MOBILE BITS, OR "WHY I NEED A LARGER SCREEN": More Live Blogging From the IAB's Mobile Leadership Forum
July 21, 2008 - Some random factoids from this morning that I've found fascinating:
Hispanics' use of mobile for media and marketing purposes exceeds that of the general market by as much as 50 percent, according to Jupiter Research's Julie Ask. "You're making a big mistake if you're overlooking the Hispanic audience," said Eric Bader of Brand In Hand.
It ain't just for kids. The average demo for the Food Network's recently launched mobile application is 42-year-old women. Average impressions: 50,000 per week -- so says Jeff Arbour, vice president for mobile integration at The Hyperfactory.
Client budgets are creeping up, with marketer investments moving from the "experimental" or "R&D" budget line into a defined mobile line. "Going into mid-year, we're seeing $500,000, $750,000 budgets becoming the norm," said Ansible Mobile CEO Vladimir Edelman. "And going into 2009, we're seeing seven-figure budgets."
Marketers are transferring funds from underperforming media. "Some budgets that are easy to beat up on are email and direct mail," said Mr. Bader. "Search is killing, so you won't get dollars from there. I look at underperforming CTR's, and I beat up there. That doesnt mean if someone has a $20 million direct mail budget, you will get $18 million. But I target ROI, branding, other metrics, and show how mobile can outperform, and I do get $500,000. And it does outperform."
Will older folk grok to short-code campaigns? Only if you give them a reason to. "I knew a watershed moment had arrived when my mother started texting me," Mr. Edelman said. "On the one hand, that's good news. On the other hand, that's very bad news."
By the way, IAB is now mobile! Thanks to Crisp Wireless, this entire conference program is available on the third screen -- go to www.iab.net/crisp.
And thanks to Polar Mobile, the IAB for Blackberry app can be downloaded at www.iab.net/blackberry. It's incredibly cool -- it gives IAB news updates (such as today's launch of the "Mobile Advertising Overview Whitepaper," the latest in the market-making Platform Status Reports IAB has published this year); and also allows you read our live conference blogs. (If you want those on your larger screens, just go to www.iab.net.)