Personalized Mobile Advertising does NOT need GPS

August 11, 2011 By

Terrific post over @paidcontent today:

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-mobile-advertising-personalized-ads-coupons-score-with-users/

Highlight:

According to a new survey, it’s not location-relevant advertising that is most valued by mobile consumers; it’s mobile ads that are personalized to a users’ tastes.

So, let’s look at our Mobile Retail demo with a virtual clerk.  In a couple of quick messages, the Brand derives market research data and the User is delivered a personalized mobile coupon specific to their needs that day, at that place, at that time.  All without GPS, accelerometers or Ouiji Boards.

Just ask them.

 

 

Filed Under: AI conversation, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, mobile marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kids…Early Adopters…Talking to Cereal Boxes…

June 24, 2011 By

This was a brilliant post over on @RWW with the outstanding line:

“The majority of kids (77%) imagined future technologies with human-level responsiveness…”

Full post here:  http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/to_understand_the_future_of_tech_listen_to_kids.php#more

This is one reason we often suggest applications for “talking to characters on cereal boxes,” or extending children’s film and television properties to include interactive conversations with the characters…

It’s what kids are waiting for.

The full .pdf of the study CHILDREN’S FUTURE REQUESTS FOR COMPUTERS & THE INTERNET is here:  http://latd.tv/kids/kidsTech.pdf

Filed Under: AI conversation, Brands and Mobile, Friendly machines Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

More Thoughts on NFC and QR-2D: Defining a New Mobile Lifestyle Story

June 16, 2011 By

I’ve been mulling over how NFC could be a catalyst for cross-over, higher-budget and higher-profile, QR-2D applications in advertising and marketing, which in turn will drive greater user adoption as part of defining a new mobile “lifestyle.”

While “payments” may be the primary application with early NFC use, the range of it’s applications span a fair bit of territory where QR-2D currently resides.  From what I see, QR-2D is not delivering high-value campaigns that also serve to define QR-2D as being an essential part of  a User’s  mobile lifestyle – they seem stuck on delivering “information.”

There’s a big difference between saying “I’ll get you information when you need it,” and “I’m going to make your life more interesting.”

Looking at the video promotions for NFC here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/10/nfc_videos/

NFC is being promoted as becoming part of everyone’s daily life — and, improving it –  OK, the Nokia clip is pretty cheesy, but the message is clear.  They’re selling a good story.

This Barclaycard NFC spot is extraordinary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWp3pxatDyU&feature=player_embedded

As more money goes into NFC-based campaigns, someone is going to recognize that in many cases they should be complemented by QR-2D access as well.

I’m certain that NFC is both complementary to QR-2D in many applications as well as being a facilitator of defining how these related technologies are part of a new mobile lifestyle “story.”

We all know that we can launch more QR-2D campaigns today than NFC, simply due to market penetration.  That will level out over the next year.  The issue is how, or whether, QR-2D will leverage itself  to be part of the larger mobile lifestyle story that’s being told?

As a “mobile content company,” we see that using both technologies together will make sense in many cases; but the public perception of QR-2D needs to become part of the same story that NFC campaigns’ are promoting in order to legitimate media buys that result in high scan rates.

/adapted from LinkedIN post

Filed Under: Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Mobile, mobile marketing, NFC, QR TAgs Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Conversational Marketing – Conversational Analytics

June 15, 2011 By

We don’t spend a lot of time featuring the value-add that goes on behind the scenes; and the conversational analytics that are available to marketers.

But, as we evolve from showing off our technology and platform to defining product, the value of the conversational analytics becomes more apparent.

What are people talking about in-store today?

What do they like and what do they want?

They’ll tell you, without feeling like it’s a survey, through the course of conversational engagement:

 

Filed Under: Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, mobile marketing, Products Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

How NFC will Save QR

May 25, 2011 By

Here’s a theory that’s been brewing in the office. . .

First, we’re “mobile content folks,” so we’re technology agnostic when it comes to device, carrier, OS or “how” someone reaches the content.  We just want to encourage traffic and make it as intuitive and genuinely pleasant as possible.

Broadly, QR/2D Barcodes are now seen everywhere.  The only thing missing seems to be any evidence that anyone is scanning them. It’s been nearly a year since any hard and fast scan numbers were released.

Now, before it’s even viable (not enough devices in the market), the new kid on the block is NFC.  NFC test campaigns are already rolling out, stepping directly on the turf that QR hoped to exclusively own (or, were pleased to battle over with MS Tag and some image recognition technologies).

Here’s why NFC will save QR:

QR campaigns, to date, appear to have been run by print departments and in many cases they resolve to recycled  video footage to access from mobile; or, someone set up a really dull mobile landing page that is about as exciting as a piece of cold toast.

NFC is attracting “interactive” and “mobile” Creatives — and, bigger budgets.  Is it possible that NFC campaigns will succeed, but, that success will then spill over to QR-based campaigns?

That seems likely.  QR needs to get interactive Creatives and dollars behind it with a focus on the End User’s mobile experience; some of that attention may emerge from a new breed of mobile marketing team who start with NFC, but, will consider QR as well?

We see QR and NFC as being complementary and increasing the size of the pie, allowing plenty of slices for everyone.

Some recent NFC posts that set this whole theory brewing. . .

http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/new-x-men-film-uses-nfc-advertising

http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/%E2%80%9Cnfc%E2%80%9D-%E2%80%93-not-always-synonymous-with-mobile-payments-15638/

http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/01/25/so-why-should-you-care-about-nfc/

http://blog.kimtag.com/2011/05/nfc-and-qr-code-combined.html

 

Filed Under: Brands and Mobile, mCoupons, mobile marketing, NFC, QR TAgs Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Conversational Mobile Marketing – Interesting Bits from the Week

March 25, 2011 By

Fascinating week here.  We wrapped  the http://ESLai.com conversational apps into Android with the http://appsgeyser.com online platform.

