- IAB UK Home
- /
- Mobile advertising
- /
- Mobile advertising handbook
- /
- The mobile consumer
Ozometer by Play
The campaign was created to celebrate Foster's famous ‘No Worries’ attitude. In creating the campaign, Play searched for some of Britain’s most, and least, ‘No worries’ people, celebrities and places. More on Play's award winning campaign.The mobile consumer
Written by Caroline Young, digital business manager for mobile and ticketing, Bauer
The power of mobile for marketers can be summarised in one simple fact: “No media device spends more time or is closer to the consumer than his or her phone. Media companies able to find a home on the phone of consumers, will be with them practically every moment of their waking day (Pollack Media group).”
The UK has seen a significant increase in mobile internet usage from 8.8 million in December 2007 to 11.0 million in December 2008, representing a 28% growth. This increase in activity is due to a number of factors including improved handsets, improved user experience, higher volume and quality of content available both on and off portal, faster data speeds and improved search functionality.
The UK now boasts an unparalleled reach with a unique user base of 48 million (comScore Feb 09). Consumers are still predominantly using their mobile phones for voice calls and texting but increasingly they are carrying out a wide range of activities, and examples of mobile media include:
The great news for advertisers is that all of the above offer opportunities to make your brand stand out. For example, banner ads on mobile internet sites, in game advertising, pre-rolls on videos and so on. Who is accessing this media? As you can see in Table 1, 42% of mobile media users are female, thus dispelling any myths that this market is dominated by males!
Table 2 shows the age breakdown of users of mobile media. Around 47% of consumers of mobile Media are aged between 18-34 (comScore, Feb 09) but let’s not forget the 21% aged 35-44yrs and a further 22% aged 45+.
Users are accessing content throughout the day and night, and when measured against TV, PC, radio and print, mobile was found to be the most accessed media channel from noon to 6pm. According to Orange UK, 87% of mobile media users use it at home, with a further, 73% when out and about, 48% at work, and 47% on transport. This data clearly shows that mobile is the most targetable medium. Advertisers can reach males and females of all ages wherever they are, whenever they want.
Browsing the mobile internet is a key of part of the mobile media experience and a good mobile web experience is becoming crucial to the majority of users (65%) when choosing a phone (AKQA and dotMobi).There is no= doubt that this requirement has been heavily driven by the ability to access social media sites such as Facebook and Bebo via mobile, in fact research from the IAB found that 44% of young people are now accessing social networks on their mobiles. Search, email, news and film are also some of the most viewed mobile internet pages although a high proportion (55%) of users browse with no specific agenda (Exposure 2: Orange Home UK, March 09).
To encourage users to sign up to data tariff plans, mobile operators are driving high profile marketing campaigns. These plans give users greater freedom to browse the mobile web. Today, almost 8.5% of total users now have a data plan, which represents a year on year growth of 31% (comScore Feb 09).
There are many opportunities for advertisers to take advantage of this audience, and throughout this book we’ll be presenting the ways in which you can do so, at every stage of the process.
Velti, the marketing firm that commissioned a poll of more than 1,600 UK mobile phone users in 2008, found that 79% agreed that mobile marketing and advertising was inevitable. However, this doesn’t mean that they will automatically engage with your marketing messages, as with all forms of media, consumers are open to advertising so long as it’s compelling, relevant, entertaining and rewarding. It’s important to be mindful of how users spend their time on mobiles. Many consumers use their phone to ‘pass the time’ when commuting, on a lunch break or waiting for their favourite TV programme to start at home. These users are easily distracted therefore it’s necessary to adapt your marketing offering accordingly.
If you’re going to give users content keep it ‘snackable’ and ‘bite-sized’. Don’t offer pages of text to scroll through. Include content that users can browse or download such as photo galleries or video content. Give them the opportunity to have their say or interact by including voting mechanics and competitions.
Make it easy for users to interact, and for such a relatively new form of marketing, it’s important to be explicit within your promotional activity. It’s basic stuff but adding simple call to action words such as ‘Click here…’, ‘Win here…’ or ‘Free…’ can have a significant impact on click through rates for campaigns. Users will scan the content of a page until they see something that catches their eye. Make sure your content is the thing that stands out.
56% of respondents in the Velti study said that they would accept mobile campaigns if they were offered some form of reward. Ensure that you are rewarding users for engaging with your message, whether it be by replying to an SMS broadcast or clicking on a banner. Give them something for their time, a free download, a chance to win etc. The Orange Exposure 2 research found that in general, consumers viewed marketing formats with perceived value as the most appealing, such as coupons offering discounts and sponsored games available for free download.
