Nonprofit Mobile Marketing

Nonprofit Federation & MobileCause Mobile Marketing Pilot Program
If your organization is a Nonprofit Federation member and interested in participating in the text messaging pilot program, please complete our questionaire and submit your response to Jill Murphy. If your organization is not a member and would like to participate, please join here! Download Texting Application (PDF)

Mobile Marketing in the News

It's the way Millenials communicate.  It's also likely the next generation of nonprofit messaging and fundraising.  Here are recent articles on texting to get you ready for the next wave of donors, members and activists.

DMA’s Nonprofit Federation Tests Mobile for Fundraising

Mobile Marketer Outlook for 2008

Searching for Mobile Access - Intranets/Information Today, Inc.

MOBILE MARKETER
MAKING THE MOST OUT MOBILE DATA
Measurement is critical to any business. So it is particularly important to ensure that the products you choose for measuring mobile delivers depth, breadth and accuracy of information needed. By its very nature, the mobile Web lends itself to measurement – a phone is personal, always on and with your customer 24/7. But, as the industry is starting to see, mobile analytics is not so easy given that traditional Web techniques do not work...
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1239.html

DM AGENCY, WUNDERMAN, TO TAKE BUY MOBILE SHOP
Direct marketing agency Wunderman is set to take a controlling interest in Kassius SA, a French interactive and mobile marketing agency.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising-agencies/1260.html

MAKING A CASE FOR HISPANIC MOBILE MARKETING
With the penetration of online in the U.S. Hispanic community still relatively low, mobile should seriously be considered as a digital avenue to reach this ever-growing demographic. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics and Latinos make up more than 15 percent of the total population of the United States, a demographic of 45.5 million consumers that is only growing by the day. A 2007 study by M:Metrics shows us that the mobile device is a prime location to reach this group.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1268.html

eMARKETER
MILLIONS TAKE PART IN MOBILE COMMERCE; SECURITY CONCERNS HINDER MILLIONS MORE
A full 9.2 million US mobile subscribers have purchased goods or services using their handset, and one-half of all mobile data users expect to do so in the future, according to Nielsen Mobile. "As more mobile commerce services become available and consumers develop a greater trust for phone-based transactions, we expect commerce to be an increasingly important part of the mobile experience next year and beyond," said Nic Covey, director of insights at Nielsen Mobile, in a statement. Nielsen also reported that 6.5 million US mobile consumers had used text messaging to make a purchase.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006380

YOUNG ADULTS INFLUENCED BY MOBILE ADS, REPORTS BIGRESEARCH Many mobile marketers are still struggling to influence consumers, judging by an analysis of BIGresearch’s "Simultaneous Media Usage Study." Only 6.9% of adults surveyed said that video on mobile phones influenced them to purchase electronics; 6.4% said text messaging did the same. However, mobile media was twice as effective among young consumers, with 14.2% of 18 to 24 year-olds saying that mobile video influenced them and 15.9% saying text messaging did.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006374

Marketing Sherpa
HOW TO BUILD A MOBILE AD CAMPAIGN: FOUR CRUCIAL ELEMENTS TO INCLUDE
Mobile advertising is becoming more mainstream every day. However, to take part, you must have a well-conceived campaign. The founder of a major mobile portal sums up the strategies he teaches his advertisers to capture more value from their ads. He shares the four most effective elements of mobile advertising and tips on how to get double-digit response rates to your mobile messaging.
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30675

MOBILE MARKETER
HOW TO BUILD A MOBILE AD CAMPAIGN: FOUR CRUCIAL ELEMENTS TO INCLUDE
Mobile advertising is becoming more mainstream every day. However, to take part, you must have a well-conceived campaign. The founder of a major mobile portal sums up the strategies he teaches his advertisers to capture more value from their ads. He shares the four most effective elements of mobile advertising and tips on how to get double-digit response rates to your mobile messaging.
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30675

NELSON MANDELA CHARITIES RUN SMS CAMPAIGN
Mobile messaging service provider Sybase 365 has partnered with 46664, Nelson Mandela’s HIV/AIDS global awareness organization, on an SMS campaign to celebrate the 90th birthday of the former South African leader. Mr. Mandela’s charitable organizations have come together to launch an international premium SMS service, allowing people all over the world to text a personal birthday message to him. A mixture of shared and dedicated premium SMS codes have been set up in more than 20 countries worldwide, including Britain, Australia, Spain, Germany and the United States, as well as many African nations.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/1202.html

BOEING CREDIT UNION FLIES WITH MOBILE WALLET
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing's employee credit union will next year launch a mobile wallet to let its members conduct mobile banking and payments activities through their phone. Now known as BECU, the nation’s fourth-largest credit union has turned to Qualcomm's Firethorn to allow members to check their account balances, transfer funds and view and pay bills through a mobile wallet on their mobile devices. Future service capabilities will include more advanced mobile transactions and mobile commerce.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/banking-payments/1209.html

DON'T FORCE PUSH MODEL ON MOBILE
There’s been a lot said and written about the potential of mobile marketing and why it hasn’t reached that potential. Perhaps a lot of this is driven by the news media’s need for content – self-created controversy. there are some core issues we should surface if mobile is ever going to get beyond a novelty. The first, and perhaps the biggest, is that mobile is completely customer-controlled. Said differently, the push model is dead.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1192.html

CLICK Z
AGENCIES ADAPT TO LACK OF MOBILE MARKETING TALENT.
As agencies seek to grow their mobile offerings in a tight talent market, many have lowered their expectations and begun to hire anyway. But which traits do you select for when all the candidates are under-qualified? "There are very few people that have experience in mobile, even fewer people that have experience in mobile marketing," said Maria Mandel, senior partner and executive director in Ogilvy’s Digital Innovation group. According to Mandel, where direct experience in mobile is lacking, a demonstrated interest may be sufficient -- especially if the candidate in question has worked in digital. http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630013

USA TODAY
US LAGS ON CELLPHONES’ MARKETING POTENTIAL.
They’re hip, hot, and everywhere on the planet. But despite a drumbeat about mobile phones being the new frontier in the ad world, marketers have been slow to dial it up, particularly in the US. That’s in part because creating a mobile strategy and message remain a challenge. The world’s best efforts will be on display this week at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Agencies and marketers have entered nearly 30,000 ads in 10 categories at the ad industry’s biggest annual competition. Some of the campaigns that already have won awards have included mobile components.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2008-06-18-cannes-mobile-marketing_N.htm

MOBILE MARKETER
MARKETING IS HARD, MOBILE IS NOT
Mark Emery from mobile marketing services firm Air2Web’s senior director of agency relations, stopped by our office to talk mobile. Mr. Emery discussed issues related to mobile, its influencers and its destiny.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/1125.html

DIRECT MARKETERS WANT TO GO MOBILE BUT...
A panel on integrating old and new media opportunities at the Direct Marketing Association’s DM Days conference drove home one point: direct marketers are curious about mobile. The session, moderated yesterday by CGSM Inc. president Mark Kolier, featured executives from Huntington Learning Centers Inc., Publishers Clearing House, 10e20 and this writer. It was clear from the line of questioning that mobile was top of mind, especially given Apple Inc.’s announcement Monday of the new 3G iPhone’s launch.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/associations/1133.html

