A comprehensive guide to Mobile Marketing and Advertising written by Helen Keegan in late 2007 on behalf of Tanla Mobile and launched at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona in Febuary 2008. The guide also includes articles and essays by Tomi Ahonen, Russell Buckley, Jessica Sandin, Gillian Kennedy, Dr Mike Short, Anuj Khanna, Ben Tatton-Brown, Daniel Appelquist, Jeff Spirer, Steve Flaherty and Gerry Drew. The font size is very small - apologies in advance - you'll need to adjust that before you print it out. It also needs updating to accommodate what's happening today with regard to mobile internet and the impact of the iPhone. Anyone want to sponsor me to do that? Get in touch! The guide isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it should give you a good overview of the world of mobile marketing, advertising and media, a wide variety of viewpoints and lots of case studies to consider.

1. Tanla Mobile Marketing
and Advertising Guide

2. The Tanla guide aims to give you a comprehensive view of the opportunities
presented by mobile marketing and advertising. The report has been compiled
by Tanla Mobile, powered by opinion articles from leading industry thought
leaders and edited by mobile marketing expert Helen Keegan.

3. You want to be different
Just like your customers
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integrated content management, messaging and mobile payments solutions.
From text messaging to video calling we can create a mobile channel for you. Call
us today to get the most from your digital content.
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Interactive Content Bespoke Mobile
Applications Management Development Payments
Campaign Manager CMS Platforms Project Management Premium SMS Billing
Interactive TV UGC Applications Technical Consultancy WAP, Voice & MMS
Video Calling Community Portals Software Development Global Messaging
www.tanlamobile.com

5. Tanla Mobile Marketing
and Advertising Guide
© 2008
www.tanlamobile.com

6. CONTENTS
2008: The Year of Mobile Marketing and Advertising:
N.V. Subba Rao, CEO Tanla Mobile Inc 9
The Global Mobile Market:
Gautam Sabharwal, Director Global Business Development, Tanla Mobile 13
Mobile Emerging as 7th Mass Media:
Tomi Ahonen, Author & Consultant 19
A Brief History of the Mobile Phone 27
Developments in Mobile Technologies 28
Why Mobile is Important 29
Mobile Marketing Past, Present and Future:
Russell Buckley, Managing Director Europe, Admob 35
Thoughts For Marketers On The Values Around New Digital Media Opportunities:
Gillian Kennedy, Managing Director, Emerging Media Platforms Ltd 39
Mobile Has Always Been All Inclusive:
Mike Short, Vice President R&D, O2 Europe 43
Mobile Marketing & Advertising 48
What is Mobile Marketing and where does it fit in the Marketing Mix? 48
The 5 Cs of Mobile = Connectedness 48
Creating Mobile Moments 50
The Mobile Marketing Value Chain 51
Different Types of Mobile Marketing Campaigns 52
Text to Win 52
Voting and Participation TV 52
Quizzes 52
Mobile Content [pictures, ringtones, video] 53
Games 53
Applications 54
CRM 54
IVR 54
MMS 54
Direct Response 54
Mobile Barcodes 56
QR Codes 56
Java or On Device Portal [ODP] 58
Mobile Marketing Challenges 58
Technology Constraints 58
Marketers and Mobile Marketing 58
What do I Measure 59
Campaign Planning 60
Permission Marketing 60
Running a Successful Campaign 63
Production and Fulfilment 65
Technical Project Management 65
Outbound Campaigns 66
6

7. From Hand to Eye, Mobile Marketing gets Co-ordinated:
Anuj Khanna, Head of Marketing, Tanla Mobile, UK 69
Mobile Search 71
A Question of Search: Can Web Search Supremacy Translate to Mobile?
Ben Tatton-Brown, Head of Advertising Sales, EMEA, Medio Systems 75
Music and Mobile 80
Podcasting 81
Moblogs 81
RSS 82
Bluetooth/Infra Red 83
Business Models in Mobile 85
Ad-Funded Content 85
Mobile Advertising 86
Sponsored SMS 87
Selling Your List 87
Sponsored Content 88
Off The Page Promotion 88
Subscription Model 88
User Generated Content 88
Wholesale 88
Retail 89
Don’t Have a Business Model 89
Social Networking Will Drive the Next Wave of Mobile Commerce:
Jeff Spirer, Vice President Mobile Internet, Tanla Mobile Inc 91
Mobile TV – Are We Nearly There Yet?
Steve Flaherty, Mobile Consultant, Keitai Culture 95
The Mobile Web, Beyond Best Practices:
Daniel Appelquist, Senior Technology Strategist, Vodafone 99
Limited Use of Mobile Content Provides Advertisers With An Opportunity To Go It Alone:
Jessica Sandin, Head of Mobile & Senior Consultant, Fathom Partners 105
A Brave New Future for Mobile:
Gerry Drew, Chief Operations Officer, Tanla Mobile, UK 109
Appendix 113
Emoticons 113
Glossary of Terms 115
Events and Networking 120
Further Reading 121
Magazines (Print) Covering Mobile Topics 121
Blogs 121
Acknowledgements 123
Sources and References 125
7

9. 2008: The Year of Mobile
Marketing and Advertising:
N.V. Subba Rao, CEO Tanla Mobile Inc
N.V. Subba Rao is the CEO and President for Tanla Mobile Inc (USA) and is also responsible for
expanding business operations for Tanla Mobile across Asia. Subba joined Tanla Mobile in July 2007
from Bharti Airtel Ltd where he last held the position of Chief Operating Officer. He has over 20 years
industry experience, working with blue chip telecommunications and FMCG brands including Bharti
Mobile, Tata Tele, Proctor & Gamble and Agro Tech Foods Ltd.
9

10. 2008: The Year of Mobile Marketing and Advertising
Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves? ............... Nietzsche
If there is one industry that has taken the above quote to heart, it is the mobile marketing industry. It
continues to seek new opportunities and perspectives to better connect with today’s evolving requirements
for technology enabled communication and lifestyle marketing.
Possibly Alexander Graham Bell didn’t imagine beyond traditional voice based communication when he
invented the telephone, yet it was a true ‘Eureka’ moment. From that perspective mobile and converged
communications is a revolution in the making, yet it doesn’t seem to evoke the same ‘Eureka’ feeling. This
is because the mobile phone is no longer ‘outside of us’. It is now very much a part of us - becoming an
expression of freedom, personality, lifestyle and entertainment; as well as a lifeline for enabling faster data
access, cutting across the various enterprise verticals and customer segments. To borrow a Proctor and
Gamble corporate slogan, mobile ‘continues to touch lives and improve life’ possibly more so than any other
product or service before it. You can use a mobile device to reach directly into the mind of the consumer and
subsequently change their behaviour. What could be a more powerful medium in today’s society, for mass,
one-to-one and contextual marketing – the 7th mass media as some pundits describe it!
The industry is on the cusp of a new era of mobile and integrated media consumption, encompassing
a myriad of real and virtual social networks, web sites, devices and products/ services for commercial
consumption, while creating new storefronts defined by the industry domain. New dynamics unfold on the
sector almost every day, be it via announcements from Nokia, Google or Apple or the numerous bodies
across UK, USA, India, S. Africa and Asia who are all working to create platforms that enable easier, faster
and better integration and monetisation of content (almost to Thomas Edison’s logic of “Hell, there are no
rules here – we’re just trying to accomplish something”).
Walls have come down and new windows have come up. Applications, client server models, style sheets,
web sheets, browsers, payment mechanisms, ad serving engines, text advertising, campaigns, contests,
promotions and web stores: these are just the tip of the marketing frenzy to create more direct and personal
connect with customers across all psychographic, socio-economic and business indices.
From a marketing perspective, 2008 will give rise to a number of questions concerning mobile marketing.
Namely, how it will become
- even better at browsing/ search
- a simpler way to make payments/ facilitate commerce
- a more integrated medium for marketing and advertising
- more effective for social networking/communication
- more exciting for integrating new user generated content
10

