Tradition Is For Sports, Not Super Bowl Telecasts

I’m a traditionalist when it comes to sports. I go for vintage uniforms and zero rules changes so we can have apples-to-apples comparisons of players from one era to another.

But when it comes to coverage of events and advertising within telecasts, I embrace change. After all, I sit with a smartphone and tablet within reach, and have an interest in interacting with the programming as well as brands that interest me.

On Super Bowl Sunday, more than 100 million were there for the advertisers. Yet few brands took advantage of the fact that for many, television viewing has moved from passive to interactive.

On other days, we vote. Or text to win. Or go to mobile Web sites to learn more, be entertained, and to buy.

On Sunday, all we did was wait.

It had a 1983 feel to it -- and felt as stale as a 30-year-old advertising concept (nerd kisses model, Coke makes us feel good).

Missed opportunities to engage and sell more stuff?

I could name one for every minute of stadium blackout time.

For example, Pizza Hut lost out on the chance for more dough by failing to set up a name capture as part of its free product giveaway on Tuesday. Denny’s made the same mistake in the 2010 Super Bowl telecast.

In contrast, consider how Arby’s introduced its Roastburger sandwich. For the launch, Arby’s had Jimmy Kimmel create, eat and promote the product on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." Viewers were urged to text the word ROASTBURGER to a short code to receive a free sandwich with the purchase of any drink. After texting, customers were asked to respond with their ZIP code to be entered into a local database and receive additional offers from Arby’s. By doing this, the restaurant gained a valuable re-marketable database.

As a result of the one segment, Arby’s received 177,745 total entries from 152,280 unique participants; 65,000 people opted-in to join the mobile loyalty club; and the restaurant created 172 local databases to cater to the opted-in customers on a hyper-local level.

Elsewhere Sunday, Oreo actually added a mobile element to its $4 million spot, but the call to action -- go to Instagram to decide if Oreos are great because of the cookie or the cream -- was confusing and hardly inclusive, given the large number of viewers who aren’t Instagram users.

Pepsi sought to give away one million bottles of Next, but the URL shown flashed on the screen so fast that it likely was missed by most. In fact, the call to action said to go to the site by midnight Sunday for a chance to win, yet a visit there Monday morning had the contest still live.

The eagerly anticipated Clydesdale spot hit the yearly emotional right note. Budweiser easily could have built off of the moment with a mobile site showing previous Clydesdale efforts and by running a contest to determine from viewers which year’s ad was the most heartwarming.

What’s behind the reluctance to add mobile calls to action to Super Bowl spots? Some say it’s the silos in agencies where traditional and digital media are separate entities. Others throw out the idea that agency creatives don’t want to muck up 30 seconds of “art.” Still others say engagement after the Super Bowl takes a backseat to the buzz built off of a $4 million buy.

On a day when a football winner is decided, we need a champion off the field -- someone from the traditional media side who sees the opportunity to run a Super Bowl spot with a mobile call to action that takes into account the viewers’ behaviors and interests -- not to mention the brand’s need to keep the conversation going and to sell product days and months later.

(article first appeared on mediapost.com - http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/192645/tradition-is-for-sports-...)

Highs and Lowe's At MMA Forum San Francisco

At the MMA Forum San Francisco Jan. 28-30 in the city where the coach with a mindset of “Never Stop Improving” replaced the successful quarterback and reached the Super Bowl, we heard from brands with the same attitude using mobile to sell more stuff.

Sean Bartlett of home improvement retail chain Lowe’s is one such example. Never Stop Improving is actually his company’s mantra, but that hardly gave Bartlett a blank check to bring mobile innovation into the 65-year-old retailer’s 1,700 plus stores.

Bartlett, who is director of mobile strategy and platforms, convinced senior management that Lowe’s would be better off if it could differentiate via the integration of mobile throughout the customer journey.

Unlike 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh, he did not replace anything or anyone – he supplemented his company’s sales and marketing programs with mobile products, services and technology smarts.

Bartlett led an effort to get iPhones in the hands of 42,000 sales associates so they could deliver a level of customer service that would combat showrooming – the employees share information with shoppers via the smartphones.

The executive built a mobile application with such transparency that it actually shows competitors’ pricing. He uses Wi-Fi in the 1,700-plus Lowe’s locations to give shoppers what they desire – easy and free access to product reviews and social networks.

And Bartlett is seeing business results that are justifying even more effort and dollars in mobile.

Bartlett’s insights were among the highlights at the two-day event where we moved past the maddening question of whether this is the Year of Mobile – I am rich with a dollar for every time I have heard it since 2005 – and spoke of innovation and issues that face us in 2013.

