Steve Madden’s Plan to Enter the Mobile World

Optimistic predictions about mobile advertising are not new at all. You can find a whole bunch of experts claiming that the mobile phone will become the most sought-after advertising platform in the future. However, when something that validates these claims happens, it surely is exciting.

Steve Madden, a San Francisco based retail shoe brand, has been bitten by the mobile bug and is considering shifting its focus on mobile phone advertising. Jared Horowitz, who is in charge of the business development section of Steve Madden, has stated that it has become an integral part of their digital business.

As of now, only 0.5% of Steve Madden’s revenue is generated by mobile users. The company, however, is hopeful that the revenue will increase significantly in the coming years if they develop a mobile optimized site and drive traffic to it by running innovative mobile advertising campaigns. So, to prepare themselves for the mobile juggernaut, they have come up with a long list of plans. They include

• Developing a mobile optimized WAP site which is easy to navigate.

• Adding lots of interactive features to the site like click-to-call functionality (to help people get in touch with sales persons directly) and mobile social networking functionality (to help people share their favorite stuff with their friends via email, Twitter, or Facebook).

• Adding a Store Locator feature to help people find the nearest Steve Madden store.

• Developing an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch to make it easier for iPhone users to reach the site.

• Setting up multiple revenue streams with mobile web display ads, mobile search ads, and in-app display ads.

• Introducing SMS offers and mobile coupons to engage potential customers.

• Devising innovative mobile marketing strategies to target potential customers.

According to the numbers revealed by the company, the non-optimized site of Steve Madden got more than 55,000 visitors via mobile devices in the month of February. There were more than 300,000 page views and 450 purchases. If they go ahead with the plan and implement the ideas they have come up with, they will be able to get a lot more visitors in a short span of time. More traffic, needless to add, will result in more revenue, which is always good news for any company. It should be interesting to see where Steve Madden goes from here.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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A Detailed Look at Google’s Acquisition of AdMob

So, Google has acquired AdMob. Is it a big deal? Yes, it is. Will it have a big impact on mobile advertising industry? Yes, it will. Is it surprising? No, it is not. Let me tell you why.

Regular readers of this blog know a thing or two about AdMob. It is one of the few mobile advertising companies that I’ve written a lot about on this blog. Anyone who has seen the growth chart of AdMob will hardly find it surprising that a giant like Google has acquired the company. After all, the company has served billions of mobile ads and its clientele include big names like Yahoo.

AdMob specializes in web display ads and application display ads. When mobile users surf the net or play a mobile video game, they will be served targeted ads. Google, as you know, specializes in search ads. When mobile users search for something on the internet, the results page they get will contain targeted ads. Now, combine these two technologies and you have a killer mobile marketing strategy.

Google has spent an astronomical $750 million on this acquisition. Some people think it has spent a lot of money to acquire what many perceive a small business. I do not think so. Google, as we all know, has been trying to make its presence felt in mobile advertising market for quite some time now. While it is certainly seen as a force to be reckoned with, its success on the mobile market is nowhere near its success on the internet. So, acquiring a company like AdMob can help Google establish itself on the mobile phone advertising market.

Moreover, this acquisition will give Google a chance to understand the dynamics of the mobile advertising market. It now has access to a huge amount of data which includes the usage data of various mobile applications. It now knows what kind of mobile apps are preferred by mobile users and what kind of ads have the best conversion rate. With this knowledge, Google can fine tune its advertising strategies and get even better results. So, in my opinion, this acquisition can only be good for Google in the long run.

If you think about it, what Google has done is not surprising at all. You are a new entrant to the market. You see that a number of players are already going strong. You can grab a big share of the market by either competing with them or by buying them out. When you have enough money to buy half of your competition, the latter sounds like a much better option, don’t you think? Something tells me that we’ll see more such acquisitions in the recent future.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Google.

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The Future of QR Codes in America

A lot has been said about QR codes and the role they can play in mobile advertising. QR codes make it easier to store a lot of information which can be decoded at a high speed, publishers can reach mobile users effectively by placing QR codes in their print ads, the demand for QR codes in advertising will increase thanks to the surge in high end phone sales, and so on and so forth. In fact, Microsoft has even developed its own 2D barcode technology called Microsoft Tag. Yet, there is a big question that needs to be answered.

Why are QR codes not as popular in the U.S. as they are in Japan and in other parts of Asia?

