HTC "YOU" campaign!

As a part of their brand positioning ,

HTC came up with a simple "YoU" campaign.

Having previously produced handsets for different operator's brands such as T-Mobile etc , HTC's hired UK-based branding agency Figtree in order to postion it as "Consumer Brand".This new campaign focuses on "Consumer" and not on "technical capability".

It was the third-largest player in Q2 2008 after Nokia and BlackBerry maker RIM, but a year later has been eclipsed by Apple's rapid growth to a 13.3% share, according to statistics from analysts Gartner.

This new campaign seems to have two main objective:

1.To focus on emotional connections made possible through HTC smartphones.

2.To create an impression on consumer that HTC phones already are the premier technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lUkF1vVudA&feature=player_embedded

'Quietly brilliant' and the ad campaign's emphasis on how HTC puts the consumer first. The product-specific TV ads, one of which is shot from a 'phone's eye' view, focus on how different people interact with their handsets depending on their emotions and their activities.

The ad finishes: "You don't need to get a phone. You need a phone that gets you ... and you ... and you. And we are HTC.

SAP's Open Source Marketing!

In 2003,SAP was releasing its new NetWeaver platform
(A software on top of its existing enterprise applications which helps them to talk to each other and to other non-SAP applications based On "Service Oriented Architectures)

But they had a big challenge of marketing this new product because the product's potential wouldn't be visible to customer until they start using it and customer were not ready to adopt it until they could feel its potential!

Early Netweaver customers were also struggling with basics and SAP neither had the reach nor the resource to train its entire customer base.

Then SAP Executive Board Member Shai Agassi came up with an "Open Source Marketing" idea:
SAP Developer Network (SDN), a creation space of forums, wikis, videos, and blogs targeting not just SAP customers but the 3rd parties where all of SAP's customers, systems integrators,developers, consultants, users and independent service vendors (ISVs) teach each other about NetWeaver(Few of them were not even on the SAP payroll)

This community grew quickly and as a result SAP was able to establish NetWeaver with its customers at minimal cost to SAP.

FREE FORD CAR for Blogging and Tweeting

Ford has recruited around 100 "agents," who are rewarded with free use of a car in exchange for spreading the Ford Fiesta gospel throughout social media:

Ford doesn't pay agents to praise Fiesta instead he/she gets to drive the car for six months for free. Gas included. All they need to do is blog, Tweet and post about their vehicles as much as possible.

This program has evoked the interest of about 50,000 potential buyers, 97% of which don't drive a Ford at present, official Fiesta Movement content has drawn 4.3 million YouTube views, 540,000 flickr views and 3 million Twitter impressions.

"Creative way of marketing using SOCIAL MEDIA"

B-to-B environment!Tyco International has 50 brands!

Tyco International is a renowned global company offering one of the most comprehensive product ranges in the world.
Many B-to-B companies try to be all things to all people, and therefore ends up nothing to anyone.Branding is a powerfull tool if utilized and supported by proper strategy and resources.It's not about making people to make irrational buying decisions instead it's about communicating the benefits and value a product provides to consumer.

Tyco for example is one of the best example of powerfull B-to B brands but rarely customer knows about the name Tyco!

Tyco uses 50 different names as a customer-facing brand.It knows that corporate brand is not same as product brands and branding of all the products under one name will send a conflicting message to consumer and also it will have no value proposition.So Tyco has been able to market it as a profitable company by making a clear separation between product and corporate brands.

Moral of the story:

Brand strategy must be unique yet corporate brand need not be everything to world.Products should be branded based on one simple question" What value proposition is most valuable to our consumers"

'It's Time for A Clear New World' a SAP campaign

SAP Launched Global Brand Campaign to emphasize transparency with a global campaign themed :

'It's Time for A Clear New World' (sounds like as if someone is trying to help the world!!)

Previous ads for SAP use to feature customer testimonials. But now in an uncertain economy SAP explores a new approach to promote the idea that SAP's software helps foster clarity.
Here clarity means "Transparency, visibility, accountability". As rightly explained by Marty Homlish, Chief Marketing Officer SAP that "In today's business environment, companies must see clearly, think clearly, and act clearly within their own organization as well as across their business network. Only those with the visibility to act effectively and decisively will survive and emerge stronger than the competition"

The campaign comes after SAP's net income dropped as result of a late-year crash in the global economy and in the midst of rumor and market talk that Microsoft is looking to purchase SAP.SAP has taken measures to reduce cost by some €200 million in largely made up of the widely publicized hiring freeze and elimination of non-customer facing travel.