11. These, and many other questions related to the mobile ecosystem, will help better define new marketing
and advertising formats and firmly establish the dependencies for those formats. Today, more than ever,
the marketing and advertising industry is witnessing the need for significant change. Traditional marketing
models are often criticised in the boardroom, with questions asked regarding ‘Does your marketing work’,
‘Where is the consumer in all this’, ‘Is brand marketing relevant any more’, etc. The mobile phone represents
one of, if not the, most important marketing opportunities in the last century for two key reasons:
1. The mobile phone is very personal both in terms of how it expresses who we are, but also the
ways in which it is used – who am I ?/ what do I do?/ what can I do?
2. As a result of how its infrastructure has evolved, mobile offers many unique opportunities for
the advertiser. These include accurate and relevant targeting, rich data on usage and
consumer behaviour, higher response rates and flexible, cost effective commercial models.
The net result is a more rewarding and interactive relationship with the customer, and overall
better brand indices.
Thomas Friedman’s powerful metaphor (and book), that the ‘world is flat’ is a truly inspiring way of looking at
the forces that are stitching the present wireless and software enabled world. I trust all mobile enthusiasts
enjoy reading this guide and discover the many benefits mobile marketing and advertising can bring to
both businesses and brands in a ‘flat world’, The new mobile platforms are not just an expansive but also
an inclusive medium, that not only makes marketing and advertising cost effective but also more personal
and relevant. Compared to traditional marketing and advertising, mobile possibly offers ground for more
significant developments for large brands and enterprises to better connect the dots!
Wishing you all a more Mobile 2008!
N.V. Subba Rao
CEO Tanla Mobile Inc
11

13. The Global Mobile Market:
Gautam Sabharwal
Director Global Business Development,
Tanla Mobile
Gautam Sabharwal is responsible for Tanla Mobile’s global business development, sales and marketing.
An expert at market visualisation, approach strategies and sales initiatives, he brings with him in-
depth knowledge of the Telecom Services Industry. His experience includes several years running
successful businesses in the emerging telecom services markets of Europe. His long-term strategy
planning, along with knowledge of Tanla’s core businesses, is instrumental in steering the company
in the right direction.
13

14. The Global Mobile Market
New Players Bring Change to the Mobile Sector
Throughout the short history of mobile there have been numerous - too many some will say – innovations,
milestones, developments and advances promising to change the mobile industry for ever.
2008 will see the emergence of the new mobile world-order, namely the influence of ‘traditional’ internet
brands as new and powerful entrants to the mobile sector. They will bring with them established models
and approaches to marketing and advertising, amongst other things, that will change the landscape and
consumer mobile experience for ever.
The impact of developments such as the iPhone is significant and its arrival marks an important turning
point. The iPhone has made the mobile internet become a competitive driver for handset manufacturers
and operators alike, while forcing others to review OS and device simplicity.
The future growth of the mobile marketing sector is dependent upon two traditionally disparate sectors
collaborating, the mobile and the media industry. But the real growth potential for mobile will come as a
result of brands such as Google, Yahoo and MSN securing their place at the new mobile table.
Combine these factors with the fact that operators increasingly offer fixed rate data charges, this all means
the opportunity for mobile marketing is here and now.
Mobile advertising will be constrained unless
Mobile advertising users constrained unless users have unlimited data plans.
will be have unlimited data plans
Strongly disagree
3%
Disagree
Strongly agree 12%
26%
Somewhat agree
34%
Agree
25%
Mobile Content Industry SurveySource Survey, Mobile Advertising Services Report 2006,
Source: 2Q06 Mobile Content Industry
Informa Telecoms & Media
14

15. The Predictions
Research Film Prediction Comment
eMarketer USA: $421m in 2006 to $4.7bn by 2011 Mobile advertisment only
WW: $11.3bn by 2011
Yankee Group USA: $40m in 2006 to $2bn in 2010 Mobile advertisment only
Ovum USA: $46m this year to $1.3bn in 2010 Accounts for text delivery
advertising only
Strategy Analytics USA: 17% of total online ad spending by 2010, SMS and display advertising
while browser based advertising will claim the
greatest share with 44%
Jupiter Research USA: $2.1bn in 2011
ABI Research WW: $19bn by 2011 Mobile marketing and
advertising combined
Informa Telecoms WW: $1.5bn by the end of 2007 to $11.5bn by Mobile advertisment only
and Media* 2011
Shosteck Group WW: grow to $9.6bn by 2010 Mobile advertisment only
*Correct as at September 2006.
While predictions do vary, the overall message is one of growth for mobile advertising in all key territories.
Mobile Advertising US Spending Projection, 2006-2011 (US$m)
5000
4356
4500
4000
3500 3202
3000
2500 2285
2000
1547
1500
878
1000
410 402
500 213
11 26 55 110
0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
General Mobile Ad Spending Mobile Multimedia Ad Spending
Source: eMarketer January 2007
15

16. Which Territories are Seeing the Biggest Growth?
Welcome to the new players in the market. India, China and Asia are amongst the new battle grounds; with
China already having more mobile users than the US. Across these regions there is a common vein, many
consumers own or prefer purchasing a Smartphone over a PC. So the trend toward mobile content is high.
With wealth increasing in these territories, mobile advertising revenue in these emerging markets is
expected to be a major contributor to the overall global market.
An Appetite to Receive
The changes brought about by the new mobile world order will benefit the mobile marketing business case.
The application of knowledge and techniques applied in the internet space will allow brands to opt for and
better measure mobile as a viable channel. Also, consumers will increasingly show a willingness to receive
advertising on the device.
How willing will consumers be to receive advertising
How willing will consumers be to receive advertising in exchange for cheaper mobile content?
in exchange for cheaper mobile content?
50% Not at all willing
Fairly willing
45% Somewhat willing
Willing
40%
Extremely willing
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Music Games Mobile TV Idle Screen UCG/ SMS/MMS
& Video Communications
Source: Mobile Content Industry Survey Informa Telecoms & Media
Source: 2Q06 Mobile Content Industry Survey, Mobile Advertising Services Report 2006,
Informa Telecoms & Media
16

17. Critical success factors
According to Informa’s MOBILE ADVERTISING SERVICES research, there are four factors that will influence
the mobile advertising market.
Regulation - of mobile content, broadcast networks for the delivery of mobile TV, as well as for the advertising
techniques for the mobile channel, such as codes of conduct for SMS messaging.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) - is about the ability to have a clear view of who owns what content and
exactly what can be transferred across a mobile network.
Monitoring and measurement - if mobile advertising is to succeed than the critical element will be the ability
to capture data on mobile campaigns.
Pricing - the chicken and the egg debate. Will consumers pay for network time to receive adverts or will they
receive adverts to get free network air time?
17

19. Mobile Emerging as
7th Mass Media:
Tomi Ahonen, Author & Consultant
Tomi T Ahonen is a four time best-selling author and strategy consultant who lectures at Oxford
University on digital convergence. Tomi’s reference customer list reads like the who’s who of mobile
telecoms, including Ericsson, Orange, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, TeliaSonera and Vodafone as well
as leading media and advertising giants. Tomi’s fourth bestseller “Communies Dominate Brands” was
hailed as a landmark book on old media and interactivity, user-generated content and engagement.
Tomi regularly runs workshops and seminars for leading media customers around the world. He
chaired the world’s first mobile advertising conference in 2001, presented the mobile keynote to the
Periodicals Publishing Association, and to the Media in Motion event in 2004, etc. A founding member
of Engagement Alliance, Forum Oxford, Wireless Watch, and Carnival of the Mobilists, Tomi blogs at
www.communities-dominate.blogs.com. His website is www.tomiahonen.com
19

