Written on Monday, March 30, 2009
Pretty interesting to see a service providing
free SMS alerts (well, almost, they're ad-supported) for supporters of the New York Yankees. This is usually considered premium material and consumers are invited to participate in the form of a paid membership to receive such sports alerts, so I am intrigued to find out how well it works and how profitable it will eventually turn out to be.
It will all depend, of course, on whether enough advertisers will participate, but, from what I know, the Yankees are quite popular -- maybe 'quite' being an understatement -- so it does stand a chance. Besides, they wouldn't be running it if they thought it wouldn't succeed, would they?
Here's more from the
article:
The Yes Network, the official TV channel of MLB’s New York Yankees, is running free-to-consumer, ad-supported SMS alerts.
The text-message alerts are powered by 4Info. The initiative lets consumers get news and score alerts for their favorite teams on their mobile phone and gives advertisers the opportunity to reach Yankee fans.
YES Network SMS alerts are powered by 4Info
First, consumers choose what kinds of SMS alerts they’d like to receive on the
Yes Network Web site, such as news and score updates in categories including “Yankees News,” “Nets News” and “Local Sports News.”
In addition to Yankees content, the Yes Network runs SMS alerts for the NBA’s New Jersey Nets. 4Info offers SMS alerts for the four major sports: MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL.
After consumers enter their mobile phone number, 4Info then sends a text message with a five-digit code, which the consumer must enter into the portal on the Yes Network Web site.
Consumers then receive the following text message confirming their opt-in:
“Welcome to 4Info alerts! Questions? Contact support@4info.net or text HELP. Text STOP to stop anytime. Std/other charges may apply.”
The Yes Network has obviously thought this one through though..
The Yankees SMS alerts are promoted on-air during Yes Network broadcasts, as well as on the Web site.Brands advertising within the Yes text messages range from Papa John’s and Avis to TV networks such as HBO, Starz and Spike. The SMS alerts contain branding messages or click to various actions.
“We’ve had some really good uptake so far and we’ve sold a good amount of ad inventory,” Mr. Spirito said. “Advertisers get directly in front of consumers, the most ardent fans who can’t be away from the content we have and want most up-to-date information possible.
and it's even more interesting to see that they're running interactive marketing SMS campaigns, where consumers can reply back texting a different keyword to receive an offer. Take a look at the
article for some examples.
Posted in
mobile advertising,
mobile marketing,
sms marketing
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Written on Friday, March 27, 2009
Ace Marketing & Promotions are pretty big for
Proximity Marketing in concerts. I've written about them
in the past and there's been at least a couple more events I've heard about. Their campaigns are with pretty big names too, mind you, which translate into large crowds, making such
bluetooth marketing campaigns all the more interesting.
Here's (some of) their latest
press release:Ace Marketing & Promotions Inc.(OTC BB:AMKT) announced today that they have teamed with Nickelback and Sprint to deliver what has come to be known as Ace's flagship product, Rockzimity - a dynamic Bluetooth & Wi-Fi multimedia content delivery system compatible with over 1000 mobile devices, including the iPhone. All fans have to do is to turn their Bluetooth Visibility to "On" & Discoverable and upon entering key areas in and around The Sprint Center in Kansas City, for example, fans will be presented a message "Would You Like A Free Video From Nickelback?". Upon accepting "YES" the message download immediately begins, quickly and seamlessly and is then stored in the consumers media folder. From there the content can be virally spread to family and friends via email or Bluetooth. For Wi-Fi enabled devices all consumers have to do is connect to the Nickelback localized network that is created and then launch their browser.
