Welcome to the 217^th edition of Carnival of the Mobilists. This week it is again the turn of leading mobile strategist Martin Wilson of Indigo102 to provide his take on a week in mobile.

A week in mobile is never a dull affair.

The mobile buzz has continued in no uncertain terms; two major US events completed – South by South West, in Austin Texas and CTIA, Las Vegas Nevada. M&A activity continuing – Amdocs snapping up UK based MX Telecom, Nokia buying Chicago based mobile browser operator Novarro. Location based services and advertising still a major topic of conversation, Martin gives his view on the challenges and who he believes have potential to win out.

 A theme that seemed to resonate in a number of posts this week; People are key, their needs may not always be placed at the forefront of thinking! (We will let you judge). 

Here are some of the week’s highlights – we hope you enjoy the read.

EVENTS

The dates announced for the forthcoming Mobile 2.0 Europe 2010 – June 16th and 17th 2010 – the talk ‘Emerging Mobile Ecosystem and Disruptive Mobile Innovation’.

Another year of CTIA, event round-up through the eyes of Chetan Sharma – Ground Hog day or has the industry moved on? New devices, Network upgrades, mHealth, increasing focus towards developers and everyone talking about a ‘Revolution’ (?).

MONEY MAKERS

Location, Location, Location – Martin Wilson posts a Guest column at mSearchgroove. Advertising based on location is set to be the most valuable and highly contested sectors – the winners may not be who you think!

Mobile 2.0 – Because You’re Worth-it – Volker Hirsh, critics the Juniper forecasts for Mobile 2.0 as not being potentially lofty enough, have they missed the mash-up?     

New developer models – James Coops from Mobyaffiliates, talks up the potential for affiliate programs to support delivering value to app developers.

CUSTOMER’S WORLD

App (or not?) debate continues over at PSFK. Jeff Swystun, Chief Communications Officer for DDB Worldwide, suggests we are at an amazing pivot point where all channels of communication are valid – What, Who and the best Way, the questions for marketers?

Mobile Commerce is real, just ask Ebay and Amazon – Carl Martin at Redweb – points out the principles and argues that apps can segment and isolate – ‘look into the mobile web before taking the application route’.

Firefox Windows Mobile fire goes out – Tam Hanna – believes customers will now be left in the rain and frustrated as Mozilla puts their Windows Mobile development on hold. The Opera door opens.

HEADLESS

Herding chickens (or Cats?) – Declan Lonergan from the Yankee Group, accuses the mobile operators of being in danger of neglecting traditional services and alienation of profitable customers.

Whose mistake? Yours! – Mark Bridge of TheFoncast – argues; just admit the mistake is your own. Don’t blame the manufacturer or network operator!

LEARNING & DIALOGUE

The educating power of mobile Judy Breck gives an insight to how mobile offers individual kids the unrestricted opportunity to learn – Handschooling.

Spill the berries – unintended consequences – Russell Buckley at Mobhappy, following his visit to ArabNet; provides an interesting anecdotal insight into why BlackBerry maybe booming in the Middle East, and a lucrative premium grey market.

HELP IN HAND

Fortunately there is a solution – Dennis Bournique of wapreview.com. Highlights the trials and tribulations of the Android G1 and Magic [limited RAM] and gives guidance on making the most of a compromised device.

Hope you agree that there is some great content this week. Please keep your submissions coming in; email – Carnival of the Mobilists

Next Monday head over to Mobsessed for the next instalment of the Carnival of the Mobilists from Carl Martin.

ABOUT

Carnival of the Mobilists – the weekly line-up of top-notch mobile blogging from experts and mobile passionatas — the Carnival exposes you to the very best posts of the previous week, all written about mobile and gathered together in a central place. You can read the summary on the host’s site and click on any story that catches your eye. Each week, it’ll be hosted at a different site, so you can visit the Carnival and experience both new writers about mobile, as well as all your old favourites.

Martin Wilson – has been involved in digital media for over 14 years, during which time he gained a wealth of experience in the fixed line and mobile Internet, and a deep understanding of the local space. In January 2008, Martin established Indigo 102, an independent consultancy, to assist organisations (including digital advertising agencies, directory publishers, media owners and online service providers) take their brands – and value propositions – mobile. In this role Martin has supported the development and launch of mass market mobile services across three continents. You can contact Martin directly (martin@indigo102.com) and follow on Twitter (@indigo102). 

