Google launched its long-awaited G1 mobile phone this week. There is no doubt that the Google G1 is credible competition for Apple's iPhone, therefore, expect flying baubles at the annual Christmas bun-fight this year.
So what's so special about the Google G1? Well, Google has taken the best bits of iPhone touch and added some of their own, integrated a slide-out Blackberry-style QWERTY keyboard, increased the camera picture quality, and boasts a faster connection speed to the internet - oh yeah, you can also make a phone call if you so desire. The Google G1 may not be the design classic as awarded to the iPhone (Apple will always have that sewn-up), but to a customer audience whose priority is functional integrated communications, the Google G1 is a winner.
Apps and widgets will be key to maximising the G1's success as an integrated mobile communications platform and Google's Android system aims to achieve this. The Google G1 is affiliated to the T-mobile network, who have been busying themselves in developing their own version of the very successful Apple App Store. Google has the opportunity to leverage its existing application empire via T-mobile.
Skepticism of Google entering the mobile handset marketplace in order to extend its advertising reach is rife, but so what? Currently, there is a troublesome lack of mobile channel advertising regulation, and if this is tightened by Google entering into the marketspace, then surely this can only be positive?
However, and a big "however", as much as the Google G1 may be a strong player, network loyalty to O2 and aggressive churn tactics may determine that the Apple iPhone remains in consumers' pockets. To benefit consumer choice and ultimately integrated communication reach, exclusive handset-network affiliation needs to change.
Ofcom's 2008 communication report covering the UK’s £51 billion communications industry was released this week. Its key finding was that people in the UK are spending more time using communications services than ever before – but paying less for them.
The Ofcom report covers broadcast, internet, mobile, landline and radio communication channels and shows that in 2007 we spent an average of 7 hours and 9 minutes a day using communications services - up by 6 minutes from 2002.
The UK's mobile and internet usage increased by the greatest amount. Between 2002 and 2007 the time spent talking and texting on mobiles doubled, up from 5 minutes to 10 minutes each day. Meanwhile, time spent on PCs and lap-tops grew fourfold between 2002 and 2007 - from 6 minutes to 24 minutes per person every day.
Using more, paying less Despite the growth in communication channel usage and take-up, consumers are paying less with overall average household spend on communications services falling 1.6% to £93.63 a month in 2007, a saving of £1.53 on the average spend compared to 2006, and since 2004, a saving of £4.31 (4.4%). There are three main reasons behind the fall in the price of communications services:
Discounts from bundles: Consumers are increasingly buying bundles of communications services - paying one fee for multiple services, which is generally cheaper than buying individual services from different providers. The number of households buying bundles of three or more services – for example landline, broadband and pay-TV – has almost doubled up from 18% in 2006 to 32% by March 2008.
Lower prices for broadband: The average household spend on internet and broadband services fell from £9.87 in 2006 to £9.45 in 2007.
Bargain hunting: An increasing proportion of consumers are switching between providers in order to get the best deal. By March 2008, 27% had switched internet provider at least once; 37% had switched landline provider and 41% had changed mobile provider.
Broadband at home and on the move Take-up of broadband through a landline grew from 52 per cent of households to 58% in 12 months, mainly as a result of consumers upgrading from dial-up access to always-on broadband. Increased sales of laptop dongles enabling internet access via a mobile network nearly doubled from 69,000 to 133,000 a month between February and June 2008. As a result, there were 511,000 new mobile broadband connections in the UK.
60% Growth in 3G mobile connections: More than one in ten mobile phone users have accessed the internet on their mobile phone with the number of 3G mobile connections growing by 60% in 2007 to reach 12.5 million subscribers – an increase of 4.7 million in 12 months.
Online and on-demand Whilst there has been a small increase in the number of minutes spent each day watching the TV (218 minutes in 2007, compared with 216 in 2006), there is an increased trend for consumers taking control of TV viewing. Viewers are watching programmes when they want and how they want, rather than just relying on the TV schedules.