21. Mobile Emerging as 7th Mass Media
The Mobile Phone has emerged as the 7th Mass Media channel. It is as different from the internet [6th Mass
Media] as TV [5th] is from radio [4th]. Trying to force concepts from the internet, TV, or other previous media
will produce a disappointing audience experience on mobile. But understanding the unique power of mobile
as the 7th Mass Media will deliver radical new concepts and new winners.
Most of the media experts, including many even in new media, do not understand mobile. It became a
mass media first in Japan just seven years ago, and until recently was mostly dismissed as a youth text
messaging and viral marketing channel only. Yet the economics of mobile produce enormous opportunities.
Three times as many people have mobile phones than have personal computers. Twice as many people
have a phone subscription than a credit card, more households have mobile phones than TV sets. And
most importantly, the mobile phone can replicate all of the previous mass media with six unique benefits,
which is why already 588 million people consume premium content such as news, TV, entertainment and
games on mobile phones in 2007. During 2008 more people will access internet content on phones than on
the web. This is no mere sci-fi fantasy of technology buffs; it has already happened in Japan, South Korea,
China and Taiwan.
Not the first time there’s been a new mass medium
First Four Mass Media. The traditional mass media are well known and established with known formats.
News and weather work on radio, long-form stories in books and cinema; videogames work well on
recordings etc. Print is the oldest, from the 1500s, it introduced the buy-to-own business model for books
and introduced advertising and subscriptions to newspapers and magazines. Recordings [late 1890s]
introduced performance media separating the creative element [the writer/composer] and the performer
with the global performance celebrity star, such as Edith Piaf, Elvis and the Beatles. It is possible to consume
books and printed content on recordings, yet recordings did not destroy the print industry; rather it built
a whole new parallel media industry worth 30 billion dollars today. Cinema [1900s] turned celebrity into
superstar with the first global icon, Charlie Chaplin.
21

22. Cinema introduced moving images and multimedia content and the pay-per-view business model, ie you
had to pay every time you viewed a movie. Many thought cinema would kill books; rather Hollywood built
another new industry worth 30 billion dollars at the box office, and another 20 billion in after-sales products
like video rentals, DVD sales etc. Radio [1910s] brought the broadcast model with a ‘streaming’ approach
to content delivery - if you were not there to listen, you missed the content; mass market recording of radio
[the C-Casette] would not appear until 50 years later. Radio was the first pervasive medium meaning it was
omnipresent nationally and if content was broadcast, it was received simultaneously by all.
TV the fifth mass media [1950s]. The most dominant mass media for the past 50 years has been television,
yet TV didn‘t really introduce anything new! While each of the previous four mass media brought innovations,
TV did not, yet in spite of this ‘deficiency’ TV soon dominated all others. We had multimedia in the cinema,
and broadcast in radio, TV only combined those. TV soon took over the news from cinema. It took over much
of the drama series and live sports broadcasts from radio. Where families in the 1930s sat around the
radio set to listen to a soap opera, concert or news broadcast, in the 1960s those families organized their
living rooms to allow good viewing of TV. TV discovered the power of celebrity, and soon shows emerged that
promoted celebrity [eg talk shows] and propelled normal people into temporary celebrity status [eg game
shows, reality TV]. After the advent of MTV, suddenly music videos - no longer radio - became the deciding
factor to a music artist‘s success.
Sixth Mass Media: the Internet. So enter the sixth mass media, the internet, in the 1990s. This is a very
young media not well understood. As a mass media, the internet is the first that is capable of replicating
all of the other five previous media - we can read books, magazines and newspapers online; view movies;
listen to radio; view TV; download recordings eg MP3 files, computer software, videogames etc. That is why
it is a threat to the previous five media. Furthermore, the internet introduced two elements not possible on
previous mass media: interactivity and search. Yes, we could write to the editor of a newspaper, but still,
most of the mass media did not have any realistic mass-market interactivity ability ten years ago; on the
web it is built in. And search? It has become the most used application on the web. Capable of doing what
all other media can do, and adding two powerful new elements, it is no surprise the internet cannibalizes
existing mass media. Not to mention the costs of production on the web are a tiny fraction of those of owning
a printing press, a broadcast license or network for example.
22

23. Mobile newest, also least understood
So what about the 7th mass media? The mobile phone emerged as a mass media from about the year
2000. The youngest of the seven mass media, it is by far the least understood. Many see similarities to
the internet, thinking that because of the small screen and less convenient keypad, the mobile internet
is somehow ‘simpler’ or ‘dumber’. Similarly many TV execs look at the tiny screen and think TV on mobile
is somehow a ‘reduced’ offering, where viewers will only ‘snack’ at selected highlights. Nothing could be
further from the truth. In fact the mobile phone as the seventh mass media is by far the most powerful. It is
as different to the web as TV is to radio; mobile media‘s influence will be greater than all we‘ve seen so far of
the internet, so much so that mobile to internet will be as dominant in its media audience reach and media
impact on society as TV was to radio in the second half of the last century.
Like the internet before it, today the phone can replicate everything the previous six mass media can do. You
can consume newspapers, read magazine articles, listen to radio and podcasts, buy MP3 songs, watch TV,
even watch whole movies on the phone - Nokia shipped Mission Impossible 3 on a memory card with the
N93 phones [and the 2 hour movie works fine on the high-resolution screen of that phone]. Any web content
can be consumed on the phone, and the phone easily supercedes the interactivity of the web, because e-
mail and IM are already on the phone, but SMS and MMS messaging are unique to mobile. Similarly search
already exists on mobile. Already in 2006 the value of paid content on mobile at 35 B USD is bigger than
on the fixed wireline internet at 25 B USD.
Mobile has 6 unique benefits
The power of the mobile phone as a mass media is due to six elements not available on previous mass
media. [1] The phone is the first truly personal medium. A 2006 survey by Wired revealed that 63% of
the population do not share the phone even with one‘s spouse, it is that personal. [2] The phone is always
carried. A survey in 2005 by BDDO found that 60% of the population sleep with the phone physically in
bed; a Nokia 2006 study found that 72% of us use the phone as our alarm clock. [3] The phone is the first
always-on mass medium, today many media offer alerts via the phone, what is on another real time medium
like TV, such as CNN breaking news alerts via SMS.
Probably the most important, is that [4] the phone has a built-in payment mechanism. No other medium
has a built-in payment mechanism, even on the internet you have to subscribe to PayPal or provide a credit
card, etc. But already today, older media collect payments through the mobile phone. Habbo Hotel the web
online playground collects micropayments through premium SMS. TV shows from Big Brother to American
Idol earn billions via SMS votes. Some gaming and chat cable TV channels in Europe earn 80% of their total
revenues from mobile payments.
Tapping into the social networking and user-generated content phenomenon, is that [5] the phone is a
creative tool available always at the point of creative impulse. For example Time Magazine‘s Person of
the Year 2006 was the ‘You’ of User-Generated Content. Mostly when the photo opportunity emerges, our
digital camera is safely at home in its camera case. But the cameraphone [which is also our video recorder
and podcast recorder] is in our pocket, always at the ready to snap images and clips. User-generated content
is radically altering the media world as seen at YouTube, Ohmy News and SeeMeTV.
23

24. Lastly but perhaps most relevant to the legacy media, [6] mobile captures the most accurate customer
information in any medium. AMF Ventures measured the relative accuracy of audience measurements
on TV, internet and mobile, in May 2007, finding that on TV only 1% of audience data is captured; on the
Internet about 10% of audience data is collected; but on mobile 90% of audience info can be identified.
Considering media content targeting and advertising, this means that for practical purposes we know the
exact composition of our total audience, individually and exactly - and even where the media is consumed.
Not even on the web do we have this level of precision. CRM will be revolutionized! It is not surprising then
to find that in Japan, 54% of all mobile phone users receive advertising on their phones, and with targeting
and personalization, 44% like the ads so much, they actively click on the ads.
Don‘t focus on the limitations
Of the limitations to consume, the phone has a screen smaller than that of TV or a personal computer, that
is true. That is balanced against it being always with us, often used in parallel when watching TV on a flat
screen - 30% of Japanese TV viewers already do this; 20% of the British vote via mobile in reality TV shows.
The same holds for the keypad. Yes, a laptop has a better keyboard, and writing a book for example is much
easier on a PC than tripple-tapping on a phone keypad. But the phone has the camera [a picture worth a
thousand words], the microphone [podcasts], and now: 2D barcodes, as the quick shorthand of the digital
generation. You don‘t type the name of your colleague from the business card, you zoom to the 2D barcode
[that little square that looks like a fingerprint] and your phone reads the text in it - the phone ‘magically’
replaces the need for any typing at all.
As to content migration, in 2006 already 18% of all music worldwide was sold to mobile phones [mostly
ringtones], as is 14% of video games. TV and advertising has also moved into mobile during 2007. News
and search are showing strong signs of moving that way as well. What is important to note, is that the phone
will not kill other medium; they will all adjust, like radio did to TV. All seven mass media will continue. But
only those who understand the power of mobile will be able to share in its success. Just like those who
understood interactivity and search on the web.
24

