Alright people. For one last time, one freaking last time, I’ll try to clarify some of the most common misconceptions about mobile advertising.
What is mobile advertising?
It’s time to come out of the cave, pal. Even my granny knows about it. Mobile advertising is nothing but ads on your mobile phone – as simple as that.
Oh dear god, why do they send me ads?
To help you take part in the space research program sponsored by the NASA. Okay; I’m kidding. Ads on mobile phones serve the same purpose as ads on TV, magazines, newspapers, radio, and the internet. All these ads want to sell you something.
Ugh; can you explain further?
Sure I can. You see, you take your mobile phone with you no matter where you go, don’t you? You get ads on TV, you see ads on magazines and newspapers, and you have ads all over the internet. However, there is a fundamental difference between these ads and mobile ads. The response rate for the former is not so impressive. The reason is – you can always skip those ads. You can change the channel during an ad break, you can simply overlook an ad in a magazine, and you can easily block ads in the internet using your browser. However, with mobile phones, the response rate is very high as people will surely check out text messages and attend calls. In other words, an ad on a mobile phone will never go unnoticed.
What the hell? How can they send me ads without my permission?
Relax bro. No one is going to send ads to your mobile phone without your permission. This is precisely the reason why they’ve come up with something called the opt-in facility. What this means is – you can opt in to a mobile advertising campaign any time you want. If you don’t like it for some reasons, you can easily opt out of it any time you want. Easy as 1-2-3.
But why would I say yes to mobile ads, even if I had the choice to opt out any time I want?
Good question. See, mobile ads are not sent by loonies on a random basis. There is something called targeted advertising which makes things better. When you opt in to a mobile advertising campaign, you’ll be usually asked about your interests, likes and dislikes, brands you like, products you use, and a whole bunch of such questions. Using this data, mobile advertisers will be able to send relevant, targeted ads to you.
For example, if you’re a big foodie, an advertiser can send a discount coupon for a big Mac. If you’re a fitness freak, he can send you a WAP link to a site which discusses the latest trends in fitness and bodybuilding. In other words, the ads you get on your mobile phone will match your interests so you can make use of the information one way or the other.
All that is fine. I don’t want mobile ads. Now what do I do?
That’s cool. If you don’t want mobile ads, don’t opt in to any mobile ad campaign. Strictly say no to them. If you’re already a part of a campaign, simply opt out of it.
Do I only get promotional offers and discount coupons via mobile ads?
No, there are more interesting offers. How does free talk time sound to you? Or how about free text messages? Hell, there are companies that pay you to get ads on your mobile phone. There are companies which offer such things for real. Virgin does that, Blyk does that, and a number of other operators are contemplating on that. If you have doubts, check out this, this, this, this, and this.
Oh that’s nice. But I read in XYZ website that mobile ads are intrusive, a threat to privacy, etc?
Screw them. What do you think? The telecom industry is highly competitive. They just can’t afford to annoy their customers. Especially in this age of internet, they just can’t afford to make a mistake for they’ll be ripped apart by thousands of websites and blogs.
But I’m still not convinced?
Well; I think this story will convince you. China Mobile, the biggest mobile operator in the world, was made to eat humble pie due to mobile ad spam. So, I repeat, operators will not take the risk of annoying their customers with spam ads.
But what if operators all over the world made a pact and started sending ads no matter what?
What if the sun exploded? What if aliens popped out of your PC? What if George Bush got elected for the third time? What if Paris Hilton became a professor in Harvard?
See, these what-ifs are endless. Most importantly, they’re not gonna happen. So, stop thinking like a fiction writer.
Phew; so there it is folks. Hope that clarifies all your doubts about mobile phone advertising. Now, tell me. What more could I do to convince the so-called experts who constantly spew hate-filled passages about mobile advertising without any basic understanding?
Tags: Blyk, China Mobile, discount coupons, free talk time, free text messages, George Bush, mobile ads, mobile advertising, mobile advertising campaign, mobile phone, NASA, Paris Hilton, promotional offers, rant, targeted ads, Virgin, WAP
Technorati Tags: Blyk, China Mobile, discount coupons, free talk time, free text messages, George Bush, mobile ads, mobile advertising, mobile advertising campaign, mobile phone, NASA, Paris Hilton, promotional offers, rant, targeted ads, Virgin, WAP
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Rant.
Following the mobile advertising scandal which rocked the entire nation, China Mobile and Focus Media have apologized for the major inconvenience caused. The scandal has even made the Chinese government take notice and government officials are investigating to make sure such incidents do not happen ever again.
China Mobile has clarified that the incident happened due to some management loopholes and that they will be rectified soon. China Daily has a detailed report on this issue.
If you’re not following this news, make sure you read this first and then come back here.
Tags: China Daily, China Mobile, Chinese government, Focus Media, loopholes, mobile advertising
Technorati Tags: China Daily, China Mobile, Chinese government, Focus Media, loopholes, mobile advertising
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.
