Mobile trends to transform your business in 2015

Contents
Trend #1: Executing cross-channel campaigns
Trend #2: Frictionless Commerce
Trend #3: Enhancing customer experience with Beacons
Trend #4: Why you need to advertise on mobile this year
Trend #5: Nurturing “micro-moments” with mobile
Last Words (A Message for the Tentative)
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2015 Mobile Trend # 1:
Executing cross-channel
campaigns

T
his 2015, the goal will be
to take it a step further and
execute seamless, cross-channel
advertising that will capitalize
on consumers’ multi-screen behavior.
Marketers will spend more time cracking
the multi-screen code this year, especially
as Econsultancy’s recent Cross Channel
Marketing report says that only 7% are
prepared to execute cross-channel marketing.
In 2015, this will be higher up in the agenda.
As shifting between screens throughout the
entire day becomes the norm, marketers will
need to be more multi-screen savvy. Instead
of creating separate marketing campaigns for
each screen, cross-channel advertising is all
about making one screen enhance and amplify
the other.
The potential for Filipino mobile users is
already there: Last year’s Nielsen South
Asia Cross-Platform report reveals that 80%
of Filipinos are now accessing the internet
through multiple screens. According to
Milward Brown’s 2014 AdReaction report,
Filipinos spend the same amount of time
“meshing” (looking at related content) and
“stacking” (looking at unrelated content)
while multi-screening. Interestingly,
Filipinos “mesh” at a higher rate compared
to the global average of 38%, showing
that marketers have a huge advertising
opportunity in the country.
02
The main priority for brands last 2014 was clear:
figure out how to incorporate mobile into your strategy.
EXECUTING CROSS-CHANNEL CAMPAIGNS
There are already a host of “second screen”
apps that encourage TV and mobile

Chevrolet’s “Chevy Game Time” App
interaction. Shazam, originally a music
discovery app, has expanded their services
to become a “TV companion app”, one that
gives you content such as soundtracks, cast
bios, and trivia when activated to recognize
a particular show. Last year, it allowed
advertisers to deliver content straight to
cinema-goers who activated the app during
on-screen preshow spots.
Brands have also released apps that can
enhance their ad experience. Notably,
Coke ran a successful interactive TVC in
Hong Kong called “Chok! Chok! Chok!”
that let users “catch” virtual Coke caps
using their mobile phone to win instant
prizes. The campaign logged in 380,000 app
03
downloads in a month and the ad was seen 9
million times, making it the most successful
Hong Kong Coke promotion in 35 years.
Chevrolet’s “Chevy Game Time” app also
used multi-screen to reinforce the presence
of their TVCs during the Super Bowl.
Quizzing users in real-time event scores and
other trivia, 130,000 players engaged with
the commercials for a chance to win big
prizes from Chevrolet and partner brands
like Motorola, NFL, and Papa John’s Pizza.
Adtech is stepping on the gears when it
comes to delivering synchronized ads across
screens. In our multi-screen world, this
seems to be the holy grail. Companies such
as Xaxis and Snakk Media have launched

Screenshots of Microsoft’s multiplatform campaign with Emirates
their own fully programmatic way of
running coordinated ads on mobiles,
tablets, laptops and TVCs.
These companies have their own respective
TVC-recognition technology that detects
a person’s digital device’s signal and
prompts ad-serving platforms to deliver the
counterpart digital ad.
In a sense, this is similar to what Twitter
started in 2013, albeit on a larger scale—a
platform for TV advertisers that lets them
run promoted Tweets targeting people
who are tweeting about a specific show or
content.
2015 is the time for seamless storytelling
and intentional multi-screening. Be
04
consistent in your messaging, but leverage
on each device’s differences: Tap TV to
wow viewers and pique their interest, use
mobile for direct response, and tablets
and desktops for deeper discovery of your
product or service.
Microsoft, for example, rolled out a series
of multiscreen campaigns with brands
like Lexus, Ford, and Emirates using an
innovative platform that allows brands to
deliver relevant, time-sensitive ads to the
same user jumping from one device to
another throughout the day. Storytelling
is a key component to these campaigns;
making sure that the narrative remains
consistent and appropriate no matter what
device the user is on, whether that’s his
Xbox, smartphone, or desktop.

