The Mobile Marketplace in 2010
Getting my client’s video content up onto mobile networks where it can be searched for and found is a growing interest of mine. I can do it somewhat now using a “videocast” approach that employs RSS to get the video on mobile devices like the iPod, iPhone and similar gadgets but that’s a long way away from the vision outlined in “The Mobile Marketplace in 2010.”
That was the title of a presentation I was fortunate to attend this past Wednesday hosted by the Northern California chapter of the Business Marketing Association. The presenter was Steve Lamont , a former Partner at Accenture and past McKinsey consultant with a 28-year track record of consulting and senior management experience in the telecommunications, high technology, retailing and transportation industries. Bottom line, he says the potential for putting ad and marketing content on the cellular/mobile networks is just about to explode and that in some countries it already has.
As rosy a picture as Lamont painted, his vision wasn’t without a “dark” side too.
He brought up the term “Ambush Marketing” which I don’t recall ever hearing discussed before. It has to do with what some people call “location based advertising” where cell phone networks take advantage of the fact that they pretty much know your exact location any time you have your mobile phone with you. As it turns out, your whereabouts at any given time is valuable information that the cell phone networks can sell to advertisers. Is your location private? I think so.
Imagine it’s just about lunch time and suddenly your cell phone beeps to let you know you have a new incoming message. You glance down expecting to see a nice message from your significant other but noooooo….it’s actually an ad (maybe text only, maybe video, who knows)…you didn’t ask for it…the ad was just pushed out to you as a “service” by your cell phone provider. This time it’s concerning an Italian restaurant with a lunch special that happens to be only one block over from your current location. Would you be tempted to go check out the food or would you scowl at your phone in anger and disgust due to the unwanted intrusion?
My vision of video content on cell phone networks is just about 180 degrees opposite of the scenario I just gave you. I could see a benefit if the person leaving their office for lunch could get on their cell phone and request to see information on nearby restaurants. Particularly if it was a video profile of one of my clients perhaps supplemented with a viewable menu and a nice little coupon. Okay, a bit self-serving, granted, but you get my point.
