LOS ANGELES-Brands that haven’t found their way into the carriers’ circle of friends are emboldened by the uptake in mobile Internet usage and the overall improvement of the browsing experience. Many are beginning to find a way around the carriers with more consumers keying specific brand names into their mobile browsers.
Such was the recurring theme at last week’s Mobile Marketing Forum in Los Angeles.
“I’m really excited about it because how often do you get to define a new business model ecosystem?” said Lee Ott, director of mobile products and one-Search at Yahoo Mobile.
“The mobile phone is not a device, it’s a body part,” he said. “It’s basically the most personal device I’m ever going to have in my life.”
Great mobile experiences are going to drive usage, Ott said, adding that the industry needs to look at the opportunity holistically. “Consumers basically have a low tolerance for pain . so we have to make it a great experience,” he said. “We’re doing everything in our power to get that user experience in front of consumers.”
Adult brands: new life off-deck
Brands like Playboy Enterprises and Smirnoff, which have typically faced a steep climb to U.S. carriers’ decks because of age verification measurements, are finding a new life stateside that could eventually mirror their success abroad.
Chris Lock, head of marketing at Smirnoff, sent a pre-taped video presentation highlighting promotional campaigns and applications that are connecting the brand directly with customers.
“First and foremost we wanted to drive affinity for our brand,” he said, adding that the company’s primary target audience is young males between the ages of 21 and 24.
“Mobile is a fantastic medium for this audience,” Lock said. “No self-respecting young male would be out on the evening without his mobile phone with him.”
When the world’s best selling vodka set out on a mobile marketing campaign centered around smirnoff.mobi, it purposefully didn’t transfer content straight from its Web site. The company strived to continue entertaining and surprising its target audience with content relevant to young people and their mobile devices, Lock said.
The mobile site includes a bar finder and nightlife guide that enables users to find bars in their local areas with maps intended to help them get there. Smirnoff doesn’t take lightly the trust its customers are giving the brand when it recommends bars and destinations, and as such the company carefully vets what it returns to its users. The site also helps customers with cocktail choices and lists a variety of drink recipes for them to try at home.
Likewise, because of Playboy’s adult-oriented content, it has been in a unique position in the United States. While the brand has already made its mobile footprint in about 60 countries, it still hasn’t been able to convince one U.S. carrier to bring the brand ondeck.
“Here in the United States it’s still very much early days for us,” said Chris Petrovic, VP of digital media at Playboy Enterprises. Yet things are beginning to turn around.
“We’re seeing a sea change here for us through the growing power of the mobile Internet,” he said. “We’ve seen a huge spike of late through the mobile Internet.”
Playboy has developed an adsupported mobile version of playboy. com for play in the United States. And already, mobile is beginning to participate and contribute to the product cost, Petrovic said.
“There may come a time as we’re seeing the progression of the next generation of portable entertainment devices . that it may no longer have to be a thought process about made-for-mobile . because at the end of the day it’s going to be made for the Internet,” he said.
The top five devices that currently access Playboy content are all next-generation devices, he added.
