Both the Mobile Marketer and Forbes discuss the new major move. In the Marketer, it sounds as though such a partnership is tenuous at best, with the thought that Microsoft just bought into yet another failing idea like the Zune or SPOT. Senior analyst of eMarketer, Paul Verna states that it helps to have the funding of a big company, but it doesn’t seem like the best move for Barnes and Noble.

The folks over at Forbes have a different discussion going on. Contributing writer, David Coursey has the opinion that Amazon’s Kindle could “be very dead,” as a result of Microsoft’s new partnership. Why? Initially Amazon may have the upper hand for the next couple of years. But as Coursey points out, Microsoft is about to pour $300 million into the Nook’s design and marketing strategy over the next five years.

Microsoft’s move could prove extremely beneficial in boosting their brand. Microsoft also owns Xbox which is another consumer electronics mainstay for gamers and the entertainment industry. Investing money in the Nook, which is already a well-known brand, allows them to take some of Amazon’s market share as well as gain a foothold into two markets: tablets and e-readers.

Here are some possibilities for what could happen:

• Make Bing the Default Nook Search Engine: If Bing was the default search engine for the new Nook, and already is for other Microsoft products, it could provide Microsoft a better standing in household consumer usage.
• Extend Content to Windows 8 Platform: Microsoft could take Barnes & Noble content and distribute it and sell it across Windows 8 devices. Maybe Microsoft just bought access to a large content library.
• Engage the Student Market: Microsoft has the chance to delve into the world of student books and apps. While Amazon does boast of a pretty large network of users and readers in the eBook world, the new partnership has murmured thoughts on pushing the new Nook into the handle of college goers.
• Tight Xbox Integration: The Nook could be a gateway to the Xbox universe and vice versa.
• Microsoft Suite on Devices: If the Microsoft Office Suite comes to the Nook it could funnel in new customers into the Office product line. It could also allow students and Office workers to work on their Microsoft documents thereby making their Nook device their tablet of choice.
• Advertising: Microsoft Advertising could power the Nook. This would allow Microsoft with some interesting advertising opportunities. Think of how contextual ads can be when you have such a wide purchase and browsing history available (which you would if people are purchasing and browsing content through their Nook). I’d still love to see ad-subsidized books and contextual ads based on what you’re reading. More thoughts in this post: Amazon Patent Suggests Mobile Ads for Kindle

It’s great to see more competition in the eBook space. Dominance by any single player tends to lead to stagnation. As with any new partnership, it remains to be seen what good Microsoft can do with the Nook. Microsoft stands to gain a good amount from this partnership: possible advertising in the Nook, a stronger platform, and increased market share for Bing. What does B&N gain? A large cash influx and some muscle to compete with Amazon.

Our concepts fell into two groups: for official and non-official sponsors. Since only official sponsors are allowed to associate themselves directly with the Olympic games, we came up with “live-data” concepts for official sponsors. We wanted to tie into the excitement and immediacy of the games. The ideas became ads as news. The concepts tie into close to real-time sports data providers so the ad viewer could get the latest Olympic information. A couple of ideas include:

• Medal Count – Allows consumers to see up-to-the minute medal count results.
• Daily Previews & Recaps – Consumers received the latest Olympic news and previews of coverage and events occurring later in the day.

We also needed to broaden the concepts to non-official sponsors to broaden the business opportunity for our partners. Concepts we designed for sponsors (official or not) include:

