Heartland Mobile Council

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  Heartland Mobile Council 7:34 pm on February 10, 2010 | 0 | # |
  

  On the heels of the launch of Google Buzz – which is all about mobile social networking – a new study from Ruder Finn confirms that “social” is a top mobile priority.  Americans are spending an average of 2.7 hours per day on the mobile Internet – connecting socially, managing their personal finances, and even as a means for advocacy. Ruder Finn’s first-ever Mobile Intent Index studies mobile phone user habits and explores the underlying reasons – or intent – people have for accessing the mobile Internet: http://intentindex.com/mobile. 

   

  http://intentindex.com/mobile
   

• Heartland Mobile Council 10:44 pm on January 28, 2010 | 0 | # |
  

  The Heartland Mobile Council’s premier conference — Mobile University – is rapidly approaching and gaining steam.  On April 28, 2010 the mobile marketing industry’s leaders will be coming together at the Spertus Museum in Chicago for an interactive one-day educational event that will address the importance of a long-term strategic approach to mobile marketing and how to integrate mobile into your business. 

  We’ve been quiet for a few months, but there has been a lot of activity behind the scenes and we’re happy to announce 8 confirmed sponsors including 5th Finger, Acquity Group, Artisan, Interactive Mediums, Paladin Staffing, Phenomblue, Punchkick Interactive and Ruder Finn. There are still a few sponsorship opportunities available — if you’re interested, please contact Kelly Stickel, conference director, at 312.371.9302 or kstickel@prodigy.net.

  Stayed tuned for more updates on Mobile University, including the speaker line-up and registration details.
   

• Heartland Mobile Council 5:15 am on November 6, 2009 | 0 | # |
  Tags: agencies, brand, in-store marketing, mobile coupons, Mobile Marketing

  The Shift Towards Mobile and Shopper Marketing

  Last spring, a shopper marketing agency spoke at a conference about mobile marketing.  I was excited because I thought I had found someone who knew the space well.  And who could join me in helping to educate marketers/agencies on how to use mobile in-store.  Unfortunately, a closer look revealed that they had no background in mobile.  So these two “experts” with no meaningful mobile experience were talking to a crowd about how to use it in retail.

  This was only the beginning.  I know of three other shopper marketing agencies who are infusing mobile into their offerings as a core strategy.  It seems that ordaining someone the mobile “expert” is sufficient to make it a core competency.  Whether these agencies can pull it off is not the big issue in my mind.  My concern is what happens when most of these programs meet with mediocre success.  Or worse, when they hurt the business or piss off the consumers.  And what the agencies are advising their clients about the capabilities of mobile in the retail environment – and how do they know what to say?

  The reality is that mobile marketing is very, very good at creating purchase.  It can alter the power equation from the retailers back to the consumer goods companies.  TV too expensive to place in all but the key Walmart locations?  That’s ok, mobile can deliver video straight to your consumers phones while they’re in the store.  Can’t secure enough shelf space to deliver your branding and value proposition?  No sweat, you can send messages, video, slideshows and engaging quizzes, surveys, sweepstakes, coupons through mobile.

  Are you reliant on your retailers to communicate with the shopper?  Problem solved.  Mobile creates a link direct to your consumer.  For the segments that you care about you can have a conversation directly with them.  If you worry that the retailers’ staff can’t possibly sell your products as well as you can, these complicated feature/benefits can be transmitted over 3G networks.

  I’m a big fan of mobile marketing’s potential in-store.  I think the first brands to reach their consumers this way will enjoy great advantages.  At the same time I worry that there are many agencies out their touting their mobile expertise when it isn’t really true.  So check with your agencies and find out how long they’ve been executing mobile.  Who is their expert and what are his/her credentials?  Do they have a team dedicated to mobile?  These questions will help you make sure your brand is in safe hands.  Your consumers and your sales will thank you.

