Bono Asks Fans to Text Message

Bono, lead singer of U2 is using text messaging during his concerts to get U2 fans involved in his One Campaign. The rockstar asks fans to take out their wireless phones and urges them to text message their names to the One Campaign's number. Shortly after, the names appear like movie credits on the stage's big screen.
(Source: Washington Post)

Ringtone Reaffirms Teenagers' Spending Habits

According to the University of Birmingham, the success of The Crazy Frog's Axel F ringtone validates findings that teenagers spend more money on ringtones and computer games than music alone. The Crazy Frog Axel F is set to be the first wireless ringtone to top the charts, according to a BBC News report.
(Source: BBC News)

E! Signs Wireless Phone DealSmart

Video Technologies and E! Entertainment Television announced an agreement to provide entertainment content for wireless phones. The service will feature clips from E! Entertainment's shows E! News, The Awful Truth, Wild On! and red carpet interviews.
Source: Los Angeles Business Journal

Young Wireless Users are Most Interested in Music

According to a survey conducted by the Network Management Group, commercial-free radio on wireless phones and the ability to download music to phones are the two most interesting advanced services to young adults. About 40% of 1,000 wireless users between 13 and 34 years old are interested in commercial-free radio on their wireless devices. Nearly 35% of those surveyed showed an interest in wireless music downloads, according to the report.
Source: Reuters

Game Developers Look to Expand on Wireless Phones

Some of the gaming industry's largest developers, including THQ, Namco and Sega, demonstrated wireless phone games at the Electronic Entertainment Expo video game trade show. According to research firm The Yankee Group, revenue from wireless gaming totaled an estimated $173 million in 2004 and will reach nearly $1 billion in 2008. (Source: Reuters )

California Legislation Bans Political Text Messages

Under new legislation approved by the California Assembly, politicians would be barred from sending unwanted campaign ads via text message to wireless phones and pagers. The bill, which now goes to the state Senate, would protect wireless subscribers from paying for unwanted political messages on their wireless phones. (Source: Associated Press)

Con Hacked Into Hilton's Sidekick

The hackers who obtained photos of Paris Hilton from her wireless phone used "social engineering" instead of technical hacking, according to a Washington Post report. According to the report, a 16-year-old received access to celebrity accounts by convincing a T-Mobile employee to give him confidential information. The hacker was part of a group that discovered a security glitch in T-Mobile Sidekicks when passwords are pre-programmed. According to T-Mobile, it has since invested millions of dollars to protect customers' information and continues to reinforce their systems to address the security needs of their subscribers. (Source: Washington Post)

Mobile Marketing: It’s In the Mix

The first stage in mobile marketing’s inevitable evolution is officially over, and it is time to bring the industry forward into its next era of integration with larger branding initiatives. So say companies that are in the process of developing technologies and marketing campaigns that will bring the medium to the next level in 2005 and 2006. A year ago, the carriers themselves were the largest clients and true believers in the handset’s potential as a marketing device; this year, the big brands are pretty much all in.

“It’s been staggering; it’s really taken off,” says Jeff Philbin of Vibes Media, whose clients now include Hershey, Anheuser Busch and ESPN. “We’re very heavily into Fortune 500 campaigns,” adds Darrin Hegemier, chief marketing officer at Global Wireless Entertainment (GWE), which manages mobile initiative for Calloway Golf, Evel Knievel and the Reef extreme sports brand. Both Vibes and GWE exemplify the next waves of mobile campaigns.

The mobile-marketing industry is way beyond sending a Dunkin’ Donuts latte coupon via SMS. Both Vibes and GWE are leveraging the cellphone’s ubiquity to make mobile a part of an ongoing conversation with a brand on a global basis. “Everyone learned in the last year that you can’t do a 60-day messaging campaign regionally with a [brand] and be successful,” Hegemier tells sister publication Wireless Business Forecast. “It’s not fully integrated with marketing and vertically integrated with other marketing. No platform will do it for you. It takes a comprehensive multi-year strategy.”