Image by foreversouls 

I just read this great article by Thom Kennon and thought it would be worthwhile to re-publish it on my blog to spread the word. This is an absolute must read for every marketer. It is a wake-up call for all those who still think that mobile marketing can be “the fifth wheel” of a marketing strategy or, worse still, that mobile marketing does not need to feature at all.

Making mobile the heart of multichannel marketing in next planning cycle

Thom Kennon is vice president of strategy at Wunderman

I bet you have become as weary as me when, each year, usually during the post-Thanksgiving prediction season, we start reading those pieces about “This year [coming year] is definitely the Year of Mobile.”

In the spirit of this tradition, we offer up a short pop quiz to help you calculate exactly when your own personal year of mobile was:

Diageo launches searchable night life, entertainment database and mobile on-demand service – NiteFly. Available to subscribers in select British cities, NiteFly lets opt-in punters stumble from clubs at closing hours, ping the service from their mobile phones and quickly find what’s next on the drinking and dining dance card for an after-hours lark.

OK – guess the year. 2009? 2007? Maybe back in the dark ages of 2003? Nope. It was pre-digital apocalypse – 2000. Although I do not know why they trusted me and us, I lead the digital marketing team that concocted it.

Case and point being, whether you are a brand or a marketer, at this point in the game it is highly recommended that you sort out your own personal year of mobile – and get on with it.

Chances are you have a similar story, perhaps even of similar vintage.

Even for those of us still awaiting some great, communal customer-led surge into the mobile channel (hint: stop that), there are, of course, things left to do, frontiers to brave, case studies to create, business to be won and customers to be captured.   Many, I would boldly suggest, through mobile.

We’re gonna need a new map
So, what is your plan?

Unless you are a dedicated mobile agency, provider or channel specialist, when you sit down to plan your – or your client’s – marketing campaign calendar, how often do you start with mobile?

I am suggesting we not simply move “mobile” to the front of the planning queue from its current position as the last box ticked. Perhaps you start each new planning cycle with a simple, must-answer question: “What’s mobile’s role in my all-channel plans and how will it be integrated?”

Here is an example. You are a credit card issuer who traditionally focused mostly on direct mail, digital display and search engine marketing when it came to hitting your acquisition numbers.

After a duck-and-cover year (for many of us), you are now ready to venture from the bunker and resume with the important work of getting new customers. What if you modified your planning process by asking yourself this, instead of where does mobile – maybe – fit within my digital strategy:
 
What’s the role of mobile within my overall marketing strategy? Heck, let us be specific. What’s the role of mobile within my above-the-line and advertising strategy?  What’s the role of mobile in my integrated search strategy? My out-of-home and print strategies? How about my retail, merchandising and customer/partner marketing programs and campaigns?

Pretty soon your card customer acquisition campaigns will all start including mobile as a primary call to action for your out-of-home ads. As a critical push/pull from Web with SMS links to register or buy. Even incentivized “txt to a friend” offers tapping mobile’s viral reach, ease and affect. Oh, of course, optimizing for mobile search visibility to capture mobile searchers for bank branches.    

See where I am heading? You need a new map to get you there. A map that lets you see where, how, and when mobile fits everywhere into the plan. A map which, perhaps, presumes that mobile’s role is not at the end or even at the beginning of your all-up campaign channel and media planning process. It is at the heart.

New model planning
As we all emerge from the same bunker as our credit card brand colleague above, whether we are marketing soda, mobile phones, insurance, hamburgers, or luxury autos it is not too far of a stretch to suggest that “digital” – in all its components and expressions – can, should, must now live at the heart of our fully integrated marketeering strategy.

And, at the heart of our digital channel and media strategy, we boldly place mobile.  Call it an exercise, call it a lark. 

Call it a new way of thinking inside-out, about how we plan, implement and optimize our all-channel/all-media marketing. Call it a new planning model that better fits with the brave new world we inhabit as we improvise, invent and innovate our way towards wringing the maximum efficiency from all our marketing spend.

