a memorable
and immersive cam-
paign that met the
campaign’s goals.”

Campaign goals
The mobile component the target audience.
was part of a broader
mix designed to drive PHD and Medialets had previously collaborated on
tune-in for the cable a number of rich media campaigns, including the
program, targeting campaign for HBO’s True Blood.
adults 25-54 who are
receptive to media Mobile rich media creative was chosen to give consum-
content that involves ers a ﬁrst-person point-of-view of a storm.
sports, character-
driven human-interest The creative execution initiated as banner that expanded
stories and hands-on when the user taps anywhere in app.
technology fun.
The expansion launches a tornado that takes over the
Execution app screen, speakers and even vibrates.
The Discovery Chan-
nel worked with me- Then, the tornado wipes away everything in its on-screen
dia agency PHD. PHD path and cracks the iPhone screen.
enlisted Medialets to
create, deliver and As the tornado faded away, the user is prompted to
measure a rich media tap-to-watch the full screen Storm Chasers season
campaign that reached 4 trailer.

The trailer then plays inside the app to avoid disrupting the Several of the brand attributes associated with Storm
user experience. Chasers also grew; “is fascinating” grew 16 per-
cent and “is a program I’m excited about” grew
Results 19 percent.
The immersive Storm Chasers creative delivered more
than 5 million impressions across multiple apps. It
was well received by users, generating instant buzz
on Twitter and coverage in industry trades such as
Mobile Marketer.

The campaign was also recognized by the MOBI Awards,
OMMA Awards and IAB MIXX Awards.

The engagement rate for the campaign averaged 17 per-
cent, exponentially higher than online rich media’s low,
single-digit benchmarks.

An Insight Express study was also conducted, giving ad-
ditional insight into the campaigns success.

More than 60 percent of those exposed to the
mobile campaign had a favorable opinion of
Storm Chasers and would be willing to watch
the program.

In fact, after exposure to the mobile campaign, intent to
view grew by 28 percent.

Legal screenshots for interactive, integrated campaigns
By Susan Tillotson Bunch

N
ielsen Co. predicts that smartphones will surpass You might consider these questions as you enthusias-
feature phones by November 2011. Besides old- tically plan your company’s next cutting edge mobile-
fashioned talking and messaging, consumers now plus campaign.
use location-based features, such as mapping, check-
ing-in and tagging, which create exciting advertising Will your promotion include free o ers, product
opportunities to target speciﬁc audiences. health or e cacy claims, restricted o ers or kid-
directed ads?
Ironically, as the communication technologies and de- General advertising rules such as material terms and
vices compress, the variety of potentially applicable conditions, no unfair or deceptive representations, claim
regulaions expands. substantiation and CARU Guidelines still apply.

Are your disclosures easily viewable?
Adequacy of disclosure in a mobile medium may turn on
screen features, accompanying animation, distracting
graphics or other dynamic content, run time, font size
and pixel resolution.

Do not expect regulatory sympathy for compliance ob-
stacles posed by shrinking real estate.

Will your campaign encourage word-of-mouth praise
from loyal customers?
If so, make sure you can satisfy substantiation and ma-
terial connection disclosure requirements for endorse-
ments and testimonials.

Will you o er prizes?
Sweepstakes, games of chance and contests are subject
to often overlapping legal requirements, including gam-
bling and lottery prohibitions, registration requirements
(often with surety bonding) and o cial rules disclosures.

Requiring an entrant to pay for a text message, give up
do-not-call rights, opt in to a mobile alert database, ex-
pend substantial e ort, transfer rights to user-generat-
ed content or satisfy other conditions may amount to
consideration, requiring a separate free entry method to
avoid a lottery challenge.

In addition, premium text-to-enter sweepstakes that of-
fer nothing of value to MMS entrants other than an en-
try may be challenged as illegal lotteries even if a free
method is o ered.

sion of privacy, or more creative theories like trespass,
stalking and computer fraud.

Informed consent is top priority but notice will not likely
be one-size-fits-all - rather, the nature, frequency and
prominence necessary for adequate notice will turn on
factors such as sensitivity of collected data, its intended
use and disclosure, transparency of collection, and the
collection mechanism, i.e., whether it is automatically
collected or requires a rmative consumer input.

Online boiler-print disclosures will not su ce for mul-
tichannel campaigns encouraging immediate and direct
consumer interaction.

Will you collect data from tweens or younger?
Mobile campaigns are equally subject to COPPA Rules,
and if approved, proposed and expansive amendments
will directly and substantially impact mobile, online and
behavioral marketing to kids under 13.

Clearly, an ounce of prevention – awareness of potential
hazards illustrated above – when planning your exciting
multichannel mobile-integrated campaign – is worth a
pound of cure – dollars spent redesigning a campaign,
defending distracting litigation, or implementing PR
damage control.

Acquainting oneself with questions above can reduce le-
Do you plan to push text messages to consumers or gal headaches while optimizing marketing benefits from
encourage them to post promotion-related messages these promising new advertising tools.
on their Facebook or MySpace pages?
If so, beware of potential Telephone Consumer Protec- Susan Tillotson Bunch is an attorney at Thomas & LoCi-
tion Act and Can-Spam claims. Facebook posts by con- cero PL, Tampa, FL. Reach her at sbunch@tlolawfirm.com.
sumers may be treated as your spam and invite litigation.

What consumer data are you collecting, using
and sharing?
Privacy issues are churning as lawmakers rush to appease
constituents who often voice fears of identity theft on
Monday, yet cheerfully blog, tweet or post intimate de-
tails of their personal lives on Tuesday.

Interactive campaigns involving data collection, QR code
scavenger hunts, location-based gaming and check-in
incentives could trigger individual or class actions claim-
ing breach of privacy policies, false advertising or inva-

How to deliver one message to multiple platforms
By Martin Hayward

N
ew mobile devices hit the market rapidly over same content – screen sizes, resolution and video sup-
the past year, with more than 120 smartphones port can vary significantly between an iPhone, Android
launched from April 2010 to March 2011 alone. device or BlackBerry.

