Anyway, having raised almost $50m from some Silicon Valley greats, there was really no question that the next step for AdMob was — obviously — Google.

You can read Omar’s public letter here with the news and here’s Google’s reaction.

It’s no surprise whatsoever. Yahoo is limping along and, frankly, there’s not that many other organisations with the direct interest and the cash to spunk three quarters of a billion dollars on AdMob.

Throughout the marketplace there’s been a general recognition — for a while now — that Google has been arsing about with mobile. If you take a look at their existing mobile advertising offering, you’ll see how rubbish it is. Like a 4-year-old knocked it up using their 20% day off from the sand pit.

AdMob and Google = natural fit.

The deal was a forgone conclusion in my mind once they began to hit a billion impressions a month.

Kudos to Omar and the rest of the team at AdMob. It’s a super exit and I’m sure they’ll go on to even greater things at Google and beyond.

Well they’ve been publishing a metrics report every month for quite a while and it makes absolutely fascinating reading.

It is my no means illustrative of the market as a whole — they can obviously only track the users who’re visiting mobile sites featuring their ads — but nevertheless it’s a brilliant indication of what a section of the mobile population is doing with their devices.

You can get the metrics reports free here: http://metrics.admob.com/.

Here’s some interesting points from the latest report:

AdMob’s most recent mobile metrics report revealed that:
- The Android OS now has seven per cent market share globally
- 10 per cent of smartphones in the UK now run the Android OS
- HTC Dream, which uses the Android OS, is the second most popular mobile phone for surfing the mobile web in the UK, after the Apple iPhone
- Android is growing rapidly in North America and Western Europe. The HTC Magic is a Top 10 smartphone in both North America and Western Europe
- The HTC Dream handset is ranked fourth globally

And..

An AdMob study of 1000 mobile phone users revealed that:
- Android users download 9.1 apps a month on average
- iPhone users download 10.2 apps a month on average
- iPod Touch users download 18.4 apps a month on average

It’s a fascinating time for the industry.

It works really nicely: Every time you top-up your account, you get a text back from o2 with a ‘surprise’.

Surprises range from extra texts, picture messages and minutes through to prizes such as holidays, TVs and mobile phones.

It’s a really smart way of encouraging and rewarding customers to keep on topping up regularly. And, although I’m not an o2 PAYG customer, I can imagine I’d take a small (but nevertheless powerful) amount of joy at ‘winning’ a little surprise each time I topped up.

o2 Media, the chaps behind this, have decided to open up their platform to allow other brands to participate. The concept being that advertisers get access to a set of customers who’re already in the middle of ‘interacting’ and who’re ready and waiting for a ‘surprise’ deal or offer.

Blockbuster video got stuck into this channel. Here’s how it worked:

O2 customers visiting Top-up Surprises to claim their reward were offered a 30 day free trial of Blockbuster’s unlimited rental service, a £10 voucher to spend in a Blockbuster store or online and £1 off the monthly fee if they chose to take up the unlimited rental service. 52% of customers chose to take up the Blockbuster offer and of these 11% have already redeemed the offer voucher.

“This has been one of our most successful acquisition campaigns to date,” said Gerry Butler, Senior Vice President Europe, Blockbuster. “We’ve been delighted by the response rates which exceeded our expectations and look forward to continue to work with O2 Media to deliver campaigns through this highly effective channel.”

Very cool indeed. For the right products and services, I think this channel could very quickly become a key channel in the mobile marketing mix. I don’t think it’ll be long before Pizza and other fast food chains are getting stuck in too.

If you’d like to see what the end consumer sees, visit the site: http://topupsurprises.o2.co.uk/

This site also happens to be the highest trafficked UK site in the ‘Entertainment – competitions’ segment according to Hitwise. Good exposure for advertisers.

Talk to your mobile media buyer for more details on o2 Surprises.