Ace Marketing & Promotions Inc. a mobile marketing leader focused on the advancement of the brand to consumer relationship, utilize Proximity Marketing to engage fans and touch them from many angles and access points. Most recently, Ace Marketing & Promotions Inc and Madison Square Garden successfully delivered content and downloads to thousands of consumers in their most recent campaign focused on delivering branded content & promotional ticket offers to some select events at the Garden. Michael Trepeta, President for Ace Marketing & Promotions Inc. stated, "We have seen great results in our most recent campaigns at MSG and across the country, fans are coming to the shows with their Bluetooth Visibility "On" and coming expecting something exciting, something that engages them". When asked, Nickelback Manager, Bryan Coleman, stated "Nickelback are continually searching for new and exciting ways to interact with their fans. This amazingly creative Bluetooth technology allows for actual "real time" contact with our fans during our live show and creates unlimited opportunities."
What really strikes me is the statement from Michael Trepeta, who said fans now go to concerts expecting to get
multimedia content via bluetooth from the band, prepared to participate. This is extremely important and, if nothing else, show a job well done in the sector of awareness and quality of service provided.
Taking this fact into account (the crowd participation) goes to show that the proximity marketing + concert formula can indeed prove a very successful one, and I am sure numbers and statistics from their campaigns would show this.
I would really be interested in finding out such numbers, so I will be contacting them directly to see if they are willing to share some with us.
Posted in
bluetooth marketing,
mobile entertainment
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Written on Wednesday, March 25, 2009
I've just come across a very interesting piece of news: T-mobile is trying out
bluetooth marketing. Here's more from the
article:
T Mobile customers could find themselves tempted into the latest deals via a new initiative.
It was announced this week that as part of a pilot scheme in six of its UK stores, the network will utilise the latest in Bluetooth technology to send out messages to passing consumers.
The firm's director of retail Andrew Coull explained: "We see proximity marketing as an innovative and more targeted way of interacting with our customers and we hope that they will also see the benefits."
Consumers may find that receiving such offers tempts them into an upgrade to one of the carrier's exclusive handsets.
This is one of the first examples of
proximity marketing campaigns, that I know of, where the customer is a network operator. And I think you will agree that it's very interesting to see a network operator realising the potential of
bluetooth marketing.
I am saying this because network operators already use other mobile marketing techniques, such as
sms marketing, etc. and it clearly shows there's also a place for
proximity marketing in there, as it provides them access to consumers
they can't otherwise get to!
This all just goes to show that
bluetooth / proximity marketing is
not a replacement for other mobile marketing techniques -- that's exactly what T-mobile's move means to me.
Proximity marketing is a
complementary tool in your mobile marketing toolkit, which you can use to do exactly what it says on the tin. Offer you the opportunity to convey your marketing message to people in a certain location, at a very low price.
Of course, other
location-based techniques (e.g. using GPS) will soon begin to offer
location-based advertising as a revenue generating source, but then again there's been a hype around LBS for a good few years, and they've still not really taken off. Who knows when they will? Also, I wouldn't expect this to be cheap for clients if/when it comes around.
Pretty good news for a Wednesday morning, wouldn't you say?
Posted in
bluetooth marketing,
mobile advertising,
mobile marketing,
proximity marketing
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Written on Monday, March 23, 2009
Every time I tell someone here about Google providing
free SMS I get the same 'get-out-of-here' reaction. And yet, it's true. Or rather was. Or rather, still is, just not for everyone anymore.
On top of other
SMS-related services Google provides, such as Google Calendar notifications, they also give U.S. users the option of sending
SMS messages through the Google Chat window.
Google then also started offering the service to developers of third-party applications, but an iPhone app was pretty quick to follow, leading to the discontinuation of the service. Here's more from the relevant
aricle:
Google's hardly publicized method for sending free text messages has been revoked after traffic from a popular iPhone app became too much.
Google has started to block Infinite SMS and all other third-party software that's been piggybacking the text messaging feature available in Gmail. Enabled in December via the Labs, the possibility of sending free SMS messages right from the Gmail chat window was quickly targeted by the Inner Fence developers who last month released Infinite SMS, a paid ($0.99) app for the iPhone and iPod touch which used the function to let users send as many text messages they want for free (if you don't count the one-time fee of course).
