September 2007
Monthly Archive
Is SMS polling under-utilised?
MattE 28 Sep 2007 | : SMS, consumer engagement
The ability for people to be able to communicate instantly with mobile phones is one of the greatest society changing technologies of the past 50 years.
While voice calls make a huge impact on efficiencies of business and personal communication (like being able to call my daughter while she is on a school trip in Europe - no more relying on post-cards and letters) texting has also made huge difference to the way we communicate.
So wy is it that more usage of texting is not being made?
Drought hits pre-sold crops … risk management in action?
MattE 21 Sep 2007 | : Marketing
Having been involved in grain marketing some years ago - this headline caught my eye:
Drought hits pre-sold crops
Grain farmers are facing a double blow this season, with market pressures adding to the severe impact of drought conditions.In South Australia, a promising start to the season led many farmers to pre-sell their wheat crop.
But dry weather since has significantly reduced crop estimates and they will not be able to meet their obligations.
Finally a phone plan that is friendly
A big issue with prepaid mobile phone plans is that the credits expire…..you go out and buy a $20 card and if you only have the phone as an emergency phone, or for the kids to carry if they are out and need to call home, then your credits have expired before you know it.
The other option is, of course, to recharge before the expiry, but after a few recharges you are just a likely to find that you have several hundred dollars in credits. Having masses of credits is fine, but what out they don’t expire!
A few years ago Optus had a no monthly fee post paid plan. All you paid for were the calls you made and the rate wasn’t that high either. Sadly they stopped that service.
Mobile internet access growing fast - some interesting stats
MattE 14 Sep 2007 | : Communications, SMS, Web
The following stats come from this post Google’s Mobile Ad Distribution - Free Until November 18 which talks mostly about how internet access from phones is booming. The stats are used to put mobile usage into perspective. Must admit - I’m impressed. The original article where the stats came from, with more discourse about them can be found on the Communities Dominate blog.
* Worldwide there are about 800 million registered automobiles
* Today there are 1.3 billion fixed landline phones in the world
* Today there are about 1.5 billion TV sets in use in the world . (TV is often shared, especially in Asia where families are also large. So you might easily have 6 or even 10 watching the same TV show. The reach of TV is much beyond the 1.5 billion sets in use.)
* Today 1.4 Billion people carry at least one credit card.
* In most countries it is illegal for under 18 year olds to have credit cards
* There are about 850 million PCs
* In total over 750 million people access internet content via a mobile phone today
* About the total PC population or about 850 million people, access the web via a computer.
* During 2007 the first cross-over from PC to Mobile phones will happen, with more users accessing via phone than PC.
* The total shipped PDA population is about 85 million, most which are replacements.
* Thre are 85 Million iPod in use
* DVD recorders/ PVR shipments are under 100 million.
* Camcorders, are under 100 million total shipped (many as replacements).
* Gaming consoles have shipped near 200 million units, out of which 150 million are second generation (PS2/Xbox) or newer.
* The (stand-alone) digital camera has achieved shipments of near 300 million.
* There are 2.7 billion Mobile phones shipped (technically 2.7 billion in January, not December). They sold 950 million phones last year and the total worldwide mobile subscriber base grew from 2.1 billion to 2.7 billion.
* Phones are replaced every 18 months (and this is still shrinking)
* USA has reached 75% penetration for mobile phones
* The Western European average per capita penetration for mobile phones is already 110%
* Italy, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Israel have penetration rates at about 140%
* China adds 6 million phones every month, India adds 7 million phones every month.
* Finland, Norway, Denmark and Portugal - each countries with 120% or more penetration rates - Mobilephones are less than 6 million units total.
* SMS Messaging Is Biggest Data App On Planet
* On the internet there are about 1.5 billion e-mail boxes, maintained by about 800 million people.
* 1.8 billion people are doing SMS texting.
* Last year over 42% of Americans were active in SMS already
* E-mail is opened in 24 hours and replied to in 48 hours.
* SMS is read within 15 minutes on average and responded within 60 minutes.
* 65% of e-mail is spam, less than 10% of SMS is spam.
* In South Korea five separate credit card services are available on the three mobile networks
* In South Korea almost 100% of credit card based point-of-purchase sites accept payment via mobile phone credit (and charge) cards
* Two years from launch almost 10% of South Korean phone users watch digital broadcast TV on their phones
* The Pop Idol formats have earned a windfall of over 700 million dollars out of text messaging votes
* In 2005 already half of all phones sold were cameraphones so cameraphones outsell digital cameras by more than 4 to 1 .
* There are 3.2 Billion to 3.8 Billion radio users.
* 73% of the population now uses the mobile phone as their portable clock.
* 2.7 Billion phones in active use. There is a subscription for 40% of the planet’s population.
* The mobile telecoms industry earned 725 Billion dollars last year.
* Global music industry earns 16% of its revenues from mobile phones (mostly ringing tones);
* Videogaming earns 14% of its global revenues from mobile.
* Mobile telecom growth in dollar terms, from 2005 to 2006, was 105 billion dollars.
Playtex gets right into consumer engagement with Boob-talk
Adland reports:
Yesterday, Playtex launched an advertising and marketing campaign called “Girl Talk” at playtexfits.com, where confident women talk about their breasts – often euphemistically as “the girls” – and the quest for finding a well-fitting bra that keeps the girls happy.
This is an interesting move by Playtex and is integrated into their mainstream advertising initiatives. It is based on a year’s worth of market research and is designed to help women engage in different ways in discussions about their boobs and bras.
From a male perspective - is there that much ‘girls’ discussion going on?
Customer needs sees online clothing sales grow
MattE 01 Sep 2007 | : Marketing, Web
Do you buy clothing online? To me its an unthinkable activity because of the sizing issues. Change brand and the sizing regime seems to go out the window. Plus the difficulty of exchange. It is all so much easier at the shop.
However in the USA things seem to be different. Possibly this is to do with their history of catalogue buying or possibly when you buy a shirt n one size, no mater the manufacturer, that shirt will fit. Or possibly once people have bought one shirt from one suplier and it fit, they are incredibly loyal…as long as you gut does not get too big 
So maybe this is why clothing sales in the USA are continuing to grow.