• HTML5 Mobile Casual Games – We focused on a basketball mini-game. Remember the game you played as a kid where you had one minute to take as many shots as possible? That’s essentially recreated using HTML5. Many don’t know that interactive games with Flash-like experiences can be developed with HTML5 and be deployed today. The most exciting thing about HTML5 mobile games is that they can be distributed across mobile web. This means larger reach and a larger audience.
• London Games Quiz – Another concept we developed is an HTML5 mobile quiz game based on Olympic trivia. Users have a time limit and the faster they respond, the higher the score gets. Users are allowed to then share and post results, as well as inviting other friends to play.
• Sport Timeline – In this concept we created an interactive HTML5 mobile experience where the user interacts with a timeline. As they move their finger across the screen dates, copy, and photos update as the consumer sees information about the innovation for a particular sport. This allows a sponsor or advertiser to associate themselves with any type of sport.
• Polling & Voting – We wanted to use polling concept that could be run throughout the day around various sporting events. Voting on who you think will win an event ties into the most common discussions people have on a daily basis. Plus you get bragging rights if you guess correctly. Polls were also targeted for specific audiences so not everyone views the same sport. Content and eesults are animated via HTML5. Advertisers can choose any type of sport to focus the polling or voting around.

The experiences we’ve been working on often get served via an expandable banner ad or a mobile microsite. HTML5 for mobile is especially exciting in that it’s enabling wide-scale interactivity and experience over mobile web. You’ll start seeing more and more rich experiences outside of apps.

Sponsors or advertisers can create custom experiences and UI components and are not relegated to standard web UI controls. HTML5 makes mobile advertising more enjoyable and encourages users to linger on microsites longer. An article in Digiday predicts major mobile interaction around the Games this summer, which gives advertisers a great chance at marketing products through dynamic microsites.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing more about our Olympic as well as other concepts. Stay tuned.

As an article points out in Luxury Daily, fashion label Michael Kors is the leader this Mother’s Day on social media, particularly with a mobile based contest. Marketer John Casey pointed out, “…Next Mother’s Day, a mobile-based contest will be old news.”The article goes on to describe Michael Kors newest campaign, spear-headed with a mobile-based contest. To get the word out to their current customer base they used other social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest to push the contest. Using the slogan “What She Wants,” the basic premise behind the contest is to funnel potential customers to the Kors ecommerce site which leads them to a specific area with cherry-picked gifts that mother’s would love.

CEO of Cross Pixel Media, Alan Pearlstein, agrees that there is a pressing need to examine the smaller markets instead of the broad scope. So instead of the Kors brand marketing to all women who could potentially become mothers, those who will not become mothers at all, or just women in general, they chose a specific demographic:

• Women over 40 (Facebook’s most active group)
• Women who have discretionary income to purchase luxury items
• Women who use their smart phones on a regular basis to shop

The idea of using a mobile based contest is not new, but the strategy of using an event or holiday to increase brand or product awareness is a good one. Michael Kors took one section of the bigger piece of market pie, and narrowed it down specifically t o those who would be interested in Kors products, and those who need to buy their mother’s a gift. By using the catchy tag-line “What She Wants,” Kors is implying that yes, of course, your mother wants a product with the Michael Kors brand.

This works well as part of a mobile design strategy. Mobile niche marketing is an excellent way to push a certain type of product or service into the public’s eye but careful planning is essential to a campaign’s success. Initially you will want to examine which events, holidays, or seasons work the best for your campaign. Analyze what products will fit within the event you have in mind. If you are unsure which products, or which event might work the best, run a few test campaigns to see where you get the biggest response. You could even segment an ad and direct it to different target markets to see which demographic responds.

Once you have figured out what works and what doesn’t, then consider scaling your campaign. It is essential that you get the marketing message down beforehand. The next step would be to find neighboring markets to branch into. For instance, the Kors brand might realize that men need to buy Mother’s Day gifts too for their mothers or wives. What kind of campaign would answer and meet their needs? Last-minute gift ideas, calendar reminders, and other helpful items provide high value to potential male customers.

A caveat to all these good thoughts on scaling down your market: if you do not measure, you will fail. It is ultimately up to you to examine the data of your market to determine where there is a need. It’s vital to examine your analytics to see what target market you could grow a campaign with. Mobile ads and especially mobile contests targeted for certain type of individuals will garner more success than the casually flung campaign across any and all who might stumble upon it.