As a growing number of consumers demand these pow- Therefore a company needs to be cognizant of device de-
erful devices at their fingertips, marketers are a orded a mographics when building a mobile site and developing
tremendous opportunity to reach the right audience at a mobile marketing campaign.
the right time with the right message.
Not only do marketers, advertisers and Internet retail-
With the ability of these devices to display rich media ers need to understand the purchasing behavior of exist-
content and detect a precise location, marketers can ing and prospective customers, but also which devices
more accurately reach consumers with high purchase those consumers are using to research their products
intent and increase the odds of them clicking on ads by and services.
deploying a one-on-one marketing experience unique
and relevant to the individual. In other words, marketing campaigns today should be
supported by new dimensions of consumer data in the
With the diversity of smartphones on the market today, form of device demographics – research that goes be-
marketers are faced with the challenge of delivering yond reliance on traditional shopper profiles, purchasing
the same message for a mobile marketing campaign to preferences and spending habits.
multiple platforms.
Device detection can also help marketers in other as-
Device demographics pects of mobile marketing, such as with location-
Devices do not all necessarily support the delivery of the based marketing.


This capability can determine the location of the visi-
tor and adjust the response of delivered content, all in
real time.

For example, the content could be an advertisement,
a coupon or a map that shows their current loca-
tion and other points of interest in relation to their
current position.

Location-based technology combined with device de-
tection will improve target marketing significantly
over the next year and beyond. Advertisers can de-
ploy hyper-local technology to avoid delivering ir-
relevant content and ads that display incorrectly on
consumers’ devices.

Mobile content delivery
To truly capitalize on device demographics, brands must
be open to reevaluating their mobile content delivery
strategy.

A one-size-fits-all approach will not work and un-
doubtedly marketers will have to make technology
changes that redefine how they create campaigns,
as well as how those campaigns are disseminated to
the consumer.

To help deliver optimized content to each device, mar-
keters can benefit from partnering with a content deliv-
ery network to create a more engaging mobile experi- With an increasing number of advertisers using mobile
ence for the end user. display campaigns to reach consumers, tailoring content
delivery by device demographics is almost as important
Advertisers and marketers are clearly recognizing the as the message itself for telling a story and moving con-
benefits of target- sumers through the decision sales funnel.
ing potential cus-
tomers via mobile. Leveraging device detection capabilities and loca-
tion-based capabilities enables marketers to e ec-
According to Gart- tively deliver appropriate content that resonates with
ner Research, glob- consumer preferences.
al mobile advertis-
ing revenue will Consumers benefit from receiving content that is rel-
hit $3.3 billion in evant to their spending behaviors, needs and interests.
2011, a huge in-
crease from the Martin Hayward is director of marketing at Mir-
$1.6 billion in rev- ror Image Internet, Tewksbury, MA. Reach him
enue in 2010. at martin.hayward@mirror-image.com.


Five ways to increase engagement, sales and loyalty with mobile
By Jack Philbin

T
here is no doubt most marketers’ core business wallets than their phones and 91 percent of them keep
objectives always include increasing engagement, their mobile phones within three feet of them 24 hours
sales and loyalty to consumers. a day, seven days a week, according to published reports.

To do so, they are most likely using traditional media To successfully infuse mobile into the marketing mix,
mixes of print, television, radio and email to create con- marketers need to think of it as a horizontal conduit
versations with consumers. across all marketing channels rather than its own vertical.

But if marketers really want to turn those conversations Today, if deployed at all, mobile is likely a subcategory in
into meaningful, ongoing dialogues with audiences, they digital, but its impact can reverberate louder if activated
need to think about mobile – the most personal commu- at the nucleus of media activities.
nication device that allows brands to build relationships
with consumers and engage in ways other traditional The following are ﬁve lessons marketers can implement
media cannot. to ensure the success of their mobile initiatives and
improve the value of their overall marketing strategy
Mobile wields one-on-one engagement because it is the throughout the customer lifecycle:
device many consumers want to be contacted on. It also
exerts the power of ubiquity. Do not deploy mobile in a silo. Always add a mobile call
to action (CTA) across all advertising channels.
Many Americans say they would rather be without their
Whether it is for consumers to join a loyalty program or
to take advantage of discounts, distribute a CTA on all
marketers’ media buys.

This can be as simple as including a CTA on print, radio,
TV, out of home and direct mail.

Adding a channel-appropriate CTA such as, “Text SAVE
to 12345 for a 20 percent o coupon,” is simple and ef-
fective.

Winning loyalty is both an art and a science. As the
saying goes, it is all about ﬁrst impressions.

Text messaging is a lot like starting a relationship – mar-
keters have to nurture the relationship in the beginning
and make sure they are not waiting too long to send a
second message after consumers opt in.

If marketers wait too long, they risk losing the relation-
ships, and consumers may think they are spamming them.

The secret: Give them the right content at the right time.


Only use mobile when time, location and interaction Do not send them the same o er just sent through email
matter. Time, location and interaction are essential ele- via text too. Converse with consumers the same way you
ments to successful marketing campaigns. prefer communicating.

Mobile is all about immediacy. Measure and test your mobile campaign. If marketers
are not testing, they are not learning, and if they are not
If marketers need to interact with consumers now, learning, their brands will be left behind.
now means now, not three hours later. Marketers will
also want to make sure they connect with them at the Analyzing metrics allows marketers to adjust their CTAs
right time. if they are not working as planned and enable them to
improve the e ciency of their media spend.
Ask yourself: Where consumers will be when they receive
messages and engage with brands? By adding a mobile CTA across traditional chan-
nels, marketers are one step closer to ﬁnding their
Engage, do not interrupt. Mobile campaigns must be best use of media spend. Take the next step and com-
unique to make consumers feel special, after all that is mit to testing at least one new mobile program
why they opt in to databases. this year.

If they do not feel special, marketers run the risk of Jack Philbin is cofounder and president of Vibes, Chicago.
interrupting them. Reach him at jack.philbin@vibes.com.