  - Hugh Jedwill
  CEO, Mobile Anthem
  Executive Director, Heartland Mobile Council
   

• Heartland Mobile Council 4:20 pm on August 31, 2009 | 1 | # |
  

  As someone from the multi-channel, analytically driven marketing technology world, I bring a unique perspective to mobile.  Just like traditional digital marketing used to be about banner impressions and click through, so too does mobile marketing seem fixated on these broad and difficult to value approaches.  In the absence of such clear value, both reach and price seem to be the primary variables marketers use in choosing to approach their customers via mobile (if not also the novelty factor).

  I joined Interactive Mediums recently to help the company articulate and realize a vision that focuses on the value of mobile interactions, not just the reach promised by devices carried by virtually every person in the world.  While technologies, metrics and marketing approaches evolve around this idea, all are centered on collecting customer data that should inform more relevant ongoing dialogues with customers.  Creating a Mobile Customer Data Asset I believe is a logical first step toward this end, and is something I have blogged about extensively here http://blog.interactivemediums.com/.

  While the industry moves toward more defined metrics and standards for mobile marketing success, marketers need to embrace a process that uses customer data gathered via mobile and other channels to drive richer, more fulfilling customer experiences, and ultimately more business/sales.  Too many approach the mobile medium as a one off exercise as opposed to an interaction channel that may soon become the only one that matters.

  I am excited the Heartland Mobile Council holds a similar vision for the industry, and agree that demand for mobile marketing products and services can be spurred by promoting the heartland as a proving ground of sorts for mobile.

  Gib Bassett, Director of Marketing, Interactive Mediums
   

• Heartland Mobile Council 3:26 pm on August 24, 2009 | 0 | # |
  

  One common question that I get from clients after they’ve learned Mobile 101 is:
  I know I should be doing Mobile … now what?

  Now that you understand how mobile can help you reach your customers in a targeted and personal way, forming a strategy to integrate mobile with your brand’s communication strategy can be daunting. The key to success for your mobile campaign isn’t necessarily using the latest technology or releasing an app with a sexy design. Start by identifying the business problem that you are trying to solve. Once you have your business goal in mind, then you can plug in the appropriate mobile solution.

  Here are some examples of brands using mobile to solve a business need and the mobile solution they’ve selected to deploy them:

  Brand – Benjamin Moore

  Goal – Brand Engagement

  Benjamin Moore released a free iPhone app (ben Color Capture) to capture color, which can then be matched and coordinated with Benjamin Moore paint colors. This fun, intuitive app allows customers to interact with Benjamin Moore’s paint colors and find nearby stores to make their purchase.

  http://www.geeksugar.com/3182153

  Brand – Jaguar

  Goal – Lead Generation

  Jaguar uses mobile as a lead gen tool to increase foot traffic to dealerships, offer product brochures and opt consumers in to its SMS database. By integrating short codes into several media channels like print, television and outdoor, consumers can easily find their nearest dealership by texting “JAGUAR” to 24442: http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/3376.html

  Brand –  MLB.com

  Goal – New Revenue Stream

  MLB.com’s At Bat 2009 iPhone app brings live streaming baseball games, real-time updates and schedules to fans on the go. The $9.99 download not only excites sports fans but the app opens up a new sales model for struggling media groups.

  http://www.mlb.com/mobile/iphone/

  Brand – American Airlines

  Goal – Communication and / or support channel

  Many airlines like American Airlines understand that travelers may not be near a computer before upcoming flights. By creating a WAP site, like http://www.aa.com/mobile, customers may view flight reservations, check in to flights, view flight schedules and status and much more. Mobile boarding passes are even available for some flights.

  http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?p=/urls/mobileBoarding.jsp&anchorLocation=DirectURL&title=mobileboarding

  Expanding your brand’s communication channels to use mobile may include hot new technologies but at the end of the day, we need to solve business goals. Ultimately, it’s a lot of fun to pour a beer or create a fart sound but with smaller budgets and taller performance targets, brands need to think of mobile as more than a branding tool and plan their campaigns with performance in mind.

