Mobile Health Care Services Turning Commercial

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Written on Thursday, April 30, 2009

I just came across a very interesting mobile health care service from Mobile Health Tech, which released its first commercial trial service. Such healthcare services for mobile are very few to my knowledge, and are usually limited to university or industrial research studies, so it is really good news to be reading about a commercial application. It means such services have now become a reality, so the wider public (that includes us) can really start benefiting from these. Here's the highlights from the press release:
MPro Care is the first two-way mobile diabetes solution that provides automated reminders and accepts readings using standard mobile phones on all major U.S. service providers. mPro Care was developed to help improve patient medication and treatment compliance for improved health care outcomes and reduced cost of care for patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes, coronary artery disease and hypertension, asthma and obesity.

“We’re very excited about this whole mobile healthcare division, and we’ve partnered with content providers and complementary platform providers to create this mobile command center platform,” said Alan Stern, CMO of Gold Mobile, Clark, NJ. “We’re trying to create solutions that can be implemented in multiple locations, from doctors’ offices and hospitals to call centers and medical labs.

“This platform provides a rapid notification alert system with lots of capabilities for patients and their families, physicians and local authorities such as appointment confirmations and SMS reminders 24 hours before so you don’t have to have a nurse make these phone calls,” he said. “This allows them to send and receive text messages from a Web-based console to a cell phone and handle multiple calls simultaneously.

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“We created categories that can be customized based on whatever the hospital’s needs are.”

...

“We’re in the process of demonstrating this to a dozen-plus hospitals, and some are about to adopt it, while others are in the early stages.”

...

There are currently over 23 million diabetics in the U.S., about 8 percent of the total population, with approximately 2 million new diabetics diagnosed each year.

...

Medication compliance, proper nutrition and exercise are major factors in diabetes management, and mPro Care sends custom-tailored medication reminders, motivational and behavioral trigger messages and condition-reading requests to patients’ mobile phones via SMS.

It will be great when we see this applied in hospitals, as I truly think such services can improve the quality of life of people with such diseases. I hope we will soon see more such services surfacing, because they are excellent examples of how the mobile technology can be put to good use and help us protect our lives and health.



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Starbucks Mobile Coupons Marketing Campaign

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Written on Monday, April 27, 2009

I've just come across this great piece of news in the Mobile Marketer about the most recent mobile marketing campaign from Starbucks! Needless to say how important sms marketing campaigns from such big names in the industry are, and they often signal a general acceptance of a given marketing approach in the market. When big firms take on the approach, smaller companies usually follow leading to the widespread use of the medium. Here's the most interesting parts from the article:

The coffee giant tapped digital technology provider Codilink, which specializes in mobile services helping companies to offer loyalty programs to their clients. The campaign is currently running in Guadalajara and San Luis Potosi, Mexico, but based on the 60 percent mobile coupon redemption rate, it is likely to be expanded.

“The main strategies of this campaign are to reward loyal Starbucks customers and to get to know new customers and attract them to their stores,” said Rodrigo Rivero Borrell, director/CEO of Codilink Mexico, Mexico City. “On the one hand we’re helping people to get to know the brand and the product and rewarding loyal customers with prizes and discounts.

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“We were offering a system to create the coupons and track them to learn more about their customers, and mobile is the key way of doing that,” he said. “Starbucks also wanted to target younger people, and mobile is the most appropriate way to do that.”

Currently about 80 percent of consumers in Mexico have mobile phones for a total of approximately 76 million subscribers.

I was particularly intrigued by the above comment, about how coupons will also be used to build profiles for the customers. This is a very forward-thinking approach, and if Starbucks really go forward with personalizing the customer experience for something as personal and everyday need (speaking for those of us with near-addiction to coffee :) ), I believe it will win them an even greater market segment.

Starbucks runs mobile coupon loyalty program

Starbucks is equipped with 2D bar code recognition software, so employees can read the mobile coupon directly from consumers’ mobile phones at the point of sale.

“Every time you present your coupon, the offer would be modified, such as get a venti for the price of a tall, to make people come more often to the store,” Mr. Borrell said. “What Starbucks cares about most is the number of people who actually present 2D bar codes, and the redemption rate was about 60 percent.

I expect that, once successful in Mexico, Starbucks mobile coupons will soon make an appearance in more countries, and I presume, judging by previous Starbucks strategy, that it won't be too long before we see them expanding.

