The MoPR Blog

Hold the presses: Email, not social networks, influence young buyers’ decisions. A new poll on internet marketing by ExactTarget has revealed that young adults (18-34) are more likely to shape their decisions based on information from direct and email marketing than they are via social networks.

Mike Bloxham, director of insight and research at Ball State University’s Center for Media Design, said that Internet marketing professionals should not assume that the media chosen by consumers to receive information is the best channel to transmit advertising.

“This is a dangerous assumption to make in a time when consumers are becoming increasingly aware of their level of control over their media experiences,” he continued.

Chalk one up for email marketers, we suppose.

Using Twitter for more than just boring personal updates. More and more organizations are using Twitter to push messaging, talk to customers and “join the conversation.” The latest to join in is Make magazine (a personal favorite here at MoPR). According to Folio magazine, Make is using Twitter for customer service, providing information about magazine events and even offering exclusive deals for Twitter followers. The Make Twitter feed gives readers a personal direct line to the senior editor – who answers each Tweet himself.

Says the Folio piece, the Make editor reads, “…everything from subscription requests to changes of address which number 30-40 a day. With Twitter, users expect a response right away.”

Mobile phone usage increases but users still want easier access to information. Azuki Systems, Inc., announced the results of its first annual U.S. mobile phone user survey to profile trends and emerging behavior. More than 54 percent of those surveyed said their mobile phone usage had increased by more than 25 percent over the last two years, and one in five respondents said it had increased by more than 50 percent. A significant catalyst behind this growth is smart phone adoption, with 62 percent of respondents indicating they either own or will own such a device in the next 12 months.

Despite increased adoption, almost 80 percent of those surveyed said they wished it were easier to access information from the Internet on their mobile phones, and an equal percentage stated they wished it were easier to access rich media on their mobile phones. (We’re working on it!)

Surprisingly, older users are accessing the Web via smartphones more often than their younger peers. The 35 to 44 year-old crowd is spending 60 percent of their mobile usage time each week surfing the Web. Perhaps fueling a significant portion of this growth was iPhone adoption, which according to the survey results appeared strongest among 23 to 44 year-olds.

The survey results also proved good news for mobile advertisers. Almost 70 percent of mobile users surveyed would prefer mobile ads in exchange for free access to mobile content. Additionally, if their mobile phones had location tracking capabilities that would present them with promotions for local businesses, more than 65 percent say they would take advantage of this opportunity.

Cool campaign of the week. File JetBlue under “they get it.” Last week their gorgeous new terminal opened at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). One way they promoted it was through a short-term WordPress blog called T508. Posts were all filed in one day, starting in the early morning, continuing through the afternoon and late into the night. Most posts were very short on copy and long on photos – photos of the lounge, restaurants, services, but most importantly of the people of JetBlue – and their customers. From a reader perspective it looked like one big, cool party. And if you were media and didn’t get the traditional press release [believe me, they promoted it through other outlets as well – we saw articles and news segments during the week] there’s a simple blurb and link that lets media get in touch.

Blogging doesn’t have to be a boring, corporate affair for organizations. It can be fun while being informative and supporting the brand. Kudos, JetBlue.

When viral goes…viral. We’re always fascinated by a great marketing campaign – and here’s a good one. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently launched a viral campaign to help defeat a viral disease, the flu.

The CDC has launched a multifaceted public awareness campaign to encourage flu vaccination. A sampling of the agency’s methods include a YouTube film, web ads, eCards and “older” media such as posters, print ads and PSAs. The CDC also recently held a webinar with popular “mommy bloggers” (or as we like to call them, the mamarazzi) to enlist them to help spread the word on the importance of vaccinations. It’s working. We’ve definitely seen an uptick in flu shot messaging.