  Molly Garris

  Digital Direct Marketing Manager, Arc Worldwide .. an affiliate of Leo Burnett
   

• Heartland Mobile Council 7:07 pm on August 12, 2009 | 0 | # |
  Tags: advertising, brand, Chicago, consumer, HMC, Marketing, Mobile, Mobile Marketing, SMS, WAP

  As mobile technology becomes mainstream, we at The Heartland Mobile Council see more and more consumers utilizing their mobile device for a lot more than just sending a text message or making phone calls.  People are reading emails, watching videos, updating their Facebook or Twitter status, using search engines to gather information, playing games and lots more.

  Mobile markeitng is very similar to online marketing.  The mobile device can be used for transactions or service alerts…such as weather updates, bank account updates, or a simple order confirmation.  SMS (short message service), shortcodes, and direct mail are other examples of mobile marketing through direct response.

  We continue to see case studies of marketers shifting their dollars to connect with consumers or prospects on the mobile platform.  Here in Chicago…I recently passed a billboard with Kayne West on it asking for people to text a shortcode to get more information and where to buy his new CD.  Another example is when I was recently traveling to Texas, my airline sent me a text message saying that my flight was delayed and provided me with a new gate number.    These are just a few examples of companies communicating with me via my mobile device.

  The talk of the town in the mobile space is privacy.  If you are going to communicate with your consumers, you better make sure that you have their permission and that they have opted-in to receive messages from you.  You can seriously tarnish your brand by sending out messages to people on the mobile device that are irrelevant and without their consent.  Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft said it best.  ”We use three screens every day…our television, computer, and mobile device.  Our mobile device is the only one that we carry with us at all times.”  Our mobile phone is very personal…heck some of you won’t even share it with your signifcant other.  If consumers sign up to recieve alerts on their mobile device…it means that they are very interested and engaged.  Use this to your advantage!

  Here are just a few helpful tips to get you started with mobile:

  • Make mobile a bigger part of your campaign…mobile alone will not work
  • Start asking your consumers who are already engaged with your brand for permission to market to them via their mobile device
  • Create a mobile optimized version of your website (WAP)
  • Make it viral
  • Have clear opt-out instructions
  • Be relevant
  • Put some thought into your message (160 characters)
  • Set a strategy and expectations

  Dirk R. Rients – HMC Founding Member
   

• Heartland Mobile Council 3:53 pm on July 31, 2009 | 0 | # |
  Tags: brand, HMC, iphone, Marketing, MMA, Mobile, Mobile Marketing

  As a prior brand marketer at Procter and Gamble, I have many conversations with my former colleagues about mobile. Every marketer I talk to from Pepsi to P&G from Kraft to Kellogg’s knows about mobile and that there’s huge potential there. But they don’t take it seriously.

  Why? Because despite the huge press it receives, the mobile space is still a mystery. Their agencies don’t know what to do with it. The mobile technology companies they talk to don’t know how to make mobile relevant. If they look for best practices they will find plenty of case studies but few with quantitative results. Furthermore, there are no metrics to measure mobile’s effectiveness. It’s a black box with none of the hallmarks of a mature advertising medium.

  If you think of “mobile marketing” as a brand, it has great brand awareness. There are over 270 millions mobile phones in the U.S. alone so it’s hard to not notice. Consideration is no longer an issue either. In just the last six months there has be a marked increase in mainstream media coverage of mobile marketing, particularly iPhone applications. Even trial is not an issue. Of U.S. online advertisers, 67% have at least dabbled in mobile marketing.[1]

  Our issue is getting repeat. Only 8% of online advertisers are invested heavily or have mobile as a big part of their budget.[2] Ask any marketer and they would love to have two-thirds trial. Ask them again what would happen if their brand only got 8% repeat.