Saying that "SMS chat is still just an experiment in the early testing stages in Gmail Labs", and that it can't support an application that significantly increases its usage, Google has decided to block Infinite SMS, with those who bought it now getting this little error - "SMS_ERROR_10: Sorry we don't support free SMS messaging through this client. Visit http://gmail.com/sms for more info." Looks like a refund is in order.
A shame it had to be discontinued, but pretty understandable at the same time, wouldn't you think?
Either way, it would be nice to see the
free SMS through Google chat coming to Europe soon.
Posted in
sms,
sms marketing
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Written on Thursday, March 19, 2009
Today's articles is about pure numbers. At the end of the day it's numbers that matter the most, anyway, and these numbers are certainly very important when it comes to mobile marketing. It's about the market shares of smartphones in 2008, as reported by analyst house, Gartner. Below you'll find a quick overview, but there's plenty of information in the link above, so do have a closer look, if you're interested. As a proportion of all mobile device sales, smartphones remained stable at 12 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008, from 11 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007. Samsung entered the top five vendors ranking for the first time (see Table 1), replacing Sharp. RIM recorded an increase in sales both sequentially and year-over-year, while Nokia's volumes continued to fall.
Table 2
Worldwide: Smartphone Sales to End Users by Vendor, 2008 (Thousands of Units) | Company | 2008 Sales | Market Share 2008 (%) | 2007 Sales | Market Share 2007 (%) | Growth
2007-2008 (%) |
| Nokia | 60,920.5 | 43.7 | 60,465.0 | 49.4 | 0.8 |
| Research In Motion | 23,149.0 | 16.6 | 11,767.7 | 9.6 | 96.7 |
| Apple | 11,417.5 | 8.2 | 3,302.6 | 2.7 | 245.7 |
| HTC | 5,895.4 | 4.2 | 3,718.5 | 3.0 | 58.5 |
| Sharp | 5,234.2 | 3.8 | 6,885.3 | 5.6 | -24.0 |
| Others | 32,671.4 | 23.5 | 36,176.6 | 29.6 | -9.7 |
| Total | 139,287.9 | 100.0 | 122,315.6 | 100.0 | 13.9 |
Note: For HTC we only count the company's own-branded devices. The devices that HTC designs and which have the operator's brand are given separately under the operator’s name in our statistics.
Source: Gartner (March 2009)
In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Symbian's share of the global market decreased to 47.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2008, down from its 2007 share of 62.3 per cent (see Table 3). Pressure from new platforms entering the consumer space, the continued decline of Nokia's smartphone sales and the weakness of the Japanese mobile device market have negatively affected Symbian's share. Meanwhile, RIM successfully grew its year-on-year share of the global smartphone market to 19.5 per cent from 10.9 per cent. Gartner estimated that Android smartphones accounted for 20 per cent of total Linux sales in the fourth quarter of 2008.
In the fourth quarter of 2008, Microsoft's share of the global smartphone market improved sequentially, with unit sales up 16 per cent over 3Q08. This was mainly driven by the popularity of Samsung Omnia and touchscreen products from HTC. Sales of Linux-based smartphones were up by 19 per cent year-over-year, mainly through Android-based smartphones being available through T-Mobile during the fourth quarter of 2008.
Table 4
Worldwide: Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System, 2008 (Thousands of Units) | Company | 2008 Sales | Market Share 2008 (%) | 2007 Sales | Market Share 2007 (%) | Growth
2007-2008 (%) |
| Symbian | 72,933.5 | 52.4 | 77,684.0 | 63.5 | -6.1 |
| Research In Motion | 23,149.0 | 16.6 | 11,767.7 | 9.6 | 96.7 |
| Microsoft Windows Mobile | 16,498.1 | 11.8 | 14,698.0 | 12.0 | 12.2 |
| Mac OS X | 11,417.5 | 8.2 | 3,302.6 | 2.7 | 245.7 |
| Linux | 11,262.9 | 8.1 | 11,756.7 | 9.6 | -4.2 |
| Palm OS | 2,507.2 | 1.8 | 1,762.7 | 1.4 | 42.2 |
| Other OSs | 1,519.7 | 1.1 | 1,344.0 | 1.1 | 13.1 |
| Total | 139,287.9 | 100.0 | 122,315.6 | 100.0 | 13.9 |
Note: The "Other OSs" category includes sales of Sharp Sidekick devices based on the Danger platform.