Here is more of what I remember from the show:

Chase, one of the nation’s leading banks, is not resting on its significant mobile laurels. It is continuing to build capabilities, including the ability for consumers to open checking and credit card accounts through mobile products.

An executive also talked about the customer experience and Chase’s need to move at the speed of now.

“Mobile gives us a rapid, immediate view if something is going wrong and we address it immediately," said Russ Eisenman, head of mobile product marketing and partnerships at Chase, San Francisco.

For its part, Mercedes has gesture control and the full windshield used for connected contextual content on its roadmap.

In an era of distracted drivers, the German carmaker faced questions about whether more mobile activity in the car is wise. It sought to assure those in attendance that while new connected services in the car are coming, safety is Mercedes’ primary concern.

Another session by Google executives introduced the search giant’s enhanced ability to gather data from cross-platform users. Then, they were hit with a series of questions about privacy and whether the data will be sold to marketers. It will not happen, they said.

Meanwhile, an advertising panelist from 4D complained about the lack of transparency in mobile advertising, saying that too often buying mobile ads is like buying “mystery meat.” Happily, that comment came after lunch.

An executive from Mindshare also encouraged the hundreds in the crowd to “fail smart, fail fast."

There was significant time and attention paid to messaging with surprisingly large crowds that included major brand representatives attending Mobile Marketing Association messaging committee meetings.

Left unanswered were whether the majority of marketers are ready to deal with big data, commit to engage with a customer or prospect after a click or other mobile interaction, and spend significantly more on mobile this year than last.

We will not get there in one day or one year.

But it was gratifying to hear the unified sentiment that we would leave San Francisco with a promise of Never Stop Improving.

(article first appeared on Mobile Marketer - http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/opinion/columns/14700.html)

Quicker Reactions Needed For Businesses In Mobile Age

Small and medium sized businesses will never be like Chase – many don’t yearn to be – but they certainly can learn from the banking giant.

Chase has had to adapt to the speed of communications given the fact that customers carry mobile devices and a forum to take good experiences and bad ones to social networks.

“Mobile gives us a rapid, immediate view if something is going wrong and we address it immediately," Russ Eisenman, head of mobile product marketing and partnerships at JP Morgan Chase, New York, said at this week’s Mobile Marketing Forum in San Francisco.

Customer expectations have never been greater, according to Eisenman, and activities that used to be niche have gone mainstream.

"Depositing a check is no longer a fun thing to do - it's part of the every day ritual,” he said.

Next up for Chase is providing the ability for consumers to open checking and credit card accounts through mobile products.

“We want to be sure that we are building around the mobile-first mentality – it is a reality that the moment that you wake up, you have an alert that is sitting in your queue that says, ‘here’s your bank account’,” he said.

Checking account balance is the top activity for mobile users, with push notifications and messaging playing a major role in making a mobile device the first place that users go to access their financial information.

The takeaway for small and medium-sized business owners?

In their own ways, they need to respond to meet and exceed the hopes of customers and prospects who wake up every day knowing that, with mobile, it’s no longer business as usual.

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This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business http://goo.gl/S6P7m program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

I'll Say Hallelujah If I See A Super Bowl Mobile Call To Action

I don't want to sound preachy, but if the Super Bowl telecast includes meaningful mobile calls to action for the first time, I will sing out Hallelujah.

More than that, I will respond to the marketer’s ask for me to take out my phone or tablet – ok, one will be in each hand, so taking out will be unnecessary – and I'll participate. I’ll learn more about a new product, be entertained by a brand beyond what was possible in a 30-second commercial, and even text to win.

So will millions or perhaps tens of millions of others.

Marketers buy into the Super Bowl telecast because it is the one time of the year when consumers are actually tuning in to commercials instead of muting the volume or fast-forwarding on their DVR.

Here’s an old school recipe for success:

One part new product or service offering upgrade

A tear-inducing script (Tears can be a result of hilarity or a message that pulls at the heartstrings.)

One teaspoon of a timely message (Think Valentine’s Day and/or tax season)

A cute animal or hot celebrity – or in some cases, both

A tease in the media

Yet, mobile calls to action have been missing this day of 24/7 social, mobile consumers.

Why is this an opportunity missed?

It takes that near-perfect, talked-about-for-days ad and extends its value. By including, for instance, an SMS call to action and engaging with consumers, companies can ultimately build remarketable databases that tie directly to their loyalty programs and enable ongoing communication.

Last year, Super Bowl advertisers relied on simple URLs, some of which weren’t even mobile-specific. Other ads directed consumers to social media prompts via a plethora of hashtags (Audi’s #SoLongVampires, Bud Light’s #MakeItPlatinum, H&M’s #BeckhamForHim, etc.).