Print and digital ads began rolling out in the U.S. and Germany in May, and will expand to other European and Asian markets . The company has also revamped its Web site and optimized it for mobile connectivity as well.The campaign will also include out-of-home billboards.

One of the point to note is that the tagline, "The best-run businesses run SAP," remains.Reason as explained by Leo Apotheker,who is the new CEO of SAP "Before, to be a best-run business, a lot of it had to do with being profitable and being efficient. Now we're saying there's another level to that, which is transparency and accountability,"

How much can SAP benefit from this re-branding approach?

'Kambakkht Ishq’ latest bollywood movie launched a Mobile Marketing campaign

Let us analyze a creative Mobile Marketing campaign done by Hungama Digital Media based on my 10 factors for mobile marketing::::
The makers of ‘Kambakkht Ishq’ and Hungama Digital Media launched a unique mobile campaign so that fans across the country can connect with the film from anywhere.

1.Strategy: To create buzz and excitement about the film. Each film needs to create a buzz among prospective audiences before its release in order to ensure that they watch the film.

2.Relevant to the consumer: Kambakkht Ishq is an action-packed, romantic comedy that will appeal to everyone. This movie's theme is ‘war between the sexes’ that the youth will especially connect with.

3.Awareness: Through varied avenues like the Kambakkht Ishq mobile game, a mobile Voice VAS service by Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor and a blog written by the film’s director Sabbir Khan on www.BollywoodHungama.com.

4.Content:
>The Mobile Game is a fun-filled racing game which allows users to play the role of Akshay Kumar and highlights the gender wars between the two protagonists of the movie. The user has to complete various stunts and collect objects in the exciting and fast paced racing game to complete the game.
>In the Mobile voice VAS service, Akshay Kumar reveals a few of his stunt tips for all the young aspiring stunt men; and Kareena Kapoor advices women on beauty tips.

5.Target Customer: They needed to promote the film through platforms where youngsters are present and today every young boy or girl are connected through a mobile phone . Also give fans in international markets an insight of the film before its release.

6.Cost: No info yet.......

7.Customer Control: All people have to do is pick the phone, dial a number and listen to the stars of Kambakkht Ishq speaking to them.

8.Post-Campaign customer satisfaction survey: Yet to be Known....depends on first day collection.....

9.Privacy:

10.Medium: Mobile Game, Mobile voice VAS services and Blog.

This movie is supposed to be ground braking "Bollywood meets Hollywood" project.Sylvester Stallone makes a delightful cameo

iPhone 3G to 3GS:Buyer’s remorse!

Current iPhone 3G owners wanting to get their hands on the new phone will have to pay $700 for the top-of-the-line 32-GB handset, $400 more than the cost for new customers.

This isn’t the first time Apple has annoyed its customers with iPhone pricing.The difference this time is that people who signed up for a two-year contract knew this would happen. They bought a subsidized handset in return for being a customer for the next two years, and now they want to change their minds.

Apple seems to attract a lot of upgrade envy but still it's a brand which sells maybe because the company gets publicity like no other?

What do you think?Does the brand play a role here?

Nokia again ranked No 1 brand in India as per survey

Coming back to my favorite topic BRAND
As per latest survey done by Brand Equity in India with over 8000 respondents across India......Nokia was ranked No 1 brand.
Top 10 brands as per survey:
Nokia.Colgate.Lux.LifeBuoy.Detol.Horlicks.TataSalt.Pepsodent.Britannia.RelianceMobile
This shows in India people like talking a lot, bathing,eating,getting hurt,teeth care!Jokes apart the brands which made to top 10 cater to basic needs of people and this why they are surviving.

As it’s rightly said in India, Nokia is to "phone“ in India what Kleenex is to
"tissue“ in USA. This is because they think small. May be this the reason why in
North America, despite a marketing blitz Nokia's market share has slid to just
8% from 15% two years ago…. Just joking…

Case Study 2: AirNewZealand mobile marketing campaign!!