Back in the late 90s when folks were first envisioning interactive television, we assumed the interaction would be taking place on the TV screen. Using either a remote or a touch screen, we would engage and drive television content. What Shazam’s mobile marketing app achieves is true interactivity. It shifts how we think about interactive TV, opening up amazing possibilities for brands and consumers. Instead of interactivity taking place on one screen, it takes place on two.

The content remains on the TV and the interaction happens on the mobile device, allowing brands and networks to coordinate mobile design in support of TV shows and commercials. Shazam’s mobile app works by leveraging the company’s sound recognition technology to drive interaction, solving the challenge of syncing interaction to timed content. Sound recognition provides a ‘bridge’ for perfectly syncing broadcast content to a mobile device, which otherwise would be a very complex process. What this means is that when the Shazam app picks up the appropriate words or music from the TV, a corresponding mobile experience or ad will appear instantly on your phone.

With Shazam’s technology, the mobile design experience possibilities are endless. Broadcast networks, for example, can enhance a program’s content during the show itself to increase programming loyalty. The two screens, mobile and TV, can play off each other simultaneously, as opposed to being related yet still working individually. In addition, networks can prevent people from changing the channel by providing interesting experiences during commercial breaks. For example, during breaks the network might show you ads for upcoming programs and remind you to schedule alerts. They can quiz you and offer prizes. Tease what will happen after the break.

Most advantageous to networks, Shazam’s mobile marketing app allows them to sell more advertising on combined units. Not only can they sell standard network slots, but they can also sell the accompanying interactions on mobile devices. Brands, too, like the interactive possibilities for an integrated rich experience. Many are designing their own versions of Shazam’s mobile marketing app to create interactivity between TV content and mobile devices.

These kinds of mobile marketing apps marry television’s broad profile marketing with mobile behavioral targeting. For example, you might watch an ad on TV from an auto manufacturer. Then, based on your profile, your mobile device will provide you with additional mobile design advertising based on your specific profile and preferences. Instead of everyone seeing additional content for the same vehicle, the person will get the most likely vehicle they are interested in (SUV, luxury sedan, sports car, etc) timed perfectly to the spot on the television. Because the interactivity will make commercials more interesting, these integrated mobile marketing apps and experiences may just solve the DVR issue of consumers bypassing all commercial content.

Shazam’s application of their technology is rather new. It’ll be interesting to see how many consumers embrace this type of interactivity. One thing is for sure though, the possibilities for innovation in mobile design and interactive tv have increased dramatically.

What’s most significant about Freestyle’s technology is that while consumers are mixing, the machine gathers data about consumer preferences and relays it back to Coca Cola, enabling the company to understand which flavors are most popular at particular times of the day. In this sense, Freestyle works much like a successful mobile marketing app. It gathers information from consumers while offering value to that consumer.

According to an article in AdAge, the limited number of Freestyle machines out there has already been highly successful at driving foot traffic and increasing in-store sales by 20-30%. The article also states that “more than 20% of consumers said they would be very likely to switch restaurants or convenience stores due to the presence of Freestyle”. This is extremely significant if Coca Cola manages to pull it off.

If the consumer experience is strong enough, consumer desire can be shifted from the fast food chain to the vending experience. For example, if Coke is doing a better job of reaching the customer via mobile, the customer will likely choose a location with a Freestyle instead of the food itself. In other words, it may not be an issue of “Do I want a burger, pizza, or taco” but “where can I get my Freestyle”?

By combining new vending technolgies with mobile design strategies, Coca Cola and other companies can harness the immediacy of mobile to further consumer interaction with their own products.