Metrics killed the video star. Imagine if you could gauge the exact moment viewers of your YouTube video lost interest and clicked away. Now you can. YouTube has unveiled YouTube Insight that lets marketers, filmmakers, and amateurs alike analyze viewer habits. The free tool lets anyone with a YouTube account view detailed statistics about the videos that they upload to the site. According to YouTube, uploaders can see how often their videos are viewed in different geographic regions, as well as how popular they are relative to all videos in that market over a given period of time. Users can also delve deeper into the lifecycle of their videos, like how long it takes for a video to become popular, and what happens to video views as popularity peaks.

YouTube says using these metrics can help people posting videos to increase a video’s view counts and improve popularity on the site by finding their audience then concentrating on creating compelling new content that appeals to their target audiences, and finally posting these videos to YouTube on days they know these viewers are on the site.

Does this mean Obama is a Mac? Remember when the Obama campaign turned to text messaging to announce the vice president? Now they’re delving deeper into tech waters by unveiling an iPhone application. Developed by a team in Portland, Ore. (gotta have some hometown pride!) the official application from the campaign will give users the following:

• Call Friends: A great volunteering tool that lets users talk to people they already know – with contacts prioritized by key battleground states. Users can make calls and organize results all in one place.
• Call Stats: Users can see nationwide Obama ‘08 Call Friends totals and find out how their call totals compare to leading callers.
• Receive Updates: Receive the latest news and announcements via text messages or email.
• Local Events: Find local events, share by email and get maps and directions.

If you’re in the Portland area, be sure to stop by the Mission Theater and Pub next Tuesday to celebrate the launch of the official Obama ‘08 iPhone application. Drink some beer, watch the debate and download the app.

And speaking of presidential campaigns and uncharted use of technology…mobile will play a key part. As both presidential campaigns aim to get out the vote using multi-channel marketing like never before, Nielsen Mobile has unveiled some context on how mobile phones may play a role in this election season.

In addition to the text message campaign and iPhone apps, the Obama campaign has a full mobile website containing news, videos and ringtone and wallpaper downloads. Meanwhile, says Nielsen, the McCain campaign “has not been as active in mobile media, but that may make sense.”
Perhaps the McCain campaign “knows that, in 2008, mobile is a more effective channel for reaching Democrats than Republicans.”

Nielsen Mobile reports that, as of Q2 2008, mobile media was slightly more popular with Democrats than Republicans. Here are the stats:

• Overall, 62% of Democrats are mobile data users who use one or more data service on their mobile phone (compared to 55% of Republicans)
• Democrats are more likely than Republicans to use text messaging (53 percent compared to 46 percent)
• Democrats are more likely to use picture messaging and MMS (27 percent compared to 21 percent)
• Democrats are more likely to use mobile Internet, as well (17 percent compared to 13 percent)

These variations, however small, indicate that advertising across mobile channels tends to be more efficient at reaching Democrats than Republicans.

That’s not to say that conservative voters are without a place in mobile media. According to Nielsen, The Drudge Report, a “news site many consider to be conservative-leaning, attracted a mobile Internet audience of 567,000 unique users per month, as of July 2008.”

How important is social media to businesses? Very, say customers. If you thought that social media was some trendy, hip teen trend, you’re wrong. New research from Cone claims that an overwhelming majority (93%) of online Americans say companies should have a social-media presence, and 85% believe these companies also should be interacting with consumers through social media.

Asked about specific types of interactions, respondents said:

• Companies should use social networks to solve their problems (43%).
• Companies should solicit feedback on their products and services (41%) via social media.
• Companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand (37%) through social media.
• Companies should market to consumers (25%) using social media.
• One-third of younger, hard-to-reach consumers (age 18-34) believe that companies should actively market to them via social networks.

Interesting to us is that the wealthiest households (household income of $75K+) believe that companies should seek to reach them via social media.

We have [yet another] winner! Remember that scene in It’s a Wonderful Life when it’s explained that every time a bell rings an angel earns their wings? Well, at MoPR, every time one of our clients wins an award, we update our email signatures. And lately, we’ve been doing a lot of updating!

Congratulations are in order for Mobility PR client Hovr, the first place winner for “Mobile Infotainment & Community” at the Mobile Content 2008 awards. And three of our Canadian clients, Cascada Mobile, Talkster and Viigo all won Red Herring’s Top 50 award that celebrates the most innovative and promising private technology companies in Canada. Congratulations to our wonderful clients.