DIRECT
Live From DM DAYS: Mobile Causes Marketing ‘Sea Change,’ Says Speaker The stratospheric rise in the number of mobile phones means that for the first time in marketing history, all media can be consumed through a single device, according to Michael Becker, EVP of business development for ILoop mobile. “A sea change is happening in how we engage with our clients,” he said during a presentation Wednesday at DMA’s DM Days New York Conference & Expo. “If you look at all past and traditional media — TV, radio, recordings, cinema — when the Internet started emerging, it started a convergence.” Moreover, the mobile channel will grow as consumers get increasingly comfortable using their phones to accomplish tasks beyond making calls, he said.
http://directmag.com/news/sea_change_0611/

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
E-TRADE MAKES IT EASIER TO TRADE ON THE BLACKBERRY.
As if BlackBerry users needed one more excuse to be glued to their screens, E-Trade Financial Corp. is giving its account holders an application that will let them get real-time stock quotes and trade on their phones. High-end phone users have for a while been able to access E-Trade’s Web site and those of most banks and brokerages, but the online firm is the first major US brokerage to provide a mobile application with cash transfers and real-time quotes. Online trading through the free application, called E-Trade Mobile Pro, will be much easier than using the Web site through a phone, said E-Trade spokeswoman Pam Erickson. It will allow users to trade stocks and options, set up portfolio watch lists and get news.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-ap-tec-e-trade-blackberry,0,1500827.story

MOBILE MARKETER
Verizon launches text message polling program for moviegoers. Verizon Wireless has partnered with Screenvision to introduce a text message polling program for moviegoers. During 3,500 show times across parts of the country, the interactive text message polling program asks moviegoers questions related to their music preferences and gives them an option to text their responses. After audience members submit their text messages, the actual audience results will be displayed on the movie screen in a bar chart.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/1103.html

MOBILE MARKETER
TARGETING BOOMERS VIA MOBILE MAKES SENSE
Although younger consumers are often believed to be at the forefront of mobile technology, baby boomers are also embracing mobile. Marketers should take advantage of that. According to market research company InsightExpress, the behavior of baby boomers when using the mobile channel is similar to that of younger users. This demographic is comprised of individuals ages 45-64. The majority of baby boomers have mobile phones and half of them plan to upgrade their models in the next year.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/sectors/marketing/1064.html

MOBILE MARKETER
MILLENNIALS DRIVE GROWTH OF MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKING: STUDY.
A new study claims that more than 229.5 million mobile subscribers worldwide may use mobile social networking services by 2012. The study, from In-Stat, said that Millennials, otherwise known as Generation Y, will be among the key demographic drivers of this mobile social networking trend. Per the report, titled "Mobile Social Networking: Marketing to Millennials," blogging, photo and video sharing, games, SMS text messaging, instant messaging and location-based socialization services will all mesh into the social networking experience from a mobile phone.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/1060.html

GOOGLE EXPERIMENTS WITH MOBILE SEARCH QUERY SUGGESTIONS.
Google plans to build a usage model of query suggestions for users visiting its mobile search page, since typing text using the standard 9-key mobile phone may be hard and time-consuming. The search giant reports that the average query on its mobile search page is 15 letters long, but takes 30 key presses and approximately 40 seconds to enter. Overall, Google believes that mobile phone users will rely heavily on suggestions if they are provided.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/search/1056.html

MOBILE MARKETER
END USER IS KEY WHEN DESIGNING MOBILE CONTENT
The mobile market is exploding with new technology and new content. However, mobile content is successful only when it is easily discovered and quickly delivered. Content providers are employing a variety of tools to reach their consumers, including mobile sites, client applications and SMS messaging. In all the excitement, it is easy to forget a crucial component of the mobile mix – the end-user experience.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/1015.html

LOS ANGELES TIMES
ADVERTISERS IN TOUCH WITH TEENS’ CELLPHONES
Yakking teens and phones have been inseparable for decades. The difference today is that teens use their cellphones for a lot more than just talking. It has become a palm-size entertainment and information center increasingly consuming their time and attention. Advertisers are realizing that if they want to reach teens, they need their number — literally. “They’re not watching TV, you’re not reaching them in other places,” said Andrew Miller, CEO of Quattro Wireless, a mobile advertising network. “Mobile is where they congregate.” It may all seem a little bothersome, but teens don’t mind receiving messages about products on their phones, says Nic Covey, director of insights at research firm Nielsen Mobile. Nielsen said teens were nearly twice more likely than adults to trust and respond to advertising and pitches on mobile phones.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-teenphone23-2008may23,0,6658236.story

USA TODAY
3 IN 10 GET ALL OR MOST CALLS ON CELLPHONES
Nearly three in 10 households either only have a cellphone, or seldom take calls on their traditional phone. The federal figures, released today, showed that reliance on cells is continuing to rise at the expense of wired telephones. In the second half of last year, 16% of households only had cellphones, while 13% also had landlines but got all or nearly all their calls on their cells. The number of wireless-only households grew by 2% since the first half of last year. Underscoring the rapid growth, in early 2004 just 5% had only cellphones.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/phones/2008-05-14-cellphones-only-survey_N.htm

MOBILE MARKETER
Mobile marketers must engage consumer groups
Attending the Federal Trade Commission’s inaugural town hall meeting last week on mobile marketing and commerce drove home a point: It’s not all about marketers. The two-day event, titled “Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace,” focused on mobile’s applications in marketing, commerce and content. Sitting through the panels, it seems the mobile channel’s potential has marketers excited, carriers confused, government curious and consumer groups worried.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/editorials/977.html

OECD official releases paper on mobile commerce
OECD official Peter Avery released a paper on mobile commerce with regulations, examples and dispute resolutions that member countries follow. The paper is reproduced in full.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/commerce/967.html

We're going to police the wireless space: FTC commissioner
Given the tenor of his comments, Federal Trade Commission commissioner Jon Leibowitz is not going to give mobile marketers a free pass. Opening the FTC’s “Beyond Voice Mapping the Mobile Marketplace” town-hall event, Mr. Leibowitz highlighted several concerns his agency has with the evolving mobile marketing field. “[Mobile is] changing the way consumers reach out to businesses and changing the way businesses reach out to consumers,” the FTC commissioner told representatives from nonprofits, mobile marketing firms, government officials and media.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/legal-privacy/950.html

Vignettes from day 1 of the FTC mobile event
It’s a permission-based real-time interaction channel available anywhere, according to Jean Berberich, digital marketing innovation manager of mobile at P&G. “It’s an extension of a marketing plan,” Ms. Berberich told delegates at the Federal Trade Commission’s “Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace” workshop. “It’s really not a marketing channel. It really gives us the opportunity to interact with the consumer when they choose at the time they need to.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/955.html

Consumer Federation rep airs list of grievances with mobile
The Consumer Federation of America’s representative aired a long list of concerns she had with mobile marketing, messaging and billing at the Federal Trade Commission’s mobile event.Like her fellow panelists, Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation, was primarily worried about the thornier issues that arise as mobile evolves into a marketing and media platform. Take the quantity of information generated by consumer usage of mobile, for example.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/legal-privacy/960.html