Hashtags are catchy and make people want to join in on the trending. They create a following, for a short time at least. But they are hard to track and measure for true value. Instead of (or in addition to) a hashtag, why didn’t they include an SMS option for viewers to receive more information? Doing so also creates a sense of exclusivity, and allows consumers to be part of a special network of people who receive deals, coupons and other special treatments that promote customer loyalty, repeat shopping and increased purchase value.

Here are five ads that could have been improved with a simple mobile call to action:

1. GoDaddy. The brand teased viewers that its “NSFTV” ads were available online if they scanned a QR code. They could have used an SMS in addition to a QR code (which is sometimes hard for viewers to see, much less get them to fire up their scanner and capture the code onscreen before it disappears) to “see more now” that would have brought users to the coveted “Too Hot For TV Internet Only” versions. By offering multiple means of engagement, GoDaddy could have increased its reach.

2. Teleflora. This ad was racy and tied in with the upcoming “holiday of love.” Perfect timing, of course. However, it could have used a text campaign for a Valentine’s Day coupon instead of just posting teleflora.com and trusting that consumers will travel there on their own without an incentive. An initiative like this could have led to Teleflora building an opt-in list of people who like to give flowers to their loved ones and would probably do so again on their birthday or anniversary.

3. Coca-Cola and Audi. Both brands had multiple spots but did not set up the next ad. For instance, they could have created some type of scavenger hunt or delivered a message, such as, “prepare to use Shazam next time you see Coke,” to tie-in the experience across ads.

4. Best Buy. This ad was entirely about mobile innovation, yet had no mobile innovation of its own. It did not embrace the very technologies that it was commending. There was a real missed opportunity to expand on each of the founders’ stories for more consumer inclusion and engagement.

5. The movie clips (Transformers, The Avengers, John Carter, etc.). These movies were built up as the blockbusters for 2012, yet there was no incentive to check them out beyond the digital effects and big-name celebrity rosters. Think of the perks for both brands and consumers if they had incorporated a mobile campaign to see “Sneak Peaks” or an opportunity to win tickets, all while building a database of future prospects.

Will this year end with a Hallelujah? Or will it be another sermon about opportunity lost? We shall see.

(article first appeared on imediaconnection.com - http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2013/01/27/ill-say-hallelujah-if-i-see...

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - Unlocking The Mysteries Edition

Starting this week, you can't unlock your smartphone. But this year you can unlock certain hotel doors with your device.

Of course, buying a list and using mobile numbers is against the rules. Beyond that, lists are often wrong. My name is not Jess, yet I’ve received hundreds if not thousands of emails addressed to me that way.

To the naysayers who call Twitter a waste of time, the valuation is $9 billion. That’s not to mention invaluable personal and business connections.

43 percent of U.S. adults said they used mobile devices to showroom, according to Harris Interactive. A defense for retailers? Customer service.

Apple sold 10 iOS devices per second last quarter. We should all have such problems.

Super Bowl ads are 34 percent more memorable and 42 percent better-liked than ads airing a month earlier, according to Nielsen. Now if they only included mobile calls to action that led to opt-ins and even longer engagement.

More than 700 million smartphones shipped in 2012. My reaction? Don’t forget the hundreds of millions who have feature phones.

There are more than two billion iMessages sent a day on iOS devices. That speaks to the popularity of texting and free.

As we get closer, it’s worth repeating - SXSW will get headlines, but it’s not place to go to build foundational mobile programs.

One in five advertiser dollars on Facebook went to mobile. That should increase significantly with more proof that it works.

Rumors say Apple will release three iPhones this year. Let' start a new one. I say seven. Ready, spread the rumor.

Cosmopolitan readers have to pay 2x to get iPad version vs. print edition. I just glanced at this month's headlines. OMG.

The Launch of Online Mobile Marketing Curriculum Training

With mobile passing the stage of “nice to have” to essential, many marketers have come to the conclusion that they'll suffer if they fall behind or stay even with the pack.

These folks are asking for more than what a conference presentation might bring. They want detailed how-to lessons that can be applied quickly and effectively.

They know that everything and nothing has changed – marketers still need to sell more stuff, but the how is different with mobile so universally used by customers and prospects.

I’m pleased to say that I’ve joined forces with Market Motive, the leader in complete end-to-end online curriculum training. Beginning immediately, marketers can learn mobile marketing fundamentals http://www.marketmotive.com/mobile-marketing-training-promotional-video before going through a comprehensive course designed to give them an advantage.

