Description
CASE STUDY ON AD2C MOBILITY
Mobile marketing in India could be the next best space for advertisers with ad2c (the newly set up JV between D2C of Japan and Affle group of companies, Singapore) acquiring MobiMasta – one of India?s earliest entrant in the mobile marketing business. The deal will help ad2c strengthen its base in India with MobiMasta?s existing client base that includes NDTV, Adidas, Reebok, Coke and Samsung. Affle has been at the helm of many such partnerships in India to seriously promote the concept of mobile marketing. One such association calls for a case study as that marked a trend in creating mobile based content hubs, which till now mostly was for online PC viewing. Case Study When Samsung launched its Omnia W phone that operates on Windows 7, it had to compete with other major brands launching phones on the Windows platform like Nokia and Apple, among others. In order to stay ahead of the awareness curve, Samsung and Affle –an international mobile media company, launched an aggressive mobile marketing campaign called „The Cricket Hub?.
Madan Sanglikar, CEO, AD2C
The cricket themed website is an interactive online cricket property, which allows consumers to share content on the game, promoting the phone?s interface elements exclusive to it. “It is more than just scores, it has become a cricketing community on Samsung Windows phone,” says Madan Sanglikar, CEO, ad2c. He says the objective was to create a clear cut differentiation for Samsung vis-à-vis other brands. “These are same products from the consumer perspective. So to create brand connect for Samsung, we thought that with the right placement we will hit the right TG. Consequently, now Samsung Omnia is a strong contender in the windows platform,” he adds. The TG for the website were consumers who were looking at upgrading or replacing their smartphones and those using features based phones and buying smartphones for the first time. Windows mobile advantage was that it is easier to go from PC to mobile on the same platform. Hence, Affle created the content for the hub that include trivia, content on cricketing facts, contests and live scores. The Omnia series saw some serious branding on the user interface. (Samsung is in partnership with Starcom MediVest Group (SGM) which works closely with MobiMasta.) The result so far show almost 50,000 engagements, more than 7,000 people taking part in contests, over 15,000 users referred the site to their friends and over 10,000 users posted the stories on FB and Twitter. In terms of reach the brand was promoted across cricket mobile sites like ESPN and CricBuzz. The communication catalyst With MobiMasta on board, and partners like Dentsu, SMG, it?s an experience package for ad2c. “We are an established company rather than a new start up with the expertise of our partners,” asserts Sanglikar. The company wants to provide useful data for brands and innovative mobile content that can help people understand what brands are trying to offer them. ad2c is looking at mobile as a catalyst mechanism to other mediums to reach out to the consumer. Sanglikar shares, “Mobile has a great connect with other mediums, like you can have a print campaign and link it to scanning a code through mobile or an IVR like Twitter where one can share responses. It connects well with TV too, so a commercial for a beverages brand on TV can connect one with Katrina Kaif, where you are asked to dial a certain number given at the back of the crown. Even OOH advertising can link brands on mobile through blue castings and wi-fi. Another example would be if a brand tries to integrate with a movie trailer, which to my belief,
people would like to download. This will give the brand some kind of connect and leverage. Both radio and mobile go very well as they have a location based reach.” Thus, a brand has to understand what consumers want from it and then it should decide how to integrate the various mediums to have maximum outreach. So brands cannot ignore the role of mobile marketing now. “We are expecting shifts in brands from either TV to digital and then mobile or directly from TV to mobile, depending upon how mature the brand is,” Sanglikar adds. Tough turf There are hardly any mobile marketing and advertising agencies in the country, so ad2c believes that its entry would mark a trend, pushing more entrants into this space. Although mobile constitutes to mere 0.5 per cent of the total adex in the country, it is growing by 75 per cent year-on-year. The company thinks that to convince marketers to shift to mobiles as the medium for advertising is a challenge. “Changing mindset is not easy; a lot of evangelising will be required. So, the entire mobile and digital fraternity will have to work together to create more interesting case studies, to create more training for brands,” explains Sanglikar. He adds that ten years back brands did not have websites barring certain media companies, but now everyone does after understanding its potential. Similarly, today hardly any brand has mobile assets; unless assets are created brands will have no reason to look at this medium.” So the task at hand for ad2c is to convince marketers that mobile marketing is important and they need to have a mobile app because now people are on the move and can be connected via mobiles, and not necessarily only through PC.
