Make connections with consumers, not impressions: Air2Web president
April 4, 2008
Bill Jones is president of Air2Web
LAS VEGAS – In the sea of wireless technology companies exhibiting at the CTIA Wireless 2008 conference, Air2Web Inc. was one of the few proudly touting its mobile marketing expertise.
The Atlanta-based company offers mobile marketing services and tools to marketers such as Procter & Gamble Co., Starbucks Corp., Traffic.com, AT&T, UPS and the Weather Channel. It took a booth at CTIA to launch a Mobile Marketing Solution Series offering soup-to-nuts mobile marketing for brands and advertising agencies.
Air2Web president Bill Jones sat down Wednesday evening with Mobile Marketer’s Mickey Alam Khan to discuss how he positions his company in an environment that’s still besotted with the technology applications of mobile and not marketing. Here’s the discussion.
What's the No. 1 question people have asked when they come to the booth?
The No. 1 question is, “Who is Air2Web?” When we respond with, “Air2Web is a mobile marketing service provider that connects consumers to brands using mobile devices,” the next question is, “What is mobile marketing exactly?”
This is interesting because it elevates the fact that there is such a broad definition today, limited adoption due to many of the barriers to entry and a crowded marketplace as we fight through to see which vendors will really succeed at helping brands better connect with their consumers.
Air2Web launched our new Mobile Marketing Solution Series here at CTIA. This is a game-changing approach to how brands interact with their consumers. Costs starting at $15,000, 30-day promotions, unlimited domestic messaging, seven-business-day implementation [then] changes the question from, “Why should I do mobile marketing?” to “Why should I not do mobile marketing?”
What kind of people showed up at the booth and show?
CTIA tends to draw a more technical crowd. This is great in terms of locating new opportunities to expand product offerings or potential partnerships.
We would like to see the audience focus more on the business side of the technology and particularly, the business of mobile marketing – how can it impact the bottom line, the overall value, et cetera.
How do you position Air2Web for this?
Air2Web is uniquely positioned to help brands connect with consumers via mobile. We do have direct connections to the carriers, which we believe helps tremendously with economies of scale and also the reporting and analytics.
From an overall value-add, however, Air2Web is more than just the plumbing to make the campaign work.
We believe the true value of mobile marketing comes from understanding the marketplace, understanding what works and what doesn't.
Whether it is SMS, WAP or thick-client applications, Air2Web helps marketers harness the power of mobile to reach their consumers.
We have a carrier-grade mobile infrastructure, a device catalogue for per-device optimization, and direct connectivity into global carrier networks. We understand how to tame the technology to best meet a marketer's needs, allowing brands and agencies to focus on the creative and not worry about how to make the technology work.
How do you stand out in the crowd?
Air2Web has nearly 10 years of mobile experience – launched in 1999. For the last several years we have focused exclusively on mobile marketing and continue to refine that approach.
Last year, we did 1,000 mobile marketing campaigns and sent over 1 billion mobile marketing messages through our platform. Having that type of experience and data makes us the best partner for both agencies and marketers.
In January of this year, we launched our agency programs practice.
This is a dedicated group focused exclusively on working with the professional marketers – the agencies – to better understand the value of mobile, better communicate that value to the brand, better understand how to incorporate mobile into overall marketing and advertising plans and most importantly, how to do this quickly and efficiently without interrupting the creative process or bottom line.
Mobile marketing is about making connections with the consumer that last, not about an impression. As volumes increase and the barriers to entry go down, mobile marketing certainly will accelerate as the most personal, interactive and trackable marketing vehicle around.