Let us analyze a creative Mobile Marketing campaign done by AirNewZealand based on my 10 factors for mobile marketing::::

Air New Zealand launched the first human interactive billboard in the US, controlled entirely by mobile phone users, in Los Angeles in May. A very innovative use of two common medium i.e. Mobile and Billboard to promote the product/brand:

1.Strategy: To promote the airline's USD599 round-trip fares from Los Angeles to London. WELL DEFINED

2.Relevant to the consumer: Was launched at 9:30pm(21 may) at the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles. PROPER LOCATION

3.Awareness: Through digital billboard projection which featured a 1970s-era airline pilot holding a sign saying "TXT WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO 310310". USE OF TRADITIONAL MEDIUM

4.Content: The animated character on billboard will respond to over 150 different text commands, such as eating fruit, moon walking and attempting to strip. CREATIVE

5.Target Customer: Mobile phone users. FOCUSED TARGET

6.Cost: No info yet.......

7.Customer Control: Animated Character is fully controlled by customer. No spam messages are sent to customer, customer can just sent text message and have fun as per there convenience. FULL CUSTOMER CONTROL

8.Post-Campaign customer satisfaction survey: Yet to be Known....should be good...

9.Privacy: Customer name or number will not be displayed on billboard. FULL PRIVACY

10.Medium: SMS short code and billboard. INNOVATIVE WAY OF INCREASING DATA ARPU

This is one of the best example of integrated marketing and perfect combination of MOBILE & BILLBOARD......I hope it increases the sale.........

MNP in India:Mobile Operators Buckle up your shoes....

As in few months mobile number portability will be a reality in India as for customers it will be a great relief but what about Mobile Network Operators..............
Imagine you moving from one state to another with same number, no more trouble of getting a new number.
But are MNOs also excited?
Answer is no, already there is a tough fight going on to increase the ARPU(ARPU/month: GSM:Rs 220 CDMA:Rs 111)and MNP is going to hit them hard.
As per survey done by an analyst firm Angel Broking,
"Average Revenues Per User (ARPUs) of the mobile operators would be affected by around 5%."

Basically churn rates(at present rate is 5% for pre paid) are likely to increase as customers can move easily from one operator to another.
Now imagine you get a call drop on Airtel , so with MNP in place you can easily move to Vodafone without any hesitation.....

So MNOs now we "The Indian" need Quality not Quantity, so if you want to survive buckle up your shoes...............

Obama's historic speech in Egypt!!!

Obama said"I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world"
A>Is muslim world really big?
Muslim Lifestyle' market, estimated to be 500 million strong.
This initiative to "re-energise the dialogue with the Muslim world" will not only help at political level but also at business level.

B>As matter of fact war in Iraq was not only over oil but also over air:ie.CDMAvsGSM
CDMA has around 12 percent of the global market, GSM nearly 70.Every country in Europe and the Middle East is on GSM.Take a GSM phone to America, and you have a good chance of it working. Try doing it in reverse with CDMA.........
In 2003 USA Congressman Darrell Issa issued a rallying cry for the re-building of Iraq to include a CDMA wireless network instead of a GSM infrastructure.
So you can see what important role Middle East plays and many mobile vendors are getting into the act, sensing the huge market potential.

C>Some Mobile products:
1>THE EMIRATE 1 - A Pocket PC Phone to help pray towards Mecca.
2>Ilkone i800 mobile phone comes with Hijri and Gregorian calendar and shows the Qibla direction by five methods with prayer times. Also contains a complete, authorized version of the Islamic holy book, the Quran, in Arabic and English.
3>LG-G5300 Qiblah phone comes with an in built compass and location-tracking software which shows the direction of Mecca.
4>Nokia N73 Special Edition has applications especially designed to aid in prayer and worship throughout the Holy month. Also uses Azan application Uclub.
4>Islamic Saudi Mobile Phone, out of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gives Qibla direction and prayer times in over 5,000 cities worldwide.

This market is ripe for innovation. A key challenge for certain 'Muslim Lifestyle' products is getting approval of recognized regional and national religious bodies.Knowing these customers and providing solutions that specifically suit their needs is the key to capture this market.

Palm Pre Teardown Reveals Qualcomm Components

• The key wireless semiconductor in the Pre is a Qualcomm MSM6810A baseband processor, which supports its communications capabilities via CDMA2000 1X and CDMA2000 iX Rev A EV-DO.

• Qualcomm also supplies two radio frequency chips, the RFR6500 receiver and the RFT 6150 transmitter. All together, Qualcomm contributes $18.45 worth of semiconductor content to the Pre.

• The iSuppli team also found it notable that Palm chose a Maxim MAX8695 power management integrated circuit for power management, instead of Qualcomm’s PM6650 chip.

• Maxim MAX8695 power management integrated circuit is also used in LG Voyager mobile.