Media activist calls for regulating mobile marketing
Jeff Chester runs the Center for Digital Democracy and he’s out to raise a stink on the practices in the mobile marketing industry. Many online marketers are already familiar with this rhetoric. Mr. Chester’s nonprofit and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group plan to amend their 2006 complaint to the Federal Trade Commission on interactive marketing techniques and the supposed threats to consumer privacy. He will add mobile marketing techniques to that complaint, particularly taking issue with the migration of online practices such as profiling and behavioral targeting to the mobile Web.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/legal-privacy/958.html

NEW YORK TIMES
MOBILE TV SPREADING IN EUROPE AND TO THE US
Every day in Switzerland, 40,000 people watch a 100-second TV news broadcast on their cellphones. In Italy, a million people pay as much as 19 euros each ($29) a month to watch up to a dozen mobile TV channels. Tiny TV, the kind that is watched on a cellphone, is spreading beyond Japan and South Korea, where it has been available for about three years. Mobile operators across Europe and the US are investing in new broadcasting towers, mobile devices, and TV programming and promotions, even though it is not yet clear that profit will follow. On Sunday, AT&T Wireless, with 71.4 million phone customers, started AT&T Mobile TV in the US.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/05/business/media/05mobile.html?ref=business

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
FTC TO HOST TOWN HALL MEETING TO EXPLORE MOBILE MARKETPLACE ISSUES
The FTC on May 6-7 will host a two-day Town Hall meeting to explore the evolving mobile commerce marketplace and its implications for consumer protection policy. Industry experts, academics, consumer advocates, privacy professionals, and government analysts will discuss topics such as the use of text messaging and related messaging services as instruments of commerce; consumers’ ability to control mobile applications; the adaptation of advertising to mobile devices, including the challenges presented by small screen disclosures; mobile commerce practices targeting children and teens; and next-generation products and services.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/05/mobilemarket.shtm

THE WASHINGTON POST
ADMOB LAUNCHES MOBILE ANALYTICS TO ENCOURAGE MOBILE ADVERTISING GROWTH
AdMob, a mobile advertising company, said it’s launching a beta mobile analytics service that will allow advertisers and publishers to track the effectiveness of an ad campaign. AdMob said the analytics tool will track: where the traffic is coming from, like a search engine or an ad, what operator and device the person is using, the user’s geography, and which ad campaign is creating the most clicks. AdMob had the ability to track this information in-house, but is now making it available to others.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/30/AR2008043000857.html

MOBILE MARKETER
DOUBLECLICK MOBILE INTEGRATES SYSTEM WITH MOBILE AD NETWORKS
DoubleClick is integrating its mobile advertising delivery system with leading mobile ad networks to help publishers with their ad inventory. DoubleClick’s Mobile arm is integrating with AdMob, Google’s AdSense for mobile content and Millennial Media’s MBrand and Decktrade performance network. “In the mobile business, when you’re a publisher and you’re getting traffic on your mobile pages, right now you have to choose between selling all your ads directly with your sales force or alternatively outsourcing all of your ads to a network,” said Ari Paparo, group product manager for DoubleClick products at Google.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/ad-networks/924.html

QUALITY COUNTS IN MOBILE
More than 32 million subscribers go online from their phone monthly. Consumers are looking for information that is not only fast and relevant, but also technically reliable and easy to navigate. Given the cludginess of the interface, the size of the screen and the nature of the medium, the average consumer does not want to take chances on sources they are not familiar with. In mobile, quality counts. interesting and relevant content is the primary driver of page views, which is why we still see the highest amount of traffic in weather, news and sports.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/917.html

THE NEED FOR CONSISTENT MEASUREMENT OF MOBILE CAMPAIGNS
Everyone has been talking mobile marketing and advertising for some time. We’ve heard about a number of campaigns, but have they been successful? Why hasn’t mobile marketing taken off a breakneck speed yet? I believe that the missing piece is a consistent way to measure mobile marketing success.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/932.html

MOBILE MARKETER
MAKE MOBILE FRONT AND CENTER OF MARKETING: LEO BURNETT EXEC
We need to put mobile front and center of what we do.” Thus said a top at leading ad agency Leo Burnett Worldwide to an audience of direct and interactive marketers at IMX08, which was hosted by the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing. Mark Renshaw, executive VP and digital practice lead at Burnett, spoke up for integrating mobile into marketing campaigns keeping in mind the potential of mobile for utility, entertainment, and social networking purposes. “Mobile is an access point for everything that people are already using,” he said. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/associations/922.html

NEW YORK TIMES
MOBILE BANKING GAINING TRACTION AMONG YOUNGER CUSTOMERS
Most Americans are still hesitant about banking with their cell phones and PDAs, but young people are increasingly coming around to the idea of mobile banking, according to a new survey. Meeting the needs of these tech-savvy customers is going to be key for banks to stay competitive, the income of “Generation Y” is expected to surge over the next 10 years and exceed that of Baby Boomers. So far, although most major banks offer mobile banking services, 89% of consumers do not use their cell phones to conduct mobile banking transactions, according to a study by IBM’s retail banking consulting practice.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Mobile-Banking.html

eMARKETER
MOBILE MEDIA REVENUES TO RISE
Strategy Analytics forecasts that worldwide spending (both consumer and advertiser) on mobile media services will reach $102 billion in 2012, up from $47 billion in 2007. Consumers will account for the vast majority of this spending in the near-term. Mobile media services include mobile Internet access, video and music. The number of consumers accessing this content will more than double from 406 million in 2007 to 870 million in 2012.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006202

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
MARKETERS EYE 255 MILLION AMERICANS WITH CELL PHONES
For many of the 255 million Americans with cell phones, the gadgets are indispensable for everything from tracking appointments to taking photographs to telling time. Now, advertisers want their piece of the mobile phone. As consumers increasingly use their handsets to browse the Web, it’s no wonder that advertisers see mobile screens as valuable turf. In the US, cell phones haven’t yet proved to be the same kind of advertising bonanza as the Internet, mostly because of the wireless industry’s more controlled nature and the slower adoption of text messaging and mobile Web services. But momentum is gradually building, especially behind text-based marketing campaigns.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-mon-mobile-advertisingapr14,0,1864204.story

eMARKETER
AMERICANS CAN’T STOP TEXTING
Data revenues at US mobile service providers surged to $23 billion in 2007 and now account for 17% of all mobile service revenues, according to the CTIA. The total represented a 53% increase over 2006. Much of that revenue is due to the enormous popularity of text messaging. Nearly 50 billion messages were sent in December 2007 alone. Multimedia messaging is also growing quickly. During the second half of 2007, 4 billion multimedia text messages were sent, compared with 2.7 billion in the second half of 2006.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006144

DM NEWS
MOBILE EXPERIENCE IMPROVING FOR USERS AND ADVERTISERS
As mobile devices continue to become more sophisticated, the cell phone experience keeps getting better for marketers and consumers alike. At last week’s CTIA show in Las Vegas, online giants including Amazon.com, Yahoo, and AOL came out with their latest in mobile offerings, making it easier to interact with the brands via the wireless device. Amazon.com has expanded its mobile offering beyond its mobile WAP site. It has introduced a new service that lets consumers use text messages to search and shop on its site, called TextBuyIt. “Our goal is to allow customers to shop Amazon.com no matter where they are, be it from the PC or mobile device,” said Heather Huntoon, a spokesperson for Amazon.com, in an email. “We have a lot of customers who use text messaging extensively. This is how they want to communicate and consume things.”
http://www.dmnews.com/Mobile-experience-improving-for-users-and-advertisers/article/108709/