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Yorkshire Park Sends Information via Bluetooth

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Written on Friday, April 24, 2009

I've just come across a press release from the Yorkshire Dales National Park, announcing their newest service to visitors and tourists:
A special hi-tech unit has been installed at the Grassington National Park Centre that will enable people to download walks and information about the village onto their mobile phone, laptop or other equipment – even when the building is closed.

The unit contains an application called ‘Discover Grassington’ – a package of information about the area that includes self-guided river and village walks.

The free facility is the latest attempt by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) to reduce the number of panels located in the National Park that give visitors information about the immediate area.

Meghann Hull, the YDNPA’s Interpretation Officer, said: “This is the latest form of digital interpretation that gives people information without the need for physical panels – and we hope it will be a real success.

“The great thing is that people can download it onto their mobile phone or PDA by just standing on the Bluetooth ‘hotspot’ outside the National Park Centre and following the step-by-step instructions posted in the window. You can access it when the centre is closed, it needs no phone signal to work and it's completely free.

“We are hoping to reach out to different audiences and provide interpretation in new ways. This is a pilot and, if all goes well, we hope to install more at the other National Park Centres in the future.”

This is actually great news because mobile phones have long been talked about as ideal platforms / candidates for mobile guides. This is one of the very few real-world examples out there, and it's really good to see more coming out.

On the one hand, I am certain tourists and visitors (especially those of a younger age) will really come to appreciate and use this service.

On the other hand, the potential for mobile marketing through the service is, I believe, obvious. Just as an example, tourists and visitors would really benefit from knowing where they can go to eat, or have a coffee while enjoying the scenery, and restaurants or cafeterias would obviously want to attract more tourists.. there are endless ideas.

I really hope this pilot installation goes well, so that the authorities there can further enhance this service. At the moment it is fairly simple and only sends static information to the visitors, I presume in the form of pictures, with a map for example, and highlighted paths, etc.

Quite naturally, the next step is starting to provide location-aware services so that the visitors can view information on their mobile phones, all throughout their tour of the park, like a mobile tourist guide. There are a number of technological approaches in achieving this, some feasible even with the available technology on mobile phones today, so I look forward to hearing more about the Yorkshire Dales National Park in the future.

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Jack in the Box Mobile Payments Trial

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Written on Wednesday, April 22, 2009

There is a pretty big bet yet to be won before mobile commerce can become a reality, and that is the issue of mobile payments.

I had previously written an older article about the mobile wallet, and had also mentioned about this NFC payments trial there. We now have an update from the NFC trial:

This trial, said to be the first of its kind nationwide, combined in a single mobile phone multiple payment types, marketing and account management. Two hundred and thirty regular riders of the BART system were issued Near-Field Communication-enabled Sprint phones for a four-month trial. Those mobile phones became the payment method at BART stations and Jack in the Box restaurants across San Francisco. So-called smart posters located in the BART terminals let the participants tap their phones to get directions to the nearest Jack in the Box.

“It really shows that the necessary players in the mobile commerce landscape can work together to implement the necessary infrastructure and create a successful trial that has potential for full deployment and real-world integration,” said Tom Savage, vice president of business development for mobile commerce solutions at First Data.

Up until today, no one solution for mobile payments has prevailed over the others, and until the mobile phone manufacturers decide how (and when, and maybe even if) mobile payments will be taking place, in order to equip new models accordingly, this is something we won't have an answer for.

Not knowing this now means that for at least the next couple of years -- until new models, properly equipped for seamless payments have started to take a major share in the market -- mobile payments will still be problematic.

There are solutions in the meantime, but each has its problems:

Mobile payments are taking place through network operators, (e.g. network ops portals / apps catalogs) but this means going through your network operator every single time you buy something -- hardly something I'd feel at ease with.

Mobile payments are also taking place through mobile banking, an area with big potential, however still under development.

Mobile payments are often done via SMS, or voice calls: e.g. text '...' to XXXXX, or call XYZ in order to pay a fixed cost. It works, but you can only charge fixed amounts, which are also usually small. So, you can't buy a week's groceries this way, for example.

Either way, I think mobile payments via NFC, are an excellent candidate for a seamless payments method, and I hope mobile manufacturers will soon start integrating NFC capabilities into their newest models.

Perhaps it will be even more painful when you lose your mobile phone (that will now also contain your credit card details), but in my book, it's certainly worth it -- I mean, just think.. paying for everything simply by touching your mobile phone to the counter! :)


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Johnnie Walker Bluetooth Marketing Campaign

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Written on Monday, April 20, 2009

Johnnie Walker have run a number of successful marketing campaigns in the past few years in order to promote a more responsible drinking behaviour with its consumer audience.