4 Campaigns with higher click through rate!!!

As mentioned in my previous blog "mobile marketing has a higher click through rate than standard online banners", so here are 4 campaigns/examples which proves this::

A>Luxury brand Dolce & Gabbana used Nokia's mobile ad network to promote its June fashion shows.
The campaign, which ran during the Male Collection Fashion Show in Italy during June last year, received an average click-through rate of almost 10 per cent.
Nokia launched a mobile advertising campaign targeted at teen and young adult customers in which clicking on a banner ad on the mobile handset leads to a down loadable game, branded wallpaper and a catalog. The click-through rate for this campaign was significantly higher than average click-through rates for Internet banner ads.
RESULT:10% CTR

B>Hyundai used Nokia's mobile ad network to raise the brand awareness about its new car Genesis.The campaign received a click-through rate of 3.41 percent. Additionally, 11 percent of people who clicked through to the Hyundai banner ad submitted their e-mail address to get the free“RevTone".
Nokia ads created a campaign featuring banner ads that clicked through to a Genesis mobile Web site. Consumers could view mobile ads, text in a short code for fast access to the mobile site and download wallpaper.Due to down loadable brand-sponsored content like wallpaper,Hyundai continued to make an impact even after the event.
RESULT:3.41% CTR

C>Electronic retailer Pandora used iPhone for its BEST BUY campaign targeting consumers listening to music on Pandora's application for the smart phone.The ads averaged 2.5 percent to 3 percent click-through daily.Best Buy advertised within the application with a sponsorship screen and lay-over ads that brought consumers to the retailer's landing page without stopping the music experience.
Pandora claimed accelerated user registrations, which have doubled since the launch of its iPhone application.
RESULT:3% CTR daily

D>On Vodacom's Mobile Internet properties (WAP banners) click through ratesaverage 2.5% which is between 10-25 times higher than the typical 0.1% - 0.2% click through rates for online banners.
Vodacom mobile advertising business unit revenue contributed by advertising agencies has increased from around 18% in 2007 to over 55% in 2008.

Mobile banner ads produce click-through rates that are "exponentially higher than online" banner ads where CTR has fallen to about 0.3%; mobile banners produce an overall click-through rate of 2%.(as per Verizon analysis).

How do we calculate CTR:
Click-through rate or CTR is a way of measuring the success of an online advertising campaign. A CTR is obtained by dividing the number of users who clicked on an ad on a web page by the number of times the ad was delivered (impressions). For example, if your banner ad was delivered 100 times (impressions delivered) and 1 person clicked on it (clicks recorded), then the resulting CTR would be 1%.

Case Study 1: NIKE mobile marketing campaign!!

Let us analyze a successful Mobile Marketing campaign done by Nike based on 10 factors discussed in previous blog::::
During 2008 UEFA European Football Championship Nike wanted to make sure that the brand was front of mind for teenagers throughout the Football Championship.This case study shows how the campaign achieved over 150,000 content downloads(higher click through rate)
1.Strategy:Nike strategy was to use mobile channel to reach as many teenage football fans as possible in Turkey and to engage them with Nike's football assets & products.
2.Target Customer:Nike clearly knew their target:"Teenage Football Fans"
3.Relevant to the consumer: Nike came up with campaigns to enable teenagers to easily download Nike content relevant to the consumer(teenager football fans) throughout the tournament.
4.Awareness: Nike used existing channels:
a.Dedicated TV Channel to broadcast to millions over an interactive TV platform (D-Smart) to promote exclusive content to masses.
b.Nike & Apple (iPod) partnership – They published branded packages and podcasts by Nike athletes.
c.A dedicated Nike mobile campaign site - http://mynikefootball.mobi
5.Content: Their main objective was to offer teenagers access to exclusive content featuring Nike’s globally famous athletes and to encourage them to engage with the Nike brand.
6.Medium:
a.Highly segmented and targeted SMS, MMS and WAP campaigns - to enable teenagers to easily download Nike content
b.Mobile display advertising – both on-portal via the Turkcell and Vodafone Live portals and off-portal on the Nokia.mobi inventories.
c.A Nike mobile widget delivered over Nokia WidSets/OVi - the first branded mobile widget in Turkey with high download rates.
d.Interactive Nike Kiosks – these were created at Nike Stores & football pitches to broadcast free downloadable content via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to mobile users in the vicinity. 4 kiosks were set up at a Nike indoor football pitch and 3 were set up in Nike shops across Turkey. Using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on their mobile, Nike customers were able to download content including wallpaper, videos and other multimedia assets.
7.Customer Control: Customers had full control as they were invited to send the message ‘NIKE’ to a short code.Only those who sent 'NIKE' received a WAP push message inviting them to download content simply by clicking through the message.
8.Cost: I have no idea about the investment done by Nike for this but in less than two months, there were over 150,000 content downloads by the target user base.
9.Post-Campaign customer satisfaction survey: The campaign was also selected as the ‘The Best Practice Campaign’ by Nike Global as per post campaign survey.
10.Privacy: For this campaign privacy was not an important factor as it was more inclined towards creating buzz about the brand during the tournament.

