LBS and Taxis and Advertising?

Russell wrote a great comment piece on Location Based Taxis and LBS Advertising - but in the end the feeling was that it really isn't going anywhere in that configuration. And that's fair enough - but where might it go?

Busses in London have been outfitted with the CrystalEyes CCTV since 2001, but in the last few months we've started to see additions to busses that include display of more than just CCTV images. Some displays are now showing advertising. (Oddly enough I can't find a website or any contact information for CrystalEyes at all!)

If we take the basic platform that will have advertisements either pre-loaded or even radio downloaded and associate GPS coordinates with them, it wouldn't be hard at all to display an appropriate ad based on the current location of the bus.

And then why couldn't we do that with Taxis? - Download a thousand ads that are geo-coded for display as the taxi travels.

And while we're at it, when the fare boards the taxi the driver could enter the destination address into a GPS direction system to ensure that they had the best route (of course a proper London taxi driver would never need such a thing) but this would allow the system to dispaly relevant ads to the destination when the taxi came within .25 km or so. This would be far better to advertisers as a person is getting "out" of a taxi then before they got in and went somewhere else.

Cost and Practicality

I asked my good buddy Zeno at Media Plus for his view on in Taxi advertising and the whole idea of geo-coding advertisements and he was generally only luke warm to the idea. According to Zeno, "Taxi advertising on the outside of the taxi is a pretty straight forward proposition. Those ads can be seen by 100's if not 1,000's of people as the taxi goes about it's day. Advertising In-Taxi can be seen by at most 5 people in a London cab and only about 3 in a NYC taxi." (Zeno is also fond of reminding me that NYC taxis have room for three people's torso's, but none of their legs!)



But is it mobile?

We are rapidly expanding the idea of what is mobile here - beyond just the realm of telecoms but to include all things that move with us through our daily lives. iPod PodCasts - iPod Video - Sony PlayStation - and now mobile taxis.

And with each one of these mediums we have to help the marketers decide how to best use these medium so that the messages delivered acheive the desired results - more, better, happier customers.

Whether it's mobile phone text messaging - or in-taxi advertising - mobile marketing has got to be more than clever - it's got to be TRVR (Timely - Relevant - Valuable - Requested ) or it is nothing more than SPAM to go!




And when trying to find a cheeky reference to London taxi drivers never being lost - I found this little gem...

Bad reputations inspire opt-outs - DMBulletin - Direct Marketing news by Email - Brand Republic

An old article I found lying around in my Drafts folder - but it still goes to show that a brands communications can definitely impact on future business.

Bad reputations inspire opt-outs - DMBulletin - Direct Marketing news by Email - Brand Republic

Great example of high street brands that are being pushed back by consumers due to their own behavior. If this can happen in direct mail - imagine what can happen in the mobile space.

But does the brand matter?

Was speaking to Robert Dirskovski, head of Interactive Media at the DMA (UK) and we were talking about how brands fully understand the impact of direct marketing and the need for respecting communications with consumers. But there are some cases when the brand doesn't really matter.

We all know of businesses that are in for the "fast-buck". They come along, make a huge amount of noise, make their profits and then disappear right back down into the sewers from whence they came. And brands associated with short-sighted opportunistic capitalism don't really care about brand damage. As long as they can make a profit before anyone realizes what is happening, they're happy. In a few months (or weeks even) they will come back with a completely new brand and a new way to take the money off the punter and then scurry away again.

So what's the answer?

How can consumers make a lasting impact on short term brands? Any suggestions?

CRM can create empathy gap between brand and consumer - DMBulletin - Direct Marketing news by Email - Brand Republic

An old post that has been stuck in my drafts folder - but still worth remembering...

CRM can create empathy gap between brand and consumer - DMBulletin - Direct Marketing news by Email - Brand Republic

This is a great piece to support the concepts of good permission based communications and a fundamental shift in communication from brands to consumers.

The point is that this same premise can be extended to include an understanding of the value in how mobile can be incorporated into the mix to build and maintain customer relationships.

TRG offers Ticketmaster regular concert-goer data - Data Bulletin - Data news by Email - Brand Republic

TRG offers Ticketmaster regular concert-goer data

Now - what's interesting about this is not so much that Ticketmaster has finally decided to sell out it's consumer database - big companies do this all the time and I'm sure that with Ticketmaster that they have all of the necessary opt-in permissions for 3rd party marketing. But what is interesting is the following:
They have only 94,801 postal and 67,632 email addresses to rent
There is no reference to mobile numbers

I think that it is becoming increasingly unpopular to sell lists like this and would be interested to see if TRG would get more business/traction by incorporating trusted 3rd parties into their existing e-mail lists.