Growth in online TV watching: The proportion of people with an internet connection who are watching TV programmes online more than doubled from 8% to 17% in twelve months. The BBC iPlayer, which enables viewers to watch programmes up to a week after they were broadcast, delivered more than 700,000 daily video streams in May 2008.
Growth in online video and webcast viewing: Nearly a third of internet users (32%) watched video clips and webcasts in 2007, compared to a fifth (21%) in 2006. The number of UK internet users who watched YouTube, reached 9 million in April this year, nearly 50 per cent more than a year ago.
IM preference over email for Generation Y: Instant messaging is more popular than email amongst children with 62% of 12-15 year old sending an instant message, compared with 43% of them sending an email. Adults prefer to email – 80% of adults sent an email compared to 34% who used instant messaging.
Increase in online radio listening: The number of people listening to radio via the internet has increased to 14.5 million by May 2008, up 21% from 12.0 million in November 2007.
Slowdown in VoIP usage: The number of people using voice over internet protocol (VoIP) fell from 20% in 2006 to 14% in the first quarter of 2008.
Mobile telecoms By the end of 2007, there were almost 74 million mobile connections serving a population of 60 million in the UK. This was an increase of 3.7 million connections since the end of 2006. The total number of mobile connections increased by 48% in the five years from 2002.
Mobile preference over landline: Seven out of ten people with a mobile phone and a landline use their mobile to make calls, even when they are at home. One in ten people with a landline at home said that they never use it to make calls.
UK text messaging addiction: In the UK, nearly 60 billion text messages were sent in 2007 - an increase of 36% since 2006 and up by 234% since 2002 when 17 billion texts were sent. The average mobile phone user sent 67 texts per month from each mobile compared to 53 texts per month in 2006.
Generation Y gender channel preferences: The majority of children have access to the internet and most have a mobile phone but there is a gender preference. Boys aged 8-11 are twice as likely to use the internet every day compared to girls of the same age (45% compared to 22%). Meanwhile girls aged 12-15 are more likely to use a mobile phone than boys of the same age (74% compared to 65%).
Generation Y mobile phone dependency: When asked which media activity would be missed the most, 42% of these teenagers said they would miss their mobile most. Watching TV came next at 20%.
Television and Radio Digital television and radio penetration continued and by July 2008, nearly 9 out of 10 households had digital television (87.2%) compared to 7 out of 10 twelve months ago. By March 2008, 7 million households (27%) had a DAB radio set, up from 17% on last year.
Increase in DVR penetration: More consumers are now able to choose when to watch, pause and rewind live TV. At the end of 2007 nearly 6 million households (23%) had a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) up by 53% in a year.
Broadcast advertising reach affected by DVR consumer behaviour: The vast majority of people (88%) said that, when they use their DVRs, they use them to fast forward through advertisements.
HD television becoming the standard: By March of this year, nearly 80% of all TV sets sold in the UK were High-Definition (HD) ready, up from 50 per cent in twelve months. The number of HD subscriptions more than doubled to reach 829,000 over the same period.
Television most-missed media channel overall: More than half of consumers (52%) said watching TV would be the media activity missed the most, up from 44% in 2005. The next highest ‘most-missed’ activity would be using a mobile phone at 13%, up from 10% in 2005.
Advertising Internet advertising spend greater than broadcast: Online advertising spend is up by almost 40% year-on-year reaching £2.8 billion in 2007. For the first time, more money was spent on internet advertising than the combined advertising spending on ITV1, Channel 4, S4C and five (£2.4 billion).
Paid-for search advertising spend domination: Paid-for search advertising spend was up 39% during 2007 at £1.6 billion. Classified advertising saw the largest increase in 2007 – up 54% to £600 million while display advertising grew by 29% in 2007 accounting for a further £600 million of advertising spend.