Mobile design ideas & strategies inspired by Coke’s Freestyle:

• When using Freestyle, let users ‘check in’ on their mobile phones so you can build up preferences over time.
• Offer random free extras like a coupon for a free drink or a size upgrade when using the machine.
• Give reward points and let users redeem those points through their mobile phones.
• Rather than conduct A/B testing for new flavors, rotate new flavors to avoid bias and see what people respond to best.
• Create partner or restaurant chain promotions and see which ones work best.
• Test promotions then target specific mobile customers based on your data. This will boost your marketing success.
• Offer free gifts like drinks and size upgrades on special occasions. For example: “Happy birthday! Have a Coke on us.”
• Track specific individual preferences to custom tailor offers. For example, if you know a user prefers Sprite and onion rings, send him a deal for a burger, onion rings, and a Sprite.
• Enable consumers to find a nearby machine, access their reward points, and check their latest offers

In sum, people will be loyal to the vending machine itself. A successful mobile design strategy enhances the experience by allowing consumers to share favorites, check reward points, get offers, and find a machine. These tips go for Coca Cola and any company venturing into the world of mobile marketing apps.

Let’s do a little experiment. Flip through some magazines and look at how different companies are using barcodes in their print communications. How often do you see a barcode by itself with no additional explanation like a simple “Scan here”? How frequently does the copy explain what you’ll get by scanning the barcode? For example, a barcode might be accompanied by text like: “Scan to find the nearest boutique” or “Scan here for a coupon”? Is the barcode sitting in the corner of the ad all by itself?

Your research will probably show that most QR codes look like stickers placed into an ad with no explanation at all. That’s a big problem. Especially with new technology, consumers need to be taught what to do. You have to give them a reason to scan the code. This is where your mobile design strategy comes in. If you want to raise awareness about store locations, lead them to a boutique. If you want to increase product trial, offer a coupon. Good mobile design will entice consumers to take additional action.

When I look at how barcodes are used in print ads, I often think of the barcode as a call-to-action. It’s essentially a ‘button’ that leads consumers to make a purchase or learn more about a product. But most QR codes are not being used that way. Instead, you’ll find barcodes placed in the corner of ads all by themselves. To me, this is the equivalent of using a button on a web page with no text whatsoever.

The solution? Integrate the barcode into your ad and include a solid offer. The code should be seamlessly placed into the ad’s design just like any other element. It should also lead to a site whose mobile design promotes further consumer action. Going back to the button analogy, you wouldn’t put a button off in a corner of a critical web page. Rather, your whole design for that web page would center on driving the user to take action.

The QR code should be similarly integrated into your print communications in a way that is visually appealing and provides incentives for scanning. Check out this slideshow on visually creative QR codes from Mashable. I’d expect to see a lot more creative use of QR in the future as designers become more familiar with them.

Lastly, you want to create various QR offers and test them to determine which one yields the best response. To do this, use the same print ad and only vary the ‘preview’ of what the user gets with the QR code, such as:

• Scan for location
• Scan for coupon
• Scan for video

Then track the hits on your mobile designed site to see which incentive delivered the most traffic.

There are plenty of companies who are using them correctly. According to a post on Online Spin, Home Depot and Best Buy have launched extensive QR centered campaigns, putting tags on their products to enhance the in-store experience. Also, over 45,000 new codes were created last quarter alone. Barcodes are rapidly taking their place as a viable marketing tool. The key is to use them strategically and design them wisely.

You’ll see more success when the QR design experience is thought through.

Below are some mobile retail design strategies for boosting the power of your mobile coupons.

1. Let users subscribe to specific coupons: For example let them sign up for specific department coupons like home, bed & bath, kitchen & dining. Tailored incentives are much more effective.

2. Wishlist coupons: Offer users coupons for things they want or notify them when items they’ve wishlisted go on sale. You have warm leads here you can maximize for sales.

3. Take advantage of GeoFencing: If a user is within a certain radius of a retail location, give them an incentive to stop in and shop.

4. Allow users to share coupons: Ensure your mobile design effort makes it easy for them to post your offers on their social networks and expand your reach.

5. Follow-up: if a user redeems your coupon, have a mobile retail strategy in place for offering more coupons in the future or other brand building incentives.

6. Allow easy and instant access to reviews: Your mobile design strategy should let consumers check reviews for at least coupon items. Access to reviews speeds the buying decision process.

