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MMF keynote: The customer owns the customer

NEW YORK ? It is very important to consumers that they be asked before being sent mobile ads, according to a morning keynote at the Mobile Marketing Forum.

Thomas Labarthe, vice president of mobile advertising at Alcatel-Lucent, London, said that a whopping 83 percent of consumers in North America claim that it is very important to ask their permission before sending mobile ads. Also, 81 percent said that they want control of their profile to address privacy concerns.

?Most of you are surprised Alcatel-Lucent is talking about mobile advertising, but we started working on this topic almost two years ago,? Mr. Labarthe said. ?When we started looking at this space, we wanted to understand the opportunities and challenges of the key stakeholders.

?We spent a bunch of time with advertising agencies and delved into end-user concerns and expectations,? he said.

There are three stages of mobile advertising and marketing. The first is taking everything from television and marketing and putting it on mobile, which North America has already done.

The second is interactivity and the third is the future.

The future of mobile will be very much focused on engagement and loyalty and that is really where Alcatel-Lucent is focusing its efforts.

?We have divided our strategy to address permission, preferences and privacy,? Mr. Labarthe said.

The company did a massive survey of customers in all different countries, with 400 people in North America surveyed.

A whopping 74 percent felt that ads should be interest- and preference-based.

Also, 54 percent were more likely to make purchases of preferred brands through the service and 74 percent were more likely to remain loyal to their wireless carrier if the service was offered.

?Ask customers to share their interests along the way,? Mr. Labarthe said. ?Don?t overload them with questions.

?Keep it simple,? he said. ?The gathering of information should not be intrusive.?

Mr. Labarthe gave some tips:

  • Make the media buying process easy
  • Provide Web-based tools that are familiar and accessible
  • Build scale through hosting and aggregating permission-based inventory across several operators
  • Create efficiencies in the ecosystem

?Connect consumers with the brands that they love,? Mr. Labarthe said. ?Understand the needs of consumers the industry the brand the media owner and build collaboration between the players.

"And, also remember that the customer owns the customer,? he said.

Once marketers collect data on their consumers, segmentation is the next step.

Segmentation is not something new to marketers. They have been doing it for years.

When applying segmentation practices from traditional marketing to mobile, it is important to know who to target with and what message will attract the right response.

?Think marketing first and mobile second,? said Doug Rozen, senior vice president of creative, interactive media and mobile at Carlson Marketing, St. Paul, MN. ?Mobile segmentation and personas allows us to understand who consumers are and how they use mobile.

?They also allow us to respond appropriately with the right tactics, the right message to deliver the right expected return,? he said.

Mr. Rozen said it is important to understand the expectations and the limitations of the end users up front.

To avoid being like barracudas ? that like all that is shiny ? marketers need to avoid the first question, ?Do I need an iPhone application??

As consumers engage in mobile activities more frequently, usage progresses from voice-only activities to messaging, browsing and downloading as well.

Mr. Rozen said that Carlson Marketing has segmented consumers into various mobile usage personas.

The first, dubbed ?Cord Hoards? (16 percent), have no mobile phone. They have a landline that they use for all calls.

The ?Strictly Speaking? persona (32 percent) has a mobile phone but uses it for voice services only.

?Utoolitarions? (11 percent) occasionally use SMS and read/send email via their mobile device. They rarely browse the mobile Web and never download anything from their mobile device.

?Lifeliners? (14 percent) regularly text and send mobile emails. They use the mobile Internet for search and utility.

?Duty Callers? (6 percent) are heavy users of SMS. They browse the mobile Web moderately and mobile serves as an ?away from the office? alternative to the PC.

?Funccessorizers? (5 percent) use all the features of the phone for fun, whether SMS, taking pictures or gaming.

?Mavericks? (5 percent) are heavy users of all facets of mobile. They are the most receptive to offers and promotions via mobile.

Lastly, ?Mobile Moths? (11 percent) moderately text message, browse the mobile Web and are not likely to use all the features on their fully-loaded device.

?As mobile usage increases, so does consumer adoption and the use of additional functions and features,? Mr. Rozen said.