The 2012 holiday shopping season may well go down as “year of the mobile.” According to new research from Burst Media, more consumers than ever will be using their mobile devices for online shopping this holiday season, and those that do are more likely to make a purchase online, search for locations where a specific product can be purchased and search for last minute holiday deals. The survey of 1,200 adults conducted in October also found that nearly one-third (30%) of consumers will use a smartphone to go online for holiday shopping. Among shoppers 18-34, the percentage is even higher (40%) and is a greater percentage than those who will use desktop computers for their holiday shopping (31%). “The big story for marketers is they have a new way to reach their consumers,” Jessica Chaset, senior vice president for mobile solutions at Burst, tells Marketing Daily. “Mobile certainly affords them yet another way to connect with their end user, and it’s another way to communicate deals and offers and promotions.” Perhaps the biggest use of mobile during shopping will be for “show rooming,” in which a shopper uses a store to check out an item in person before finding it elsewhere or buying it online. According to Burst, more than a third (37%) of consumers have used a smartphone or tablet to aid with shopping at a physical location. Of them, nearly 40% use their devices to research and compare prices of different stores, 37% do research or compare prices of different brands and 33% use them to access promotional coupons and discount codes. This final use may be of the most important for retailers who want to prevent the practice, and turn shoppers into buyers, Chaset says. Mobile Internet users were nearly twice as likely to look for last minute deals than those accessing the Internet on a traditional computer, according to the survey (29% vs. 16%). “Certainly, there are going to be users who do buy exclusively online, but [mobile programs] give retailers the opportunity when customers are in the stores to provide them with offers,” she says. “They want to make sure they put their best foot forward and they have the opportunity to make the sales right then and there.” Finally, the survey revealed nearly 90% of consumers still had items to buy on their list, indicating there’s still plenty of time to reach consumers before the season is over. “People are shopping much later and the season itself is still in play,” Chaset says. “Specifically for last minute deals, there’s a really strong opportunity to reach customers.” Busy Woman Shopping from Shutterstock
California's top law enforcement official said this week that she is warning nearly 100 app developers that they are violating a state law requiring them to post conspicuous privacy policies. Developers that don't start offering privacy policies in the next 30 days could face fines of $2,500 per download, Attorney General Kamala Harris said. She added that her office plans to send warnings to the most popular apps available on mobile platforms. A 2003 law, the California Online Privacy Protection Act, says commercial Web site operators that collect personally identifiable information from state residents must conspicuously display links to privacy policies. While that law predates smartphone apps, Harris says she believes it applies to mobile apps. Earlier this month, she took to Twitter to criticize United Airlines for failing to include a privacy policy in its app. "Fabulous app, @United Airlines, but where is your app's privacy policy." she tweeted. United offers a privacy policy available at its Web site, but Harris' office says that a privacy policy at a Web site is only sufficient if the site is "reasonable accessible" to users within the app. United reportedly said it is taking steps to ensure that it complies with California's privacy law. Harris hasn't yet named the companies she is targeting, but OpenTable, Delta and United Airlines are believed to be among them, according to press reports. In February, Harris convinced six companies with app marketplaces -- Google, Apple, Research in Motion, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Amazon -- to say they will require that apps available on their platforms have privacy policies. Several months later, Facebook agreed to do the same. Jules Polonetsky, director and co-chair of the Future of Privacy Forum, said that Apple's iOS6 makes it easier than before to provide a privacy link. "The new App Store now provides a very visible privacy tab for consumers," he says. "Now that iOS6 has been out for some time, app developers don't have any reason to delay in setting up a policy." A study by the Future of Privacy Forum in June found that 61% of the most popular apps had privacy policies. Locked Phone from Shutterstock
