More about CBS and Loopt’s location based mobile advertising campaign

I’ve already blogged about Loopt and CBS experimenting on location based mobile advertising technology. This, however, is considered a very important step in mobile advertising industry by many. There are two main reasons for this.

Firstly, not everyone is very enthusiastic about location based advertising. There are lots of concerns over issues like privacy and spam. With this being the case, this step is considered a very important one, based on which others might follow suit.

Second, the way Loopt and CBS have made things easier for customers in this mobile ad campaign is very impressive. To get an ad, you should turn on the locator button in your phone. The locator button will help advertisers find your location, even without GPS facility, as the technology pings cellphone towers and finds the location. Then, when you check out mobile websites like CBS News or Sportsline, you’ll get a banner ad based on your location. The idea of banner ad has a couple of advantages. First, it doesn’t clutter your phone’s inbox and second, it doesn’t interrupt you with rings.

You can turn it off at any point and you can opt out of the service any time you wish. What this means is – you opt in for the service, you get ads only when you want, and you can stop it any time you wish.

With this kind of a setup, Loopt and CBS are hopeful that customers will find this ad campaign interesting. If everything goes well, this might be the most prominent step in taking location based mobile advertising to customers on a large scale.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Google - story so far and the road ahead

Google is one of those things that most of us just can’t live without. At least, I know I can’t. It has become so indispensable in our lives that we find ourselves searching for something in Google every day. With everyone and their mother using Google as their default search engine, the popularity it enjoys is immense. It’s also the reason why Microsoft and Yahoo pale in comparison. So, when Google announced that it will focus on mobile phone market, a lot of people were surprised. I, for one, was surely surprised. I mean, why would a company which enjoys almost a monopoly in online search think of going into mobile phones? But apparently, Google knew what it was doing.

For long, Google has been enjoying the number one spot in online search. Yahoo and Microsoft were the contenders but ‘so close, yet so far’ was their case. But Google was wary of its competitors, especially Microsoft. Given Microsoft’s reputation to buy companies, a deal with Yahoo was almost on the cards. Steve Ballmer apparently told Yahoo board that together, they can be a great threat to the dominancy of Google and topple it easily. But the deal has not happened and Google, as of now, is still the number one. But for how long was the question. In order to sustain its position in the market, Google had to prove that it was not a ‘one product’ company. The solution came in the form of mobile web.

Why mobile web? It’s simple arithmetic. There are more than 3 billion mobile phones in the world. In just about a couple of years from now, there will be 4 billion mobile users in the world. In other words, there will be three mobile phones for every PC in this world. And to add to this, mobile camera, MMS, mobile internet, mobile video, mobile audio, and GPS – features which were considered luxury once – have become so common these days that we see these features in almost every other phone. What this means to advertisers around the world is that they have a new channel for advertising – the mobile phone.

Mobile advertising, as they say, is the next big thing and there’s billions to be made in the industry which is still in its nascent stage. We hardly go out without our mobile phones. We attend every call and read every text message we get. So, an advertisement in a mobile phone is sure to get noticed. Especially, if you can send targeted ads to people, it will have a bigger impact than traditional advertising. Add this to the fact that Google specializes in targeted advertising. The answer is simple – Google planned to enter the mobile advertising territory big time.

Out came Google Android. A platform which can probably make Google as big a name in the mobile web as it is in online search. But Google knows that this will not be a smooth ride. It will have to struggle considerably to cope with Yahoo, iPhones, Windows Live Mobiles, Blackberries, and more. But competition is something that brings the best out of everyone. Let’s just hope that this competition brings the best out of every big player out there in the market and ultimately benefits us – the end users.

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

2 comments.

CBS joins hands with Loopt to bring location based mobile advertising

A few weeks back, CBS announced that it will experiment with location based mobile advertising and based on the results, will think about taking the advertising campaign to the next level.

It was announced that CBS Mobile unit will team up with Loopt, a famous social networking service, in this advertising campaign. The team has got two tailor-made mobile websites to run this advertising campaign – CBS Mobile News and CBS Mobile Sports.

As of now, these ads will appear on your mobile screen only if your phone has GPS capabilities and if you are a customer of Sprint Nextel or Boost Mobile, who have signed deals with Loopt. However, CBS is confident of getting more carriers sign a deal with them to reach out to a larger customer base.

