Mobile phone content advertising
Encyclopedia
Mobile phone content advertising is the promotion
of ring tone
s, games and other mobile phone
services. Such services are usually subscription-based
and use the short message service
(SMS) system to join up to them. Another method is broadcasting messages to the mobile phone's idle-screen, enabling the mobile operators or advertisers to reach millions in real-time. The advertising and sale of ring tones in particular has seen a massive growth in recent years, with some commercial breaks, particularly on music television channels and in motor racing (especially NASCAR
, with Sprint Nextel as the series sponsor), being dominated by such adverts. Advertising in newspaper
s and magazine
s has also become popular.
s – small, monochrome
images that show the logo of the mobile network operator
(such as Vodafone
) by default. These were often replaced by a person's name or a small symbol.
As handset manufacturers introduced better ring tones and audio capabilities the ring tones became the most common method of customising the phone. Web sites containing ring tones of popular songs and tunes started appearing, with many of them providing the service free of charge and with little or no advertising at all – their popularity grew mainly through word of mouth
. However, these sites soon started charging a small fee for the privilege. The next step was to advertise these services.
Some companies started large mass media
campaigns
to advertise the fact that they had the latest tunes and largest collections of ring tones. One of the biggest advertiser is the German
company Jamba!
(known as Jamster! in some countries), known for the Sweety the Chick and Crazy Frog
ringtone characters. After months of public complaints, the British
Advertising Standards Authority
(ASA) ruled on 21 September 2005 that many of the advertisements must be shown only after 9 p.m. The primary intention of this was to prevent the company from targeting young people in its campaigns.
Mobile Advertising was one of the main themes at the "3GSM World Congress" held in Barcelona
, Spain
in February 2007. The Mobile Entertainment Summit held there discussed whether Mobile Advertising Can Fund New Content Businesses and Resurrect Advertising.
One of the first operators to implement brand advertising campaigns was "AIS" from Thailand
, where Honda
has become one of the first global advertisers to use the phone's idle screen as a medium for mobile advertising. The AIS - Honda advertising campaign broadcast motorcycle
and road driving safety tips and targeted millions of AIS mobile subscribers, offering a Honda moped as a prize in return for registering. The campaign utilised LiveScreen Media, a mobile advertising medium by Celltick Technologies, a leading provider of innovative mobile marketing solutions for the idle screen.
The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) carried out a survey of its members in 2006 where 81% of respondents expected successful advertising models to cut prices or fund the consumption of entertainment content on mobile phones.
While advertising via a mobile phone is still relatively new, inventors have developed ways to use a mobile phone to present advertising to persons standing near a mobile phone user while the user speaks in a non-handsfree mode. Bayne's invention (Bayne, U.S. Pat. Application Nos. 20050239448 & 20050239495)teaches providing a mobile phone user with incentives (e.g. discounted talk time, free content, etc.) for allowing the phone to be used as a mini-billboard by manipulating the main screen to face outward to present advertising (in an alternate embodiment the invention uses the rear-facing screen). This invention differs from the conventional approach of "one person per presentation", and is based on the observation that "birds of a feather flock together" to give the advertiser multiple views per presentation and a demographic that is the same, or similar to, the subscriber. Inventor Okawa (U.S. Pat. Application 20040259599) teaches a similar invention for presenting advertising to unspecified persons near a mobile phone user, using the rear screen, while the user speaks on a mobile phone. Presentation to persons other than the user will likely be used to increase market share in low-income/high-population areas, as well as provide a line extension for ad-supported MVNO's.
A new approach to mobile content advertising is the use of viral marketing
. Through specially designed programmes users can send recommendations for mobile content they like to their contact lists. Passa Parola, the Italian version of Meyou, has reached a total of 800000 registered users, by the use of viral marketing alone. From: "MoConDi has the viral say".
