Brands In Motion, Where MiniScreen meets JumboScreen
Posted by Dan Neumann and Allison Mooney of Ad Age 1.21.2010
Advertising is not what it was ten years ago. The past decade has seen the advent of social computing and mobile technology, two forces that changed the game forever. What will the future hold? On our respective blogs, MobileBehavior and Organic have been tracking developments in mobile that will affect advertising in 2010 and beyond. From point-of-sale to out-of-home, here are the top five ways we see the device formerly known as a phone changing the game this year.
1. Mobile will completely revolutionize the way local advertisers can connect with potential customers.
While online display advertising has been incredibly effective for many companies, it hasn’t offered all that much value to small, independently-owned businesses. For one, the web is good at scale, not so good at precision. It’s difficult for mom-and-pops to reach the relatively small audiences that might reasonably be expected to patronize their stores.
A number of new location-based services are beginning to provide attractive alternatives for such small-scale advertisers. Foursquare, for one, allows small business to target offers based on a user’s actual proximity to their location. These offers can deliver heightened relevance by appealing to a player’s status, nearby friends, or demonstrated preferences. A similar service, Gowalla, has experimented with branded badges and actual prizes that users can win if they check in at a location. Google is also catering more to local businesses by making their Place page more mobile-friendly. Advertisers can now create Place pages that are accessible through Google Maps, attach mobile coupons, and even include QR code stickers in their window that lead you to these pages.
These examples are really only scratching the surface of what’s possible for local businesses through mobile. Expect to see more mom-and-pops jump on these platforms in 2010.
2. Growth in adoption of mobile shopping applications will continue to alter in-store consumer behavior, increasing the significance of mobile in point of sale decisions making.
There are a number of mobile applications and tools emerging that consumers can use to make their shopping trips more efficient, productive, and fun. First, there are mobile price comparison apps such as Shop Savvy, Red Lazer, Amazon Mobile. These allow shoppers to compare prices at a given location against nearby competitors and online properties — an incredibly powerful proposition. There are also crowdsourcing tools like Fashism, and BazaarVoice’s MobileVoicee that help shoppers get outside opinions and feedback before purchasing. These types of apps are prime territory for marketers looking to inject a brand into a target audience’s psyche at a critical juncture in their decision making process.
Then there are, of course, mobile coupons, which are finally getting some traction. Zavers, Yowza, mobiQpons, and Cellfire are actively signing up small businesses, and it’s only a matter of time before big box stores get on board. Add increased consumer adoption, POS redemption infrastructure and a social dynamic and the appeal to marketers will be greater than ever.
All of the above will provide inroads for more effective CRM, specifically, loyalty programs. Consumers checking their phone just before they buy something will create opportunity to deliver more effective personalized messaging derived from prior purchase decisions.
3. Brands and agencies will continue to build branded apps, but will also have more attractive display media options, thanks to Google.
In 2009, we saw a number of brands scramble to check mobile off their lists by creating apps. But now that the marketplace is crowded, many will take a step back and look at media-buying options instead. Google recognizes this; it’s why they recently acquired AdMob, i.e. to get a corner on all that in-app content. Google will also build up their network of native app content by making development and deployment of ad-supported apps on their Android platform much easier than it currently is on the iPhone. This is all with the aim of more effectively extending it’s AdSense platform to mobile.
Yes, you may say that consumers are obviously keen on micropayments for mobile content. They did, after all, spend $6.2 billion on apps this year, according to Gartner. But consumers are even more fond of free, and in 2010 one way Google will challenge the iPhone is by creating a competitive alternative business model for developers. And where good apps are, consumers go and dollars follow.
Most major carriers and handset manufacturers have multiple Android devices slated for 2010 launch dates, so expect Android’s user-base to catch-up to the iPhone’s by EOY 2010. The web-based Android app store is a hurdle to the experience and doesn’t come close to the experience of the iTunes’ desktop app. If Google can fix this, then developers may start putting Android first on their product roadmaps.
4. Advertising’s outdoor real-estate is fast becoming another connected channel capable of delivering high-fidelity digital experiences as unique, varied and measureable as more well-established mediums.
Outdoor advertising has traditionally been very difficult to measure. People move past signs through various modes of conveyance at varying rates of speed making it difficult to know who actually notices a given media unit. Add line of sight and dwell time, and the problem is further compounded.
Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) signage is changing all this, and mobile is becoming the key to true measurement and engagement. Using their handsets, once-passive viewers can actually interact with an ad now. For example, Toyota released an iPhone app that let users to draw on the Thompson-Reuters screen in Times Square. Nike’s “Chalkbot” allowed cycling fans to have a robot stencil messages of support for Tour de France riders on the pavement via SMS or Twitter. Vans’ “Be Here” allowed its users to submit video, photo, or text messages from any of the brand’s online properties to be displayed on a digital billboard in Times Square.