MOBILE MARKETER
MOBILE-ONLY USAGE UPTAKE IMPACTS MARKETING: HARRIS POLL
Mobile phone usage is up and landline coverage is down. That’s the key finding from Harris Interactive’s new US research on consumer phone habits. One in five adults don’t have a landline and one in seven adults (14%) use only mobile phones, according to an analysis of four surveys conducted online between October and January with 9,132 adults. The research found that 89% of adults have a mobile phone, an increase from 77% in October to December 2006.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/797.html

THE NEW YORK TIMES
POTENTIAL AND PITFALLS SEEN FROM MOBILE PHONE ADS
Advertising on mobile phones has huge potential to connect brands with consumers at any time of the day and within a specific location but it must be creative, relevant, and non intrusive, industry experts believe. According to research from Ipsos Mori commissioned by T-Mobile, over a third of 16 to 34 year-olds who own a mobile phone are happy to receive mobile advertising in return for free content such as music, games or video. Analysts expect that number to be higher among the younger members of the age group.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-mobile-advertising.html

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
IN REACHING OUT TO YOUNGER CONSUMERS, MARKETERS TRY TO BE ‘KEWL.’
Brace yourself, big marketers are getting hip to text-message lingo. In ads that begin in two weeks for a new line of Degree deodorant for teen girls, Unilever is highlighting “OMG! Moments.” Print ads running in magazines such as Seventeen and CosmoGIRL show “High School Musical” star Ashley Tisdale at a glitzy affair discovering that she has toilet paper stuck to one of her shoes. A Degree ad uses text-messaging lingo to show that the brand knows how teens communicate. “We wanted to show the teens that we understand them and know how they communicate with their friends,” says David Lang, president of WPP Group’s MindShare Entertainment, which created the print, TV and online effort. Cellphone texting has taken off over the past few years. Americans sent about 363 billion text messages in 2007, up from 81 billion in 2005, according to CTIA, the Wireless Association, an industry group. Young adults 18 to 24 years old spend about 32 minutes a day texting, according to the Yankee Group, a research and consulting company in Boston. The texting phenomenon has given rise to acronyms like “paw” (parents are watching), “lol” (laughing out loud), “g2g” (got to go) and “ooc” (out of control). Some of the ads that use the shorthand have drawn a big audience. Cingular’s spot has attracted more than 1 million views on YouTube thus far. The ad, for an unlimited texting plan offered by the carrier, featured a mom questioning her daughter, Bethann, about all the texting she was doing. Bethann’s response: “o-m-g, i-n-b-d.” (Translation: “Oh my gosh, it’s no big deal.”) She explains to her mom that she is texting her “bff Jill.” The ad has spawned numerous imitations on YouTube.

COMPUTERWORLD
OMG! TXT MSGING SOARS: ABOUT 84% OF AMERICANS HAVE WIRELESS SERVICE, CTIA SAYS
While mobile TV and other emerging technologies attract big headlines, one of the biggest success stories for wireless service providers is text messaging. Text messaging soared in usage last year. In December alone more than 48 billion text messages were sent, about 1.6 billion messages per day, according to a survey conducted by CTIA, an association representing wireless carries. That was a 157% increase over the previous December. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9074218&intsrc=news_ts_head

eMARKETER
NEW MEDIA AD SPEND UP, BUT HOW MUCH?
eMarketer tracks US online ad spending estimates and projections from 23 companies. Estimates of total US online ad spending in 2007 range from $10.9 billion (Universal McCann) to $30.5 (Veronis Suhler Stevenson). Here’s another estimate: US spending on online and mobile advertising rose to $29.94 billion in 2007, according to PQ Media’s “Alternative Media Forecast: 2008-2012” report. The company included 18 digital and non-traditional media segments in its definition of alternative media. PQ Media put new media ad spending at 16.1% of total US advertising spending in 2007, up from 7.9% in 2002.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006112

eMARKETER
MOBILE ADVERTISING BRAND RECALL UP
The number of people who have seen mobile advertising and recall the brands in the ads they saw increased during the first quarter of 2008, according to a Limbo report produced in conjunction with GFK/NOP Research. From January to March 2008, the number of people who recalled seeing advertising on their mobile phones rose from 78 million to 82 million. Of those people who had seen an ad, 41% were able to recall at least one brand, which was up from 34% three months prior.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006116

WALL STREET JOURNAL
PHONES WILL SOON TELL WHERE YOU ARE
Would you want other people to know, all day long, exactly where you are, right down to the street corner or restaurant? Unsettling as that may sound to some, wireless carriers are betting that many of their customers do, and they’re rolling out services to make it possible. Sprint Nextel Corp. has signed up hundreds of thousands of customers for a feature that shows them where their friends are with colored marks on a map viewable on their cellphone screens. Now, Verizon Wireless is gearing up to offer such a service in the next several weeks to its 65 million customers, people familiar with it say. Making this people-tracking possible is that cellphones today come embedded with Global Positioning System technology. With it, carriers have already offered mapping features such as turn-by-turn driving instructions. But they long hesitated to offer another breakthrough made possible by GPS, tracking of cellphone users’ whereabouts in real time, because of privacy and liability concerns. Now, increasingly, the wireless industry is deciding that location tracking has so much sales potential that it’s worth the risks, so long as tight safeguards are in place. It’s a result of the convergence of GPS with another digital phenomenon: a generation of young people who are comfortable sharing a great deal of personal information on social-networking Websites and eager for still more ways to stay connected. The initial target market of location-tracking services: 18- to 24-year-olds. The wireless industry is cracking open this new market gingerly, mindful that it could face a huge backlash from consumers and regulators if location-tracking were abused by stalkers, sexual predators, advertisers or prosecutors. “When it gets to privacy, that’s quite frankly an area where we can’t afford to make any mistakes,” says Ryan Hughes, a vice president at Verizon Wireless.