Three best-practice tips for evaluating mobile ad performance
By Bill Dinan

M
obile advertising has been adopted faster than
other media – including cable television in the Typically, there is no better way to cut to the chase and
80s and the Internet in the 90s. And while the get the information needed to make a purchase decision
channel is still in its relative infancy, it has quickly be- than to call the business directly—from your smartphone
come a must-have element in the overall marketing mix. where you found the mobile ad.

Even small- to medium-sized businesses are in on it, A mobile advertising strategy can take many forms.
with 80 percent planning to include mobile in their 2012
advertising budgets. Whether advertisers are utilizing a mobile ad network,
banner ads or in-app ads, they want to know how their
The traction of mobile advertising is ultimately driven by mobile programs are performing so they can monetize.
consumers – they rely on their mobile devices more than
any other piece of technology. That means employing e ective measurement and es-
tablishing tangible metrics that are easily understood.
Plus, there is immediacy about mobile that drives higher
response rates, not to mention limited mobile real estate Here are three best practice tips for evaluating mobile
for content. ad performance:


relevant leads.
Know how you want
to measure Evaluate your copy and distribution strategy to make
More so than oth- sure there are no gaps in your demographic targeting.
er digital chan-
nels, mobile o ers Optimize mobile call details
the opportunity to If you follow the first two best practices, a natu-
measure and gain ad- ral extension to measuring mobile ad performance
ditional insight beyond is to use mobile call detail to optimize your overall
the click. mobile campaigns.

Clicks o er detail on how a mobile consumer arrived There is no better way to use measurement stats than
to a business, but advertisers should also analyze the to feed them back into the program to improve your
resulting calls. lead rate.

The primary use of a smartphone is for calling and mobile This starts with a simple and concise measurement tool
consumers are typically ready to purchase, so calls are a that does not overcomplicate the metrics and can clearly
natural next step in the purchase cycle. display aggregate trending data.

Mobile call tracking is crucial as valuable lead insights One way advertisers can use this data to maximize their
can be gleaned from detailed call data including whether ad spend is to evaluate how the di erent mobile lead
the call connected, how long it lasted and the demo- sources are performing.
graphic profile of the caller.
Call durations are a lead quality indicator and the longer
Also, do not forget to consider other ROI indicators such a consumer stays on the line, the more likely they are
as direction downloads, QR codes and map views. to convert.

Focus on your creative content strategy Advertisers should compare the call durations each mo-
Today, mobile content does not o er the same breadth bile lead source is generating and use that data to opti-
and depth as traditional or digital creative content so a mize mobile programs for quality leads.
targeted content strategy is key.
As all lead sources are not created equal, performance
You are dealing with smaller screens and the user’s feedback is a key optimization tool to validate the quality
need for immediate gratification, so mobile content of each mobile source being used in the advertising buy.
must walk the fine line of being short but well defined
and targeted. Capturing and analyzing mobile call details and caller
intelligence is paramount for optimizing mobile ad spend
Content that is too general may not result in quality leads. to drive more leads.

As an example, while attorney calls typically have a lon- Visibility into mobile-driven calls will help advertisers
ger average duration, mobile leads to a specific law firm measure how customers are responding to mobile ads
were generating very short calls. and inform valuable modifications to reflect specific
trends or keywords.
The problem? Customers were calling about a practice
area not o ered by that attorney. Bill Dinan is president of Telmetrics, Missis-
sauga, Ontario, Canada. He can be reached
This is an opportunity to tweak the content for more at bill.dinan@telmetrics.com.

Mobile marketing for the small- to medium-sized business
By Jennifer McCoy

J
.P. Morgan estimated that mobile ad spend would
top $1.2 billion in 2011. On average, corporations
are allocating approximately 20-30 percent of their
budget towards mobile.

With these types of numbers, how can a local-, small- or
medium-sized business be expected to compete in the
mobile space?

The mobile industry has begun to see commoditization
of available software, which is allowing for extremely
competitive pricing.

And, more free resources for application building are
popping up, allowing users with essentially zero tech
skills to build iPhone, Android, Windows and BlackBerry
apps for next to nothing.

Lastly, the ability to hyper-target mobile banner ads al-
lows businesses to keep their ad budgets low and still
see results.

SMS marketing
The ﬁrst step for a local business is to determine
what type of mobile advertising will be most e ective
for it.

The next step is to look for locally-owned companies
that o er mobile as part of their whole package.

A lot of media companies o er some aspects of mo-
bile – primarily SMS – and because of this, the der a few hundred a month – can be achieved.
past few years have seen dramatic reductions in
price models. Once you do your research, you can also ﬁnd online op-
tions for less than $100 per month.
If you are a small business that wants to get into SMS
advertising, look to your local media company. Just be sure to look into best practices and use online re-
sources and the mobile community to ensure your cam-
Most likely you already have an ad rep that you work paign is going to be e ective and adhere to standards in
with and trust – and they can help you learn as much the mobile industry.
about mobile as you can.
Mobile apps for less
From there, negotiating a great price point – usually un- Mobile apps are all the rage and can be a great extension


of your brand. Make sure they are well-versed in multiple platforms,
and they can build for each operating system.
First, sit down and consider what you want your app
to do. What is most important? Do you want your cus- Also, make sure they understand the rules and regulations
tomers to be able to shop? Interact with other custom- for getting apps approved through the corresponding app
ers? Review products? The goal should be to get your store, be it Apple’s App Store or Google’s Android Market.
app opened as often as possible- constantly reinforcing
your brand. Apps can run anywhere from a few hundred to tens of
thousands of dollars, but for a small budget of a couple
Finding a purpose to your app, and therefore giving con- thousand dollars your business can absolutely create a
sumers a reason to download and utilize it, is the most functional and necessary mobile application.
essential step before searching for an app developer.
Mobile display advertising
The more functions, the more expensive. When you read reports of companies paying a
half a million for an interactive iAd - that can be
The good news is: there are a ton of new developers and very intimidating.
new companies out there that are ready to make their
mark. Search for a local developer that is hungry and The truth is that there are options out there for the rest
willing to work with you to get the best product possible. of us.