Here’s the full list:

4Square Labs, Aaron Cohen Software, Abphone, AccuWeather, Aero Weather, aha mobile, aka-aki, aloqa, AroundMe, Art & Smart, audio Boo, Avantar Showtimes, Avatar Free, Backgrounds, Barnes & Noble, Belysio, Brightkite, Bump, Buzzd, Cascada Mobile, Cell Fun, Celltrigen, Cellution Media, centrl, City Sense, CitySourced, clipintouch, CocoaStuff, cooliris, crashcorp, delivr.com, DocScanner, Doodle Buddy, Dopplr, Dropbox, eBuddy, eeenmachine, emoze, Epicurious, ESPN Cricinfo, Fandango, Findlinks, Fish Labs, Fliq, flirtomatic, FlyTunes, Foreca.mobi, Fortune Ball, foursquare, Foxmobile, Frengo, Fring, Funji, funkysexycool, Gap Stylemixer, geome, goal.com, golden gecko, gowalla, graffitigeo, groovr, Gypsii, Handango, Handmark Rocket Express, Hands Mobile, Happy Dangy Diggy, hearplanet, Hiogi, iDict, Info2cell, iPhunny, IQ Engines, itsmy, iWood, Jaiku, jamcode, Jiwire, Joikusoft, Joost, Juice Caster, Jumbuck, Kayak, Kiboo, Kyte, Larvalabs, Last.fm, Layar, Liquid Air Lab, LockBox, Locle, Lonely Planet, Loopt, Lufthansa, Mastercard ATM Hunter, McLaughlin, Meet Moi, Mig33, Mobile Air Mouse, Mobile Life, Mobiluck, Mobiscope, moblr, Moco Space, Mofuse, Moosh, MoTweets, Mover, Mxit, My6sense, mywaves, nachtagenten, NearbyNow, Nimbuzz, Now Then, Nulaz, Open Table, Orbster, pageonce, Palringo, Pandora, Panoramic Software, Peperonity, PhotoShare, Placestodo, Platial, Plusmo, Qeep, Qik, Rabble.com, Rader.net, Retronyms, RjDj, RSS Lite, Rummble, SAPO, SGN, Shazam, Shopping Places, Shozu, Simple touch software, SixPack App, Slacker Radio, Smarter Agent, smsO2, Smule, Snac, Snaptu, Socialight, soonr, SPB Software, Spiegel, Spotify, Squace, Starbucks, STARS Foundation, Storyz, strands, Streaming live scores, style.com, stylecaster, surfkitchen, TagTag, Taibidiny Media Works, taptu, Tapulous, Tatango, Thumbplay, Tiggits, Tonchidot, Trapster, Treemo, Trigga.me, Tripcase, Truphone, trustedplaces, tweetdeck, twitteriffic, Uclick, Ulocate, unlike networks, Urbanspoon, Veeker, Venista m-Joy, Viigo, Visual Radio, Vlingo, Vringo, vulevu, Wadja.com, Waze, wikitude, Wirenode s.r.o., Wooden Labyrinth 3D, Worldmate, Yelp, Yoose, Yowza, Zagat, Zannel, Zedge, Zero9.it, Zhiing, Zillow, Zyb.

If you’re really, really quick, you can still enter to get nominated here — but you’ve got just a few hours to go now.

It’s from The Roebuck pub/restaurant on Chiswick High Road. I went there for lunch a few weeks ago and, whilst in the toilets (“restrooms”) read their flyer encouraging me to sign-up to find out about their special offers.

Unfortunately (for me, as a mobile geek) the instructions required me to visit their website later on to do this.

“GAHHHHH!” I thought to myself, “Why no mobile sign-up option? Or automatic list subscription via-mobile-browser?”

I eventually remembered to check out the website and signed-up. The food and the service was good.

Here, then, is the result of my efforts. If I take my wife down for a main course, Monday to Friday lunch/dinner, we’ll both get a free glass of prosecco. Nice.

To qualify I simply need to bring the email.

And that’s where my heart sank.

I was looking for some kind of mobile equivalent. Do I really still have to physically print something off, still?

I understand that this is probably the best way of ensuring every customer of The Roebuck can participate.

