Cox rolls out mobile marketing.

TEANECK, N.J. -- Ping Mobile announced a partnership with cable TV leader Cox Media that will offer unique advertising opportunities that encourage consumers to text in messages. Cox's advertisers can now put a tag in their television spots that asks consumers to text in messages to receive special.
"With this partnership, we are able to provide our clients with a turnkey mobile solution that enhances their campaigns and drives an astonishing amount of sales and traffic," says Peter Schultz, Cox's director of new media. "The flexibility of Ping's mobile marketing platform allows us to provide every client in all of our markets with a unique and customized solution that suits their individual needs."
The initiative stems from trials in 2007 when Cox experimented on its cable systems in northern Virginia, San Diego, New England and Las Vegas markets. For example, Vocelli Pizza in Fredericksburg, Va., developed a TV spot with an embedded overlay message for viewers to text in "Vocelli" and in return, received a mobile coupon for 50 percent off a regular or large pizza. In the first month of the campaign, Vocelli saw a 0.5-percent response rate and a 56-percent coupon redemption rate.
According to eMarketer, mobile ad spending will grow from about $1.6 billion this year to $4.8 billion in 2011.
"We are looking full circle at what advertising can do," says Peter Schultz, director of advanced advertising at Cox. "You have a 30-second spot, you layer with other technology like VOD and long-form ads, and interactive overlays and request for information, but there is still no force driving them to the final sale." He's hoping that mobile marketing can close that loop.
Cox required Ping's assistance in managing the campaign and database, as well as with marketing compliance. Ping Mobile is experienced in this area thanks to work with a client list that includes Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Delta Airlines, The Sharper Image and Macy's. "When you send a message to a friend, you don't need permission, but for a company to send a message, it does need permission," Ping CEO Shira Simmonds tells TVWeek.com.
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Companies go mobile with ads.

Byline: Kavita Kukday

MUMBAI: These are difficult times for advertisers. With people switching TV channels each time an ad comes on, advertisers are finding it hard to grab consumer attention. The mobile phone, they now reckon, could be where redemption lies.
Rajiv Hiranandani, country head, Mobile2Win, points out how it can be put to use. The company ran a campaign for Coke in Delhi a few months ago. Each time a consumer was in the vicinity of a Coke outlet, they received an SMS that contained a discount coupon on buying a bottle of Coke.
The offer stood valid only if the option was exercised within a specific timeframe. It worked very well.
Then there are concepts like in-game placements being tested by brands like Kellogg's. They created a game aimed at children and liberally sprinkled the interface with company logos and packets of cereals throughout.
Castrol attempted something similar with a car racing game that is sponsored. These are similar to movie placement campaigns that advertisers have been milking for a long time. Another model being toyed around with is pull-based instead of the more traditional push. Telecom company Hutch tied up with nearly 400 retail outlets like restaurants, cinemas and airlines to line up special offers.
These would be offered only to consumers who sent Hutch a text message. Hutch on its part allowed them to download discount coupons that could be redeemed at various retail outlets.
"In this case, customers initiate contact with us. So it is as personalised as it gets," says Harit Nagpal, vice president, Hutch.
There is a downside to the medium though. "People don't take well to random spamming. There has to be some value exchange with consumers.
If your campaign does not offer value, you might as well talk to yourself," says Qualcomm's Gupta. But that fear has done little to keep companies away from exploring the medium. Nilesh Tiwari of iContract, a technology driven directing marketing agency says his customers have already started setting aside ad budgets for the platform - currently in the region of 3% of their total budget, he expects it will go up to 10% next year.
But the truth is, mobile marketing has not grabbed attention of large advertising agencies in the country yet. "The main reason is that we don't have backend in place.
Direct marketing works best when it is targeted to a particular type of consumer. So you can't send shaving cream advertisements to women and expect to get results. Until that ecosystem for targeted campaigns evolve, mobile campaigns will only appear as one-off tests," explains Arvind Rao, CEO, OnMobile.

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Globe plans no additional dollar bonds.

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones) Globe Telecom Inc. has no plans to issue additional US dollar bonds despite its recent request that holders of its 2012 bonds increase the tap amount laid out in the covenant to $200 million from $125 million, Rizza Eala, vice president financial planning and analysis, said.
The request for a covenant change last week caused a sell-off in the outstanding bonds of the Philippines second-largest cellular company, with traders fearing additional supply.
Our funding for 2004 is already complete, Eala said. Any additional funding would be on an opportunistic basis because we havent firmed up our needs for 2005.
She said the change to the tap component of the covenant was secondary to changes in the formula for computing the amount the firm can distribute as dividends.
The covenant change that we were really after was increasing the flexibility on the shareholder value side.
She said it was still much cheaper to raise funds through the loan market than through the bond markets, but the tap increase would allow the firm to raise small amounts of money if necessary or to smooth the firms debt profile.
The firm has had no indication yet of how many bondholders have agreed to change the covenant on the $200 million in bonds issued in April 2002. The deadline to file responses is 1700 New York time July 19. The firm needs at least 51 percent agreement in order to change the covenant.
Other than the 2012 paper, Globe also has a 2009 bond outstanding. The firm will repay holders of the latter bonds next month when a call date comes around.
Globe sold the $220 million bond in 1999 and its lower credit profile at the time meant the firm had to pay a coupon of 13 percent. The 2012 paper, by contrast, has a much lower coupon of 9.75 percent.
Globe bought back some of the 2009 paper in 2003 and earlier this year. As of end-March, there was $151 million outstanding of the bond still outstanding, Eala said.
The firm is refinancing around $100 million of the repayment with a $50 million loan and a P3 billion retail bond that it issued in February.
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NYC Cold Stone Creamery Teams with 8coupons for 8-cent Scoops.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE CLOSE-UP-28 May 2008-NYC Cold Stone Creamery Teams with 8coupons for 8-cent Scoops(C)2008 - CloseUpMedia - newsdesk@closeupmedia.com
Cold Stone Creamery at 2 Astor Place in Manhattan has teamed up with New York-based mobile marketing company 8coupons to offer an exclusive promotion.
This "Crazy 8" promotion is part of 8coupons' viral marketing campaign in which customers can send the 8-cent text message based coupon from 8coupons.com to their cell phone and redeem it by showing their phone to the cashier. To help spread the word, 8coupons is also leveraging social networking site Facebook, through its "me coupons" Facebook application.
"Partnering with 8coupons has provided us with an innovative and more efficient way to reach out to, and stay in touch with, our customers," said Daniel Petryszyn, the New York franchisee for Cold Stone Creamery, "8coupons allows us the opportunity to leverage today's mobile and online technologies to make it more convenient for our customers to get our special offers."
"We're excited to kick off summer '08 with this special Ocho Loco promotion with Cold Stone Creamery. Our goal is to provide a more convenient way for Cold Stone Creamery fans and new customers to take advantage of special offers by using a medium that's familiar to them," said Landy Ung, Co-founder and CEO of 8coupons. "SMS text messaging is simple, ubiquitous, and cost-effective."

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Bluetooth Marketing - The Mobile Figures

Anytime, anywhere, always on, always available… Mobile allows a brand to connect with its consumer like never before, a dialogue based on relevance, engagement and consumer opt-in. Mobile is positioned to become the world’s leading media and become the first screen for connecting the brand to the consumer. With more than 3.4 billion mobile subscribers worldwide, compared to only 1 billion PCs, mobile is rapidly becoming the media of choice for brands and consumers around the globe. It is a means to access the majority of the world’s population in a highly contextual and relevant consumer-driven interaction.
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The Effects of Adding Mobile Initiatives for Increased Brand Satisfaction

