South Africa and Africa are significantly different to the European and US market models in a number of aspects that marketers should be aware of when considering Mobile as a brand marketing channel.
1. One of the major differentiators between the EU,USA markets and the SA, Africa market is the relevance of PC and Laptop usage to access the web.
In Europe and the US fast fibre optic broadband is cheap and readily available, this is not so in SA . The access to the web via PC and Laptop in SA is 5% whereas the mobile penetration is 93%. This has led to most South Africans accessing the web via their mobile phones.
2. SMS and MMS has been around for a number of years however there is a resistance to Premium Rated charges for SMS competitions.
Added to this is the public perception that SMS competitions are paid for by the consumer and are ‘one –way’ communication, except for the automated response to entry.
3. Brandscape provide Proximity Marketing via Bluetooth that can be initiated by a promoter wearing a Bluetooth transmitter or by networked Bluetooth poster sites situated at strategic locations.
One of the key differences of the Brandscape Mobile Marketing Channel is that unlike SMS, it is a FREE interaction as it does not require a network operator protocol.
Other differentiators include the ability to download rich media content such as video, music, instant wins, images and text, whereas SMS is text based and MMS requires to be set up by the user.
The rich media provides brands with the ability to reach audiences with a far more interactive and compelling message that will dove-tail with the brands traditional media such as TV, Radio and Print.
4. The content of a Brandscape interaction can be used to initiate brand communication objectives in the form of:
Brand visibility
Competition Call-to-action
Link to brand Mobile website (.mobi site)
Instant win vouchers for prize or product trial
All interactions are measurable and trackable providing the brand with consumer knowledge and insight that is actionable.
Why clients brief Brandscape
Traditional agencies that have acquired digital and mobile skills are benefiting from their clients expectations that these icon agencies understand how to mine and utilise the consumer data that they gather on behalf of the client through promotions and activations. The fact is that in many cases the agencies do not understand the full extent of integrated Below the Line CRM. Applying old rules to client strategies is no longer having the desired effect. These linear strategies are obsolete as it is the consumer who now drives the contact.
Brandscape have a solid and successful track record in creating and delivering relevant and impactful Digital and Mobile Proximity Marketing campaigns in South Africa and into Africa.
Our focus is on helping clients change their mobile strategies from “…let’s do an SMS campaign” into “…let’s connect with our customers.”
Over the past two years we have run 48 campaigns with over 400 activation days. We do not sell out-of-the-box solutions, we provide a comprehensive turnkey operation that ensures professionalism and success.
Brandscape Proximity Marketing features the use of the following technologies:
Wearable and fixed Bluetooth devices (Hypertag)
Brandpoint barcode scanners (Brandscape)
Bluetooth & Touchscreen technology (Brandscape)
Proprietary software (Brandscape)
Digital Retail Brandpoint Units (Brandscape)
Our turnkey digital and mobile solutions are structured around the brand objectives and will typically include a combination of :
Bluetooth proximity marketing (Opt-in Narrow-casting)
Promotional activation expertise (Successful implementation)
Digital touch-screen technology (Content choice)
Brandpoint barcode scanners (Closed loop rewards + Consumer data)
Engaging the consumer via their mobile phone, the audience is rewarded with rich media brand content, information, coupons, vouchers and prizes.
The top three things that make mobile marketing more attractive to brands are:
The ability to reach a specific target audience
Information about how the user responded to a marketing message
Proof that a message has been received by the user's handset. (Source: MMA)
Employing solutions devised and implemented by Brandscape, brand marketers are now able to accurately measure and track brand to consumer communication and likewise consumer to brand communication through permission based Mobile Phone technology with Bluetooth and Brandpoint providing trackable, measurable ROI that delivers hard consumer data.
But don’t take our word for it.
The following is what is being said by prominent advertising and industry leaders.
Advertising as we know it will cease to exist. Static mass media (fixed location, fixed time-slot) will become niche. Relevancy, permission and courtesy will rule.
Personal profiling and targeting will become a necessity in order to penetrate our personal firewalls. “If you don’t play by my rules I’ll block you!” Now the consumer REALLY is KING!
They are the media, their prime-time is when they say it is. If you want to reach them you have to know them and they will let you in when it suits them. Interactions with brands will become increasingly important through creating engaging content and providing exceptional experiences where the relationship with the brand will be one-to-one.
“Agencies should look to these three areas to provide growth.
What are known as developing markets, but we call faster-growing markets, new media, including internet and mobile media and consumer insight.”
(Sir Martin Sorrell, Head of the WPP Group, March 2009, Johannesburg South Africa)
“The size of the South African cellphone market was estimated at 30 -35 million users and this represents an undeniably attractive channel for marketers. The urban/rural and contract/prepaid markets with their peculiar demographics and potentialities are of particular interest to marketers wanting to enter this space. “
(Source: Rick Joubert, Executive Head: Proposition Management, Vodacom)
The market for Mobile marketing is said to represent a potential R1.5 billion industry over the next 3 - 5 years.
(Source: Lana Strydom, Senior Manager Portal and Entertainment, MTN SA)
Initial feedback on mobile marketing response rates is in the region of 11- 20%.
(Source: Lana Strydom, Senior Manager Portal and Entertainment, MTN SA)
“Brands are pushing agencies to be smarter and understand consumer media consumption better. 40% of American’s own PVR’s and are using them to skip 70% of the television commercials they watch, representing $27 billion. Ogilvy Beijing shot a Motorola video commercial with 2 Facebook internet “stars”, famous for amusing Backstreet Boys lipsyncing. The results? 60 million YouTube downloads and a 250% increase in sales.”
(Rory Sutherland, Ogilvy U.K. VC, in his recent VERGE presentation)
As the emerging economies potential mobile internet penetration far outstrips desktop or notebook internet, the media revolution is likely to boom in Mobile Web rather than Web 2.0 and Brandscape has positioned itself to provide solutions that link advertisers to markets in this space.
Important Mobile Facts and Figures
Acceptance of unsolicited mobile adverts has dropped in South Africa. Text Ads sent by brands was seen by 84% of respondents as unacceptable and had an adverse effect on their purchase decision.
(Source: Ingenio 2008 survey)
- February 2008 accepted requests = 139,429,092
- February 2009 accepted requests = 107,249,591
(Source: AdMob Mobile Metrics)
This would imply that SMS is declining as consumers want relevancy and reward before accepting brand communications. It would also suggest that standard practice of ‘interruption’ advertising has a negative impact.
Handset compatibility is key to being able to deliver the brand communication in the most interactive format.
- Phones supporting:
- Polyphonic ringtones - 85.3%
- streaming video - 68.5%
- video download - 83.5%
- WAP push - 92.9%
- Bluetooth - 98.1%
(Source: Ad Mob Mobile Metrics)
Most popular handsets in South Africa: Nokia (37.4%), Samsung (33.0%),
Sony Ericsson (9.6%), Motorola (8.4%) and LG (3.8%)
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