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T A
THE
esullivan@ama.org

of Mobile Marketing
BY ELISABETH A. SULLIVAN//STAFF WRITER

Eastern markets like Japan and South Korea have led the way for mobile marketing. While the power is shifting noticeably westwardespecially as the iPhones technological tentacles wrap around the globeU.S. marketers can learn from Eastern marketers mobile experience.

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hree or four years ago, U.S. marketers and consumers were marveling at the innovative mobile marketing going on in hightech markets like Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Many Eastern mobile marketers seemed eons ahead of their counterparts in the West as they reached their increasingly wired customer bases with creative, relevant, multichannel marketing. A lot has changed in the mobile space and leading-edge mobile marketing efforts are being produced in our own backyard now thanks in large part to the iPhone. But theres still much to be learned from the path laid out by those intrepid mobile marketers whove gone before. In that spirit, Marketing News spoke with mobile marketing experts in Hong Kong and Singapore to find out what Eastern marketers have learned about the mobile channel after experimenting with it for the better part of a decade. We also spoke with marketers closer to home to get a sense of how U.S.-based marketers have been inspired by Eastern marketers mobile advancements.

Keep in Mind Mobiles Extensive Reach

We can see whats happening in Europe and Asia and the Middle East, and we can get an example of whats going to trickle down here, says Zak Dabbas, co-founder and managing partner of Punchkick Interactive Inc., a Chicago-based mobile marketing rm. I was just in Tokyo a few months ago and I couldnt believe the smartphone penetration that I could con rm just visually. Everyone was holding a smartphone.

e Asia-Paci c (APAC) region has approximately 2.4 billion mobile subscribers and could surpass the 3 billion mark by 2012, according to the GSMA, a global mobile communications association. By next year, APAC marketers are expected to spend $7.7 billion on mobile marketing, according to ABI Research, a market intelligence company based in Oyster Bay, N.Y. In some Asian markets, such as areas of Indonesia and China, mobile isnt just a primary mode of marketing communication, its the mode of communication to reach consumers, says Rohit Dadwal, managing director of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Asia-Paci c, the Singaporebased branch of the global mobile industry organization. Dadwal, who previously worked for Microso and MSN in India, says that millions more Indian consumers are reachable through mobile than through TV. While marketing channels abound in the United States and, thus far, the Internet has been this countrys primary medium for digital marketing innovation, theres a growing segment of the U.S. population who turn to their mobile phones for everything from communication and Internet access to entertainment and banking. Something really fundamental is happening here, says Alexander Muse, co-founder of Big in Japan, a Dallas-based mobile app developer (so named because theres a lot of cool stu going on in Japan). eres a whole class of people living in mobile and they dont ever touch a desktop [computer]. As of January, there were 234 million mobile subscribers 13 years old or older in the United States, 42.7 million of whom owned smartphones,

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Population (in millions)*

Mobile subscribers (in millions)**

Internet users (in millions)**

Landline phones (in millions)**

1200

By the Numbers

900

600

300

0 Country/Market Population (in millions)* Mobile subscribers (in millions)**, and as a percentage of population 634.0 (47%) 11.4 (161%) 110.4 (87%) 6.4 (137%) 45.6 (94%) 270.0 (88%) Internet users (in millions)**, and as a percentage of population 298.0 (22%) 4.1 (58%) 90.9 (72%) 3.4 (72%) 37.5 (77%) 231.0 (75%) Landline phones (in millions)**, and as a percentage of population 365.6 (27%) 4.1 (58%) 47.6 (37%) 1.9 (40%) 21.3 (44%) 150.0 (49%)
* in 2009 ** 2008

China Hong Kong Japan Singapore South Korea U.S.

1,300.0 7.1 127.0 4.7 48.5 307.0

Source: Central Intelligence Agencys World Factbook, www.cia.gov

according to Reston, Va.-based comScore Inc. (Some organizations estimate that the U.S. mobile subscriber base is much larger.) e numbers paint a pretty clear picture of the United States increasingly mobile culture (see page 5 for Marketing News exclusive research on Americans mobile use). Yet last year U.S. marketers spent approximately $390 to $400 million on mobile advertisingjust a fraction of marketers overall digital ad spend in 2009, which hovered around $25 billion, according to Forrester Research. (To really hammer the point home, compare U.S. marketers mobile spending with the more than $15 billion they allocated to search marketing in 2009.)

rience? whereas in the United States, I think a lot of marketers are still looking for that bright, shiny object, says Maria Mandel, senior partner and executive director of digital innovation at OgilvyInteractive in New York. Leading-edge Eastern marketers think of mobile less in terms of its disparate tools and more in terms of how those tools might complement their branding e orts, loyalty programs, retail environments, value propositions and overall marketing strategies, which brings us to the next lesson.