Motorsport advertising has been prevalent, especially to replace tobacco; in 2000, Alltel sponsored a car in the NASCAR Busch Series for Herzog Motorsports, and rookie driver Jimmie Johnson
. That partnership lasted only one year, as a result of Greg Penske joining the Board of Directors for Alltel. The firm then moved its sponsorship to Penske Racing with driver Ryan Newman. BellSouth in 1997 began advertising with Team Sabco (later Chip Ganassi Racing) before merging its mobile phone business with Southwestern Bell to form Cingular Wireless in 2001; Cingular then joined Richard Childress Racing in 2002. Both firms are grandfathered under NASCAR's deal with Nextel.
In Formula One, McLaren has signed a deal with Vodafone
to sponsor their F1 team effective 2007. Ferrari is reportedly signed with Telecom Italia
's Alice brand of services in 2007 where the Alice brand will appear as the "primary" sponsor of the red cars where Marlboro is prohibited.
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
of ring tone
Ring tone
A ringtone or ring tone is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call or text message. Not literally a tone, the term is most often used today to refer to customizable sounds used on mobile phones.-Background:...
s, games and other mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
services. Such services are usually subscription-based
Subscription business model
The subscription business model is a business model where a customer must pay a subscription price to have access to the product/service. The model was pioneered by magazines and newspapers, but is now used by many businesses and websites....
and use the short message service
Short message service
Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
(SMS) system to join up to them. Another method is broadcasting messages to the mobile phone's idle-screen, enabling the mobile operators or advertisers to reach millions in real-time. The advertising and sale of ring tones in particular has seen a massive growth in recent years, with some commercial breaks, particularly on music television channels and in motor racing (especially NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
, with Sprint Nextel as the series sponsor), being dominated by such adverts. Advertising in newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s and magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s has also become popular.
History
The first easily customisable aspect of the mobile phone were the operator logoOperator logo
An operator logo is a logo which appears on the status screen of a mobile phone. Originally intended as a way for phone companies to brand phones attached to their networks, the operator logo has since become a method by which owners may customise their phones to reflect their own interests...
s – small, monochrome
Monochrome
Monochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of one color. A monochromatic object or image has colors in shades of limited colors or hues. Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale or black-and-white...
images that show the logo of the mobile network operator
Mobile network operator
A mobile network operator , also known as mobile phone operator , carrier service provider , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, or cellular company, or mobile network carrier is a telephone company that provides services for mobile phone subscribers.One essential...
(such as Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
) by default. These were often replaced by a person's name or a small symbol.
As handset manufacturers introduced better ring tones and audio capabilities the ring tones became the most common method of customising the phone. Web sites containing ring tones of popular songs and tunes started appearing, with many of them providing the service free of charge and with little or no advertising at all – their popularity grew mainly through word of mouth
Word of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
. However, these sites soon started charging a small fee for the privilege. The next step was to advertise these services.
Some companies started large mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
campaigns
Advertising campaign
An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication...
to advertise the fact that they had the latest tunes and largest collections of ring tones. One of the biggest advertiser is the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
company Jamba!
Jamba!
Jamba! is a premium-rate monthly SMS mobile phone content provider, based in Berlin, Germany. In China and the company's English-speaking markets—currently Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States—the company operates under the name...
(known as Jamster! in some countries), known for the Sweety the Chick and Crazy Frog
Crazy Frog
Crazy Frog, originally known as Adam King, is a computer-animated character created in 2003 by Erik Wernquist. Marketed by the ringtone provider Jamba!, the animation was originally created to accompany a sound effect produced by Daniel Malmedahl in 1997 while attempting to imitate the sound of a...
ringtone characters. After months of public complaints, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Advertising Standards Authority
Advertising Standards Authority (United Kingdom)
The Advertising Standards Authority is the self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in the United Kingdom. The ASA is a non-statutory organisation and so cannot interpret or enforce legislation. However, its code of advertising practice broadly reflects legislation in many instances...
(ASA) ruled on 21 September 2005 that many of the advertisements must be shown only after 9 p.m. The primary intention of this was to prevent the company from targeting young people in its campaigns.
Mobile Advertising was one of the main themes at the "3GSM World Congress" held in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in February 2007. The Mobile Entertainment Summit held there discussed whether Mobile Advertising Can Fund New Content Businesses and Resurrect Advertising.