Through Market Motive, instructional videos, certification tests, and course components are constantly updated and streamed through a network of partners that includes leading universities, industry associations, and training providers, as well as Market Motive’s own learning portal. The curriculum is constantly updated by bestselling authors, keynote speakers and industry leaders as the digital landscape changes.

Participants in the Market Motive program view online courses and interact with faculty to learn the latest online marketing practices. The structured curriculum includes web-based training videos, weekly live webinars, and online testing. After testing and certification, certified professionals stay current via updated video lessons, conversations, and interactive workshops with the online marketing industry’s bestselling authors and speakers.

Market Motive also provides faculty-coached web-based training in SEO, Web Analytics, Social Media Marketing, PPC Advertising, and Conversion Optimization. These Master Certification courses are 100 percent online, and include weekly coaching, a final project defense, and endorsements from the top authors and thought leaders in online marketing.

Ongoing memberships are available to groups and individuals for training updates.

I’m stoked to get this initiative going. I hope you’ll join me.

Some Basic Truths About Marketing

Know the customer is rule one whether you are marketing luxury goods or a low cost commodity. Yet, according to a leading consumer neuroscientist, brands fail every day to act upon some basic truths.

Like “women shop, men buy.”

And shoppers react more favorably to curves than they do to squared-off products and store displays.

And don’t ask the customer to do more than three things. If you do, he or she will bolt.

And offering an interesting fact to a consumer in a marketing message produces a dopamine rush that could lead to a sale.

These observations were shared this week in New York at a CMO Summit http://nrf.a2zinc.net/rama13/public/Content.aspx?ID=20865 that was held during the National Retail Federation conference. I presented mobile learnings from the just concluded holiday season, but Nielsen’s A.K. Pradeep stole the show.

Pradeep is the founder and Chairman of Nielsen NeuroFocus, which has numerous patents for its advanced technologies and a blue-chip client list representing many Fortune 100 companies across dozens of categories. NeuroFocus became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nielsen in 2011.

More than funny, Pradeep was smart. According to him, each year a trillion dollars is spent on communicating to and persuading the human brain, yet few understand how the brain really works—what’s attractive to it, how it decides what it likes and doesn’t like, and how it chooses to buy or not buy the infinite variety of products and services presented to it every day.

Pradeep says that neuromarketing research is revealing a myriad of fascinating insights that help improve the effectiveness of every aspect of clients’ brands, products, packaging, in-store marketing, advertising, and entertainment content.

He says the female brain has four times as many neurons connecting the right and left hemispheres, greatly enhancing its ability to process information through both rational and emotional filters—a fact that must not be ignored when crafting a message.

Among the five senses, vision is the most pronounced and the brain will discount information that is not in concert with the visual stimuli it receives. The sense of smell is quite powerful too, as it is the most direct route to emotions and memory storage. Being linked with a pleasant, iconic smell can significantly improve a product’s success in the marketplace.

Brains are also quite empathic, Pradeep believes, and it is a neural “monkey see; monkey do” mechanism that can help companies around the world create and market products and services that consumers will find naturally compelling.

Mirror neuron theory says that when someone watches an action being performed, he or she performs that action in his or her own brain. Activating this mirror neuron system is one of the most effective ways to connect with consumers.

Of course, Pradeep’s instruction works just as well for the small and medium sized business owner as it does to the marketer pushing $3,000 suits and mass market soft drinks.

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This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business http://goo.gl/S6P7m program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer: The "Proof Is In The Tattoo" Edition

To woo younger consumers, T-Mobile will allow tattoos and piercing on employees at retail locations. The day we see an iPhone tattoo is the time we’ll know the coveted phone is a member of the T-Mobile family of devices.

87 percent of broadcast TV & 93 percent of cable TV viewing still occurs live, according to Nielsen. Why? In part, this is because you can’t time-shift social media. That factor is growing. Community works best in real time.

The $4 million Super Bowl TV ads will have mobile calls to action, right? How easy is this? Rather than come in for free breakfast, respond to the CTA and opt-in for more.

Mark Zuckerberg says a Facebook mobile phone would be the "wrong strategy", yet signals point to January 15 announcement of one?

Could this be the year of no “Year of” designations?

The iPotty was introduced to train a toddler to use the toilet via iPad education. The only surprise is it took this long to come to market.

An app to help you catch more fish? More important is one to have us eat more fish.

BlackBerry's browser has long been its weak link - now it "smokes" iOS and Windows 8 phones?

Groupon has expanded its Square-like mobile payments to Android. The company doesn't see profit on this. Rather, it’s an avenue to more core business.

AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint will carry BlackBerry 10 phones. Of course, the question is how many users will do the same.

An app that can call 100 phone numbers at once? I never have --or will have -- that need.

25 percent of the U.S. population used a tablet at least monthly in 2012, a figure expected to rise to 34 percent this year: eMarketer.

I disagree with the headline "CES has sadly become a complete waste of time". Dealmaking with players all in one city is the reason to go.

Saving The Hoosiers' Fieldhouse

As we've seen in many campaigns, donors don’t have to jump through hoops to donate with their mobile devices.

Speaking of hoops, Butler University is employing mobile giving in its efforts to renovate famed Hinkle Fieldhouse through a $16 million raise.

Butler aims to preserve the 84-year-old Fieldhouse's classic architecture and feel, while improving interior spaces to better serve student-athletes and fans. Hinkle Fieldhouse was the center of the basketball world in 1986 when it was featured in the film "Hoosiers."

Mobile users who text HINKLE to 32333 can donate $10 to the University. The charge will appear on the mobile subscriber's carrier bill.

Successful philanthropic efforts are inclusive and these days that includes giving through mobile devices.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The Pre-CES Edition

As I head to CES, I wonder whether 2013 be the year of "reinvented" TV or was that 2012 with second-screen adoption?

Consumer Reports calls the iPhone 5 the worst of the top smartphones. I don't know many unhappy users. Do you?

Next-generation LTE chips are said to reduce power consumption by 50 percent. Will that lead to 50 percent more activity and the status quo?

The dumbphone may be added to Oxford English Dictionary – but not by marketers. We would never call users dumb, right?

Facebook mobile user counts revealed: 192 million Android, 147 million iPhone, 48 million iPad, 56 million Messenger.

In 2012, mobile search and display advertising was up 220 percent in the U.S. alone, according to eMarketer. Google had a 56.6 percent share of the overall US mobile advertising market. The nearest competitor, Facebook, had an 8.8 percent share.

Texting activity went up and game playing went down on mobile in the latest comScore look.

Want an easy way to lose me? Run a headline that says a company "may" do something. I may move to Tahiti. Maybe not.

Apple stock was up 31 percent in 2012. Failure?

We couldn't end 2012 without another "gadget caught fire" story. Historically, many are hoaxes that media chase anyway.

There will be more and faster Internet connections on planes if the Federal Communications Commission gets its way. With an option, many of us will go-go from Gogo.

New York introduced real-time arrival times for subway trains via mobile apps. It can handle 5,000 queries per second.

Smartphone activations typically outpace tablets by four to one, yet more tablets were activated on Christmasm according to Flurry.

Mobile Will Be Half Of The Marketing Spend in 2017? Extreme Prediction or Dumb?

One thing we can expect in 2013 is what Heidi Cohen calls "extreme" marketing predictions. I took the word to mean something that was way out there. Here's what I told Heidi when she asked me to name one:

"My extreme prediction is that there will be more extreme predictions around mobile in 2013. I’m still shaking my head over the Experian prediction from late this year that 50 percent of the marketing spend in 2017 will be for mobile programs. Not only is that crazy, its level of hype does a disservice to those of us trying to grow the channel dollar by dollar."

Heidi's full list of responses is here http://heidicohen.com/2013-extreme-marketing-predicitions/#more-15363

What's Behind The New Porsche-Branded BlackBerry?

Mobile Marketer asked me for my thoughts on a Porsche-branded BlackBerry phone soon to be available in limited supplies.

Here's what I told the publication:

“Porsche drivers are among the most loyal automobile owners in the world. It makes sense that some brand enthusiasts would want their phones to be Porsche-branded, especially since it will sell in Porsche boutique stores.

“Mobile devices are personal. They ring how we want them to, are accessorized to our particular tastes and oftentimes make fashion statements.”

“The value of an association with a diminished brand like BlackBerry is questionable for Porsche Design. But the device will have limited distribution and visibility, so there is likely more upside than downside.”

The article is here http://www.luxurydaily.com/porsche-design-launches-new-blackberry-smartphone-...

CEO Adviser: Hold The Phone

For marketers, mobile has changed everything. And nothing.

The what remains the same: Move more product. This has been the case for centuries. In a recent interview, Steve Mura, director of digital marketing at Miller-Coors, told me that his goal is the same as it was for his predecessor 155 years ago. Sell more beer.

It’s the how that has changed. With more mobile devices on the planet than there are toilets, and more people consuming via wireless, there are more ways than ever for brands and marketers to reach consumers. This opportunity requires more than mobile marketing; it requires mobilized marketing.