7. Offer extra discounts for check-ins: Allow users to ‘check in’ when they are in a store to get additional deals exclusive to in-store shoppers.

8. Promote in-store only coupons: Let users they can access extra coupons in-store only. Maybe have specific offers tied to each day of the week. For example, Saturday is extra home coupons day (a day when people are likely to make home purchases). Tuesday (the day when new movies get released) is movie coupons day, etc. Train people to come to the store and expect speficic offers tailored to their interests on specific days.

9. Allow users to combine coupons for additional savings: If they have a 10% off blouse coupon and a 10% of pants coupon, let them use both for 25% off the entire purchase.

10. Reward with future coupons: Tell them that if they spend a certain amount today, they can get a discount on a future purchase.

11. Share coupons social networks: Offer coupon incentives for spreading the word about your products.

12. Offer extra reward points: Tie your mobile coupons into your rewards program by attaching extra reward points to specific coupons.

13. The more you spend, the more you save: Boost sales by encouraging consumers to buy more for additional discounts.

14. Double or triple coupon days: To drive traffic on a specific day of the week, let users double or triple the value of their mobile coupons.

All of the above mobile design strategy ideas for retail coupons will work best if you have a solid mobile strategy in place and if that strategy is well executed. When those two elements come together, mobile coupons can be used to drive retail sales in a number of ways.

We’ve had the opportunity to work with different mobile recognition companies from image recognition experts to barcode providers. Throughout these collaborations, I’ve heard some disturbing trends. For example, when using QR codes many companies ignore mobile strategy and simply have their QR tag lead to a non-mobile version of their site, often just the regular home page rather than even a specific landing page dedicated to the promotion. Consumers are not able to navigate those sites well because they aren’t optimized for viewing on mobile. Design plays a large role in QR code success. QR codes also get a bad wrap because they often lead to a broken link.

In both these cases, and many others, companies are misusing mobile technology and not realizing the true potential of QR tags. Basically, they haven’t created an overall mobile strategy that uses good mobile design to incorporate QR tags into a larger mobile marketing campaign. Mobile is not a magic bullet. Like all other marketing campaigns, mobile design needs to be thought through. Mobile itself is not a strategy.

Before thinking about QR codes or any mobile campaign, then, you need to develop some high-level business goals. Are you trying to build awareness? Are you trying to drive sales or capture names? Mobile is one channel for achieving these goals. (Print, direct mail, etc. are other channels.) QR codes are one component within your mobile strategy. They should be used in conjunction with a mobile designed website and other branding efforts.

QR codes can be highly effective for building awareness, driving sales and capturing names. People often think of them as solely a means for encoding a url. However, if you work with a QR registry, you can implement intelligent QR codes that adapt to your needs by delivering content based on the user’s profile, location, date and a number of other factors.

Imaging designing your mobile possibilities with the ability to present different content and offers based upon:

• Scan location (different for cities, states, countries)
• Date/Time Ranges (different for evenings, lunches, holidays, etc)
• Maximizing user profiles for previous purchases and phone types
• Geo-fencing within a specific distance of your retail location

In sum, I think the real advantage of QR codes lies in the way they bridge the physical and the digital. They’re a great way to drive end users to take easy and immediate action. As QR codes evolve and marketers begin to implement them within a larger mobile strategy, they will provide solid results. But success will require that a strategy be put in place along with a solid call-to-action, an enticing offer and a well-designed mobile destination.

Getting value from your store’s mobile marketing site or app requires smart mobile design and strategy that fulfills consumer’s needs while shopping. Here are some ways to maximize your mobile site or app design so that it results in greater retail sales.

Create easy access to reviews.

Customers want to know how others liked or disliked a product. Posting reviews on your mobile site or appis one of the top things you can do to expedite consumer decision-making.

Allow consumers to lookup product availability and shelf location.

