m.Net Blog

Posted by Marisa Maio Mackay, Director of Research

Advertising on the mobile phone is an ambitious attempt by the industry to increase the use of non-voice applications by the masses. But what does the mobile consumer really think and expect as advertising makes a move on the mobile phone?

Research consistently shows that the regular use of the mobile phone beyond voice and text remains primarily contained among a small group of very high users – a group of consumers who seem to be using more and more data services and anything else new on the mobile phone and in doing so are gradually increasing the gap between them and everyone else (AIMIA Lifestyle Index Survey 2007, Worldwide Mobile Data Survey, 2006).

Some industry experts argue that mobile-phone users will become more-active customers of mobile data services as the market matures, but the trend both here and overseas remains remarkably consistent regardless of market maturity. Does advertising on the mobile phone present a viable channel to re-engage the customer when that customer primarily uses his/her phone for voice and texting because of a belief that using the phone for anything else will incur huge costs?

Mobile phone users are more and more frequently accessing content and services for free. They don’t like being locked into service contracts. They expect their favourite brands to be in the mobile phone space. And they don’t expect to pay for it. The users believe that it should be part of the brand’s service, and their mobile offering should complement the brand offering in other media channels. And of course, any mobile offering should provide real value based on existing customer behaviour and should tap into the customer’s personal interests. These views and behaviours have underpinned the response to advertising on the mobile phone.

As stated by a respondent during a recent m.Net research project, “I would definitely put up with ads for something entertaining. Like Cricket scores or whatever it might be. Or movie offers. Or something like that. Or astrology, whatever it might be. I’d more so put up with ads if I was getting a free service rather than paying for it. ”

Almost 70% of Australians claim they would accept ads for free content. On a worldwide scale, almost 50% claim they would accept mobile ads in exchange for a free service or the chance to win a prize. Around one third of respondents have actually purchased a product after seeing an ad on their mobile phone. Most importantly, however, is that 71% say ads would not cause them to stop using their phones!

In line with consumer views, mobile ads should not be the focal point of the interaction. They should rather relate specifically to the mobile moment. This is in direct contrast with the traditional push ads exemplified by the TV advertising experience where your favourite program is interrupted by invasive ads that have no relevance to you or your viewing preferences. The personal nature of the mobile provides the perfect counterpoint to this experience. Unique user identifiers can be used to track individual click-through behaviours and preferences to determine ad relevance. Ads can be created for a particular region or network or handset. Real-time databases can target consumers at any time and place and are less susceptible to click-fraud than online advertising.

So the message for companies is positive: mobile advertising has the power to move users to the exciting world beyond voice and texting! In fact, click-through rates on mobile ads are already higher than click through rates for on-line ads! The consumer is also clearly ready – but to engage the masses and keep them engaged the company has to be willing to treat the mobile like no other advertising channel before it.

“Online and off-deck media will become huge and change the way people behave and their relationship with marketing…“

Matt McGrath – CEO, Young & Rubicam Brands

This is particularly apt when we take into account emerging mobile video and TV services like vodcasts.

So when you are designing your next mobile ad remember to target and tailor your ads, because for consumers it’s all about the four key questions.

• Does it mean anything to me?
• Does it give me anything?
• Does it cost me anything?
• Does it lock me into anything?

Good luck!

Posted by Scott Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer

View the latest mobile marketing and advertising technology from m.Net at AIMIA SA: Interact.

6pm-9pm, Nov 30 at the Saso Café Bar
157 Waymouth Street, Light Square, Adelaide
Entry: Gold Coin Donation

At the m.Net stand we will be demonstrating the range of solutions and the latest offerings that are used by brands including Yahoo!7, Nokia, Warner Music and Lion Nathan.

I hope to meet many of our SA clients and partners at the event.

Posted by Horden Wiltshire, Chief Executive Officer

I spoke recently at the latest in the Mobile Mondays series of events hosted by South Australia’s Mobile Entertainment Growth Alliance (mEga|SA) and the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA).

I spoke in an informal setting to the attendees regarding the tipping point for off-deck mobile services – those mobile services that you don’t get through your carrier’s portal. The meeting was well-supported and it’s good to see that the Adelaide mobile scene is alive and well.

The basis of the presentation was discussion of the factors that I think are required to get to the tipping point for the use of off-deck services… to get to the point where these services become ubiquitous. The factors in my opinion are:

• Data Pricing
• Carrier Access
• User Behaviour
• Uptake of 3G

Marisa Maio Mackay will provide some updates in future blog entries regarding consumer behaviour and Scott Johnson posted recently about the uptake of 3G in Australia. Scott estimates the penetration in Australia at around 22% and Marisa’s research with the AIMIA Australian Mobile Phone Lifestyle Index revealed that 30% of respondents had a 3G phone. (The discrepancy can be explained by the fact that some people have more than one phone).

I think one of the most important trends is the move towards capped data plans. If you look at the casual rates for data roaming on your phone with Australia’s two largest carriers, Telstra and Optus, users are still paying more than $15 per megabyte. However, if you look at the top plans for each of the carriers the price comes down quite dramatically.

• Vodafone: $2.99 per MB ($15 plan)
• Telstra: $0.41 per MB ($29 plan)
• Optus: $0.29 per MB ($30 plan)
• Hutchison: $0.02 per MB ($40 plan)

But what does 1MB on your phone get you? Here is a summary of some of m.Net’s client WAP sites and their sizes:

So 1 MB of data will get you 250 m.Net pages, 60 Nokia pages and 40 Home and Away pages. When you are paying 2c per MB that’s pretty close to free for each page! When all the carriers are at that price point we will indeed have reached the tipping point as far as data pricing is concerned.

Posted by Scott Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer

Hello World! This is the m.Net blog, starting out in a big week for mobile marketing in Australia. The purpose of this blog is to examine, announce, and showcase the latest in mobile marketing drawing on experience from m.Net’s client base and research. We will also take the opportunity to discuss the best of what we see elsewhere.

So, besides the birth of this blog, why is this week so significant? As an industry we have made the first steps to growing up into a significant media segment. I refer to the announcement by AIMIA this week of the Mobile Advertising Guidelines (full announcement and the guidelines themselves here).

This is a big step forward, as an agency or client can now build a batch of standard mobile banners that can run across the majority of publishers with confidence – without the time, complexity and expense of building custom formats for each of the major mobile destinations. The next big step, still to come, will be an adserver that can actually do this across publishers… but that is a whole topic in itself.