27. A Brief History of the Mobile Phone
1
The mobile phone was invented in 1973 by Dr Martin Cooper, a former general manager at Motorola. The
first call was made in April 1973 by Dr Cooper to his rival, Joel Engel who was Head of Research at Bell
Labs, but it was some time before mobile phones were available commercially. Probably our first memories
of mobile phones are from the 1980s when the handsets were large, expensive and typically used by city
high-fliers. Today things are very different: nearly everyone in the UK has a mobile phone, with many people
having one for business and one for personal use. The table below shows how common the mobile phone
has become in a short space of time.
2
The table below shows mobile penetration rates in selected countries.
UK US SPAIN INDIA JAPAN
Total population 59.4m 297m 41.1m 1081m 127.8m
Urban population (per 1000 pop.) 89.2% 80.8% 76.7% 28.7% 65.7%
No. of households 25.3m 110.2m 15.0m 202.9m 48.5m
Average number per household 2.4 2.6 2.7 5.3 2.6
Cost of living December 2005 (New York=100) 125 100 95 47 136
Colour TVs per 100 households 98.2 99.6 98.5 35.1 99.0
Telephone lines per 100 pop. 56.4 60.5 41.5 4.1 46.0
Mobile telephone subscribers per 100 pop. 102.2 62.1 86.5 4.4 71.6
Computers per 100 pop. 60.0 76.2 24.4 1.2 54.2
3
Not only has the mobile phone become synonymous with modern living, so has text messaging. The network
operators never thought text messaging would become a revenue stream for them; it was originally designed
by engineers to check whether or not the line was working. As such, the technology was embedded on all
mobile phones, albeit behind the scenes. However, in the early days of text messaging , few people knew of
4
its existence beyond telecoms engineers.
Just a few years later, customers discovered the messaging tool on their mobile phones and started to use
it to see what would happen. This meant that they sent a text message to a friend and this strange message
appeared on the other person’s phone and in appearing, was how the next customer found out about the
text message facility on their phone. This was true viral marketing.
By 1999 text messaging was proving so popular the networks realised that there was a revenue stream
available to them by promoting it. At this time, we saw the first advertisements including text messaging as
part of the service. Texting took the network operators by surprise at first and they were not geared up for
large volumes of messaging going through their systems.
27

28. It was also around this time that the first mobile marketing entrepreneurs put their thinking caps on and
worked out that the mobile phone could be an incredibly important advertising communications channel.
Young people were embracing text messaging and in turn, their parents and grandparents were finding out
about text messaging as it was the easiest way to keep in touch with the young people in their lives.
Those first companies to think about commercial text messaging and in particular, using text messaging
for marketing included ZagMe, Flytxt, 12snap and Enpocket. All these companies were VC [Venture Capital]
funded and to a certain extent were creating concepts and rules as mobile marketing simply hadn’t
been invented at this stage. So it was a steep learning curve both from a technology and an operational
perspective.
Eight years on and the market is really finding its feet and the value chain is becoming clearer along with
companies’ roles within that ecosystem. But we are just at the start of the mobile journey when compared
with the previous 6 mass media, as pointed out in Tomi Ahonen’s article ‘Mobile Emerging as 7th Mass
Media’
Developments in Mobile Technologies
5 6
In terms of technology we are now at a combination of 2.5G and 3G and have multi-media messaging
[with pictures, animations, video and sound], Java games, MP3 music files, instant messenger, email and
lots more besides.
Mobile technology can be likened to television. In the early days of television, it was amazing to have moving
pictures in your living room at all even though it was a very small screen; television was not broadcast all
day and viewers were subjected to the test card for long periods of time. Who could have imagined back
in the early days of television how the technology would progress – colour television, over 300 channels,
video, dvd, surround sound, Tivo/Sky Active, interactive television, games to play on your television, digital
television, video on demand etc?
Mobile technology is on a similar roadmap. In the early days, we had small screens with black and white
text, but it was amazing that you could do more than just talk on your phone. We are in the ‘colour television’
age of mobile telephony. Most handsets on the market now have a colour screen and camera as standard
features, and we’re seeing the emergence and acceptance of new technology features such as Bluetooth,
mobile internet, Java, email, television and more. Who knows what will emerge in the years to come as the
cost of the technology reduces and data speeds increase?
So why not have another look at your phone and think about how you use it. Already you may be using it
for talking and text messaging and quite possibly as an alarm clock and calendar as well. Some of you will
have downloaded applications such as Googlemail, Googlemaps or Shozu on to your phone, changed your
ringtone and probably sent and/or received an MMS message to boot. OK, you might not do these things all
the time, but the chances are you’ve done them!
28

29. Why Mobile is Important
You’re probably reading this guide because you’re already engaged in mobile marketing or advertising
activities or you’re thinking about it. Mobile has already come a long way and this section gives some
statistics and useful information to show how mainstream mobile has become, as well as penetration rates
and usage statistics which will help you gauge how relevant mobile is or isn’t for your particular audience,
product and company.
Did you know
• There is 102.2% mobile penetration in the UK according to the latest operator figures.
[Source: Economist Pocket World in Figures, 2007]
• In the UK, 4,825 billion messages were sent during September 2007, an average of over 1,2 billion
messages every week. This equates to the same number of messages sent during the
whole of 1999.7
• Over 15 million handsets are replaced per annum which is about a third of all handsets. The
typical upgrade time is currently 18 months for a mobile phone but seven years for a landline. The
difference being that a landline is seen as a utility and the mobile phone as an object of desire.
When was the last time you had a debate in the pub over the fact that your landline telephone was
better than your mate’s?
• Global SMS traffic over the 2007/2008 New Year period increased by 30 per cent compared to the
same period last year. Around the world, phone users sent a total of 43 billion text messages to
wish their loved ones a happy New Year.8
• 10% of UK homes only have a mobile [figure rises to 14% in Scotland]. This is particularly prevalent
in lower income households, where the mobile phone is treated as a landline and is often plugged
permanently into the wall. Usually this will be a Pay As You Go phone which means that there are
no monthly rental charges to consider and outgoing calls can only be made when there is enough
credit on the phone, although you can receive calls any time. This is also the case in some high
income households, e.g. a businessman constantly on the move with little need for a landline.
[Source: Ofcom 2007]
• Prepay still makes up 64% of the market. [Source: Ofcom 2007] Although this figure has fallen in
the last few years from over 70%, it is still a significant part of the market. If someone doesn’t have
credit on their phone, it does affect their ability to reply to your message at all. Also the networks
expire pre-pay numbers very quickly – sometimes after only a few weeks of non-usage – with those
numbers recycled in as little as 3 months.This is worth bearing in mind when dealing with customer
database lists and CRM. Another point worth noting is that typically, a customer has on average £2
of credit on their phone, so this is something to remember when asking them to pay for stuff on their
phone or access content where their data rate charges may be expensive e.g. if they are not on a
flat rate tariff.
29

30. • 80% of under 25s more likely to text than talk.10
• 85.8% of UK mobile customers sent a text message in the last month.11
• 25% of under 10s have a mobile phone.12
• 14 million or 30% of UK users browsed WAP in the last month.13
Ofcom recently published their annual communications report which includes a section on mobile telephony.
Their findings are usually more conservative than figures from other research companies, but still the results
are encouraging. 92% of the under 45 UK adult population use a mobile phone, falling to 70% of over 45s.
Usage for the under 45s has changed little between 2005 and 2006 but amongst the over 45 age group it
has increased from 66% to 70%.
• Use of mobile services also varies according to socio-economic group, with 85% of UK ABC1s
using a mobile phone in the last year compared with 76% of C2DEs which is broadly similar to the
previous year. The important thing to note from this is how widespread mobile usage actually is.
• The report shows us the use of online and mobile applications which is interesting to compare and
contrast as mobile services move forward. Today 79% of mobile users use their handset to do more
than make or receive calls, 64% of them are texting and 53% of them are using voicemail. Taking
pictures with your phone is popular with 40% of customers doing this and 25% of customers actually
using MMS, 17% of the UK’s mobile owners have 3G and 3% of all mobile users are using video
calling, although I still haven’t seen anyone use video calling in the wild yet.
• 3G take up is greatest in London at 21% penetration and lowest in the North of England at 14%.
Unsurprisingly Urban take up is slightly higher at 19% than rural at 12%.
Use of Mobile Applications
79%
80%
64%
60% 52%
40%
40%
25%
20% 20%
20% 12% 10% 10% 9% 8% 7% 7%
4% 3%
0%
chat function
Send/recieve
Take photos
Play games
messaging
Messaging
video clips
video clips
Download
Download
Streaming
Voicemail
programs
organiser
FM Radio
Emailing
Personal
Use IMr
Picture
Calling
Video
Video
WAP
Any
Text
Base: All adults 15+ who have a mobile phone
Source: Ofcom research, 2006
Base: All adults 15+ who have a mobile phone
Source: Ofcom, The Communications Market 2007
30