One of the best options out there is hyperlocal ads of-
fered by Google’s AdMob.

These ads utilize distance information and click-to-call
functionalities to pull in immediate business.

CPC rates for these ads can be as low as $0.40, and
since you can set a budget much like you would with
online banner ads, a business can control all aspects of
their spending.

Mobile will continue to grow – not only as a viable me-
dium – but also as a necessary marketing tool.

Make sure that your business is knowledgeable and ready
to jump in.

Look to local experts to rein in costs and help with strat-
egy and best practices, work with up and coming devel-
opers to ensure your budgets stay together, and explore
mobile search and banner options that bring you into the
mobile realm.

Jennifer McCoy is owner of Ballyhoo Mo-
bile Marketing Inc., Jacksonville, FL. Reach her
at jenn@ballyhoomobile.com.

Case study: Mobile display advertising for B2B engagement
By Marc Keating

W
e now live in a world that is not only mul-
tichannel but also multi-device. That means
that if marketers are looking to reach their
target audiences in an ever fragmented communications
landscape, a contact strategy now has to include all pos-
sible channels that a prospect could use to research and
evaluate a brand.

As part of an integrated campaign for Siemens target-
ing a highly connected C-level audience, mobile market-
ing was a primary channel to build the brand and reach
prospects as part of a wider Web banner campaign.

The objective behind the Web and mobile ban-
ner campaign was to globally announce the reposi-
tioning of Siemens IT Solutions and Services as The
Business Technologists.

Siemens wanted to spread the message that it had moved
beyond information technology into a new realm called
business technology.

It is where technology solutions and services are in-
tegral to business strategy, making organizations
more e ective.

A targeted campaign needed to communicate
to key decision makers such as CEOs and chief
information o cers.

Reaching the target
In order to reach the target audiences, Siemens, work-
ing with its agency—IAS b2b marketing—selected
key markets: United States, Austria, Britain and Ger-
many to reach high-quality audiences via prominent
technology publications.
the value the audiences placed on social media channels
Siemens wanted to own the business technology cat- such as LinkedIn. It also pointed to the increasing popu-
egory so it was necessary to make a big impact with larity of iPhones and BlackBerrys with chief information
Web banners. o cers and senior IT managers.

The campaign was delivered across a number of di erent, Based on the research, media plan was developed that
growing communication channels. Research uncovered not only took into account the standard online Web site


business technologists from Siemens writing about
IT issues and trends of interest to IT profession-
als with clear calls to action and links to the Siemens
Web site.

The campaign ran from January–February 2011.

Besides the exclusive banner placement on all of
IDG B2B mobile Web sites and iPhone apps, mobile
banners appeared in mobile advertorial across the
IDG network.

Siemens was also the exclusive launch partner sponsor
of the CIO BlackBerry application.

When the application was loading, a logo and ban-
ner appeared on all pages linking to the Siemens
mobile microsite.

Results
Overall, the campaign achieved 7,212 clicks at a click-
through rate of 0.21 percent.

The click-through rates exceeded the industry average of
0.1 percent for mobile, surpassing all expectations with
click-through rates of 0.30 percent.

Mobile banners over-delivered by 264 percent, amount-
ing to $121,557 in added-value.

The Siemens program won a mobile award from the
Business Marketing Association in the U.S. in 2011.

The Business Technology campaign demonstrated the
power of mobile advertising as part of a combined Web
placements but also utilized newer mobile capabilities. and print campaign and proved that mobile now has its
place as part of a multichannel strategy that comple-
Siemens and IAS b2b marketing partnered with IDG to ments PPC, email and direct mail.
position Web banners on some of their major, global
brand publications such as CIO and ComputerWorld. With the continuing growth in Web access from mo-
bile devices, marketers who ignore mobile will do so at
To achieve maximum exposure, banners ran across pub- their peril.
lication Web sites as well as on their mobile sites, mobile
apps and in print magazines. Marc Keating is head of digital at IAS B2B Mar-
keting, Bollington, Cheshire, Britain. Reach him
Creative included banners introducing individual at marc.keating@iasb2b.com.

The power of mobile bar codes
By Laura Marriott

M
obile has changed the way in which advertis- bar codes to bring interactivity to trade show collateral
ers can and should interact with the consumer. and drive tra c to its range of both free and premium
The mobile device’s personal, always on nature mobile applications.
has changed the dynamic of consumer-brand interaction
for good, moving it away from the interruption-based Kodak has integrated mobile bar codes on shelf talkers
model of the past and putting the consumer firmly in the in-store and on the cover of user guides to provide con-
driving seat. sumers with added value videos, product specifications,
reviews and in the case of the user guide, a range of
It has made engagement all about flexibility and conve- available accessories.
nience – accessing information and services whenever
and wherever the consumer wants, on demand and when Ultimately, if brands can provide the right incentive to
it is relevant to them. scan and o er consumers value based on convenience,
utility or education then there is a very real expecta-
As we can see from the number of mobile bar codes that tion that they can reap impressive rewards from mobile
are popping up all around us, just about anywhere you bar code campaigns.
can think of – on billboards, on-pack, in bars and res-
taurants, shops, in magazines or on the side of a bus – Couple this with a platform that will enable a positive
mobile bar codes are rapidly emerging as a key means of user experience at each and every scan and deliver real-
enabling this tailored, interactive engagement. time measurement that o ers insight and the opportu-
nity to further tailor campaigns based on available con-
From providing nutritional information on a cere- sumer data and you have a winning combination that
al packet to cinema listings and trailers from a movie really is taking the mobile marketing and advertising
poster or a buy-one-get-one-free o er in the window world by storm.
of a store, used in the right way – based on value, rel-
evance and a seamless user experience – mobile bar Laura Marriott is board chairwoman and CEO
codes are creating rich media experiences for consumers of NeoMedia Technologies, Atlanta. Reach her
on the go. at lmarriott@neom.com.

By allowing consumers to quickly access content, help-
ful information and mobile commerce services e ort-
lessly and customizing content delivery and access
according to user location and preferences, brands
are able to create a one-to-one relationship with
the target consumer, boost loyalty and, ultimately,
drive sales.