Look Beyond the iPhone App

U.S. marketers are right at the edge of a quantum leap. Asia could lose the lead in mobile if North America gets serious.
Sean Rach, director of digital media and corporate events for Prudential Corp. Asia and chairman of MMA Asia-Pacic

e reach is there, experts say, and its time to up the ante on mobile marketing. U.S. marketers are right at the edge of a quantum leap, says Sean Rach, director of digital media and corporate events for Prudential Corp. Asia, an insurance and nancial rm in Hong Kong, and chairman of the MMAs APAC region. Rach, who previously was managing director of marketing agency OgilvyOne Hong Kong and also worked in marketing at Sprint, says, Asia could lose the lead in mobile if North America gets serious.
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Think Strategically, Not Just Tactically

When Dabbas started Punchkick Interactive four years ago, he and his team struggled to educate companies on why they should add mobile marketing to their mix. One year later, companies were interested in texting and the mobile Web. Now Punchkick Interactive is getting more iPhone app inquiries than we can handle. ats great progress in a relatively short period of time, but the problem is that too many U.S. marketers still think of mobile as a disruptive medium best suited for ashy, gimmicky, one-o marketing e orts that arent necessarily integrated into a companys overall marketing strategy. In leading-edge Asian markets, many marketers ask themselves, How does mobile t into the expe-

Of the 240 million-plus mobile subscribers in the United States, only about one-quarter of U.S. smartphone users own iPhones, according to comScore. Yet many U.S. marketers are primarily gearing their mobile e orts toward the iPhone and seemingly nine out of 10 times, theyre focusing on applications, Dadwal says. In the United States, mobile channels such as SMS (aka text messaging), MMS (multimedia messaging), Bluetooth, voice and the mobile Internet are not being totally explored for marketing needs, Dadwal says. I believe [the iPhone app] is the North American stepping-stone into mobile, which is a good rst step, he says, but in markets in Japan, South Korea, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, marketers focus is broader and the consumers are getting exposed to every channel of mobile. For example, SMS is the lowest common denominator in mobile communications throughout the world and many marketers are running creative text-based campaigns in Eastern markets, Dadwal says. Beginning in 2008 and running through last June, Procter & Gambles Pampers brand ran a successful interactive SMS campaign in the Philippines called the Pampers Hearts Club in which it sent parents text messages containing baby care tips tailored to babies developmental stages, he says. And parents could receive points toward gi certi cates for toys and entries into contests to win educational grants by texting in specially marked codes on Pampers packages. e campaign was intended to build brand a nity and customer retention. It succeeded in compiling more than 100,000 consumers contact information for the Pampers database and reportedly boosted Pampers Hearts Club members diaper consumption by 50%. As a tangential benet, the text-based campaign positioned P&G as a custodian of health for babies, Dadwal says. In Japan, marketers make great use of mobiles interactive capabilities with QR codesshort for quick-response codes, which are twodimensional bar codes that consumers can scan with their mobile phones cameras to access product reviews, pricing information, coupons, links to company Web sites, pretty much any marketing information that a company wants to make available through mobile, experts say.

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World Use
67% Mobile Phone 26% Web

67% of the worlds

population is using mobile phones, compared with only

QR codes serve as a bridge for marketers to provide a depth and breadth of information thats not possible in just one marketing channeland theyre on seemingly everything in Japan. eres mobile activation of everything in the whole society; every newspaper, every print ad has QR codes, Prudentials Rach says. Most mobile phones in Japan now come with code-scanning capabilities preinstalled. While some U.S.-based marketers are experimenting with incorporating mobile-ready bar codes into their campaigns, many have yet to try adding bar codes to their packaging or campaigns because most U.S. consumers dont have the appropriate technology in their phones to scan them. But mobile bar codes are gaining ground stateside. For example, Muses company is best known for its ShopSavvy bar codescanning app for iPhones and Android phones, which has more than 4.5 million users and is attracting 30,000 additional Android users and 10,000 iPhone users each day, he says.

Create an Effective Call to Action

26% who use the

Internet, according to a February report from the United Nations International Telecommunication Union.