Source: Gartner (March 2009)
As a concluding note, I would only like to republish Ms Cozza's statement that I am 100% behind:
Ms Cozza concluded: “In 2009, mobile platforms will be a major battleground as the associated user experience and role of the ecosystem grow in importance.”
Posted in
mobile marketing
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Written on Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Going through my e-mail this morning, I came across a press release from Cytech Ltd., regarding the installation of their Proximity Marketing system in Athens International Airport. The press release is a pretty interesting read as they claim to be offering a very impressive array of services, including access to live flight information on your mobile phone, and other interactive mobile services over Bluetooth.
I had heard about the airport in Athens having run an open competition for proximity marketing system vendors in the past, so I was expecting this to have come up a lot sooner, (it's been a while now) and, to be honest, I thought the project had been abandoned. I must say I'm very excited to be seeing Bluetooth Marketing constantly growing here in Greece, especially when I come across news like this.
Anyway, here's more from the press release:
The services are provided through a special version of the Bluevibe Browser mobile application, named “AIA Browser”, which uses Bluetooth or WiFi to retrieve its live data. The pilot installation includes a number of Bluevibe Hotspots located in key areas inside the terminal building.
The services that are being planned for public release in the next few months include:
Unfortunately, the system has not been made available to the public yet. I am a pretty frequent visitor of the airport in Athens, so I really can't wait to play with it, once it is available:
The system is operational since May 2008 on a closed testing phase. This month the installation entered the final two months of the testing period. Over the past 10 months, over half a million unique mobile devices were discovered by the Bluevibe hotspots in the airport, even though the system is still in closed testing and the visitors were not informed in any way to switch bluetooth to discoverable on their mobile device!
The Athens International Airport will thus become the first airport in the world to offer truly interactive mobile services, through a mobile application, to its travelers and visitors!
Seeing as these guys are in Greece (and you might have noticed they've also put an ad on my blog) I've already come in touch with Mr. Vangelis Antoniadis, Sales and CRM Manager for Cytech Ltd. -- and also a regular visitor of this blog -- to find out more. I'm awaiting for his reply to hopefully arrange an interview, so I'll keep you posted.
Posted in
bluetooth marketing,
bluetooth services,
proximity marketing
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Written on Monday, March 16, 2009
Everybody that's ever been to London will
probably have been to Picaddilly Circus. And if they have, they will
definitely have seen
Coke's advertising billboard. It's huge - you simply can't miss it. More so if you work in Marketing -- I even know people who visited Picaddilly Circus just for the signs..
The
news today is that Coca-Cola is now also using
bluetooth marketing in Picadilly Circus, around it's billboard, in order to
make multimedia content available via bluetooth to commuters, tourists and passers-by, promoting its 'Happiness Factory' ad:
The iconic cola brand enjoyed a 3.6% boost in retail sales in 2008 and its best January sales this year, despite the increasingly gloomy economic news. Annual retail sales for Coca-Cola in the UK reached £514.5m by the end of 2008 - nearly a third of the overall cola sector, according to AC Nielsen data.
The new ad, shown on MediaGuardian.co.uk, created by Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam, is the latest instalment in the Happiness Factory series, which started in 2006. The ads show animated characters who make Coca-Cola in a magical land inside the vending machine and in the latest version, both the human purchaser and the Happiness Factory workers are tired and in need of the uplifting effect of a Coke.