31. Use of Online Applications by Dial-up & Broadband Internet Users
Any
Sending and recieving email
General sur ng/browsing
Purchasing goods/services
Looking for/downloading info for personal use
Banking
Looking for/downloading info for work
DOwnloading music/ lms/video clips
Looking for/downloading info for college
Instant messaging
Playing games
Realtime gambling/auctions
Other
Broadband
None of these
Narrowband
0% 20% 40% 60& 80% 100%
Base: All adults 15+ who have access to the internet at home
Source: Ofcom research, 2006 access to the internet at home
Base: All adults 15+ who have
Source: Ofcom, The Communications Market 2007
The network operators are gaining ground in different parts of the country with O2 winning the battle,
particularly in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In London, however, T-Mobile has 36% market share.
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
WM
EA
UK
England
Scotland
Wales
N Ireland
London
SE
SW
EM
Y&H
NE
NW
Vodafone O2 T-Mobile Orange Three BT Mobile Other/Unsure
Base: All SMEs currently using mobiles
Source: Ofcom research, 2006
More detailed information is available from the Ofcom report ‘The Communications Market 2007’ which is
available as a free download from www.ofcom.org.uk
31

32. 1
See Wikipedia for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_mobile_phones
2
Source: The Pocket World in Figures 2007 published by The Economist.
3
A text message is 160 characters long [including spaces) and contains no formatting. It is free to receive standard SMS text messages in the UK, but not in all
countries. In the US, some networks charge for customers to receive each text. Also see Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_message_service.
4
The first SMS [text message) was sent in December 1992 on the Vodafone network in the UK. It was originally created for internal use and it never could have
been predicted it would become so popular.
5
Also known as GPRS [general packet radio switch) or WAP over GPRS. In consumer terms, this allows faster connection to the mobile internet and data transfer.
6
3G is a faster connection to the mobile internet and data transfer thus allowing, in theory, more reliable voice calls and faster data transfers. It is sometimes
dubbed as broadband on your phone, but realistically, 3G speeds are not always so fast or reliable. This will come as the operators roll out 3G to all their
consumers.
7
Source MDA: http://www.text.it
8
Source Acision
9
Source MDA: http://www.text.it
10
Source MDA: http://www.text.it
11
Source: m:metrics Spring 2007
12
Source: MORI
13
Source: m:metrics
32

33. 19

35. Mobile Marketing Past,
Present and Future:
Russell Buckley,
Managing Director Europe, Admob
Russell is one of the leading experts on mobile marketing in the world, having overseen nearly 2,000
campaigns since 2000. Russell is the co-author of MobHappy, one of the most popular mobile
marketing and mobile technology blogs on the web. Before joining AdMob, Russell spent over 15 years
working in marketing, including advising leading brands such as Coca-Cola, Diageo, Texaco and Mars.
In 2000, he was recruited to be Director of Marketing of UK-based mobile marketing start up, ZagMe,
one of the leading pioneers in mobile advertising. Russell learned about AdMob soon after its launch
and immediately saw the potential. He gave up his consulting practice to join founder Omar and launch
AdMob in the European market.
35

36. Mobile Marketing Past, Present and Future
For years marketers and mobilists alike have been excited about the prospects for mobile marketing. But
despite their evangelising and the obvious potential of the mobile channel, it seemed to be locked in a
permanent winter. However, 2007 saw a definite thaw as new business models emerged that promise
great things.
The main reason why mobile marketing hasn’t really taken off historically, has been the mixed results that
the various techniques have generated. In the beginning, we had SMS push campaigns, where the user
opted-in to receive alerts from advertisers, or triggered by an event, such as going shopping in the mall.
While this sounds like a great idea for advertisers and customers alike, the reality is that the execution is
fraught with issues.
Firstly it is expensive to send, meaning that many potential advertisers couldn’t justify the return on
investment. Then there was the tricky problem of getting customers to opt-in in the first place. Finally, while
the definition of spam revolves around prior permission, the reality is that it depends on the context of when
the message is received. If the customer gets it at the wrong time, in the wrong mood or even if the content
wasn’t valuable, it’s simply condemned as spam.
SMS is more about CRM (Customer Relationship Management) activity, like airlines sending travel updates
or credit card companies sending transaction details, or for users to “pull” information to their phones from
other media. For instance, someone might send an SMS as a result of seeing a poster campaign to ask for
stockists, or enter a competition they’ve seen on a cereal box.
SMS pull is already a well established technique and is one that will continue to grow. A recent report from M:
Metrics found that 18.5% of UK adults had interacted in this way with a marketing campaign in the previous
month alone. Ultimately, marketing without an SMS short code will look as odd today as marketing material
without a web address. Indeed, it’s possible that phone interaction will supersede the fixed web as the
preferred communication channel, as it encourages immediate interactivity and thus higher responses.
As useful as SMS is, 2007 saw the launch of a new way for marketers to use the mobile channel – Mobile
Web Advertising. And unlike its predecessor, SMS push, it’s proved unequivocally to generate consistently
high results for the early adopters, with many claiming 4 times the ROI that they enjoy using the fixed web,
which in turn is already a highly effective medium.
36

37. So how does this work? If we take my company, AdMob, as one of the pioneers and success stories, we
partner with mobile web sites that enjoy high traffic and offer to run advertising [text-links and graphical
banners] on a revenue share basis. Then we make this space available to advertisers via our self-serve web
platform. This allows most campaigns to be set up and run in a matter of minutes. Advertisers can target
their campaigns according to the characteristics of mobile handset that the ad appears on, such as location,
make of handset and phone capability.
For mobile content sellers, this has meant that the mobile has been transformed from a distribution channel
into a highly effective marketing medium. All users need to do if they’re interested is click on a link and
they get straight to the information. Compare this to traditional TV ads, as an example, where potential
respondents need to grab their phone, access the mobile web [assuming they know how to and have the
right settings], type in a url and only then connect with the information.
The medium has proven to be so effective that AdMob now runs one billion ads every month, despite
only launching the platform in January 2006. AdMob also has 850 million pages a month available for
advertisers to use and target the 30% of adults who already use the mobile web and this figure is set to rise
dramatically as operators offer flat rate data packages, handsets get better, speeds get faster and as walled
gardens fall down – all these trends are accelerating this year.
Another important trend is that more mainstream brands are looking to establish their footprint on the
mobile by creating their own mobile websites. Clearly, once a mobile website is built, it will need traffic and
the AdMob system is highly effective for doing this. A recent campaign saw AdMob generating 40% of the
traffic, despite only receiving 0.4% share of the overall marketing budget.
2007 saw significant moves in advertising-funded content, games and applications, as marketers grew in
their sophistication in using the mobile medium.
The future for mobile marketing and the mobile web is now looking very exciting for all participants in the
value chain, including for the all-important end user. Not only is mobile web advertising helping them to find
content they’re looking for, but it’ll make products and services available at significantly less than they’re
paying for them now. It’s been a long wait, but mobile marketing has finally arrived.
37