Bar codes in practice
A recent on-pack campaign has seen more than 500,000
scans in less than three months, delivering far high-
er click-through or call rates than including a URL
or 1-800 number.

Additionally, hunting retailer Realtree has used mobile


Digital advertising convergence: Is it further away than ever before?
By Dale Carr

W
hile vast opportunities exist in the mobile ad- the potential of mobile advertising and where to focus
vertising space, there still remains a hesitance their budgets?
to embrace this relatively new medium, in part
due to lack of knowledge as well as a general middle Let us imagine digital advertising utopia for a minute. I
to late adopter mindset that many corporations adopt sell old fashioned widgets and want to boost sales. I do
when it comes to new technology. not care if I advertise on apps, Web, mobile Web, An-
droid, iOS or Windows. I just want sales. In this utopian
Less than 1 percent of global advertising revenue is mo- world, I can go to a single agency or ad network, place
bile related and much of that is being driven from within my ads targeted at certain demographics or keywords
the emerging technology itself. and voila, in come the leads.

The main issue is that this technology convergence has Easy, right?
not translated into a united marketplace for advertisers.
Unfortunately, 2012 will not herald this one-stop-
In fact the opposite is true. shop approach.

Lack of convergence The reality is that advertisers not only have to focus
Google’s decision to separate its mobile Web and appli- separately on Web versus mobile Web versus mobile
cation advertising between AdSense and Admob, while app, but need di erent strategies, ad types and creatives
making it easier for traditional Web advertisers to also for each.
target mobile Web, is increasing the fragmentation of
the mobile advertising market by splitting mobile into So will there ever be digital convergence and what do
apps versus Web. advertisers do in the mean time?

So is 2012 going to begin to see advertisers being able Perhaps we are expecting a little too much, too soon.
to target all digital mediums from one source? Or, are
traditional advertisers going to continue to struggle with The reality is that mobile technology, and therefore the
advertising possibili-
ties, are developing at
such a fast rate, that
trying to converge all
the digital mediums
today, will be irrel-
evant tomorrow. And
it is not all bad news.

There are an increas-
ing number of ad net-
works trying to bridge
this gap of mobile and
Web. How successful
they are at doing this
is debatable, but de-
spite Google’s move,

there are eyes focusing on the prize. the next few years.

Also, there are groups like ORMMA (Open Rich And if 2012 will still be about apps, beyond that will be
Media Mobile Advertising) trying to standard- about video.
ize rules for rich media so it can be displayed across
multiple platforms. While, currently only making up less that 5 percent
of total mobile advertising, it is expected to grow
All these are steps towards Digital Utopia. at a faster rate than any other medium and is pre-
dicted to occupy over 65 percent of mobile tra c
So in the meantime, where should advertisers focus? by 2013.

2011 was definitely the year of the app. With so much choice, advertisers will find it hard to se-
lect which medium and technology to go with and while
Within a few months, app advertising will surpass mo- many formats are still platform specific, the challenge
bile Web display advertising. still remains for them to select where they should al-
locate their spend.
This trend is expected to continue throughout 2012.
Until the technologies truly converge, the utopia that
However, most of this advertising is coming from digital we dream of where you create your advertising message
brands promoting their own apps. once and run anywhere, will remain a pipe dream.

Also, HTML5 will begin to converge the two mediums Dale Carr is CEO of LeadBolt, Sydney, Australia. Reach him
and might make the whole discussion irrelevant within at dale@leadbolt.com.


Overcoming mobile’s growing pains
By Joe Laszlo

A
s a young medium, mobile advertising has huge If a mobile app is MRAID compliant it will communicate
promise, but also faces significant growing pains. with, understand and correctly display ads developed us-
With the increasing popularity of smart phones ing the MRAID instruction set.
and mobile applications more advertisers are seeking in-
novative and engaging ways to take advantage of the Therefore, MRAID-based mobile rich media ads can oper-
rich capabilities of mobile in-app advertising. ate within any MRAID-compliant app, allowing agencies
to quickly and easily run rich, interactive mobile creative
Creating the ads can be complicated and time consuming. across di erent publishers working with diverse rich
media enablers.
Numerous vendors are o ering solutions to enable dy-
namic mobile rich media ads resulting in multiple, in- MRAID 1.0 is a vital first step, simplifying expandable and
compatible application programming interfaces. interstitial ads, but there is still more work to be done.
The IAB plans to continue to increase MRAID’s scope and
These incompatible solutions force creative developers to capabilities, reconvening the working group to work on
rewrite the programming behind their ads multiple times MRAID 2.0 in the near future.
depending on the publishers/apps in the media plan.
Even so, MRAID will never be exhaustive, and
A diverse, competitive market is great, leading to rap- should in no way limit innovation or di erentiation.
id innovation in an ever-changing landscape. How- There’s no restriction on rich media vendors and publish-
ever, these ine ciencies delay and inhibit marketers ers building on top of and extending beyond the founda-
from seizing on the exciting possibilities of mobile rich tional capabilities MRAID will establish.
media advertising.
The IAB expects to release the final MRAID 1.0 in late
Simplifying the process October. With any initiative like MRAID, the obvious
In early 2011, the mobile media industry agreed to come question is “now that we’ve built it, will they come?”
together to simplify the process of developing mobile
rich media creative. Speaking personally, it has been extremely rewarding
to work on a project with such a broad and supportive
The Interactive Advertising Bureau’s Mobile Marketing group of members, who have devoted significant time
Center of Excellence launched a project with members as and expertise to MRAID.
well as others in the ecosystem to develop Mobile Rich
Media Ad Interface Definitions version 1.0, which was Many of the key enablers of mobile rich media advertis-
released for public comment in September. ing were at the table devising MRAID 1.0, so they are
well aware of the project and its goals.
MRAID defines a common API for mobile rich media ads
running in mobile apps. Given the clear benefits to both buyers and sellers of
mobile advertising, we expect MRAID will start to gain
In simpler terms, MRAID provides a standardized set of traction in late 2011, accelerating the growth of this ex-
commands, compatible with HTML5 and JavaScript, that citing part of the mobile market.
developers creating mobile rich media ads will use to
communicate what those in-app ads do including ex- Joe Laszlo is deputy director of the Mobile Marketing
pand, resize, and in the future get access to device func- Center of Excellence at the Interactive Advertising Bu-
tionalities such as the accelerometer. reau, New York. Reach him at joe@iab.net.