The campaign is global but will launch in the UK on Tuesday. The multimillion-pound UK campaign, bought and planned by Vizeum, includes TV, radio, online, outdoor, mobile and a cross-promotion with Xbox.
The Xbox partnership includes a giveaway of 3m Xbox loyalty scheme points, online gaming gurus giving tips and advice and a Coca-Cola skin to let gamers customise their Xbox dashboard.
Online elements include a "Happiness Hub" microsite on Bebo and an MSN games application and music track. Consumers can also download Happiness Factory ringtones for free from the Coke's Piccadilly Circus billboard using bluetooth.
Coca-Cola needs no introduction, and it's often involved in
bluetooth marketing campaigns (and is doing a pretty good job of filling my articles, too! :) ). Here's a couple of relevant past articles:
Though, I've not personally witnessed the campaign, and don't know all the details, it's important to note that they have chosen to
allow the public to download content, rather than just spamming everyone passing by. By making the
mobile marketing campaign interactive, and thus
opt-in -- rather than opt-out -- they have distanced themselves from any SPAM accusations, only providing the service to everyone choosing to participate.
It's all about putting the control in the hands of the consumer, and giving them the option to participate. If they do, they're a lot more likely to lead to conversions.
Posted in
bluetooth,
bluetooth marketing
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Written on Friday, March 13, 2009
I've discussed whether, and to which extent,
Bluetooth Marketing is legal, in a couple of articles, last November:
Since then, not much has changed legally, and no news laws have been voted here in Greece, but it is stil important for everyone involved in the industry to have at least some guidelines established, so there is some common ground between marketers, in order to protect the image of
bluetooth marketing as a whole -- and avoid it becoming widely recognised as
bluetooth spam.
This is why it's big news every time the DMA or the MMA announce a new set of
mobile marketing guidelines.
This time, the DMA has beat the MMA into announcing its newest '
Mobile Marketing Best Practice Guidelines' (the MMA has an announcement for new guidelines in May).
A few relevant extracts from the DMA guidelines:
It is therefore advised that the same standards should apply as any other form of mobile marketing such as SMS marketing. This means that marketers need consent from the intended recipient before sending a Bluetooth marketing message to their handset. See previous FAQs on consent. To be clear though, consent can be easily obtained via the ‘call to action’ routes outlined in the examples in 3.9.1.
We believe that this approach – though admittedly considerably more rigorous than is legally necessary – is right because of the principles of permission marketing. In addition however, it should be remembered that Bluetooth – unlike other mobile technologies – can deliver applications that will add to, or even alter, the handset's functionality. Given the potential significance of installing applications via Bluetooth, we believe that it makes the requirement of clearly seeking the user's permission all the more important.
...
Bluetooth technology actively listens for devices as they come into range and formulates a message specific to that unique device. Similarly, once a user activates their Bluetooth device, it becomes visible and actively pages other devices thereby advising the fact that it is in this mode.
Whilst technically it might be argued that the very act of activating Bluetooth is therefore both consent and a response to a call to action, it is our view that neither is so. In the examples shown in 3.9.1.1 and 3.9.1.2, consent has clearly been collected and the medium is being used effectively and without any contention over consent.
The DMA 'Mobile Marketing Best Practice Guidelines' are certainly useful and recommended reading for anyone in the field, more so, if you are just looking to start..
Regarding how legal
Bluetooth Marketing still is, well the answer is, same as before.. We've now just got more guidelines as to how to provide better
mobile marketing services.
Posted in
bluetooth marketing,
mobile marketing
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Written on Wednesday, March 11, 2009
I am a pretty big fan of both the CSI TV series, as well as the computer games, so I was particularly interested to come across the following case study on the MMA website.