I know that I'm on the Ticketmaster regular e-mail list so I can assure you that I'm going to be watching my inbox very closely. I'll want to see what new offers I receive and if it is clearly identified that Ticketmaster was the one who sold me out. (I don't expect they will disclose that information - but who knows.)

Techworld.com - US still world's top spammer

Techworld.com - US still world's top spammer

What's interesting about this article is that there isn't any reference to the fact that most of the rest of the world would say that the amount of SPAM is actually rising.

By the definition agreed to by the EU as to what constitutes SPAM - the CAN-SPAM act actually defined how businesses "can SPAM" customers. It's a very controversial topic to say the least.

CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003) was largely gutted of the most important aspect of the legislation when it was decided that it is allowable for marketers to send the first unsolicited SPAM so long as they agree to certain strict rules and ruglations regarding their identity and the ability for the consumer to opt-out of subsequent e-mail marketing messages from the marketer.

By the definition of the rest of the world the CAN-SPAM act defines how marketers "can SPAM" their customers -- rather than it's original attempt which was to "can SPAM" - i.e.; - put SPAM in the trash.

MobHappy: BT Launches a Whole Range of Terribly Boring LBS Services

Russel writes about BT and their new LBS services... but not very positively.

He's right - much of the stuff is only barely "yawn worthy" - when I can think of one thing that would make LBS sense immediately - and it doesn't even require detailed positioning information.

When I'm in Spokane, WA (that's in the US, you know) I don't need to know that the Piccadilly line is having minor delays - especially when that comes at 3AM as a TEXT message sent to my phone.

Can't we use LBS for something sensible?

Of course - the answer is - Not really... These LBS services will cost probably cost a lot... and who knows how easy it will be to integrate them with existing applications.

Paying for accuracy

About 18 months ago I was having a meeting with T-Mobile and we were talking about their LBS offering. What I found most interesting was that their engineers had developed at "inaccurracy" solution.

With T-Mobile you paid a different amount for a different level of accuracy in determining location. As it turns out the accuracy was much more dependent upon the type of LBS that was deployed than on what the person paid for. As a result it is possible that you could have 2 meter accuracy but have only paid for 1 Km accuracy.

So what did T-Mobile do? - They introduced error into the result. If you got a result that was accurate to 2 meters then they would randomly add noise to that result to where it was never more than the accuracy you paid for.

This drives engineers crazy. The engineers have spent years perfecting a solution only to have someone on the commercial side tell them it's "too good" and that they'll need to make it worse to make it commercially viable.

On the one hand I hope we see a lot more LBS - on the other I don't think we will because the costs and technology and interfaces still have another 24-36 months before they become common enough for applicatoin providers to use.

(And if you're an accountant - and you think about the fact that 5 years is about the time that it would take to depreciate the LBS equipment that operators were required to install to support E911/999/111 services - you'll see why I think there is another 24-36 months of high prices and no adoption.)

MobHappy: First Carnival of the Mobilists!

MobHappy: First Carnival of the Mobilists

It's the first entry and an absolute must read as it truly organizes some of the best thought leaders in the mobile space. And considering I'm part of the carnival (they make it sound like I'm the Bobby on the beat).

Well done to the boys at MobHappy - Russel Buckley and Carlo Longino for the idea and starting us off!

A SPAM by any other name...

Clickz reports that there is still a high percentage of legitimate opt-in e-mail that is blocked by various forms of filters - and goes on to say that a major percentage of this occurs due to the marketers own practices.

Although not specifically mobile - the general theme still applies.

Filtering is just another way of saying that a message is SPAM. Unfortunately not everyone defines SPAM the same way.

What is SPAM?

Well - that depends on who you are. To the marketer that is trying to interpret the letter of the law or code of practice - SPAM is considered something that is delivered to the consumer without their permission. And of course permission is a gray area all unto itself in that it depends on which country you are in and which organizations you belong to (like the MMA and DMA) as to what level of commitment you have to permission.

For the consumer on the other hand - a message can be considered SPAM if it isn't TRVR (phonetically that's Trevor in case you were wondering) And TRVR is Timely Relevant Valuable and Requested.

Even if you have secured a triple-opt-in with a photo signature in person witnessed by an independent 3rd party permission - if you send the consumer the wrong thing then they are going to call your message SPAM. Why? Because it's the closest word they have in their vocabulary.

How about an example?

To put an example with this let's take my daily travel update service. I ride the London underground and I want to know when the Piccadilly line is suffering delays. Most of the time I accept these updates willingly enough as they are completely TRVR. BUT - if I'm away on business in Spokane and I am awakened from my jet lagged slumber at 3AM by my phone alerting me that the Piccadilly line has minor delays. Now I think that message is SPAM.

