Benefits of advertising on mobile

Written by Alex Kozloff, media research manager and Julie Fairclough, trade marketing manager, Orange

The mobile phone has undoubtedly changed the way we now communicate with others. The way we use our mobiles to make plans with friends, conduct business, and message each other on the move has brought us into a whole new era of social interaction. But this is not where the mobile ends, 3G+ technology has allowed the mobile phone to become much more than a voice call and text tool. We can now use mobile media to be entertained.

Such activities may involve music or games, gathering information through internet searches, or sending pictures of the baby to the grandparents - in fact a whole host of different things. However, is mobile media really something which is being used regularly by enough people to really justify its name as a true ‘media’?

The answer is, most definitely! M:Metrics states that 15.4 million people are now active mobile media users, and its use is not only growing in numbers but also frequency. The recently launched Exposure 2 study by Orange showed that of those who use mobile media, 81% do so more than once a week, and a whopping 47% use it on a daily basis. And 9 out of 10 respondents used mobile media in the home, a place where there are plenty of other media choices which suggests it’s being favoured over other media available. Mobile is clearly an important part of daily life, so it’s important to understand how it’s perceived.

Overall there were two main attitudes towards mobile media that clearly distinguished it from everything else, it was considered to be the most innovative and most personal medium. In fact no other media elicited such strongly held views. Considering the unique place mobile holds in the minds of its users, it comes as no real surprise that mobile media users aren’t scared of seeing new things on their phone, in fact 70% of mobile media users find new and innovative advertising formats appealing. So how can a marketer transform these unique opportunities into something that works for them?

Perception map – Adjectives which users associate with different media

Source; Exposure 2, Orange UK, March 2009

It was Steve Jobs who said ‘innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower’. It’s fairly obvious that users expect mobile media to be innovative, so it’s fair to assume they expect the same of the brands using mobile to advertise to them. To understand this further we asked specifically which formats users welcomed onto their phones and would be interested in, whether that be advertising formats or advertising for specific messages.

The results were:


Source; Exposure 2, Orange UK, March 2009

Overall, there were two main themes that came out:

1. There must be some perceived value in the message, whether that be a coupon to recoup, a game to play or a notification for a sale in a retail outlet.

2. That the message was relevant to them, for example notifying them to a sale for a retail outlet, some local information to find where they are or allowing them to download a screensaver to personalise their phone.

This should be used simply as a guide, for there are many different opportunities that mobile brings which are ready and waiting for brave marketers to make the most of them. And there are brands out there which are already doing this, and doing it exceptionally well. MobiAdNews reported a great example in an interview with Marc Mielau from BMW Germany, who prepared an MMS promoting specialist winter tyres to send out to BMW owners on the first day of snow. When the first flakes fell in October, the MMS was sent out to owners specifying the model of car, the recommended tyres, even the colour of the model that was owned.

The fact this message was received at an appropriate time and was highly personalised meant it produced a sales conversion rate of 30%. Another popular example is that of the Nike PHOTOiD campaign, where mobile media users were invited to take a photograph of anything with colours they liked, send it to a shortcode and in return they would receive a picture of some trainers picking up the same colours which they could go on to purchase. Not only was this relevant and innovative, but highly engaging and fantastic fun.

But don’t be fooled into thinking mobile is purely a direct response medium (a misconception which has dogged online since the early days), it’s also a fabulous branding mechanic. BBC3 ran a weekend takeover of the Orange World homepage to promote the launch of its new series ‘Being Human’. The campaign not only created an 11% uplift in brand awareness amongst those who saw the campaign, but those who saw it on Orange World were 160% more likely to attribute this to seeing this ad on the mobile internet. It appears that when people see advertising on the mobile they really do remember it…

Mobile media is here, it’s now and it’s growing at a phenomenal rate in terms of numbers and frequency of usage. When the perception users have of mobile, being innovative and personalised, is respected and the media used to the best of its ability, some incredible results can be achieved. So the only remaining question is, does your brand want to be a leader or a follower?

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