Mobile phones are no longer used simply for personal and business voice communication. In recent years there have been significant advancements in mobile networks, mobile phones, content, applications, consumer privacy regulations, and related technology and standards. These advancements have led to the rise of the Mobile Channel, a multi-faceted interactive network by which companies provide communication, personalization, information and entertainment services to an individual's mobile phone through various mobile delivery technologies. Today, these technologies include SMS (text messaging), picture messaging (multimedia messaging), mobile internet (WAP), mobile email, Bluetooth, and interactive voice response. In addition to the delivery of mobile services, there is a growing worldwide trend to leverage the Mobile Channel for marketing purposes that includes lead generation, branding, customer relationship management, customer retention, and more. Despite all the attention that has been given to the advent of the Mobile Channel by the popular press, analysts, application providers, and other industry practitioners there are still many unanswered questions as to how to most effectively take advantage of this new channel. There is a dearth of scholarly research in the field to date, yet this will soon be remedied. A growing field of academics around the world have turned their attention to the subject of how to effectively use the Mobile Channel for consumer and business marketing. In recent years there have been a number of instructive studies focusing on raising and answering the necessary what , why , how , how many and how much questions regarding mobile marketing. This article reviews one of these studies.
Due to the embryonic stage of the industry, most studies are qualitative in nature. These studies attempt to identify prevailing theory and to develop theoretical frameworks and definitions that can be used to help understand the Mobile Channel. They also search to find appropriate strategies and tactics to use it effectively. Many of the latest works have focused on the mobile value chain and ecosystem, integrated marketing, wireless advertising, location based services, permission marketing and best practices to name a few. There have been fewer empirical quantitative studies, but those that have been published have helped our understanding of the Mobile Channel significantly. One such empirical study comes from the February 2005 issue of the Journal of Service Research titled “ Mobilizing the Brand, The Effects of Mobile Service on Brand Relationship and Main Channel Use, ” by HerbjØrn Nysveen, Per Pedersen, Helge ThorbjØrnsen, and Pierre Berthon. This study is especially timely, given that brands are presently struggling with a difficult challenge, their target customers are becoming harder and harder to reach, due to, among other things, the fragmenting of market segments and the general decline of advertising effectiveness in traditional media (TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, and related print).
The authors of this mobile branding study analyzed three Norwegian brands that are currently employing mobile services, and set out to determine if the brand's use of the Mobile Channel through SMS and MMS initiatives has had an effect on customer brand satisfaction, consumer response, business competitiveness, and increased use of the brand's traditional marketing channels. The three businesses include FINN, Norway 's largest newspaper and Internet classified service; TV2, a TV Broadcasting company; and Big Brother, a reality TV show airing on TV-Norge. Norway is one of the most mature mobile markets in the world, with penetration rates exceeding 100% (RCR News 2005). Despite the fact that the Norwegian and U.S. markets differ in mobile maturity, the conclusions of the Norwegian study are extremely valuable and it is important that U.S. brands understand their findings. U.S. consumers may not have as much experience with mobile value added services as their Norwegian counterparts, but they are not far behind. Mobile adoption rates in the U.S. are rising quickly. In the last six years the United States has seen a 56% increase in the adoption of mobile phone services, and a 1000% increase in SMS usage in the last two years. Today there are nearly 194 million mobile subscribers (CTIA 2005), roughly 66% of the population (US Census Bureau 2005). With US consumers adopting mobile phone services, brands need to learn from successful mobile markets like Norway .
After conducting and analyzing the results of online surveys promoted on each of the Norwegian brands' web sites the authors' research concludes that users of mobile services demonstrate greater brand satisfaction, loyalty, and participation in traditional marketing channels. They show that the mobile channel is an important complement to the brand's marketing mix and overall competitiveness. The authors' overall conclusion is that the addition of permission based SMS services to a brand's existing marketing strategy in traditional media channels enables brands to maintain an on-going relationship with the customer, and gave the brand the opportunity to become an important part of the customer's daily lives. They also infer that brands can expect higher customer response rates, and more repeat purchases on existing marketing channels (e.g. Internet) from their SMS services users vs. non-SMS services users.
Another important conclusion of this study is that the Mobile Channel has not yet established itself as a standalone channel, and is early in its growth potential. Nysveen and his collegues note that in this early stage, the Mobile Channel lacks the ability to deliver the complete range of services and messages from brands due to “limited bandwidth, media paucity, lack of standardization, and so on...” (Nysveen et al. 2005). As is supported by their findings, the authors go on to discuss that presently the Mobile Channel is best used as an additional component to traditional media channels such as TV, radio, newspapers, Internet, email, magazines, etc. By using the Mobile Channel in this way, brands can expect to generate greater value from their customers.
The Nysveen, Pedersen, ThorbjØrnsen and Berthon study has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the mobile channel, and highlighted key beneficial effects brands can reap from integrating it into their over all marketing mix. The mobile phenomenon is growing and exerting significant influence on business, government, and society at large. It is a field of study worthy of additional attention, especially as the Mobile Channel matures with the convergence of technology, content, and standards. It is important that brands realize the importance of the emerging mobile channel, and start incorporating mobile offerings and services into their strategies in order to secure their long-term success.
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How to Make Money with Mobile Marketing?

Michael Becker, iLoop Mobile CTO

Since the launch of the first SMS in 1992 and its initial commercial use for marketing purposes on/around 1997 many marketers began asking the question, “So, how can one make money with mobile marketing?” This is a very good question with many general answers; for example, it is easy to come up with an off-the-cuff response like “money is made from the sales of mobile content (ringtones, logos, images, video), premium SMS subscription (joke of the day, horoscope, sports scores, etc.), or micro-payments for physical goods and services”; however, responses like these are not actually answering the question above, rather they are answering the question “how does one make money through the mobile channel”. The mobile channel (a child born of the digital age) is used not only for distribution and commerce transactions, but also for communications, entertainment, as well as marketing. Future articles can help illuminate the myriad ways of making money through the mobile channel, but this article will specifically focus on the topic of doing so through the lens of the marketing function.
In order to provide a precise answer to the question about making money with mobile marketing one must break the question down into its parts and define what is meant by “mobile marketing” and “make money.”
Marketing is the function that helps a company tell the market what it does and explain the company’s products and services, and in this role marketing directly helps a corporation make money. But again, this is a very simplistic answer to the question of how marketing makes money, marketers develop channels, educate customers, and stimulate customer response and mobile marketing is a very effective mode of marketing. As Kavassalis comments “SMS marketing [aka mobile marketing] has interesting properties: high-speed message delivery, interactivity, great customer reach, and a response rate five times higher than direct mail” (Kavassalis et al. 2003, p56). A campaign sponsor (Brand, Content Owner, Media, or Retail Property) will work with their Marketing Agency and Mobile Applications-Network partner to run Mobile or Mobile Enhanced Traditional Media marketing campaigns to stimulate a positive consumer response (see Figure 1). For instance, respondents just learning about the product or service may be encouraged to search for additional information by contacting the company through the mobile web, instant voice response (IVR), messaging, online, or at a bricks ‘n mortar store. Once the consumer responds to a mobile program and completes the information gathering step, if they are so inclined, the next step in the consumer lifecycle is to purchase. A mobile marketing campaign can directly influence a consumer to purchase a product or service via Mobile, Online, or Offline channels, or indirectly influence future purchases through any of these channels by engendering brand trust with the consumer, as shown by Nysveen and Merisavo (Nysveen et al. 2005, Merisavo et al. 2005).
Figure 1: Mobile Marketing Profit Model
Marketing on the Revenue Side
A consumer responding to a marketing campaign or purchasing a product based on that campaign does not necessarily guarantee that a corporation will make money. A company is “making money” when it generates profits. Simply put, profits occur when revenues exceed costs. Traditionally, marketing helps in-directly on the revenue generation side by effectively communicating the value of the corporation’s products or services, pricing them inline with market demand, and making various payment methods available to facilitate a purchase, such as Premium SMS, Credit Card, Pay Pal, Debit Card, etc. Marketers do not actually produce the goods or services or make the final sales. However, with mobile marketing, in some instance, the marketing campaign itself can generate revenue directly since the campaign can be an experience the user’s finds valuable enough to pay for. Marketers can use Premium SMS, loyalty point programs, or other billing methods to charge the consumer for participating in the marketing program; they can also sell sponsorship and ad placement within the campaign experience. For example, TV viewers may be charged to vote, such as for the Big Brother in the UK, or the concert attendee may be charged to receive a ringtone and be entered to win a seat upgrade during the event. Also, marketers can sell and embed sponsorship or advertising directly into the campaign, including in the body of an SMS message, in an inline or interstitial ad on the mobile web or in an IVR based exchange, or by embedding messages within a mobile game for example. In fact, given certain situations, such as with sports related games, consumers are demanding these ad placements since it adds a more real-world experience to the game play.
Marketing on the Cost Side
Within the cost component of the profit formula, mobile marketing helps by creating cost efficient programs that establish brand awareness, generate leads, convert leads to customers, and enhance customer loyalty; mobile marketing can be very cost efficient. The ability to generate higher response rates than traditional standalone media is just one of the many unique characteristics of mobile marketing, and is an important piece to the marketing effectiveness puzzle. With increased response, total cost per lead decreases; moreover, mobile marketing respondents tend to be more qualified given that they are actively vs. passively initiating the interaction with the brand after seeing a call-to-action, thus making for a more effective program. Finally, the variable cost for standard rate non-premium mobile initiatives is miniscule compared to traditional methods. In the case of high volume SMS programs delivering a message to a prospect can be as little as $0.00 per interaction with certain aggregators and channels but on average it is around $0.02~$0.05/message for moderate volumes, with commercial email services the cost per transaction can be as low as $0.01, while IVR services the cost per minute is around $0.07 and often higher, and the costs are even higher with traditional direct mail. Even Pay Per Click ads on the web are significantly higher than the mobile interaction, without the added time and location independent benefits of mobile.
In addition to recurring message traffic fees and application maintenance fees, marketers looking to use mobile should consider a few one-time costs, such as application access fees/licensing and possible professional service fees if the mobile application partner selected does not have standard templated solutions or if the requested campaign requires tailored message flow. In the short-term there will be some additional systemic costs that marketers must consider, such as industry regulations oversight and consumer education on the use of mobile, but these will abate over time as the industry matures. The costs of mobile marketing, however, when compared to regional or nationwide traditional media campaigns are often inconsequential to the overall program budget.
A Phenomenally Valuable Channel
Mobile Marketing has one of the lowest variable cost per message, it is personal, and it affords the highest response rate. Moreover, we should not ignore the fact that mobile can turn any traditional channel into an interactive medium, thus enhancing the marketers ability to establish a long lasting and fruitful relationship with customers. This relationship, when properly managed, will increase customer revenue and value to the firm over time. The use of the mobile channel for marketing is just now coming to light in the U.S. and is maturing in other areas around the world. The benefits of mobile marketing have been recognized and not missed by leading brands. In fact, Pearse reports that according to Coca-Cola’s marketing Manager James Eadie "mobile marketing could be phenomenally important, when you look at the penetration of handsets and the passion the audience has for mobile…as a way of connection, it ought to be phenomenally powerful and more important than TV. So we should be spending 50% of our marketing budget within decades" (Pearse 2005).
The stage is set for marketers to significantly add value to their organization more so than at any time in history. Marketers use mobile marketing for enabling unique and engaging one-to-one relationships with their customers. To be successful with mobile, and to make money, marketers need to be creative, invest the time to learn and experiment with different mobile and traditional media mobile enhanced campaign configurations, and apply their creativity to this immensely powerful new medium.
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Effectiveness of Mobile Channel Additions and A Conceptual Model Detailing the Interaction of Influential Variables