The power of mobile for marketers can be summarised in one simple fact: “No media device spends more time or is closer to the consumer than his or her phone. Media companies able to find a home on the phone of consumers, will be with them practically every moment of their waking day (Pollack Media group).”
The UK has seen a significant increase in mobile internet usage from 8.8 million in December 2007 to 11.0 million in December 2008, representing a 28% growth. This increase in activity is due to a number of factors including improved handsets, improved user experience, higher volume and quality of content available both on and off portal, faster data speeds and improved search functionality.
The UK now boasts an unparalleled reach with a unique user base of 48 million (comScore Feb 09). Consumers are still predominantly using their mobile phones for voice calls and texting but increasingly they are carrying out a wide range of activities, and examples of mobile media include:
- Using the mobile internet (to browse, download or search)
- Using Bluetooth
- Playing games
- Watching videos
- Listening to music
- Watching mobile TV
The great news for advertisers is that all of the above offer opportunities to make your brand stand out. For example, banner ads on mobile internet sites, in game advertising, pre-rolls on videos and so on. Who is accessing this media? As you can see in Table 1, 42% of mobile media users are female, thus dispelling any myths that this market is dominated by males!
Table 2 shows the age breakdown of users of mobile media. Around 47% of consumers of mobile Media are aged between 18-34 (comScore, Feb 09) but let’s not forget the 21% aged 35-44yrs and a further 22% aged 45+.
Users are accessing content throughout the day and night, and when measured against TV, PC, radio and print, mobile was found to be the most accessed media channel from noon to 6pm. According to Orange UK, 87% of mobile media users use it at home, with a further, 73% when out and about, 48% at work, and 47% on transport. This data clearly shows that mobile is the most targetable medium. Advertisers can reach males and females of all ages wherever they are, whenever they want.
The mobile internet
Browsing the mobile internet is a key of part of the mobile media experience and a good mobile web experience is becoming crucial to the majority of users (65%) when choosing a phone (AKQA and dotMobi).There is no= doubt that this requirement has been heavily driven by the ability to access social media sites such as Facebook and Bebo via mobile, in fact research from the IAB found that 44% of young people are now accessing social networks on their mobiles. Search, email, news and film are also some of the most viewed mobile internet pages although a high proportion (55%) of users browse with no specific agenda (Exposure 2: Orange Home UK, March 09).
To encourage users to sign up to data tariff plans, mobile operators are driving high profile marketing campaigns. These plans give users greater freedom to browse the mobile web. Today, almost 8.5% of total users now have a data plan, which represents a year on year growth of 31% (comScore Feb 09).
There are many opportunities for advertisers to take advantage of this audience, and throughout this book we’ll be presenting the ways in which you can do so, at every stage of the process.
Giving consumers what they want
Velti, the marketing firm that commissioned a poll of more than 1,600 UK mobile phone users in 2008, found that 79% agreed that mobile marketing and advertising was inevitable. However, this doesn’t mean that they will automatically engage with your marketing messages, as with all forms of media, consumers are open to advertising so long as it’s compelling, relevant, entertaining and rewarding. It’s important to be mindful of how users spend their time on mobiles. Many consumers use their phone to ‘pass the time’ when commuting, on a lunch break or waiting for their favourite TV programme to start at home. These users are easily distracted therefore it’s necessary to adapt your marketing offering accordingly.
If you’re going to give users content keep it ‘snackable’ and ‘bite-sized’. Don’t offer pages of text to scroll through. Include content that users can browse or download such as photo galleries or video content. Give them the opportunity to have their say or interact by including voting mechanics and competitions.
Make it easy for users to interact, and for such a relatively new form of marketing, it’s important to be explicit within your promotional activity. It’s basic stuff but adding simple call to action words such as ‘Click here…’, ‘Win here…’ or ‘Free…’ can have a significant impact on click through rates for campaigns. Users will scan the content of a page until they see something that catches their eye. Make sure your content is the thing that stands out.
56% of respondents in the Velti study said that they would accept mobile campaigns if they were offered some form of reward. Ensure that you are rewarding users for engaging with your message, whether it be by replying to an SMS broadcast or clicking on a banner. Give them something for their time, a free download, a chance to win etc. The Orange Exposure 2 research found that in general, consumers viewed marketing formats with perceived value as the most appealing, such as coupons offering discounts and sponsored games available for free download.
