Ad funded mobile operator Blyk has 200,000 subscribers now

It’s time for a little celebration in good old Blighty. Blyk, the London based ad funded mobile operator, has reached yet another milestone quietly. The company has increased the number of its subscribers to a whopping 200,000.

To understand the significance of this feat, we need to put things in perspective. Blyk is the first ad funded mobile operator in the world. When it started off, it had just one goal. It was to get 100,000 subscribers within the first year. However, since the company was funded completely by advertisements, no one really thought it was possible. The idea of people getting talk time in return for getting ads on their mobile phone didn’t sound majorly appealing at that point of time. However, the response was so good that it reached its goal in just six months.

Now, just a few months after reaching its goal of 100,000 subscribers, the company has crossed yet another milestone – 200,000 loyal customers – All of them willing to get ads on their mobile phone to get free talk time and free text messages.

The important thing to be noted here is that the response rate for these mobile ads has been nothing short of terrific. 25% of the customers who get ads on their mobile phone respond to them. In other words, it costs only around $0.85 per response, making it highly profitable for the advertisers.

200,000, when compared to the millions of subscribers in the UK, might seem like a small number. But you have to consider an important point here. This is the beginning of a trend. Mobile advertising is still in its infant stage and a lot of mobile users around the world are yet to realize its benefits. So, in a relatively new market, Blyk has been able to get 200,000 loyal subscribers within such a short span of time. And it has managed to achieve the highest response rates at the lowest costs possible. In other words, it has got a highly targeted customer base which is a dream for any advertiser. With the number of mobile users increasing by the day and people becoming aware of mobile advertising, you can only expect these numbers to up. To put it simply – watch out for Blyk.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Blyk.

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Why do some mobile operators suck big time?

Hello folks,

It’s weekend time and as usual I checked out the feeds in my mailbox. One article stood out from the rest and caught my attention more than anything else.

Just when I thought mobile advertisers and operators will be more careful in the future to avoid unfortunate incidents like the China Mobile and Focus Media problem, I stumbled on to this news. Honestly, I was annoyed big time. Let me explain.

SingTel, a very famous mobile operator in Singapore, has the habit of sending mobile ads to its subscribers. What’s the big deal, you ask me? Well; here, the customers only have the option to opt out of the ads, not to opt in. Confused? Let me explain further.

With a mobile connection from SingTel, you automatically get ads on your mobile phone. You can’t do a damn thing about it. In other words, there is no opt-in option for people so that only those who want ads can opt in and those who don’t want can simply stay out. In this case, the operator only gives you the choice to opt out any time you want. In other words, you’ll get ads on your mobile phone whether you like it or not. If you don’t like it, it’s your duty to opt out of it.

Seriously, I cannot think of a better way to annoy the hell out of customers. But then, this has been a trend in some third world countries for quite some time now, and I know it better than anyone else. Airtel, the leading mobile operator in India, has been accused of sending unsolicited text message ads and marketing calls time and again in the past. Again, it’s the duty of the customer to opt out of these ads if he doesn’t want them.

This is plain stupid and someone needs to do something about it. At the end of the day, no matter how good your mobile ads are, there are still some people who prefer to stay out of them. And you have no rights whatsoever to poke your nose into their mobile phone. Like I’ve mentioned time and again, mobile advertising will be a success only if you respect the privacy of consumers and give them a choice to choose what they want and what they don’t want. Hope the powers-that-be realize this sooner than later.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Rant.

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Ford’s innovative mobile marketing campaign in India

Okay folks, let me ask you a question.

You’re a billion dollar automobile company, you’ve just released a new, peppy edition of your car which appeals mostly to youngsters, and you want to grab the attention of young car enthusiasts all over the country. What do you do?

Simple. You do mobile marketing.

Ford did the exact same thing in India when it released its new Ford Ikon Music Edition car called the iKool. Ford used the services of MindShare, a mobile marketing company, to come up with a creative mobile marketing campaign for iKool. MindShare contacted Nokia and made an agreement to advertise on Airtel Live!, the WAP site of India’s leading mobile operator, Airtel. Airtel is part of Nokia Media Network and it readily agreed to this arrangement.

MindShare created an innovative, content rich WAP site for Ford iKool. Mobile users around the country were served with banner ads through Airtel Live!. Those who clicked on the banner ads were taken to the iKool WAP site where they had the chance to download mobile games, wallpapers, ringtones, and many more.

The response rate for this mobile marketing campaign was a terrific 8.58%. Especially, two content pages – “Services For You” and “News & Sports” – saw a phenomenal click through rate of 14%, which is unseen before.

Ford has actually set an important precedent, as far as I’m concerned. I still remember, when Ford came up with its new model called Fiesta in India about a year and a half back, it mostly relied on TV ads and newspaper and magazine coverage. Now, just within a couple of years, things have changed so much that it went straight to a mobile marketing company to get the job done. And the result was there for everyone to see, right?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Greystripe and Simyo to offer free, ad supported mobile games

Greystripe is one company which sure knows the pulse of its customers. Ad supported mobile games are considered the next big thing and Greystripe is sure cashing in on that. First, it was the much-talked-about partnership with Myxer and now here comes another partnership with the German mobile operator, Simyo.

According to this deal, Greystripe will create a games portal which will have more than 800 free mobile games. Mobile users will be able to download them without paying a penny, as all the games are ad supported. Surprisingly, these games are not exclusively available for Simyo subscribers alone. Any mobile user from any mobile network can download these games. The reason is pretty simple.

Both Simyo and Greystripe will split the revenue generated from the targeted ads in those mobile games. So, it doesn’t matter who downloads the game – whether a Simyo subscriber or someone else – as long as the revenue comes in.

Also, one of the highlights of this mobile games portal is that it supports over 1400 handsets, which is a very good thing for mobile users. No matter what handset you have, you’ll be able to download these games. So, this will be pretty popular with users.

Btw, have you guys tried out any of these ad supported mobile games? What are your favorites?

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

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Is Blyk the next big thing in mobile advertising?

Experts predict that mobile marketing will give conventional marketing methods a run for their money, Juniper Research and various other research firms predict that mobile advertising will be worth more than $13 billion in 2013, and Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo are trying hard to take over the mobile market by storm. However, in the midst of all this, one company has been making strides quietly. It’s Blyk.

Blyk’s offer of 217 free text messages and 43 minutes of talk time to mobile users has become very popular and it’s evident from its growing user base. The response from their target segment, 16-24 year olds, has been phenomenal so far. When it started out in the UK, Blyk announced that getting 100,000 customers in the first year will be its target. However, the actual number will be a lot bigger than that, thanks to its overwhelming popularity.

Blyk has also taken a leaf out of Gmail and has come up with the idea of invites. From now on, Blyk users will be able to invite a number of friends to join the network.

One of the most important things about Blyk is that it is able to target its customers with the right kind of ads. Its mobile advertising campaigns are targeted at the right segment of users and so it almost always gets a good response from them. This is also the reason why experts consider Blyk a media agency which also happens to be an operator, instead of a mobile operator that sells advertising.

If mobile advertising industry were to grow at the rate experts have predicted, Blyk would be in an enviable position a few years from now. As of now, Blyk has a loyal customer base of 16-24 year olds which keeps growing steadily. In 2013, when mobile advertising is expected to grow real big, Blyk will have a loyal user base of 24-30 year olds which is open to mobile advertising with larger disposable incomes. What more can you ask for?

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

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