MOBILE MARKETER
SMS IS DOMINANT MOBILE SERVICE BEYOND VOICE
A new study by Limbo claims that brand recall for mobile advertising was up 20% in the first quarter. Forty-one percent of mobile device users can remember seeing mobile advertising and name at least one brand, which is up from 34% just three months earlier, according to mobile entertainment community Limbo. The number of people who recalled seeing ads on their mobile phones in the last three months has risen from 78 million to 82 million. Forty-one percent of mobile device users can remember seeing mobile advertising and name at least one brand, which is up from 34% just three months earlier, according to mobile entertainment community Limbo. The number of people who recalled seeing ads on their mobile phones in the last three months has risen from 78 million to 82 million.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/753.html

DM NEWS
MOBILE ADVERTISING ENGAGING CONSUMERS, REPORTS LIMBO
Brand recall for mobile advertising is up 20% for the first quarter of 2008, according to a new study by mobile advertising firm Limbo. In Limbo’s Mobile Advertising Report Q1 2008 edition, it found that there are more than 255 million cell phone users in the US, up from 251 million in fourth quarter 2007. The report also found that while text messaging is highest among the 24-and-under age group, with 82% of this age group texting, it’s not just millenials. More than 50% of SMS users are aged 35 or over and 75% are aged 25 or over. SMS continues to dominate, with more than 50% of cell phone users texting, but WAP, mobile enabled Internet, is the fastest-growing medium, with 69 million users.
http://www.dmnews.com/Mobile-advertising-engaging-consumers-Limbo/article/108339/

eMARKETER
EMARKETER REPORT LOOKS AT WHAT’S HOLDING UP MOBILE ADVERTISING
Are mobile marketers moving ahead or merely spinning their wheels? “2007 was not ‘the year of mobile marketing’ that it was advertised to be,” says John du Pre Gauntt, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Mobile Advertising: After the Growing Pains.” “And 2008 won’t be either.” Even though mobile marketing and advertising didn’t break into the mainstream during 2007, with events such as the iPhone launch and other under-the-hood improvements, mobile marketers did take strides to move past the experimental stage of development. In fact, eMarketer forecasts that worldwide mobile advertising spending will reach $19 billion by 2012.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006011

MOBILE MARKETER
VARIOUS SOURCES USED FOR DOWNLOADING MOBILE CONTENT, REPORTS ABI RESEARCH
A new consumer study by ABI Research shows that mobile phone owners access content via multiple sources such as the Web, personal collections and from wireless carriers. For example, there is a higher chance that mobile consumers would watch a video on YouTube on their phone than a video from their wireless carrier's own service. But they are twice as likely to buy ringtones from the carrier versus another source.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/719.html

MOBILE MESSAGING REVENUE TO REACH $212b BY 2013 STUDY SAYS
A new study claims that innovation and customization will cause mobile revenues to grow to $212 billion by 2013. Factors leading to that projection from ABI Research include SMS text messages' rapid adoption in the Americas, mobile email's growth in developed regions, mobile subscriber growth in Asia-Pacific and the increasing popularity of social networking. ABI's Mobile Messaging Services Report covers the messaging market across five common platforms - SMS, MMS, instant messaging, email/unified messaging and voicemail.
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/722.html

CONNECTICUT POST
SPAM INVADING CELL PHONES; DMA SAYS FEDERAL LAW PROHIBITS UNAUTHORIZED SENDING OF TEXT ADS.
So far, the spam text messages popping up on cell phones have been largely the work of scam artists, according to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Still, there is no doubt that the growing list of mobile phone customers is a tantalizing target for legitimate advertisers. But DMA Senior VP for Government Affairs Jerry Cerasale pointed out, “It is against federal regulations to send a text message to someone who has not authorized you to send it.” He said DMA supports those regulations. The lone exception, Cerasale added, is the cell phone service provider, which is allowed to send text ads to customers about related services and products.
http://www.connpost.com/localnews/ci_8632237

E-MARKETER
MOBILE USERS WANT FREE GOODIES, FEW ADS; ARE ADS THE KEY TO MOBILE CONTENT ADOPTION?
Getting mobile users to do anything besides talk presents a conundrum. Users are far more likely to interact with mobile multimedia if the cost is low. Yet getting them to view mobile ads, which would pay for the content, can be tricky. 3ple-Media addressed this problem in a March 2008 study. The mobile multimedia company found that more than one-half of mobile subscribers worldwide surveyed said they looked forward to getting mobile multimedia.
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006066

MOBILE MARKETER

STUDY ID’S THREE MOBILE BEHAVIORAL PROFILES
New research shows that mobile consumers can be bucketed into three behavioral profiles: Mobile pioneers, mobile wannabes and mobile traditionalists. The study, from InsightExpress, is the third installment in its ongoing mobile research program. The two most important categories to watch are mobile pioneers and mobile wannabes. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/682.html

LOCALIZING DATA KEY FOR MOBILE SEARCH, REPORTS DOUBLECLICK PERFORMICS
A recent study of Search 2.0 trends by DoubleClick Performics claims that mobile display and search are still in their infancy. Though projected to grow more than 400% to $4.78 billion by 2011, mobile advertising will account for only 10% of the total online spend at that time. An estimated 23 million mobile search users live in the US, reflecting nearly 9% of the mobile subscriber population and 75% of mobile Internet users. While fewer in number, mobile searchers look like the larger mobile Internet user population of which they are a subset: most are male and in the 18-44 age group. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/search/688.html

E-MARKETING NEWS
BUILDING THE CASE FOR MOBILE ADVERTISING
Even as ads on cell phones become more common, advertisers are holding off on a full-blown embrace of the tiny screen as a marketing tool. There’s no denying cell phone users are seeing more ads. A Nielsen study found that 58 million US wireless subscribers had viewed an ad on their cell phones in the past month. The problem is that advertisers don’t know what users are doing, if anything, when they see the ads. Until advertisers find out, they may hold off on committing more precious marketing dollars to the mobile medium. http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Building-a-Case-for-Mobile-Advertising-62067.html

E-MARKETER
MOBILE BANKING FINDS AUDIENCE IN US, FINDS HARRIS INTERACTIVE.
A recent Harris Interactive survey has found that US consumers are already banking and making purchases using their mobile phones. According to the study, 16% of US mobile phone subscribers use mobile banking services. There was also significant interest among non-mobile bankers. More than one-third said they were interested in checking bank account balances and transferring funds using their mobile phones. http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1006056

THE NEW YORK TIMES
SOCIAL NETWORKING MOVES TO THE CELLPHONE
Social networks may be nothing new to habitués of the Internet. But now the market is teeming with companies that want o bring the same phenomenon to the cellphone. There are many "mobile social networking" upstarts. The prize, as these start-ups see it, is the 3.3 billion cellphone subscribers, a number that far surpasses the total of Internet users. The advantage over computer-based communities, they believe, is the ability to know where a cellphone is, thanks to global positioning satellites and related technologies. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/technology/06wireless.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin

CELL PHONE NOW MOST VITAL DEVICE: PEW STUDY
Americans have become more dependent on their cell phones than conventional phones. For the first time, Americans say they would have more trouble giving up a cell phone than a traditional phone, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said in a report Wednesday. Less than two years earlier, respondents still considered their landlines the most crucial technology. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-TechBit-Cell-Phones.html

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
MOBILE TV, SET FREE; TEST IN SPAIN COULD OPEN UP THE MARKET
A small Spanish company is working on what it hopes will be a new and easier way for people to watch TV on their cellphones. Abertis Telecom has developed a Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld network, known as DVB-H. Phones with DVB-H receivers get signals from television towers that can read a regular TV broadcast network, for example, so people can watch digitally broadcast programs on their cellphones as they are being shown on regular TV. With DVB-H, users don’t need to download programs or watch prerecorded programs, as with other cellphone-TV technology. Other companies have begun testing or deploying the technology elsewhere in Europe. The world’s largest cellphone maker, Nokia Corp., recently pledged to put DVB-H in its new N96 phone as well as the current models that have television capabilities. When Abertis demonstrated the technology last month in Barcelona at the cellphone industry’s biggest annual conference, observers noted it could be the next big step in mobile communications, opening up mobile television for mass audiences.