The campaigns have up until recently mostly been focused around TV and Internet ads, with great success and popularity, at least here in Greece (Greece rank pretty highly in scotch whiskey consumption among European countries, by the way).

Johnnie Walker has now turned to mobile marketing, by choosing to run a proximity marketing campaign in Athens this spring (2009). Here's more from the press release:

Don't Drink N' Drive Mobile ApplicationFor a period of three months from the 20th of March until the 3rd of May, in the spring of 2009 a campaign to inform citizens about the hazards of drink-driving is taking place in various public locations all around Athens, Greece. The campaign is run by Johnnie Walker, the world-famous brand of scotch whisky, in order to promote responsible drinking.

The campaign takes place on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, in squares and public areas in Kolonaki, Psiri, Gazi and Pagrati. During the evening and early night hours, passers-by are encouraged to participate in the event and opt-in to drive their friends, participate in contests to win special prizes and download for free via Bluetooth a mobile catalog (screenshot on the right) with all the public transit information available in Athens at night.



This is another great example of a proximity marketing campaign, as it focuses mainly on providing the consumers with something of value to them (the mass transport schedules), while also promoting the brand itself.

I must say I downloaded the mobile application on my mobile phone (from the link in the article) and was pretty impressed with the result. I'm definitely keeping it as an aid in my moving around Athens!

I look forward to finding more information about this bluetooth marketing campaign from Bluevibe (the interview I promised you with Mr. Antoniadis in the Athens International Airport article is scheduled for this week), in terms of numbers and statistics and how successful the campaign has been.

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Panathinaikos Basketball Club Bluetooth Marketing

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Written on Thursday, April 16, 2009

I have just come across a match program from a greek basketball team (Panathinaikos). A whole page in the match program is dedicated to the mobile marketing campaigns run by Panathinaikos in matches.


I scanned the page in - unfortunately it's in greek - however it should help in giving you a better idea.

The top half of the page, as you can probably tell is for the Bluetooth Marketing campaign. Match spectators are encouraged to turn their Bluetooth on in order to 'receive historical moments of the champion Panathinaikos'.

Before the match, spectators are sent highlights from the last match.

During the match, spectators are sent multimedia with historical moments of the team.

It is very important that the team also gives good incentive to the spectators, in order to participate in the mobile marketing campaigns, by giving away team promotional material: 2 jerseys signed by all the players, 2 coupons for 100 euros each to be used in the Panathinaikos Shop, and 1 VIP pass for a following match.

There is also an SMS marketing campaign inviting people to participate and interact with Panathinaikos.

Spectators are invited to send an SMS, in order to win a place in the half-time game, participate in a draw for a season ticket and a 'surprise bag' from the Panathinaikos Shop.

I had written a previous post with such ideas (like replays/highlights) previously and (and yes, you can blaim me for being a bit vain here :) ) I can only hope it might have inspired someone out there..

I must say the mobile marketing campaigns from Panathinaikos are excellent examples (at least, in theory) and I'm now really looking forward to attending a Panathinaikos match in order to experience the proximity marketing campaigns first hand.

In the meantime, if anyone out there has any more information regarding these mobile marketing campaigns, I would be really interested in finding out how well these campaigns are accepted by the spectators, and how much people participate.

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Mobile Marketing Services in Stadiums: Conduct Reporting

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Written on Monday, April 13, 2009

Those of you that have ever been to a stadium in Greece will know it's probably not a place you'd choose to take your kids to. Violence, verbal and physical abuse, swearing, and -- as if that wasn't enough -- poor entertainment value! There are certain efforts to improve things around stadiums here, but they are still few and far apart...

What you get in a stadium largely varies from country to country around the world. Some share our problems, in others you can truly go and enjoy the show as a spectator.

In such countries, stadiums are ideal places to run proximity marketing campaigns. You have both lots of people there, and also relevant content and services that these people want (they might not know they want them yet, but that's part of our job, isn't it?).

It's an ideal match that still remains to be taken advantage of in most parts of the world, mostly because the marketing departments of the companies responsible for running the stadium are still unaware of the vast number of options they can offer their spectators.

The latest example of a good service for stadiums I came across was the one in the article below:

But there is that 1% of the time, where other people in the crowd disrupt and sometimes completely ruin the experience for you and your family.

