Category Archives: Mobile

Re-Targeting, Mobile Edition

In an App-centric mobile world it is hard for branded apps to make it onto phones. And achieving a download is only the first step in an uphill battle for brands that consists of an average app shelf life of 6 month, an average of 28 apps on an iPhone to compete against and the challenge of providing worthwhile content for return visits. Up until last week it was up to the brands to make sure their App was good enough to encourage revisits before it was sent sailing into the market. Now, Millennium Media has released a new mobile targeting tool for brands. Basically app re-targeting, a mobile banner can be served to users who have previously downloaded a specific app. Once this banner is tapped, it can deep dive into that app, a feature that has previously not been offered. Not only is the app re-targeting new, so is linking into apps. Previously apps have been one way gates capable of only driving traffic out.

There are definitely additional uses for this type of targeting. With Apps being extremely specified in their function, a very clear picture could be painted of a user’s interest and behavioral profile. For example, if you’ve downloaded a Frommer’s France Guidebook and Paris Subway Map, you’re prime for an Air France ad.

Check out the full article at:

http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/millennial-media-rolls-out-new-user-engagement-tool-for-mobile-apps-20644/

Enabling the Measurement of Mobile

This month in the US, eMarketer released Average Time Spent per Day with Major Media. The results have Mobile at 65 minutes which put it above Newspaper and Magazine with a combined time of 44 minutes. (Source: eMarketer, Dec 2011)

With more time spent and a greater share of ad revenue, the mobile channel is becoming a major one in the market. When it comes to the measurement though, it is still the wild west.

Michael Kaushansky, SVP of Insights and Analytics at Havas Media, has over 15 years in analytics experience and helps to spearhead all things Analytics and Reporting for Media Contacts in the US and Canada. In a recent blog post Kaushansky calls for three things to help advertisers become more accountable for their mobile spends.

1) A developed measurement framework;

2) Centralized data collection;

3) Provide an integrated reporting view.

For the full post check out:

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/162688/enabling-the-measurement-of-mobile.html#ixzz1gWQ78oWX

Digital Omnivores from comScore

I wish we had Canadian data along the same lines as this release from comScore: Digital Omnivores. It helps to frame something I heard last week. “Why do I want a giant screen that I need to nail to the wall? I want a smaller screen that I can carry all over the house.” Simply, these magical devices are changing the way people access media. My guess is your smartphone is your first and last media occasion of the day. Thanks Brent for sending this over today.

QR Code #Fail

As of late, I’ve taken a keen interest in QR codes.  They are the little black and white matrix cubes that have started to appear on ads around the world in the last year, typically in the bottom right or left corner. These QR codes provide consumers with extended information on a product or fancier things like a coupon or incentive when scanned with your mobile phone with the appropriate scanner app.

I think they can be a great addition to a campaign if used with properly and also give your brand the extra edge. But in the last couple weeks, I’ve started to see them misused in too many places.  QR code enhanced ads are being placed in trains and planes and other places that don’t provide Wi-Fi or access to the internet. Wait a minute.. Don’t you need this in order to benefit from scanning a QR code?

Oops! An innocent mistake.. overlooked by all ad parties involved. Here’s a few fun examples..

The next time you’re on the subway or on an airplane, take a look at the ads and you’re likely to spot a few that incorporate the little black and white QR code. You may as well connect the dots with a marker in hand… cause that’s all they’re good for in areas without wi-fi.

Playbook to run android apps

It’s always encouraging when an organization recognizes their weakness.  As a blackberry guy – I’m looking forward to testing out the playbook even more with these added features.

Click here for more

Your phone is going to be the centre of your universe.

Have a look at the photo here on the Globe and Mail’s story about the Motorola Atrix. If your phone as the storage, the processor and is a good interface out to all that content our there; what else do you need? Just a bigger screen and a regular keyboard. But what if they starting adding these docking gizmos onto TVs? Or better yet – what if you didn’t need the dock your phone and your phone drove your tv and operated as the remote control?

What was big at the CES show

Every year I follow CES closely to see if Apple will come back and announce some kind of upgrade path for the Pippin platform they launched there in 1996. I love playing Ultraman but I have heard rumours of multiplayer games at bandwidth speeds above 14.4 mbps.

Products announced at CES that go on to success take years before their impact is felt in the media world. Nonetheless, past shows have provided us with VCRs, Xboxes and Blu-Ray so we cannot ignore what is coming down the pipe at us. This year, CES is even more so as companies follow the iPad form factor hoping to improve on its capabilities. However it is not the year of the tablet even though there were dozens of them announced; many of them will join the Halls of the Short Lived along with many many Atari products.

The biggest impact (IMHO) from this year’s show comes from the Android Honeycomb 3.0 OS that is powering some of the tablets like the Toshiba one. This operating system is designed to power tablets but rumours are milling that it would migrate to smartphones as well. That opens the door to portable content available across the four screen universe as tablets join desktops, phones and televisions and that’s where things get really interesting. No matter how good the technology is it all relies on consumer adoption. People are familiar with and have adopted Gmail, Google Maps and a host of other Google software so Google has a good base to expand its footprint from small screens, phones, to big screens, TVs. The war for the big screen in the living room is being waged and not one broadcaster fields an army. These are truly strange times.

What’s the verdict are we seeing benefits from increased Telco competition?

I’m not sure I agree with this report about Canadians not yet seeing benefits from increased competition but I would love to see further reduction in packages to mimic the US and UK.

What do you think?

For more click here

Trash talking moves from the court to the….tablet market??

I’m a BB guy and definitely looking forward for the BB playbook coming out in 2011.  Now don’t get me wrong I love the Apple brand and everything in its DNA.  And yes, I luv the trash talking Steve Jobs is putting out there now on the Playbook and any other tablet that competes with the iPad.

Click here to see it for yourself.

Jobs trash talks RIM and so what of mobile?

By now you have heard of Steve Job’s tirade against all others today on the conference call. Apple’s got $50 billion in the bank, iPhone 4′s are sold as fast as they can make them, the iPad is flying off the shelf and on and on and on. But how does that sit with the mobile landscape? First I need to declare that I picked up a Blackberry Torch last week after using an iPhone 3 for the last couple of years. I was reminded of a horrible summer in 1990 when I was forced to use Windows 3 instead of my usual Mac. I never understood why Windows machines came with a mouse cord that was over 8 feet long. Anyway back to the Torch, it works, it’s heavy, the screen is ok, touch typing has many errors and the dictionary is stupid – “S” is only a word in the official Scrabble dictionary not in everyday English. It doesn’t pick up wifi as well as the iPhone but the worst part is the display of information. Web pages do not look as nice and browser navigation has all the ergonomics of DDS or Telmar. So if this is the dog that RIM has in the fight – God help them. Keep in mind that I am comparing RIM’s best with a 2 year old iPhone not that sleek gorgeous iPhone 4.

So let’s look at two important charts.
1. Apple’s stock price versus RIM

And which platform handles the most web traffic?

I think the problem is the Blackberry is a 2nd generation device.
1st generation : happy to make a wireless call, winner Nokia, Motorola.
2nd generation: phone + email, winner Blackberry.
3rd generation: phone, email, internet, winner iPhone
4th generation: add apps, winner initially iPhone but Android has momentum and look out, Microsoft might be back in the game, still too soon to tell
5th generation: add geo-social awareness, winner: TBD