One of the first operators to implement brand advertising campaigns was "AIS" from Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, where Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
has become one of the first global advertisers to use the phone's idle screen as a medium for mobile advertising. The AIS - Honda advertising campaign broadcast motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
and road driving safety tips and targeted millions of AIS mobile subscribers, offering a Honda moped as a prize in return for registering. The campaign utilised LiveScreen Media, a mobile advertising medium by Celltick Technologies, a leading provider of innovative mobile marketing solutions for the idle screen.
Trends
A new trend in mobile phone content advertising is the "ad-supported" mobile phone service model. MVNO's such as Virgin Mobile USA, Xero Mobile, and Blyk offer, or plan to offer, free or subsidized mobile phone service in exchange for subscribers viewing a number of targeted advertisements that are relevant to the subscriber. These MVNO's utilize a "one person per presentation" model. The relevancy of any given advertisement is based on user demographics, questionnaires, and the like. Leap Wireless International Inc. holds a patent (Owensby 6,647,257)that allows a subscriber to subsidize his/her calls by viewing advertising, and utilizes a number of subscriber centric factors.The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) carried out a survey of its members in 2006 where 81% of respondents expected successful advertising models to cut prices or fund the consumption of entertainment content on mobile phones.
While advertising via a mobile phone is still relatively new, inventors have developed ways to use a mobile phone to present advertising to persons standing near a mobile phone user while the user speaks in a non-handsfree mode. Bayne's invention (Bayne, U.S. Pat. Application Nos. 20050239448 & 20050239495)teaches providing a mobile phone user with incentives (e.g. discounted talk time, free content, etc.) for allowing the phone to be used as a mini-billboard by manipulating the main screen to face outward to present advertising (in an alternate embodiment the invention uses the rear-facing screen). This invention differs from the conventional approach of "one person per presentation", and is based on the observation that "birds of a feather flock together" to give the advertiser multiple views per presentation and a demographic that is the same, or similar to, the subscriber. Inventor Okawa (U.S. Pat. Application 20040259599) teaches a similar invention for presenting advertising to unspecified persons near a mobile phone user, using the rear screen, while the user speaks on a mobile phone. Presentation to persons other than the user will likely be used to increase market share in low-income/high-population areas, as well as provide a line extension for ad-supported MVNO's.
A new approach to mobile content advertising is the use of viral marketing
Viral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
. Through specially designed programmes users can send recommendations for mobile content they like to their contact lists. Passa Parola, the Italian version of Meyou, has reached a total of 800000 registered users, by the use of viral marketing alone. From: "MoConDi has the viral say".
Motorsports
On 19 June 2003 NASCAR prohibited advertising by any new mobile phone companies who were not in the sport at the time; mobile phone companies who were involved could stay with their current teams, but once they break from their current teams, they could not advertise in NASCAR's premier series. This prohibition was a byproduct of the new ten-year contract with Nextel Communications.Motorsport advertising has been prevalent, especially to replace tobacco; in 2000, Alltel sponsored a car in the NASCAR Busch Series for Herzog Motorsports, and rookie driver Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Kenneth Johnson is an American NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race car driver. He currently drives the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports....
. That partnership lasted only one year, as a result of Greg Penske joining the Board of Directors for Alltel. The firm then moved its sponsorship to Penske Racing with driver Ryan Newman. BellSouth in 1997 began advertising with Team Sabco (later Chip Ganassi Racing) before merging its mobile phone business with Southwestern Bell to form Cingular Wireless in 2001; Cingular then joined Richard Childress Racing in 2002. Both firms are grandfathered under NASCAR's deal with Nextel.
In Formula One, McLaren has signed a deal with Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
to sponsor their F1 team effective 2007. Ferrari is reportedly signed with Telecom Italia
Telecom Italia
Telecom Italia is the largest Italian telecommunications company, also active in the media and manufacturing industries. Now a private concern listed on the Borsa Italiana, it was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications companies, the most important of which was...
's Alice brand of services in 2007 where the Alice brand will appear as the "primary" sponsor of the red cars where Marlboro is prohibited.