frictionless commerce

T
oday’s consumer has grown
accustomed to the idea of getting
what they want when they want
it, and the growing ubiquity of
mobile has only reinforced this. In addition
to meeting their customer right at the
point of need, the challenge for brands and
marketers this 2015 is to make the purchase
process as painless and seamless as possible.
On average, 68% of online shoppers do not
follow through with their purchase due
to poor user experience. The problem to
solve this year is how to do away with the
traditional notion of “shopping carts” and
allow customers to purchase in-stream,
without any need for them to switch gears
and fumble for their credit card details. One
platform that is expected to boost mobile
payment’s acceptance in the mainstream
this year is Apple Pay, Apple’s digital wallet
offering. Despite only being compatible
with the iPhone 6, Apple saw more than a
million activations in its first 72 hours.
When it comes to mobile commerce, less is
definitely better. The less time it takes for a
customer to finish his order, the more likely
he is to see it through to the end.
ONE-TAP COMMERCE
Shortening the mobile purchase process
should be at the top of brands’ priorities.
According to LightningBuy, the average
number of clicks to make a purchase is five.
Abercrombie and Fitch have streamlined
their app’s process for it to take only two.
But if brands can get their customers to
Convenience is the name of the game
in today’s digital world.
06

commit at a single tap, magic happens. The
wildly popular “Push for Pizza” app, for
example, is the epitome of convenience –
pizza delivered to your doorstep at literally
the press of a button.
Target’s “In a Snap” app takes impulse
buying to a whole new level. If a customer
sees a product she likes on a Target ad or
catalog, all she needs to do is scan the page
through the app to purchase.
Twitter and Facebook are already testing
the effectivity of one-click “Buy” buttons
that will allow users to immediately
purchase featured products in their news
feeds or twitter streams. If there is anything
the previous years has taught us about
mobile commerce, it is that consumers don’t
mind spending through mobile, but they
want it handed to them easily. Whoever
gets their customer to the checkout counter
in the smoothest way possible, wins.
ASSISTIVE APPS WIN THE DAY
When judging the success of an app, user
engagement will trump downloads this
2015. While brands have been pushing their
own apps for years, many have found app
engagement to have dropped off after the
download. To truly differentiate themselves
in the mobile landscape, branded apps have
Screenshot courtesty of Target
Image courtesy of blog.performics.com
to take advantage of today’s technology by
providing their customers an extra level
of assistance. Dominos does this nicely
with their Siri-like virtual assistant called
“Dom”. Using voice-recognition technology,
the app allows customer to speak their
order as they would in a regular store.
Neiman Marcus also stepped up their
07

Image courtesy of geek.com
mobile purchase journey by allowing
customers to connect with their in-store
sales associates through the app. Customers
then pick up their app purchases in a store
of their choosing where the associate greets
them with a personalized experience.
But if convenience is the name of the game,
then Starbucks was 2014’s clear winner.
Already lauded as a front-runner in mobile
commerce, Starbucks took it a step further
in December when it allowed app users to
order and pay for their coffee before even
stepping inside the store. Instead of lining
up, customers then only had to go straight
to the bar to pick up their orders. The app is
the perfect example of a brand anticipating
where their customers need them and
optimizing their process to address that
need.
MOBILE PAYMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES
Mobile commerce in the Philippines is ripe for
disruption. The eCommerce boom in recent
years has led to a proliferation of cashless and
bankless payment solutions and most are
finally starting to wake up to the potential
of mobile. With one of the lowest credit card
penetration rates in Asia and a growing
mobile usage rate, mobile is seen as a primary
means to tap into the unbanked and uncarded
market.
08

According to Mastercard’s Mobile Payments
Readiness Index, the Philippines is strongly
willing to adopt mobile payments despite
it lacking the structures and government
regulation needed for it to flourish.
Alternative payment platforms such as
Dragonpay, AsiaPay, and Coins.ph are
already heading in the right direction. These
services connect merchants and consumers
by partnering with banks, telecoms, and brick
and mortar locations to offer online, mobile,
or over-the-counter payment solutions.
Early adapters of mobile commerce, Gcash
(Globe Telecom) and Smart Money (Smart
Communications) are now capitalizing
on the unbanked market by partnering
with American Express and Mastercard
respectively to combine the convenience of a
credit card with the expediency of mobile. To
further facilitate ease-of-use, Smart e-Money,
in partnership with Zalora, one of the leading
eCommerce sites in the Philippines, recently
launched a platform called MePay. Designed
specifically to make online shopping as easy
as possible, all that MePay requires is a Smart
or Sun Cellular mobile phone number to
complete a transaction.
Despite a slow start, the Philippines’
potential to successfully realize mobile
solutions is vast. The past few years
have already seen the country open
up to the potential of NFC (Near Field
Communication) technology. Back
in 2011, BDO partnered with Smart
Communications to launch Tap2Pay. This,
however, was limited to Nokia’s C7 offering.
A year later, BPI launched their BPI Mobile
Wallet, another NFC solution that was only
available to a handful of smartphone models.
Most recently though, Smart e-Money
partnered with Citi Philippines and Visa
to produce the country’s first sticker-based
payment solution called Charge2Pay (C2P).
Mobile users are provided with a credit line
via Citi and Visa, and the credit information
is linked to NFC-enabled stickers. The
stickers may then be placed on mobile
phones, wallets, or anything handy.
09

