4G Conference - We're Overloading the System!

Chicago was great recently when I attended the 4G Wireless Conference. And while there were plenty of backhaul discussions, next-gen microwave technologies, and the odd apps vendor, the thrust of the conference could not be ignored - apps size and consumer usage has exceeded wireless network carriers' abilities to manage. Traffic offloading to WiFi, data price metering, measured response implementing were all discussed in the speeches, in the corridors, and even in the lunchroom. And the data type prevalent in the discussion was all about video uploads and downloads. Indeed, video is expected to quickly become the de facto language of wireless. Better get ready everyone.

One of the best conversations I had during the conference was with the OpenWave guys demonstrating their video compression technology. They demonstrated compression to optimize for several different device and network bandwidth constraints and I have to admit that the picture quality degredation could hardly be noticed across the different settings, which is excellent. Now, there is no upload capability yet with OpenWave, but I was assured they are working on it. Nor is theirs a device-detecting technology, which is unfortunate, for I think the winners in this category will come down to either their business model or technology. Business model will win out where they can enable partner companies to improve their revenue and/or cost-containment metrics (and they'll need to be able to detect what device and what plan for that to work), or by owning the technology sweet spot & in-code flexibillity. Lots of chatter about larger device and carrier companies taking a hard look at adding video optimization technology to their arsenal (spoke to ATT and Samsung). Video is already half of all data traffic on some networks (according to colloquium speakers) with 90% threshold expected to be hit within 2 years. This industry is popping right now!

I'm looking forward to attending the Mobile Marketing Association awards show in Los Angeles this coming month. I'm to be honored as one of the judges for the 2010 awards contest and it should be enlightening to rub elbows with West Coast thinkers in the mobile marketing industry. In attendance will be both brands and agencies, with the odd tech company or OEM providing their perspective. I'll report back on the workshops and awards so stay tuned.

Potty Training the Mobile Marketing Association Awards

There's no easy way to put this.

Every one of the many hundred of entries into the 2010 Mobile Marketing Association awards is obsolete. As a judge for the contest, I reviewed all of the entries across the 8 categories (a time-consuming chore) and picked the better, more interesting entries to judge for the contests. While I cannot comment on then entries individually, or the categories themselves prior to the MMA posting their results, I can say that in the 6 to 8 months since many of the entries were put into the field, the evolution of the mobile marketing industry has sped up to include new thinking, strategy, technology, integration tactics and other additions. Even the campaigns put into the field just prior to the contest start, and thus awaiting results, seem quaint in their design. To be specific:

• The "enter a contest" - style entries where mobile marketing through SMS leads to deeper engagements as the contest continues are woefully inadequate. The smartphone adoption rate has accelerated both in this country and around the world to the point where if you are not creating new or leveraging existing mobile applications you are not engaging your target audience.
• The focus on iPhone entries missed the open app Android revolution. Many ad agencies sent their clients down the iPhone app road in what appears to be a "test the waters" dip into mobile marketing. Like Elvis Presley keeping his trucker's license in case this whole rock and roll thing turns out to be a passing fad, marketing to the device on everyone's hip is a no-brainer for longevity - the smart ad agencies and direct branders will be looking across platforms. There may be several operating systems in existance for a while (iPhone, Android, Symbian, others) or consolidation may take it down quickly - but ignoring Android seems an unsafe bet.
• The broadcast-style appeal of many campaigns miss the point of reaching someone's personal communications device. It's not a place to pitch me like anyone else - you must know me and be relevant to my life or I won't pay attention. By life, I mean my life stage, my segment, my behavior, my needs. I'm not just a consumer, I'm a person moving through time and space. I require a personal relationship with a brand before I will engage and stay engaged. Too many of the entries were one-shot interactions. The brand measured x% more awareness or one-time downloads of an app to get the freebie associated with it. That says nothing about the ongoing engagement the campaign drove. Good mobile marketing will understand a person in their environment of time and space, and seek to create ongoing engagements - person as first responder market research participant, helper to design campaign for their location/culture, suggester of brand modification/messaging, etc.

What really struck me was the way in which marketers (agencies and brands) looked at mobile marketing as some extension of their current channel marketing. In other words, a one-shot, broadcast style interaction. Customers opt-in for the contest, or coupon, or game, and the entertainment interaction is the extent of their engagement. Could be done anywhere, these types of interactions, without regard to time/place needs of the target audience. And repeat use had to be incented (i.e., more discounts). This is old-style marketing with new clothes, and is not our future.

There's one example I can relate that truly captures the best of mobile marketing. This campaign was not included in the MMA 2010 entries, but if it had, it should have been considered a top contender. Kimberly Clark recently launched its iGo potty training application from its Pull Ups brand. While limited to iPhone, the app demonstrates the campaign clearly understands its target customer, empowers them in their life stage with a tool that is time and space relevant, and solves a problem in a better, more creative way than was available before. (see picture below). It's a timer and a calendar (to record when child goes potty on time), and has a reward function when the two line up (iPhone game for kids of appropriate age). Kids are already interested in their parent's device, so the chance to earn small rewards (short game) that collectively add up to bigger rewards (longer, more interesting games and videos), is incentive for them to embrace an otherwise potentially contentious task.

What I like about this campaign is that it provides a multi-touch engagement that empowers the customer (parents) with a new tool to make easier a potentially frustrating task (potty training a child). As the father of two kids, I can speak to the challenge of potty training, and how welcome would be a tool that would both shorten the total potty training time, and make more bearable the parent-child interaction during the process. Potty training can takes months, and a tool that gets used every day several times a day to make life easier has strong potential to go viral as parents talk. From the customer review on the Apple apps site, this is exactly what is happening - there's benefit seen in the app to solve a problem, potential for engagements with the app can number in the thousands over the lifetime of its usefulness, and if the app can indeed shave time off the potty training schedule, then every parent should want it (I have yet to meet a parent who desired to prolong the potty training experience for their child).

KC knows every parent will be entering the potty training time period with their child, and this provides mindshare in a positive, helpful and time/place dependent way, and when a parent passes this along to another parent in a viral marketing manner, the first parent is reinforced in that social relationship as a hero. What if all of our mobile apps solved such seemingly intractable problems? Brand as day saver and hero enabler is a great story to tell.