CVL Srinivas, Chairman, SMG India and Managing Director, LiquidThread, APAC
In addition, CVL Srinivas, Chairman, SMG India and Managing Director, LiquidThread, APAC, adds that currently digital is looked as a specialist function, so the need is to integrate digital with mainstream communication. It is important to hence to evangelise mobile marketing in the eco system and by keeping mobile at the centre of the advertising core. With over 77 lakh mobile users in India, it is indeed a wakeup call for brands to explore mobile?s full potential. Reach is precise If we look at the larger picture, mobile not just has the highest reach, it is also targeted. Thus, location based advertising and handset based profiling are two important ways to promote mobile marketing. Sanglikar adds that since mobile comes with multiple features like audio, audio visuals, text; it can reach out to people speaking different languages with vernacular advertising. “In a country with literacy issues voice plays an important role in advertising. For tablets and other hi end devices a more audio visual experience. Of course other media have an equally important role to play but with mobile the entire loop of communication can be closed. Other mediums can amplify and bring the consumer back to mobiles,” he says. Once the brands understand the potential of mobile marketing in terms of developing content that consumers demand on mobile, it will be a better pay off. Plus, the medium is profitable as it involves low investments and bigger ROIs and better means of retaining the consumer because of its 24×7 reach. The reach is interestingly not limited to smartphone users or those who want to upgrade to the same. As Sanglikar points out, “Some of the biggest downloads that happen in the morning for religious songs is from rural consumers, they prefer voice formats. From an advertisers perspective we may not know what the actual market demand is. We are dealing with a diverse population and mobile penetration is doubling every quarter. Every audience has to be looked at differently, audio as a mechanism will work best for those who are yet not exposed to smartphones. One good thing about mobile is that it can be used in various formats.” Moreover, with the penetration of smartphones increasing brands will be able to provide a rich media kind of experience. The new company, however, does not want to trouble consumers with unwanted adverts like real estate companies and credit card agents often do. The company promotes the concept of DND (do not disturb) for intrusive and pesky SMS service – also called push messaging. It is focusing on pull rather than push and as Srinivas says, “Mobile advertising
can go beyond engagement and result in action. Action from the consumer is far greater than just getting exposure for any brand.”
doc_366004015.docx
CASE STUDY ON AD2C MOBILITY
Mobile marketing in India could be the next best space for advertisers with ad2c (the newly set up JV between D2C of Japan and Affle group of companies, Singapore) acquiring MobiMasta – one of India?s earliest entrant in the mobile marketing business. The deal will help ad2c strengthen its base in India with MobiMasta?s existing client base that includes NDTV, Adidas, Reebok, Coke and Samsung. Affle has been at the helm of many such partnerships in India to seriously promote the concept of mobile marketing. One such association calls for a case study as that marked a trend in creating mobile based content hubs, which till now mostly was for online PC viewing. Case Study When Samsung launched its Omnia W phone that operates on Windows 7, it had to compete with other major brands launching phones on the Windows platform like Nokia and Apple, among others. In order to stay ahead of the awareness curve, Samsung and Affle –an international mobile media company, launched an aggressive mobile marketing campaign called „The Cricket Hub?.