  The question is how do we get repeat? We have to provide marketers with the information and support systems that allow them to commit to mobile. Not just case studies of other big brands, but ones that show real, quantitative results. Not just Click-through rates and opt-in rates. These have no meaning to marketers. What’s needed is an industry group that will educate and create meaningful benchmarks and metrics.

  To date, the mobile industry groups that exist, help support those within the industry. The MMA does the necessary work to build guidelines and structures with the carriers and mobile companies. But no one is talking to the marketers who will invest money into mobile campaigns. The HMC will address this gap and release the stop gates that prevents whole scale adoption of mobile into brand marketing plans. Without people and organizations like HMC, adoption of mobile marketing will be as slow and painful as the last 15 years of internet marketing. With “history” so close, we should be able to learn and do better!

  - Hugh Jedwill, Executive Director, Heartland Mobile Council

  ____________________________________________________________________________________________

  1 iMedia Connection Poll, eMarketer, March 2008

  2 ibid
   

• Heartland Mobile Council 3:19 am on July 17, 2009 | 0 | # |
  Tags: Chicago, HMC, Mobile, Mobile Marketing

  Mobile Industry Leaders Converge to Grow the Mobile Marketing Industry

  The Heartland Mobile Council (HMC) guides businesses and consumers across the

  nation in deciphering the new world of the mobile industry. Founded by Hugh Jedwill,

  the CEO of Mobile Anthem, HMC takes the lead in educating the public about

  harnessing the power of the mobile platform in today’s technology age.

  The council brings together all the key players who will impact the growth of the mobile

  marketing industry. This includes marketers, technologists, market researchers, and

  film/artists with content to distribute. The convergence of talents, ideas, and code equips

  the council with the knowledge base to succeed in placing Chicago and the Midwest in

  the forefront of the mobile marketing industry.

  The mission of HMC drives the organization:

  “Chicago, the heart of America, is the best place to prove mobile technologies with the

  average consumer because we bring Real Knowledge, Real Experience, to Real People.”

  Hugh Jedwill, CEO of Mobile Anthem and founder of HMC noted,

  “Mobile is one of the hottest topics in emerging media today. Similar to the

  Internet 15 years ago, everyone knows the technology has great potential, but

  there is even greater confusion. This is especially true when trying to understand

  how to market to consumers through their mobile phones.

  San Francisco and Boston have the infrastructure to build new mobile

  technologies. In contrast, Chicago and the Midwest have the perfect confluence

  of consumer package companies, retailers, market researchers and agencies.

  Most importantly the average American can be found in the Midwest. It is from

  here that the Heartland Mobile Council seeks to educate marketers and the

  industry on how to effectively use this new mass medium.”

  The three initial objectives of HMC are:

  • Education: developing a Mobile 101

  • Best Practices: creating a Case Study Library

  • Metrics: setting industry wide mobile metric standards

  HMC will reach out to the mobile community initially through educational speaking

  engagements. This includes ad:tech Chicago and through partnerships with Chicagoland

  professional associations. Future engagements include a Mobile Marketing University

  conference and the publication of a Case Study Library and Mobile Metrics standards.

  Learn more about the Heartland Mobile Council through:

  • LinkedIn (LinkedIn Group: “The Heartland Mobile Council”)

  • Twitter (@HeartlandMobile)

  • Heartland Mobile Council Blog (www.heartlandmobilecouncil.com)

  Founding Members/Directors: Elliot Benn (Tribal Fusion), Hugh Jedwill (Mobile

  Anthem), Michael Kelly (TrillionApps), Dirk Rients (JWT), Clancy Ryan (Glu Mobile),

  Paul Simmons (Microsoft), Kelly Stickel (Acquity Group), Loftlon Worth (comScore),

  Founding Members: Harmeet Bagga, Marisa Bryce (Tethersphere), Alexis Hiller, David

  Ip (AOL/Platform A), Jeff Judge (Interactive Mediums), Nicholas Paredes (Modoko),

  Ray Riordan (UIC MBA), Kyla Robinson (Mobile Anthem), Jonathan Tonkin (Tonkin

  Consulting), Hung Tran (Infinian)

  The Heartland Mobile Council (HMC) guides businesses and consumers across the nation in deciphering the new world of the mobile industry. Founded by Hugh Jedwill, the CEO of Mobile Anthem, HMC takes the lead in educating the public about harnessing the power of the mobile platform in today’s technology age.