Michael Becker, iLoop Mobile CTO
November 11, 2005
“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.”
-John Wanamaker (1838 - 1922) US department store merchant (Quote Details 2005)
Marketing professionals have lived under the shadow of John Wanamaker’s infamous quote for much too long, and Henry Ford did not make anything easier when he said, “People can have the Model T in any color--so long as it's black (Quote Details 2005).” Statements like these have put into question the value of marketing. Through the decades, marketers have been scrutinized about the viability of their programs; their expenditures are being analyzed under a microscope, and they’re expected to demonstrate the effectiveness of their programs by producing clear measures for returns on investment (ROI). The mission of marketing is to oversee the company’s organizational processes that profitably service customer demand (adapted from American Marketing Association 2004, Postma 1999, Chapman 2003), including the management of product, price, promotion, place (a.k.a distribution), customer relationships, and internal and outbound company communications. For decades, marketers have had to either live with the low response rates of direct marketing programs or be satisfied with indirect proxy measures like reach, impressions, brand and ad recognition and retention to gauge the effectiveness of their traditional mass-market media advertising and promotion campaigns. However, with the growing viability of the mobile channel and recent discoveries as to its effectiveness, marketers can begin integrating the mobile channel both tactically and strategically into their marketing plans and improve the ROI of their programs.
This paper contributes to the process of understanding the impact the addition of the mobile channel has on a brand’s marketing effectiveness. It highlights the decline of traditional marketing channels and reviews the literature on the effectiveness of mobile and mobile enhanced advertising and promotions. It identifies and illuminates the relationship between variables that influence a consumer’s response to mobile marketing programs, i.e. marketing campaigns that leverage the mobile channel. Furthermore, it forwards the notion that a number of influential variables are often left out of mobile marketing conceptual models and proposes a new conceptual framework that marketers can use to support future research and the development of new longitudinal effectiveness metrics that will be of value to managerial decision makers.
With the introduction of the Internet, email, text messaging, wireless application protocol, relational databases and a host of other digital technologies marketers have gained unique access to direct one-to-one interactive channels, like the mobile channel, to reach out and engage their customers. The mobile channel is a multi-faceted interactive, interoperable, network composed of various mobile delivery technologies used by companies to market to an individual and deliver to the individual communication, personalization, information and entertainment products and services (Manis 2005, Becker 2005, Bragge et al. 2005, Dickinger et al. 2004, Nysveen et al. 2005). What distinguishes the mobile channel as a marketing medium from traditional channels like TV, radio, and newspapers is that it is personal, interactive, time, and location independent. Due to its infancy, there has been little substantive research published that evaluates how these unique characteristics and related variables influence a consumer’s response to a mobile or mobile enhanced advertisement or promotion, or how the advertisement or promotional medium itself, i.e. TV, radio, print media, Internet, text messaging, wireless Internet, multimedia messaging, etc. may affect response to or outcome of a campaign. In fact, as reported by Virtanen, industry practitioners and participants of a Nokia Mobile Marking Summit '04 workshop ranked mobile marketing effectiveness and ROI research as one of the top challenges facing industry practitioners today (Virtanen et al. 2005).
It would be easy to stay with the status quo of traditional marketing channels and ignore the effect new alternative channels like mobile are having on the practice of marketing, but this would not be wise. There is an increasing body of evidence supporting the belief that the effectiveness of traditional retail, broadcast, and media channels is waning in the face of the hyperframentation of traditional channels. With the introduction of new media channels, network TV audiences, newspaper and magazine circulation, and radio listenership are in an accelerated decline (Anderson 2005). A recent Enpocket Media Monitor US survey revealed that 58% of all adults would give up newspapers and magazines, 12% would give up TV, before giving up their mobile phone (Enpocket 2005). One only needs to look at traditional TV advertisers to understand the true rate of decline. Major corporation like the Coca Cola Company have begun redirecting TV media funds over to new channels (Foust 2004), including mobile. For example, Coca-cola has launched some of the largest mobile marketing campaigns in history, including their Beijing Coke Cool Summer program in 2003 and their 2005 summer campaign in Germany where they put a text code on 800 million bottles (Morrissey 2002, Marketing Goes Mobile 2005). Even traditional telemarketing and market research are being affected by the diffusion and use of mobile phones as a primary communication channel (Callegaro & Poggio 2004), and there’s no doubt that the adoption of mobile phones is on the rise, as evidenced by the growing trend toward individuals giving up their landline for their mobile phones. In Finland, for example, nearly 35% of the population is reported to be accessible only via their mobile, while in the U.S. the number is 9% and growing (Preferring to Go 2005).
The importance of the mobile channel and its influence on technological, economic, and social change should not be minimized. There is a limited but growing base of published literature and on-going research around the world (See PEAR Research Project side bar to learn about a global mobile marketing effectiveness study and how to contribute your opinion) that supports the claim that mobile marketing is an effective medium to reach out to customers. These studies are showing that companies can readily expect and directly measure increased response rate, improved brand loyalty, rise in message virility, and growth of sales from their mobile or mobile enhanced marketing campaigns. With a pure mobile program, the marketing campaign is promoted directly through the mobile channel, while with a mobile enhanced campaign the traditional media program is augmented with a mobile call-to-action or traditional channel is boosted with a complimentary mobile service.
For example, a recent study by Merisavo showed how mobile advertising for mobile services increased daily average expenditures for heavy mobile entertainment and information services users by 35%, while proportional gains for light users increased 99% (Merisavo et al. 2005), while Nysveen, in a Finish study looking at mobile channel additions by a newspaper, a commercial broadcasting station, and a leading TV brand, found that brands could expect increased main channel use, e.g. mobile users will watched more TV, spend more time on the brand’s Internet site, and would read more newspapers, from those customers that partook of the brand’s mobile services and promotions (Nysveen et al. 2005). In addition, other studies also state compelling findings. A Greek study by Kavassalis reports increased effectiveness of mobile marketing over traditional media, with text messaging campaign response rates in the range of 10~20% being common, as opposed to email (5%), direct mail (1~2%) and print advertising (0.15~0.60%) (Kavassalis et al. 2003, Rettie et al.). Kavassalis also reports that brand recall is high (46~64%) and redemption of in store coupons can reach 80% with mobile marketing campaigns (Kavassalis et al. 2003). Another study, by Rettie, cites mobile marketing’s positive effect on reach. Rettie’s study asserts that 89% of all text messages are read and that 85.7% of respondents “who felt more positively towards the brand claimed they were more likely to make a purchase” (Rettie et al., p5). Rettie and the Mobile Marketing Association also note the viral nature of mobile campaigns in that messages are forwarded to others at a rate of 5~32% (Rettie et al., CTIA 2005), thus demonstrating that word-of-mouth (another important measures) is a key byproduct of mobile marketing.
Mobile marketing helps create brand awareness, customer loyalty, and most importantly generate sales (Bragge et al. 2005, Sutinen & Tirri 2005, Sultan & Rohm), but marketers need to better understand and identify all the salient variables that influence the outcome of a consumer’s response to a mobile marketing campaign or they will not be able to generate consistent results or set managerial expectation properly. While current measure like response rate, ad recognition and retention, impressions, brand recognition, click-throughs, or traffic figures are important measures, they are not fully capturing the essence of mobile marketing (Stewart & Pavlou 2002); as asserted above, some key influential variables are missing in the conceptual model of mobile marketing. In order to develop effective programs marketers need to not only identify and understand the key variables and their antecedents, but also understand their linkages. The latest conceptual models of mobile marketing have not accounted for or integrated the unique personal, interactive, time and location independent nature of mobile into a holistic model for understanding mobile marketing. To capture what is behind the outcome of their mobile marketing campaigns and a consumer’s response, marketers must consider interactivity, message relevance, the messaging medium, the device and network, a consumer’s previous experience with the brand and its product or service, permissions, and a number of other influential variables listed in the figure below (Stewart & Pavlou 2002, McLuhan 1964, Dickinger et al. 2004, Barnes 2002, Tähtinen & Salo; Bezjian-Avery et al. 1998, Liu 2003, Tsang et al. 2004, Kramar et al., Rowley 2004, Kramar et al., Paavilainen 2002, Sultan & Rohm, Mort & Drenan 2002). In addition to these independent variables that influence the dependent variables of response and campaign outcome, the Internet and mobile marketing research literature points out a number of control variables (consumer psychographic profile, costs, experience with spam, gender, age, education, user’s experience with medium, and others) that need to be accounted for to isolate the influences on consumer response and campaign outcome (Stewart & Pavlou 2002, Tähtinen & Salo; Bezjian-Avery et al. 1998). As noted, the intention here is to simply identify the variables; future papers will define each of the key variables and validate their level of influence and significance to the model. The figure below depicts a proposed conceptual model showing the variables that influence outcome and consumer mobile, online, and offline response to mobile marketing. Moreover, the model shows the key linkages between these variables and their antecedents.
Figure 1: Holistic Mobile Marketing Conceptual Model, including Antecedents to Interactivity and Influencers on Consumer Response and Campaign Outcome
Special attention needs to be paid to interactivity relevance, and rate variables. Most empirical research into interactivity has been done by studying the Internet, however, only a handful of studies have looked into mobile interactivity. Interactivity is based on the need to generate mutual value in such a way where the customer becomes a co-creator in the relationship, but not so much so that the interaction becomes burdensome (Rowley 2004). As depicted above, interactivity is comprised of a number of variables, including velocity of communication, consumer’s perceived control, alignment of actor’s goals and intentions, brand trust, time of response, presence of complimentary and substitute services, and the history of the interaction (Liu 2003, Stewart & Pavlou 2002, Tsang et al. 2004, Kramar et al., Rowley 2004). The on-going management of customer interaction is the key to the success of mobile marketing programs, not merely one-time event but the on-going longitudinal interaction.
To sustain interaction, the interaction must be relevant to the customer, permissions based, and inline with customer cost expectations. Relevance has a significant impact on consumer response and mobile marketing campaign outcome (Paavilainen 2002, Sultan & Rohm, Mort & Drenan 2002). The more relevant the interaction, and the nature of the medium, the greater the control and power the consumer has over the commerce relationship. Relevance and a user’s experience is influenced by the message medium, device, network, time of message receipt or call-to-action response, location of user, and the level of campaign personalization and alignment to a user’s goals.
In addition, the permission variable must be controlled for, regardless of whether or not the campaign is relying on a push or a pull marketing model. The mobile channel is applicable for both push and pull marketing. Pull mobile marketing refers to the process of an individual (or respondent) replying to a call-to-action in traditional media or mobile channel via their mobile phone. Push refers to the marketer sending unsolicited, but expected, messages to a respondent (Dickinger et al. 2004, Barnes 2002). In both cases, industry best practices and regulation require that permission (an opt-in) be received from the respondent prior to any message being sent to an individual (MMA Code 2003, Congress 2003). For instance, in a pull program, such as in a traditional media mobile enhanced program, the respondent gives permission for the discrete interaction by responding to the call-to-action in real-time, while in the push model, such as in an alert or subscription service, the respondent gives prior approval for the interaction. Many marketers may find the effort of obtaining permission cumbersome; however, rather than looking at the permissions gathering task as a burdensome requirement marketers should view it as an opportunity to pre-qualify interested parties in the brand, its product and services. By pre-qualifying the brands interested prospects in this way, marketers can ensure that they’re only spending their effort and resources with interested parties. Finally, the campaign participation costs absorbed by the customer, i.e. is the campaign free or pay to play, will have some influence on the interaction and customer response.
The mobile channel and its use for distribution and marketing is still in its infancy. While there are numerous case studies and academic papers from around the world that explore how consumers are responding to mobile marketing, very little is understood about the influential variables of this response. By identifying and learning to control and isolate all the key variables and their interactions, marketers can optimize their activities rather than “waste” precious marketing dollars. Indeed, by paying close attention to the complex and often hidden interaction happening behind the mobile scene, marketers can take full advantage of all that mobile marketing and the mobile channel has to offer. Everyone in the mobile ecosystem, not just the marketing professionals, needs to put in the effort to understand mobile marketing and help contribute to the industry’s growing body of knowledge so that marketing is not just justified but truly enhances business reach and sell through.
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Unfolding of the Mobile Marketing Ecosystem: A Growing Strategic Network

