Mastering Mobile Markets
Britain’s mobile internet services are coming of age. With more handsets than residents, the UK leads the way in mobile technology, although advertising to this increasingly mature sector requires specific strategies. Nick Wiggin, chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association, explains the hurdles faced by marketers in tackling the growing mobile sector…
It was interesting to see how practitioners in the US were listening intently to learnings from the UK mobile market at the CTIA mobile conference in San Francisco last week. The audience were hanging off every word from Graeme Ferguson, Director of Global Content Development, as he shared insights from our side of the pond. It’s fair to say that the UK still has the most mature mobile marketing environment in the world… but the US are catching up fast.
One of the hottest topics of debate at the conference was the ‘walled garden’ strategy. In the US the mobile operators actively restrict mobile subscribers from moving to mobile internet sites outside their domain (‘off portal’), however in the UK mobile operators such as Vodafone and O2 are actively encouraging this traffic. From a mobile user experience this means that the opportunity to experience content on your phone outside of Vodafone Live, O2 Active, T-Zones or Orange World is becoming more common place. Media owners like ITV, EMAP and Virgin are providing an engaging environment for their ‘above the line’ consumers with the encouragement of our pioneering mobile operators.
For most of us the mobile internet browser experience on our handsets is a rarely used function, however it will not be long before we are actively encouraged more and more to experience content that is available via this channel. Recently the Mobile Marketing Association endorsed the standard WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) banner size and specifications. These banners provide great advertising opportunities for brands, but do consumers want this?
I would argue that it’s more a case of consumers expecting to see advertising on their phones. The mobile operators and mobile marketing companies are keen to get the fit right. A recent piece of qualitative research (Source : WhoHow & iBurbia, May 2005) that looked at the receptiveness of consumers to advertising on mobile phones showed that consumers were looking for a trade-off. Blatant advertising (e.g. 30 second spots) had to be engaging and consumers were unlikely to download such content unless the advertiser had significantly subsidised this cost to the consumer. Other sponsored content, such as video clips, java games, internet sites consumers expect to see more and more. There was a natural expectation to see ‘above the line’ relationships carried over onto the handset, such as Stella Artois & Film, Barclays & Football etc.
With more mobile phones than people and a majority of phones able to receive colour images in the UK it is not surprising that advertisers are getting excited about reaching a target audience while they are on the move with rich media messages. The tricky bit is getting it right and that’s where industry associations like the MMA are there to help. The MMA has just announced the release of it’s latest ‘Code of conduct’ (a best practice guide to mobile marketing) and has had agencies like Mindshare, MediaCom and Zed Media join its membership in the last year. Recent initiatives, such as the ‘Agency Working Group’, actively encourage members to debate what information is required to help facilitate the use of this device as a media channel in its own right. Mobile marketing is growing up, it’s more than just text messaging, and the world is watching us to see if we get it right.