Augmented Books: Virtual Story Layers

Synopsis: Jawbone.tv takes a closer look at the augmented book projects of Camille Scherrer, the media and interaction designer behind ‘Le Monde des Montagnes’ (World of Mountains), the ‘Haunted Book’ and most recently a book based motion graphics piece for Louis Vuitton. (If you enjoy this article, you might also like ‘Motion Book Explores Space Between Page and Screen‘ and ‘Interactive Book: Electronic Popables Brings Traditional Format to Life‘.)

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North Face targets skiers, snowboarders with iPhone app

Outdoor apparel giant The North Face has launched Snow Report 2.0, a free branded iPhone weather application for skiers and snowboarders that aggregates resort-specific Twitter updates and weather and snow condition feeds.

The North Face Snow Report 2.0 features weather updates and detailed daily forecasts for the most popular domestic and international resorts.

Read the full article by Dan Butcher of Mobile Marketer.com

Retailers benefit from going mobile

Traditional mass media is increasingly becoming a hard-sell for retailers because of the lack of measurability against their bottom line.

While advertising is still built on one of its founders, John Wanamaker, and his often quoted truth, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I do not know which half,” the advertising industry never had the luxury of the measurability which is now being offered by mobile technology.

However, most retailers have responded differently to mobile because of its measurability. The most important thing about the mobile channel is that people are linked back to an identifying mark – their mobile phone number.
While retailers have often looked to build a personal relationship with their clients by communicating first by direct mail and then by email. Neither of these channels have had the power that the mobile channel has when it comes to reach and response from consumers.  Read the full article here from Mobile Marketing Association.

Mobile & email can co-exist!

Even though email marketing has existed for well over a decade, there are still businesses who have yet to embrace it and understand how to use it.  Surprising? Don’t be. New technology frightens some businesses. They like what they’re doing and don’t want to jump into what they consider might be another trend. That may be one reason why email marketing took awhile to catch on. It was new and people didn’t understand what to do with it.

Mobile marketing is in the same situation today. The good news is that it’s a simple concept and can be integrated easily into your email marketing plan. Mobile is not a threat to email, but rather an ally. Together they make a powerful combination.  To learn more about how mobile and email compliment each other read this article by Jordan Greene from iMedia.

Outlook for Mobile in 2009

Marketers should focus this year and next on using mobile – especially SMS and applications – to build databases of consumers who have opted in not once but twice to receive targeted offers, alerts and information from marketers.

A marketer without a mobile loyalty program in 2009 or 2010 will risk losing customers to competitors who have such efforts in place.

Marketers understand the need to integrate mobile into their multichannel branding, customer acquisition and customer retention plans. The emphasis, however, should be on mobile’s complementary nature – it gives legs to other channels, including retail, online, television, print, coupons, radio, outdoor, direct mail and insert media. Marketers must remember that mobile cannot, and must not, be treated like other mass mediums out there. Mobile is a highly personal channel, with attendant sensitivities and double opt-in permission requirements. So it’s not the quantity that should matter for marketers looking to incorporate mobile into their multichannel marketing plans. It’s the quality – and that’s where mobile excels. Read the full article by Mickey Alam Kahn in Mobile Marketer.

Mobile now a powerful loyalty/CRM tool

Getting consumer consent for on-the-spot or time-sensitive alerts, discounts, tickets or coupons is what makes mobile the most powerful tool for loyalty marketing. That was a topic of discussion at the Direct Marketing Association’s Mobile Marketing Day yesterday in New York during the panel titled “Loyalty Marketing: Adding SMS to Your Email, Mail and Affinity Card CRM Program.” Panelists discussed how to incorporate mobile into multichannel CRM efforts and the rules governing contact with a wireless carrier’s subscribers.

Read full article by Dan Butcher at Mobile Marketer

Top Cities for Text Messaging

Youth and cultural diversity are two demographic commonalities among these so-called texters, according to Scarborough Research. These consumers are 49 percent more likely than all cellular subscribers to be ages 18-24, 14 percent more likely to be Hispanic, and 24 percent more likely to be African-American. Scarborough points to these similarities as likely reasons why El Paso, Salt Lake City, Dallas and Memphis are the top text messaging markets. El Paso and Dallas both have Hispanic compositions that are well above average. Further, Salt Lake City and El Paso are top markets for 18-24 year old adults, and Memphis is a leading city for African-Americans.

In addition to being young and diverse, Texters are among the country’s highest spenders on cellular services. On average, they spend $87 on their monthly cellular bill. By contrast, all cellular subscribers spend an average of $75 monthly. They are 46 percent more likely than all cellular subscribers to typically spend $150 or more on cellular service monthly. Texters are 12 percent more likely to plan to switch services. They utilize a wide variety of phone features – such as picture messaging, streaming video and email – at a rate higher than that of the average cell user.

Here are the top 20 cities for text messaging and the % of mobile subscribers in each market who use texting.

El Paso, TX                                     57
Salt Lake City, UT                              55
Dallas/Fort Worth, TX                           55
Memphis, TN                                     55
Cincinnati, OH                                  54
Washington, D.C.                                54
Chattanooga, TN                                 53
Atlanta, GA                                     53
Oklahoma City, OK                               52
Las Vegas, NV                                   52
Colorado Springs/Pueblo, CO                     52
Los Angeles, CA                                 51
Chicago, IL                                     51
Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto, CA                 51
Richmond/Petersburg, VA                         51
Kansas City, MO                                 51
Phoenix, AZ                                     50
San Diego, CA                                   50
Houston, TX                                     50
Philadelphia, PA                                50

Mobile new face of direct marketing

“Absolutely, mobile marketing is a direct channel to reach our customers to sell them something,” said Jeannette Kocsis, vice president of digital strategy for Harte-Hanks. “We’re trying to engage customers at every stage of the life cycle so they’re willing to come back again and again and again to continue that relationship. Many people are substituting text messaging for email, and we’re bringing in mobile Web sites, which you have to experience before you can talk about it and convince your company to use mobile.” Read full article by Dan Butcher at Mobile Marketer

Recent statistics confirm mobile is becoming ubiquitous

Lots of different commentary on 2009 being the year for Mobile and the latest comes from the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF)…they believe the mobile internet will come of age this year, mobile video will take off, and the industry will see greater pricing transparency for consumers.

Mobile Statistics
89% of US workers have a cell phone, 19% have a Blackberry
59% of cell phone or Blackberry owners use text messaging
66% of Americans aged 30-49 use text messaging
76% of Internet users watched video on their PCs
44.7% of US mobile users looking for a phone with better Internet
78% of Americans own cell phones
65% of unemployed Americans have cell phones
17% of US wireless subscribers are prepaid customers
23% of all mobile users to use mobile social networks by 2012
Mobile marketing budget percentages to grow 150% by 2013

Mobile Marketing Gets Its MoJo

Many people use their phones to search, get news alerts or sports scores, interact with TV shows, vote or take surveys, play games, send or view photos, get directions or communicate with other humans Almost two-thirds (63%) of cell phone users have received e-mail, used text messaging or obtained news and sports information on their phones. More than one-third (38%) of mobile phone users access the Internet from their phone. There are 40 million smart phones in use, closing in on 20 percent of the cell phones in use and the market is growing driven by iPhones and Blackberry Pearls and Curves. Read the full article by Danny Flamberg, Managing Partner at Booster Rocket.