Nike hired mobile solutions provider Mobilera(http://www.mobilera.com/) to run this campaign in Turkey and Mobilera used wide variety of mobile marketing techniques and practices to engage the teenage customer base in a dialogue.

10 Important Factors for Mobile Marketing

How to engage with mobile consumers?

Here i will try to discuss some of the factors which should be taken in to account by brands in order to effectively utilize next big medium 'MOBILE' for marketing:

1.Strategy: Decide which of your core products or services are most useful for on-the-go customers and start there. Don't try everything at once.Understanding mobile users, their behavior and usage is very essential while defining a mobile strategy.
2.Relevant to the consumer: Mobile phones are still very personal devices, and when a consumer signs up with a carrier, that person is putting a certain amount of trust in that company. While planing the campaign, make sure that it is something of value in return for the objective of the communication campaign.Taking risks is one thing and Ignorance is another, don't make consumers life hell with mobile spams.
3.Awareness: Use existing channels that you already use with your customers – email, direct mail, point-of-sale advertising, banners, Web site and print ads – and get them to interact or respond via their mobile.Standalone ads on mobile phones will not deliver results if they don't get integrated in a mobile strategy which also takes into account promotion, sales and customer services.
4.Content: The quality of the content drives engagement so it is important to ensure the user’s experience with the content is user-friendly and entertaining.They should be worth more, advertisers should be willing to pay more.
5.Target Customer: Campaigns will perform better if you’re going after a specific target audience.Try to connect with those customer who were previously disconnected.Ask customers to do one thing; to choose, vote, get a coupon, set an alert, or take an exclusive offer. The idea is to validate the channel and test your ability to influence incremental changes in behavior.
6.Cost: Mobile marketing is costly deal as consumer pays for every single SMS message and mobile internet is still too expensive for users.Text messaging acts as the activation point for major media content by providing consumers a simple way to find advertisers and their mobile assets but for starting any mobile campaign you need to exchange atleast 2 to 5 SMS.Now while replying to your SMS consumer does think of cost unless he is not not subscribed to an unlimited data plan!!!!
7.Customer Control: Give the control to customer.Customers should have a mechanism for telling you when and how they would like to receive marketing messaging on the mobile phone as the consumer has a right to privacy and as a marketer we need to gain approval form them.Make customer feel warm and fuzzy about your brand.
8.Post-Campaign customer satisfaction survey: Use email and mobile media to get customer reactions and gather customer input and feedback.The data points that you have on the consumer should be used to drive segmentation and personalization. Most importantly it should be used to tailor the message to the interest of the consumer.This will help you to manage spam issues, and will make the content more relevant and valuable to the consumer.
9.Privacy: Commit and state clearly to consumer that you will not share the consumer’s information with others i.e. any third-parties.
10.Medium: You need to decide which mobile technologies is relevant for your campaign. a.SMS b.Mobile Web c.Mobile Apps d.Mobile Games e.Mobile Display f.Mobile Email are some of the basic component/ways.In short mobile marketing can be divided in three parts:SMS, Mobile Internet, and smartphone applications.Now you need to decide depending on users & demographics which you want to target.Don't try everything at once, try that medium that can most closely identify with your brand identity; or your unique selling proposition.

Moral of the Story:

If your company is embarking on a mobile initiative for the first time, do your homework about mobile marketing etiquette. Lead with your strong suit like any other communication, if you don't have a big idea nobody's going to care enough to forward it.
Having a clear campaign objective is the most important factor,the mobile channel provides brands with the unique ability to connect with their consumer like never before as its always on and always connected more than any other medium TV or web.....

Mobile marketing

Mobile marketing is becoming the most productive and cost effective medium for reaching a highly desirable demographic especially with with 3.8 billion mobile subscribers worldwide.

Mobile marketing is not telemarketing, the kind of calls that disturb people. Rather, it is the process of sending spam-free, personalised, permission-based marketing messages to receptive consumers through their mobile phones.