As presumptuous and vain as it might seem, things might start to look something like this …

What do we do now
OK, OK, I know this is a lot to suggest in one sitting. Toss a little water in your face, walk around a little, take a break. OK, we ready? Let us continue.

As we shift our above-the-line budgets from channels and media focused on impressions and clicks to more organic and responsive messaging to ignite discovery and sharing, I am suggesting that digital has every right to sit at the center of our planning process and models. And there is mobile, in the center of the plan model.

If you need a really persuasive reason for the board or your boss or you client, try this: When it comes to all-channel marketing nothing has changed the digital marketer’s playbook more than the emergence, adoption and increasing affordability of the mobile Web since search changed everything the last time.

To put this in an historic frame, before that, arguably, it was the birth of data-driven direct mail. Before that, and I know you beat me there – television.

The mobile Web. It is that big. What this means for marketers – especially for those amongst us who have yet to experience their own personal year of mobile – is this: you have no excuse for staying on the side lines.

Assuming you have been busy over the past decade getting really good at digital content strategy, search optimization, online CRM, ecommerce and response analytics you will be fine. Your mobile strategy and your digital strategy just became one and the same thing.
 
Pockets are everywhere and so are purses, briefcases and those weird holster things – and most of them have mobile devices in them. The simple fact is that there will soon be more than 1 billion Web-enabled mobile devices in global circulation and every one of them is attached to a potential customer of yours or mine.

So, as you plan for next year and beyond and chart the media, channel and touch point mix that will deliver your most efficient return on reaching specific business and marketing targets such as sales, downloads, visits, usage, referrals, repeats, renewals, average basket size, in-store traffic and bottom-line results, ask yourself: how many of those could use mobile as an essential touch point or consumption point in the mix?

Chances are, there’s not a campaign you could think of in 2010 and beyond – above the line, below the line and through the line – that could not be boosted, anchored, amplified or even saved by asking mobile to do its job. Mobile is at the heart of your new marketing model. 

Happy personal year of mobile – to repeat and first-time callers alike.

Thom Kennon is vice president of strategy at relationship marketing agency Wunderman New York. Reach him at thom.kennon@wunderman.com

In-Brief: Local focused mobile advertising will present significant revenue opportunity and will be one the few channels to buck the downward trend in advertising spend over the next few years. In looking to reap rewards the single biggest challenge will be about providing an offer that is simple, accessible and delivers value to the consumer.

There is so much doom and gloom about local advertising – across newspapers, direct mail, TV, radio, yellow pages, outdoor, magazines and fixed online collectively forecast by BIA Financial Network (BIA), parent of the Kelsey Group, to decline to $144.4 billion by 2013 from $155 billion last year. Despite this the decline is clearly not going to be consistent across the full range of media. With budgets under pressure and advertisers beginning to demand far more tangible results, traditional media as we know it is likely to be hit far harder.

As consumers continue to turn to online services, traditional media will become more and more redundant as an influence in the purchasing decision. Marketers have long realised this trend and increasingly turn their attention to online and new media channels. Online commands an ever increasing share of spend. BIA has forecast the new media share globally to grow from around 9% today to over 22% by 2013. A recent study from Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) predicts by 2013 the new media share of advertising in the UK will be around 34%.

So the advertising market is going to shrink and see a substitution of spend. Not exactly positive until you consider where a significant amount of spend is today – traditional media. The opportunity exists for the traditional players to migrate value to their online assets. The changing environment demands a significant rethink of the traditional media business models and operating principles to potentially even survive.

The media futurist Jeffrey Cole suggested that a key challenge is the reliance on traditional advertising models, “The problem I see is that these people often believe that there is enough life left in the ‘old advertising model”. Cole went on to say “I really believe we are still waiting for ‘indigenous’ advertising techniques. I think the big breakthroughs will be digital advertising developed by those who grew up their entire life with digital media – hence the word indigenous.”

Mobile I believe will be a very different story, and one of the few channels to see significant organic growth. It is already being driven by leaders who are not bound by legacy thinking, business models and operations. They recognise the old models will not bear fruit, a new approach is required and the potential rewards mean it is worth it.