Distinguishing marketing from spamming
By Shuli Lowy

A
s mobile marketing becomes increasingly more
popular, marketing professionals must ask
themselves “Do consumers enjoy getting so
many texts?”

Interacting with consumers via text messages can be ex-
tremely beneﬁcial to them—sending desired convenience
information and local relevant discounts, for example.

However, when abused, mobile marketing can be viewed
by the consumer as spam and create a negative brand
experience, even if the consumer has technically opted-
in to receive messages.

Here are three simple, important guidelines to making
sure your SMS promotions remain friendly marketing
experiences and are not viewed as spam:
To illustrate, a properly introduced SMS promotional
Only message consumers who have double opted-in to message would read as follows: “Jim’s Co ee House:
your database. While a double opt-in request is not le- Free co ee with purchase of croissant 10-11 AM.”
gally required, it has been included in the Mobile Mar-
keting Association’s best practices guideline for a reason. Send a healthy and consistent amount of messages to
your database. The general recommendation is to send
Aside from the ethics involved in sending consumers in- four to ﬁve messages a month. It is also unhealthy to
formation they do not want, it simply is not e ective and leave excessive gaps between messaging your database.
generates negative brand experiences.
If, for any reason, you must put your mobile marketing
If consumers do not want to hear from you on their e orts on hold, be sure to send out at least one message
phones, do not message them. When pushing content to a month to make sure your database does not go stale
out to mobile phones, make sure to preface the message and that consumers continue to connect the receipt of
with the name of your company. your messages with their request for them.

Content which is not properly introduced is often in- Employing these three tips will help increase the e ec-
stantly deleted by consumers who are too busy to read tiveness of your campaigns and decrease the number of
through the whole message. Worse, consumers may also respondents who opt-out.
see that it is a commercial message and automatically
assume it is spam. Remember, a properly structured SMS promotion can be
a wonderful marketing experience for both the consumer
When a message is prefaced by the name of the compa- and the brand.
ny, the consumer will remember having double opted-in
and will understand why he/she is receiving the mes- Shuli Lowy is Beverly Hills, CA-based manager of cli-
sage. This will make the consumer more inclined to read ent services and marketing at Ping Mobile. Reach her
through it. at shuli.lowy@pingmobile.com.


Will HTML5 help battle fragmentation in 2012?
By Matevz Klanjsek

A
s smartphones get smarter and tablet usage is on
the rise, marketers need to realize that consumer
expectations are changing in terms of the types of
advertising experiences they expect.

Rich media can help marketers fulﬁll consumers’ expec-
tations, if done right. Here are ﬁve best practices for rich
media mobile advertising.

Develop clear goals for the campaign. If the goal is brand
building, customer acquisition or brand loyalty, a dif-
ferent number of pages, features and actions should
be used.

For brand building and brand loyalty, funnel ads or ads
with multiple pages are ideal for driving consumer in-
teraction and extending the time users spend with

the brand.

A simple rich media ad with a strong call-to-ac-
tion is typically most e ective in helping to drive
customer acquisition

Determine which formats and features will drive the
desired results.

Consumers want to purchase, research, discuss and in-
teract with brands and their products.

Through expandable ads with video, companies can
provide extra information so users can satisfy their
research goals.

Sharing via social media allows brands to extend their
brand message and make their campaign viral while
enabling a brand dialog.

Gaming encourages users to spend quality time with Create one campaign
brands while playing users are focused and engaged with that can be deliv-
the brand. ered across multiple
platforms—includ-
Ads based on dynamic content such as location or ing mobile Web, apps
weather, help to provide a personalized, relevant and tablets.
experience with the brand.
HTML5 promises a
Capabilities like tapping, swiping, tilting, shaking and consistent and rich
painting provide a human touch. user experience across
multiple platforms.
Brands and marketers need to design a consistent expe-
rience across multiple platforms. Build your ad with a rich media platform to save
time and cost. There is a better way of creat-
There is no reason why experiences should be di erent ing your next mobile advertising campaign than
across any of the platforms. custom coding.

A rich media ad creation platform enables rapid devel-
opment of advanced rich media mobile ads without any
software coding skills.

When selecting a platform, make sure it opti-
mizes elements for various OS platforms and
device di erences.

The advantage is that you can create one ad
and serve it across di erent platforms and
distribution networks.

The result – ads work ﬂawlessly on all targeted devices
without a lot of testing and optimization.

Track your campaign across multiple properties and
devices with universal reporting.

E ective rich media advertising metrics track us-
ers across platforms, enabling brands and agen-
cies to track interaction and conversion throughout
the campaign.

Reports should also include detailed insight into user en-
gagement so you can measure ROI and brand interaction
across the entire campaign.

Matevz Klanjsek is cofounder and chief product o cer at
Celtra, Boston. Reach him at matevz@celtra.com.


Tips for an e ective mobile video advertising strategy
By Matthew Ellsworth

V
ideo advertising—traditionally television advertis- quires the attention and strategy in planning to run an
ing—has always been the focal point in a brand’s e ective mobile video campaign.
marketing mix, but how has this truism changed
in the digital era and especially in the age of smart- The mobile Web continues to yield the largest amount of
phones and the tablet revolution? consumption, especially unique users. Mobile Web o ers
reach but there are creative limitations.
Mobile can be perceived as the connective tissue be-
tween all mediums. As social platforms such as Twitter Mobile video must be delivered in a single stream, re-
and Facebook explode during TV events, marketers need quiring ad content to be stitched against content deliv-
to contemplate new ways of deploying video to leverage ery, which limits video interactivity.
these new media consumption habits.