As per PRNewswire, average click-through rates for mobile marketing are five times higher than standard online advertising and provide stronger recall rates than television advertising. Mobile consistently outperforms online on the most important advertiser metrics.Virtually all major online publishers now provide mobile versions of content.

But there are a lot of things that are unique about mobile that need to be taken into account when serving an ad to a specific consumer.On mobile you need to target by device manufacturer, platform ,capability, the carrier, demographics and behavioral data .

In order to monetize content on mobile it is important to remember that relevance is the most important factor,its important to make the ads interactive,forcing the consumer to take a lot of different actions.
Mobile is not a replacement for anything, so rather than thinking of replacing TV, print and online ads, think of it as a complement.

Can adult entertainment(pornography) help push the mobile industry(3G) forward

According to Strand Consults reports, adult mobile content will grow to approx 2.7 billion Euro or more. Even though this figure could easily be much higher, 2.7 billion Euro is well over 10% of the total value of the mobile services market.

As its known that aside from adult content, it has been very difficult to make money on the Internet.
Its strange but looking at the Internet, adult entertainment has helped push the Internet forward in many different ways like it has helped the development of compression technologies, especially in streaming software and optimising bandwidth capabilities.

Now looking at what the adult entertainment industry has done for the Internet, it is not surprising that the mobile sector are secretly hoping that adult entertainment can help push the mobile industry forward in the same way.
But one of the biggest differences is that mobile consumers never had access to any free content on their mobile phone plus there are other challenges ahead including legislation issues and protecting minors from access.

Though at this stage mobile operators feel that mobile adult entertainment content may not be good for their image but with the revenue opportunities it will be difficult for the mobile operators to overlook.....
Playboy have already signed their first mobile content agreements and are ready to go with media rich mobile content.

Everyone loves the underdog!!!!!Palm Pre

At a time when every smart phone phone looks like another copy of iPhone, the Palm Pre comes as a breath of fresh air.

The device is smart, sexy and interesting::

Side by Side: Palm Pre vs. iPhone 3G
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc5k3rsm_28cttnz8fb


Android, until now the most-talked-about mobile OS, should be afraid of the Pre

Bing.com another attempt by Microsoft to beat Google!!!

Microsoft: Bing is getting all the promotion for its blank page on Google and Yahoo
Microsoft is desperately obsessed about beating Google in the game and Google on the other hand is carefree

Bing is so much customizable that you can grab a board marker and type both search and enter results that you have always wanted to appear.

www.Bing.com

• Video at :

http://www.decisionengine.com/Default.html

Hello Hello.!!!...........

How to educate a common man about the latest technology and products in a simple way.Today 80% of people using mobile phone have no idea what GSM or CDMA means.

One of my friend is in to investment banking, he knows everything about finance but have no idea about telecoms technologies.He has a NokiaGSM phone which fulfills all his needs which he wants from that tool but he gets very irritated because of call drops and poor data services.
So i tried to explain him how CDMA can resolve his basic problem but moment i uttered Code Division Multiplexing(CDMA),i got a reply from him "hey it sounds very complex, leave it...".
Now this is true no one wants to get into technology details , they just want to know it in a simple way.

So how to explain the simple stuff that call drops or poor data service problems can be resolved by CDMA(ofcourse network also plays a major role)?????????

Tata Indicom(CDMA operator in India) came up with a creative,funny and simple ad/marketing campaign where they try to indirectly explain the advantage of CDMA in a very basic way...

Have a look..............
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUF8Vf8--2g

I think there are very few ads/marketing campaign which tried to explain advantage of CDMA over GSM in such a simple way.Obviously this ad doesn't mention the word CDMA but creates a curiosity among people to know more about Tata Indicom which ultimately will make them aware of CDMA.

World's Rural will Drive Growth in Global Cell Phone Use

Nokia’s market share in India is ~60% especially in rural India,of the estimated 79,000 retail outlets in India selling mobile phones, Nokia had a presence in 72,000 of them.

Cell phone is the fastest-selling consumer electronics in the history of retail in Africa.Approx 16 million phone where sold in Africa in 2006, 45 million units are expected to be sold in 2010.

A rising number of Middle East people are using mobile devices to access the internet, while fewer are using computers,the percentage who regularly logged in to the web with their mobiles increased from 33.5% in February 2007 to 40% last month.