MOBILE MARKETER
STUDY: 58M MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS SEE ADS ON PHONE
A new study claims that 23 percent of all U.S. mobile subscribers say they have been exposed to advertising on their phones in the past 30 days. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/637.html

MOBILE MARKETER
MOBILE ADVERTISING IS A YEAR FROM BREAK OUT
A breakout year for mobile, but not for mobile advertising. That’s how the Avenue A/Razorfish put it in its recently released 2008 Digital Outlook Report. Avenue A/Razorfish, now part of Microsoft, acknowledged that the mobile industry was poised for tremendous growth. Mobile search and location-based services were cited for their growth, as was Apple’s opening of the iPhone to third-party developers and carriers possibly becoming more flexible. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/630.html

TARGETING AD SPEND KEY IN MOBILE
Fifty-four percent of consumers using the mobile Web come from outside the US and Europe, shedding light on the importance of developing targeted mobile advertising that reaches the intended consumer profile. These findings from mobile Web technology specialist Bango show a shift in mobile Web traffic, from mature mobile markets such as the US and Europe to the developing markets of China and India. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/634.html

INFORMATION WEEK
PEOPLE PREFER SHOPPING TO BUYING WITH MOBILE PHONES
People are more likely to shop than buy with their mobile phones, a market researcher said yesterday. Gartner found that 24% of people in the US are likely to check for prices of items on their cellular phones, while only 12% were likely to buy products. In the UK, the percentages are 18% and 11%, respectively. Younger consumers are more likely to use their mobile phones for retail activities, the survey found. In the US, respondents from 18 year old to 27 years old are, on average, nearly two times more likely to do mobile shopping activities than respondents between the ages of 43 and 61. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=GX1EAQGT1V3OWQSNDLOSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=206801216

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
MOBILE ADVERTISING GAINS BUT FACES HURDLES
The audience for mobile ads remains minuscule, and advertisers have been reluctant to commit big budgets to mobile campaigns because results are so difficult to measure. Meanwhile, privacy concerns limit the amount of customer information carriers can share with marketers, which restricts advertisers’ ability to extract key demographic and usage information that could improve their marketing. As a result, while most experts don’t expect mobile advertising to take off anytime soon, they say it will eventually come into its own. Estimates on how the market for ads on mobile devices will develop vary significantly. By 2011, Informa Group PLC in London puts the market at roughly $11.3 billion; Gartner forecasts $12.8 billion in global revenue; and research firm eMarketer Inc. sees $16 billion over the same period. One obstacle has been consumer resistance to commercial messages on mobile phones. In 2006, according to Jupiter Research, 49% of mobile users “strongly disagreed” with the concept of mobile promotions, even if they were relevant and would allow the consumer to save money. What’s more, the market still has few phones that can display video advertising to its best advantage. Jupiter says neither mobile Web nor mobile video has reached 20% penetration in Europe, largely because the cost of downloading video and other data to mobile devices has been prohibitively high.

FORBES
VODAFONE CEO CALLS FOR MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEM CONSOLIDATION
Vodafone Group PLC CEO Arun Sarin called for a reduction in the number of operating systems used in mobile phones amid a growing competitive landscape most recently gatecrashed by Internet giant Google. In a keynote address at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Sarin said the 30-40 operating systems now available must be reduced to between three and five to promote innovation within the industry, although he did not say which ones these should be. http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/02/12/afx4643911.html

MOBILE MARKETER
AOL TO LAUNCH OPEN MOBILE SOFTWARE PLATFORM
AOL joins the ranks of Google and Yahoo with plans this summer to launch its own open mobile platform. The announcement for the AOL Open Mobile Platform was made yesterday at the GSMA Mobile World Congress conference organized in Barcelona. AOL’s news comes weeks after Yahoo said it opened its Yahoo Go platform to third-party developers. Google launched its own Android open mobile platform in the fall as part of the Open Handset Alliance. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/software-technology/525.html

THE WASHINGTON POST
WIRELESS INDUSTRY MEETS IN BARCELONA
Wireless industry players place their bets on the future during the four-day Mobile World Congress opening Monday in Barcelona. They will be exploring big questions: Is wireless broadband beamed into your home in the future? Will advertisers be invading your mobile phone with location-based advertising? Exactly how personalized will your mobile phone become? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/10/AR2008021001329.html

MOBILE MARKETER
MOBILE INTERNET DEVICES TO GROW IN POPULARITY, REPORTS ABI RESEARCH
A new report predicts that always-connected mobile Internet devices will see incredibly fast growth in popularity over the next five years. Worldwide shipments of such devices will grow from 3.5 million this year to nearly 90 million in 2012, according to ABI Research. The eight classes include multimedia enthusiasts, Generation Y social networkers, younger gamers, soccer moms, lifestyle boomers, adventurers, frugal generalists, and business application users. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/manufacturers/517.html

FCC AUCTION MAY SPUR MOBILE BROADBAND NETWORKS
The FCC raised about $18.9 billion in its 700-MHz auction. “This shows that demand is still great for this spectrum,” said Nadine Manjaro, senior analyst at ABI Research, New York. “It opens the door for new innovators to come in and change the wireless industry. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/carrier-networks/497.html

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
FTC TO EXPLORE CONSUMER PROTECTION IN A MOBILE MARKETPLACE
The FTC will host a two-day Town Hall meeting to explore the evolving mobile commerce marketplace and its implications for consumer protection policy. The Town Hall, titled “Beyond Voice: Mapping the Mobile Marketplace,” follows up on the FTC’s November 2006 forum, “Protecting Consumers in the Next Tech-Ade,” which examined the key technological and business developments that will shape consumers’ core experiences in the coming decade. The Town Hall, which is free and open to the public, will be held May 6-7 in Washington, DC.http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/02/townhall.shtm

MOBILE MARKETER
MOBILE MESSAGING WILL COMPLEMENT EMAIL: FORECAST. Mobile phones are nearly ubiquitous, offering marketers a personalized platform for targeting consumers. JupiterResearch has forecast that advertisers will spend $2.9 billion by 2011 on mobile messaging and display ads. Three out of four organizations have already established a corporate standard for mobile messaging devices. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/461.html

ADVERTISING AGE
MOBILE SEARCH EXPECTED TO GAIN SHARE IN NEXT SIX MONTHS: SURVEY
The “Wave Eight” survey, conducted by market research firm Advertiser Perceptions, asked marketers to weigh in on the current type of mobile ads they used and their planned media spending for those ads in the next six months. Podcasts and video saw the biggest decline from April and May of 2007 to October and November of 2007, with the percentage of marketers who use podcasts dropping from 33% to 24% and the percentage of marketers who use video dropping from 31% to 29%. http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=123100

MOBILE MARKETER
46 MILLION MOBILE DATA USERS CONDUCT MOBILE SEARCH: NIELSEN STUDY
An estimated 46.1 million mobile data users in the US used mobile search functions in the third quarter of last year. The data, from Nielsen Mobile, showed that the most popular form of mobile search among data users in that quarter was 411, accounting for 18.1 million users. SMS was next, used by 14.1 million data users. Nielsen found that local listings were the leading search objective, with 27.1 million data users, followed by 14.8 million consumers who searched for sports scores, news or weather. About a quarter of mobile searchers, claimed they searched for mobile content. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/372.html