Michael Becker, iLoop Mobile CTO
October 11, 2005

Mobile phone use for services beyond voice is at the tipping point of exponential growth in the Unites States. Mobile subscribers in June of this year exchanged 7.25 billion text messages across US mobile networks, up from 2.5 billion in June of last year (CTIA 2005). IVR, multimedia, gaming, mobile micro-sites and related mobile services are also experiencing rapid growth. This significant growth in demand has not been missed by US commercial enterprises. With text messaging alone expected to generate $4.6 billion in revenue in 2006 (CTIA 2005), numerous large and small product, content, and services companies are turning to the mobile channel to engage their audience. Of the 193 million mobile subscribers in the United States, nearly 95% of active mobile phones support text messaging and 62% of subscribers use it (CTIA 2005). The advent of the era of mobile marketing in the US has arrived.
The Mobile Marketing Ecosystem is driven by a number of technical, regulatory, commercial, social and legal components. It is a complex network of different industries and companies, and to be successful in leveraging the mobile channel it is important for brands, content owners, marketing agencies, and other industry participants to be aware of how value is generated through this channel and within the system. This paper discusses the Mobile Marketing Ecosystem, sheds light on a strategic framework for evaluating it, and encourages industry players and scholars to be aware of its constantly changing landscape.
Michael Porter’s 1985 seminal work on value chain and value system frameworks provides us with strategic concepts for evaluating businesses and industries. Managers use Porter’s framework to identify the unique technological and economic activities of a business or industry, and the critical linkages between each activity. Once these activities are identified, managers can focus on their core competencies and solidify their position within the industry (Porter, 2005). Porter’s work, however, takes a two dimensional approach at both the business and industry level. With his value chain framework, a company uses primary and support groups to create products or services in order to add value. A company can collaborate with another company that will add value, this second company can perform another handoff, and this process continues through the industry value system until the customer consumes the product. Many have used Porter’s framework (Becker et al. 2004; Kaplan 2005) to develop a map of the Mobile Marketing Ecosystem, as shown in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Traditional Approach to Viewing the Mobile Marketing Ecosystem(Reproduced with permission from Becker, Sharpe, Silveria, Golden Gate University)
As early as 1993, however, scholars recognized that an industry’s value system is not limited to a simple linear two-dimensional view, rather it is made up of a constellation, or a strategic network, of companies that do not necessarily work in a serial fashion as in the traditional value chain models. A better way to understand the interrelationships between each network is through the lens of the dynamic multidimensional strategic network model (Moller et al. 2002; Normann & Ramirez 1993; Sutinen & Tirri 2005), where each network within the Mobile Marketing Ecosystem described below is labeled a sphere. It is not that Porter necessarily missed anything with his original work, but as the Internet and wireless networks emerged, standards solidified, globalization sped up, new processes, technology, economic models, and business practices formed, and the landscape of doing business altogether changed. This change does not mean that fundamental economics no longer apply. Everyone throughout the strategic network must receive at least marginal returns, otherwise they will not survive in the network, or the network will be unstable and lasting value will not be created. These changes are pervasive, dynamic, and encouraged by participants in the mobile ecosystem, including organizations like the Mobile Marketing Association, CTIA, Neustar, mobile operators, marketers, aggregators, application providers and other participants.
At their conception, mobile services with their unique capabilities and opportunities were exclusively “bundled” within the mobile operators’ technology network, a “walled garden” controlled by the mobile operators with limited access provided to others. Anderson and Williams have documented in detail the “unbundling” that is now occurring within the mobile operator’s value chain system (Anderson & Williams 2004), and it is this unbundling that has opened mobile marketing to brands and content owners, and created the fertile ground for existing and new industry players like mobile application providers, aggregators, and enablers. The discrete application providers and application solution providers (also known as “mobile ASPs”) are offering exciting and novel technology for a wide array of mobile initiatives and mobile management systems. The aggregators are providing single-point connectivity with all the different mobile operator networks. The enablers are providing foundation technology, processes, regulations and related support to the value activities within each sphere. With the controlled and managed opening of the mobile operator’s walled garden, traditional brands, content owners, and marketing agencies are now able to use mobile networks for direct customer engagement. Brands are not only distributing services and content through the channel, but are using it for brand awareness, prospecting, customer acquisition and customer retention purposes.
New mobile content, “experiential marketing” and interactive mobile services are also emerging. An excellent example is Counts Media and its Yellow Arrow program. The Yellow Arrow program invites anyone to create a mobile experience by placing Yellow Arrow stickers at locations or on objects around town that they think is of interest, cultural importance, or just fun, and they then “program” the arrow via SMS with a text story or information explaining its significance. The sticker has a unique keyword written on it that other people will see. People text message this keyword to a short code, which results in a reply text message containing the story. For example, someone could leave a Yellow Arrow at a warehouse door entrance, leaving a story that will explain either by text or voice the history of the location– “this is where Andy Warhol’s original Factory was located”. Leveraging multiple strategic partners throughout the ecosystem network, Counts Media created a new genre of service—the “mix reality entertainment experience”—by turning the world into a canvas and using the mobile phone as the brush. Counts Media’s VP of Business Development Karenne Rossi notes how the Yellow Arrow project creates “theatrical moments” to be shared with anyone that happens by and responds to the arrow’s call (Rossi 2005). Other emerging services are also prevalent. For example, the Coca-Cola Company has recently enabled the purchase of branded mobile content from its vending machines (Clark 2005). Disney is launching their own proprietary mobile network (MVNO), and is also developing new channels, including mobile, to deliver its content. Disney CEO Robert Iger believes that, “In the future, there will be a percentage of people who will only receive our content on devices other than television sets” (Wall Street Journal, 2005). Mobile application providers, content providers, aggregators and new interactive marketing agencies, among others, are joining forces within the Mobile Marketing Ecosystem’s strategic network to help these and other brands succeed.
None of this would have been possible just a few years ago if it were not for the changes that are taking place in the ecosystem. The figure below (Figure 2) illustrates the new and dynamic Mobile Marketing Ecosystem, a strategic network encompassing all industries, marketing disciplines, and economic and technical models. It is comprised of 4 interconnecting spheres–Product & Services (brands, content owners and marketing agencies), Applications (discrete application providers and mobile ASPs), Connection (aggregators and wireless operators), and Media and Retail (media properties, “brick ‘n’ mortar” and virtual retail stores). Various enablers provide the foundation for each particular sphere. Players within these spheres work in concert to deliver a rich experience to consumers. The Mobile Channel Value Chain is the path by which the actual mobile communication and interactivity takes place between the Product & Services Sphere and mobile subscribers (consumers), however, consumer demand must first be established. To create this demand, products, services, events, and content programs are promoted through the Media and Retail Sphere’s various traditional channels. By adding the mobile component, traditional media becomes “untethered” from its previous limitations and becomes a true interactive medium. Print media, for example, is a relatively static medium that is normally only passively viewed by the consumer, with limited access to respond promptly to a call to action. With a mobile component added, the consumer can execute a call to action anytime, anywhere it is viewed. Once a mobile relationship is established with the consumer through the Media & Retail Sphere, brands and content owners can then request permission to communicate directly with the consumer further through the mobile channel.
Figure 2: Mobile Marketing Ecosystem(Reproduced with permission from iLoop Mobile, Inc.)
It is imperative that companies from the different spheres learn to coordinate their efforts and develop strategic relationships with players in the other spheres of the Mobile Marketing Ecosystem. While it is tempting for a company to try to be everything to everyone and attempt to horizontally integrate multiple functions across multiple spheres, they should take heed before doing so since each sphere comes with is own unique business models, regulations, technologies, relationships, norms and practices. It is vital that companies focus on their core competencies and work collaboratively with other players within the strategic network to best service the market. If major players attempt to control areas that are outside of their core competencies, the most likely result would be an inefficient industry plagued by high cost, slow reaction to market needs, consumer dissatisfaction, and the stunting of new technologies and creative ideas. This issue is critically important to mobile industry participants and business scholars as well. Scholars can help analyze, define, and empirically test the links between value creation activities within the ecosystem in order to provide managers with appropriate system models and decision-making data. In the coming months and years, the ecosystem will continue to mature and stabilize. The participants in the different spheres can create lasting value for the industry and its consumers by working together.