Consumers don’t like wasting time searching your store for a particular item. If your mobile design incorporates features that enable them to look up if your store carries a product and where it’s located, you’ll be more likely to make that sale. For example, I was in Target looking to buy a toy. The clerk didn’t know if the store carried the particular toy I was looking for.

I checked the mobile site and verified that the toy was in stock. The site even showed me what aisle to find the toy—highly convenient. Essentially, you want to think of your mobile site or app as a virtual retail assistant with all the answers.

Allow login and interaction with digital accounts.

When consumers login to your mobile site or mobile while at your physical retail locations, you can suggest additional items based on what they are purchasing as well as their user profile. Think batteries and accessories. You can also give these consumers specific incentives to drive other purchases. Mobile sites and apps designed for an integrated retail experience help you increase the size of your baskets.

Aid their memory.

Sometimes consumers want to save product information so they can purchase that product later. Design your mobile site or app so that it allows them to sign up for research later or create a wishlist.

Facilitate feedback.

Your mobile retail website should make it easy for consumers to forward product information to a friend and request an opinion. The simpler this process is, the more likely you are to make a sale.

Maximize QR codes.

QR codes bridge the physical good at the retail point-of-purchase to the digital. I scanned a plant’s QR code while in Home Depot. I was taken to a mobile web page with supplemental information that couldn’t have been shown on the plant. The site provided the info I needed to make a purchase—which I did. QR codes simplify the ability to get information about a product instantly.

Essentially, a good mobile site or app supplements the in-store shopping experience in ways that drive more sales. Instead of digital store versus physical store, you get a blending of the two for the ultimate retail experience.

Ways to attract user recommendations:

Tell a Friend

Tell a Friend functionality allows a user to spread information about your mobile branded app via email. App stores frequently make use of this functionality to promote mobile apps, but you rarely see it integrated into an app itself. Doing so is advantageous because you make it easy for app users to recommend your app and deliver your crafted marketing messages to their friends.

Tell a friend works by initiating a pre-populated email on a user’s mobile device. Plus when you incorporate Tell A Friend into an app’s home or about screen, or as infrequent popups, users enjoying an app can share it instantly. This increases the chances that users will recommend your app, and with 53% of app users getting their apps from recommendations, Tell a Friend may be the only marketing program you need.

Just Ask

A simple request to share an app can go a long way toward meeting your marketing goals. For it to be a success, the request should be direct, polite and give the user the ability to opt out forever or be reminded later. The last thing you want to do when advertising a mobile app is to annoy the user. Note the screenshot I took of a desktop app that does this very well. The app makes a request, explains why it’s making a request, and then thanks the user. At no point does the request feel like a sales pitch. Just Asking works especially well with freemium versions of mobile apps.

Use Social Networks

Leverage your app users’ existing relationships by allowing them to forward info about your app to a social network like Facebook or Twitter. You can specify the exact message you want spread along with a graphic. That message could be about the app, a hi-score with the user’s name, a coupon or discount, etc.

The great advantage here is that rather than recommend your app to one friend at a time, social network sharing functionalities let users recommend your app or messaging to all their friends at the same time. With each user who forwards to Facebook or Twitter, you reach hundreds of potential users with messages about the value of your app.

Reward Users

Don’t forget to reward users for spreading information about your app or message. When you give users a reason to share, they will. If your app is a game, offer extra levels, special characters or additional graphics they can’t get elsewhere. If you’re a retail store, provide them with a discount. Your reward for offering a reward will be worthwhile.

Make Recommendations Part of Your Mobile Strategy

Ensure your apps success by making recommendations a part of your marketing mobile app strategy. During planning, require the integration of promotions. When designing the mobile user interface, create a user-friendly flow with integrated sharing functions.

Lastly, create the best user experience possible. No one shares a bad app, so make yours the best possible and watch the word spread. With built-in features for recommendations, sharing a mobile app with friends becomes infinitely easier—which makes marketing mobile apps easier as well.