Let us have a look at different factors which needs to be taken care of when trying to capture mobile market in rural regions of developing countries:::::

1>Agriculture
What would a small-scale farmer in India or China or Africa or Middle East want with a mobile phone?
>Market information.
>Timely knowledge about who is buying potatoes today, what the buyers are willing to pay and where they are located.
Some creative campaign and product being used to capture this market:
A>Mobile phone to the countryside, a successful campaign started by China Unicom on January 16th 2009 in twelve provinces of china, during this campaign "if the farmers buy certain mobile phones they can enjoy "free call" of China Unicom as well as value added services which are customized for rural subscribers.
Mobile phone to the countryside is really a innovative way of capturing a bigger market cake of mobile phone which is in rural areas.
This a clever way of increasing ARPU and making people in rural area aware of VAS.
B>Nokia Life Tools,An innovative tool developed by Nokia providing information to India's farmers and farming communities,Life Tools provides an easy interface to Reuters Market Light which delivers information on crop prices.
It's important to remember that this is about money: Nokia wants to sell handsets to this growing rural market.
Providing services to farmers in rural area may prove as lucrative as selling applications and content through Apples App store in urban areas.

2>Tradition & Language
The combination of oral tradition and mobile telephony gives word of mouth an extremely powerful and strategic connotation in the context of India, China, Africa and Middle East, especially for marketing campaign in these regions.
Some creative campaign and product being used to capture this market:
A>Nokia 1110 and Nokia 1600 has a feature: Speaking Clock with Alarm, which announces the time in the user's local language.
B>Nokia in a tie up with Malayala Manorama (news publisher) launched a first of its kind a ‘Vernacular’ online news portal that will be available exclusively on Nokia handsets.I think it’s a great way to catch the locals of any country.
C>Hindustan Lever started a unique campaign in rural villages in India:Use of video vans .These vans screen movies in there local dialect at no cost to villagers and the commercial breaks in these movies are advertisements of HLL’s products.

3>Price
Low-income people are the fastest growing group of cell phone owners because of the low density of fixed line phones in rural areas of Africa/india/china/middle east, cell phones are the only means through which the locals can communicate with each other.
Some creative product being used to capture this market:
A>Nokia launched Nokia 1110 and Nokia 1600 in Kenya ,entry level phones which emphasize ease-of-use, reliability and affordability, and contain technological features which reduce the total cost of mobile ownership for consumers. And these phones have very strong demand in East Africa.
B>In India Reliance and Nokia are the providers of low cost phone.

4>Engagement with the Community
Companies must be actively involved in the community in some way. This gives an impression to customers that the company is not just taking money from their customers but giving out to customers.
Some creative campaign being used to capture this market:
A>Zain(lebanon) offered 3 luxurious cars during its summer campaign.
B>Globacom(africa) 'Win and Rule Promo' in which Globacom gave away 500 brand new cars to its loyal subscribers.

5>Entrepreneurship
The importance of local partnerships: reaching the users in this region also calls for innovative thinking to overcome the difficulties of isolation and of setting up a retail infrastructure.
A>The Village Phone concept started by GrameenPhone is now working with MTN to empower the women operators, spur economic activities and promote entrepreneurialism.
B>The Community payphone,are owned and operated by entrepreneurs who buy airtime from the network and subsequently sell it to local people who don’t own phones themselves. A recent survey reported that 97% of Tanzanians now have access to a mobile phone thanks to the community payphone model.

6>Mobile Health
Over million of patients die each year as a result of not having access to a proper healthcare.
A>mHealth Alliance where Qualcomm also plays a major role, formed with goal to improve healthcare delivery in the Africa/Middle east.
B>Map of Medicine a joint project between Cisco and the hospital was launched in Kenya in 2006 to address information access problems for doctors at the institution.
C>Some other products/projects are EpiSurveyor, SIMpill project etc.

7>Mobile Banking
The banking industry is very suspicious of the cell-phone industry, because they suspect that cell phones will make them obsolete. The cell-phone companies think the banks are like dinosaurs.
But these players have to work together seamlessly for cell-phone-based banking to work.
A>Some of the famous mobile banking solutions in Middle East/Africa/India:Wizzit, MPESA ,CELPAY, Fundamo
Obopay Mobile Technology India Pvt. Ltd, Jigrahak Mobility Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Eko India Financial Services Pvt. Ltd and Mchek India Payment Systems Pvt. Ltd.

8>Religion
A mobile phone that gives you access to your belief wherever you are....
Some creative product being used to capture this market:
A>LG-G5300 Qiblah phone comes with an in built compass and location-tracking software which shows the direction of Mecca especially for Middle East market.