For some, we imagine, it is bad enough to make them never want to return.
Some of those things include:

  • Excessive drinking leading to obnoxious behavior
  • Cursing (especially in front of young children)
  • Smoking
  • Fighting or aggressive behavior
  • Throwing food or other objects
  • Sitting in the wrong seats & constantly moving around

In the past, if you were lucky, stadium personnel were within shouting distance.  However, in most cases the only way to report these issues was to get up out of your seat and find someone to help you.  In the amount of time it took you to get help, the situation may have already gotten much worse. Sometimes it even made the situation worse, because it was obvious that you were the one that alerted stadium personnel, even thought you were well within your rights to do so.

Well no more. You can now instantly and discreetly alert stadium personnel to any of the above issues and more, by simply sending a brief text message. Within seconds, your message is received and stadium personnel can monitor and quickly respond to the problem. They can even call you or text you back if they need further information from you.

Got a medical emergency? No need to get up out of your seat and look for help. Simple send a text and stay with your injured or sick party.
This is just one of a whole range of services that can be offered in stadiums, and I know from my own experience, that stadium marketing directors are bound to find such services interesting in more than one ways, and hopefully worth investing in -- as long as they can understand what it is that is being offered to them.

I've also written a couple of articles before, about other mobile marketing campaigns in stadiums, in case you're interested:


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McDonald's QR Mobile Marketing Campaign

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Written on Wednesday, April 08, 2009

QR Codes have recently been picking up pace. They are getting adopted by an ever growing number of firms, including some big names like McDonald's. More from the article:
A new “QR Code” on McDonald’s packaging will let you pull up the nutritional information on your camera phone. Right now, McDonald’s QR codes are being rolled out in Japan.

From Calorie Lab:
Known as a QR Code, these printed codes look somewhat like a barcode and are scannable by many photo cellphones. All sorts of information can be packed into these little codes, from the website to find the amount of calories and fat in a Big Mac to a company’s contact information on a business card.

Scanning the QR Code on any of 19 sandwiches, eight sides and five salads brings up a URL, which will take customers to the nutritional information for the food they are eating. Customers will be able to view the amount of calories in their meal, as well as the amount of sodium, fat, protein and carbs. Information is available both for individual items and meals. Customers can also find out about allergy information, though it might be a little too late by the time you’ve already purchased your meal.
Obviously, as noted in the arctile itself, having it on the packaging of the meal doesn't go very far in helping people with their meal decision. It's good that you can get the nutritional information, and it's a step in the right direction, but still lacking..

I wonder if they are also putting the QR codes on the McDonald's Menu. That's a totally different experience and much more helpful to the consumer, because on top of providing access to such useful information, it also gives you the opportunity to learn more about what you want to order -- before you're expected to do it. It helps in forming an opinion, which is a much more useful service, and breaks the barrier of a purely-informative service.

This would give meaning to the interaction, because, admittedly, I have to wonder how many of the McDonald's customers would actually care about nutritional info, after they've already purchased their meal.

On the other hand, give parents this type of information when they're ready to decide what to buy for their children, and you have a much better chance of success and acceptance.

I mean, kids love McDonald's, right? I'm sure many of us used to as kids -- only to be told off by our parents because it was junk food, and it wasn't good for us. Now McDonald's can change that. Not just by providing nutritional information, but by providing it to the consumer at the point in time when it is useful.

I'm sure more parents would care less about taking their kids to McDonald's (saving themselves some of the fuss -- those of you with kids probably know what this means!), if they could pick their kids' meals based on the nutritional information, rather than just find out about it later on.

I realize McDonald's are making quite an effort recently to pass on a "healthy food" profile, but it is also in their best interest to choose their marketing moves wisely: successful mobile marketing campaigns are much better than mobile marketing campaigns just for the sake of the headlines.

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Morning-After Pill via SMS

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Written on Monday, April 06, 2009

I believe I don't need to argue about how major an issue the issue of an unwanted teen pregnancy is. (I realize in different parts of the world girls get married and pregnant in their early teens, but those are different parts of the world, with different cultures).

I think the average age for girls becoming sexually active is around 14-15 in Greece, so it is pretty easy to see why it is important to do something about it, rather than putting young girls through a traumatizing experience like an abortion.

One example of a possible measure teenagers would benefit from, is the service in the Times article below, that will soon be made available to teenage girls in Britain.
Schoolgirls will be able to request the morning-after pill by text message to their school nurse as part of a scheme being introduced this year.

Six schools in Oxfordshire are to take part in the project after a rise in the number of teenage pregnancies in the county.