The mobile platform’s real-time properties are about to be leveraged even more aggressively this year as marketers invite users themselves to contribute content to an event. Vibes has begun using its Live Text-2-Screen and Pix-2-Screen platforms that let users submit text and images that go directly to a screen behind a band or on a “jumbo-tron” at a venue. Vibes used it for a Motorola promotion in Times Square on New Year’s Eve and for the current “Green Day” tour. It is running in-bar programs for Maxim and Bud Light, where customers can text-2-screen as a kind of flirting. An iRadio application lets radio listeners text song requests and contest entries to a station without getting a busy signal

Direct Marketing Industry Set To Capitalise On Growth In Mobile Subscriptions

The emerging direct marketing industry in the Middle East is preparing to capitalise on the significant growth in mobile and Internet subscriptions throughout the region. Direct Marketing 2005, the region’s first conference for the direct marketing industry, being held from the June 11 to 15, 2005, at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Dubai will focus on the increasing potential of targeting consumers through internet and mobile marketing.

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Vindigo Releases Suite of Enhanced Mobile Marketing Solutions Targeting Cell Phone Users

Vindigo, a leading mobile media company, announces a suite of marketing solutions with enhanced direct response features for advertisers looking to reach cell phone users. Vindigo has added email and SMS opt-in capabilities to its industry-leading advertising on mobile web and downloadable content sponsorship offerings. With Vindigo tools, advertisers can first build a database of mobile consumers who opt-in to receive text messages, and in lock step execute a follow-up SMS campaign. Vindigo makes it easy to implement end-to-end mobile marketing campaigns, which build both brand equity and generate qualified leads.

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Users Continue to "Cut the Cord"

According to a Washington Post report, an estimated 6% of the U.S. population has "cut the cord". Millions of college students, young professionals and families are ditching their traditional wireline phones and relying exclusively on their wireless phones. According to the report, the trend is expected to continue as generations grow accustomed to wireless phones.

Wireless Services Continue to Add Features

A USA Today report sheds light on the various offerings wireless providers continue to add to their list of product features. Wireless phones continue gaining in popularity for uses other than voice calls. Many wireless subscribers are using their phones to view TV, listen to MP3 files, surf the Internet and act as mini-computers.

Gates Believes Wireless Phones Will Lead MP3 Market

Microsoft founder Bill Gates believes wireless phones will overtake MP3 players as the leading choice for portable music. He believes the popular iPod device will face increasing competition from wireless phone companies integrating MP3 players into wireless phones.

Src: Reuters

Wireless Industry Aims to Monitor Adult Content

According to a Wall Street Journal report, some wireless carriers in Asia and Europe are turning to adult-content to spur the use of wireless services. Analysts expect spending on such content for wireless phones to exceed $1 billion in 2005, up from almost nothing a few years ago, and to triple or more within a few years. Currently in the U.S. there are no specific regulations governing adult content on wireless phone. CTIA- The Wireless Association� is now formulating guidelines that tackle two issues: classifying what materials should be restricted and how to technologically prevent minors from accessing such material.

Src: Wall Street Journal

PDAs Decline, as Smartphones Increase

Shipments of PDAs declined for the fifth straight quarter, while there was an increase in shipments of smartphones and other devices combining organizer functions with wireless phone capabilities, according to research firm IDC. Worldwide shipments of PDAs decreased 1.9 million units in the first quarter 2005. In that same quarter, smartphone shipments increased nearly 135% to 8.4 million units.

Src: Associated Press

The Mobile and Wireless Dating Conference will focus on management, technology and marketing for the wireless, mobile and internet dating industry.

http://www.mobiledatingconference.com

It will take place July 21-22, 2005 in San Francisco.

The Mobile Marketing Manifesto
By Pete Lerma

This week, I decided getting you excited about mobile marketing should be my personal crusade. The refrain I seem to hear is mobile is "it " in Europe and Asia, but it's "a few years away" from hitting it big here in the States.

People working in mobile marketing circles say we're a lot closer than you might think.
I got a quick state of the union from Carrie Himelfarb-Seifer, VP of sales at Vindigo and a board member of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). Some facts she brought to my attention:

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Mobile Marketing's Use To Skyrocket

We've heard about the advent of mobile marketing (yawn) for years. And yeah, teens could long use short text messaging (SMS) to vote for contestants on 'American Idol'. A few cosmetics companies sent out a few hundred SMSs advertising their hair products. A synagogue recently sent Sabbath greetings to its members via SMS. Other than that, we haven't seen much of this much-hyped mobile marketing around. But you wait.
Chances are, mobile marketing will blossom, along with cherry trees, this spring. Paul Cushman, of mobile marketing consultancy M-Qube, tells me of an upcoming campaign that a major beverage maker has slated for May. As part of the campaign, this yet-unnamed company will give away more than 1 million prizes, including Xbox gaming consoles and 200,000 ringtones.