Apple have announced that its newly launched App Store that enables users to sell and buy third-party applications for the iPhone was making an average of $1m (£500,000) a day, and had served downloads for over 60 million programmes since its launch last month.
Apple's developer revenue-share programme takes a 30 per cent cut of all revenues generated from the applications. Chief Executive Steve Jobs said
"if sales continue at the current pace, the firm stands to make at least $360m a year in new revenue".
He also predicted that the Apps Store could eventually pull in up to $1bn.
T-mobile have already been prompted to work with developers to create their own version of the App Store.
Despite the reported success of the App Store, concerns have been raised about the validity of some of the applications and guaranteed quality assurance.
Either way widgets and applications that connect communication channels are here to stay.
The BBC is continuing to embrace its approach to integrated broadcast/online communication channels by extending the reach of its news coverage of this year's Olympic Games in Beijing - and this time, Twitter enters the arena.
Ongoing mobile updates via Twitter provides journalists with a restriction-free channel to communicate an up-to-the-minute personal style of reporting from the ground. BBC sports journalist Tom Fordyce writes:
"15 minutes and counting. The stadium floor is now packed with drummers, all crouching in the dark. We're almost there..."
"It's like being at some sort of mystical rave. The scale of it is almost frightening. Although the fireworks are tremendous."
"In the 'Cube waiting for our first sighting of the Phelpmeister. What a pool. Mind you, when you're used to Putney Leisure Centre..."
"Just spotted former 100m Olympic champion Maurice Greene watching the swimming at the Cube."
"Now at the fencing. Talk about gladitorial - it's riveting, even though the finer points are a touch over my head. En guarde!"
This Twittering is supported by BBC Sport's interactive Olympic map that not only geographically pinpoints the mobile Twitter updates, but also provides links to BBC blog updates and information on venues and Beijing landmarks.
Anna Patterson's latest search engine venture since quitting Google in 2006, Cuil, had its PR launch this week and received a cold if not frozen reception.
To crack the mighty Google iceberg requires a biblical David and Goliath effort - the right stone catapulted on-target causing a giant to fall. Cuil's launch threw lots of little stones, but none of them directly targeted at Google. It demonstrated a search engine with lots of ideas, but also demonstrated a lot of flaws - currently, Cuil's user interface is not intuitive and too complex, the results returned are questionable and the matching of images against results is clearly buggy that could be detrimental to a corporate's brand positioning.
What Cuil successfully achieved was press coverage of a child stamping their foot whilst noisily munching on a 'Cuil' ice-lolly. One can only conclude that a flawed release was purposeful in order to generate awareness and help Cuil precisely select and throw the 'right' damaging stone in an attempt to directly down Google in the future...but, can the ice-lolly crack the iceberg, or, will both melt leaving behind just the iceberg and a stick with a joke written on it?
Social networking is a significant communications channel and, like the 'Hoover' brand name that evolved to collectively refer to all vacuum cleaners, it is the 'Facebook' brand name that is creeping into everyday vocabulary of the masses ("I Facebook; I'm Facebooking; I'll Facebook you; I Facebooked you"), and as a result, starting to collectively represent an understanding of what social networks are about.
In the UK, Facebook has the greatest market share of all the social networks (with MySpace and Bebo following behind), however, attached to this comes huge proactive responsibilities to ensure that the perception of social networking, as a channel, remains largely positive going forward. The EU agency for network and information security ENISA has already published a paper of security issues and recommendations for social networks (PDF 0.8MB) that Facebook needs to embrace given the responsibility of its leadership position.
Gartner research has reported that businesses have yet to realise the potential opportunities and benefits of social networking that would support corporate communications, both internal and external. Part of this tardiness is down to what Gartner research term 'throwing sheep' syndrome - the superficial (yet popular) 'Am I hot?' widgets typically found on Facebook.