39. Thoughts for Marketers On The
Values Around New Digital
Media Opportunities:
Gillian Kennedy, Managing Director,
Emerging Media Platforms Ltd
Gillian began her career in media at The Observer, which was followed by 12 years at Emap working
across several markets and media. As Interactive Commercial Development Director at Emap
Advertising Gillian’s responsibilities included commercialising new digital platforms and digital new
product development. Gillian has been an early pioneer of mobile advertising, working in this area
for 6 years. 2007 saw Gillian work as an independent consultant both in UK & Europe. She has now
formed Emerging Media Platforms which focuses on scoping, implementing & communicating new
digital media opportunities for clients.
Gillian is actively involved in growing the new digital markets. A former member of DMA Mobile Council,
Gillian is a member of several digital networking groups and a regular speaker at conferences and
Thought Leadership seminars in the UK & Europe. Last year she took a diverse range of trips to the Far
East & Europe to gain greater insight into the rapidly involving digital world we now live in.
39

40. Thoughts For Marketers On The Values Around New Digital Media Opportunities
The new converged digital media world frequently represents a dichotomy for those who play a role in the
ever changing value chain. Communication between individuals is a good example of this. Whilst the price
of communication has decreased significantly over the last few decades, the value that consumers place on
communication has increased more than ever so presenting a further challenge to those who market brands
and need to capture associated value.
Along with this comes ‘new’ new media opportunities which are made possible by fast moving new
technologies that allow us to easily interact on a global 24/7 basis whether they be online or mobile. New
content and inventory created by developments in technology present both marketers and media owners
with new opportunities and associated challenges to get it right, or at the very least make fewer mistakes
than your competitors. There is considerable uncharted territory here. With regard to inventory, the new
digital world will accommodate some standardised formats. Take mobile as an example, in Japan NTT
DoCoMo has carried banner advertising for the last five years, a trend that is currently being rolled out with
the UK operators’ advertising inventory. Whilst we can be sure search will play a vital role in this sector, we
have only just started the journey when it comes to integrated advertising formats and data targeting that
will enrich the consumer experience. It gets really exciting and much riskier when we start to think about
user generated advertising though this is probably a little further down the line.
Change, driven by technology and new distribution channels, creates a new set of rules for content owners
and marketers alike which requires some thought for those who venture into this arena. Audiences have
more control than ever before and can decide when and where they want to engage with content and who
they share it with. How audiences choose to receive content i.e. online, mobile, MP3 player and so on,
provides the platform of choice to engage with content and brands, which needs to be created specifically
for that platform. Audiences can now decide who they get content from, which includes brands or friends, as
well as what they want to receive and what they are prepared to pay for.
New media is actively consumed with audiences down-loading, searching or clicking through for more
information that is relevant to their needs. Consumption patterns include during the day in the office,
at home in the evening or when audiences are on the move and vary according to device. This active
media consumption by audiences creates a superb tool for brands to engage with audiences in an
appropriate way.
Think about what the device has to offer the consumer and how easy and useful it is in their own lives. Last
year I spent some time in Japan and was suitably impressed by the end user experience around mobile
TV. Here device features including superb clam shaped screens, ease of use functionality and flat rate
data charging has created a clever consumer centric experience that extends audience consumption time
of this medium. UK operator trials of mobile TV indicate that mobile TV will extend time spent consuming
this medium and 30 minute sessions will become a reality. What a fantastic new canvas for brands to start
enriching and engaging their audience. The new rules around successful marketing within ‘new’ new media
need to put the audience in control. Get this right, and success will follow!
40

41. 23

43. Mobile Has Always Been
All Inclusive:
Mike Short, Vice President R&D, 02 Europe
Mike’s career spans 32 years in Electronics and Telecommunications, with the last 19 years in Mobile
communications. He was appointed Contracts Director of Cellnet in 1989 with multi-million dollar
infra-structure investments and UK interconnect agreements. In 1993 the focus moved to establishing
Cellnet’s GSM service and he was elected Chairman of the GSM Association for 1995/96 and served
on the Executive Board for 5 years.
Mike’s focus today is on Third Generation cellular, Mobile TV and steering O2’s Group Research and
Development in mobile. He also is a member of the UK Home Office Internet Task Force, OSAB (Ofcom
Spectrum Advisory Board) and has been chairman of the UK Mobile Data Association since September
1998. He was appointed VP Technology for O2 in 2000, Visiting Professor at Surrey University in 2003
and Board Member University of Coventry in 2006. He is a Fellow of BCS/ RGS / CIPS and a member
of IET and the Royal Television Society.
43

44. Mobile Has Always Been All Inclusive
The obsession with 3G suggests an inexorable quest for speed and a new generation of technology when it
really is about capacity, capability and content. As we move into the broadband world we also must not forget
the 4th C – the Customer. But the capability to meet market needs is also driven by progress on the internet.
Mobile 2.0 will soon be with us opening up a whole new world of content and applications.
Taking recent figures from Insight Research the global telecom revenues in 2006 are expected to grow
annually by 5.91% [CAGR] to 2010, from $1.24 to $1.56 trillion, as the diagrams below illustrate:
$170B $250B
$589B $774B
$443B
$467B
$592B
2006 - $1.24 Trillion 2010- $1.56 Trillion
$16B
CAGR - 2006/10 Narrowband wireless growth is driven by cellular and its share
is anticipated to grow from 47.4% to 49.6% of the global total
Broadband Wired 10.5% revenues. However, it is broadband wired and wireless that show
the fastest growth rates. As also illustrated by this guide this
is driven by a wider demand for Applications than purely voice
Narrowband Wired 1.4 %
services.
Broadband Wireless 51.7% People are spending more of their free time online [as seen in
Figure 2] and broadband adoption including 3G continues
Narrowband Wireless 7.8% to grow.
Fig 2 In terms of internet and comparisons this is not the special
position for Europe alone – over 1 billion new phones or 3000 per
day are being shipped worldwide this year.
People are spending more and more
free time online In Asia, India reached 187 million customers by the end of June
2007, and based on 6 million growth per month it is likely to
Most popular leisure activites amongst Europeans
exceed 200 million during September 2007. According to ‘The
Listening to music 67%
Watching lms/DVDs 65% Mobile World’ research, China remains the largest mobile market
Sur ng the internet 60% in the world with 484 million customers and with growth currently
Travelling 58% at 7 million per month should exceed 500 million in a similar
restaurants/bars 40% timeframe. By contrast Japan should have reached 100 million,
Walking/rambling 38%
Gardening 36%
but with the majority being 3G for the first time in September
DIY 34% 2007 – and the leading market globally for 3G based on these
customer numbers.
Sources: Fig Fonester
Sources: Fig 2
2 Forrester
44

45. The evolution of the internet to Web 2.0 and beyond will have a more profound impact on applications
development. Web based applications will move from ‘consult / surf / search’ to ‘share / collaborate /
exploit’ with Web 2.0 capability and eventually to ‘suggest / happen / discover / provide’, all alongside a
general trend from content ‘pull’ to ‘push’.
Early examples of Web 2.0 we see are My Space, Facebook, 2nd Life, Wikipedia and some enterprise
collaboration tools. When we look to see how Web 2.0 will impact mobile, it not only takes us into a wider
world of partnerships partly based on mobile content but also into the growing market for mobile applications
or Applications, Anywhere, Anytime.
Energy &
Transport Environment
Education
Health
Video/TV
Content / messaging Web 20
wireless Web 10
We already see growing interest in mobile video and TV from the growth in downloads and mobile broadcast
TV trends around the world. We also expect to see all phones sold by 2010 to have mobile email and mobile
internet capabilities – as an industry we need to make these applications as easy to use as they are
to sell.
Other mobile applications will be based on combinations of Web 2.0, and messaging telematics. For
example transport telematics will evolve from navigation to journey management [with congestion alerts,
breakdown and other information services]; parking will get smarter for connected cars; congestion analysis
via wireless will support road resource management and user charging; environmental sensors will offer
pollution control; connected roads will offer more road safety and better informed drivers and passengers.
In education a further phase of connected learning growth is anticipated as mobile access speeds [through
3G and WiFi] extend the research experience from the lecture room to the school classroom. Early examples
of usage will be seen with field trips and geoblogging, supported by mobile cameras. This is likely to be
followed with wider shared learning based on PDA’s becoming EDA’s or Educational Digital Assistants. It is
widely expected that digital homework and Interactive learning will follow.
45