But here’s a question. On my Blackberry, you can see this flyer perfectly fine on screen. Do you think that would qualify? If I simply held my phone toward the waiter?

I have to confess that I think it would be UBER cool if the flyer simply said ‘show this on your phone’.

How many people wouldn’t participate, though, because they’ve got a bollocks handset that doesn’t *do* email properly? Fair point, fair point.

I’m interested as to why the management at The Roebuck haven’t implemented a mobile marketing system rather than email. Surely mobile is actually a more ubiquitous (and immediate/personal) system of contact than email?

Anyway, if you’re in Chiswick, London, and you’d like a free glass of prosecco this month, you know where to go.

Over to the seriously useful Farney Media for more information:

Adfonic launched a self-service mobile ad marketplace this week. The platform allows advertisers to build, execute, monitor and control campaigns.

Publishers have access to tools and real-time reporting and analytics to maximise their earning potential from mobile advertising.

Advertisers can bid on the mobile ad inventory, and price is dictated by supply and demand.

Mobile sites won’t be able to set a floor price on their ad inventory, but it is something Adfonic are keen to introduce.

Very, very interesting. If it gets the requisite attention, it could really change the mobile ad marketplace.

You can read Ciaran’s full post (and interview with Adfonic) here.

Ewan,

Essentially, you want to be looking out for Bluetooth Headsets that feature multipoint, will allow you to pair the headset with two devices at the same time. More details here: http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/blog/2008/08/what-is-multipoint/.

We have a selection here:

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/cat/Multipoint-Bluetooth-Headsets.htm and TerenceEden’s recommendation is on there too.

Then next “feature” I would recommend looking out for is a USB charging cable in box, so keeping the headset charged up would be easy next to the PC/Laptop. Even better would be a headset that charges using the same socket as your BlackBerry. Most are MiniUSB, however the newer BlackBerrys (8900 curve and Storm) are MicroUSB.

If you have a newer BlackBerry, then this Jabra BT530 fits the bill: (Multi-Point and MicroUSB)

http://www.mobilefun.co.uk/jabra-bt530-bluetooth-headset-p16778.htm and this features noise reduction technology.

I hope this helps Richard.

This is the kind of really smart marketing that I like to see around the web. Yes Mo’s included links to his site, yes you can actually buy the products from Mo and, I’m sure he’ll make a bit of cash from that.

But the informed and personal nature of his response is, in my opinion, text-book marketing.

I’ve never bought anything from MobileFun before but after this helpful outreach message from Mo, I think I’ll give them a go.

Check them out.

They’ve launched a free text reminder service for their customers. Here’s how it works.

A few days before Neil was due to leave, he received an email from EasyJet asking if he’d like to receive some free text alerts relating to his flight.

The service is powered by StreamThru — here’s a screenshot:

I particularly like the fact that you can consume StreamThru’s service via Twitter.

But back to EasyJet.

Neil signed up to receive a series of updates thus:

- Pre-departure flight update (sent 3 hours before departure)
- Personal boarding call
- Delay and cancellation alerts
- Maximum of 2 special offers

Now the element that interests me are the special offers. Being able to capture and do business with the people leaving the UK (laden, one imagines, with some amount of cash) could be rather useful.

How did the service pan out?

Really good, according to Neil. He appeared to thoroughly appreciate the service. Here’s his overview:

1st text: 4hrs before i’m due to fly out, i’ll receive a ‘Booking reference reminder’ with details of my flight number, booking reference, when and what terminal my flight will depart.

- 1st text received perfectly. Flight number, North Terminal of Gatwick, booking reference and check in times. Good so far…

2nd text: 2hrs before i’m due to take off i’ll receive up to two promotional codes for shops in the terminal i’ll be in, waiting for the plane.

- 2nd text is actually an absolute blessing. I hadn’t changed up any money before hitting the airport and so was going to have to take the plunge and suffer at the hands of the air-side Bureau de Change. However, EasyJet came to my rescue with a discount on buying currency plus no commission charge. BONUS! A text that actually saves me money.

3rd text: 40mins before i’m due to fly out, i’ll receive my personal boarding call, telling me the gate number and what time the boarding gate will close.