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Factors Influencing Mobile Advertising Acceptance: Will Incentives Motivate College Students to Accept Mobile Advertisements?

International Journal of Mobile Marketing (IJMM), 1(1), 50~58. Hanley, M., Becker, M., & Martinsen, J. (2006, 7/June).
This study employs an online survey to validate mobile advertising acceptance factors and the types of incentives needed to motivate college students to accept advertisements on their cell phones. Results showed that college students would consider accepting ads on their cell phones if specific cell phone ad delivery conditions were met or free cell phone products and services or monetary incentives were offered. To obtain a copy of the IJMM visit: http://www.mmaglobal.com/

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Mobile Marketing Research Priorities: Roadmap to Engaging the "Connected Customer"

Michael Becker, EVP Business Development, iLoop Mobile, Inc.Michael Hanley, Assistant Professor of Advertising, Ball State University
August 15, 2006

“…the ‘connected customer’ era may change the paradigm for effective marketing strategy.”
(Marketing Science Institute 2006)
Consumers and business customers are gaining significant power in today’s technologically advanced digital, virtual and globalized world. More than ever before, customers have the power to make informed choices through increased real-time access to a broad range of information, communication and decision making tools. It’s the marketers job to offer relevant services to their target audience, however, due to the fragmentation and explosive growth of media channels and the ability of customers to time-shift with DVRs, the Internet, mobile phones and related technology, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult for marketers to capture the attention and maintain an on-going, profitable, relationship with their target audience.
The customer has changed. The Marketing Science Institute (MSI) refers to this new breed of customer as “The Connected Customer” (Marketing Science Institute 2006). According to the MSI, Connected Customers are quite unique (as depicted in Figure 1). They continue to be exposed to traditional mass media and many-to-many marketing initiatives as in the past, but are now also simultaneously accessing information directly (anywhere, anytime) and using this information to make informed choices when engaging the brand, marketer and special-interest groups one-to-one through mediums like the mobile phone and the Internet.
Figure 1: ‘The Connected Customer’ Relationships(adapted from Marketing Science Institute 2006)
The idea of the Connected Customer is not just a phenomenon in industrialized markets; emerging markets are catching up fast. There are more than two billion mobile subscribers worldwide, about 30 percent of the global population, most of which are in industrialized markets. However, by 2010, according to the GSM Emerging Market Handset Initiative (EMHI), almost everyone will have a cell phone, especially in emerging markets. The EMHI estimates that mobile subscriber penetration rate will reach 80 percent worldwide (Taaffe 2006). Moreover, it is not just wireless phone technology connecting the customer. There are new networks, applications and devices emerging that are speeding the reach of the customer along. For example, network technology like WiMax, which can blanket a 10-mile radius with wireless Internet from one tower, will significantly enhance a customer’s ability to stay connected, not just from the phone, but from their car, iPods, computers and mobile terminals that have yet to be developed. Moreover, new context sensitive applications and solutions will enable marketers to enhance their initiatives and make their programs location, time and presence available. The emergence of mobile commerce and micro-payment solutions are also significant and interesting developments that marketers should pay attention to. It is an exciting time, but there is much work to be done in order to engage the Connected Customer.
Marketers must realize that current marketing methods, media types and guidelines may not work to engage the Connected Customer or to understand and report on such engagements. The MRI (2006) notes that “the ‘connected customer’ era may change the paradigm for effective marketing strategy.” Marketers must embrace this change. However, they should not just accept it or take it for granted. They must take an active role in understanding how they must adapt to face this change. If they do not, they run the risk of becoming marginalized. As noted by McAlister and Tay (2005), "...marketing will only improve its standing in organizations to the extent that its activities are methodologically rigorous, strategically relevant, and accessible to key decision makers in their own language…." It appears that marketers understand this. Marriott (2006) notes, “the goal is to create new models that work for mobile, not merely more models that have been applied to other media types. This is the challenge for agencies and their brands, and one they're stepping up to.”
Marketers need to better understand the Connected Customer and what Connected Customers find relevant, informative and entertaining, and how the mobile channel and the practice of mobile marketing can help them accomplish their goals. There is much research that needs to be done, but for research to move forward it helps to have an agenda, to know where the research needs to go. The remainder of this article will help one formulate a research agenda and set priorities as it pertains to how marketers can use the mobile channel and the practice of mobile marketing to engage their audience. It briefly documents what we know about mobile marketing and details research priorities. It also helps focus academic and industry practitioners start a research agenda in regards to adding to the growing body of knowledge on mobile marketing.
What We “Think” We Know About Mobile Marketing
Simply put, mobile marketing is the practice of leveraging the mobile channel for marketing. It is the practice of brands and marketers interacting with their audience through the mobile channel, including through messaging (SMS, MMS, Email), voice, alternative alerts (Bluetooth, etc.), the mobile internet, wireless advertising, and data services like MobileTV, picture recognition, mobile portals, etc. The concept of mobile marketing is less then a decade old and has only been put into practice in the last few years. The Direct Marketing Association (2006) notes that marketers are employing mobile marketing for:
* Response fulfillment* Sales promotion support* Direct sales (through downloadable content)* 'Interactivity' (such as voting and competitions)* Customer service support* Research and data collection* Store traffic generation* Couponing and ticketing* CRM* Advertising* Branding
Much has been learned from industry case studies and academic research about mobile marketing and consumers’ acceptance of it. Through controlled research experiments, case studies and reflection of live mobile marketing initiatives we’ve learned that mobile marketing:
* Can be very effective in generating responses rates from and is often a preferred channel for certain demographic segments (youth, ethnic groups, women, and others): WAP banner ads responses of 3%-5%; SMS programs 3%-10% or higher; MMS campaigns up to 20% are not unheard of (Kavassalis et al. 2003, Rettie et al., CTIA 2005, Baker 2006; Enpocket 2005; Baker 2006; Levey 2006; Young 2005).* Incentives (free minutes, coupons, sweepstakes, content, money, etc.) can be used to engage the Connected Customer; however, many incentive models are currently not allowed in certain markets.* Is interactive, turning normally static media (TV, print, radio) into interactive, personalized, informative and entertaining media (Marriott 2006, Bauer et al. 2005, Manis 2005, Bragge et al. 2005, Dickinger et al. 2004, Nysveen et al. 2005).* Can be an effective way to gather customer information that has been challenging, if not impossible, to previously gather and utilize through other means (location, time, presence, immediate purchase intentions). * Is being adopted by marketers at an increasing rate. By 2008 up to 89 percent (depending on geography) of marketers will be actively employing mobile marketing in its various forms (Marriott 2006; Pearse 2005; Airwide Solutions 2006). * Is an effective means for the promotion and delivery of content and personalization software.* Can be used to enable other research methods. For instance, a recent MediaAudit/Ipsos research study “found that adults are 3.5 times more likely to agree to participate in a panel study using a cell phone (66%) versus 18% who would agree to carry a pager” (Loechner 2006).
On the industry front, empirical evidence is time and time again proving the increasing effectiveness of mobile marketing; likewise, on the academic research front much has been done. However, more is needed. Published qualitative and empirical data shows us that mobile marketing can be very effective, but studies done to date to prove or disprove effectiveness hypotheses are limited. Moreover, additional longitudinal studies and studies validating what we already know are also hard to come by. A review of several online advertising and marketing research sources and conference abstracts found a modest but growing amount of published material about mobile marketing. The World Advertising Research Center (WARC.com) database has 601 advertising or marketing research articles pertaining to mobile marketing, as of early August 2006. A Google Scholar search of “mobile marketing” found 28,500 sources; a “cell phone advertising” query returned 6,970. Mobile marketing-related conferences papers have also shown slow growth. At the August 2006 conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, four papers about mobile marketing were presented in the Advertising Division, up from one in 2005. Leppäniemi et al. (2006) studied fifty conference papers and journal research articles published on the topic of mobile marketing between January 2000 and February 2006. Their analysis shows us the broad array of mobile marketing topics being studied, including the mobile ecosystem, consumer attitudes, value of mobile advertising, and more. They categorized the available research during this time into three segments: Consumer, Business and Management, and General.
Table 1: Focus of mobile marketing research 2000- 2006 (Leppäniemi et al. 2006)
Category
Characterization
N
Percentage
Consumer
Acceptance, perception, attitude, responsiveness and effectiveness of mobile marketing
19
38%
Business and Management
Value chain, performance measurement, business models, branding and operations
12
24%
General
Antecedents and consequences, legal and political issues, adoption and diffusion of mobile marketing
19
38%
Total