Loopt’s GPS based technology will help advertisers send targeted ads based on the mobile users’ location. Now, to stay clear of controversies and privacy issues regarding location based advertising, CBS and Loopt have announced that this advertising service will be made available strictly on an opt-in/opt-out basis. Meaning, if you are interested in getting the ads, you can opt in and you can opt out of the same at any time. Also, they have announced that the mobile ads will be delivered anonymously and they will not store your location history.

Something that Cyriac Roeding of CBS said made a lot of sense to me. When asked further about the importance of adding value in mobile advertising, he said that this is a game in which the customer should win at the end of the day, for if he doesn’t, there is no game to be played. Spot on, I should say!

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile Social Networking.

2 comments.

Say bye to GPS, locate everything through a chip - says S5 Wireless

Think of the situations where you would want to find out a specific location. When you’ve lost your pet, someone has stolen your car, or worse, someone has kidnapped you and the police needs to find your location. Now, there is a simple solution in the form of a chip, that too a very small one.

Utah based S5 Wireless has come up with a brand new technology which can potentially replace the need for GPS (Global Positioning Systems) devices. They have come up with a tiny little electronic chip which can be placed anywhere you want and can be used to track the location perfectly. Once the chip is placed somewhere, you can track the location of the chip using cell phone towers and can pinpoint the actual location of the chip within two seconds.

The most important fact about this chip is its manufacturing cost. It is way cheaper than you imagine – it takes only about $1 to manufacture a chip of this kind. This ideal combination of low-cost and technology can potentially replace GPS devices which are way too costly and can track the location only if the direct line of the satellites is not obstructed. The only requirement for the chip though is that there needs to be at least three cellphone towers in the area where the chip is located in order to track its location perfectly.

Before you privacy advocates jump on me for promoting such an “intrusive” technology, let me make it clear. The chips will come with an on/off switch which you can use to your convenience. You can keep it switched off if you don’t want to be tracked.

Now, here’s the thing which caught my attention. Though the technology was developed to address the issues of emergencies, it can also be used very effectively for – you guessed it right; mobile advertising. The CEO of S5 Wireless, Mr. David Carter said this technology could very well turn out into a path-breaking one and he also added that if such technologies were to be used for mobile advertising, it would be far more effective than what it is right now and the advertisers will be able to reach out to the customers more effectively. He also said that there will come a day when people can actually enjoy cell service free of cost, thanks to location based mobile advertising.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Mobile Posse - a notable cellphone advertising player

Since the cellphone advertising industry is growing like never before, I see a lot of companies coming up with innovative ideas to reach customers through their cell phones, almost every other day. Mobile Posse is one such company, but unlike most other companies, they know what they are doing.

Mobile Posse has gained a lot of reputation in a relatively short period of time and that tells you something about the success of their advertising methods. As a customer, you buy a cell phone. The cell phone comes pre-installed with an application from Mobile Posse, as the carrier has a deal with Mobile Posse. After you start using your cellphone, if it’s idle for some time, you get an ad. So, if you don’t make or receive calls for say 30 minutes, you get an ad in your cell phone. The ad is usually an image or an attractive ad copy which tempts you to click on it. There will be an option called “Enter” or “View More” and you can always click on it to know the details of the ad. If you don’t want to check out that ad, you can simply click any other button on your cell phone and zoom; the ad is gone in a jiffy. This works best for customers as it’s unobtrusive and simple. Also, if the image or text displayed is creative enough, a lot of the consumers will be tempted to go for it and check out the ad. This makes it even better for the marketers.

Now, spice up this idea a tad and bring in the concept of GPS. You stand next to a coffee shop and you get an ad. It says, “The best deal on your favorite latte. Just enter Cathy’s Café and get a 50% discount on your favorite latte.” It hardly takes a minute for you to enter the café as you are standing next to it and this proximity issue means that at least seven out of ten people will be tempted to check out the offer, which in itself is a great success for the marketer.

I’ve read somewhere that the emergence of new ideas is the best indicator of an industry’s growth. If that’s the case, then cellphone advertising and marketing industry is sure to have helluva growth, what with companies like this coming up with new marketing techniques every other day.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

2 comments.

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