The need for a coordinated mo-
bile video strategy becomes more
important as users continue to seam-
lessly weave — often simultaneously
— from TV to online to mobile.

There is much to consider: the tech-
nology behind mobile video delivery,
the inherently social nature of mo-
bile video and the di erent creative
needs for mobile video.

Technology
The ﬁrst step in developing an e ec-
tive, coordinated video campaign is
to understand the importance of the
accessibility of that video.

In order to deliver scale, mobile video
needs to be aligned with a cross plat-
form approach — not just across on-
air and online.

Cross platform in mobile splin-
ters into di erent platforms such
as in-application and mobile Web.
However both need to be covered
to reach the scale that impacts
national brands.

A single platform strategy only chips
away at reach. Each platform re-

Companion ads served before and after the stream add community usage from mobile devices.
measurable interactivity required by advertisers.
As these mobile users post links, share content
The app ecosystem, primarily iOS, yields a higher- and tweet, advertisers not participating in mo-
quality and more customized, yet slightly lower reach, bile Web video campaigns against this shared con-
advertising experience. tent will not be rewarded in this active viral sharing
by users.
Mobile video ads can be dynamically inserted in-app
providing greater real-time control over tracking and Creative
creative messaging. Whether paired with social content, in-app video, or the
mobile Web, great creative remains pivotal to maximiz-
In addition to dynamic video ad delivery, a fraction of ing overall advertising e ectiveness.
devices are able to support HTTP Live Streaming.
It is important to note that the di erent usage patterns
This protocol allows for adaptive bit-rate stream- of mobile and tablet devices have re-written some rules
ing, which gives the advertiser the ability to provide around creative development.
the highest quality video experience for a device on a
given network. Mobile ads require new creative—not repurposed TV or
online creative.
Combining mobile Web’s larger reach with the high-
er engagement in apps is critical for metric-moving When developing the video and companions, advertis-
brand advertising. ers need to consider factors such as the mobile environ-
ment, time of use and methods of interaction includ-
But neither should be overlooked. ing taps, touches, swipes, originating phone calls, and
text messages.
Social
Even a cursory glance at how users interact with mobile Our research shows that a mobile-optimized click-
video immediately shows that it is inherently social. through experience is critical to avoid alienating an
audience that is tapping your message to interact with
Users unlock, share and discover video across all mobile your brand.
and tablet devices.
Another important di erence in the mobile space is the
Today’s TV viewer is more socially engaged with his or creative refresh rate needs to be much higher.
her favorite content than ever before.
Freshness and innovation are extremely important to this
Participation via check-ins, audio ﬁngerprinting, tweets, ﬁnicky audience who does not want to see the same ad
likes and status updates indicate that users are in- repeated as they consume content.
terested in a two-way dialogue with shows, actors
and talent. In addition to fresh creative, incorporating research into
mobile video campaigns can provide learning and value
Through various social TV apps, advertisers have the to advertisers as they navigate the ever-changing mobile
ability to capture these users and e ectively get their video landscape in real-time.
messaging across through unlocking content, interactive
messaging and more. Matthew Ellsworth is vice president of marketing for
digital media at NBC Universal, New York. Reach him
Social platforms are experiencing tremendous growth in at matthew.ellsworth@nbcuni.com.

Is Wi-Fi a mobile media channel?
By Gregor Isbister

T
he last five years has seen a profound change in initiate mobile experiences via optimized mobile cam-
mobile. Factors such as higher mobile bandwidth, paign Web sites. The growth of public Wi-Fi networks
competitive data plans and the widespread uptake deepens these opportunities.
of smartphones coupled with applications and optimized
mobile Internet sites based on HTML5 have combined to Monetizing mobile Wi-Fi tra c
create a perfect mobile storm. The beauty of advertising over Wi-Fi is the connection
speed. At 54mbs it is the quickest mobile delivery chan-
Moreover, the medium is reaching maturity as brands nel and as such allows the delivery of rich media and
and agencies are increasingly aware of its unique prop- applications which are larger than the normal mobile
erties, not least how it can help their consumers engage Internet files sizes. No more need for developers to keep
and interact with them, spontaneously, wherever they their file sizes below 20 MB.
are, whenever they want to.
Not only can Wi-Fi deliver at record speeds but it is also
This spontaneity coupled with unique mobile targeting targeted on true location meaning brands can use the
properties such as time, location, handset type and pub- channel to deliver campaigns based on geo-targeting.
lisher has led some advertisers to elevate mobile to the This might be a business lounge at an airport or other
central plank of their marketing strategy. venue where the audience is quite clearly segmented.

But, the explosion in demand of mobile as a data channel Increasingly though, Wi-Fi is o ered in large metropolitan
has, especially in overcrowded metropolitan areas, led to areas with big Wi-Fi network owners like Towerstream
overcrowding, slower mobile Internet connectivity and a that has ubiquitous coverage across all of Manhattan.
disappointing user experience. When you add a mobile media layer to this connectivity
what you get is a powerful marketing channel.
Is 4G going to change things?
Inevitably all mobile networks will upgrade to 4G. With Towerstream, for example, the user journey starts
with an interstitial advertising page as part of the sign-
This new bandwidth provides a reported four times fast- up process. Click the advert and view a page of promoted
er connection speed but the sheer number of projected applications, click and download.
smartphone handset sales will see network demand rise
to more than 27 times the level of what we are seeing App distribution then is a key part of the commercial
today and this is set to keep on rising. model for the mobile layer over Wi-Fi and using it as a
distribution channel allows brands to deliver and track
More wireless carriers are rolling back their all-you-can- application downloads, fingerprint installations and pro-
eat data tari s, preferring instead to cap usage at pre- duce meaningful reporting and campaign optimizations
agreed limits. As a consequence of this, Wi-Fi has grown based on this fine-grained data.
in importance as it represents a convenient hand-o to
overstretched mobile networks and mobile users are al- As smartphone and tablet usage takes o against over-
ready habituated to connecting to Wi-Fi at home or in stretched mobile networks, it is Wi-Fi that o ers the op-
their work place. portunity to marketers to maintain and build engage-
ment with consumers.
A growing number of advertisers are seeing an opportu-
nity to use Wi-Fi as a new and faster mobile media chan- Gregor Isbister is CEO of BlisMobile, London. Reach him
nel to advertise applications, rich media products or even at greg@blismobile.com.


