Best Mobile Marketing Summary

I’ve seen a lot of research, summaries for new media over the past couple years.  After all, staying on top of the latest greatest takes a lot of time and reading!  Mobile marketing has always been on the horizon but just out of reach until the last 18 months or so where I’ve observed SMS, APPS and other facets really gain traction.  Let’s face it, mobile is our future.  Whether content/media is digested on our cell phones, iPad or other device, we aren’t isolated to consuming digital content on our computers alone…. thankfully!

While mobile marketing is still new territory (for the US anyway), there are a lot of questions and definitions that need answering and explanation.  I felt I outlined the components to this channel fairly well in my book, but some of the industry’s leading experts have really divulged a comprehensive view of mobile marketing and its various elements.  MobileStorm is one of the leading companies in my local marketplace as well as the rest of the world.  They recently came out with a whitepaper focused on mobile marketing which clearly outlines everything for those entering the space.  Not only does this report provide an excellent summary, the report also gives critical insight into the future developments of mobile marketing channels.

I can’t recommend this enough to today’s digital marketer’s and advertising professionals.  They’ve been gracious enough to provide a link exclusively for Emerging Marketer upon request.  Download the file and print it out.  You’ll want to hand this out to your staff, peers and associates.

Coming Soon… to an Augmented Reality near you!

Virtual Worlds on the rise… quietly

I was reminded of the progress of Virtual Worlds today by this post on Technorati.  Seems like a long time ago (although it was only a few years back) that Virtual Worlds were promising the “mother lode” when it came to new consumer audience discovery by big companies.  I remember a lot of the uprising happening in 2007 and yet it seems that the movement was nothing but a flash in the pan as companies invested time and money into their presence and then found it to be a mega-letdown.  But, as I’ve said in my book (chapter 8), we haven’t seen the last of them. 

Yes, the Virtual World environment has rules most marketers don’t understand.  Yes, when engaging in them you open your brand up to public opposition.  Yes, the users aren’t neccesarily your target demo.  But whether you acknowledge it right now or not, the Virtual World space continues to grow, just not highlighted by the media outlets that threw the premature spotlight on them a few years ago.  In 2001 I remember Second Life just getting up and running.  The drawback at the time was the connection speed and processor requirements to yield a smooth experience.  In 2007, There.com, Second Life and a handful of others were being touted as the “next big thing” in digital audience.  Read more

E3 2010 Highlights

The day started with filling the gas tank for a 4.5 hour drive to LA to join the other avid game industry professionals in a trek throughout the LA convention center.  The VP of content (and partner at www.wiredzombie.com) and I were graciously invited by one of the exhibitors to attend the outlandish, sensory overload of digital entertainment for the day.   Check out Wired Zombie’s video recap here.

…and when I say “sensory overload”, it’s not an exaggeration.  We only had 1 day to get through the throngs of presentations and exhibits which seemed like it might has well have only been 10 minutes when compared to the infinite amount of square feet we had to cover.  It’s no secret that I’m an avid gamer.  It’s my escape from the workday.  Whether that escape comes at 10p, 12a or 2a, I usually try to get an hour or so of gaming in just to clear my head and experience what I consider “fun”.

So needless to say, being our first trip to E3, it was an incredible treat.  The biggest impression I got was from the folks at XBOX, who went to great lengths to ensure they had the largest exhibit possible.  From my estimates, it looked like the exhibit was well over 100 feet long, presenting new games just released, and above all; Kinect.  Kinect is the equivalent to the WII, but without remote devices you hold in your hand.  The system can recognize up to 4 different voices (players) in the room and is controlled by nothing more than body sensory/movement.  Their exhibit contained “cells” of rooms which onlookers could see event attendees test-driving the new technology.  With Kinect, comes their new model of XBOX – slimmer and sleeker in design, certainly more compact (released Friday, June 18th, 2010).  250Gigs, WiFi built-in and Kinect.  Get it now!  As I watched, I couldn’t help but wonder when this technology would be introduced into the workplace – 5 years?  10 years?  I don’t know, but when it comes in it’s going to make our mechanical interaction much more interesting.

Oh, and remember those Virtual Reality games you saw in shopping malls a few years back?  They had a helmet and a joystick you held in one hand as you climbed up onto a platform, protecting you from falling off with a ring around your body.  The platform has been replaced by a sphere-shaped cage that you climb into.  The helmet is nothing more than headgear that you put on and you carry a realistic looking gun.  Now, VR players can walk, run, jump and dodge enemy onslaughts which was the piece that was missing in the past.  It was cool to see this become more mainstream as I always felt the VR exhibits were lacking the sense of one’s body movement.  I found a great post on it covering the test debut.

We also experimented with new force-feedback joysticks that actually convey material, object weight and touch-sensory.  For instance, you move your “virtual” hand over sandpaper, and the force-feedback simulated the touch of a gritty surface.  Pick up a ball and feel how heavy it was and how swinging it around changed the sense of weight and centrifugal force.  Novint has come a long way with their new version of game control.

Another area was presented by THQ.  They showcased their new “Homefront” game coming out in early 2011.  Think of “Red Dawn” now becoming a video game where North Korea has joined South Korea in taking over the world.  Pretty intense animated video and realistic gameplay from what we could see.  While we were standing in line, the “patrol” gave us little red books called “Subject’s Guides” from the occupiers of the “New Korean Federation”.  It referenced a list of rules and directed people to visit http://www.americafactsheet.com/ .  No video cameras allowed, but it sure looks like a great upcoming title for my fellow gamers and THQs marketing definitely made the attempt to immerse everyone in the experience.