Conclusion:
There are certain other areas which requires a significant rethinking of managerial practices.Main point is that urban and rural marketing strategies are totally different.In short, customized and affordable products, effective distribution, and focused marketing initiatives are essential factors in building credibility for a brand in India,China,Middle East,Africa.

For Promotion or brand-building in rural region of developing countries we need to use Non conventional media – Conventional forms of media have made their way to the rural hinterland but they don’t have the desired effects on the consumer. Other forms that can be used use are puppetry, folk theatre etc. Given the literacy ratio of rural Africa/Middle East/India/China, it is important to connect to rural consumers in their dialects to inform them of available product offerings.

Rural folks think of a purchase in terms of how it serves their needs and how well its suits the family, rather than the individual. Products must be affordable and immensely practical.

As it’s rightly said, Nokia is to "phone“ in India what Kleenex is to "tissue“ in USA. This is because they think small. May be this the reason why in North America, despite a marketing blitz Nokia's market share has slid to just 8% from 15% two years ago…. Just joking…!

‘Weird Effect’

It’s often said every technology in world has a good and bad effect but I would say there is one more effect and i.e. 'weird effect' !!!
I think no other technology can have a 'weird effect' other than MOBILE.
Imagine "Selling goats using mobile" and this the reason why even in time of recession mobile sales haven't gone down.....

Another weird fashion is SOCIAL NETWORKING.Worldwide users of social networking increased by 25% when compared to 2007.

Just combine this two weird things together and you can conquer the world.Internet is the key to next phase of mobile growth in emerging markets as increasing numbers of people are accessing the internet for the first time on their mobile rather than on a PC.

A>Research firm Strategy Analytics has forecast the value of the mobile content market - including downloadable games, ring tones, wallpapers, video, mobile TV, text alerts and mobile Web browsing - to grow 15 percent this year to $79 billion.
B>But still there are great disparities in the distribution and use of many forms of technology. For example, 331 per 1,000 people in Europe use the Internet, while approximately 15 per 1,000 in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, 37 per 1,000 in the Middle East and Africa and 92 per 1,000 in Latin America and the Caribbean use the Internet.


What message do we get from this, message is simple:

Internet or Mobile alone doesn't have a market.

A>It's due to this simple factor that Nokia is now trying to build a new business from mobile Internet services(ovi store) like games or maps in order to cope up with the slowing phone demand.

B>But then we all know Apple was able to convert this simple message to iPhone obviously in a much cooler way.And despite the global economic malaise, apple is still the cool brand that consumers want and willing to spend on.Their stock price has held at the mid to high 90's.

C>Then why the hell am I blabbering about this simple message of combining mobile and internet.
Reason is smartphones are a small minority of all wireless devices.Smartphones make up roughly 10% of all mobile devices globally and about 20% of those in the U.S.

D>As we all know our small world has been divided in to two parts by Uncle Sam ie. developed and developing countries.And today developing countries are driving growth of Global Cell Phone Use.
Less than 10 percent of the population of even the most technologically developed countries don't have telephone service of any kind.That translates into hundreds of millions of potential customers!!!!!!

E>Although trying to sell mobile phones to people who don’t even have old-fashioned landline models might seem like folly, business and infrastructure concerns may give cellular the edge.
The reasons are both economic and regulatory.It’s cheaper for a carrier to lay down a few miles of cable to a base station filled with cellular antennas than to string traditional phone lines to every house and business.
For example take case of Africa where Wireless penetration was 24.4 % in 2006 and is expected to reach 35 % by 2010.

F>Mobile Internet market is ripe for innovation but for mobile internet to do well in developing world, the operator’s will have to bring down the usage cost and encourage adoption.

Now question is how to capture this market when there are so many competitors out there.

1>When doing business in developing world, remember that success is crucially linked to relationship building.
Main focus should be Branding.

2>Don’t waste all the time and money you spend on marketing and sales by not maximizing your brand.
Branding is influencing.Creating a brand identity that associates certain perceptions, emotions, and feelings with that identity.

3>Branding happens before marketing and sales. Without a strong brand, marketing is ineffective and selling is like beating your head against a wall of sales resistance.

In life, as in business, branding is more effective, powerful, and sustainable than marketing and sales.

In next blog I will dicuss about different factors which needs to be taken care of when trying to conquer the "Mobile+Internet" market in developing countries and what are the different marketing campaigns being done by telecom giants in order to grap this raw market.