Enhancing customer experience
with Beacons

I
f brands and advertisers were slowly
just warming up to the small, low-
energy Bluetooth devices in 2014,
this year will see more and more
businesses embrace the technology in
all kinds of ways. (Not yet familiar with
Beacons? Check out our primer here!)
Beacons are by no means new at this point
in the industry. Major retailer Macy’s
started testing them as early as 2013 in
their flagship stores in New York and San
Francisco. Last fall they installed 4000
beacons in their stores, a huge investment
in its potential. But beacons have become
one of the industry’s buzzwords as of
late. It’s not just retailers jumping on the
bandwagon, facilities such as airports and
libraries are also starting to take notice.
Tech publishers from all corners of the web
are heralding the explosion of beacons.
MediaPost reports that 54% of mobile
marketers surveyed by Adobe had plans for
beacons in the next 12 months.
But what’s the buzz all about?
THE PUSH TOWARDS PERSONALIZATION
The past few years have witnessed the
emerging dominance of Big Data as a
major tool in marketing and advertising.
The ability to track and analyze customer
behavior has brought forth a marked
improvement in the way campaigns are
being carried out. This year though,
we take things a step further by using
2015 is unmistakenly the year of Beacons.
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this data in a smarter, hyper-contextual
manner. As an industry, we are beginning
to realize that customers are willing to give
us their information in exchange for more
meaningful experiences. Customers engage
with messages that are relevant to them and
beacons allow brands to give them just that
through the one thing that’s on their person
most of the time – their mobile phones.
Instead of blasting your digital campaigns
loudly and blindly to the ether, brands
may now tailor their efforts to reach their
customer where and when they want them
to. If prior location-based technology
targeted potential customers who were in
the same area regardless of their context,
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacon
technology has the ability to send different
messages to these same potential customers
depending on factors such as their age,
preferences, browsing history, and prior
interaction with the store. Brands can
essentially tweak their approach for different
types of customers, making for a more
optimal use of resources.
While many have been bemoaning the death
of brick-and-mortar stores for years, Beacons
is expected to be the bridge that connects
physical stores to the digital space. One of the
most exciting things about beacon technology
A Hillshire promo pushed via Beacons
12

is the countless ways it can aid a customer’s
journey in-store. A simple mobile campaign
can drive awareness and push a promo or
coupon for a new product in their own stores,
or like Hillshire’s foray into beacons, in
groceries or department stores to differentiate
themselves from the competition.
Apple, who equipped 254 of their U.S. stores
with iBeacons back in 2013, used it to send
targeted messages depending on the location
of the customer in the store. If an iPhone user
was standing in front of the iPhone display,
for example, he could get a message from
Apple asking if he wanted an upgrade along
with information on his current update status.
ENHANCING CUSTOMERS’ EXPERIENCES
Marketers should keep in mind that the
goal is to create valuable experiences, not
fill customers’ phones with offers. Virgin
Atlantic, for example, has installed beacons
in Heathrow Airport to experiment with
what the technology can offer its customers.
If a beacon detects a customer heading
to the security checkpoint, it’ll pull up
his e-boarding pass in their smartphones
to prepare for inspection. If it detects
a customer heading up to the airline’s
clubhouse, it’ll pull up information such as
the customer’s name and favorite drink so it
can be waiting for him when he gets there.
The hardware also comes equipped with
temperature sensors that can tell attendants
if it’s getting too cold so they can offer the
customer a blanket. The specificity of the
information that beacons can provide can
truly enhance a customer’s relationship
with a brand.
Nivea ran a magazine ad last summer
involving beacons that further explored the
practical uses of its size and portability. The
magazine ad included a bracelet cut-out
that parents could let their children wear at
the beach. These bracelets came equipped
with beacons so parents could monitor their
children’s location via the accompanying
mobile app.
BEACONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
Beacons aren’t just available overseas.
13