We’re anxiously awaiting AppsGeyser to tweak their platform so that the apps can be submitted into the new AMAZON Android App Store (whatever it will be called???).  Word is “about 2 weeks.”  In the meantime, the apps are already on the main Android Market, GetJar and a few others.

The news that BLACKBERRY’S tablet will be compatible with Android apps was a fascinating development in terms of some level of standardization emerging.  We hope more OS’s will allow x-platform app access.  We still highly believe in mobile web and a build-once strategy; but, the AppsGeyser solution allows us to leverage our single build but be found in multiple locations.

Finally, we were impressed with the Vid.ly “universal URL” offering to deliver optimized video across all mobile (and desktop) devices and platforms.  Very cool.  It also has an embed feature which is the first we’ve seen for mobile (though we’ve talked about it endlessly).

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, mLearning, Mobile, mobile english, mobile marketing, Virtual Agents Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mobile Web First, But Apps as Backup – Single Build Practice

March 18, 2011 By

We are proponents of pushing mobile web builds and delivery.  Most content and user experiences don’t require Apps — the bells and whistles they offer are often hollow.  Plus, mobile web is increasingly capable of delivering those same bells and whistles, ideally, used well.

That said, a whole lot of people Search for Apps and with the emerging tools and platforms that can wrap a well constructed mobile web site in an App-Shell, there is no reason not to offer the single-build content through App stores as well, in native formats.

We undertook the first “wrapping” of our ESLai.com conversational apps and porting to Android by using the http://AppsGeyser.com platform.  It was a breeze. It’s a push button operation and a download (plus distribution through their App Store); this allowed adding the Apps to the Android Store as well as GetJar; where they get secondary pick-up through their affiliates.  Yes, we’ll do an iOS version too; but, we really like Android here, so it was first on the list.

Here’s where you can pick up the Android version of the two ESL conversational simulations (plus, it’s still on mobile web, where any WAP or HTML browser can access them):

ANDROID MARKET:

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dreamstep.wESL_Conversational_Sim_Pizza

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dreamstep.wESL_Conversational_Sim_Picnic

 

APPSGEYSER MARKET (with QR Code for Download):

http://www.appsgeyser.com/getwidget/ESL+Conversational+Sim.Pizza

http://www.appsgeyser.com/getwidget/ESL+Conversational+Sim.Picnic

 

 

Filed Under: Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, ESL, iPad, Mobile, mobile english, mobile marketing, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Is Your Mobile Message “Understood?” – Reading Comprehension & Mobile Devices

March 3, 2011 By

While we’re not big fans of anyone who treats mobile like the shrunken web — where they ignore  the User Experience (location), contextual relevance and personal space unique to mobile — This article and study caught our attention with regard to “reading comprehension” on mobile devices:

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/mobile-content-comprehension.html

While the study looks like it focused on really dense text, it’s also likely that people “read” content on mobile devices differently than they do online, which in turn is different from print.  The “art” of communicating in order to be “understood” on mobile is not something we hear alot about.

One thing we know — People like short, conversational text messages.

It’s what they do with their device more than any other activity.  Reading a “conversation” and comprehending it — because you then will interactively respond to it — is far different than search/navigate/scan website reading.

Mobile was made for conversations.

Conversational mobile marketing delivers content the End User readily understands.

 

Filed Under: AI conversation, AI conversational network, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Friendly machines, mobile marketing, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

New Year. . .New Features. . .Conversational Mobile Marketing Evolves

January 28, 2011 By

That was quite a lag in blog posts. The Holidays took over (after an exceptionally busy December, in part, due to the consumer-facing MySantaTalk app); then, CES (yes, lots of tablets and 3D TV, but, in general, not the most exciting CES; some work in mobile health felt pretty substantial and game changing).

What’s up here?

We’ve realized that the perception of our platform is more “how do we compare to apps?” than “how do we compare to text messaging?” — The inclusion of rich media elements in our content, really, remove us from the text-communication space, even though that is the core of our platform.

To that end, we are in the process of enhancing the overall design and user navigation of the mobile web interactive chat experience. Watch for updates throughout Q1.

In the interim, as MySantaTalk prepares to take a rest for the year — There’s a short, mobile web, demo that features our favorite fictional brand character: Capn’ Wag — As a demo of fun, intelligent packaging for kids, we hope you enjoy. Access is found on: http://contentai.com/demos/capnwag Or, just scan the QR code below:

Filed Under: AI conversation, Brands and Mobile, Conversational AI, Mobile, mobile marketing, QR TAgs, Virtual Agents, WAP Chat Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Near Field Communication (NFC) – Google Rolls into Portland for Retail

December 10, 2010 By

These are the days when being a mobile content technology and service are terrific.

Near Field Communication, which has languished and been plagued by security issues, is taking one giant step forward today with Google’s announcement of rolling out a limited program in Portland, Oregon at the retail level:

http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/12/cross-posted-and-excerpted-from-hotpot.html

Does this sound competitive to QR, 2D and Location Based (GPS) apps?

It is.

Will brands and advertising agencies be attracted to this?

It’s about the User Experience.

How simple and intuitive is the experience?

Being a Portland company, we’ll be trying this out and updating this post.  But, every indication is that NFC could be the next ‘really big thing” with mainstream mobile adoption.  RIM, Apple, Android, Nokia along with the major US carriers have all made announcements in the past month about their commitment to NFC at the OS, device and carrier level.

Filed Under: Brands and Mobile, Friendly machines, Mobile, mobile marketing, QR TAgs Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,
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