Mobile Advertising – put coupons directly into your prospect’s pockets (or belt clip at least)

Posted by Brian Ocheltree
November 25, 2007

In our endless effort to find creative ways to reach prospective customers, we have tested several new advertising channels. So far, we have talked to and are fans of Millennial Media, AdMob, Voodovox, Ingenio, Free411, and a few other mobile or pay per call channels, all of which have some unique approach or claim to fame to hang their hat on.

But, the one vendor who’s approach has intrigued me the most is Mobile Posse, and I think this is due to my undisputed status as a foolish gadget geek who likes to save money but is too lazy to clip coupons….

[Side Bar: To illustrate my credentials as a foolish gadget geek….. I had wireless email in 1992 on an HP Clam shell device and some sort of wireless modem that worked on its own data network of some kind (Air Card maybe???). I had the first Palm, and the first Wireless Palm (the Palm VII), which I used to dispatch service calls to PC techs in the field. I had the very first (and the third, and the fourth, and the eighth) Blackberry device.]

Mobile Posse is providing advertising on cell phones just as I imagined it would be when the buzz began a few years ago. Namely, they provide Ads on the device from a client side application that is pre-loaded on the device. I suppose others are or will e doing this as well, but this is the first I’ve seen of this approach, and I think it is quite compelling.

If I put my “consumer” hat on, the other forms of traditional mobile advertising that I have seen don’t excite me too much. Now, I agree that the future market must be huge with all of the buzz, and the behemoths heading in that direction. But, traditional banner and text ads on web sites accessed by a mobile device just isn’t what I expected when I first thought of mobile advertising. It’s just a normal ad accessed by a mobile device. Ok, ok… the potential for Brand Advertisers will be Huge based on the sheer volume, and the ability to easily click-to-call will be cool for lead generators…. but for some reason Retail Coupon aspect of the client delivered model really caught my attention. Let me explain.

The way I believe the Mobile Posse platform works is a consumer buys a phone from a carrier that has a deal with Mobile Posse. The device is pre-loaded with an application that connects to Mobile Posse. When the device is Idle for a certain period of time, an Ad or a news item is delivered to the device and the screen lights up and displays the highly creative image. The user can choose the “View More” button to view the one or two page ad, news item, weather report, coupon, etc. If the user hits ANY other button on the phone, the Ad or news item goes away. Ads are then stored in an easily accessible folder on the device for future use.

The samples that I saw were things like “Show this Coupon at Dunkin Doughnuts and receive a free small coffee…”. I don’t believe they have geo-specific ad delivery at this time, but they do know the address you used to buy the phone, so have an idea of where you are likely to be, how old you are, etc…. assuming they get this data from the carrier.. not sure though.
Now, for a guy like me, this is pretty cool. I’m pretty lazy. I will not seek out coupons or ads. And if I see one that is interesting, I will not put forth much effort to bookmark it or save it. However, I Love Dunkin Doughnuts coffee, I like to save money, and I ALWAYS have my cell phone with me. If I know I have seen an ad on my phone before, and I can easily retrieve it from a folder on my cell phone, and show it at the cash register to get free stuff, I’m all over it!

If I put my Retail Advertiser’s Hat on for a second, it feels like this would give me the ability to reach out and put a coupon in the pocket of tens of thousands of my prospective customers who will most likely have it on them the next time they stop in my store. Afterall, when’s the last time you left the house without your cell phone? nice……..