46. In health we already see examples of ‘wellness’ being tested as part of sports training using mobile devices,
often with GPS and typical sports monitors. This is expected to evolve into wider social and health care as
both low power monitors and short range [Bluetooth/ Wibree] wireless connectivity develops. Social care
in the community will require better mobile alarms and alerts, to compliment developments towards the
digital home of the future.
The further growth in telematics for societal requirements [Transport, Energy and the Enviroment, Education
and Health] will be supported by growing GSM economies of scale and systems integrators. Harbor Research
predict the machine to machine market [M2M] could reach annual revenues of $290 billion by 2011
[$200Bn services / $80 Bn operations / $10 Bn hardware], but this will require applications partnering and
ecosystems to be more fully built.
As we continue to move from a verbal to a visual world, Web 2.0 and beyond will play a much bigger part in
mobile communications. With more [mobile] phones than people in many parts of the world we are now able
to offer a much wider range of applications and solutions – a world of Applications, Anywhere, Anytime.
46

48. Mobile Marketing & Advertising
Mobile marketing is the ability to connect brands to customers via the mobile phone. In its early days, this
meant SMS, or text, marketing e.g. sending out text alerts – the first being notices for UK clubbers in Ibiza.
This now covers much more as the technology has developed over the last five years. We’ve moved from
simple text messaging, black and white operator logos and mono ringtones to true tones and MP3 [so
it’s the real music on your phone], video clips, streaming video, games, multi-media messaging, instant
messenger and more.
What is Mobile Marketing and where does it fit in the Marketing Mix?
Mobile marketing is about having the ability to connect with consumers via their mobile phone wherever they
happen to be: the office, college or school, the pub, the theatre, out shopping, out playing, walking the dog,
at home watching television, in bed listening to the radio. Wherever you are, with the right permissions, you
can connect customers and clients and vice versa.
Mobile marketing fits across many marketing disciplines including sales promotion, CRM, direct marketing,
above the line, interactive, integrated, loyalty schemes or it can stand alone.
The 5 Cs of mobile = Connectedness
We are now living in a new digital age where the network effect is dominant. With online social networking,
web 2.0 approaches to internet and other businesses and the easy availability and access to information,
entertainment and people 24/7, it really is a connected world. This is never more so than with mobile
phones which increase our accessibility to people and information wherever we, or they, may be.
With reference to articles by authors Paul Golding14 and Tomi Ahonen, there are at least five primary
elements to consider when developing campaigns and applications for the use of mobile phones.
48

49. 1. Communication
The mobile phone is primarily a communications device. It allows one person to talk to another; it allows
one person to send a message to another via SMS, MMS, instant messenger or email. It even allows us to
communicate in pictures, audio and video and multi-player gaming. But it’s fundamentally about allowing
one to one communication. For marketers it’s all about communication and if used wisely the mobile phone
can be as important a part of the marketing mix as direct marketing and email are.
Communication is also evolving into richer forms including emoticons, images, audio and video. This is
obvious if you watch any young person interacting on MSN, Yahoo Messenger or Aim and see how they
personalise the experience beyond normal language. This is also evident on social networking sites like
MySpace where you can personalise your own online presence.
Marketing question: What are we communicating, when, to whom, why and how? How are we going to allow
customers to communicate with us?
2. Consuming
Consumption on mobile takes two forms. We buy things for and with our mobile phones: we may decorate
our phones with phone jewellery or flashing stickers; and we pay for ringtones, images and videos to
personalise them.
In addition, now that we have full multi-media access on our phones, we’re also consuming a wide range
of content from video news clips, casual games like Sudoku and news services. It could be argued that we
‘consume’ messages from loved ones and marketers alike.
Marketing question: What do our customers want to do on their phones? How does that fit in with what we
want to communicate?
3. Communing
The mobile phone allows us to connect with the digital world and have a presence or be ‘always on’. It
means that we have access to information 24/7 and that others can connect to us 24/7. This allows a level
of access we have never had before, even with the advent of broadband on our computers. It means we
can find out anything we want at any time with a device that sits in our pocket and is with us twenty-four
hours a day. It means that we can remain ‘linked’ to people around us without having to be in physical
contact or in the same physical space. We also use mobile phones to find contacts and soul mates as can
be seen with the prevalence of text chat services and the popularity of mobile social networking services
such as Flirtomatic.
Marketing question: How does our marketing effort allow customers to commune or link with us and/or the
outside world?
49

50. 4. Convenience
The mobile phone is a very convenient way to communicate with another person or entity or find something
out by looking it up on the mobile internet or by asking a Texpert15 a question. It’s a tiny device that packs
a powerful punch, some phones have hard drives of 8GB or more and most have cameras, WAP access and
the ability to download applications and games. The mobile phones we have today are more powerful than
the desktop computers we had sitting on our desks less than 10 years ago.
Marketing question: Can we make our campaign or our service more convenient for customers by allowing
mobile interactivity? Is our service or campaign convenient to use?
5. Control
You decide how ‘always on’ you want to be, or not. You can turn your phone off at any time. You can see
who is calling you and decide whether or not you wish to take that call. You can see who is sending you a
text message and you can decide whether or not you wish to reply. What this means for marketers is that
the customer may choose to interact with you via their mobile. They may [or not] give you permission to
talk to them via their mobile phone. But it also means that you need to put the customer in control of that
permission and make it easy to unsubscribe from marketing activities.
Marketing question: Have we got our subscribe/unsubscribe process right?
Creating Mobile Moments
One of the key differences mobile phones and computers, is the way we use them and in particular the types
of things we enjoy doing with them. The chances are if you are interested in computer games you will end up
spending several hours playing the one game. At work, you can spend your whole day glued to your screen,
inputting data, checking email, surfing the internet, preparing documents etc.
However with a mobile phone, although you may have a long telephone conversation with someone, most
activities are short and sweet: ‘Mobile Moments’. Text messaging is a very short form of communication;
mobile games are typically played for 10 to 20 minutes whilst waiting for a bus or commuting on the tube or
train. If you vote in TV shows such as Big Brother or I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, it takes just seconds
and you get a feeling of instant reward. Browsing on WAP sites can still be slow, although it’s getting better
with 3G becoming more mainstream, so you’re unlikely to spend hours doing it [yet]. So when embarking on
a mobile communications strategy, think ‘short and sweet’ and look towards creating that ‘mobile moment’
rather than a mobile half hour or mobile two hours. As consumers, we’re used to instant gratification, and
the mobile phone is an ideal way to feed that addiction.
50

