“We hear a lot of stories about the power of mobile advertising, in particular text messaging advertising and despite that fact, we’re still in awe of how BMW turned approximately $60k in MMS ads into $45M in revenue. The ad campaign was for winter tires and targeted to Germans who had bought their cars during the summer months.”

David Dat, CEO Europe, LightSpeed Research
December 11, 2008
New Media Age

We recently surveyed 1,000 UK consumers to understand how they use the internet on their mobile phone. With the mobile web becoming increasingly available through ever-advanced handsets, we wanted to know who advertisers can reach with mobile ad campaigns, what kind of ads are preferred, and how often people would be willing to receive them.

Some 50% of our respondents had browsed the web from their phone. Men were more likely to have been online on their mobiles — 57% compared to 45% of women.And while the typical mobile web user is an 18-34-year-old man, that’s not to say older respondents aren’t keeping up with the web when they’re on their phone. Half of 35-44-year-olds (49%), a third of 45-54-year-olds and 21% of respondents aged 55+ say they’ve surfed the mobile web.

Ringleader Digital is the pioneer in this space and has been tirelessly promoting the importance of 3rd party mobile ad serving for nearly two years.  In addition to 3rd party mobile ad serving, we added agency integration for Atlas and DART to deliver integrated reporting and campaign management   With Ringleader Digital’s recent launch of Media Stamp and the maturation of the mobile advertising industry, I truly believe that the explosion in mobile that we have all been waiting for is right around the corner.  Welcome to the table Nokia!  The entry of another 3rd party ad serving provider represents an important step for mobile advertising, and another established voice to evangelize the key advantages of end-to-end interoperability.    We look forward to the increasingly bright future of mobile advertising.

Evan Ramstad
December 8, 2008
The Wall Street Journal

Watching TV and movies on cellphones is so common in South Korea, people no longer think twice about it.

Since 2005, South Koreans have been able to buy cellphones and other portable devices that pick up TV broadcasts sent on a special frequency, a system created here and known as digital multimedia broadcasting, or DMB. And last year, two of the country’s three cellphone-service providers upgraded their networks to third-generation, or 3G, technology that enables big improvements to video streaming and downloading services.

The result: an explosion of video usage on cellphones and other mobile gizmos, including car navigation systems and iPod-like portable media devices.

Unfortunately, the economy dealt a heavy blow to retailers right before this year’s holiday shopping season but marketers continue to come up with ways to stimulate the end-of-year shopping that retailers rely on to strengthen their year end numbers.  We already have Black Friday and Cyber Monday, what will retailers do next to extend the reach of these door-buster deals?  Introducing Mobile Tuesday!

Despite feeling the economic crunch, McDonald’s, Finish Line, and Red Tag are moving forward with mobile marketing campaigns today as the official kick-off of Mobile Tuesday.  All three advertisers will be enticing customers by offering mobile coupons, while other retailers, sitting on the sidelines, will be taking a hard look at how successful these campaigns are.  Although many retailers, such as Gap, Wal-Mart, Sears, Victoria’s Secret and others, are not yet participating in Mobile Tuesday, they are already involved in mobile campaigns leveraging the power of SMS, WAP, and other mobile applications to drive additional shopping activity.  Even the Salvation Army and other non-profit organizations are turning to mobile to bolster charity donations during this holiday season.

Ask anyone involved in mobile marketing and advertising what their thoughts are for 2009 and they will most likely say that next year will be the year that advertising and marketing via mobile reaches critical mass.  With Mobile Tuesday officially launching today, it looks like the success of mobile advertising that has been projected for 2009 just might be hitting a month early.

Trisha Lyn Fawver

November 26, 2008

Marketing Pilgrim

Apparently, teens are not as burnt out on advertising as adults are, according to research reported by eMarketer.  The DMA poll suggests that while more than half of teens wouldn’t be open to advertising even in exchange for something, they are more open to mobile advertising than adults.  They found that 19% of teens ages 15 to 17 and adults ages 21 to 30 have responded to a mobile phone offer, however a dramatic difference of only 7% of young adults ages 18 to 21 have responded to a mobile offer.

Dianna Dilworth

November 24, 2008

DMNews

Ice cream chain Marble Slab is modernizing for its 25th anniversary celebration. As part of the festivities, the dessert vendor is running a mobile marketing campaign called “Gr8 2 Go.”

Dianne See Morrison

moconews.net

November 20, 2008

Mobile voice revenues are still larger than those from mobile data, but mobile data revenues are growing five times faster, according to UK regulator Ofcom, in its third International Communications Market Report covering 2007, released today. Total mobile voice revenues in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, USA, Canada and Japan increased by 31 percent to £126 billion ($188 billion) over the five-year period, while corresponding data revenues increased by 171 percent to £35 billion ($52 billion). The rise is not such a surprise, says the report, given the growth in SMS usage and other data services. Indeed, while the report’s conclusions aren’t necessarily new or shocking, the hefty tome does provide exhaustive color of the £876 billion ($1.3 trillion) global communications market.

It looks like Ringleader Digital’s launch of Media Stamp is making some noise in the industry. We’ve been developing Media Stamp technology for over 2 years now, and after our unveiling with industry first features and functionality, we’re seeing people trying to capitalize.  
 
Our main goals with launching Media Stamp are to significantly drive the mobile advertising market forward and to create a standard that can be leveraged across all digital media.
 
We are excited by the drive and energy behind the mobile and emerging media marketplace, and welcome the innovation and ‘coopetition’ from players in the space working on technologies like Media Stamp. This is exactly what we need to continue with the success and growth the industry is undergoing.  
 
We wish everyone good luck in their continued developments and are excited to see what comes out from all the efforts.  As for Ringleader Digital, we will continue on with our vision and goals of propelling our industry forward by developing more ground breaking technologies like Media Stamp. We applaud everyone working to advance the mobile and emerging media industries, and welcome the potential for collaboration that may emerge and ultimately help bring parity to the industries. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

After over two years of development, I am proud to say that Ringleader Digital’s Media Stamp is officially launched!!!  Agencies, publishers, and many others came to support our event as we unveiled the power of what unique identification, enhanced analytics, targeting will do for the mobile industry. 

I am extremely excited about where Ringleader Digital will take the mobile advertising and marketing space.  The possibilities that Media Stamp will enable are limitless as we continue to push the envelope with our technology to all digital requesting devices in the near future – in car GPS systems, portable gaming devices, indoor/outdoor digital signage, etc. 

With speakers on our agenda like Larry Weber, Chairman & Founder of W2 Group giving an inspiring key note speech, the Interactive Advertising Bureau addressing the importance of targeting and self-regulation, Nielsen Mobile discussing the mobile internet and advertising trending towards a critical mass, and a powerhouse panel of industry leaders comprised of agencies such as Razorfish, OMD’s Ignition Factory, and leading mobile publishers Thumbplay and go2 Media, the day’s events was a big win for the industry and what we have all been collectively working towards. 

The mobile advertising marketplace will continue to grow and evolve and I promise that Ringleader Digital will continue to be at the forefront of it all.  We are working closely with market constituents and consortiums to continue our aggressive drive from many standpoints – technology, privacy, ad networking, and more.  One of my visions for the near future is to see one global standard that will result in a mobile explosion, unparalleled penetration, and mass market acceptance.  I know that Media Stamp will be one of the main components to achieve this.