- 3rd text did pretty much what i said it would do, although didn’t send me the gate number, just the closing time. Bit of a shame as the gate number would have really been useful, but on the other hand, there are a shed load of screens to check things on.

Excellent.

The second text Neil received, was timed perfectly. Two hours before his flight was due to leave (i.e. he was probably IN the airport already), he was sent an advertisement for the TTT Moneycorp Bureau de Change. The text offered no commission and a better exchange rate, if he showed the text at the counter. Neil took advantage of this. A super, super example of making advertising useful as apposed to bothersome. A win for EasyJet, a win for StreamThru, a customer for TTT Moneycorp and a win for Neil. Everybody wins!

I wonder if more Airlines will adopt this kind of offering. I hope they do.

Backed by a £5.5m promotional spend on television, print and online media, O2 are hoping to make their 11.8m pre-pay subscribers feel special… and it wouldn’t hurt if customers of other networks noticed they weren’t getting prizes for topping up either.

…and whilst I’m looking forward to seeing the water-filled bus-stop panels with real rubber ducks, intended to ‘quack’ as people pass (we make our own fun ’round here), one of the most interesting aspects of this campaign is that it’s being powered by Italian-firm Buongiorno‘s web system – a company we made contact with recently after our trip to Rome (preview here, watch out for the full videos soon). We’ve fired them some questions over and will be publishing an introduction to this Italian power-house behind mobile entertainment projects in 53 countries and 100 network operators.

I’m asking because I saw this Tweet from Mark Curtis, top chap at mobile dating/flirting site, Flirtomatic:

We bought iPhone advertising for the first time yesterday: very impressive results for first campaign…..clearly volume in the UK alone..

I’m keen to hear more anecdotal evidence such as this. Very interesting indeed.

PS: Follow Mark Curtis on Twitter here.

Jonathan MacDonald, often referred to as ‘jMac’ in many mobile circles, has a new project. In fact it’s a movement, more than a project. He’s created EverySingleOneOfUs.com as a grassroots resource, aggregating knowledge and best practice methodologies to ensure optimal mobile advertising user experience.

And we sorely need it, not just here in the UK.

Here’s an overview:

The success of mobile advertising and subsidized models based on delivery of content, applications and services, is dependent upon the willingness of participants to accept advertising on their mobile devices. While recent research, including a 2007 survey by Generator Research, confirms that over half of mobile users (61% US and 72% UK) are interested in mobile advertising, there is a catch: Mobile advertising must be relevant and genuinely useful. Ultimately, users demand advertising that relates to their interests and is tailored to their specific needs. Anything else will be perceived as ‘spam’, which degrades the experience, increases the likelihood of churn, and breeds a distinct lack of trust.

Stupid mobile marketing practices drive me up the wall — and I know is a real wind-up for Jonathan and many other readers of the site. So I’m delighted that Jonathan’s done something about it.

It’s all kicking off in the UK first:

The first phase will kick off with Mobile Advertising U.K., an ambitious and far-reaching research project which will be endorsed by industry associations in early 2009. Drawing from primary research, in-depth interviews with 25+ mobile executives, agencies and mobile networks, as well as an online consumer survey, Mobile Advertising U.K. will expertly document the state of the mobile advertising industry in the U.K., and shed important light on industry obstacles and opportunities.

If you’d like to be part of the movement, head over to the site. If you’d like me to connect you to Jonathan, drop me a note.

Every success Jonathan!

I was surprised to find this, as I was browsing a site the other day. I was looking for some help on PHP and came across this ad for SQL Server 2008.

“Hardness the power of the data explosion!” reads the ad. Followed by a prompt to text ‘SQL’ to 88882 for a free mobile screensaver.

Standard rates apply, it says.

Pretty neat as I was browsing on a US-centric site. So the ad-engine had, I assume, geolocated me and severed me a UK ad. 88882 looks like a UK shortcode.

