The wild, wild west is on its way out

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Reality Check, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile content industry to give their insights into the marketplace. In the coming weeks look for columns from Tom Huseby of SeaPoint Ventures, Mark Desautels of CTIA, Mark Donovan of M:Metrics, and more.
When you hear the term “wild west,” the images that are normally conjured might be of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood riding horseback across the frontier, or at least the Hollywood frontier. In our mobile marketing and media industry, the wild west refers to the conditions that existed at the very beginning of the launch of premium text messaging services: The early days, in 2003, when we first launched cross-carrier text messaging services in the United States. At the time, it was the new frontier!
When cross-carrier text messaging campaigns began in late 2003, there were no published, industry-wide rules or guidelines for how these services would be offered to the consumer. Companies from the United States and abroad were launching campaigns to consumers in a rapid-fire fashion. It was a land grab for consumer interaction, market share and revenue.
There wasn’t consistency in the user experience-no STOP command, no opt-in or opt-out guidelines, no rules around subscription services, etc. There was no transparency or disclosures around the types of campaigns the consumers were signing up to participate in. In fact, consumers were not sure, in the days of the wild west, what they were signing up for, and they certainly didn’t know how to cancel their subscription.
But this is a success story, a story where the cowboy rides off into the sunset having secured his/her victory. Jay Emmet, president of mBlox and vice-chairman of the MMA’s board, says the early days were about delivering programs in rapid-fire succession to the consumer.
While it was early days in the United States, the market in Europe was much more developed, and companies with expertise offering premium text campaigns in the European region were beginning to come to the United States to offer their services. These European entrants helped to develop the industry in the United States and offer consumers a broader catalogue-while also helping the industry come to terms with the need for guidelines and best practices. By 2004, we had seen a significant spike in A2P (Application to Person) text messaging traffic. A SIGNIFICANT spike in traffic!
Then along came the cowboy in the white hat: The Mobile Marketing Association and CTIA collaborated with their members, in late 2004, to develop and subsequently launch the first Consumer Best Practices for Cross-Carrier Mobile Content Services (affectionately referred to by those in the industry as CBP). The wireless carrier leaders in these early days were AT&T, Cingular Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless. The first version of the CBP guidelines was launched in late Spring 2005.
Since then, the guidelines have expanded to include chat, subscriptions, advertising and promotion, marketing to children-the list goes on and on. More recently, we also developed rules around recycled numbers to help drive a healthy, sustainable ecosystem. Recycled numbers have been addressed to ensure consumers, particularly in tight markets, won’t be subscribed to services set up by the previous owners of their phone numbers.
Indeed, the west has been discovered and developed. The forts and foundations are strong.
And today, in 2007, this is an even bigger industry! According to Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA, “Last year, 158 billion text messages were sent in the U.S. alone, which is up 95% from 2006. This translates into approximately 300,000 text messages per minute. Moreover, 94% of all text messages are opened and read.”
“The development of the market took collaboration across the ecosystem,” says Chris Black, director of mobile marketing and interactive media for AT&T Mobility and co-chairman for the MMA Consumer Best Practices Committee (the committee that drives the creation of the CBP guidelines for cross-carrier mobile content services). AT&T Mobility has been one of the companies leading in the development of a healthy mobile marketing industry.
The industry has recently collaborated again to drive the creation of the monitoring and auditing function, validated against MMA Consumer Best Practices, which is led by CTIA. The program monitors each and every operational short-code campaign to ensure compliance to the Consumer Best Practices. Thus far, the results have been positive. Programs that are not in compliance are given a warning period to comply, at which time they must be corrected or risk being shut down. In addition to the industry-monitoring function, each carrier also maintains their own separate monitoring facilities and services for independent audits, and to address specific consumer areas of concern.
Dave Oberholzer, associate director of Verizon Wireless and former co-chair of the MMA Consumer Best Practices Committee, agrees that we have invested a significant amount in the infrastructure to help develop a sustainable industry in the United States. He tells me that for long-term growth and development, the economics may need to change. Does this mean penalties for violators? Or incentives for those companies that are adhering to the rules? Perhaps the impact of adhering or the consequences of breaking the rules could possibly include credits for superior service, penalties for violating guidelines, etc.
Jim Manis, chairman for the Mobile Marketing Association from 2003 to 2005 and now president and CEO of 1024 Wireless Services, tells me that, “We did our job with CBP and now there is a bigger job to do. As an industry, we need to create new opportunities for content providers and more incentives for them to invest, market and innovate.” What does this mean? It means we have laid a firm foundation, the wild west has been discovered and we are on the verge of a new frontier. A frontier that will start again with financial health and innovation.
According to Louis Gump, who is from The Weather Channel Interactive and was MMA global chairman in 2006 (and who is still a current MMA board member), the frontier is moving. Not only do we have significant opportunities for text messaging, but we are moving toward more image-rich experiences, and we have learned how to domesticate along the way.
Kudos to the pioneers of our mobile marketing industry in the United States and abroad. It was your collective dedication to a positive and consistent user experience that helped move us quickly to where we are today: a billion-dollar-plus mobile marketing industry in the United States alone. Let’s all work together to take it to the next frontier. “It is all about consistency of user experience,” says Emmet.
You may contact Laura directly at laura.marriott@mmaglobal.com. You may contact RCR Wireless News at rcrwebhelp@crain.com.