Google released a revised search app for iOS that adds a Siri-like voice-recognition service to its Android service on Apple phones. Marketers will find the audio searches serve up much more comprehensive and relevant information in query results, compared with typing keywords into a search box, even for complex names and spellings. The change will be a wake-up call for marketers resting on their expertise. Open the free Google Voice Search app on an iOS device, tap the microphone icon and speak a search request, such as directions from Huntington Beach to San Francisco. Google tells users the best route to take — and how long it will take to get there. Aside from mobile apps, voice search integrates into car navigation systems, entertainment consoles and Web site search functions. In some cases, experts predict ads with audio and graphics will take the place of text. Marty Weintraub, founder of aimClear, said improvements in voice search will continue to erode the importance of what he calls "classic SEO." They will open new lines of studies in optimization and that prove a correlation between the action and the intent. Marketers will need to add keywords and phrases to lists that compensate for variations in the way people talk. Not dialects, but grammar. The voice commands translate into text, so engines like Google can match keyword that optimize Web sites and trigger ads. Google's Knowledge Graph provides a snapshot view of search queries to give the search technology an understanding of people, places and things in the real world. In an earlier post, Amit Singhal, SVP of engineering at Google, describes the technology as "a critical first step" toward tapping into the collective intelligence of the Web to build the next generation of search. While Google taps into big data across its network of sites and expertise in search, Siri's integration with data from Wolfram Alpha, a computational knowledge engine for computing answers, provides an interesting rival. Erica Sadun explains how Siri can use Wolfram Alpha by prefixing requests with "Wolfram," which makes voice search incredibly powerful. She explains: "You might say, 'Wolfram, what is the square root of 2?' or 'Wolfram, graph x-squared plus three.'"
Like many sectors in the Eastern U.S. hit by Hurricane Sandy, Adland was slowly getting back to work Wednesday. But it was far from business as usual. Some agencies were open, while others remained closed. Just about all shops were encouraging staff to make their own calls about working from home, based on safety issues and transportation realities. Most mass transit lines in the New York metropolitan area remained closed Wednesday. Interpublic Group sent a memo to employees Wednesday stating that corporate offices would re-open Thursday after being closed the first three days of the week. But the holding company stressed: “We encourage employees to work from home if they can and only come into the office if it is necessary,” noting the numerous traffic issues and transportation modes that remain suspended. An IPG rep said agencies have different policies case by case, but are also encouraging caution. Some shops located in Lower Manhattan, where electrical power is still out, will remain closed. The same is true for MDC Partners agencies. “Most are up and running” with many employees working from home, a holding company rep confirmed. But a few shops in the power outage zone remain closed. However, the company’s corporate headquarters in New York is open and some agency personnel are camped there for the time being. Sibling agencies that are open are providing some work space for shops that remain closed, the rep said.Reps at WPP’s GroupM and Publicis Groupe’s MediaVest said their agencies were open Wednesday, but that many employees were also working from home.
Google announced Voice Search this week, but already I want to see Google Shopping and Product Listing Ads in my search results after pulling up the voice search app to say "where can I find a red dress, locally." In the retail sector, 41% of consumers participating in a recent study use their smartphone for local search. Overall, 4 in 10 people use local search once daily. About 83% of smartphone owners do a local search on theirs at least once a week and 42% do local searches on their smartphones at least three to four times weekly, according to the white paper sponsored by YP.com and prepared by Phil Hendrix, director at research and consulting firm immr. The survey conducted in June took an online sample of 1,145 respondents. Voice search will play a major role in hyperlocal services. Most consumers doing local searches seek hours, location, and directions to stores, restaurants or building, as well as product availability, prices, and special. But the ability to search by voice, rather than typing in a query will not only increase the frequency of searches on mobile devices, but site search, as well. Those doing the searching look for information on search engines, like Google or Bing; local search sites, like the YP.com SM site, Superpages, CitySearch and Yahoo Local; portal search sites like AOL, MSN, and Ask.com; and review sites like Yelp and Angie's List. While search engines have become the most popular source for local search, findings suggest there is still room for new sources. Some might consider social networks. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg describes his ideal search engine as a sort of question-and-answer (Q&A) type site, pulling information from connected public profiles and posts. Some 6 out of 10 visit a social network at least daily, and 1 in 3 visit multiple times daily. Determining how best to incorporate individuals' social graphs in local search is a promising direction, according to the survey. The use of location-aware apps, especially navigation, by smartphone users continues to grow. The survey found 7 out of 10 smartphone owners use location-aware mobile apps. Integrating location for more than maps and directions will become more important for hyperlocal search results.