I wonder how many people have got their handset out whilst browsing to do this. I’d genuinely be interested in the stats. I also wonder how Microsoft have deployed this campaign. What happens? Do I get a download link back? From what site?

Let’s find out.

I’ve just sent SQL to that shortcode.

Ah hah.

I clicked the SQL08.mobi link…

I am now the proud owner of an SQL screensaver:

Tah dah.

A well executed mobile advertising delivery system. If it was me running it, I’d have sent the user to a mobile web site at sql08.mobi — with a bit of info about the software and the like, but with a big fat ‘download your screensaver here’ link as well.

We run AdMob advertising code on the Mobile Industry Review ‘mobile’ version of the site.

If you wanted to see what it looks like when you get a payment from them, here we go:

Almost $33 dollars of pure joy for the month!

The industry is continually comparing Apples and Pears when it comes to mobile marketing. Witness the following from Jonathan’s recent post on the matter:

Page 12 of NMA (27.11.08) contains a piece by Charlotte McEleny who writes that “Some 65% of young consumers find mobile messaging from brands too intrusive, according to a report by lifestyle research company Tuned In.”

The headline screams ‘Young people alienated by brands using mobile for marketing’

I think its time we nail down some taxonomy here.

Jonathan continues:

Just adding the words ‘without permission’ to the end of the above headline would have shown a more accurate picture. As it stands, at a glance you could argue that mobile is troublesome, anti-productive and interfering.

Jonathan is absolutely right.

What does ‘mobile marketing’ mean. Is that receiving MMS messages — that you HAVE signed up for?

Or is it getting a Bluetooth message sent to your handset automatically because you have Bluetooth turned on and you walked by particular bus shelter with the gizmo activated?

Thus, my suggestion is to clarify for clarity’s sake. Let’s add the context where we can to enable balanced decisions and rational actions based on the full story rather than propaganda.

I nominated you, Mr MacDonald, to write the taxonomy!

My Mum gets Carphone Warehouse letters in the post; and the other day I arrived home from School, seeking out any interesting post for myself, when I came across a little Christmas brochure. I expected to see the usual mix of non-interesting and far-fetched mobiles, which have very limited appeal to someone who is as indecisive as I.

Then I came across the LG Cookie.

I’m not an LG fan by any means, yes their phones are nice, and I have to say although I appreciate the minor attempts at creativity with their naming processes; previous experiences of LG’s have taught me that they’re not my cup of tea. Should I mention I’m not a fan of their interfaces, or just generally how they work and feel?

However, the Cookie did catch my eye! It looks nice, it’ll be a new experience, it’s a touch-screen (another learning curve), and also the ability to use an on screen QWERTY keyboard, and importantly its price.

I don’t know what to do.

Now this could just be a sporadic urge to go and spend money, and get something just because I’ve seen it, and I like the price; but then I think… LG. An interface I know I won’t like, and will struggle to get grips with, and I fear I’ll see all the flaws in my purchase just after I’ve broken that “unbreakable seal” on the box.

It’s hopeless! I do this with every wonderful find I come across, and I deliberate an item and a possible purchase so much that it either becomes outdated and therefore useless, or I decide I don’t like it although secretly still wanting it, or I’ll find something else to admire and want.

I know for one, I can’t be the only person who does this; and I know for one that it’s probably a good safety precaution my mind has implemented to stop such impulse buying – a trait I really try to avoid at all costs.

Now I wonder, why is it I find mobiles such as the Cookie, and previously before it the LG KS360 before that, and there was also a Sony mobile before that too; why is it I loose interest, and forget about it, and then find some other mobile-crush?

Could it just be that no matter how lovely one major aspect or feature of a phone is say, it’s price, a new built in gadget or a sleek, slender design; it really isn’t enough to make a mobile good, or at-least good enough to buy.

What I’m beginning to see is that mobiles tend to be about one major factor, be it its connectivity, a particular design focus, a built in application, the camera, the media, the price, or its “technological achievements”.  I don’t want just one particularly above average feature as reason to invest in a mobile; I want a device that has equally good features which aren’t just surfing above the acceptable quality in phone.