In terms of numbers, the Kelsey Group recently reported they expect mobile local advertising revenue to reach more than $3.1 billion by 2013, up from just $160 million in 2008. In May this year the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) reported UK mobile advertising spend for the first time in 2008 mobile advertising was £28.6 million. In isolation these figures today do not sound particularly impressive, and the 2013 figure potentially unrealistic, until compared to the fixed online environment. In 1998 the IAB reported UK internet advertising spend of £19.4 million, just 10 years later spend has grown to over £3.35 billion.

The Kelsey Group forecast for mobile advertising means it could outstrip anything that has gone before, making the mobile channel one of the fastest growing advertising channels of all time. A remarkable feat when the overall advertising industry will be in decline.

Why is mobile so different? Consider the audience. In nearly every country in Europe and around the world mobile has mass penetration – a large audience to target.

Mobile ticks so many marketing boxes.

Some of the most prolific mobile users are aged between 18 and 30 years old – a very attractive demographic to marketers and notoriously difficult to reach. A mobile is a very personal device and is rarely shared – making one-to-one marketing a real possibility. Consumption of mobile services continues to see rapid growth – people are open to consume new content. Mobile activity is often needs driven and action focused – consistently close to the point of purchase. At every level activity and audience actions are measurable – return is very transparent.

For these very reasons I view mobile as one of the great untapped channels for brands and media owners alike. This is not revolutionary but potentially controversial when I consider those who I believe are likely to win out and why.

Who are likely to be the key players? There are a number of players that are vying for position in the mobile local space. At one end of the spectrum you have the search engines, Taptu, MCN, Google, Yahoo etc. at the other the directory publishers, Yell and Pagine Gialle, Pages Jaunes etc. In addition there are the social networks, media owners, verticals, handset manufacturers and mobile operators who all too want a slice of the action. The market is already crowded with get rich expectants and the race for signing deals to support distribution and gather content firmly on.

For most, if the current approaches are maintained I believe that we will see just a handful of mobile players becoming highly successful. The barriers, complexities of the channel and challenges of distribution and discovery play into the hands of some of the established deep pocketed players. This balance does not have to be the case, when you consider the real opportunity will be created by organisations that use the technology and channel in a smart and meaningful way to deliver real value to the consumer.

Who are going to be the winners? The winners will be those not simply with content but those who can recognise and deliver a contextual, relevant tailored offering to a mobile consumer. It will be the ones that ‘get mobile’; those that deliver to the device capabilities, present the expected features, use location well, support social and viral capabilities, add value through marketing and advertising. Sounds simple but why are so many still getting it wrong?

In short, lack of focus and understanding of the channel. Those who are delivering good results have largely franchised mobile away from their traditional business and brought in those with ‘indigenous’ experience. For some time leading digital agencies such as AKQA and Ogilvy and progressive media owners like the BBC and Sky have had dedicated mobile teams. Others are now following their lead with dedicated resources as they either realise the true potential of mobile or are pushed by their clients to engage.

Some of these have used the mobile channel to great effect. Brands like Guinness with their ‘Passport to greatness’ campaign, British Airways with their ‘Mobile check-in’, HSBC with their ‘Business banking’, Sky with their ‘Remote record’, BBC with ‘BBC mobile’ and New York Times with their ‘NY Times’ iPhone app all show they get mobile and the mobile consumer. All have dedicated teams or experienced agencies that understand usability and focus on mobile. Mobile is treated in relative isolation but remains firmly part of the digital mix.

I find it surprising that brands and media owners do not treat mobile differently. Ten years ago most saw the opportunity Internet presented and were quick to develop specialist teams that could take forward viable business plans. Not to approach mobile in the same way is like suggesting radio programmes translate well to television. The channels have very different characteristics and capabilities.

The players with structured local content should have a natural advantage. In a previous column I wrote for mSearchGroove (MSG), I said that directory publishers are best placed to deliver compelling local mobile services and importantly commercialise them through advertising. I still firmly believe this should be the case. They are best placed to commercialise the channel, all have existing customers and a very powerful sales force to sell advertising products. Despite the opportunity the challenging business conditions that many find them self in today are impacting on their ability to focus on the mobile environment and realise opportunity it presents. This leaves the door wide open.