The international mobile marketing provider DIMOCO and CoolCar, the external advertiser, are backing the Event Marketing Service agency’s “CSI: The Experience – You Solve the Case” campaign. With support from DIMOCO and adapted to the interactive exhibition, CSI fans can obtain mobile tickets and mobile content by SMS and Bluetooth. Customer quote: “With this event we have created an exciting all-round concept for fans of the TV series “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and those interested in forensics, giving them a chance to see behind the curtains of the crime scene investigator’s world while conveying profound scientific techniques and chemical processes by way of games, fun and suspense,” enthuses Christoph Rahofer from the Event Marketing Service agency at the European premiere in Vienna. “We have rounded off the CSI concept with our mobile dialogue solutions, offering fans tickets and content through the mobile channel,” adds Peter Hofbauer from DIMOCO.
Results: 338 downloads (438 mobiles detected, locations: 5 schools, time periode: from 11th to the 19th of December 08)
I did a quick google search to try and find out more info about what exactly the bluetooth marketing and sms marketing campaigns entailed, but a) there's not much I came across, and b) my german's not what it once used to be.
Still, I would have loved to have taken part in the experience. TV Series, as well as computer games each have their own sets of fans, most of which are excellent candidates for participating in marketing campaigns.
There is value for the participants in the received content, especially when this is part of a larger campaign, like it sounds like it was here, so participation rates are bound to be very high.
Additionally, there is no real need for extra awareness to the services, because when the mobile medium is used as part of the whole experience, users will turn to it anyway, to find out how to proceed.
Now bring on the next episode..
Posted in
bluetooth marketing,
sms marketing
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Written on Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I just came across this
article over at Mobile Crunch. Great or not so great news, it certainly is surprising - and important -
mobile news.
Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, has announced that the Venezuelan government has teamed up with a firm to create a $14 phone complete with MP3 playback, FM Radio, and a camera. Called El Vergatario, the handset should launch in May. We dug around a bit, but we’re having a hard time figuring out exactly what El Vergatario means in this context. It seems that Vergatario is everything from slang for “Great” to a few things that are, as Wired points out, a bit more offensive.
We’re still a bit torn on this one. The good side: Cheap cell phones for people who otherwise couldn’t get them. The bad side: Chances are, these things won’t be very ecologically friendly. Cheap phones means lots of phones sold, which means lots of phones in land fills within 4-5 years.
Hugo Chavez is indeed a controversial figure, and with moves like this, how could he not be? From a mobile marketing point of view this is certainly excellent news. And I'm sure people in Venezuela who will benefit from the scheme also share this view.
Personally, I can't say I share the views in the article regarding the phone's friendliness to the environment -- just because it's cheap doesn't mean it can't be green! The Venezuelan president has certainly proven in the past that he can break stereotypes. Why not also this one?
We'll just have to wait and see how much it will eventually cost, if the figures are eventually announced.
Posted in
mobile entertainment,
mobile marketing
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Written on Monday, March 09, 2009
Pizza chains are well-known big advocates of mobile marketing, as some of the major players, such as Pizza Hut and Papa John's are already using mobile as an ordering medium, or to run sms-based promotions. Mobile orders in particular have proven to be very profitable for pizza chains, with Papa John's claiming to have generated $1 million in Mobile Web orders, in less than 6 months.
Domino's Pizza is the latest pizza chain to be bringing in mobile marketing, using mobile coupons through SMS messages, and SMS marketing campaigns. More from the news article:
Domino's Pizza is rolling out a mobile coupon program that will serve its franchises nationwide. The pizza delivery franchise has selected Air2Web to be the sole mobile services provider for Domino’s new mobile coupon campaign management platform. Domino’s will use Air2Web’s services to send coupon codes to opted-in consumers via text message.
“We’re extremely satisfied with the results we are seeing with our text campaigns, as well as the overall growth of our mobile-ordering customer base,” said Rob Weisberg, vice president of multimedia marketing for Domino’s Pizza, Ann Arbor, MI.
...