The research found that 38% of PC and mobile phone users connect to sites like MySpace and Facebook via PCs. Single people and teenagers and more men than women came top in terms of usage. The survey revealed that in large part they went online for entertainment purposes or to keep up with friends and family - social activities, therefore, the challenge is harnessing this behavioural usage for a business benefit.
The success of Facebook is its widgets, the viral approach it takes in organically publicising these ensuring compatibility across channels, the member-get-member approach to pulling-in new users, and the sustained loyalty it receives from like-minded social groups with a common interest who return to the network in order to fulfill a need. If businesses embrace these behavioural traits, then the power of social networking as a corporate communication channel can be realised.
The latest report by Nielsen Mobile, Critical Mass - The Worldwide State of the Mobile Web, provides insight into today's mobile internet usage behaviour. Coming out of the report's statistical analysis, it states that "Mobile internet reached a critical mass this year, offering a large and diverse enough base of users to support large-scale mobile marketing efforts".
Globally, 16% of the US population browse the internet via a mobile handset, closely followed by the UK (13%) and Italy (12%). Nielsen found that 82% of iPhone owners access mobile internet, "making them five times as likely to do so as the average mobile consumer".
The report says that "PC internet users visit more than 100 domains per month, on average", however, 'mobile internet' users (in the UK) visited on average only 5.5 select websites per month...oh, to be on that precious '5.5' list.
The user profile of the iPhone owner has evolved over time. The first generation iPhone aligned itself with the lifestyle and psychological profile of early adopters:
- For 'Lifestyle seekers' it was new, shiny, latest 'to-be-seen-with' phone; - 'Apple supporters' purchased the phone for its aesthetic appeal; - 'Techies' purchased the phone to access the web and the widgets.
However, O2 then slashed the cost of the iPhone by £100 that opened up mass availability to wider audiences bringing the product into the mainstream.
The just released second generation iPhone comes with 3G, allowing faster access to the web. This can only support the growth of mobile internet usage that opens up opportunities for web marketing trends, whose target audience's contact point is the mobile phone. As the report says "Mobile internet users are 60% more likely to be open to mobile advertising than the average mobile data user".
Firefox's attempt to break the record for the greatest number of downloads in a 24 hour time period has been successful, with 8,002,530 Firefox 3.0 downloads in 25 countries.
The ingenious Guinness World Record campaign boosted Firefox's market share to over 19% making it the second most popular browser after Internet Explorer and is expected to break 20% later this month.
The YouTube video above, uploaded by a 15 year old, is just one of many videos that have been posted remembering the life of Ben Kinsella, who was killed in a knife crime at the weekend.
Generation Y, moved by his death, leveraged their online social networks and called to unite and march against knife crime in Ben Kinsella's name. Dozen's of groups were set up on Facebook to remember Ben and recruited the call to march.
As a result, a united message was broadcast nationally on television and appeared in the printed press. This demonstrates how Generation Y achieve a motivated end goal by naturally harnessing the power of social networking and web 2.0.
Purists would say that to experience Glastonbury is to experience the mud; the camping; the endless queue for the portaloo (as well as the music). However, for music lovers who aren't so 'pure', the BBC's Glastonbury site and BBC three live arena allow audiences to choose how they 'experience' the festival - wellie dread is no more (even diamond studded pairs branded Bassey).
The BBC continues to embrace video integration into their website. The success of the BBC's i-player video-on-demand service demonstrates closer synergies between online and broadcast communications with both channels working seamlessly together, enabling audiences to choose what they watch, at what time, and via their channel of choice.
The BBC's user-centric approach to web development is also demonstrated with their customisable homepage. As a content-rich site, the BBC website attracts audiences who extract what they need from the site, when they want it. By embracing a customisable homepage, the BBC website survives by handing power to the user enabling them to select how they effectively and efficiently reach that relevant content.
This is another example of the pull approach to online communication development that assists in garnering valuable audience loyalty...muddy wellies are a thing of the past.
So what does this mean from a communications perspective?