MOBILE MARKETER
REPORT: 78 MILLION CONSUMERS REMEMBERED MOBILE ADS LAST QUARTER
New research claims that 78 million US consumers saw or heard advertising on their mobile phones in the last quarter of 2007. The finding was published in the “Mobile Advertising Report” that was produced by mobile entertainment community Limbo in conjunction with GFK/NOP Research. The report also highlights the brands and sectors that consumers remember seeing advertised in the mobile channel. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/327.html

eMARKETER
$5 BILLION IN MOBILE ADS FOR US, EUROPE
US and Western European mobile advertising revenues will reach a total of $5.08 billion by 2012, up from an estimated $106.8 million at year-end 2007, according to Local Mobile Search’s “US and Western Europe Mobile Advertising Revenue Forecast, 2007-2012.” Local Mobile Search predicted that the US would account for about $2.3 billion of the total, with $2.8 billion coming from Western Europe. http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005813&src=dp1_home

USA TODAY
RACE IS ON FOR MOBILE WEB’S POT OF GOLD
AT&T and Verizon Wireless lately have embraced the idea of giving consumers greater control over the wireless devices and applications they use. Warming up to “consumer choice” is a new riff, to say the least. For years, both have pushed cheap, subsidized handsets to grow their wireless businesses; they penalized these same customers by imposing a raft of restrictions on devices and applications. Now, big profit potential is driving change. As the mobile Web gains traction, a big chunk of online revenue could migrate to wireless. That’s financial catnip to players of all sizes, from wireless incumbents such as AT&T to wireless newcomers such as Google. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/telecom/2008-01-09-google-phone_N.htm

MOBILE MARKETER
TOP MOBILE MARKETING STORIES OF 2007
If there is a year to which all mobile marketing achievements will be benchmarked, it surely is 2007. Mobile Marketer presents the top stories that Mobile Marketer ran this year that showed the progress and potential of the mobile channel. Go to the top stories

THE WASHINGTON POST
GROUPS TO PRESS FCC TO PROHIBIT BLOCKING OF TEXT MESSAGES
A consortium of consumer groups is planning to urge federal regulators to clarify how much control cellphone companies can have over the messages and services delivered over their networks. In a petition to be filed with the Federal Communications Commission today, these groups say the FCC should prohibit wireless carriers from blocking text messages sent by any company, nonprofit group, or political campaign. These groups also say carriers should deliver all text messages to their customers, including those sent by competing phone services. Read on...

MARKETINGSHERPA
HOW I FINALLY GOT MOBILE MARKETING RELIGION (blog post)
I was giving a speech at a PR association meeting in New Jersey in early 2001 about how the Internet was affecting PR tactics, when a group of older-looking grumpy attendees just sat there like lumps and left as soon as possible afterward. "What's up with them? Was my speech that awful?" I asked the organizer. "You were fine!" she reassured me. "These are the guys who are pretty close to retirement, and they hoped the Internet thing would not get so huge, so quickly that they would have to learn it. They just want to coast for a few more years until they can retire."

I have been reminded of that moment time and time again. Not because these people are mired in the past -- to the contrary, most are straining with every fiber toward a better, brighter future. Nope, that grumpy old person who does not really want to learn a whole new marketing tactic has turned out to be me. I, who embraced the Internet so wholeheartedly, have grown old. Do I really, really have to do it all over with mobile phones? Read on...

WALL STREET JOURNAL
WHEN PHONE MEETS WEB: BREAKING DOWN THE WALLS OF PHONES’ WEB GARDENS
Ever since wireless companies began offering Internet services on cellphones, users have shared a similar complaint, largely because the companies want to control which sites their customers visit. Phones come with browsers designed to go mainly to the Web sites the carriers chose — usually the ones they have revenue-sharing deals with. It is possible to go to sites outside this “walled garden,” but the experience is so slow and cumbersome that most users don’t try. But now those walls are beginning to break down, in a development that harkens back to AOL’s failed attempt to limit its Internet subscribers’ surfing in the 1990s. “Having a Web browser and the ability to browse the open Internet on your mobile phone will be a given in the future,” says Tony Cripps, an analyst at research firm Ovum in London. Many new browsers to ease surfing on the Web are being developed, and some wireless carriers have begun opening up Internet use for customers.

COUPONS GAIN NEW MARKET ON CELLPHONES
One of the advertising world's most durable but low-tech marketing techniques is getting a new lease on life as marketers look for a way to get their brands on cellphones -- without irking consumers concerned about privacy. One method gaining traction lets cellphone users sign up for mobile coupons that offer discounts on products ranging from CDs and DVDs to fast food. Cellfire allows users to redeem coupons via their cellphones. About a million people have signed up for the service, offered by mobile marketing firm Cellfire. The company's CEO, Brent Dusing says the service makes it easier to use coupons, commonly available in newspaper inserts. Cellfire is just one of a myriad of cellphone marketing shops cropping up to grab a piece of the mobile-marketing business. Mobile advertising is still a nascent business, with marketers in the US spending just $421 million in 2006, according to eMarketer. That compares with the $13.5 billion advertisers spent online in 2006. While marketers have long felt little compunction about saturating airwaves, print media and billboards with advertising messages, they are conscious that some consumers feel cellphones are personal space. That is prompting advertisers to tread more carefully in the new medium.

SHOPPING ON YOUR CELLPHONE IS GETTING EASIER AS CHOICES EXPAND, SECURITY IMPROVES
Retailers and wireless companies have been buzzing about enabling consumers to purchase everything from flowers to flat-screen TV sets from their mobile phones for years. But mobile versions of popular online Web sites have been slow to catch on because they have been difficult to find and can be painfully slow to load. Now new services, many of which are being offered for the first time through wireless carriers, are trying to make mobile commerce more mainstream. While many still require multiple steps and an agility with small screens, they are making mobile shopping easier through better interfaces, wider selections and more secure payment options. Ultimately, the services hope to transform the mobile commerce industry — currently dominated by purchases of digital content such as ringtones and games — into a mirror of the online shopping world where virtually any item can be retrieved with just a few clicks. Sprint Nextel Corp. today plans to announce its launch of Mobile Shopper, a mobile shopping service that is free minus charges for data usage. The service allows users to search for and buy items from some 30 stores, including Target and eBags, by clicking on a Web icon on the main menu of their data-enabled phones.

