IAB Releases Mobile Buyer’s Guide at Mobile Conference

The IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) released a first-of-its-kind Mobile Buyer’s Guide for mobile marketing agencies at the IAB Marketplace: Mobile Conference on Monday.

The guide explains the medium of mobile advertising in detail and offers valuable information for mobile marketers to help them create and run mobile marketing campaigns successfully. The guide contains everything you need to know about mobile advertising – key terms and definitions, an overview of the U.S. market, a look at the key demographics, tips to create and run mobile marketing campaigns, and a number of examples to illustrate the intricacies involved in such campaigns.

You can take a look at the guide here.

Personally, I think this is a great initiative by the IAB. Though a lot of experts predict a big future for mobile advertising, it is still in its nascent stage and an unbelievably huge number of people are completely unaware of its potential. This kind of a detailed guide will definitely help people understand the value of advertising on mobile phones.

Mobile Marketer, AdMob, Mindshare, ESPN, HBO, NBC Universal, Nestle, AIG, Deutsch, IKEA, CNN Digital, Verizon Wireless, Microsoft, Pandora, Citi, and Nokia Interactive Advertising were some of the names involved in the conference. The future of mobile marketing was discussed in detail and the general feeling among both business owners and marketers was that mobile marketing as a medium is poised for huge growth.

Some of the important points raised at the conference include

• The click through rates of mobile display ads are five to ten times more than the click through rates of banner ads on websites.

• Online advertising has reached a point where almost every other website is filled with ads and people have started ignoring a majority of those ads. Advertising on mobile phones, on the other hand, is still in its nascent stage and a lot of consumers show interest in it.

• Microsoft, which has been trying really hard to dominate both the online and the mobile space, has had very good success with mobile ads so far. Compared to their online ads, mobile ads have performed exceptionally well so far. As a result, Microsoft is planning to invest a lot of money in mobile advertising.

• At the time of recession, mobile phone advertising can help businesses irrespective of their size. Mobile advertising campaigns are easy to create, easy to manage, and give excellent results. The response rates of these campaigns are usually way higher than the response rates of traditional advertising methods.

• A lot of companies have yet to try mobile coupons, location based advertising, and other types of mobile marketing which give very good results. However, experts believe that the situation will change slowly as more and more people are becoming aware of the potential of advertising on mobile phones.

Based on what I have seen and heard so far, I am of the opinion that mobile advertising, as a medium, will break through to the mainstream in a few years from now. What do you guys think?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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So, what’s your take on the new 3G iPhone?

When I blogged about the new 3G iPhone, I didn’t look into the data plans and other stuff related to it. I blogged about its features, its cool apps, and of course, its discounted price. Apparently, not everyone is happy about that.

Both the New York Times and CNN have stories regarding the 3G iPhone and while the former says that it’s a step backward for the consumers, the latter says that it’s not so cheap after all. The bottom line of both stories - though the new iPhone looks cheaper, it’s actually more expensive than the old one as it has more hidden costs. Let me explain.

Though the prices for the 8GB and 16GB 3G iPhones have been slashed, AT&T will actually pay way more than what it will charge its customers. It means, it has to recover its costs in some other way. So, the rate of the data plans will be increased. Also, you have to sign an exclusive contract with AT&T for the new iPhone for two years and should you try to terminate the contract before that period, you’ll have to pay a hefty termination fee.

Let’s do a little math.

You pay $199 for the new 8 GB iPhone and pay $69.99 per month whereas you paid $399 for the old iPhone and paid $59.99 per month. So, for a period of two years, the new iPhone will cost you $40 more than the old iPhone.

Considering this huge amount of $40 for a period of two years, both the New York Times and CNN have decided that the new iPhone is costlier. I have nothing against their point of view, but then I’d have to say that it’s utterly myopic to come to such a conclusion.

The $40 increase they talk about is not something you pay at the time of purchase. You pay an extra $10 per month, which I think is completely reasonable considering the features I get to use in this phone.

Now, to the people who point at the iPhone and cry it’s costlier. I ask you - is it necessary to split hairs over an increase of $40 for two years? Is it that big a deal? Wow; it amounts to a whopping 5.6 cents per day. Is it that big an amount to stop you from buying a better, faster, improved phone? Anyone has answers?

Categories: Apple iPhone, All things mobile phones, Apple.

1 comment.