So my next mobile-crush won’t be on a weak whim, a spur-of-the moment encounter, it’ll be something which offers more than one better than alright feature, and something I won’t fall out of love with.

Feel free to e-mail me anything at Samantha@mobileindustryreview.com

First up is Nokia’s Comes With Music, previously we have had a lot of coverage here on MIR however this post is written in the position as head of sales and promotions at my student radio station and nothing to do with my writings here on MIR.

I was called up today from what I presume to be street teams for Nokia something (I can’t remember the name she told of her team).  It seems Nokia have tasked students to get the word out about with Comes With Music as much as possible. She said she was looking for people who could speak to the most about students as possible and obviously student radio is one possible medium hence why she was ringing me.

She told me that she had a few Comes With Music phones to giveaway as prizes. She took my details down and my interest and she had to speak to her boss.

I find out early next week whether we have been successful however it is fantastic to see companies really engaging with the their target audience.

More coverage on this next week!

Good Job Nokia!

Now, before you start wondering what’s with Nokia and the Benches, let me elaborate. The benches are actually a clever advertising medium to promote their ‘Comes with Music’ service here in the UK. These benches are fitted with Nokia’s handsets and headphones into the armrests. These handsets will be pre-loaded with music, depending on the the region where they are located. For example, Liverpool may get The Beatles while Birmingham might just get Black Sabbath.

DId someone say vandals? Nokia is staying one step ahead here, by placing a security guard at every location. There will also be a live performer and different appearances will be made each day until Christmas.

Now school’s are a hostile environment (well, at least mine is), and navigating the Sixth Form common room is something like an assault course. But it’s so much more than that too! It’s buzzing with technology, and young people who know things, right?

I’ve been keeping my eye out for mobile news, and reading MIR, and of course the news in general. The Google Android is by no means a small piece of ignorable news at the moment, so how is it then, no one is talking about it?

After the twelve-week summer holiday some people were showing off their new gadgets, namely Sony mobiles, and the odd iTouch; in the three hundred student strong Sixth Form I’ve only seen a single iPhone. That’s just one.

Now before I criticise my peers for being totally unaware about the world of technology, computing and mobile phones; there are some techno-people like myself too; maybe even more technologically experienced. So why then is it that no one is talking?

From what I’ve gathered, no one particularly cares. Of course, I care, the rest of the MIR team cares, and I’ll hazard a guess that you the reader may also care too. The mobile phone industry is of course interesting, fast paced, and constantly evolving. But could this be the problem?

From what I’ve seen is that for those who I know (and you may beg to differ on this), the world of technology is just too fast paced to keep up with; and as a result, they don’t bother to keep up at all. If you ask someone about the new Nokia 5310, you’ll get a blank stare and no hint of excitement at the prospect of free music. Why? Well they don’t know about it!
For me this is quite an interesting piece of news, I won’t buy the phone as it doesn’t actually interest me, or grab me enough to go and spend money on it; but its certainly something of interest, and a product which is really targeting what I do the most – download music.

So back to the Android:
Well, there’s nothing to say. I think the device itself looks good (although for the videos I’ve seen, slightly slower than the iPhone), and if it’s priced correctly it should fly off the shelves. But where is the buzz from the Sixth Formers? The sixteen to eighteen year olds with plenty of disposable income, and a constant desire to keep up with the times just have no desire, or even no knowledge of this remarkable piece of news.

Then I think about this, why don’t my friends know about this? Or even the people who I see everyday, why don’t I hear them talking about the latest mobile phones? I hear them chatting about the new Manhunter game, and Gears of War, and maybe debating what’s best, the Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360? Why, and I’ve said this before, isn’t there more advertising, or promotions for the young people of today?
Obviously there is an issue here. Either my outer-London school and its students are blissfully unaware, or advertising just isn’t doing its job.

For all I know, I could be totally wrong; but in the numerous times I’ve tried to talk about mobiles or something I feel like I’m talking a different language. And, I don’t know about you or anyone else really, but in this day and age, who would expect that? What’s more, how is it, that Nokia with their 5310 which is so obviously designed and aimed at young people, aren’t they targeting us?