NEW YORK TIMES
REACHING MORE CUSTOMERS WITH A SIMPLE TEXT MESSAGE
When it comes to advertising on the mobile Web, marketers should be cautious. Few consumers are buying items through their mobile devices. But some online retailers say they have found success from early marketing efforts, as long as those initiatives are aimed at keeping themselves on the radar of customers as opposed to trying to prompt an immediate purchase or a visit to the company’s Web site. Of the roughly 230 million Americans with cellphones, about half have used them to send or receive text messages, and about 32 million use them to browse the Web, according to Sterling Market Intelligence. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/16/business/media/16ecom.html?ref=business

GOOGLE BETS ON MOBILE MARKET
Google is setting the stage for its biggest push yet into the US mobile market, in a strategy that delicately straddles the line between partnering and competing with the major cell phone operators. Last week, Google signed its most significant deal with a US wireless operator to date. Sprint Nextel will integrate the company’s mobile services with the carrier’s new 4G WiMax network. But in a move that could pit Google against wireless operators, the company recently announced plans to bid in the Federal Communications Commission’s upcoming 700MHz wireless spectrum auction. http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-1039_3-6199725.html

UNWIRED NATION OFFERS NEW TAKE ON TELEMARKETING
Remember those unwelcome dinnertime phone calls from marketers? Start-up UnWired Nation has come up with a new take on telephone advertising that it says will get marketing messages across without the same intrusions. UnWired will deliver automated voice alerts to mobiles on everything from news stories and stock moves to the score for a favorite sports team or details on upcoming events. The idea is consumers set the time and type of information they receive, rather than face unwanted calls at inopportune times. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-unwirednation-advertising.html

IN WIRELESS COMPETITION, MOCKERY IS THE LATEST STYLE
With growth in the wireless market slowing, Alltel is turning to a sophisticated online campaign to maintain and expand its customer base. And the country’s fifth-largest national wireless service provider, is not shy about taking on its competitors directly. Last year, the company introduced ads that featured characters who personify its four largest rivals. Last fall, Alltel substituted four nerdy sales guys, each representing a different competitor. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/business/media/07adco.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

SPRINT TO OFFER ONLINE SHOPPING ON CELL PHONES
Sprint Nextel customers can now use mobile phones to shop for everything from shoes to televisions in a new service the No. 3 US wireless company has launched to boost revenue. The company said today it is providing a mobile Web portal for shoppers to compare prices or buy about 7 million products from 30 online retailers, including Wal-Mart, Target, bluefly.com, and shoes.com. Sprint, which developed its Mobile Shopper service with privately held start-up mShopper.com, said it is the first to launch such a service in the United States. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-sprint-mobilecommerce.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

E-COMMERCE TIMES
WHAT MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT MEANS FOR SMARTPHONES
"iPhone mania" has come, and gone on and on. Subscribers in increasing numbers use mobile smartphones, and increasingly use them to store and transmit data. Nearly 60% of managers and 30% of staff in top US enterprises use smartphones as strategic business tools. Continue reading.

MARKETING SHERPA
DOES GEN Y CONSIDER EMAIL OBSOLETE?
So, what has replaced email for the younger set? For kids -- true children -- apparently it’s still text messaging. For anyone over a certain age of consent, however, texting is apparently no longer cool unless you’re stuck somewhere unbearably boring and there’s nothing else to do. Instead, for Generation Y, communication is all about MySpace and Facebook. So, instead of saying, “Email me” a Gen Y might say, “MySpace me.” MySpace is now a verb, replacing “email” and/or “text message.” http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30010

THE HORRIBLE TRUTH ABOUT MOBILE EMAIL
MarketingSherpa Content Director Anne Holland writes: If you’re marketing to high-level decision makers in corporate America, the following data point should make your jaw drop: 64% of decision makers surveyed by MarketingSherpa in partnership with SurveySampling this year said they “regularly view emails using a mobile device.” I’m talking about the BlackBerry crowd and their cohorts . . . . That said, they do sign up for email when it looks useful . . . . Problem is, 64% of them can’t read your email properly.

SPECIAL REPORT: EMAIL MARKETING TO BLACKBERRYS
Ready to hear the horrible truth? Sixty-four percent of key decision-makers are viewing your carefully crafted email on their BlackBerrys and other mobile devices, according to new MarketingSherpa data. And, chances are, your email looks downright awful. What do you do? MarketingSherpa has put together a list of tactics and creative samples to help and provides hotlinks to two cool simulators. http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30057

CHICAGO TRIBUNE
WEB SITES VIE TO GET ON DECK WITH CELL USERS; MOBILE PHONES HOLD PROMISE OF BECOMING PATH TO INTERNET
A valuable piece of virtual real estate that didn’t exist until a few years ago is now the center of attention: the mobile phone screen. As technology advances and more people are beginning to access the Internet with the push of a few buttons on their phones, wireless carriers control of that territory, though that may not last much longer. The result is a lot of jockeying among Web content providers to secure a prime slot on each phone’s equivalent of a home page, the introductory screen image seen by phone users when they want to go online. Tribune article

eMARKETER
TEXTING TO TEENS FROM EMAIL
Web-based email users will soon be sending text messages to mobile phones. Yahoo! has already announced the feature for Yahoo! Mail users. Despite a preference for email over texting, teens use a variety of tools to communicate. Making it easy to send texts through email from any Internet connection increases the chances of getting through to them. More from e-Marketer

THE NONPROFIT TIMES
NONPROFITS TESTING MOBILE PHONE SERVICE OFFERINGS
Nonprofits are offering supporters a personalized wireless service. It’s also an opportunity to reach a younger demographic. National Wildlife Federation and the National Parks Conservation Association have each announced it would become a cell phone provider. NPT story

DM NEWS
MARKETERS OPTIMISTIC ON FUTURE OF MOBILE ADS
The prevalence of cell phones has marketers seriously considering the future of mobile. There is already an 85% cell phone penetration in the US, according to pay-per-call company Ingenio. That surpasses landlines, which have 72% penetration. “There is a lot of hype about mobile marketing and where it is going,” said Neil Strother, an analyst at JupiterResearch, which estimates mobile reach will be at 2.9 billion by 2011. http://www.dmnews.com/cms/dm-news/internet-marketing/41849.html

ADWEEK
CONSUMERS NOT GAGA FOR MOBILE ADS, FINDS HARRIS INTERACTIVE
A Harris Interactive survey found consumers ambivalent to the idea of ad-supported content and services on their cellphones. When asked of the different forms of cellphone advertising, the overwhelming majority of respondents found them “not acceptable at all.” A video clip did especially poorly -- 84% said the tactic was unacceptable. http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003603965

CLICK Z NETWORK
EBAY EXPERIMENTING WITH ADS ON VOICE ALERT CALLS
Newly launched mobile company UnWired Nation, with its partner Apptera, is enabling eBay and others to not only contact customers with phone calls using a voice interaction system, but to play them ads as well. UnWired Nation has been quietly developing its Voice Publishing Platform to allow clients, including eBay, to automate the delivery of phone calls to customers and allow them to interact with a voice-based system. The auction site quietly began using the system in June of 2006 to call bidders who opt-in for alerts. http://www.clickz.com/3626605

DIRECT
KELSEY GROUP PROJECTS BOOM IN MOBILE SEARCH ADVERTISING
Spending on mobile search advertising will grow from a projected $33.2 million in 2007 to $1.4 billion in 2012, according to market forecast figures released by the Kelsey Group. It projects a compound annual growth rate of 112% for search advertising on mobile devices. Much of the growth will be in advertising supported directory assistance service, mobile Internet advertising and voice response services on mobile devices. http://directmag.com/news/boom_mobile_search/

THE WASHINGTON POST
POP-UP ADS: COMING TO A MOBILE PHONE NEAR YOU?
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other online giants have said they hope to take advantage of the great potential of mobile advertising. But some startups say that those companies are looking at delivering the ads the wrong way. While the most popular mobile ads so far are banner or text ads in mobile Web pages, some startups are pushing technology that delivers pop-up ads to mobile phones. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/09/AR2007080900050.html

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