The Mobile Phone & You - Part III - The Future

Sep 22, 2011
The Mobile Phone & You - Part 3 - The Future

It wasn’t as easy writing about the future of mobile as it was the past and present. I wonder if Charles Dickens had the same problem when he wrote ‘A Christmas Carol’?

So where is mobile going? It’s anyone’s guess really but developments in the space are taking human interaction and access to information and knowledge to new places. We can only apply a degree of what is now science fiction to postulate what the future science will deliver in our world of the future. If my 12-Year-Old’s 6000 text messages in one month is any indication how it’s changing communication, we’re in for a very different human experience.

A recent article on Mashable, 8 Current Technologies That Will Shape Our Future, the first five of the eight technologies mentioned are directly related to wireless technology. From the smart phones we know and love today, to seamlessly integrated augmented reality, amplified processing power, applications for everything life has to offer, lightning-quick data speeds and extensions of wireless data access beyond devices themselves and into the fabric of the world around us is going to impact human communication and culture in ways we don’t even yet realize. Mobile wallets, geolocation, retinal scanners, implants, nanotechnology – what does the wireless world look like in the future? Use your imagination.

Will the wireless future play a part in improving the very fabric of human capability or will it cripple us with an overreliance on the tech around us where any answer, any direction, and choice is spoon fed to us through a massive net of cloud-powered data, logic and algorithmic deductions?

Will we all live to see the future point in human evolution known as the singularity where the lines between humans and machines disappear and how will wireless technology play into that evolution? At the end of the day we’re all hurtling through space on this beautiful, blue marble and it’s anyone’s guess.

Guy Borgford
Director Mobile Advertising Solution, Hipcricket

OOH Media - Time to Start the Conversation

Recently took a trip to San Francisco. There’s nothing like the vibe and rush of a true city to shake things up and get you in touch with the crush of humanity that goes along with such a thriving urban center.

As a self-confessed media junkie, I love to see how advertisers jockey themselves in these hyper-saturated media environments. I remember visiting San Francisco years ago and marveling at Apple’s ‘takeover’ of the Muni station, with every billboard at the Market street station touting what was then the new iPod. What made this salient was the physical location of the Apple store – strategically positioned just outside the Muni station escalator. It was a very relevant push…the message, like a welcome mat to the gleaming Apple store and its array of colorful acoustic candy.

This trip, the media world is much different. Mobile has taken hold, and the web is now accessible on any number of devices consumers can fit into their pocket. Which is what puzzles me: Urban outdoor media seems to be stuck in it own silo. I saw it everywhere in Francisco, with gorgeous billboards, posters and visuals without a hook to connect to consumers and start the conversation.

Mobile has the ability to add interactivity to otherwise static, one-way media and start the conversation, engaging consumers to text, tweet, enter to win, click and ‘like’. For the most part, these consumers are all standing around faces fixed on their handsets anyway, so why not take advantage of that behavior and add a call-to-action to out-of-home media and really leverage that moment when you catch that consumer’s ever-fleeting attention?

Many industry pundits have gone one year after year that ‘this is the year of mobile’. Until media teams stop thinking about it as a medium unto itself and use it for interactivity across otherwise non-interactive channels, it will continue to putter along, no matter how many touch-screen smart phones get out there.

As a media professional I would never run any print, OOH, in-theater or TV spot without it. Every message, regardless of its primary function, would have a secondary function to start that ever-more-valuable consumer conversation.

Movie Theater Advertising - What's Missing?

For some reason my partner makes us go to a movie when they’re still cleaning the theater from the previous screening. We’re there before even the trivia and stuff starts, often taking those first few mouthfuls of greasy popcorn to the sound of an Electrolux.

The other night when the trivia and endless trailers did get going, I started thinking about the promotional canvas before me – one very large screen as the focal point of my attention. The only other mode of amusement was of course my phone.

Promotion after promotion, ad after ad – and all of this after the 10 minutes or so of looping trivia that is no less than promotions for upcoming theatrical releases.

Let’s face it, it’s a great captive audience and guess what, you’re targeting moviegoers and consumers with a reasonable amount of disposable income - $11 popcorn anyone?

Here’s where it fails.

Through countless minutes of commercials of various sorts, not once was there any call out to pick up my cell phone and simply send a text – to get something. Here, advertisers have a captive audience, with the biggest, baddest screen at their creative disposal, 3D, IMAX, 24-speaker Digital Surround Sound, Smellorama, - the sensory candy astounds.

Advertisers have all this incredible power to capture an audience and close the deal and the closest call to action was a URL or two at the end of a couple of the promotional clips. Here is where advertisers are thinking in the box and only focusing on the creative and the medium it was created for - not the core business objective. And let’s face it folks, in our beloved capitalist culture, is all about selling things – stuff, experiences, ideas, values and opinions.

In today’s world of fragmented audiences and media access practically anytime or anywhere, promotional creative should always have a hook around an offer that’s relevant to the audience and the environment. There needs to be the ask…and an ask in return for something of perceived value.

Here’s how it pans out.

Coke runs one of their big budget :60s in theaters. Somewhere in the ad…and I’m not talking a ticker tape or super at the end of the spot, but threaded throughout the spot’s narrative, there are repeated calls to text a short code…to enter to win, to get a clue, to get a bar code that can be redeemed at the refreshment counter for a deal – you get the idea. Think billboards, taxi tops, store windows, guys in gorilla suits…oh the possibilities! It could be low-budget too…with the text-to-get-something calls to action embedded within the trivia game – before all the ads even start. And it could be a simple super at the end of the spot too…it would be a start.

To me, what’s being created out there now is just thinking inside the box…a very big box, no less, with the biggest, baddest screen at their creative disposal, 3D, IMAX, 24-speaker Digital Surround Sound, Smellorama and popcorn that costs the same as a filet mignon – popcorn bags…great place for a text-to-win, don’t you think?

Smart Mobile Marketing Gone Very Wrong

Since Tuesday August 31, the Michele Bachmann for Congress campaign has been targeting ads in mobile apps to people visiting the Minnesota State Fair. As reported on Clickz, September 2, 2010, these hyper-targeted attack ads with their uber-relevant creative, tell fair-goers that a vote for the Democratic challenger, Tarryl Clark is a vote for taxing fair-goers beloved corn dogs, deep fried bacon and [GASP] beer.

Of course our Republican brothers know how to dig right into the deepest fears of middle America and are sure to pull the 'a vote for Tarryl Clark is a vote for Satan' card soon.

According to stats 61% of the ads served were to iPhone and Android devices. No surprise really, as these devices deliver optimal mobile creative to an arguably higher percentage of influencers - ie peeps with enough disposable cash or ego to have the latest and greatest handsets.

The ad's creative features an announcer, Jim the Election Guy challenging the fair fiends. "So if you see Tarryl Clark while you're at the fair just ask her what's up with voting to tax my beer?" The ad refers to a vote Clark made to raise sales taxes, which would apply to food items bought in restaurants or from food vendors - including those greasy goodies available at the state fair.

"Once we saw the ad we thought, this would be great to market it to mobile phones at the fair," said Eric Frenchman, chief Internet strategist at Republican consulting firm Connell Donatelli, which is working with its associate digital firm Campaign Solutions on the Bachmann campaign.

In addition to pre-roll video ads and YouTube promoted video ads, the campaign also involves display ads in Google’s content network targeted to the 6th district, which is near the fair.

This is a really brilliant tactic. You have to hand it to those Republicans...they sure know how to throw the dirt...and the corndogs.

The campaign is set to run until the end of the fair on September 6.