From podium to podcast people have pontificated about the potential of a second screen. The theory was that the second – mobile – screen would increase the awareness and impact of marketing messages. Now, it seems that the theory is being proven. As we noted a few days ago, Neilsen discovered that the combination of TV and mobile increases brand recall by 69 percent and purchase intent by 72 percent. That is a hugely important statistic.
Now, mobile devices themselves are being seen by big brands as the main screen. Today, according to Mobile Commerce Daily, L’Oreal has tested the power of the mobile screen. The company hired taxis in New York, put adverts in the form of retail storefronts on the outside and a shop inside (pretty much). 25 percent of the people who participated in the test, based around mobile bar codes, bought something. More than that, of the consumers who participated, 35 percent looked for more information on the products seen in the cabs and 92 percent said that they would purchase beauty products from a L’Oreal taxi in the future.
Coca Cola meanwhile is investing hugely in mobile technology and potential. To them, it provides an answer to the waste that is broadcast advertising. It is precision marketing and its is based on the oldest digital mobile technology, SMS. Again courtesy of Mobile Marketer, who reported on the MMA conference in New York, the precision marketing head at Coca Cola said that they now plan advertising with “mobile as the first screen. The fact that the lowest common denominator offers the highest possible engagement is a big opportunity.”
SMS is great for brands such as Coca Cola. Using location based information – for instance, being able to target people going to big events – provides the company with unprecedented opportunity to reach those people. They tried it at the Superbowl with huge success, streaming real time content, and getting their Polar Bear family to comment on the game.
SMS is still cool, apparently, and to some extent may render more cumbersome technologies irrelevant. According to research by tyntec and highlighted by GoMo News, “a high proportion of youngsters in the UK (52 percent) and US (61 percent) users were interested in having SMS integrated into mobile social networks.”
This is good for telcos, obviously, as they (hopefully) ramp up the appeal of carrier billing – the most popular choice for both paying for apps and for in-app billing. According to a survey sponsored by MACH and discussed by Telecom TV, “more than one third (37 per cent) of smartphone users in the UK and Germany have already paid for apps via Direct Operator Billing and 29 per cent of smartphone users who have made app or in-app purchases prefer to have the charge added to their mobile phone bill. Speed and convenience are the reasons it is popular and that should be music to the ears of our industry.
Meanwhile, this is all great in theory, but the ingredient that is as essential in Mama’s Apple Pie as apple, is knowing who to offer what to, and when. The solution to this is analytics and more importantly using analytics properly. Although this is easier said than done, a recent IBM study found that using it properly an illustrative wireless CSP with $8 billion in revenue and 17 million subscribers could achieve total five-year benefits of $718 million with an ROI of 830 percent and a payback of 15 months – and that is mainly from running things more efficiently, not making more money.
Suddenly I feel better. I think I’ll hail a shop and go to one of those old fashioned, er, oh yes, movies.
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