To me, this campaign is an indication that mobile marketing is about to enter the big league, until now occupied by TV, newspaper and online ads. The fact that the campaign uses ringtones could also be hinting at an advent of mobile multimedia advertising.
Up till now, most of the wireless promotions out there - they were mostly pilots and trials -- involved short-text messaging. And yes, teens use SMS a lot. But in this rich-media world, text is rather boring. Soon, however, I think, we might actually start seeing multimedia promotions, involving photos, audio and video.

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The History Channel Launches Mobile Marketing Campaign

Today’s launch of a new mobile marketing initiative for The History Channel delivers content directly to consumers’ PDAs or smartphones and incorporates quizzes with real-time results, daily history trivia, a programming schedule, "what’s on now" updates, and email opt-ins for future information about The History Channel. By incorporating a mobile Internet site via AvantGo, The History Channel hopes tp provide its audience with a more interactive, informative experience. "Horizon Interactive identified early on that a large percentage of information-seeking men between the ages of 25-54 are PDA and smartphone users, which is a similar demographic to those watching The History Channel," says Horizon Interactive Strategist Wendi Dunlap.

She said the History Channel had previously tested PDA advertising over the past few years with considerable success prompting the new initiative launched today. "We are always looking for innovative ways to reach our viewers and extend The History Channel brand. Working with Horizon Media and AvantGo on this new mobile marketing initiative enables us to directly reach the upscale, information-hungry men who are our viewers while reaching out to new and potential viewers," said Michael Mohamad, Senior Vice-President, Marketing, The History Channel.

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On advertising: Searching for the right tone

By Eric Pfanner International Herald TribuneMONDAY, MAY 2, 2005

Jean-Paul Edwards, an advertising executive in London, was riding a ski lift in the French Alps a few years ago when his mobile phone beeped to signal an incoming text message. He thought it was from his wife, so he pulled the phone out of his pocket, and, fumbling around with his gloves, dropped it in the snow.

After half an hour of searching, Edwards found the phone, only to discover that the message was actually from his mobile network, advertising a promotion. In revenge, Edwards decided to drop the service provider.

"Mobile phones are a terrible advertising tool but a great communications tool," said Edwards, head of media futures at Manning Gottlieb OMD, a firm that plans ad strategies and buys media space and time.

What he meant was that traditional, in-your-face advertising doesn't work well on mobile phones, with which many users have remarkably intimate relationships. (A recent survey by the ad agency BBDO Europe showed that 22 percent of respondents in Italy and Spain admitted to answering their mobiles during sex.)

Instead of blatant SMS sales pitches, mobile users seem to prefer creative approaches that blur the boundaries between advertising, communications and entertainment.
Last summer, for instance, Gardena, a provider of gardening products, set up a giant billboard in Dortmund, Germany, with an interactive twist. By sending a text message to a number shown on the poster, which depicted a boy holding a garden hose, passers-by could activate the nozzle to squirt actual water.

Such promotions can raise brand awareness, even if they don't immediately generate sales. Because they fuel traffic on mobile networks, operators love them, too.
Still, cellphone advertising has been slow to take off. In Germany, the biggest mobile market in Europe, such advertisers spent about €40 million, or $51.7 million, last year, said Jupiter Research, less than one-tenth the amount spent on online advertising.

Yet as mobile phones become more technologically sophisticated, adding video and Internet content, advertising experts are optimistic about the prospects.
BBDO's recent survey showed that in some countries, consumers treasure their mobile phones more than their televisions. The agency, a unit of Omnicom Group, set up a new venture to explore the possibilities of mobile advertising, in partnership with an Omnicom direct-marketing unit called Proximity.

Experts say the best examples of marketing via the mobile phone, like the Gardena billboard, employ other media as well. That is not only because of consumer tastes but also because of evolving legal and regulatory restrictions on how phones can be used in advertising.
European Union rules governing privacy and e-commerce, for instance, generally require marketers to obtain the consent of phone users before sending them ads via text messages or other electronic means. But rules are sometimes implemented inconsistently at the national level.

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