The Need for Mobile Websites - Will Big Brands Wake Up?

Here’s a news item that surprised me to say the least. Interbrand recently released its list of the top 100 brands for 2009 and nearly 1/3rd of the brands in that list do not have their own mobile website.

If your reaction to this news is ‘dude, what’s the big deal?’ – let me tell you something. According to statistics, the number of people who use smart phones (read iPhone, Blackberry, Android, etc) keeps increasing every year. In North America alone, nearly 26% of mobile users use the mobile web facility on their phone regularly. In other words, they use their mobile phone to browse the web. With more and more people buying internet enabled high end phones, it is only logical to assume that this percentage will grow significantly in the near future. So, you’d assume that big brands would have woken up to reality long time back and created their own mobile websites, right? Well; it turns out it is not the case.

Remember – I am not talking about small, lesser known brands here. Big, famous brands like Coca Cola and GE do not have a mobile website. To say that this is surprising is a huge understatement.

I have talked about the importance of big brands having a good mobile presence and how important it is to have a decent mobile website. I firmly believe that a well designed, easy to access mobile website is of paramount importance for any brand, leave alone huge brands like Coca Cola and GE.

Some could argue that iPhone and certain other mobile phones offer a full browser experience and so there is no need for a mobile website. Guess what? Not everyone in the U.S. uses an iPhone. There are other phones whose mobile browsers are not nearly as good as the iPhone mobile browser. What about the people who use these phones? What are they supposed to do?

Contrary to what most people think, browsing the web using a mobile phone is not easy. The screen is small, the keypad is small, and it is certainly not as easy as browsing the web on your PC or laptop. This is why you need to have a customized mobile website which loads quickly and easy to navigate. It is not hard to do. Facebook has a very good mobile site, Toyota has one, MySpace has one, Microsoft has one, and a number of other famous brands have one too. So, the only explanation is that some brands have not yet realized the potential of mobile internet and are reluctant to reach out to their users through their most personal device – the mobile phone.

I hope it does not stay this way. The future is mobile and let us hope – for the sake of all mobile users in the world – these brands realize this sooner than later.

Categories: All things mobile phones, Mobile Web.

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Coca Cola and Hindustan Unilever launch mobile advertising campaigns

Two of the major FMCG brands, Hindustan Unilever and Coca Cola, have recently launched mobile advertising campaigns in India.

Mobile advertising in India is becoming popular of late and we’ve already seen some evidences of clever mobile advertising campaigns from film personalities in India. Now, it’s the turn of big brands to get into mobile marketing seriously.

While Coca Cola has launched a mobile advertising campaign for its fizzy drink Sprite, Hindustan Unilever has launched one for its ice-cream brand Cornetto. Among other things, you need to understand the ‘timing’ of these campaigns. This is the summer season in India and believe me, it’s h-o-t. In fact, it’s so hot that more than 50% of annual soft drink sales happen during this season. So, what better way to boost it further than by launching a mobile advertising campaign? Clever stuff, I should say.

Coincidentally, both these companies have sought the services of Oxigen, a value-added service provider for mobile phones. If this turns out to be a success, we can see more and more companies getting into mobile advertising in the coming days.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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