Any girl at four schools in Oxford and two in Banbury will be given the opportunity to ask for emergency contraception if they have had unprotected sex or their contraception has failed. Parents will not automatically be informed of any request.

Child protection staff will step in if any girl aged between 11 and 13 uses the service.

Family and religious groups expressed concerns about the scheme. They also questioned the absence of a limit to the number of times schoolgirls can use the service.

The text message service will be introduced in July by Oxfordshire County Council and the Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust, which have refused to name the schools involved.

The service will focus on contact with pupils outside school hours. It will also operate on weekends and holidays, when a nurse will arrange to meet the child to give her the pill.

Let me just say, it is beyond the scope of my article - and my blog - to be discussing issues such as teen pregnancies, and that's not what I'm doing. I'm discussing the way certain benefits provided by the technology (SMS) are being put to use in order to serve certain needs.

As described in the article, there is a need for contact with the school nurse for such issues outside of school hours. SMS requests and notifications can certainly cover this need, without being too obtrusive.

SMS also does not compromise the need for a certain level of anonymity, and more impersonal contact, which in some cases is crucial: some girls don't want to talk face to face, and this might cost them not taking the pill and having to go through abortion.

SMS offers just the right level of direct communication needed for this sort of thing, and as such, is an ideal communication medium for this purpose. I hope it helps preventing some unwanted pregnancies and I will be looking out for results from this later in the year, to see if there are any reports for the effectiveness of the service.


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Bluetooth Marketing in Cinemas: 'Fast and Furious' Campaign

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Written on Friday, April 03, 2009

Bluetooth Marketing in cinemas has not only already been done, but is also commonly referred as an example usage scenario in most of the proximity marketing manufacturers' websites. Still, it looks like there is always something that can be added to the mix.

GoldSpot Media and Solid Ground are running a bluetooth marketing campaign for the upcoming "Fast and Furious" film, scheduled for release today, April 3rd. From the press release:
Interactive trailers for this blockbuster movie are available for download free-of-charge to Bluetooth enabled mobile phones at select cinemas and other public locations throughout Germany. The interactive trailers offer the mobile viewer a one-click access to "Fast and Furious" sweepstakes contest and allows them to purchase movie tickets for upcoming screenings of the film in select cinema chains in Germany.

...

"GoldSpot Media's innovative mobile ad technology brings a whole new level of audience engagement to our trailer promotional marketing program and is expected to drive even more impulse ticket sales and brand engagement among our target audience," said Niels Oeft, Promotions Manager, Universal Pictures International Germany. "This is extremely beneficial to the entire mobile content ecosystem - from Universal, to the cinema distribution chains, down to the mobile payment solution providers."
It's great to see interactivity being added, and in this particular case it is indeed very suitable. The interactivity comes exactly at the point in time when needed - the point of opportunity for interaction with the consumer.

I mean think about it. Usually when people see a trailer, there is a pretty good chance they will form their first impression about the film. If that is positive, and they think the film interests them, what more natural than to offer them the opportunity there and then to buy tickets, or book seats?

There are still problems to be faced I believe. For example, I would be very interested to see whether consumers will feel comfortable about purchasing through their mobile phone, or at least using it to initiate the financial transaction -- or maybe a comparison of these two methods.

Also, an interesting bet is whether such promotions will keep appearing even if the first couple don't perform spectacularly well: by doing so, there is an opportunity to form a market and 'educate' consumers about the existence of the service. The users will come to feel more comfortable with the service, and might also come to expect it for upcoming releases.

Either way, it sounds like a very interesting campaign, and I'm pretty intrigued to have a look even at some rough, or general results, and I'm sure many of you would also. If someone out there knows/can share, please do so in the comments. :)


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Anonymous Comments

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Written on Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Hi everybody,

I've received a few very interesting comments recently, as well as in the past, from anonymous readers, however, it is my policy never to publish anonymous comments. So far, I've replied in the post comments, where the comment was left, but seeing as the number of anonymous comments is increasing, I thought this warrants a separate post.

I would kindly request you all leave your name when you leave a comment. I publish everything under my name, so I think it's only fair to ask the same from you, if you have something to contribute.

I don't mean to put people off commenting - quite the contrary. I encourage all comments, even those from people with a contrasting opinion or different views than mine, cause I believe that's how we can all benefit from this blog. As a place where we can exchange our thoughts and opinions, each from their own experience in different parts of the world.

So:
a) please leave your name when commenting, and
b) feel free to comment,
so we can chat more about the subjects you find interesting.

Thanks!
Giorgos

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