The update is not timely (-T) - It's 3AM -nor relevant (-R1) - I'm in Spokane and not likely to be riding the London underground - not valuable (-V) - it's not going to improve my ability to get to work today --- but it is requested. Yes - I signed up for it. (+R2)

And if you think that a misdirected travel update is bad - what do you think I'm going to say about getting an oil change coupon for Bob's Garage at 3AM (-T) when I'm in Spokane and the fact of the matter is that I only have a push bike (-R1, -V) , I've never been to Bob's Garage (?R2).

What's up with ?R2 -- Actually I signed up to alerts and updates from trusted partners of Maxim magazine and as such I may actually have an opt-in that someone can trace back - but do I know that? - No.

What's in a name?

What's in a name? that which we call a SPAM
By any other name would cause the same grave offense;

Mobile marketing creatives must be more than just clever they have to be TRVR.



Troy

New Look selects Hypertag for national giveaway

New Look selects Hypertag for national giveaway: "Hypertag Ltd"

You have to read it pretty carefully - because the reference to Bluetooth is buried in the text - but it's there.

Hypertags with Infra-red are fine - but it's the potential bluetooth spam that is of concern.

I contacted the PR person behind the announcement and they have assured me that HyperTag is coommited to opt-in permission based marketing and that they were working on Bluetooth strategies that were equally committed to Opt-In.

I did offer to review their plans - even under and NDA - to provide some external feedback on what might constitute an opt-in method and what might be sailing a little too close to the wind - but they have politely declined that offer.

Media Center - Motorola@ in 2005 - Motorola Bring Seamless Mobility to Life @ WIRED NextFest

Well - here it is from the Motorola website... but I heard it first from Adverblog.

In any case this looks like a similar attempt to "channels" that first made their appearance in late 1998 early 1999 for the desktop. You would subscribe to various channels of information that would be pumped into your desktop either as a background or as screen saver content.

This will be on the phone screen - but here's the big question for me. Will the phone always have the screen in active mode so that I can read this Screen 3 content? As it is now my phone goes into battery saving mode when I don't access it for a few seconds. And then the RAZR phone is a clamshell design - leaving very little space available for this Screen 3 content.

/marks blog turned up this little tidbit from CTIA in March.

I think it's interesting that they are promoting this as a different way for operators to promote their services to consumers without using text messages - less interrruptive. And I think that's a good thing. The interesting part of this for me will be if they give consumers control over the content - i.e.; - I don't want to see any adds from my carrier/operator. I want to OPT-OUT from all of their marketing... and that will include Screen 3 style marketing.

T-Mobile goes large on mobile net access | The Register

< a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/06/t_mobile_internet/">T-Mobile marketing people demonstrate they are clueless.
Turns out that I saw a poster for this on my way to work this morning. Not only is the slogan just completely missing the mark "Web'n'walk" - you should see the creative that goes with it (HINT: It involves lads in hot pink jumpers with polka dots - and one of them on a fashion runway...)

The underlying message that all websites will now be viewable on your mobile - exactly as if they were on your PC - will resonate really heavily with advertising and marketing companies who are desparate to figure out a way to reach consumers on their mobile phones.

The real question - just who is drinking this Kool-Aid?

US bill heralds end of walled gardens | The Register

US bill heralds end of walled gardens | The Register

Ok - so this is a great start - but what must come along with this is the ability to promote the content through WAP Push. Consumers are not inclined to try to search or surf for content - but would happily go to WAP sites if all they had to do was follow a single click link in an alert.

WAP Push will be the way that many of the mobile internet sites actually drive consumers to their website. The consumer experience will likely look like:

Consumer sees billboard or newspaper add for cool content.
Call to action: "Text HOTCONCERTS to 88822" for more.
Consumer will compose a text message as directed and send it to the short code 88822.
A few seconds later the consumer receives a WAP Push to their phone - one click and they are taken to the HOTCONCERTS Wap site.

And yes - all of these WAP Push messages must be opt-in or they will be considered SPAM.


In the meantime there are a number of companies coming up with WAP portals for mobile search. I don't know about you, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on WAP Search engines looking for content. But then again last Saturday night I was tasked with finding the lyrics for Puff The Magic Dragon while at dinner - and using Google search on my Vodafone phone - I pulled up the answer. So maybe I'm wrong... Nah... WAP Push is the way. WAP Search is a minor service that won't catch on until the mobile device has a better UI and a bigger screen. Wait - they have one - it's called their computer!