According to an inclusive report by the CMO Council to consider the need for “exploiting mobile to the fullest degree,” there are some impressive early adopters and trailblazers, but what is clear from this study, says the report, is that a shift in thinking around the entire scope of mobile engagement is a mandate. The report positions a collection of statistics and data around mobile use that point to this channel of connected devices and on-the-go communications as rapidly evolving into one of the most influential and potentially game-changing technologies facing today’s marketer, presented here with attribution:
While waiting to be flushed from my home by the now-annual turbostorm of the megacentury, I pondered my options for the time I had left. Viewing stock video footage farted out by the local electric company would only prompt me to think dark, socialist thoughts about nationalization of our utilities and railroads. Sharing my soulful weather photography with the local TV station would only encourage lazy, remote-sourced journalism. Running the family through emergency drills would be needlessly alarmist, especially when our storm strategy rarely deviates from "avoid windows and eat cake." So I decided to spend my remaining non-damp hours the only way I know how: by watching overproduced videos showcasing personal electronic gadgetry. And when LG crammed a sponsored bit about one of its shiny new toys into my evacuation-minded Twitter feed, it felt a little like destiny. "First Look: LG Optimus G - AT&T" is a shining example of everything the genre has always been -- and yet so much more. Host who looks just enough like Kate from “Lost” to get horndog tails a-waggin'? Check. Close-ups of the phone itself, not to mention of the exquisitely manicured nails on the fingers swiping its screen to and fro? Sure. Hyperexcited expression of super-psyched-to-be-here enthusiasm? Yup. That last one, actually, might be what distinguishes the clip from the phone vids that came before: the host appears to have ingested a fistful of amphetamines before the cameras rolled. How else can we explain the speed with which she whips through the phone's myriad features, or the rousing "hey, guys!" call to arms, or the peace-out hand gesture with which she concludes her spiel? That doesn't even get into the odd first-person interjections ("I am kind of obsessed, actually!"). When the host avows that "the nerd in [her] is in love with" the phone's advanced processor, I don't doubt it. When she stresses that its gorilla-glass case provides "damage-resistance" for dropsie-prone users who "are anything like [her]," I'm willing to play along. But ultimately, a NASCAR race through a list of technical specs -- some quite technical, like the info about the independent phone core something or other -- doesn't do anything for LG or especially the viewer. I come away knowing almost nothing about the phone, other than that the overcaffeinated pretty lady really, really likes it a whole bunch and would totally recommend it to her friends and hey have you heard about this processor and dude she is STOKED. Separately, why would LG (or Samsung, Motorola or anyone else) bother producing clips of this sort? The iPhone-tethered moms likely to be swayed by an easy-listening version of the LG marketing spiel generally avoid everything that doesn't include the words "app store" or "Facebook," while tech junkies likely to seek out such advance previews naturally gravitate to the savvier, more credible ones produced by Gizmodo, TechCrunch or Consumer Reports. It's not as if LG pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the production of this clip, but it's hard to understand what kind of return they expect on this investment. The LG Optimus G could well be pretty darn neat, if you're into that kind of thing. The clip touting its techno-virtues, however, is not. LG, and its toy-making brethren oughta leave the video test-drives to the pros. *** Speaking of lazy, remote-sourced journalism: I'm writing a story for the year-end issue of MediaPost's OMMA magazine on the worst online brand/marketing videos of the past 12 months. While I certainly have my own anti-favorites, I'd like to hear yours. Send any/all nominees to LDobrow@gmail.com, with a link to the relevant clip if possible. Submissions motivated by personal and/or professional malice are heartily encouraged.