So to Nokia, and Google, what’s going to happen? You both have quite possibly big selling devices, but what are you doing about it? The 5310 launches tomorrow and I’m certainly not feeling, nor seeing any of the buzz.

If you have a differing opinion on this, or want my opinion on any particular aspect of the mobile industry please feel free to leave comments or e-mail me at samantha@mobileindustryreview.com

Congratulations to CEO & Co-Founder, Alex Meisl and the team. Here’s a note from Alex:

“The growth Sponge has seen over the last two years has been immense, and gaining recognition as one of the Tech Track 100 is a great achievement,”

“Sponge has evolved into a company that not only supplies mobile technology but offers creative ideas to brands and media owners from Barclays Bank to Birds Eye and Vodafone. As mobile internet sites are becoming crucial to a wide range of businesses, we are already working with the likes of Auto Trader and Daily Star to allow them to provide valuable cross-platform services to their customers.”

In case you’re wondering, Sponge achieved a growth rate of 60% in 3 years to the end of 2007.

Drinks are on Alex.

The Nokia Media Network, which was launched back in February, 2008 currently services over 70 launch publishers, including Discovery, Hearst, Cosmopolitan, AccuWeather and Reuters. The advertising network allows advertisers to target consumers who visit the sites and pages of premium mobile internet publishers. The new publishers that have been added include:

•  
  • Agence France-Presse, France
  • RTL Mobile, Germany
  • Cuatro, Spain
  • Grupo Prisa, publisher of El País, Spain
  • Unidad Editorial, publisher of El Mundo, Spain
  • CNET, UK
  • Telegraph Media Group, UK
  • Trinity Mirror, UK
  • International Herald Tribune, pan-European

Nokia recently ran a campaign on El Mundo of Spain, managed by Unidad Editorial, which carried ads by BMW. Nokia’s Ad Network is fairly popular and successful and is expected to expand with more and more publishers joining in on the team.

That’s a quote I got from a chap I met today about San Francisco. They love their iPhones here, they really do.

But iPhone lovin’ isn’t just restricted to the City By The Bay. It’s spreading.

Yes it’s still a tiny dot in the ocean of mobile — but it’s a very, very influential dot.

Enter AdMob, then with their August statistics. They’ve served over 35 million ads on the iPhone platform during the month. To put this in perspective, they served 3.6 billion ads across their whole mobile platform in August.

Why’s the iPhone different? Well, it offers a heck of a lot more. You can get creative. You’re not restricted to text or a really, really small, piece-of-shit advert. You’ve got real estate to play with.

Here are some recent examples (the ads are at the bottom):

Smart. Very smart. AdMob are reporting nearly three times the response rate from iPhone ads compared with normal text based mobile ads. It’s not surprising.

I’m also pleased to see that a lot of brands are taking the plunge and experimenting. Here are just a few:

EA Mobile, Herbal Essences, Universal Studios’ The Mummy 3, Land Rover, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Fox Searchlights’ Choke, MGMs’ College, Summit Films’ Sex Drive, Toshiba, CBS News, Luxor Hotel, and DirecTV

I’m hoping to get a few minutes with Jason from AdMob sometime this week so I’ll see if I can get more perspective.

You see, on Wednesday I took a trip down to my local high street, a busy one at that; in all I would hazard a guess that there are at least eight different phone shops – Carphone, Phones4U, T-Mobile, Orange, Vodafone all of that. With so many shops about you would have thought that the big retailers, mainly Carphone and Phones4U would at least hire staff who own basic knowledge on computers and mobiles, right?

Wrong!

I popped along to the O2 store to grab a SIM card for the iPhone, and the lady in there was helpful; I didn’t require much out of her, just a SIM, which she got. She couldn’t use the till though, so that took a little longer than I anticipated, but I got what I needed, and she was polite.

I then popped into the Carphone Warehouse. After my post about wanting a new phone I got quite a few responses, and e-mails. I got a particularly useful one from a chap called Mike (thanks), and he listed a few phones, namely the LG KS360. I was pretty interested in it – although not a fan of LG, it looked interesting.