Other noteable XBOX games showcased were Gears of War 3, The Force Unleashed II, Red Faction: Armageddon and Halo Reach.

The one disappointment I had was that there was NO TRACE of Apple’s iPad.  You would think with all the media dollars spent on promoting the device and massive consumer adoption, they would have at least made an attempt at gathering some of the gaming market.  But alas, it was heartbreaking to not see them there.  The only glimpse I had of iPad technology was in the “indie gamer” area.  Obviously not backed by Apple funding.  Apple missed the boat on this one.

E3 was one of those experiences I’ve looked forward to for years.  And I must say, it didn’t disappoint.  We went to an after party, getting back to Vegas at 3:30am.  24 hours with no sleep…. sure reminds me that I’m not in my 20s anymore.  Be sure to check out the video.

Oh, did I say “sales”? I meant “service”.

As emerging media continues to evolve and marketers / companies glob onto new opportunities, it’s funny how there always seems to be a “backtrack” when it comes to stating the purpose of a particular channel.  We’ve all witnessed tons of dollars and resources dumped into channels such as virtual worlds, social media, mobile marketing, in-game advertising, etc.  I have to admit, I love the shift of perspectives when everyone discovers that the “gold mine” isn’t inherent in the new media they try.  Especially when consumer adoption has yet to be fully realized.

For the past few years “mobile” has been touted as the pot of gold at the end of a long rainbow.  And now that many of us are entrenched in the space, everyone’s discovering that it’s not driving that much incremental revenue.  So now everyone shifts their gears and says, “well, mobile might be more of a service for us to offer rather than a revenue generator”.  This seems to be the phrase that justifies all the hype and squelches formerly established expectations.

Just like the article on Eye For Travel; a year ago this article would have said “Mobile is the next gold mine!”.  But today it’s more conservative when it asks the question “Is mobile more about delivering service or generating revenue?”.  Let’s face it, “delivering service” was really never at the top of the pile when it came to expectations.  Companies were sold on mobile marketing entry primarily based on the estimated ROI it seemed to portray.  Now, it’s a perfect “out” from that stance to say, “It’s more about service”. 

Mobile, just like any other new media isn’t going to replace revenue (or even come close to matching) garnered from media that has been established for over a decade.  Seems as though many marketing professionals still seek the one channel that includes mass audience.  That doesn’t exist.  And never will.  Media fragmentation is here to stay.  You need audience/users in order to generate sizeable revenue.  So while we all work towards a position in new media channels, let’s not kid ourselves and say “anything” is the ”answer to our sales prayers”, thus avoiding having to eat our own words.

You MUST Be Who You Say You Are

Cruising through the stories this week, I came across an interesting announcement on Virtual World News.  The article entitled “3D Chat Introduces NewVirtual World”, talked about the upcoming launch for a new social media 3D environment.  The environment promises to deliver the functionality of Facebook and other tools combined with all the 3D elements we’ve come to know through the hype of Second Life in 2007 (funny how things shift so fast, isn’t it?). 

The virtual world introduction isn’t an amazing feat.  After all, there are a growing handful of them out there which marketers have largely dismissed as viable oppotunities for the time being.  The interesting part of this article stems from how they (3D Chat) endeavor to verify users are who they say they are.  Through partnership and database cross-referencing through Aristotle, eBay and PayPal, the company hopes to “verify” user identities as legitimate, making it a truthful platform to interact with other users in a 3D world environment.

With a “VERYfied” certification (those who’s identity has been affirmed), users will have full range access to all the tool’s features.  Those without verification will have limited toolsets. 

Interesting how it used to require a birth certificate or social security cards to confirm you are who you are.  This is the first company I’ve seen to take a stab at authenticating someone’s online identity through third-party references.  As we continue down the path of networked relationships and social media correspondence, it’s going to become more and more important to users that they are interacting with someone who they know as a friend, co-worker, etc.  Over the past decade, most of us have befriended anyone who we’ve had a two-step conversation with.  In the case of Twitter, I notice tons of folks who follow you just because you follow them.  But I foresee many folks pulling back their outreach for digital popularity as it becomes more important to them that they truly know who they are talking to and not just some random identity that could be anything from a billionaire to a serial killer.

3D Chat may be a small start-up, but you watch…  we’re going to see more and more of an effort to confirm and cross-reference your identity with other digital silhouettes of your virtual self.  Just remember, in the end unless their is physical proof, no system is infallable.

For all you trendsetters out there, 3D Chat IS taking beta-testers.  I’d love to hear your feedback!

Social Behavioral Targeting

Recently an article entitled Ex-Googler Targeting Social Behavior was released on MediaPost commenting on the recent topic of BT advertising – not only based on user browsing patters, but on social networks as well.  Mapping ad units targeted to user behavior is old news. Integrating their social behavior is a new twist. Media6Degrees as many of us know has been working to develop systems that configure advertising in milliseconds in order to serve ads based on our social networks.  Advertising to “friends of friends” so to speak based on our surfing and buying patterns. Just as social media is the next layer for affiliate marketing, social behavior is the next layer for behavioral targeting. It’s still a “touchy” topic for consumers though as resonated by the first response to this article…. ouch!

Love This!

A great depiction of text-to-screen in a BIG way – although I never saw it live on the Strip myself.  I imagine resort executives would have to look the other way when someone’s “full moon” photo made its way to the big screen! 

Nice post by LocaModa…