The distinction here is the difference between pushing out thousands of mass daily offers versus targeting mobile users based on their location, their demographic information and their personal interests and then using incentives to open a two-way conversation that keeps them engaged.

For businesses, it is not as simple as just adding one mobile campaign to the marketing mix. The basics have remained constant more than a century and a half: Know your audience and develop plans accordingly.

To learn about your target audience, Microsoft mobile veteran Barbara Williams explains, it’s important to observe.

“This is something really simple,” she says. “If you’re not sure if you should be doing mobile, take a page out of classic consumer research model and do ethnographic research. You can do it on your own. Go to the store, go to the mall, go out to dinner, and sit back and watch people. Just watch. Old school. And you see everyone is on their devices and they are spending quite a bit of time on their devices and they’re not making phone calls necessarily and they are not just doing SMS [short message service]—they are doing a lot of things.

“When you see that happening around you everywhere you go, ask yourself, ‘How can I insert my product or my brand or my message into these experiences?’ Just look at the world around you. And listen to young people who grew up in the digital age. Their behaviors are completely different.”

What Williams is saying is that people spend a lot of time on their mobile devices. Beyond texting and making calls, they download apps, surf the Web and play games. Creative marketers should think about how they can insert their brands into each of these daily consumer activities in a way that isn’t intrusive (or worse, annoying). How about a sponsored mobile game or an app that helps you make your grocery list?

The most successful mobile marketers give consumers options.

In early 2011, Macy’s developed a mobile program called Backstage Pass. The program uses in-store signage that prompts shoppers to “scan the star”—a quick response (QR) code shaped in the iconic Macy’s star logo—to “go behind the scenes” with their favorite Macy’s designers. By scanning the logo with a smartphone, shoppers are presented with access to 30-second videos that provide fashion tips and a behind-the-scenes look at clothes from Bobbi Brown, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Kors, Greg Norman for Tasso Elba, Rachel Roy, Irina Shabayeva for INC and Martha Stewart.

One of the most unusual aspects of this campaign was its inclusion of multiple mobile channels. The program integrated QR codes, SMS, MMS, mobile video and the mobile web. It even provided a traditional URL for those who didn’t want to interact via their mobile phones.

By offering shoppers so many choices, Macy’s is catering to all of its customers, no matter which device they carry, which operating system their device runs or their personal mobile preferences. After all, a retailer would never offer a sale to only customers driving red sedans, right? So it doesn’t make any sense to only offer an app to those with iPhones.

In the end, mobile devices present a huge opportunity for businesses to engage with their potential customers. But remember, when it comes to marketing, choice is the killer app.

(article first appeared in Seattle Business magazine - http://seattlebusinessmag.com/article/ceo-adviser-hold-phone)

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer - The "How Big Was Mobile During The Holidays?" Edition

While we await the overall mobile sales numbers for the holidays, consider Amazon customers purchased more than one toy per second on mobile devices, according to the company.

Also, Amazon patrons bought enough Angry Birds plush toys to stretch 285 times the height of the tallest tree in the world, which is found in the Redwood Forest in California.

A $19 monthly, unlimited Republic Wireless smartphone plan is no bargain, acording to reporter for All Things Digital. Limited device choice and poor signal switchover from Wi-FI to 3G are mostly to blame. I’m reminded of a sign: Good food is not cheap, cheap food is not good.

A continuing problem in mobile is forecasting too far out. I’ve seen report of 4% overall marketing spend in 2017 and one at 50%.

Read this - "Contrary to current conventional wisdom, the future is not going to be 'mobile only” and thought this - conventional wisdom? The idea is preposterous.

It didn't make the top of my list of surprises for 2012, but easily could have - the continued ineptness of Siri 14 months after intro.

We're ending 2012 the same as how we started - businesses thinking they need a mobile app but not knowing why.

The Super Bowl will be shown live on mobile via a Verizon app. Now we need mobile calls to action in ads and we're cooking.

There was a trampoline discount in my inbox. I'm short of jumping for joy regarding the irrelevance.

Please tell me how the backlash over the Instagram rule change could not be predicted. As was the backpedalling.

The Federal Communications Commission is offering a free smartphone security checker. I worked in this category when Symantec was a client. Users won't care until there is a big outbreak. And maybe not even then.

2012's Biggest Marketing Surprise

I almost went with Siri's continued ineptness 14 months after launch, but when asked by Heidi Cohen about the biggest marketing surprise of 2012, I pointed to a public offering gone bad:

"The biggest surprise was the freefall of Facebook stock following the IPO. Sure, the company went public without a complete monetization strategy, but the company was such a darling that a softer landing was more predictable. But, like Apple, by the end of the year, shareholders demanded extraordinary business results for extraordinary stock prices. And that’s a good thing."