China Mobile has set the precedent for mobile phone operators all over the world by taking a strict action against a company which sent spam mobile ads to users.
Last weekend, a media report claimed that Focus Wireless, a subsidiary of Focus Media, was sending spam ads to mobile users. China Mobile, in return, has closed the message service ports through which the spam ads were sent.
Focus Wireless is a company which deals with mobile advertising and has a considerably big customer database, which it purchased from leading operators in the country. These mobile ads are usually sent from the message service ports of big operators. Through these ports, Focus Wireless sends highly targeted ads to the mobile users in its database. Recently, it started sending irrelevant, spam ads to customers and received a lot of flak all over the country. When this was reported to China Mobile, whose service ports are used by Focus Wireless, the response was swift.
China Mobile has three channels through which customers can file a complaint against spam ads. Within 48 hours, you will get a response regarding your complaint, and that is a guarantee from China Mobile. The General Manager of China Mobile said that China Mobile has a strict no-spam policy and it will do everything to make sure customers don’t receive spam ads.
This, according to me, is a very good statement from a responsible mobile operator. Because, spam ads are something people detest the most – in the internet and even more so in the mobile phone. So, this sort of incidents will reinforce customers’ faith in operators.
Tags: China Mobile, Focus Media, Focus Wireless, internet, message service ports, mobile ads, mobile advertising, mobile phone, mobile phone operators, no spam policy, spam, spam ads, spam mobile ads
Technorati Tags: China Mobile, Focus Media, Focus Wireless, internet, message service ports, mobile ads, mobile advertising, mobile phone, mobile phone operators, no spam policy, spam, spam ads, spam mobile ads
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.
I hope some of you know that mobile advertising and mobile technology were among the most discussed topics in the World Economic Forum in Davos. Among the points discussed, two things caught my attention.
First one being the statement made by the CEO of China Mobile, in which he said that people actually consider mobile phone as their extension and they use it continuously, day in and day out, to reach out their near and dear ones. He also went on to add that “if someone doesn’t have a mobile phone they will lack basic functions of what it is to be human.” This is one reason why I feel world will soon wake up to the power and potential of mobile advertising. When 2/3rd of the world goes mobile and feels it’s a part of their life, you have no choice but to devise a way to reach them via their mobile phones.
The second one is the point made by Zucker from NBC. He said that the mobile advertising market, especially in the U.S., is fragmented and it’s the reason why it hasn’t reached a point where it could be considered a mainstream advertising medium, at least right now. He said that mobile content providers are only paid 10% of the revenue and the rest goes to the carriers, which he thought was atrocious. This disparity makes it tougher for content providers and carriers to get along and improve the mobile advertising sector.
I think that’s quite a revelation. But like any other industry, it’ll be tough to get going in the initial stage for mobile advertising. One hopes content providers and carriers soon realize that it’s a symbiotic relationship and one cannot exist without the other.
Tags: advertising, carriers, China Mobile, Davos, mobile advertising, mobile content providers, mobile phone, NBC, World Economic Forum
Technorati Tags: advertising, carriers, China Mobile, Davos, mobile advertising, mobile content providers, mobile phone, NBC, World Economic Forum
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.
I’m still checking out the latest happenings at the World Economic Forum at Davos and interestingly, mobile advertising and technology is being discussed quite seriously.
Firstly, let me throw you some numbers. China Mobile adds roughly 6 million new subscribers every month; that’s right, month after month. Going at this rate, it could add 72 million mobile subscribers by the end of this year. Already, there are 3 billion mobile phone users in the world and the number is growing stronger than ever. Sounds amazing; doesn’t it?
A lot of people in the panel, including Google CEO Eric Schmidt, were of the opinion that mobile advertising could be huge. Panel Moderator David Kirkpatrick said that mobile phone is rapidly becoming the de facto internet device, replacing the need of a PC or a laptop for that matter.
Wang Jianzhou, CEO of China Mobile, seconded the opinion of Eric Schmidt that location based mobile advertising could be the future of mobile advertising. He believes that it will enable advertisers to send special, customized information that the subscribers can make use of. As I already discussed, location based mobile advertising, when implemented properly, could be a great way for both advertisers and customers to benefit from each other.
It’s really interesting to see a lot of high profile people discussing the issue of mobile advertising at a stage as big as the World Economic Forum. Mobile advertising industry couldn’t have expected a better way to kick off the new year.
Tags: CEO, China Mobile, Davos, Eric Schmidt, Google, location based advertising, Mobile advertisers, mobile advertising, mobile subscribers, World Economic Forum
Technorati Tags: CEO, China Mobile, Davos, Eric Schmidt, Google, location based advertising, Mobile advertisers, mobile advertising, mobile subscribers, World Economic Forum
Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.
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