CNBC Mobile Traffic Explodes!

Business news giant CNBC has cornered more than just the Nielsen’s ratings market. It seems they’ve also cornered the business news mobile sector.

CNBC’s Mobile Web site (http://mobile.cnbc.com) which kicked off it’s initial push in June 2008, is experiencing rapid monthly growth, up more than 10-fold from its first month with 2.7 million page views to more than 30 million in March ‘09.

Although CNBC attributes the traffic growth to the mobile site’s “exclusive news content,” those of living in the real world see the recession, financial turmoil within the global economy, and accessibility of real time (and free) information as the biggest contributors to the mobile CNBC surge.

As it stands, CNBC’s cable network reaches approximately 400 million homes worldwide, including more than 95 million households in the U.S. and Canada.

In this highly uncertain financial marketplace, you will likely see a swarm of imitators of the CNBC model. And according to Scott Drake, Vice President, Digital Technology & Products at CNBC, “User feedback continues to be extremely enthusiastic and we look forward to announcing additional applications in the near future that will make the site even more valuable to them.”

Mobile Vouchers Tested in Hotel Industy

High-end hotel chain Bespoke Hotels has kicked off a mobile marketing plan to drive footfall ahead of its latest opening.

The campaign for London’s Bermondsey Square Hotel, managed by mobile agency Que Pasa, is being promoted via billboard posters and local print ads.

Consumers who text in to a short code can opt in to receive regular mobile vouchers which can be redeemed at the hotel’s restaurant and beauty treatment rooms.

Will Oakley, general manager of Bermondsey Square Hotel, said mobile was chosen partly to bolster the hotel’s environmental aims. “Mobile has opened up an exciting range of opportunities to communicate with our target market wherever they may be. As a green hotel, this has created a localised marketing campaign without large amounts of paper waste,” Oakley said.

Mark Maddox, MD for Que Pasa, added the campaign underlined how a broad range of vertical sectors could benefit from investing in mobile marketing.

Video Killed the Radio Star? Can Mobile Revive it?

With advertising spending drastically spiraling downward across most sectors of print and television media, it is no surprise that the anticipated 40 percent increase in mobile marketing budgets for this year could give a huge boost to radio broadcasting,

According to a group of “mobile marketing professionals” at the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) conference, the mobile segment will attract more than six billion in ad revenues by 2012.

If the mobile marketing geniuses are correct, radio’s biggest potential lies in trying to “stop selling only 30 or 60 second spots and to begin creating a conversation between the station and/or deejay and the audience.”

According to Katz360 President Brian Benedik, “There are 145 million mobile media consumers in the U.S. today, defined as anyone who uses a cell phone for text messaging, downloading content or accessing the Internet. Hence, advertiser appetites for mobile are growing as the market grows. Seventy-six percent of listeners use text messaging, and 66 percent want to text with your radio station.”

Last week, the Nielsen Company reported that advertising in the U.S. in 2008 was down 2.6 percent compared to 2007.

Recession Pushing Automotive Sector To Cost-Efective Mobile Marketing

Automakers have been among the hardest hit by the significant down-turn in our economy. While advertising budgets are usually the first to be cut, automakers face a catch-22 in that they need to boost advertising to bolster sales, but also need to reduce the outflow of cash for their advertising budgets.

A way for automakers to find common ground is to finally make the move to mobile advertising, which has among the highest ROI of any type of advertising these days. Beyond expensive TV advertising and traveling to all the auto shows, automakers are using things like mobile Web sites and SMS-based campaigns to help build an opt-in database.

Nissan and its luxury-subsidiary Infiniti have joined many others and taken the leap to mobile with the launch of separate mobile WAP-based and iPhone-optimized Websites. The sites feature galleries of the different models offered, as well as “build-your-own” functionality and the all-important opt-in request for more information. As people are looking for a new vehicle, the internet is likely the first stop on anyone’s search.

