AdAge
(registration required or BugmeNot) carries a nice round up of some of
some of the more recent mobile marketing campaigns in the US. This
includes mega-brands such as McDonald’s, Masterfoods, Timex and
Heineken.

However, with a few exceptions (Coke springs to mind) these
promotions are not really what I would call "mobile marketing". All
that’s happening is that they’re using sms as a new fulfilment channel
for promotions. In other words, rather than inviting brand users to
send in their entries to sweepstakes, competitions or free prize draws
via post (or email/web as we’ve seen more recently), people can text
their entry in instead.

There’s nothing wrong with that and this kind of "Text and Win"
stuff has been happening in Europe for the last 5 years. The sms channel
is actually far superior to the postal one, as entries can be sent
spontaneously (without the need to procure stamp and envelope) and the
whole fulfilment process is completely automated. This increases the
number of entries and thus, the opportunities to build relationships
between brand and customer.

The one caveat I would point out to mobile fulfilment is that "Text
and Win" can easily become "Text and we’ll call you a looser, you
sucker" unless serious thought is given to secondary prizes. In the old
days of postal entries, you sent off your entry and forgot all about it
- unless you were a winner. With sms, you really don’t want to text
back that they haven’t won, as it’s equivalent to a mild slap in the face with a mouldy fish.

The simplicity of Text and Win can be demonstrated by the chimp’s
tea party of a promotion currently being run by Nestle and Napster. The
concept is simple. You buy a Crunch Bar and if it reveals
"Congratulations" you’ve won a music track. But here’s where everything
goes whizzing back to 1970, with the fulfilment process strutting
around in white flares to the sound track of Saturday Night Fever. As
as The Pondering Primate points out:

Winner must mail the entire original winning game wrapper
(keep a photocopy for your records) along with your name, address and
phone number on a 3" x 5" card by certified or registered mail, return
receipt requested to: Nestlé Finders Keepers Instant Win Game, P.O. Box
1571, Young America MN, 55594-1571

Huh? What’s this with white cards and photocopying? Why not
allow them to claim digitally? They could open the pack, get a code,
text it in (or email or via the web) get a winning unique number, go to
Napster and download. Simple, digital, user-friendly and addressing the
target audience in way that’s relevant to them.

Of all companies, surely Napster could relate to digital?

While all this mobile fulfilment makes sense, I can’t wait for
Mobile Marketing 2.0 to hit the scene as I’m getting bored with Text
and Win mechanics and I think many users are too. Where’s the
creativity in this sector?

Well, according to AdAge, it’s because traditional marketing agencies "don’t get it":

An executive with one prominent package-goods firm acknowledged that
mobile marketing is becoming more mainstream, but said brands are
having trouble finding the resources to help them in the mobile space.
“Brands want to go to the agencies and the agencies should be out
there. They’re not, because they don’t see the scale.”

This is certainly my experience with many agencies too. The creative
people who come up with the campaigns don’t have the tools or
vocabulary to "think mobile". They simply don’t understand the tech and
what is and what’s not possible. It’s like trying to think up an
advertising headline, as an example, in Russian (assuming you don’t
speak it). You might be able to give it a go with text books and
dictionaries, but it’s hardly going to be fluent and colloquial.

In fact, in many instances, even if you give the agencies the
answer, they’re still not capable of selling it to clients as they
don’t have a convincing grasp of the subject.

On the other hand, the mobile marketing specialists are primarily
tech-led. They know what’s possible, but they’re not marketing people -
worse, they think marketing is common sense. Marketing is common sense,
to be honest - but only if you have 10+ years
experience of doing it first. In other words, it’s the same as computer programming or brain
surgery being common sense.

Besides which, most clients don’t want another agency to have
to manage. They want to buy joined-up mobile marketing from their
Promotional Marketing Agency (let’s face it, ad agencies are never
going to understand this).

So there’s the gap. A promotional marketing agency (not a mobile
marketing specialist) who can speak fluent mobile. Can such a genus
evolve?

If you work in an agency and want to experience this type of evolution, give me a shout, as I can help.