Unanticipated events named by other marketers are here http://heidicohen.com/2012-biggest-marketing-surprises/

The Year's Biggest Marketing Failure

Asked by extraordinary marketer Heidi Cohen (@heidicohen) to name the year's biggest marketing failure for a list she was compiling, I responded this way:

"An average 1 percent spend on mobile meant marketers did not capitalize on subscribers’ interest in interacting with brands. More than one third of mobile subscribers are interested in joining a mobile loyalty club, according to a Hipcricket consumer survey, but more than 7 in 10 have yet to be approached by a brand that they trust."

It was an honor to be asked by Heidi, who gathered a Who's Who of digital marketing for the list which is here. http://heidicohen.com/top-marketing-fails-of-2012/

The Question Remains – Does Your Business Need A Mobile App?

When it comes to mobile apps, the year is ending the way it began – with some marketers saying they need one, but without even a half-decent reason why.

Several weeks ago in Las Vegas, I was approached following a Mobilized Marketing book presentation by a small business marketer. Much to the chagrin of a “more sophisticated” marketing colleague, the gentlemen pushed for approval from me for moving forward on creating an app.

But when I gently asked whether he knew what type of mobile devices his customers carry, and whether he was prepared to build for more than one operating system (iOS for Apple devices, Android for Google, etc.), he realized that he hadn’t done enough homework on the subject of apps.

That scenario happened to me several times this year – and actually every year since 2007.

In a recent PC World article called Does your small business need a mobile app to stay competitive? http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=A0025B28-C30F-D9C1-1529706063D17C87 author Christopher Null wrote that many small and medium size business owners believe that everyone has an app but them.

“As a small-business owner, choosing whether to join the app-development club can be a difficult decision,” Null wrote. “You may feel like you have to build an app and go mobile to stay competitive, but you’ve probably heard that apps are expensive and time-consuming to develop. More and more users are dumping desktops and laptops for tablets and cell phones, so it makes sense to optimize the online experience for them. But is it really worth the effort? Cant they just use their smartphones to access the website you already have?

“Its a tricky problem with no single cut-and-dried solution.”

Null correctly pointed out that while mobile websites work on all smartphones, “an app gives you much more presence on the phone than a bookmark on that phones browser does. Rather than forcing the user to launch the browser and find your URL, an app is always there, front and center on the mobile desktop. Your business is constantly in mind, whether the person is using the app or not.”

I’m in the camp that says build a mobile website before an app (if you need an app at all) because it is more inclusive.

There were some who believed that the “duel” between the mobile web and apps would be won by the end of 2012 and that only one would be left standing. That won’t happen. Both have a place. It behooves small and medium size business owners and marketers to understand their customers and provide the best solution for them.

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This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business http://goo.gl/S6P7m program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

Caesars Does More Than Roll Dice On Mobile

Caesars guests roll the dice all the time and leave a lot to fair Lady Fortune. But the casino’s admirable approach to mobile marketing leaves little to chance. During an hour-long webinar earlier this month, a senior executive from Caesars Entertainment said that mobile will sit at the center of the company’s strategy to move the business a giant leap forward in 2013.

Eric Petersen, director of new media, Caesars Entertainment, sees “four components” to mobile.

First, mobile Web is used to get consumers to Caesars’ properties — allowing them to make reservations. Second, SMS is mainly used to reach consumers that are in market — sending them exclusive offers, deals and reminders.

Third, mobile applications are “hotel-specific to enhance customer experience” — and these apps deliver value by enabling customers to access and use concierge services, room service and make dining reservations.

“Finally, Petersen noted, “we use QR codes on print advertising and on-site signage to increase the level of interactivity consumers can have with our brands.”

Petersen is wise to provide consumers choice and let them decide how (mobile, Web, on-site) they want to interact with his properties. He also correctly assumes that his customers have a certain level of sophistication and mobile savvy.

But there is a bar to reach. Brands have to deliver their customers a mobile-optimized website and experience. “Without it,” he argued, “you will give the consumer a bad experience and risk that they will never return.”

What’s more, with search being one of the most popular activities on a mobile device, it is imperative that search results lead to an optimal user experience. “This is why brands must optimize their sites for mobile, and [why] mobile Web will still lead as the main channel next year,” he said.

Petersen may work in glitzy Las Vegas, but the lights don’t blind him to what works in mobile — and what fails.

This is why Caesars’ mobile strategy is squarely focused on delivering user experiences that provide value.