The concept of using quick response codes in mobile advertising is very popular in Japan. It is so popular that a large number of mobile phones in Japan come preloaded with the application required to scan 2D barcodes. Some of you might remember that I have blogged about QR codes and their role in mobile advertising often on this blog. You can check it out here, here, and here.

Still, when it comes to the U.S., these codes are not nearly as popular as they are in Japan. The reason, according to me, is that business owners and advertisers in the U.S. have yet to realize the enormous potential of the combination of quick response codes and mobile advertising.

Think about it – a restaurant owner can place a quick response code in a print ad and ask the customers to scan the barcode to get that day’s menu or a discount coupon. It is not just limited to restaurant or fast food owners. Movie studios can benefit from it, retailers can benefit from it, small business owners can benefit from it – the possibilities are endless.

I have always said that mobile advertising has a bright future. Even going by the most pessimistic predictions, it can be certainly said that mobile phone advertising will be one of the most sought after advertising media in about a decade from now. If that happens, QR codes will certainly become hugely popular. As the number of high end phone users steadily increases in the U.S., advertisers will certainly look for new, innovative ways to reach the end user. When they do so, they just cannot afford to overlook QR codes.

Already, we have seen glimpses of the potential of the combination of quick response codes and mobile phones. Continental has tried it, AT&T has tried it, and Green Day has tried it. Whether the response met their expectations or not is always debatable. But one thing is for sure – QR codes are here to stay. The sooner it becomes popular, the better it will be for everyone – businesses, advertisers, and the end user.

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

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Customer-centric Mobile Advertising in 2020?

A recent report from OgilvyOne and Acision predicts an interesting scenario for mobile advertising in 2020.

The report says that in about a decade from now, in 2020, mobile phone advertising will be a lot more people-centric. Mobile advertisers, instead of spamming the inbox of the end user with random ads, will start delivering personalized ads which will be customized according to the end user’s preferences and tastes. In other words, the end user will determine what comes into his mobile phone. Since the content will be personalized and useful, a lot of people will be glad to opt into mobile advertising campaigns.

The report also says that the proliferation of 3G and 4G networks will fuel mobile advertising’s growth significantly. It will make services like mobile web, mobile social networking, and mobile TV, which are currently used only by a small percentage of mobile users, a lot more accessible for a large number of mobile users.

The report also goes on to add that the market will not be controlled by a handful of mobile operators in 2020. It is likely to become segmented and a lot of operators might consider offering ad-funded services. This could very well lead to a cohesive, symbiotic environment where both mobile operators and service providers complement each other and offer a lot of value for the end user.

Basically, the report pretty much sums up what I have been trying to say for a while now. If you need a little primer, you can check out this post. The future of mobile advertising, despite the objection of privacy champions, looks bright. In fact, it looks so bright that you can’t even look at it directly unless you are wearing shades.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Future of Mobile Advertising - Notes from Cannes Lions Ad Festival 2009

Mobile advertising was one of the important topics which were discussed at the 56th International Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. A number of executives representing big advertising and marketing firms around the world discussed the future of mobile marketing.

A lot of people who discussed the future of mobile phone advertising were of the opinion that it could become really big in the next two or three years. There are two reasons why they believe so.

1. The large number of mobile applications designed exclusively for smart phones which allow users to access multimedia content right from their mobile phones.

2. The ever-growing popularity of social networks like MySpace and Facebook which can be accessed right from the mobile phone thanks to mobile social networking.

Statistics show that mobile advertising has grown at an average of 45% in the last five years, which is incredible to say the least. In other words, what used to be a $3 billion industry has now become a whopping $30 billion industry in just about five years.

Let us now take a look at some of the most important points discussed.

1. A lot of executives said that they have launched a lot of mobile advertising campaigns in the recent past and the response so far has been pretty good.

2. Almost everyone was of the opinion that advertisers need to be more creative to generate interest among users. They were very clear that run of the mill ads which interrupt users every two minutes will definitely not work.

3. It was predicted that in the next three to five years, mobile marketing will account for nearly 10% of global media ad spending.

4. Highly targeted local mobile advertising campaigns will generate enormous amount of interest among small retailers. (Incidentally, this is something that I have repeatedly said in this blog. You can take a look at it here, here, here, and here.)

5. Emerging markets like Africa and Latin America hold a lot of promise as the number of mobile users has increased steadily in the past few years.

6. One of the biggest hurdles for advertisers around the world is the lack of compatibility between 3G networks in Asia and Europe.

7. 4G – the fourth generation high speed mobile technology – is something that advertising firms around the world are waiting for with bated breath. It is expected to hit the market in another ten years or so.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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