Last year Domino’s more than tripled itsr number of opted-in consumers, the company claims. It plans to invest significantly in further growing its mobile consumer base.
...
According to Forrester Research, 30 percent of consumers would like to receive mobile coupons.
Redemption rates for mobile coupons range from 5 percent to 15 percent, which is much higher than typical print coupon rates of 1 percent or less.
Consumers must opt-in in order to participate in mobile coupon programs, accounting for higher redemption rates.
Paper coupon usage has declined 40 percent in the last few years due to lack of immediacy and the manual effort of clipping, according to the Food Marketing Institute.
Real-time offers, geographic targeting, personalization, time-of-day redemption tracking and a lower cost of delivery make mobile more compelling than traditional paper coupons.
I completely agree with Giselle Abramovich, the writer of the article. I also believe mobile has incredibly more potential for coupons, than print advertising. It's all about access (to the coupon), at the right time, in the right place, easily. Mobile coupons offers all 3, printed coupons struggle.
It's still morning, but I'm off to get some pizza now! With all the talk, I just can't resist..
Posted in
mobile coupons,
sms marketing
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Written on Friday, March 06, 2009
It is certainly far outside the scope of this blog (and far from my intentions) to discuss religious views here. I am purely publishing this piece of news, due to its strong connection with technology and the modern life style. And also because I was quite surprised when I
read it:
Roman Catholic bishops in Italy are urging the faithful to go on a high-tech fast for Lent, switching off modern appliances from cars to iPods and abstaining from surfing the Web or text messaging until Easter.
The suggestion goes far beyond no-meat Fridays, giving a modern twist to traditional forms of abstinence in the five-week period Christians set aside for fasting and prayer ahead of Easter.
And it shows the Church's increasing focus on technology's uses - with many of the Lenten appeals posted on various dioceses' Web sites.
Dioceses and Catholic groups in Modena, southern Bari and other cities have called for a ban on text messaging every Friday in Lent, which began last week with Ash Wednesday.
"It's a small way to remember the importance of concrete and not virtual relationships," the Modena diocese said in a statement. "It's an instrument to remind us that our actions and lifestyles have consequences in distant countries."
The diocese said the "no SMS day" seeks to draw attention to years of conflict in Congo fueled in part by the struggle for control of coltan mines. The mineral is an essential material in cell phones.
The Turin diocese is suggesting the faithful not watch television during Lent. In the northeastern city of Trento, the church has created a "new lifestyles" calendar with proposals for each week of Lent.
Some ideas: Leave cars at home and hop on a bike or a bus; stop throwing chewing gum on the street and start recycling waste; enjoy the silence of a week without the Internet and iPods.
Italian laity and clergy have reacted cautiously to the proposals. Some say Lenten abstinence should be a personal matter, and others contend that people who need technology to work shouldn't be asked to do without.
Obviously a very modern-world view of Lent. Comments anyone?
Posted in
mobile entertainment,
sms
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Written on Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Nike has recently extended its Nike Training Club Program to mobile, in an attempt to help women working out outside their homes and away from their desktop PCs. Here's the article:
Nike agency R/GA, New York, created a Nike Training Club iPhone application that complements the wired Web site at http://www.nikewomen.com. The app was already among the top 10 on Apple’s “What’s Hot” section for iPhone apps a few weeks ago.
The idea of the new app is to get consumers to train like an athlete with the Nike Training Club. Essentially, app users have access to a personalized training program on the iPhone.
Online, consumers can visit NikeWomen.com, create a mini avatar, customize a workout and invite friends for some competition.
The Nike Training Club programs use the latest training drills to focus on what it holds to be the five fundamental areas of athleticism: cardio, core, strength, balance and flexibility.
Once consumers have downloaded the Nike Training Club iPhone app from the Apple App Store, they can access the same features and customize to suit their needs.
Also, with this app, users can access training videos and a customized training schedule while in the gym and away from the desktop or laptop computer.