51. The Mobile Marketing Value Chain
With ABI Research stating the global mobile marketing and advertising sector will be worth US $19 billion
by 2011 and the Internet Advertising Bureau ‘Engage for Mobile’ conference in November 2007 claiming
Mobile Advertising is set to take up more than half of advertisers’ budgets by 2012; things are looking very
positive for the key stakeholders in the mobile marketing value chain.
Brands
Brands have realised it is no longer enough to ‘push’ marketing campaigns at consumers, they need to
involve and engage with them to find new ways to create and retain loyalty. Mobile has given brands a unique
opportunity to do this and create a two-way relationship, ultimately building product awareness, driving sales
and retaining loyalty. By using mobile as part of a marketing campaign brands can reach a specific target
audience, via a time-sensitive, measureable medium.
Marketing / Digital Agencies
Mobile has transformed the media landscape over the past seven years, with many big agencies such as
Ogilvy and Saatchi launching an interactive digital division that includes mobile services. The increasing
sophistication of the handsets themselves, with integrated media players, high resolution imaging and
cameras have in turn given agencies more scope to work with to create interactive, innovative campaigns
that help drive consumer engagement.
Mobile Advertising Networks
Companies such as Admob and Enpocket partner with mobile web sites that enjoy high traffic and offer to
run advertising [text-links and graphical banners] on a revenue share basis. They make this space available
to advertisers via self-serve web platforms. This allows most campaigns to be set up and become operational
in a matter of minutes. Advertisers can target their campaigns according to the characteristics of mobile
handset that the ad appears on, such as location, make of handset and phone capability.
Search Engines
Many customers are accessing the mobile internet through established, web-based vendors such as Yahoo,
Google and MSN, rather than use the network operator’s searching tools, putting the search engines in a
strong position.
Mobile Marketing Service Providers
Service providers, such as Tanla Mobile, are a full service mobile agency, that provide a complete solution
to technically enable mobile marketing and advertising campaigns, working in partnership with the other
players in the mobile marketing value chain.
Network Operators
Network Operators are moving away from the walled garden approach to portals, opening up their network to
third parties, to encourage competition and increase data usage through the provision of new and innovative
content. They have traditionally charged consumers to buy digital content from their mobile portals, and are
now beginning to share demographics and mobile media consumption insights with brands as they move
to advertisers funded models.
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52. Different Types of Mobile Marketing Campaigns
As mentioned earlier, mobile marketing fits in across a wide variety of marketing disciplines as well as being
a channel in its own right. It was first used most frequently by sales promotion agencies as a very convenient
way to manage a competition – the ubiquitous ‘text and win’ promotion. Now there is no need to deal with
sack loads of mail and the data inputting post-campaign to allow for a follow-up campaign which means that
smart direct marketers can step in and take advantage of the opportunity.
Text to Win
This is a very convenient way to manage a competition or prize draw. A number is published on a pack,
poster, magazine, TV or email and the customer is asked to text in a word, lucky number, answer to a
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question or their own details for a chance to win a prize to a ‘long’ mobile number or a shortcode17.
It also means that you are able to do a follow up campaign as this is also a convenient way to kick-start
building your own list and you can do reporting and analysis by measuring repeat entries, times and date
of entries etc.
Voting and Participation TV
We are all familiar with text voting on the television for programmes like Big Brother, I’m a Celebrity, Get
Me Out of Here, The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. We’re also seeing polling and voting and ‘ask a
question’ via text message on more serious programmes such as the BBC’s Question Time. In addition,
most national and regional newspapers use text messaging, and in particular voting and polling, as a way to
engage customers in a simple dialogue. Again it is a good way to build a customer database list as well as
encouraging participation. Similar analysis can be done as for a text and win promotion in terms of numbers
of people who participated and when, repeat usage and so on; and in carrying out this analysis you may be
able to pick up on patterns of usage and create cluster groups to help with further relevant marketing and
promotions to those customers.
Some of these initiatives have been tainted recently with the scandals on the Channel 4 programme, Richard
and Judy, ITV’s GMTV and even the BBC’s Blue Peter. The misdemeanours vary but it reiterates the need for
good planning and good customer service. So, be clear with your terms and conditions and check these with
a lawyer, e.g. opening and closing times/dates, how much it costs, the criteria for entry, what money [if any]
is going to charity, any additional network charges that may apply.
Quizzes
Quizzes are eternally popular as seen with the proliferation of quiz formats on television, the popularity of
the pub quiz and ever popular personality profiling. Quizzes work very well on mobile phones using either
text messaging or a Java application. The benefit of using a text messaging format is that everyone can use
that on their mobile phone. But on more sophisticated phones, a Java quiz application can be developed
which allows a deeper level of interactivity than text alone as graphics and sound can be incorporated and
with a link to a Wapsite or website specifically designed for mobile. This means that new questions can be
uploaded on to the phone at the click of a button.
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53. The typical way to start a quiz is to text in a key word to a central mobile number or shortcode and a question
is sent to you by return. The quiz can be as long or as short as you like. Typically, the questions require an
A, B, or C answer or a single word answer to keep the data handling simple. It is possible to include what’s
called a natural language engine behind the system to analyse customer’s text messages, but this adds cost
to building and managing the application. A natural language engine ‘reads’ the incoming text and attempts
to recognise it and picks up on keywords within the message in order to work out how to respond.
Mobile Content [pictures, ringtones, video]
The mobile content industry is huge and has sprung up from literally nowhere. Many people have changed
their ringtone from the standard ringtone setting and experimented with pictures on their phone to
personalise it. Brands are now capitalising on the popularity of mobile content and are using it as part of
their marketing effort. A picture or ringtone can be a second or third tier prize in a free prize draw or other
competition, the content based around the brand itself. Many brands and companies employ this tactic of
rewarding customers with content for their mobile phones including Honda, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Carling and
Fosters. It’s an easy way to reward customers without dealing with complex handling of sending out small
prizes in their hundreds or thousands.
Games
Mobile games are so popular that they are now an industry in their own right and all the major players in
the games industry have a mobile games division. Nokia produced the N-Gage which is a mobile phone
specifically designed for playing games which competes directly with Nintendo DS and DS Lite and Sony PSP
which have internet, file sharing and multi-player gaming capability.
Adding mobile connectivity to the mobile internet allows customers to engage in multi-player gaming
wherever they are and also allows live updates to the game and the ability to load their score on to a leader-
board. In some cases, gaming can be customised according to location so they can challenge real players
in their vicinity whether that’s using the location service from their network operator, by using a service like
Jaiku18 or Buddyping19 or using Bluetooth at a specific location.
Mobile games are also a popular reward for customers, although more expensive to produce and deliver than
a simple ringtone, picture or even a full audio track. This is because the cost of production is typically about
£20,000 [which is small fry compared with the cost to produce a mainstream Playstation 3 game which
can run into millions]. So you have to balance the budget with the potential for ROI and what other fringe
benefits you may get from going down the games route. As technologies improve, the cost of production will
come down as a large chunk of the cost is down to having to customise and test for a multitude of phones.
Of course savings can be made by ‘reskinning’ an existing mobile game and changing some of the images
and screens in the game to suit your particular needs. Since the game already works across handsets and
operators, your production costs reduce dramatically provided the changes are cosmetic.
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54. Applications
This is currently still a relatively unexplored area for mobile marketing but has potential. Applications can
be fun or useful and would typically be Java based to reach the mass market, although higher end business
phones such as the Sony Ericsson P800 and P900 range and the Nokia N-Series use Symbian20 which is a
more powerful platform for applications.
The application can be almost anything you want it to be. It can keep you up to date with stocks and shares
if you’re a broker, or it could be a horoscope application that gives you your daily reading in the morning.
Development, distribution, billing [if required] and delivery would be similar to handling a mobile game.
It should be noted that as soon as you start asking customers to download an application to their phone,
that can act as a barrier so it’s not a given that you will get penetration as quickly as you might like it. That
said both Google and Opera have had great success with generating full, successful downloads of their
mobile email, mapping [Google] and browser [Opera] products.
CRM
Text messaging in particular is a really useful element of any CRM or Customer Relationship Management
initiative. It can be used to keep customers up to date with what’s new and offer them last minute or
exclusive offers. Text messaging is more expensive than email for this kind of activity, but is potentially
quicker to run, as you don’t have the creative design and build to consider [unless you’re planning to do
MMS21]. Costs per text will vary depending on the volumes you put through the networks and also the cost
of any application you use may also be included in the per text cost.
IVR
IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response which has typically been used by large corporates to manage
incoming calls e.g. press one for yes and press two for no. It is also used to pay for mobile content and for
premium rate services off the television screen and in the back of magazines.
MMS
Multi-media messaging is becoming more popular and more readily available on handsets. Most new phones
have a camera function as standard and will also have the capability to send and receive multi-media
messages. An MMS message can contain pictures, video or animation, a sound clip [which can be used
as a ringtone] and formatted text [using colour, size and bold]. It could also include a barcode that can be
scanned at point of sale. The typical message size is 30k for outbound campaigns. But the user sending in to
you can have varying size of MMS depending on what their handset and their network operator allows.
Direct Response Campaigns
One of the simplest ways for an advertiser to engage with a customer via mobile is to have them text in
to a shortcode as a method of direct response to an above the line advertisement. We are seeing these
campaigns on posters, in magazines and on the television already. This is also a straightforward way to build
your own mobile mailing list for future text campaigns.
Some media owners are branding their shortcodes and running direct response campaigns for their
advertisers as well as their own promotions and competitions from those numbers. Viewers or listeners
understand that if the message has come from a particular shortcode, it belongs to the radio station or the
TV station and is part of their branding. For example, the shortcode for BBC Radio 2 is 88291 which is the
same as their FM frequency 88 to 91 FM.
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