Unlike traditional Web sites where the automaker would have no idea of someone’s interest in the brand, mobile Web sites allow for opt-in request and tracking capabilities. Solutions like Gumiyo take it a step further and offer direct SMS-based communication between the interested consumer and the dealer- creating an ever-growing mobile database along the way.

With dealers closing left and right, and automakers seeing double-digit losses month after month, every avenue should be explored, and at the moment, there’s no better avenue than the solid use of mobile marketing.

Mobile and the continuous consumer experience

We have been talking the gospel of the continuous consumer experience for the last couple of years - and it is great to see it coming together - albeit slowly. It is not where we envision it to be - but the positive signs of it gaining momentum are all over to see.

The post on “Taking Creativity to the Streets” by Richard Ting (http://www.ourmobilerevolution.com/?p=298) talks about it. Michael Zimbalist from the New York Times (http://www.ourmobilerevolution.com/?p=379) talks about the mobile phone as a powerful multimedia remote control for newspapers. Mobile is always with the consumer - a powerfull multimedia device - a communication device - very personal device - and may be used effectively to integrate all of the different media channels from print (Newspapers, Magazines), Television, Radio, Cinema, Outdoor and Internet to engage with the consumer on a personal and one-to-one level.

Today lots of media campaigns are planned with objectives in mind, and newspapers, magazines, radio and television are used reach those goals. But the power of mobile is ignored. Mobile allows a radio user to visualize. Mobile allow sa newspaper reader to listen to audio and see moving visuals.  Mobile allows a broadcast television viewer to interact and respond. Mobile allows outdoor consumers to take content with them. Mobile allows Internet to deliver services and content to the phone.

Mobile is the channel that allows readers of print to easily get multimedia content - without searching or typing in WEB link. Mobile is the channel that makes television interactive. Mobile is the channel that brings a visual face to radio. This ensures a continuous consumer experience as they consumer print, television, radio outdoor and online media.

Media convergence has started with the introduction of delivery of multimedia via data networks (Internet and IP specifically). Convergence has come a long way, but still has some way to go. The presentation by Lindsey McDonald (Frost & Sullivan Analyst), gave a brilliant presentation on the state of affairs, which shows that the traditional media channels (television, print, radio) are still very strong and healthy. These continue to get most of the advertising spend. But mobile holds the key in unlocking the continuous user experience. To tie together campaigns using different media.

Mobile should not be seen as a just another channel slotting in next to the others. To get the best value from mobile, it should be used as media running across all the different media including the Internet. See the illustration above.

Frost & Sullivan Presentation - South Africa’s Changing Media Sector

Frost & Sullivan has seen the value of the integrated approach to media using mobile. And it is nice to see that we are being recognized for the visionaries we are.

That is why the following diagram makes perfect sense.  This diagram shows the three discrete sectors in marketing

1. Brand Marketing - Image and Reputation
2. Direct Marketing - Lead Generation and sales conversion
3. Social Marketing - Customer Engagement

Mobile is a very valuable tool to ensure that the areas that overlaps in social marketing, brand marketing and director marketing is achievable.

Mobile is perfect for direct marketing. It is an opportunity to speak to the consumer directly - and most of the time consumers views it immediately. So feedback, interactivity and response on the message is almost instantaneously. Unlike mail - you wait a week for delivery, and people like me takes another week to open the mail (if ever)

Mobile messaging services now have created opportunity to easily communicate with friends, family, brands, groups, etc. This ease and cost of communication is definitely a tool that consumers/customers feel comfortable with using - in every increasing numbers.

The challenge remains to integrate these different components into a media campaign - allow constumers to engage. Allow opportunity to convert any leads into sales. And then to extend the brand reputation.

But the very powerful message is - you can apply direct marketing, social marketing, and brand marketing across all of the traditional media (Internet, Newspapers, Magazines, Radio, Outdoor, Cinema).

You wont be able to use any other media as effectively as mobile as a tool for engaging with consumers across different other  traditional channels with the ease that mobile can do it.