Blyk Launches Operator Network in the Netherlands

Cell phone advertising firm Blyk recently launched an operator service in the Netherlands. It has announced that it has joined hands with Vodafone and will be operating on its network. If you remember, it signed a similar deal with Orange some time back. Experts think that this partnership signals the recovery of the mobile advertising market which was affected to some extent due to the recession.

Blyk sends targeted mobile ads to its subscribers in exchange for free call minutes and free text messages. It calls itself a ‘mobile network for young people’ and targets people aged 16-29. People who subscribe to the service will get targeted ads from various brands including Nike, McDonald’s, Electronic Arts, and more. They will, in exchange, get free talk time and SMS credit.

Blyk has also announced that it is interested in fast growing markets and its next launch, not surprisingly, will be in India. Entering India, a country with more than 300 million mobile users, can be a great opportunity for the company to grow. The company already has an office in Delhi. While it has not revealed any further details, it is said that the launch could happen pretty soon.

Blyk, as some of you might already be aware of, is known for its highly targeted mobile advertising campaigns. If the response rates of its campaigns in the past are anything to go by, it can be said that it will be just as big a success in the Netherlands as it is in the UK. Let’s wait and watch, shall we?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Blyk.

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Blyk to Sign a Partnership Deal with Orange

Blyk, the popular ad-funded mobile operator from the UK, is about to sign a partnership deal with Orange. The deal, as you can easily guess, offers free talk time and SMS credit for users for getting ads on their mobile phones.

This marks a new direction for Blyk as a company, as it is focusing to get more partnership deals instead of catering to customers directly. A few months back, it was announced that Blyk will no longer accept new customers for its subscription programs.

According to the deal with Orange, customers will be given £15 worth of SMS and voice credit for getting ads on their phones. The target customer segment, as always, comprises teenagers and young adults (aged 16-24 years).

Blyk has about 200,000 subscribers and the company is looking for more partnerships like this to tap into their subscriber base. According to sources, a small team from Blyk has been working very actively to find more partners in the UK and around the world.

I don’t think Blyk will find it too hard to find potential partners to sign such deals with. After all, the company is quite popular and has a reasonably large subscriber base. Most importantly, its subscribers respond to mobile advertising campaigns. It is a fact which has been proved without a shadow of a doubt in the past. So, I think a lot of companies will be interested to join hands with the company. It will be interesting to see how things turn out for Blyk. Watch this space for more details folks.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Blyk.

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Ad funded mobile operator Blyk has 200,000 subscribers now

It’s time for a little celebration in good old Blighty. Blyk, the London based ad funded mobile operator, has reached yet another milestone quietly. The company has increased the number of its subscribers to a whopping 200,000.

To understand the significance of this feat, we need to put things in perspective. Blyk is the first ad funded mobile operator in the world. When it started off, it had just one goal. It was to get 100,000 subscribers within the first year. However, since the company was funded completely by advertisements, no one really thought it was possible. The idea of people getting talk time in return for getting ads on their mobile phone didn’t sound majorly appealing at that point of time. However, the response was so good that it reached its goal in just six months.

Now, just a few months after reaching its goal of 100,000 subscribers, the company has crossed yet another milestone – 200,000 loyal customers – All of them willing to get ads on their mobile phone to get free talk time and free text messages.

The important thing to be noted here is that the response rate for these mobile ads has been nothing short of terrific. 25% of the customers who get ads on their mobile phone respond to them. In other words, it costs only around $0.85 per response, making it highly profitable for the advertisers.

200,000, when compared to the millions of subscribers in the UK, might seem like a small number. But you have to consider an important point here. This is the beginning of a trend. Mobile advertising is still in its infant stage and a lot of mobile users around the world are yet to realize its benefits. So, in a relatively new market, Blyk has been able to get 200,000 loyal subscribers within such a short span of time. And it has managed to achieve the highest response rates at the lowest costs possible. In other words, it has got a highly targeted customer base which is a dream for any advertiser. With the number of mobile users increasing by the day and people becoming aware of mobile advertising, you can only expect these numbers to up. To put it simply – watch out for Blyk.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Blyk.

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Blyk to expand its market further

Blyk is one company which I’ve written a lot about in this blog, even at the risk of sounding like a paid blogger. But then, that’s me. If I like something – it might be a concept, a company, a person, or whatever – I’ll write about it.

The success story of Blyk is one of the most talked about stories in town right now. When the company first announced that it will offer free talk time and free text message facility to customers who opt in to mobile ads, not many thought it was a good idea. But then, it reached its target of 100,000 subscribers in the UK in just six months. The company’s customer base is full of young people who don’t mind getting targeted, relevant ads on their mobile phone. Now, thanks to this great success, Blyk has announced its plans to expand its virtual empire further.

The company will soon start its operations in Germany, Spain, Netherlands, and Belgium. If you remember, it announced its plans to further expand its network quite some time back when it got the much-needed funding from Goldman Sachs and Kuwait’s Industrial Financial Investments Company.

In my opinion, Blyk has set an example, a precedent for operators around the world. If you know your target customer segment and target them properly with the right plan, you will almost always succeed.

Categories: Blyk.

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Blyk’s mobile advertising campaigns get great response

When I talk about mobile advertising being effective and all that jazz, I just mean one thing. That is the response rate. There are advertisements on TV, newspapers, magazines, radio, and the internet, but none of them has been as effective as ads on mobile phones. And to think that mobile advertising is still in its nascent stage!!!

Take for example, Blyk. Now, Blyk is a well-known name for regular readers of this blog, as I’ve talked about it quite a few times. Recently, Blyk reached the landmark of 100,000 subscribers in the U.K. in just six months after its start. Let’s take a look at some numbers here.

The average response rate of mobile advertising campaigns from Blyk is a whopping 29%. It is miles ahead of others in this aspect. Especially, for some ad campaigns, the response rate is just unbelievable. Some time back, Blyk did a promotional campaign for Nick Hornby’s novel Slam which was released by Penguin Books. The response rate was an astounding 69%. Can you even think of getting this kind of a response from newspaper ads or even online ads?

This is simply why I keep saying that when done well, a mobile advertising campaign could bring in phenomenal results. What say you?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Blyk.

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