Why is the mobile experience different? Go back to grass roots. For most people the mobile is a communications device. This is unlikely to change. What else it is capable of is increasingly important. The device has evolved into a multifunctional tool – it is our social organiser, our information resource, our boredom filler. Basically, it supports our lives. Personal attachment is unrivalled. As well as the form factor this is what makes mobile different.

Mobile comes with a whole set of new rules. The challenge is that many businesses have not yet figured out these new rules. Most try to adapt what they understand from existing media and simply move it to the next. This will not work. Understand these new rules and the channel can deliver real returns. A good start point for many will be to answer three core questions: ’how’ are you going to approach? ’why’ is your offer relevant? and ’what’ do you expect a consumer to do?

Despite a tough economic outlook for advertising mobile is set to buck the trend it will present a significant opportunity for many. I believe the jury is still out for those that can and will be winners. What is for certain is those that continue to carry on a path which does not reflect the potential new rules and the recognise level of expertise needed to execute are unlikely to reap rewards.

As a marketing medium mobile is only set to grow in value. A channel that brands and advertisers can no longer afford to overlook as part of their mix, as such the potential for commercial reward will increase. Providers who get the basics right, deliver features that add value and bring together quality partnerships that enhance the offer and support commercialisation will be the likely winners.

Importance of mobile is increasing, the channel is set to become a primary content environment for the majority. Gearing content and commercial capabilities for mobile will be key. 

Need more advice?  We specialise in mobile and are here to help.

Having recently read about the raging debate at Marketing Week on the potential impact online video will have on television advertising. Yesterday the bus waiting experience came true. Nothing for a while then a couple come a long at the same time. Online video as a promotional medium – broadcasters may well be worried.

Ok. YouTube has been around for an age and the ability to view video online is not new. But one thing that struck me yesterday was the actual power that video holds as a marketing vehicle for businesses and brands. Traditionally I have though of the online vehicle as a great and cheap additional distribution mechanism for TV campaigns, especially when you consider the impact of viral distribution on a recent campaign such as Evian Live Young (created by BETC Euro RSCG). Viral has delivered significantly more audience reach than airing on the TV would ever have achieved.

Where it becomes interesting is if you virtually eliminate the costs of generating reach and significantly reduce the costs of production you suddenly have a medium that still carries the marketing impact but instantly becomes far more accessible to marketers.

The first video that got me thinking this way was for a revolutionary new probiotic product called Symprove (No I am not taking the stuff but a close friend is behind the launch). As a communication I think the execution is superb, creatively very good. It ticks all the boxes simple, informative and appealing. Yet all for a fraction of the cost of a typical TV ad. How will it get audience reach?  Well I have already sent it on to a number of people from as far afield as Kazakhstan and Australia, and you are reading this so you too have become the audience.

Shortly afterwards I viewed another three online videos.

The first was from an estate agent for a house they have for sale. The impact was amazing. It presented a highly visual interpretation of the property that simply could not be replicated using a printed brochure.  The interesting part was the video was made up of a series of still images very well placed together and a voice over applied, so it would have been very low cost to produce.

The second was for a privately owned country hotel. Again it was a series of still images with a voice over applied giving a full tour of the hotel and its core facilities. The execution gave what could only be described as an almost personal viewing, you actually gained a feel for the hotel and surrounding area, something that would have been virtually impossible to achieve in a written form. 

The third was for a Tax Consultancy that specialises in supporting businesses claim government rebates for investment made in product and research and development. In under a minute and a half the video covered the type of activities that are eligible for rebates, the potential rewards and the process to make a claim. A brief but very informative snap shot in to a businesses activity which I know would have made very dry reading in written form.

As a marketing vehicle each video was an extremely powerful communication, that is why TV advertising has such appeal. The interesting part was to see how this medium and type of execution could actually work for such a diverse set of businesses, their products and services. The dramatic reduction in costs mean for the first time I can genuinely see that this type of medium could actually be a very accessible part of the marketing mix for a whole array of small, medium and large businesses. Online video as a promotional medium – broadcasters may well be worried!