I am rather delighted to announce that I will be delivering a presentation for the Chartered Institute of Marketing at Bournemouth University on the 26th January 2011.
The evening outline is as follows:
“The Chartered Institute of Marketing is calling on marketers to examine where digital marketing may be heading in the next few years and asks leading practitioners how they think companies can thrive in the digital marketplace, whilst making sure they get the right levels of return on investment (ROI) from their activities.”
I myself will be delivering a 15 minute presentation on the changing landscape of consumer behaviour and how businesses can use mobile technology to reach and retain new customers (working title). Hopefully it will be a really informative session, not only targeted at local businesses, but provide some relevant insights for marketing to a modern, tech-savvy audience on the whole.
The list of other speakers is great (to be revealed soon), so all in all should be a great education for newbies, and an expansion on current knowledge for a few veterans. I want to make it as relevant as possible to the local area (Dorset!), so if any businesses or agencies have mobile case studies they think would be worthwhile taking a look at, feel free to get in touch!
In the mean time, get over to the event page here and sign up to attend! Looking forward to seeing a few familiar faces.
Whilst doing some desk research at work, I was ever so fortunate to stumble across the brilliant Metrofone website. Aside from the fact its a brilliant website, it was a pleasant reminder of the sheer quality of handsets currently gracing the consumer market right now. What’s even more ironic about the Metrofone site is it stocks 3 of the handset manufacturers that I feel have made significant leaps and bounds recently.
Blackberry
Blackberry have always had a stronghold on the US market, but thanks to the increasing success of their Enterprise integration, as well as the explosive growth in the 16-24 age group thanks to Blackberry messenger (BBM), they now have a significant market share in the UK too. In fact, in the 13-24 age group, Blackberry adoption has increased by over 400% in the UK.
Whats more, not only are they exploring alternative form factors for their devices for broader appeal (e.g. The Torch is their first slider touch/keypad device), they are attempting to attract developers to harness their strengths and spread their services accordingly (e.g. BBM API set to launch Q1 2011). And to top it all off, early indications suggest their first tablet, the Playbook, is going to be a real winner.
Samsung
One thing Samsung have never struggled doing, is selling phones. They have consistently been in the top 3 manufacturers in the world, with significant presence in the US, Europe and Asia. They have always had great hardware, but their operating system selection has always been debatable. Unlike Nokia, when significant OS launches such as Android and Windows Phone 7 came along, they swallowed their pride and accepted they could increase their reach and reinforce their foothold in smartphone market share by embracing new partners.
They now have a delightful handset in the Galaxy S, which is selling phenomenal amounts globally, including almost 8 million in China alone. They have also been the second into the tablet foray with the Galaxy Tab, utilising the flexibility of Android to deliver a decent piece of kit. Samsung definitely on the ascendancy into 2011.
HTC
What can we say about HTC! Just a few years ago a relative unknown in Western markets, now, with thanks to a brilliant new brand identity and a hefty marketing strategy, its making a real splash in the smartphone market. Adopting Android appears to be the best move HTC ever made; acting as a vehicle to get their hardware into the hands of a whole new range of consumers.
The Desire HD is an object of utter beauty for example, and not only demonstrates the power of the Google OS, but the quality of hardware HTC continue to produce. Even though they don’t use their own OS, they add their own little touches with their Sense UI and services, which help establish a sense of familiarity in a world where the consumer doesn’t are about the brand of OS.
All in all, if there are 3 manufacturers to watch over the next 12 months, these are the guys!!
In a time when HTML5, Augmented Reality and applications are being dissected by marketers in order to deliver communications to their audience, the oft overlooked art of ‘keeping it simple and relevant’ lies dormant. It waits, hoping that someone who recognises audiences do not need rich media or the latest technology to engage with the brand in question will come along and show just how bloody well it works.
Amongst the hype of the PR machine surrounding mobile applications and technology, NME/Blackberry have quietly launched a competition that could show some of the biggest businesses in the world how ‘mobile’ should be done. Working as a partnership, the competition gives the key demographic the chance to win a Blackberry handset, as well as tickets to an NME gig.
Now here is where it gets even more interesting! Although you can answer the question and submit your details online, you can also join the NME blackberry group on blackberry messenger to submit your answer. The Blackberry market share in the UK is already quite significant, and is no longer just the email enterprise phone for business executives. Facilitated by Blackberry messenger, the RIM brand is now becoming a real force in the 16-25 age range (a demographic shared by NME). So, what is to be learnt from this competition?
Incentivised – Using prizes that the consumer WANT to win, NME and Blackberry are able to collect rich audience data
Permission Granted - With all this data collected in mind, the question is still posed “Would you like to receive marketing…etc” in a clear format. So although being brands that their audience WANT to engage with, they still demonstrate respect for their consumers by asking their permission to continue the conversation
Natural Environment – The BBM element is a stroke of genius for two reasons. The first being the ‘environment’. With its rise in prominence in the youth market, Blackberry messenger (or BBM as it is known in short) exploits the prolific nature of SMS but in an instant messenger format (similar to that championed in the late 90′s/early 00′s by MSN messenger on the desktop). Because youths are participating regularly in this environment, it seems right that a brand should enter this space (with permission)!
Value Exchange - The Value exchange at face value here is obvious. Participants have the chance to win prizes that are relevant to their interests, and at the same time, NME/Blackberry suddenly have data to a very valuable target demographic. But the BBM element gives an EXTRA value add for NME/Blackberry. You see, by building a blackberry messenger group of NME fanatics, suddenly that is access to a massive group of opt-in consumers who own Blackberrys and love NME. You just cannot buy data that specific! And what is EVEN BETTER, is that BBM is free to use (on a data plan), so NME can deliver targeted, relevant marketing messages to opt-in consumers for a stupendously tiny cost!
Imagine if NME bring out a native Blackberry mobile application. Suddenly, rather than spend thousands trying to market it, they have the audience data ready and waiting to send to ONLY the people it is relevant too. Magic.
Google appinventor allows the average joe to create their own Android App, without the need for any design or coding skills! As this rather lame but simple example video shows you, the functionality may be limited, but there will be ways of creating and delivering applications that anyone and everyone can use! Just as the Apple application process tightens up, Google open theirs up even more! Great move