So, consumers set up the regimen on NikeWomen.com and consume the content on mobile.
Nike have never been slow to adopt
mobile as a marketing medium, and in fact they have run a number of
interesting mobile marketing campaigns in the past.
This latest iPhone app follows the trend more and more companies are embracing: offering an
'experience' to their consumers, in order to create a much stronger bond between the brand and the consumers themselves. By 'experience' here, I am referring to an interaction of the consumer with the brand (or one of its products) through a given medium (web,mobile,etc).
The 'experience' goes a long way in capturing the consumers' attention and increasing conversion rates, because it is much easier to associate the brand with something as immersive as this, rather than your average website you would visit on the web.
The Nike iPhone app is an excellent example of how to do this. Give the consumer the chance to create their own workout, their own 'experience' online. Then, on top of that, give them the opportunity to take it with them in the gym, or the park, or wherever, on their mobile, all the while promoting your brand products and building consumer trust in your brand name.
Neat stuff! You have to admit..
Posted in
mobile entertainment,
mobile marketing
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Written on Monday, March 02, 2009
I was reading an article yesterday in the Mobile Word Focus Magazine, about the importance of
mobile technology in the
public health sector, especially so in developing countries. The article is written by Claire Thwaites, head of the United Nations Foundation - Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership. Here are the most interesting extracts:
Despite improvements in the quality and availability of treatment for common ailments, public health programs can often be hammpered by logistical difficulties in collecting and recording accurate data. Across the world vital and time-sensitive health data, if it is collected at all, is still collected on paper, usually by means of house-to-house surveys. The process of collecting and entering this information for analysis can take months or even years.
...
Mobile technology represents a high research, cost efficient method for making health care more accessible, affordable, and effective. mHealth has the capacity to dramatically expand access to communications and to transmit voice and data at the precise time it is needed. This in turn, empowers health care workers to make improved diagnosis and provide citizens with access to health care where it is needed most.
With well over 3 billion mobile phones in use worldwide, mobile technology is becoming the most prevalent means of storing and transmitting data in order to improve the health of millions of people.
A full 64% of all mobile phone users are in the developing world, and it is estimated that by 2012, 50% of all individuals in remote areas of the world will have mobile phones. In addition, 80% of the world's population now live in an area with mobile phone coverage and the GSM Association expects this figure to rise to 85% by 2010.
mHealth applications can also be used to communicate directly with patients. For example, a simple application to send SMS message alerts to remind patients to take their medications. Health care providers have found that 40% of hospital readmissions for heart failure happen because patients fail to take their medication properly, suggesting that such a service could be life-saving for the patient and beneficial for hospitals wishing to avoid preventable admissions.
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The mobile technology-based Aftercare program supports the effective treatment of HIV/AIDS patients, and covers other aspects such as voluntary counselling. The information collected not only facilitates individual patient care, but is also used to build a database of information on the severity and prevalence of the South African AIDS epidemic in these regions. The goals of the program include reduction of treatment errors, increased volume of patient data, and increased confort for the patients as they receive HIV / AIDS care.
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During pilot testing of our mHealth program, real-time access to data has enabled officials to track medical supplies and vaccination rates, and inform rapid response to disease outbreaks. This was recently the case in Kenya, where refugees fleeing violence in neighbouring Somalia brought the polio virus into the country for the first time in more than 20 years. The Kenyan health ministry used its fledgling mobile health programme to evaluate the emergency polio vaccination campaign, generating real-time results that showed where follow-up efforts were still needed. In this case, fast access to health data ensured that a mass outbreak of the polio virus was prevented, as the officials were able to pinpoint the exact location where the virus was located and contain the outbreak before it spread to other towns and villages.
mHealth is certainly one of the most promising mobile services and indeed brings very hopeful messages to developing countries, such as Kenya. I expect more countries will adopt such services soon -- they can only benefit from their adoption.
If you are interested in reading more, there are a couple of previous related articles:
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