50
100%
Even with all this work, however, Leppäniemi et al. (2006) note that “…despite the increasing number of publications, the growing body of literature on mobile marketing is somewhat inconsistent and highly fragmented. This is due, in large part, to the fact that a common conceptualization of the phenomenon is still lacking.” (p1). For instance, in their article they cull over 21 different definitions of mobile marketing out of the studies they looked at. It is evident that focus is needed. Research plays a vital role in directing the future practice and development of mobile marketing. While much has been learned regarding the effectiveness of mobile marketing, there is much more to learn.
Research Priorities
In order to thoroughly study a topic, like mobile marketing, it’s important to define research boundaries, to establish a focus for everyone to work off of. Having a well defined list of research priorities will help with this. For instance, since 2000 the Marketing Science Institute has published research priorities based on member company input every two years to help focus research into marketing in general. MSI’s 2006-2008 priorities are encapsulated by the theme “The Connected Consumer.” This is an appropriate theme for marketing in general, and quite applicable for guiding research into mobile marketing. For the practice of mobile marketing there are many detailed topics to consider. The following list of research themes and their sub-topics seem to be the key areas of mobile marketing concern to marketers and practitioners alike, having been culled from articles, call-for-papers from the International Journal of Mobile Marketing and International Journal of Electronic Business and related sources:
Understanding the Mobile Marketing Ecosystem & Technology Development
Mobile marketing theory, frameworks, constructs and concepts.
Research methodologies and models suitable for studying mobile marketing.
Effective methods for bringing mobile marketing academic research to professionals.
Review of industry typology and definitions
Understanding the nature of alliances and business models amongst the player within the ecosystem in order to effectively monetize each other’s efforts
Architectures and frameworks for mobile marketing models.
Design, implementation and evaluation of mobile marketing software system
Mobile Initiative Creation, Delivery and Measurement
Mobile initiative measurement and metrics: A need for a clearer understanding of mobile marketing ROI, critical success and failure factors, effectiveness and traceability perspective (Marriott 2006; Virtanen et al. 2005).
Effectiveness of mobile content, such as ringtones, mobile TV, video and images, within the marketing mix
Word-of-mouth marketing (Kim 2006).
Content design of mobile advertising and promotions.
Analysis of the various opt-in and delivery methods: SMS, MMS, mobile internet, IR, IM, Bluetooth, mobile email, mobile portals, picture recognition, Zoove method
Consumer Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Mobile Marketing
How is mobile effecting consumer interaction?
The role of incentives in consumer acceptance of mobile advertising.
Customer profiling, personalization and targeting in mobile marketing.
Mobile customer relationship management.
Legal, Privacy and Regulatory Issues, and Best Practices Guidelines
Who owns the mobile customer relationship?
CANSPAM and future regulations: Enabling or disabling?
Opt-in or be left out: The minefield of permission-based mobile marketing.
Issues surrounding privacy management within a mobile context.
Analysis of future trends and impact of global, environmental, cultural, and political activities on mobile marketing.
Mobile Use and Context Across Different Mediums.
Effectiveness of mobile marketing across various traditional media channels: Interactivity of mobile-enhanced traditional media and pure mobile programs (Marriott 2006).
Applications of multimedia within mobile marketing initiatives.
mCommerce as it pertains to the marketing mix.
Mobile marketing in the agency: Where does it fit – in offline or digital departments?
Use of the mobile channel for philanthropy and politics.
The above set of themes and research topics can certainly be refined, but overall they paint a very good picture of the areas of mobile marketing that need further investigation.
Conclusion
Clearly, the practice of mobile marketing is immensely effective; however, there is much to learn and document on its varied uses. The above research priorities and themes are not in and of themselves an agenda, since they are not laying out a chronological roadmap; rather they are a starting point toward helping the industry and academia gain clarity on focus when researching the field. Note, however, while it is critically important that we begin to model and understand the Connected Customer and her relationship with brands and marketers and how the practice of mobile marketing can get her engaged, we must take note that we don’t need research simply for research’s sake. When taking up the charge to tackle research into mobile marketing practices and answer many of the questions that are at hand, researchers - academic or industry practitioners - must focus on creating commercially actionable insight, not simply knowledge for knowledge sake. Ultimately, through focused study and research, we’ll understand more fully the role and impact that mobile marketing can and will play in the coming mobile-enhanced economy.
If you have comments or insights about mobile marketing research priorities and would like to assist in the refinement of a research agenda for mobile marketing, send them to research@mmaglobal.com.

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Understanding the Common Short Code: Its Use, Administration, and Tactical Elements

Michael Becker, EVP Business Development & Michael Ahearn, Senior Director of Marketing
Including editorial contributions from: Richard Vile, VP Wireless Products, NeuStar, Inc.

September 8th, 2006(Revised from July 25th, 2006)