Last August, Mobext, Globe Telecom,
and In-Store Digital Display International
(IDDI) announced that they were finally
bringing the technology to our shores. In
October, Robinsons Selection at 8 Forbes
Town officially became the first beacon-
enabled store in the country. Using the
PING mobile app that the group developed,
shoppers can now receive contextual
suggestions based on their location in the
store (food and wine pairings, for example).
Partnering with Robinsons is only the
beginning. PING will continue to bring in
more merchants to deliver special deals and
coupons to its users. PING users may also
earn and accumulate points (or “pings”)
by simply walking in to these partners’
stores. The beauty of the app is that both
customers and brands benefit from using
beacons. Customers get a specialized
experience, while companies gain more
insight about their target market.
“For many years, intelligent indoor
marketing has only been a dream for
retailers. With beacons, we are now making
it a reality. Not only is it a great tool for
attracting and engaging with customers. The
bigger potential lies in the shopper insights
that we can gather through the PING app.
The more users use the app, the more we
will know about them and their preferences.
We can create smarter campaigns and re-
engagement efforts from that,” said Arthur
Policarpio, CEO of Mobext Philippines.
14

Why you need to advertise on mobile
this year

W
hile we’ve all been talking
about its potential for
years, the number of
mobile ad innovations that
launched last year is bringing brands an
unprecedented proximity to their potential
customers. From Facebook to Google to
Snapchat, the landscape is changing at a
dramatic pace and marketers need to keep
up to speed.
Mobile has proved its relevance and
effectivity time and time again. It was only
three years ago when Facebook admitted
that it did not “generate any meaningful
revenue” from mobile. Now, mobile is
expected to make up 75% of the company’s
revenue by 2016 – an indication that
brands are pouring their resources where
their audience’s eyes are, and all eyes are
definitely on mobile.
PAID ADVERTISING EVOLVES
If you saw a drop in reach and engagement
on your company’s Facebook page, you’re
not the only one. The social media giant
tweaked their algorithm last year to filter
posts that it deemed “overly promotional”
because the volume of brands on the platform
were threatening to crowd users’ feed with
promotional content. The days of free social
media are officially ending and brands need to
start investing in paid mobile advertising.
While this might sound like a bad thing to
marketers and advertisers, social media has
Mobile advertising grew up in 2014.
16

responded by offering their own ad formats.
Facebook is currently testing a number of
new formats such as their customizable
call-to-action buttons that make it easier
for brands to compel their users to act in an
easy and seamless way, and their premium
video ads that allow brands to showcase
high-quality videos that catch their
audience’s attention via auto-play. Twitter’s
“Buy” button also bring immediacy to
another level by delivering the right offer to
the right customer at the right time, tapping
into the impulsive nature of mobile.
GOING NATIVE
It’s 2015 and people on the internet have
done a really great job of learning to block
ads out. Marketers and advertisers need to
experiment with newer ad formats because
internet users are now less receptive to
traditional advertising.
The priority for the year ahead is to make
good use of the improved platforms and
provide content that customers find useful
and engaging. Red Bull and Go Pro have
been doing this well for years, releasing
creative, adrenalin-infused branded content
regularly that their audiences love to share.
Native adverting will continue to be a more
effective way to engage audiences compared
to banner ads. 70% of internet users want
to learn about products through content
rather than through traditional advertising.
17

The space for mobile native advertising is
constantly growing with publishers like
Gawker, Buzzfeed, the New York Times
providing their own advertising units for
native ad content.
Among some of the most effective platforms
of native ads on mobile are Instagram,
Vine, and Snapchat – photo-centric
platforms that drive high engagement from
its users. Levi’s sponsored campaign on
Instagram saw a reach of 7 million and a
24% lift in ad recall. The benefit of these
types of ad units is that they are easily
digestible and entertaining across a range
of devices, thus heightening brand recall.
Even Pinterest, the ultimate in aspirational
content, saw a boom in mobile traffic and
launched their “promoted pins” offering
early last year.
THE EFFECTIVITY OF VIDEO
One of the major insights that have begun
to influence advertising platforms is
users’ receptivity towards video. Globally,
mobile video’s share of digital views is
quickly outpacing views on desktop. In the
Philippines, 67% of digital users search
GoPro’s Youtube channel
18

for an item after seeing a video about it on
mobile and 49% make a purchase.
Video and rich media-embedded ads
engage viewers longer than static banners.
Because mobile is becoming an increasingly
dominant platform for video, advertisers
need to develop content that will suit
the context of the user while he or she is
watching on the device. Interestingly, mobile
is popular for content that run less than
ten minutes, and tablets are used for longer
videos.
The big platforms are taking notice of this
shift in behavior. Last year, Instagram
started testing sponsored videos with
companies such as Disney and Banana
Republic, Facebook fully rolled out auto-
play video ads on mobile news feeds, and
even Snapchat tried their hand at the
mobile video advertising format.
CLOSING REMARKS
What differentiates this year from the past
is that technology is finally able to support
the kind of creativity advertisers have been
yearning for on mobile. Mobile is finally
top-of-mind and so the mobile ad experience
has become a priority; definitely a veer away
towards disruptive ads, and a move towards
seamless, shareable content. The innovations
from the past year all revolve around the idea
that context and content are the two biggest
factors that need to come together for a
successful mobile campaign in the year ahead.
(Mobile Advertising in the Philippines: 5 things
we want to see more of)
Ouija sponsored ad
19

