I just had to follow up on this one.

Earlier this week I drew some much-needed attention (insert sarcasm) to the Barack Obama presidential campaign’s initial announcement of the VP selection via text message to registered mobile phone users.

As it turns out, the campaign may have set an SMS marketing world record when they blasted that message to supporters over the weekend. According to Nielsen Mobile, Obama’s text, revealing that Joe Biden would be his running mate, went out to approximately 2.9 million supporters.

By many accounts, Nielsen says, the Obama text was the single biggest mobile marketing event ever to have happened in the US. And if it’s a US record, it’s a fair bet it hasn’t been topped anywhere else in the world.

The other question is just how much the SMS missive cost. If Obama paid the standard 10 cents a text, then that adds up to $290,000. Although it was certainly an expensive text message, to say the least, the positive ramifications for the future of mobile marketing are already proving to be well worth the investment.

Share This

It was announced today that Chrome Systems Inc., an industry leader in collecting, enhancing, and distributing best-in-class automotive data, has partnered with Gumiyo, one of the retail automotive industry’s more successful mobile marketing company, to deliver “Chrome’s Video Showcase.”  These full-motion new vehicle video test drives will be available and deliverable to mobile Web consumers using Gumiyo’s self-desribed “dynamic mobile marketing platform.”

Essentially, what this will do is put high quality videos of new vehicle inventory directly into the hands of mobile phone users for the first time, thus giving potential car buyers with helpful vehicle presentations to both inform customers and accelerate car sales.

As my colleagues and I at Mobile Marketing Watch have long since discussed, the automotive industry remains a leader in mobile marketing usage and popularity, even amidst an automotive sales downturn unlike anything the US has seen in years.

“New vehicle videos have become a powerful tool that provides car buyers with the information they need to make new vehicle purchasing decisions,” said Shuki Lehavi, founder and CEO of Gumiyo. “This partnership brings new vehicle videos to the mobile Web, giving car buyers on-the-go a truly media rich shopping experience anywhere and anytime.”

According to the official announcement, the Chrome Video Showcase is comprised of two video products: concise one-minute overviews of current auto, light truck, or SUV models, called “1:00 on One New Vehicle Profiles,” and “Top 200 New Vehicle Test Drives, which give a more detailed overview of the 200 most popular current vehicles. All the videos combine high-quality action footage with informative graphics, voice-over narration, and music, placing customers squarely in the driver’s seat, ready to buy.

Share This

Even though there is very little benefit to be gained by mobile marketers from this newS item, I simply couldn’t stop myself from commenting on it.

News out of Warsaw today addressed the waves made in the US when Apple Inc introduced its new 3G iPhone, including some fans paying double or triple the price to be among the first to obtain the hottest device in mobile electronics.  In Poland, however, people are “getting paid to line up” and create the impression of demand for the iPhone!

As part of a marketing campaign ahead of the iPhone’s launch this week in Poland, the country’s largest mobile operator, Orange, is paying dozens of actors to stand in queues. “We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the country to drum up interest in the iPhone,” a spokesman said.

Even though Apple sold more than one million new iPhones in the United States since last month, buyers in Poland are reluctant to pay “hefty monthly charges.” What’s more, an aggressive mobile marketing campaign is being used to foster “legitimate interest” in the iPhone for Polish mobile users.

As I read the story I couldn’t help but wonder if there were any similar examples in the states of “inflated popularity” of mobile marketing in the early stages of its existence. Of course, at the time we would have probably never noticed. And, at the end of the day, I suppose all that matters is that the practice finally caught on. But it does make you wonder.

Share This

RCR Wireless News has released a Special Report titled 10 Trends in Wireless Mobility. This special report is full of solid information about trends in wireless that are worth knowing about. While it is not about mobile marketing per se, it is about the wireless industry as a whole – without which there would be no mobile marketing.
Read the rest

Share This

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later, but the MMA is putting its final touches on a new set of guidelines aimed at Bluetooth-based marketing in Europe.

Since the debate has raged on for a long time over what is right and wrong when it comes to Bluetooth marketing as well as proximity marketing as a whole, the MMA introduced the new set of rules aimed to “reference framework for any company using Bluetooth marketing, and are the result of discussions between operators, content providers, advertising agencies, brands and technology firms.”

The guidelines cover almost every aspect of Bluetooth marketing, including the delivery, types of content, permission-based attributed, as well as proposed legislation.  It’s all aimed solely at the European market, for now, but ultimately as other parts of the world realize the benefits of the Bluetooth marketing, the guidelines will already be in place to regulate any future offerings.

While the MMA is focusing on Bluetooth at the moment, they’ve already stated that it will expand to wi-fi, Near-Field Communications (NFC) and location-based services as well.

“Bluetooth has several clear advantages that make it an attractive way to distribute content but must have consistent deployments,” says Laura Marriott, MMA President. “As with other forms of mobile marketing communication, it is important to provide guidelines that ensure a positive user experience.”

Read the rest

Share This

The enormity of China’s mobile landscape was made even more prominent with the announcement that Madhouse, one of China’s most notable mobile ad-network operators, has served some 2.3 billion mobile advertisements in the first six months of 2008.  This is nearly five times what the company served in all of 2007 combined.  This shows the immense growth of mobile advertising, not only in China, but on a global scale as well.

The continued growth for Madhouse most likely stems from its massive mobile ad solutions that can take into account almost every applicable variable when it comes to serving mobile-based ads.  For example, Madhouse can target based on mobile user location, phone brand, model and retail price, as well as the optimization for mobile phones with different screen resolutions for the over 2,000 phone models in China today.

Madhouse also provides an extensive analytical solution they say; “increases the effectiveness of advertising campaigns by optimizing ad versions and accurately quantifying and managing the frequency of marketing material shown, clicked, or downloaded to every unique mobile user.”

In my opinion, Madhouse made a very smart move when it joined the MMA as Chair for the APAC Mobile ad Guideline Committee.  The company then launched the first Mobile Advertising Guidelines tailored specifically for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region shortly thereafter.  Since then, they’ve simply built onto those guidelines they created to become the biggest and best in China.  Whatever the reason, 2.3 billion ads is an immpresive number, and further solidifies the fact that mobile marketing is here to stay.

Share This