  The council brings together all the key players who will impact the growth of the mobile marketing industry. This includes marketers, technologists, market researchers, and film/artists with content to distribute. The convergence of talents, ideas, and code equips the council with the knowledge base to succeed in placing Chicago in the forefront of the mobile marketing industry.

  The mission of HMC drives the organization. “Chicago, the heart of America, is the best place to prove mobile technologies with the average consumer because we bring Real Knowledge, Real Experience, to Real People.”

  Hugh Jedwill, founder and Executive Director of HMC noted, “Mobile is one of the hottest topics in emerging media today. Similar to the Internet 15 years ago, everyone knows there is great potential, but there is even greater confusion. This is especially true when trying to understand how to market to consumers through their mobile phones.

  Mobile can be built out of San Francisco and Boston. However, their focus on creating technologies hinders them from fully understanding how to apply it to the average consumer. Chicago and the Midwest already have the perfect confluence of consumer package companies, retailers, market researchers, and agencies.

  Most importantly the average American can be found in the Midwest. It is from here that the Heartland Mobile Council seeks to educate marketers and the industry on how to effectively use this new mass medium.”

  The three initial objectives of HMC are:

  • Education: developing a Mobile 101
  • Best Practices: creating a Case Study Library
  • Metrics: setting industry wide mobile metric standards

  HMC will reach out to the mobile community initially through educational speaking engagements. This includes ad:tech Chicago and through partnerships with Chicagoland professional associations. Future engagements include a Mobile Marketing University conference and the publication of a Case Study Library that clearly lays out mobile campaign results.

  Learn more about the Heartland Mobile Council through:

  • LinkedIn: LinkedIn Group: The Heartland Mobile Council
  • Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/heartlandmobile
  • Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Heartland-Mobile-Council/114528779388?ref=ts
  • Heartland Mobile Council website

  Founding Member & Directors: Elliot Benn (Tribal Fusion), Hugh Jedwill (Mobile Anthem), Michael Kelly (TrillionApps), Dirk Rients (JWT), Clancy Ryan (Glu Mobile), Paul Simmons (Microsoft), Kelly Stickel (Acquity Group), Loftlon Worth (comScore),

  Founding Members: Harmeet Bagga, Marisa Bryce (TetherSphere), Alexis Hiller, David Ip (AOL/Platform A), Jeff Judge (Interactive Mediums), Nicholas Paredes (Modoko), Ray Riordan (UIC MBA), Kyla Robinson (Mobile Anthem), Jonathan Tonkin (Tonkin Consulting), Hung Tran (Infinian)

  For questions please email, info@heartlandmobile.com
   

• HMC Twitter

  • Global #Mobile Entertainment To Grow by One-Third to $54B By 2016. http://t.co/jL7mQhd3 | via MediaPost 12 hours ago
  • Bo Fishback: 8 #Mobile Trends For Small Businesses To Watch In 2012 http://t.co/CfOYjgRN | via @HuffPost 1 day ago
  • #Mobile Browsers Beat Out Apps for #mCommerce. http://t.co/deo2T2Jm | eMarketer 1 day ago
  • US #Mobile Ad Spending Soars $800M Past Expectations. http://t.co/mMmxDty9 | via @eMarketer 1 day ago
  • Despite Cautious Forecast, #Mobile, Online Video Double-Digit Ad Drivers. http://t.co/el2yBiEZ | via @MediaPost 2 days ago

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