In all of the previous examples, mobile served as the glue or connective tissue between outdoor and the web. Indeed, the real potential of DOOH is to blend the digital with the physical world in public spaces. It will also eventually allow advertisers to customize once-mass ads to specific individuals based on data that their phone can reveal about them.
Bluetooth is short-range wireless technology used for interconnecting mobile phones, computers, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). It is the technology that enables earpieces to work with cell phones. SMS (Text Messaging) has no proximity boundary and can deliver customized scheduled messages to cellular devices. The combination of SMS and Bluetooth provides a full spectrum of messaging capabilities and a vast range of possibilities for marketers.
The Brands In Motion digital mobile billboards and access to over 200,000 digital billboards around the world adds a totally unique spin to SMS and Bluetooth promotions. Using our full range of media services increases awareness and drives response rates because we can educate and drive traffic to you in high profile and powerful way.
Consider this: more than 3.1 billion people worldwide and 200 million in the U.S. use cell phones, and more than 71% of them are Bluetooth-enabled and 96% are SMS ready. Industry experts forecasted that 94% of major brands planned to deploy campaigns via mobile phones in 2010. Mobile Video usage continues to grow worldwide. Check out this recent article http://www.marketingvox.com/mobile-video-audience-grows-70-in-q209-045013/
In an era when our eco-system is on the minds of many, companies are looking for eco-friendly ways to operate effectively without hurting the environment. If your company is one of the smart ones looking to take environmentally friendly approaches to your marketing strategy then we say “Go Green, and beam with Brands In Motion. By incorporating a Bluetooth campaign into your digital media strategy you will maximize your efforts in the viral marketing arena.
Mobile Marketing Applications
Brands In Motion provides advertisers and agencies the most cost-effective, highly-targeted full-service solution for reaching their target customers. Using our cutting-edge SMS and Bluetooth-based solution, you can deliver your message directly to your customers’ most personal medium – their cell phones. You can even use our interactive JUMBOLive format in conjunction with our Jumbo Screens and Digital Mobile Billboards for even greater consumer participation.
JUMBOLive is a propreitary text to screen technology, will allow guests guests and the audience to participate in Live Chat, Trivia, Scavenger Hunts and Voting Surveys centered around custome themed promotions that are displayed on our Jumbo Screens.
Our innovative text messaging promotions and Jumbo Screens enables guests to not only text message you, and vice versa, but we now can have guests send MMS pictures from their phone up to the Jumbo Video screen(s). Yes, everything is filtered and screened before it hits the screen for public display. Of course the biggest advantage of all this is the Mobile Marketing feature which lets you collect all the cell phone numbers of those participating at your venue, so you can send them promotional messages in the future.
Traditional advertising channels including newspapers, magazines, television and radio are no longer effective in reaching customers who are becoming increasingly dependent on their phones for their personal and professional business.
Brands In Motion handles all aspects of deploying your advertising from campaign management to installation, support and reporting across the digital platform. From Mobile Phones to Digital Mobile Billboards our service is consistent and seamless.
| Branding | Send a logo, snapshot, or video or audio teaser to reinforce your campaign. |
| Point-of-Purchase | Deliver a coupon, bar code, or discount offer to drive traffic into retail stores, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. |
| Product Samples | Deliver a coupon, bar code, or discount offer to drive traffic into retail stores, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. |
| Event Promotions | Issue reminders about ticket sales, book signings, or holiday events. Scavenger Hunts and Contests. |
| Information | Target guests with information about property venues, events and activities. |
| Market Examples | Hotel/Resort/Hospitality Shopping Malls/Grocery Store Parking Lots Conventions/Trade Shows Arenas/Theaters Beverage/Food Distributors Commercial/Home Real Estate Retail Storefront Businesses |
Benefits of Bim Beaming
The BIM Beaming solution offers many benefits
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Effectiveness of Bluetooth and SMS Text Marketing
Combined with what we refer to as “best practices” of making the user aware that something valuable is available via Bluetooth and SMS in the local area we see acceptance rates as high as 40% compared to PPC or Direct Mail campaigns. This is a better, overall, return AND substantially more cost effective.
| Bluetooth Marketing | Direct Mail | TV /Radio | Print Media | Web/PPC | |
| Time to market | 15min | 30days | 30days | 30days | 1-2 days |
| Acceptance | 3% shotgun | .5% shotgun | .1% shotgun | .15% targeted | .4% semi-targeted |
| Average user contact | 30k/month | 10k/month | 280k/month | 25k/month | 5k/month |
| Average Acceptance | 900 people per month | 500 people per month | 2800 people per month | 375 people per month | 200 people per month |
| Cost over 3 month | $133/month | $1500/month | $20k/month | $1500/month | $433/month |
| Cost per person | $0.14 | $3.00 | $7.14 | $4.00 | $2.16 |
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