“Mobile is making things easier for consumers,” he said. “You can deposit a check, book a flight or make a dinner reservation. As marketers, we need to keep this in mind. Mobile is here to solve problems.”

And it shouldn’t just be about solving the problems of a select group of individuals (distinguished by their high-end devices or huge appetite for apps). This is why Petersen has purposely included tried-and-true text messaging in his marketing mix. Unsexy, yes. But it is effective. “SMS is an important factor for engagement,” he said. “It’s the only medium that offers 100-percent reach.”

HOW I SEE IT: As I’ve written before, the travel and tourism vertical gets mobile. Marketers in this industry are among the most active — and most effective. From enabling people to make last-minute bookings using only their mobile phones, to driving on-premises customers to nearby restaurants and shows, companies in this vertical have proven mobile provides convenience and immediacy.Caesars is another great example showing the way forward.

As we look to 2013, you have to wonder whether Augmented Reality (AR), a technology gaining serious traction in mobile marketing, might not also hit it big in Vegas (and elsewhere) in 2013. After all, Las Vegas is surely a great fit (can you think of a place more distant from reality?). Granted, usage is small. But next year might be the time for AR to get its day in the big lights.

(first appeared here http://www.mobilegroove.com/mobile-more-than-roll-of-dice-for-caesars-las-veg...

Rethinking Customer Expectations

Three years ago nearly to the day, I had one of the least satisfying shopping experiences of my life. Ironically, it was with a luxury car dealership backed by a customer service promise that it badly broke.

The salesperson treated me rudely, telling me that the invoice information that I was accessing on my smartphone was wrong. Of course, I was looking at the mobile version of Consumer Reports data that has proven to be a cost-saver for years. But this guy could not acknowledge the new reality created by real-time connectivity.

Now, with nearly all customers carrying and using mobile devices to make buying decisions, businesses of all sizes need to react to the new reality.

“We have to rethink how consumers are accessing information, communicating with others, and the expectations they now have on brands,” says Denny Suh, digital brand manager, Capital One. “It’s no longer mobile versus not mobile. They want immediately and in real time, and in whatever format is most convenient.”

Suh predicts even more consumer expectation in 2013, setting up opportunity for small and medium-size businesses to compete and win.

“I believe the mobile adoption rate will continue to follow a hockey-stick-like curve,” Suh says. “I also believe that consumers will demand brands and retailers to deliver a great mobile experience – and they will vote with their taps and swipes or lack thereof. “

Suh’s advice for marketers and business owners?

“First of all, do not opt out (of using mobile),” he says. “Next, there is no need to continue to test the water, because mobile is here to stay. The third thing not to do is to have your eye so far out ahead that you forget what has worked in the past.

“Finally, do not treat your mobile campaigns just like your online campaigns. They are distinct channels, they have distinct user paths and distinct sets of consumer expectations from brands. And the KPIs (key performance indicators) can vary- that is OK. “

Capital One is expanding its mobile initiatives in the coming year. It certainly isn’t the only business to follow this route.

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This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business http://goo.gl/S6P7m program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

Notes From A Mobilized Marketer: The "Tectonic Shift" Edition

Mobile is a “tectonic shift,” says Todd Rowe, managing director of SMB global sales for Google. It used to be hype when words like that were used. Now?

Favorite quote of the week - “Mobile isn't a ‘tech savvy, sub-culture; it's all of us" - Denny Suh from Capital One.

"The next big thing" was the next big ad - Samsung's blasting of Apple was named the most popular tech ad of the year.

Best Buy “mistakenly” sent five #iPads to a few who ordered one, then told the customers to give four to people in need. It was a small gesture getting big attention. Any chance that this was a publicity stunt that worked?

It was more iteration and adoption than innovation in mobile in 2012. Agree?

Many of those who think privacy will be a big issue in mobile in 2013 said the same about 2012. They were wrong then.

For those marketers fixated on the iPhone, note Android powers 71 percent of all smartphones sold, according to industry guru Tomi Ahonen.

30% of consumer mobile action is tied to social media: Nielsen. Why do many still think mobile and social are separate?

Time Warner CEO on choice coming for ways to interact with TV - "We're going to see "as many interfaces as you can get".

Super Bowl spots are now $4 million. Please someone use a prominent mobile call to action to engage, then build a monetizable database.

Facebook's Peter Deng: "Every single day, Facebook is accessed by 7,000 different types of devices."

Mobile accounts for 13% of all internet traffic worldwide, according to new data from Mary Meeker. It’s going to 50% by 2015.

Reaction to News Corp. shuttering The Daily iPad app: as a former journalist, this one is is easy to analyze. It was not a must read. Content wins.