With the proliferation and fragmentation of media touch points, consumers are becoming harder and harder to reach effectively. Marketers, brands, enterprises, ad agencies and content owners have recognized the absolute necessity of cutting through the media cacophony to find ways of engaging their audience in an informative, interactive, and entertaining way (Bauer et al. 2005, Byron 2006).
With the universal adoption of mobile devices into the consumers’ lifestyle, mobile marketing has become the most obvious solution to this problem. The most common form of mobile marketing is when marketers enhance their traditional media channels with a mobile call-to-action in order to create a personal interaction that consumers value (Becker 2005). Dupree & Bosarge (2006) support this notion, “with the advent of wireless technologies, all bets are off regarding media touch points; the home-based tether has been severed and media consumption locations are virtually anywhere. Handheld and portable devices from smart phones to PDAs redefine the relationship with media, making it an increasingly personal choice.” Leading industry brands and marketers are committing anywhere from 5 to 25 percent of their near-term advertising and promotional marketing budgets to interactive digital media–including mobile (Airwide 2006; Pearse 2005). Airwide Solutions also notes, from a recent study they conducted, that by 2008 89% of brands expect to be using text and multimedia messaging to reach their audience (Airwide 2006). A recent study by The Shosteck Group validates this claim, estimating that mobile advertising, which is a subset activity of mobile marketing, will generate in excess of $10 billion in annual revenues by 2010, up from $1 billion today (The Shosteck Group 2006).
Mobile marketing is here to stay and is increasingly becoming a critical component of any brand or content owner’s marketing mix. If 20th century marketing was defined by radio, television, and most recently the Internet, there is a reasonable argument that 21st century marketing will be the “mobile century” and have mobile at its core.
It is important for marketers to understand the key elements that make mobile marketing work. One such element is the multi-carrier Common Short Code, a.k.a. “CSC or short code”, which is an abbreviated 5 or 6 digit number used as an “address” for text and multimedia messages. In addition to SMS and Internet Protocol (IP) mobile data network routing, CSCs also have premium billing capabilities. This paper discusses the definition of the common short code, its use in mobile marketing, how it is administered, and the various attributes that should be considered by the marketer to effectively manage it.
Common Short Code Overview & Use
The concept of the Common Short Code is relatively straightforward. The U.S. Common Short Code Administration (CSCA) defines the common short code as:
“Short numeric codes (e.g. 47467, 63459) to which text messages can be sent from a mobile phone. Wireless subscribers send text messages to short codes with relevant keywords to access a wide variety of mobile content. Common Short Codes (CSCs) are compatible across all participating carriers and easy to remember. CSCs are either five-digit or six-digit numbers” (About CSCs 2006).
To understand the concept of the CSC it is a relatively common to use the analogy of a web address or URL (Chesnais 2006). Like a web address, the CSC is a “person-to-service or application” solution used by the consumer to “access” information and services being provided by the marketer. A CSC may also be thought of as an email address, since it is used as a destination designator. The important difference is that unlike email or private person-to-person text messaging (addressed directly to someone’s mobile phone number), consumers use the CSC to send a text message to a commercial service or software application. While these analogies are helpful, they fall short of capturing the full capabilities of the CSC. Common Short Codes are much more powerful than a Web URL or email address, in that they are:
* Bi-directional (2-Way and interactive)* Cross-carrier enabled (interoperable)* Personal (consumer profile, vanity codes)* Billing engines (premium SMS)* Effective mechanism for permissions marketing (opt-in and opt-out)* Useful for a wide range of marketing campaigns and services
Associated with the short code is a “keyword”, also known as a “prefix”. The keyword is a short word (recommended minimum is three characters) used to identify a specific mobile campaign or service. For example, in the call-to-action “Text WIN to 47467 to play the BrandX mobile quiz”, “WIN” is the keyword, and it identifies to the mobile application and the mobile operators that under the short code 47467, every consumer that texts “WIN” to 47467 wants to play the BrandX quiz, and subsequently all messaging will transpire within the mobile application controlling the BrandX quiz. The keyword also controls correct routing of messaging between the mobile operators, aggregators and mobile applications so messages are not mixed between different campaigns and services. There are also “secondary keywords” (a.k.a. “sub prefixes”) that can be used for gathering metrics, repurposing existing keywords, or as a geographic locator. For example, a marketer could use the call-to-action “Text WIN LA to 47467” exclusively in Los Angeles advertising and “Text WIN NY to 47467” exclusively in New York advertising. In this example, “WIN” is the keyword for both campaigns, but each city has a different “secondary keyword” (LA, NY). The marketer can use the sub prefix to calculate how many participants opted in to a program in each city. While some degree of metrics can be derived from mobile phone numbers, this usage of secondary keywords would produce the exact metrics because the participants could only have seen the different ad in the different cites.
Common Short Codes are bi-directional
Short codes enable permission based two-way interactive message traffic between the consumer and the marketer’s mobile or mobile enhanced traditional media initiative, including integrated opt-in and opt-out messaging. Spam or any other unsolicited messaging to the consumer is not permitted. This communication is most importantly time and location independent–there are virtually no restrictions (other than roaming time zone black-out periods and non-participating operators) as to where or when a marketer can reach a consumer (“push marketing”), or better yet where or when a consumer can reach the marketer (“pull marketing”). Pulling content on-demand is a unique and powerful characteristic of mobile marketing, a characteristic expected to propel a sea change in direct response advertising. A mobile extension can enhance traditional media (TV, radio, print, billboard etc.) so that the consumer can execute or interact with the call-to-action immediately, without constraints of time or location. Typically, a consumer opts-in to a mobile enhanced initiative by responding to a marketer’s call-to-action as viewed/heard in traditional media. For example, the call-to-action in a printed flyer may read “Text SJGP to 47467 to get the latest updates on the San Jose Grand Prix on your phone, and to download free Grand Prix mobile phone wallpapers (standard message rates apply).” Another example of enhancing traditional media is found on the popular “Deal or No Deal” TV show. A call-to-action is announced by the show’s host and displayed on the TV screen, where viewers are invited to participate by sending a text message (including a number corresponding to one of the numbered “prize briefcases” shown in the program) to a CSC to enter the show’s $10,000 nightly sweepstakes (Yuan 2006). The following illustration details the typical flow between the consumer and the mobile marketing service:
Figure 1: Message flow diagram (no double opt-in)
In mobile terminology, there are four key terms for a message between a consumer and a marketer’s mobile marketing application. The consumer’s initial opt-in message sent from their handset is a Mobile Originated (“MO”) message. Once the MO message is delivered to the application it becomes an Application Terminated (“AT”) message. The reply message from the application is the Application Originated (“AO”) message. When the AO message reaches the consumer’s mobile network and/or handset it becomes a Mobile Terminated (“MT”) message.
Common Short Codes support cross-carrier messaging traffic, a.k.a. inter-operable messaging
A very valuable aspect of the CSC is that it is a standardized addressing format for all participating mobile operators. When provisioned or activated properly on participating mobile operator networks in a select region, each CSC’s individual message routing identity (e.g. 47467) will be recognized across multiple operator networks. In the U.S. all Tier-1 mobile operators offer nationwide reception to their subscribers. Behind the scenes, and transparent to the mobile subscriber, the mobile messaging network and handset deliver mutual “acknowledgement” that a message has been received (network acknowledgement settings vary per operator). A marketer can promote an initiative using a single CSC and the subscribers on different participating mobile operator networks can all participate in the marketer’s program. This interoperability avoids an inefficient and unwieldy system of having to use separate CSCs for different wireless operator networks by offering a single common addressing scheme for content providers that can reach all consumers (mobile subscribers). There can be exceptions however; 4-digit codes, like those used by Cingular Wireless, can only be used by Cingular subscribers. This “exclusive short code” is used on initiatives exclusive to Cingular, such as text voting for the TV show American Idol where mobile subscribers on wireless networks other than Cingular are excluding from participating.
Today, the concept of CSC interoperability is limited to country regions and the mobile operators within the country who choose to participate in the local common short code program. At present there is no intra-continental short code support, and the only countries with CSC Administration registries are the U.S., U.K. Canada, France and PR China.
Common Short Codes are personal
Short code messaging is also very personal, meaning marketers can track who is participating in their programs. When consumers opt-in to a campaign, marketers are able to capture basic information about the subscriber based on their 10-digit mobile phone number and corresponding mobile operator. This information is captured when consumers send messages from their mobile handset or when they complete and post a form on mobile Internet (WAP) sites. If a WAP Push message is sent to the handset, the handset reply can also capture the consumer’s mobile handset manufacturer and model number. With this information marketers can interact with the consumer on an individual basis, monitor a consumer’s participation over multiple programs, and tailor integration with individual consumers over time, especially when the mobile marketing platform is integrated with a customer relationship management solution. In some European countries marketers can even look up a consumer’s name and home address in national registries created for this very purpose, allowing marketers to easily mail product samples and purchases to the consumer that have been ordered from their mobile phone. CSCs may also be used to personalize a brand. Content Providers can lease CSCs that spell their name (ie: FORBES = 367237 or HAWKS = 42957); these types of CSCs are known as “vanity short codes”. There is much more to discuss regarding the personal nature of mobile interaction, including permissions based marketing and privacy related issues. These topics are best suited for future papers. For additional details on permissions based mobile marketing and privacy issues see the Mobile Marketing Associations’ code of conduct guidelines (http://www.mmaglobal.com/modules/article/view.article.php/1107).
Common Short Codes are effective for billing
In addition to being bi-directional and personal, the CSC is a very effective mechanism for billing consumers for participation in mobile initiatives or for mobile content. When used for billing, an activity often referred to as Premium SMS (“PSMS”), the marketer is able to bill the consumer for participating in the mobile initiative directly to their cell phone service bill. Billing events can occur with mobile originated and mobile terminated messages; however, MT billing is preferred because the network receives a message delivery acknowledgement when a MT message is received by a handset. For instance, in the case of “Deal or No Deal”, consumers are charged $0.99 for each entry into the show’s weekly sweepstakes. Price points for mobile billing can vary from free to upwards of $19.99. It is important to note that “free” is not totally free to the consumer in that the standard rate for them to receive or send a message still applies. What the consumer receives from the marketer may be free, but they still have to pay for normal text or mobile data transmission as specified in their mobile service contract. Mobile initiatives are required to state this in their legal disclaimer, often worded as “standard message rates apply”. Premium billing historically has been handled under a revenue share model between the marketer’s aggregator and the mobile operator. Mobile operators have many requirements that must be met by the marketer before they’ll provision a CSC for mobile premium billing. There are requirements around the types of services that can be deployed or grouped on a single short code, how pricing is applied to a program, how “Opt-in”, “Opt-out”, “Help” and customer service functions are deployed, and the type of content that is allowed (e.g. over/under 18 general audiences only), to name just a few. To learn more about mobile billing, contact the Mobile Marketing Association, a mobile application provider, a mobile aggregator, or refer to the Academic Review article on the MMA web site “Developing an Understanding of Mobile Commerce: A Review Billed to Phone Payment Methods” http://mmaglobal.com/modules/article/view.article.php/359/.
Common Short Codes are useful for a wide range of services
CSCs can be used to power a variety of applications used to create “pure mobile” or traditional marketing programs that are “mobile enhanced”. Examples of some mobile programs include mobile content sales, interactive TV, text subscription and chat services, mobile CRM, enterprise/employee programs, and virtually any other program that can be imagined by the marketer. While there are no global directory listings for mobile initiative programs with their associated short code and program owner (like there are for web URLs), there are a few private web sites that have collected information on a number of programs and short codes such as the US Short Code Who Is Directory (http://www.usshortcodeswhois.com) and Short Code Info (http://www.shortcode.info/).
Marketers should be aware that there are regulations concerning how many and what kinds of services can be run on a single short code. Every country has different specifications on how and what kinds of services can be run on a specific short code. In the United States the mobile operators have specified that a company cannot run multiple subscription services or chat services on the same short code. In the U.K., short codes have been organized into numbering ranges allocated for specific types of services.
Getting started–leasing a Common Short Code
In order to get started and run mobile initiatives, marketers must first lease and/or gain access to a short code. In the early days of mobile marketing, marketers interested in running CSC based mobile initiatives were required to go to each individual mobile operator that supported Common Short Codes, and make individual requests that a short code be provisioned on their networks–a long and laborious process. In the last three years, however, this process has been dramatically streamlined. Today, CSCs can be leased directly from a local administrative body (in some countries), mobile application providers, or messaging aggregators.