Madan Sanglikar, CEO, AD2C
The cricket themed website is an interactive online cricket property, which allows consumers to share content on the game, promoting the phone?s interface elements exclusive to it. “It is more than just scores, it has become a cricketing community on Samsung Windows phone,” says Madan Sanglikar, CEO, ad2c. He says the objective was to create a clear cut differentiation for Samsung vis-à-vis other brands. “These are same products from the consumer perspective. So to create brand connect for Samsung, we thought that with the right placement we will hit the right TG. Consequently, now Samsung Omnia is a strong contender in the windows platform,” he adds. The TG for the website were consumers who were looking at upgrading or replacing their smartphones and those using features based phones and buying smartphones for the first time. Windows mobile advantage was that it is easier to go from PC to mobile on the same platform. Hence, Affle created the content for the hub that include trivia, content on cricketing facts, contests and live scores. The Omnia series saw some serious branding on the user interface. (Samsung is in partnership with Starcom MediVest Group (SGM) which works closely with MobiMasta.) The result so far show almost 50,000 engagements, more than 7,000 people taking part in contests, over 15,000 users referred the site to their friends and over 10,000 users posted the stories on FB and Twitter. In terms of reach the brand was promoted across cricket mobile sites like ESPN and CricBuzz. The communication catalyst With MobiMasta on board, and partners like Dentsu, SMG, it?s an experience package for ad2c. “We are an established company rather than a new start up with the expertise of our partners,” asserts Sanglikar. The company wants to provide useful data for brands and innovative mobile content that can help people understand what brands are trying to offer them. ad2c is looking at mobile as a catalyst mechanism to other mediums to reach out to the consumer. Sanglikar shares, “Mobile has a great connect with other mediums, like you can have a print campaign and link it to scanning a code through mobile or an IVR like Twitter where one can share responses. It connects well with TV too, so a commercial for a beverages brand on TV can connect one with Katrina Kaif, where you are asked to dial a certain number given at the back of the crown. Even OOH advertising can link brands on mobile through blue castings and wi-fi. Another example would be if a brand tries to integrate with a movie trailer, which to my belief,
people would like to download. This will give the brand some kind of connect and leverage. Both radio and mobile go very well as they have a location based reach.” Thus, a brand has to understand what consumers want from it and then it should decide how to integrate the various mediums to have maximum outreach. So brands cannot ignore the role of mobile marketing now. “We are expecting shifts in brands from either TV to digital and then mobile or directly from TV to mobile, depending upon how mature the brand is,” Sanglikar adds. Tough turf There are hardly any mobile marketing and advertising agencies in the country, so ad2c believes that its entry would mark a trend, pushing more entrants into this space. Although mobile constitutes to mere 0.5 per cent of the total adex in the country, it is growing by 75 per cent year-on-year. The company thinks that to convince marketers to shift to mobiles as the medium for advertising is a challenge. “Changing mindset is not easy; a lot of evangelising will be required. So, the entire mobile and digital fraternity will have to work together to create more interesting case studies, to create more training for brands,” explains Sanglikar. He adds that ten years back brands did not have websites barring certain media companies, but now everyone does after understanding its potential. Similarly, today hardly any brand has mobile assets; unless assets are created brands will have no reason to look at this medium.” So the task at hand for ad2c is to convince marketers that mobile marketing is important and they need to have a mobile app because now people are on the move and can be connected via mobiles, and not necessarily only through PC.
CVL Srinivas, Chairman, SMG India and Managing Director, LiquidThread, APAC
In addition, CVL Srinivas, Chairman, SMG India and Managing Director, LiquidThread, APAC, adds that currently digital is looked as a specialist function, so the need is to integrate digital with mainstream communication. It is important to hence to evangelise mobile marketing in the eco system and by keeping mobile at the centre of the advertising core. With over 77 lakh mobile users in India, it is indeed a wakeup call for brands to explore mobile?s full potential. Reach is precise If we look at the larger picture, mobile not just has the highest reach, it is also targeted. Thus, location based advertising and handset based profiling are two important ways to promote mobile marketing. Sanglikar adds that since mobile comes with multiple features like audio, audio visuals, text; it can reach out to people speaking different languages with vernacular advertising. “In a country with literacy issues voice plays an important role in advertising. For tablets and other hi end devices a more audio visual experience. Of course other media have an equally important role to play but with mobile the entire loop of communication can be closed. Other mediums can amplify and bring the consumer back to mobiles,” he says. Once the brands understand the potential of mobile marketing in terms of developing content that consumers demand on mobile, it will be a better pay off. Plus, the medium is profitable as it involves low investments and bigger ROIs and better means of retaining the consumer because of its 24×7 reach. The reach is interestingly not limited to smartphone users or those who want to upgrade to the same. As Sanglikar points out, “Some of the biggest downloads that happen in the morning for religious songs is from rural consumers, they prefer voice formats. From an advertisers perspective we may not know what the actual market demand is. We are dealing with a diverse population and mobile penetration is doubling every quarter. Every audience has to be looked at differently, audio as a mechanism will work best for those who are yet not exposed to smartphones. One good thing about mobile is that it can be used in various formats.” Moreover, with the penetration of smartphones increasing brands will be able to provide a rich media kind of experience. The new company, however, does not want to trouble consumers with unwanted adverts like real estate companies and credit card agents often do. The company promotes the concept of DND (do not disturb) for intrusive and pesky SMS service – also called push messaging. It is focusing on pull rather than push and as Srinivas says, “Mobile advertising
can go beyond engagement and result in action. Action from the consumer is far greater than just getting exposure for any brand.”
doc_366004015.docx