It’s a short, weird week here at MoPR what with the July 4 long weekend and Canada Day on July 1, so we’re bringing you the usual Friday blog post on Thursday.

So not J/K: Mobile phone users want text messaging. A new report by ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. and conducted by independent research firm Amplitude Research says a whopping 73 percent of new cell phones buyers are demanding text messaging as a main feature. Texting capability demands were followed by Internet (61%) and email capabilities (63%). Also scoring big was music (34%) and video capability (33%). Users are increasingly using phones to check email: 41% of the survey respondents who use a cell phone with emailing capabilities said they send or check for emails one to five times a day.

Mobile advertising slowly climbing. According to a new study by BIGresearch , advertising account planners aren’t exactly piling on mobile advertising to their ad plans although phone users [90%] are increasing in numbers- meaning there’s a growing audience ready and waiting. The proverbial silver lining? The important and elusive 18-24 year old segment is increasingly being influenced by non-traditional forms of advertising.

According to the analysis, cell phones are much more likely to trigger an online search for young consumers than all adults (21.8% v. 8.3%), as is text messaging (15.3% v. 4.8%).

The 18-24 year old set is also more likely to download to a cell phone than the general market (31.6% v. 15.9%).

Interestingly, more than half (50.5%) of 18-24 year olds communicate with others about a service, product or brand via cell phone (compared to 29.6% of all adults), second only to face-to-face communication (66.9%). They are also almost three times as likely to communicate through text messaging than all adults (30.7% v. 10.8%).

The Twouble with Twitter. Our love/hate relationship with Twitter is not news. It seems the service is down more than up, while posts seem to magically disappear in front of our eyes. But now comes a potential competitor from Canada: Identi.ca.

Identi.ca, launched by Control Yourself, Inc.,  lets users post short messages which are then broadcast to friends in their social network using instant messages (IM), RSS feeds, and the Web.

According to the press release, “Identi.ca is similar to existing microblogging sites such as Twitter, Jaiku, or Pownce. Unlike those services, Identi.ca’s underlying software is available under an Open Source license.”

But like Twitter, it seems to be very slow – and down – frequently. Might not be the great Twitter killer everyone has been chatting about, but at this point it does have potential to be more open than Twitter.

Client news: Cascada announces Cascada Mobile Breeze. Our Toronto-based client, Cascada Mobile, officially announced its Breeze development platform on Monday. Breeze lets users create and distribute mobile applications using basic HTML and JavaScript. It’s really that simple. CEO Alan Lysnee shows some example apps here.

Client news: Talkster adds Skype and Google Talk compatibility. Long time MoPR client, Talkster announced its integration with Skype last week and kicked off this week with the announcement that its’ Free World Dialing Service can now be used from Google Talk for free calling in countries not yet supported by Talkster’s ad-supported calling service.  With the Skype integration, Talkster callers with Skype subscription plans can use their Skype account (and free local calling minutes) to make free international and group calls to cell phones and landlines in 34 countries.

Google Talk for the iPhone. Google has announced a new US version of Google Talk designed specifically for the iPhone and iPod Touch. From Google’s press page:  “In addition to sending your friends Gmail messages from your iPhone, you can now chat with them while you’re on the move, too! Google Talk runs entirely in the browser so there’s no need to download or install anything.”

Mashable’s take? “It’s kinda useless.”

Take the Smartphone Challenge. The PhoneStore is hosting something they call The SmartPhone Challenge. Companies that take the challenge [though we’re unclear what the actual challenge is] can test five BlackBerry devices programmed with their phone number, email and contacts with full managed Microsoft Exchange hosting and BlackBerry Enterprise Server Hosting from Rackspace, for 10 days at no charge. According to the website users can select a date, provide the information then launch the 10-day challenge. Hats off to the PhoneStore for a great promo campaign [and a hat tip to Blackberry Cool].