Navigating the rapidly evolving marketing world
Cool infographic from Gigaom, showing how Android is taking over the world. Imagine how this impacts the world of virtual goods and social gaming, a topic I posted about earlier, here.
There’s gold in them ‘thar hills of virtual stuff. According to data from analytics firm Flurry, mobile virtual goods are hot. So hot, in fact, they’re far surpassing the revenue generated from mobile advertising.
The study, conducted using data collected from leading iOS social networking and social gaming apps, shows that in September of ’09, out of close to every $2 of mobile revenue… either advertising or virtual goods…over 2/3rds went to advertising. Just one year later, not only has the amount of revenue grown significantly, the amount going to virtual goods…swords, gold coins, respect points or plum trees for farm plots…has shifted dramatically to where virtual goods now account for $8 of every $9 in revenue. And, because Google’s Android Market does not yet support in-app purchases or micro-transactions, the data doesn’t include users from this rapidly expanding platform.
Virtual goods sales were already going gang busters on social sites like Facebook. Michael Pachter, Wedbush Morgan Securities video game analyst, reports that social gaming revenue has grown from approximately $600 million in 2008 to $1 billion in 2009. Further, he forecasts that social gaming will generate nearly $1.6 billion this year, and grow to more than $4 billion by 2013. That’s a lot of quarters for plum trees on your Farmville farm.
The convergence of social and games will continue to expand their reach into our lives. In fact, social gaming is reaching a tipping point and with Wal-Mart and Verizon now selling iPads, the size of social gaming’s audience will quickly surpass prime time television viewership.
For marketers, this sweeping technology, entertainment and behavioral change represents tremendous opportunity to create highly engaging content built around the core premise of your brand, then invite consumers into a branded experience that extends far beyond your physical product or service. In fact, maybe it’s time to start thinking beyond the five “P’s” when it comes to marketing. Maybe it’s time to add a “V”. Seems plausible doesn’t it…the brand manager of the new realities has to think about Product, Price, Place, Promotion and Virtual. Can you imagine what a virtual version of your brand or brand experience would be, could be? If not, you should start dreaming. There’s money to be made for the imaginative mind.
Mashable reports that a FourSquare promotion McDonalds conducted in April got the fast food monster a 33% one day traffic increase…just by giving patrons a chance to win gift certificates by checking in on FourSquare. Pretty impressive, especially considering the chains customers are pre-teens, teens and busy moms. I’d say most men abandon McDonalds when they acquire a taste for real meat. I haven’t been in a McDonalds in months and I try never to eat there. Still, impressive that such a massive mass media consumer is experimenting with cutting-edge social techniques. And, good to see the promotions are working, even with such a relatively small installed base (FourSquare has just over 3 million users, according to this Mashable post). Look for location-based marketing to increase…and with it, location based spam…just like in the movie, Minority Report, where the Tom Cruise character is bombarded with useless pitches as he strolls through a shopping mall.
From HubSpot, a very impressive collection of infographics showing the rise of the mobile internet and all the implications.
The Pew Research Center just released a report on the mobile internet and an astonishing 59% of Americans are using it. This is a 51% increase from those who said they did this at a similar point in 2009.
When you start looking at the multicultural landscape, there’s even more use of the mobile internet…64% of African-Americans and 63% of Latinos are wireless internet users.
Every activity you can do with your smart phones and laptops grew year over year as well.
Advertiser Perceptions Inc tracks what marketers and media buyers say they’re going to spend on advertising and there’s some good news in their recent report, especially for digital and mobile.
Of the over 1,400 decision-makers surveyed, nearly one third (32%) now expect to increase their spending over the next 12-months, making this the largest increase since API began asking this question in the spring of 2007. While print still shows negative growth and TV is flat, digital and mobile are bright spots, with 60% of executives saying they’ll increase digital and 62% boosting mobile spending.
What are you seeing at your company?
Compete just released it’s Smartphone Intelligence survey (redundancy there) and there’s some interesting insight into consumer behavior trends mobile is enabling. Think Local Search, Social Connectivity and Gaming.
Search
According to the survey, 1 in 3 smartphone owners has called or stopped in a local business after finding it using a local search app. In just first quarter, over a third of Android and iPhone owners discovered at least two new businesses that they were not previously aware of thanks to using these local search apps.
Social
Thirty-three percent of smartphone Twitter users post tweets primarily via their smartphones. Of those accessing Facebook via their smartphones, they’re reading news feeds, posting status updates, replying to messages and posting photos.
Gaming
iPhone owners download and play games more than any other handset owner. ..37% play games of some kind at least daily.
Implications:
Anyone with physical locations would be wise to find ways to make their presence known to smartphone users. If you’re really smart, you might want to think about a way to combine local search, social and gaming all in one…like a Foursquare or Gowalla.
via Think Local Search, Social Networking and Mobile Gaming on Mobile Devices.
Do you graze on Twitter on your iPhone while you’re watching Friday Night Lights? Do you post on Facebook from your Droid during American Idol finals? If so, you’re not alone.
According to a new study of smartphone users by media agency Initiative, 60% of mobile web usage is taking place at home, while people are watching TV, listening to the radio or right before the nod off to sleep.
Nearly a third of smartphone users start their day connecting to the internet on their mobile device and 45% end their day that way.
MediaPost Publications Study: Mobile �
via Mobile – It’s Not Just For Out-Of-Home Anymore 06/22/2010.
Jobs and Co announced the details of the iPhone 4.0 OS today and there are a number of features that will impact marketing. This video is long but well worth watching.
The most revolutionary change, from an advertising standpoint, is iAds, which allows for the development of incredibly interactive and yet emotionally engaging ads…it’s like combining the emotion of TV advertising with the power of internet interactivity…but oh, ya, it will know who you are, where you are and all kinds of other info about you that a computer doesn’t know.