Precise geographic domain names such as .cym (Wales); .london (London); .sco (Scotland); .nyc (New York) are being introduced. This geographic drilldown opens up opportunities for campaign-based online communications, enabling those that target a location to retain and reinforce a geographic message in the selected URL (e.g. www.filmfestival.london).
The new internet domain name conventions also introduce foreign alphabets (e.g. Cyrillic). As a result, domain names using the English alphabet no longer monopolise the online channel - this localisation allows for extended reach of the World Wide Web to those who do not have English as their first language. From a marketing perspective, geographic campaign communication targeting will benefit.
As the domain name relaxation continues, potentially sector-based domains could be introduced and Corporates could emphasise brand positioning (e.g. www.lloydstsb.bank), and even specific communication-based domain names could be leveraged (e.g. www.lloydstsbannual.report).
Of course Icann's announcement will affect the way search engine algorithms prioritise returned search result rankings. It will be interesting to see how they handle this.
Is the 'World Wide Web' localisation now becoming the 'Country Channel Coverage'?
So you've integrated Google Analytics into your website...you've checked-off the 'to do' task, so now you can get back to concentrating on your day job managing all the other projects on your books. Then the dreaded day comes, the CEO calls you up and asks "how's the website? What are the stats like?" - panic sets in: where are the login details?; Did I remember to write them down?; The agency, can they access the stats?; If I don't get website stats to the CEO by the end of the week - my job, my mortgage, my...I need a drink!
OK, so a bit of an exaggeration, but the scenario of evidencing website communication effectiveness within today's business environment is very real. Proudly bathing in the quantity of visitors that reach your site, or frustratingly tutting the tumbleweed when visitor targets are not met is superficially short-sighted. A truer picture emerges when measured analysis of recorded website stats is undertaken, which often throws up a few nasty and nice surprises.
Key to website analytics is being able to keep on top of the data - ensuring that webstats data is monitored on a monthly basis and recorded. Get this secured, then the foundation is there to start understanding a website's quantitive statistics and recorded user behaviour, and how the two interact.
Clear KPI drivers need to be agreed that govern the effectiveness of the website as a communication - awareness of corporate messaging; goal conversions; sales leads; e-commerce spend; search reach...the list could go on, but once this is base-lined, the power of analytics is realised as an influential reference for communication development.
A website is normally one communication within a larger communication mix. In approaching analytics, it is important not to take an isolated look at the website as more often than not, PR campaigns, recruitment drives, fiscal announcements, events communication or 'unexpected happenings' will have an impact website usage. A known communications matrix referenced in parrallel to analytics data, will build-up the bigger picture on where the website sits in the communications mix, its share within the mix and how other channel communications interact with it.
All this and we've not done any analysis yet, and quite right too. In order to maximise upon the value of webstats analytics, a holistic approach is required that absorbs the wider communication landscape. Once this is a known, targeted analysis can be undertaken, conclusions reached and recommendations made that drive directional development of not just the website, but the communication mix as a whole.
I did say webstats analytics is powerfully influential, didn't I?
Cx3's love affair with the journey of British brand whores, David and Victoria Beckham (dVb), is only rivaled by the delicious journey being made by Peter Andre and Katie Price, but on a completely different scale.
This week, Armani underwear released the latest David Beckham advertising campaign. In November 2007, David signed a £20 million deal to be the Global Ambassador of the Giorgio Armani fashion house, and in December the first David Beckham Armani adverts were launched. This already iconic Sporno (sports porno) stands alongside other photographic classics such as 'L'Enfant' by Spencer Rowell or Herb Ritts' 'Fred with Tyres'.
