PlusOne - Musings of a marketer

The success of marketing, especially e- and m-marketing has been looked at in a paper recently published on Chief Marketer by Dr. Robert Passikoff*. He predicts key trends that will be difference between success and failure for marketers in 2006. Here is an edited list, (yes no. 3) is not included) from the perspective of mobile marketing SMS text messaging and comments from us as to why mobile communications via SMS text messaging and other forms of mobile positioning are still very much under-utilised:

1) An emphasis on “engagement.”
Engagement will become the Holy Grail for marketers and advertisers. Defined as the outcome of ad and marketing activities that substantively increases a brand’s strength in the eyes of the consumers, engagement will be used more and more to allocate marketing budgets.

Our comment - Competitions and quizzes, especially using SMS as the entry mechanic (it is the preferred response method for such activities) can be used to greatly increase a Product or Brands profile. If used correctly, it can also build a greater awareness of the benefits of the Product/Brand. This can be achieved via standard or premium SMS entry methods (remembering that Premium SMS should be viewed as a cost offset, rather than a money-making aspect). Engagement can also be achieved in the mobile marketplace through making available free ring tones or cheap or free branded java games (like a soccer shoot-out game that has the Brand clearly evident).

It is our belief that this under-utilisation stems from marketers generally not understanding the scope and benefits of mobile marketing per se. What other form of marketing tells you the exact time and date of the person engaging your promotion, in a form that requires no data entry on the part of the marketer?

2) Using technology to better meet consumer expectations.
Consumer expectations in all categories will continue to grow. Expectations have increased more than 26% in the past five years while brands have kept up with these expectations by only 8%! Watch for smart marketers to take advantage of unfulfilled expectations via such values as “convenience” and “customization.” More and more marketers will rely upon Web sites and high-tech capabilities to accommodate these values and differentiate themselves from the competition. Likewise, watch for more tailored products and electronic interface kiosks at places beyond airports and banks. Think “Jetson”-like hotel check-in capabilities.

Our comment - Today there is a steadily increasing range of services that are allowing interaction between the consumer, their phone and the web. In Australia BluePulse has been developing a mobile content portal.

Here at PlusOne, we have available an application available worldwide, that will allow consumers to browse the menu and place orders with fast food outlets, or an application that can be used as a database, say for tourism so people can download the application, and have available at their fingertips tourism information for that city or region. Hyperlinks can be used to allow people to then connect to specific WAP site for more detailed information.

Also clever marketers will be looking at using tools such as SMS requests that generate an email response with full information (ideal for advertising situations in magazines, TV and billboards) and going even one step further and making use of MMS - multimedia presentations to further engage the marketplace.

Again, marketers are sometimes eye-blinkered as to the possibilities simply by not asking the questions, either of clients, or providers. There is also the need to have belief and faith!

4) “Recombinant” experiences.
Disney and Vegas: Oil and water? Consumer values indicate a bipolar continuum for recombinant experiences. Watch for this to reveal itself in more online gaming, especially for adults. Interactive gaming with more and more players being able to compete at once will become table stakes for online games. Also, look for mah-jjong to replace poker as the most popular game, especially in Asia-Pac. Marketers concerned with engagement will close their eyes to “appropriateness” and leverage online gaming as a more acceptable venue for virtually every brand.

Our comment - Want a company branded mah-jjong game? We can deliver based on your specs. We are not so sure about online gambling, but realtime multiplayer games are set to increase as the users in the marketplace upgrades cell phones to current standards. I think this aspect is being held back because the market has not included it in their overall marketing mindset as yet.

Again, we can arrange development of company branded games in line with products - imagine how cool a surfing game would be for surfwear/equipment suppliers!!

5) More branded entertainment.
Popular culture, with its rabid consumption of music and technology, will see market and brand leaders leverage plugging-in as a method for customizing entertainment and selling products. For instance, music-related paraphernalia such as T-shirts, posters, and artist-related merchandise will infringe more and more on the dominance of bricks-and mortar retail.

Our comment - See our comments on branded games, plus making available ringtones and mobile wallpapers that will further allow popular culture to better identify with brands. We can facilitate game development and delivery, and development and delivery of other mobile media.

*Dr. Robert Passikoff is president/founder of Brand Keys, which has published the Customer Loyalty Index of leading companies in 26 product and service categories since 1996.