Commentary
The New Killer App
- by Randy Haldeman , August 6, 2008
Mobile marketing is moving quickly, and why not? 3G networks make handsets much more versatile today. Given the mobile phone's place as one of our most ubiquitous personal appliances, it's a natural place for marketing to explode. Research firm eMarketer forecasts mobile-messaging advertising revenues will be $1.5 billion this year, up 82% from last year, and reach 11 billion in just three more years.
But there could be an even bigger upside to the market-where voice and visual technologies converge with geography and demographics. Consider a recent pilot program involving Los Angeles interactive media agency Ignited and its client, Universal Studios. When callers to a movie-showtime application asked for the movie "Iron Man," they heard an audio ad for another Marvel Entertainment production, "The Incredible Hulk," coming to theaters on June 13.
The ad asked movie fans if they would like to receive a text-based reminder on their cell phones the day before the summer's next big hero, "The Incredible Hulk," arrives in theaters. If a user pressed "1," he or she received an immediate confirmation message, which could include a link to the movie's mobile Website or voice portal. This text message allowed the fan to interact with the movie brand during the interim, before the requested movie came out. Then, the day before the premiere, thousands of callers around the country got an SMS reminder, building the anticipation and driving them to help create a big opening weekend for the movie.
Now go a step farther, given that half the people going out to a movie go out for a meal before or after. Imagine a similar call scenario in which a user seeks a showtime and gets delivered a short ad from a restaurant near the theater, offering a free dessert if the user visits after the movie. The user agrees, and a coupon is text-messaged back to the user to show the server at the restaurant.
If the convergence works for the practical, it also works for voice-triggered SMS reminders. Imagine you follow your favorite pop star on a music-focused social networking site. You leave her a supportive message from your mobile phone and are then prompted to press 1 to receive a reminder when she uploads her next single. Half a million people get the reminder on that day, and said pop star's single immediately becomes an iTunes chartbuster.
This is how huge volumes meet the killer app -- an effective combination of mobile applications combining with voice and visual mobile advertising. Ads delivered through the ear are arguably the most intimate and personal of all ad forms. Voice ads get five to 10 times higher click-through rates than banner or keyword ads delivering compelling ROIs.
The convergence is so compelling that there are risks it could be abused. Mobile users already are outspoken in their dislike of certain mobile marketing approaches -- ads appearing while a page is loading, for example.
But following a best-practice approach to voice and visual advertising can ensure success. Ads need to be:
• Less than 10-seconds in duration
• Relevant to the subject matter
• Targeted to demographics and geography
• Opt-in, either implicitly or explicitly
A recent study from Forrester Research found that the technology people could least afford to be without is their cell phone-second only to their television. In fact, there probably isn't a person reading this article who didn't double-check they had their cell phone before leaving for the office this morning. Amid this level of connectedness and passion in an increasingly mobile society, the conditions are ripe to leverage voice and visual marketing methods to reach consumers in a smart, effective way.