Most countries do not have a centralized short code administration body, however, a few do exist like Short-Code.com in the United Kingdom (www.short-codes.com, formed in June 2003 and administered by the U.K. operators), the Common Short Code Administration (CSCA) in the United States (www.usshortcodes.com, formed in October 2003(Footnote 1 ), the Common Codes Administration in Canada (http://www.txt.ca/common.htm, formed in July 2003), France’s CSC program (http://www.smsplus.org/index.php, formed in 2005), and the Ministry of Information Industry Short Code Administration Group in China (formed in 2006). The regional mobile operators, governments, and industry associations in each country came together to make it significantly easier for companies to lease CSCs from a single administrator for each country. This process has completely streamlined the CSC acquisition process for launching mobile initiatives. In the U.S., from the launch of short codes in October 2003 until August 2006 short codes leases increased 6X, and since August 2006 short codes usage continues to escalate (CSCA 2005). Simmons (2005) noted in October 2005 how “every 6 months since the launch of the CSCA, SMS traffic volumes have increased at least 37% in the US.” Clearly, administration bodies like the CSCA have a very positive effect on the growth of the mobile channel.
When leasing a CSC, it is important to note that there are two types: random and vanity short codes. A short code is considered random when the administration body assigns a random number sequence to the company leasing the short code. It is considered to be a vanity code when the company leasing the short code is allowed to pick the numbers. An example of a vanity short code would be 46445 purchased specifically to spell out GOOGL. A company may choose to lease a vanity code in order to facilitate easy re-call (e.g. 77777) or for brand building (57238=KRAFT). In the United States five (5) digit codes can be leased as random or vanity, however, six (6) digit codes can only be leased as vanity codes (CSCA 2006 (Footnote 2 ). Short codes are leased on a quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis, and must be renewed quarterly/semi-annually/annually. If a short code is not renewed, it becomes available again to be re-assigned to another company after a 90-day “aging” period. A random short code in the United States costs $1500 per quarter; vanity codes cost $3000 per quarter.
Companies can also temporarily gain access to a common short code by renting it from an application provider or messaging aggregator. Application providers provide the software, hardware and databases required to create and control mobile initiatives, while a messaging aggregator like mBlox, Simplewire/Qpass/Amdocs, SinglePoint/Telenor/Wireless Services Corp., Netsize, m-Qube/Verisign, Mobile 365/Sybase, Clickatell etc., provide the connection to mobile operator networks and premium billing IT billing systems. The primary advantages of leasing a short code directly from the administrative body are that the marketer “owns” the short code and can manage the billing, online administration, and account management of their short codes in-house. The marketer can also choose to change a short code’s connection between different mobile applications and messaging aggregation partners with minimal effort. On the other hand, short codes leased through an application provider or aggregator may not be leased under the marketer’s company name, and thus the company may not have ownership, i.e. control, of the short code. In such cases, the company will rely and trust the application provider/aggregator to renew the short code on time, handle billing correctly, and completely manage mobile campaigns. If the short code is not properly managed, as noted, the marketer faces losing it and having it recycled. Losing a short code could have detrimental consequences and potentially cripple a marketer’s program and the brand recognition it has with the code. Lost or inactive short codes already integrated into expensive traditional advertising or media buys would become a marketing nightmare and would incur heavy financial cost. In addition, the marketer would have to lease, register, provision and activate a new code—a process that takes many weeks. These are risks that many marketers cannot afford to take, and underlines the significant advantages of leasing CSCs directly with short code administrative bodies. That being said, however, there is a time and place to “rent” a CSC from an application provider or messaging aggregator. For instance, the marketer may be doing a one-off program, have time pressures to get a campaign up quickly, need a price point that is not provisioned on their CSC, or access a CSC that has already been activated on a specific mobile operator network. Marketers should also note that depending on the media channels used to promote the marketer’s program it is relatively easy to start a mobile initiative on a rented CSC and switch the initiative over to the marketer’s leased CSC once it has been approved by the mobile operators. Markers need to balance these pros and cons when deciding to lease or rent a CSC.
Activating the short code and gaining approval to run services on it
Leasing the short code is just the first step. Once a company has leased a short code it must have the code activated on participating mobile operator networks and then gain approval to use it for the specific mobile initiative(s).
Activating a Common Short Code
To have a CSC activated the company must complete a commercial services application and explain to the mobile operators how the company intends to use the short code (see “approval process” below). Once the application has been approved the short code is “bound” or “direct connected” to both the marketer’s mobile application solution (which is either an in-house hosted solution or one provided by a mobile application service provider) and a messaging aggregator. The binding of the mobile application and the messaging aggregator partner is an important decision as each application solution/provider and aggregator has different value propositions that must be thoroughly evaluated for management and strategic compatibility with the marketer’s business. Application providers and aggregators offer different cost structures, network capacity, premium billing capability, value added service, reliability, flexibility, territories covered and many other factors. In addition, different mobile operators can have slightly different rules and regulations outside the baseline normal requirements specified by the code of best practices as published by the Mobile Marketing Association and other best practices bodies. For example, certain U.S. mobile operators only allow one text subscription service or keyword per short code. This restriction applies to only certain operators; others may allow multiple subscription services on a single short code. Again, marketers must seriously consider who their application and aggregation partners are going to be before moving forward with the leasing of their own short code(s).
As for scheduling a new mobile initiative in the United States, a company can expect the approval/certification and provisioning process for a new mobile initiative on a new short code (with a minimum of four Tier-1 mobile operators) to take between 4 to 16 weeks from CSC application to the launch of the live commercial service. The launch times of subsequent initiatives on that short code can often be significantly shorter, but will still require a new approval and certification of the initiative.
The Approval Process
Once the short code is activated the company can begin to run message traffic using the short code, however, different approval requirements must be met in various markets before commercial traffic is allowed. In the United States, the mobile operators require that companies apply for and receive pre-approval for all commercial initiatives to be run on the short code, regardless of the expected traffic volumes. Whether it is the first service to be run on the short code or one of many, marketers have to go through the commercial services application process for each initiative with each mobile operator. They are required to specify and explain to the mobile operators the following (and often more):
* How they intend to use the code* What the subscriber experience/message flow will be* What the content of the messaging will be* What the call-to-action and associated keywords are* How the opt-in, opt-out, and Help messages are implemented* The marketing plan including associated collateral, websites and advertising* Peak traffic projections* Which price points should be allocated on the code (e.g. $0.00, $0.50, $0.99, $1.99, $4.99 and up to the present limit of $9.99)
Once the application is filled out the marketer must submit it to the mobile operators through the designated application or messaging aggregation partner. Note, the price points requested may factor into whether a service is approved by the carriers or not. Mobile operators will only approve price points that make sense for the application under review, which is subjectively determined by the operators. Once approved companies are not supposed to change the user experience, help messages, or general flow and specifications of the campaign without first amending their application with the operators and resubmitting it for approval.
In the U.K., on the other hand, the process is simpler than the United States for standard rate text campaigns. For example, companies apply and receive short codes without the requirement of prior approval of the initiative from the mobile operators. The Tier-1 U.K. mobile operators have pre-reserved contiguous Universal Short Code (USC) number ranges per operator, with specific code ranges associated with different types of mobile services and campaigns. While operating the administrative program themselves, they operators can perform their own inter-carrier campaigns, however, it is the opinion of some observers that the lack of operator review of 3rd-party applications has led to consumer backlash due to “noncompliant” mobile campaigns and services slipping through unmonitored. Also, the ability to re-sell USCs and keywords has resulted in operator inability to trouble-shoot applications. On the other hand, companies in the U.K. are expected to follow the industry's best practice guidelines, and run the risk of incurring significant fines from ICSTIS (http://www.icstis.org.uk/), the premium services oversight body in the United Kingdom, if best practices are transgressed.
After the short code is activated, the marketer may use the short code and keywords for additional concurrent or simultaneous services, however, in some countries additional approvals are required and/or amendments must be filed.
Running services on a short code
When marketers lease a short code they may choose to run multiple mobile initiatives on a single short code simultaneously, or they may choose to only run one at any given time (depending on what they are approved to offer). When multiple services are running on a single short code the short code is referred to as a “shared short code” and when only one service is running on the code at any given time the code is referred to as a “dedicated short code”. Running shared short codes has pros (multiple initiatives can be run under one short code, lower cost per initiative) and cons (keywords may need to be included in SMS messages from users to identify the initiative (Footnote 3 ), more complicated user flow and instruction set for initiatives, and the risk of one “outlaw” initiative shutting down all other initiatives on a shared short code (Footnote 4 ). Alternately, marketers may prefer to run their campaign on a dedicated short code model, where only one mobile initiative and one marketer is running on the short code at any given time. Running a dedicated short code has pros (ease of end user task flow, end users can text without necessity of keywords being included to identify the initiative, more flexibility in initiative tactics, easier reporting–all metric data can only belong to the initiative on the dedicated short code) and cons (more expensive–the company is not amortizing short code cost over multiple initiatives).
Marketers should realize that the shared or dedicated models are not cast in stone. A short code can be used as a dedicated short code for a certain period of time and then be used as a shared short code with multiple initiatives running on it at another time–this is a component of a company’s short code use strategy.
A Call to Academics—understanding the acceptance and adoption of CSCs
While it is clear that CSC use is on the rise and more and more consumers are adopting it as an opt-in method, it is clear that significant research remains to be done to fully grasp the nature of the CSC and the elements that drive its effective use, including factors such as ease of use which helps increase consumer response to mobile enhanced marketing initiatives. Notwithstanding specific case studies, there are no academic studies that compare the use of the CSC as an opt-in method or mobile marketing initiative enabler with other emerging opt-in methods. It would be of interest to compare the short code with other mobile enabling technologies such as Bluetooth alerts, Zoove’s “**” (referred to as “star star”) method, SingleTouch’s #123 direct dial call method, or image recognition methods from MoBot, Nevenvision/Google, or Denso-Wave’s QR Code, to name just a few. Zoove, Inc. recently published results comparing its ** method to that of the short code and found that consumers, especially those in older demographics, found the ** method to be easier to use than short codes (MRI 2006). While the findings of this study are quite interesting, significantly more work in this field is needed to truly understand the elements that foster CSC use as well as the carrier and regulatory approval implications of these alternative opt-in methods listed above.
Conclusion
While the concept of the CSC is fairly straight forward, there are a number of elements that marketers must consider and plan for. The CSC can serve as a useful functional asset with importance as an extended medium for both internal and external communication. The short code can also be an important corporate brand asset and should be managed accordingly. Vanity short codes in the future in all probability will become as valuable as a brand relevant URL, and a mobile generated consumer opt-in database or a mobile CRM tool will become prize assets for many sales and marketing professionals. Companies need to decide if they are going to lease their CSC directly from the administrative body or access a pre-activated shared short code from an application provider or messaging aggregator. They must also become intimately involved with mobile regulations. Whenever a CSC is used for a mobile initiative, the mobile operators first require that they approve the entire initiative and all its elements. If a company chooses to lease a CSC directly from an administrative body, they need to decide if they’re going to buy a random or vanity code, and how they’ll activate it. The company will also have to choose whether they are going to develop and or purchase their own mobile marketing platform and have the short code bound to it, or partner with a mobile marketing application service provider and have it bound to them. Further, companies need to decide which messaging aggregator(s) they are going to work with, or if they are going to try to connect directly with a carriers’ mobile data network and IT billing systems. Finally, the marketer needs to become proficient in the art of the application approval process, especially in the United States, so that they can get their commercial campaigns up and running as quickly as needed.

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