As well as his contract with Armani, David is also Motorola's Global Brand Ambassador and 'The Face of Brylcreem'. Corporate marketers of course clammer to be a part of 'Brand Beckham' and, loved or loathed, today's society of celebrity worship and aspirational lifestyle seeking is a revenue stream marketers can't ignore. In fact, 'dVb' direct an invitation themselves to the lifestyle seeker, requesting they spend their money and an intimate night with the two of them by privately adorning dVb's 'Intimately Beckham Night' scent all over their bodies - erotic advertising reinforces the 'intimate' message...a very progressive threesome. Since moving to the USA to play for LA Galaxy, choice product endorsemets have elevated David Beckham in order to satisfy sustainble public awareness and positioning of Brand Beckham at an international level...and Victoria has joined the game too by appearing, as herself, in Ugly Betty and clinging onto the arm of David at every photo opportunity. Brand Beckham's new found American audience throws up the competitive challenges of 'Brangelina', and 'Tom and Katie' - know your friends and keep your enemies closer...hmm, which is 'Tom and Katie'?
David and Victoria Beckham constantly crave audience awareness and acceptance, and breathe the oxygen of media publicity for their survival. They are 'A-list' experts in what they do and long may it last.
Firefox's Guinness World Record attempt for the greatest number of software downloads in 24 hours coincides with the launch of their new Firefox 3.0 browser, and is the latest tactic to gain share in an already saturated market place.
This ingenious campaign achieves worldwide awareness of their latest product and, comparing it with Microsoft's push strategy for rolling-out IE7, Firefox have adopted a pull approach that simultaneously covers off acquisition of new customers, retention of existing customers and engenders ongoing customer loyalty for the product in one fell swoop...and on a global scale.
The Guinness World Record for software downloads campaign is supported by the 'Spread Firefox' microsite and includes, of course, plenty of opportunities to download the new Firefox 3.0 browser, and a visual 'tangible' interactive world map that was highlighting the number of downloads throughout the time period. This reference point encourages a potential sustained relationship for a minimum of 24 hours, but then that's all Firefox needs - as long as the latest brower is downloaded...job done!
Although the benefits of Firefox 3.0 are highlighted, it is unlikely that these are driving people to download the browser - it's the event; the participation; the buying into human behaviour of belonging to a group of like minded people.
The beta version of IE8 is due in August. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft decides to be equally creative and intelligent with their rollout.
When the marketers latched onto the potential of the mobile channel for communication purposes blue-sky ideas were plentiful. The concept of targeted mobile communications, contextual advertising and location-based messaging were glittering flames of desire hypnotising many a marketing department.
The flames of contextual advertising opportunities (e.g. sending a text message to a mobile phone within a clothes store highlighting the in-store offers) glittered and died. The systems were available, however, consumer fear of the invasion of their privacy took over, driving opt-in guidelines. Location-based messaging (e.g. text messages to cinema audiences encouraging them to turn off their mobile prior to the movie) suffered the same privacy fears, but in this example, mobile phone etiquette matured and user behaviour now drives the silencing of phones prior to a movie or theatre performance, which can be prompted by a more cost effective audio message.
Over time, the mobile phone market has evolved and key behavioural usage trends have thrived:
- traditional voice calls - text messaging - photography - listening to music - accessing the internet
The QR code is maximising upon behavioural usage and is a tool that is changing the way consumers interact with other communication channels and diversifying mobile phone usage. QR codes photographed and then texted to receive targeted news updates are appearing in the printed press. QR codes are also embedded in text messages and subsequently scanned as proof of identity to grant entry to venues such as clubs and sports arenas. In Japan, mobile phone QR code scanning is already being used as an alternative to credit cards.
Currently, one of the key challenges facing the mobile communications sector is the lack of disclosure when consumers text a response to a competition, or vote in a game show. Is the QR code a veiled way of obtaining mobile data from consumers by wrapping a text message in a pretty barcode picture? Or, are previous privacy fears being turned on their head and are consumers willfully submitting data and accepting to be branded with a simple dot matrix barcode as a means of identification?
Potentially, the mobile QR code is revolutionising mobile channel communication and how other channel communications interact with mobile. If this generates profitable targeted communications to consumers, the marketers won't be far behind.