U.S. mobile marketers face several barriers that Eastern marketers dont, including SPAM and telephone regulations that prevent marketers from reaching out to consumers through their mobile phones if those consumers havent opted in to receiving mobile marketing messages. Such barriers make U.S. marketers mobile calls to action even more important. Yet experts agree that marketers in Asia have a much better handle on incorporating prominently placed mobile prompts in all of their mobile channels, pushing well beyond U.S. marketers current formula of attempting to drive tra c to mobile tactics via PR-generated buzz or vague prompts in print ads. In Japan, mobile prompts arent o to the side. ey arent u , Dabbas says. Rather than just vaguely directing consumers to text 12345 to nd out more, he says, your call to action, it really should entice people. It should give consumers a sense of what theyll get if they make the e ort to text your company or log on to your mobile Web site. OgilvyInteractives Mandel agrees: Im always telling my clients this is simple direct marketing. You need a strong call to action if youre going to get people to engage. Some U.S. marketers are on the right track, Dabbas says. For example, last year Punchkick Interactive worked with UPS Corporate Workforce Planning and its agency, TMP Worldwide Advertising & Communications, on an integrated campaign called Problem Solved to recruit job seekers for UPS. e interactive campaign ran calls to action through social media, e-mails, SEO, radio, TV and print, among other channels, that prompted consumers to seek out more information on UPS job opportunities through their mobile phones. It generated about 345,000 job applications for UPS. [Editors note: Read more about the UPS campaign in the March 15 issue or online at MarketingPower.com.]

Make Mobile Part of Your Multichannel Strategy

In many Asian markets, every aspect of brand managers brand campaigns actually has started having a call to action for

mobile, Dadwal says. Print ads all have a mobile plug directing consumers to text for more information or to visit a mobile Web site. Scanning the Globe Consumer touch points are better integrated and mobile a Brussels, Belgium-based is becoming an integral part global trade group that aims of the 360-degree marketto provide standards that make supply ing campaign. and demand chains more efcient, is trying Not only do they incorto create industry standards for bar code porate mobile into a designs so that, for example, codes used broader multichannel straton a products packaging to convey pricing egy, but also they make the data to the checkout scanner also could hold most of mobiles own chanmarketing information that consumers could nel portfolio. In February access by scanning the bar codes with and March 2007, Motorola their mobile phones. The group also ran an award-winning mobile supports preinstalled bar code scanning marketing campaign in Hong software on mobile devices to aid in Kong called Say Goodbye, which consumer adoption. was created by Ogilvy & Mather Asia Paci c and e Hyperfactory, a global mobile marketing rm based in Auckland, New Zealand, that aimed to create a relevant, value-added experience in which consumers could interact with their Motorola RAZR phones. Say Goodbye allowed Motorola users to wish their loved ones well as they passed through Hong Kong International Airports new terminal by taking a photo of themselves with their phones cameras, adding a goodbye message to it and texting it to a special phone number to get the photo displayed on interactive LCD screens in the terminal. Users also could send pre-recorded goodbye messages from soccer star David Beckham or Taiwanese pop star Jay Chou using their phones Bluetooth capabilities, says Prudentials Rach, who worked at Ogilvy Hong Kong when the campaign was created. Motorolas mobile marketing e ort won a competition run by Hong Kong International Airport to get the use of the new terminals digital screens for freethe airports own way of marketing its new advertising opportunity. e campaign also garnered media attention and reportedly boosted handset sales signi cantly. e goodbye messages from Beckham and Chou ended up being forwarded tens of thousands of times all over the world, spreading goodwill for the Motorola brand. Motorola execs smartly considered the mediuman airport terminaland asked themselves, How could we be useful in that space? And we stumbled upon this great idea of saying goodbye, Rach says. Motorola wanted its mobile message to be so useful and relevant to consumers that it would move beyond its retail setting. e intention was for [consumers] to spread that message out and to turn the mobile marketing e ort into more than just a one-o activity. m

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Find Out More @ MarketingPower.com

Find links to all the cited resourcse below by visiting MarketingPower.com/MarketingNews and clicking current issue or April 30, 2010. Articles:
Dont Screw Up Your Mobile Marketing Opportunity Marketing News columnist and Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff explains how to optimize and integrate mobile into your marketing plans in a way that satises customers and meets business objectives. Hold the Line This Marketing News how-to article reviews some of the technical ramications and legal requirements regarding mobile coupon programs. 04.30.10 On the Map Location-based mobile technology targets value-added marketing messages to consumers on an as-desired basis. This Marketing News article outlines what marketers need to know to do right by this marketing channel on the verge of adoption.

Webcasts:
Mobile Marketing How-To: A Starter Guide for the Novice Brennan Carlson of Lyris Inc. explains the basic how-tos of mobile marketing, denes key terminology and provides examples of how to get started.

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Community:
Visit the Marketing News blog to access a video on the Motorola mobile marketing campaign referenced in this article.