To app or not to app: That is the question
By Dave Schwartz

A
s is the case with any new medium, applications I would argue that it is because so many marketers are
have their champions and their detractors. Some building bad apps. There are a lot of bad branded apps
would argue that apps are the ultimate marketing on the store.
weapon. Others are convinced that apps are a waste of
money and do not yield consistent results. And unlike bad commercials, you cannot pay to make
the apps run again and again in the hopes that someone
They are both right. And they are both wrong. starts using it.

Saying apps are good or bad is like saying television It is only natural that there would be so much bad
commercials are good or bad. Apps are simply a medium. work out there. Four years ago, apps did not exist as a
creative medium.
How they are used is what is critical. The question should
not be, “do we need an app?” The question should be, Today, marketers, strategists, creatives and developers
“what problem could we use an app to solve, and what is are only just starting to realize the true potential of mo-
the best use of mobile to do that?” bile as a marketing tool.

Apps are currently being downloaded by the millions ev- Here are ﬁve of the biggest reasons apps fail.
ery day. Clearly, people continue to ﬁnd new reasons to
return the Apple App Store – or the Android Marketplace. Failing to provide value – Whether branded or not, it is
essential for apps to provide a level of value to the user
So if that is the case, why did E ectiveUI recently state for it to be adopted into their everyday lives. A good cre-
that 70 percent of brands are dismissing mobile apps as ative brain thrives on weaving brand strategy together
a part of their brand strategy? with an engaging experience.


Do: Let your creative partners imagine a new way to de- to piggyback o the popularity of proven successful cat-
liver on your brand’s values. Do not: simply o er an app egories. However, it is a huge risk to try and recreate a
version of the company’s Web site. branded version of an already successful app.

Not building to the strengths of the OS – Apps should In cases where you really want to do so, first con-
be geo-aware. They should use the camera. They should sider a much simpler solution: buy them and re-skin
capture video. They should connect to social media. They the technology.
should be a touch-based experience that invites a con-
sumer to tap and swipe and play. Skimping on testing to meet a deadline – It is impos-
sible to stress how essential the beta-testing process is
You should be able to shake them, or rotate them, or flip to app development.
them on their side.
Brands spend countless dollars and man hours compiling
You have got to train your brain to think in these new content, mulling over design, but then skip over testing
dimensions if you want your app to be successful. to meet a deadline.

Joining an overcrowded category – It is natural to want The result: a poorly functioning app. Nearly 70 percent of
users say that a negative app experience casts a negative
halo over the brand

Rushing into development – The old adage of
measure twice and cut once is incredibly true in
software development.

Just because a designer has comped up some beau-
tiful screens does not mean that an app has been
thought through.

Illogical user flow or a confusing user interface can kill
a great concept.

The numbers in favor of mobile apps are indisput-
ably strong with over 425,000 apps in the App
Store to date, and the market for apps anticipated
to pass $15.1 billion by the end of 2012, according
to Gartner.

It is time for brands, advertisers and marketers to
truly embrace apps as the creative medium that
they are.

There is gold in them hills. Here is to the ones who are
learning how to mine for it.

Dave Swartz is cofounder and chief creative of-
ficer of Medl Mobile, Los Angeles. Reach him
at dave@medlmobile.com.

Consumers eager for hyper-relevant location-triggered messages
By Patrick Moorhead

I
n digital marketing, context has played a pivotal role using the phone as a lens through which to organize the
in both how ad media is purchased and also how dy- digital world around them is emerging as a dominant
namic creative messages are created and delivered. consumer attitude, particularly as smartphones further
penetrate the market.
Increasingly, location is becoming the primary context
within which advertisers are connecting with consumers. As part of our continued e ort at Draftfcb to explore and
master this consumer attitude, and the mobile-based lo-
The mobile device is to the consumer as much a location- cation services designed to facilitate it, we took advan-
awareness device as it is a computer or a phone. tage of a unique pilot program earlier this year.

The little blue dot in the center of the map is the new Location, location, location
digital representation of me, and the mobile device in-
creasingly serves to organize a vast sea of digital infor- platform Placecast to o er consumers ShopAlerts, which
mation through the ﬁlter of me, right here in this place, consisted of messages, o ers, rewards or coupons sent
and right now at this moment. to their mobile phones when they were near a store or
brand via a technology called geo-fencing.
Me. Here. Now.
The so-called “Me. Here. Now.” world view of consumers The location-based mobile messaging service was tested


- fence. The minimum time interval was two days between
ers in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco messages received.
who opted in to receive messages.
We polled consumers who opted in to the ShopAlerts
The pilot included eight major marketers, including four among our four clients after the program ended, and we
Draftfcb clients. We also conducted a post-test survey got some stunning results. With a nearly 100 percent
among consumers who engaged with ShopAlerts o ered open rate on the alerts, 50 percent of consumers who
by the four marketers to determine consumer prefer- opted in to receive messages from the brands wanted
ences and attitudes. more information. We even found in some cases there
was a 22-25 percent purchase conversion on some of
Each of the ShopAlert participants had di erent business the o ers.
challenges ranging from pure coupon delivery scanable
from the phone screen at the register, to more broadly We believe this test, and the strong survey data resulting
deﬁned brand awareness objectives. Our goal was to try from it, are clear indications that consumers are eager
and determine if the geo-triggered messages would work for the hyper-relevancy that location-triggered messag-
beyond pure o er delivery and redemption, to inﬂuence es can deliver, and that location is truly the new context
other key marketing objectives. for digital marketing.

Consumers who opted in for the ShopAlerts received a Patrick Moorhead is senior vice president and group man-
maximum of three messages per week from three di er- agement director of mobile platforms at Draftfcb, New
ent brands based on their proximity to the brand’s geo- York. Reach him at patrick.moorhead@draftfcb.com.

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