A man approached me in the Carphone and he asked me if I needed any help, I replied I was looking for a phone, an LG, but I couldn’t remember the name of it. He pointed out one on display, and I said it had a QWERTY keyboard. The response I got…

“Huh, a WERTY keyboard? Oh look this one here has a keypad!”

Oh deary me.

I was surprised to say the least, seeing as I was standing next to a display of Laptops, and if my Mum and Grandma know what a QWERTY keyboard is (bearing in mind, my Mum is hardly the most technological-aware or apt person), I was left just a tad dumbstruck.

I proceeded to ask if he could check to see when the phone may be in. I was hoping he would go to the computer, and do a basic search or something.

Wrong.

He picked up the “Buyers Guide” and started flicking through that.

Maybe I was wrong to think this, but isn’t that produced for the benefit of the consumer?
I don’t know… At that point I asked for the guide myself and walked out.

I didn’t give up there though, all I really wanted to know was when this phone was going to be released, or if at all. Seeing as I’ve read quite a few reports that it’s due out around now in the UK, I wanted to see if this was true.

So I popped into Phones4U situated next door to the Carphone. There I was greeted by a lady this time, and I asked her if she knew if an LG phone with a QWERTY keyboard was out. I could tell by the “What-the-hell” face she had, she didn’t have a clue what I was on about, but she at least didn’t make up a word to repeat next to me. I did a gesture of “Air-Typing”, and she finally got what I meant, and took me over to the business mobile section. She pointed out some Blackberry’s (forgetting I asked for an LG).

I asked her again if she knew of any LG phone that fitted what I was asking for, and she pointed to an LG in front of me (not what I wanted), and then said no. No looking on the computer, nothing.

I said thanks, and left.

I’ve spoken to some very nice and helpful people in these shops before, but it just seems that on Wednesday they weren’t about. And yes, I had forgotten the name of the model, but wouldn’t it make sense to have a look on the computer?

What is more horrifying is the general lack of knowledge; the Carphone and Phones4U staff are not only just selling mobiles, but Laptops now too… Yet they don’t even understand basic terminology.

I’ll pop back soon and see if I can speak to someone who knows what they are talking about!

Also, I should praise Orange, I was speaking to a man in there, and he was very polite, and helpful. Thanks!

According to the Direct Marketing Association, 24 percent of mobile phone users surveyed online have responded to mobile marketing. The DMA quantitative mobile marketing research found that 70 percent of consumers who have responded to a mobile marketing offer say they’ve responded to a marketing text message, compared with 42 percent who’ve responded to a survey and 30 percent to email offers.

Crazy.

The whole point of the Obama VP text scenario was, I thought, to sidestep the mainstream media and win over the doubting electorate by going direct to them. Or maybe it was just a jump on the bandwagon and the ability to sign-up more mobile numbers to try and boost donations?

Next.

i2SMS are working with Encompass Advertising and Marketing — a full service national marketing agency who, in turn, are working for the car markers Scion. Scion are one of their vehicles on site at the Minnesota State Fair. It’ll be filled full with Scion-branded skulls and if you guess the number of skulls, you can win a new Garmin nuvi GPS device for each day of the 10-day Fair. Nice!

If you haven’t come across Scion, check out their site here. It’s rather smart.

There’s a million or so folk due to attend the fair and around 60% of them are in Scion’s target demographic. I think they’ll be dead impressed at how the medium of text performs. It’s already a fantastic method of engaging folk with a view to arranging test drives here in the UK.

I’m told that Scion personnel are ecstatic about the early response of the campaign. I’m not surprised. Here’s a quote from a chap from Scion:

“Thursday night’s winner was standing at a booth right next to ours when he received his message announcing he was the winner of the Garmin,” said Toyota Chicago Region’s Scion Field Manager Kendall Griffin. “All of a sudden, we could hear him cheer and shout that he was a winner.” Griffin continued, “We loved it.”

Excellent, excellent, excellent!