Nurturing “micro-moments”
with mobile

O
ne of the most exciting
things that we saw last year
is the increasing use of this
massive set of information –
often referred to as “big data” – to inform
campaigns. Big data allows brands to see
the what, when, who, and how of customer
engagement. A quick analysis of Facebook’s
Insights page, for example, can yield huge
results as far as meeting audiences when
they are plugged in online.
Big data has been around for a while now
but many brands are still struggling to
utilize its full potential. The deluge of
information can be overwhelming. But this
year big data will give way to “smart data”.
The focus will shift from condensing data to
form generalities about customers to using
it in a hyper-contextual manner to reach
them; using data to establish connections
and new habits.
The phrase “user experience” will take on
an entirely elevated meaning this year as
mobile apps strive to capitalize on users’
“micro-moments” – brief engagements
users have with their mobile phones
throughout the day prompted by tiny
activities such as checking for the time or
seeing a push notification.
The “mobile moments” we were talking
about a year ago is now shrinking
considerably. Consumer behavior is quickly
shifting from spending time with stand-
21
The shift towards digital and mobile have allowed huge chunks of
information to be captured, crunched and analyzed.

alone apps to engaging with a variety of
notifications a day, whether those are
reminders, emails, social media, and
more. The challenge for brands will be
how to identify and nurture the kind of
micro-moments their customers want
to experience. The Yahoo Sports app, for
example, does this well because it takes
advantage of a behavior sports fans are
already active in – checking for scores
or game updates – and providing that
information seamlessly via a simple alert.

The predicted rise of Beacons is part
and parcel to this trend. The low-energy
Bluetooth devices allow one’s smartphone
to receive contextual information relevant
to the user. The rise of wearables is also
expected to proliferate these moments.
Messages will become more and more
relevant to the wearer’s direct environment
– an alert warning him if rain is coming,
for example, or if he’s running late for a
meeting without having to open up his
phone to check. Capturing micro-moments
are a great way to induce a person to action.
Like an alert for a flash sale on payday, all
it takes is the right prompt sent to the right
person at the right time.
The more time we spend on our mobile
devices, the more we encourage the
formation of new types of behavior.
Just think of the number of times we’ve
22

quickly checked our phone to get some
piece of information while we’re in line
at the groceries or sitting through traffic.
Now, instead of expecting users to spend
more time on apps, brands can give them
relevant information that will build trust
and convince users to make these moments a
regular part of their day.
The great thing is that micro-moments are
far from reaching maturity. There is still so
much room for innovation, so many ways to
tap into the accessibility of mobile and users’
readiness to receive quick bites of information
to inform their decisions. The general rule is
that personalization and context is key. The
question to always ask is what value your
presence is providing. Using contextual data
and being able to visualize the consumer’s
day, the tiny interactions that occur within,
is integral to being present in those micro-
moments without being intrusive.
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All the pieces are in place for great work
to happen in 2015. The fast-paced world
of digital and mobile can often make it
feel like something new is going big before
we’ve even begun to implement the last
development. But at the core of these trends
is personalization and context. Mobile is
first and foremost about the person holding
the device. Solutions should revolve around
the ease and convenience of the user and
thankfully, more so than ever before, we are
a couple steps closer to reaching that ideal.
It is exciting times for mobile right now.
Technology and creativity are meeting in
ways we’ve only imagined before. As mobile
behavior evolves and becomes integrated
with our daily habits, so does the nature of
the applications, platforms, and ad formats
the industry develops. Mobile transforms
businesses because people’s routines have
absorbed mobile and businesses are about
people.
It’s 2015 and not having a mobile strategy
in place means not being present in a key
area of your consumers’ day. But – and we
emphasize this – it’s never too late to begin.
We’ve barely scratched the surface. The
potential is limitless in terms of what the
technology can do to delight, engage, and
ultimately aid the customer.
Now is the time to enter the fray.
Don’t know where to start?
We can help you!
Set a meeting with us and lead your business
to new heights with mobile.
contact us now
LAST WORDS (A MESSAGE FOR THE TENTATIVE):

Mobile trends to transform your business in 2015

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Mobile trends to transform your business in 2015