The statistics come from a study conducted by MTV Networks and presented this month at the OMMA Mobile Show in New York City. When designing an app, you’ll want to consider the following:

• 79% of users stick with an app because of its ease
• 53% find apps through recommendations
• 55% say having fresh content is still important in making an app among a user’s favorites
• 38% dump deleted apps within 3 weeks
• 55% of those who deleted an app did so because they found a better alternative

What these numbers mean is that when you’re designing a branded app or creating one for advertising purposes, you have a few slim chances to make your app memorable enough so people use it, keep it and recommend it to their friends. When designing your app feature set and mobile user interface, pay close attention to your app’s core functionality and core uses during the design phase. Good mobile design is not an after-thought. It’s as integral to the success of your app as your content and the features. Create easy and intuitive mobile user interfaces. Know the competition and make your app better.

A second criteria for creating a popular app is fresh content. More than half of app users say updated, relevant content is what leads them to keep an app. When you’re designing mobile user interfaces, make sure you can quickly change and add content, and incorporate a way to notify users when new content is posted. You’ll also want to let users know how you’ll be updating content and when. This way they’ll be more receptive to your app and less likely to delete it.

There are hundreds of thousands of apps out there. Most are not worth the free download. People are less forgiving on mobile and, as the above stats show, are willing to delete your app within three weeks. Yet if you invest time and thought into your mobile app design, you’ll have satisfied mobile app users who will remain loyal to your brand, recommend your app, and spread your message

How many times have you seen a magazine on an iPad and felt the publisher did little more than produce a slideshow with simple navigation? In many cases the mobile ads, as well as the publication’s content, looks like PDF copies of the print version. I think publishers are on the right track in modeling layout of a digital magazine based on its print counterpart. But improvement is needed.

Blend Magazine Layout Design with Website Functionality

The mobile user interface design of an iPad could take a lot of inspiration from layout but the familiarity should stop there. Once you get to the actual features or experience, I recommend looking at what’s working best in your website instead of your print publications. How about taking the best interactive features of your site and making it easier to use? Improve the mobile user experience. Create a friendlier user interface ensuring the magazine is easy to consume.

Including social media features would also improve user experience. Let viewers share articles, excerpts and photos on social networks. Create engagement and conversation with user comments.

Mobile Advertising in Digital Magazines

One of the reasons for low click-through rates online is due to dull advertising. What about taking best of breed online ads like integrating homescreen takeovers and trying them in digital magazines? What if publishers and advertisers produced better interactive ad units using IAB standards? How about serving intelligent ads based on former ads the user has engaged with in your publication?

Recently, the Wall Street Journal’s iPad app introduced an inline video on the front page and sprinkled elsewhere throughout the publication. CNN now has a gorgeous, very attractive layout with scrolling horizontal article teasers (photos and text) and vertical rich mobile ad design columns on the home page. It’s like a kaleidoscope of international, national, entertainment, technical and other news that keeps readers’ eyes glued to each page. Mobile ads are designed carefully blended with news content.

Experiment with Virtual Currency and Mobile Advertising

Creative advertisers and brands could even experiment with virtual currencies to reward readers for watching ads and sharing information. They could give points for “unlocking” and viewing ads, for example, while varying the number of earned points. By employing game mechanics you create deeper engagement that encourages readers to earn more points for additional magazine content.

As a result, advertiser and publisher creativity would improve, exposing readers to superior innovative media.

The first thing I like about the program is how the mobile marketing app was launched in conjunction with the loyalty program. Many marketers, advertisers and brands, when launching a new customer loyalty program, stick to the tried-and-true, leaving a mobile app marketing strategy until later. Companies mail plastic cards and lavish four-color brochures, send emails and launch new web pages describing program benefits.

By providing a branded app along with the launch of a loyalty program, you give interested people an immediate way to take action and get excited. Mobile branded apps, in fact, are one of the most effective ways to stay in touch with customers and encourage interaction with your brand on a regular basis.

Brand Loyalty Improves with Mobile Marketing App Exposure

As MGM discovered, smart phone owners engaged in the MGM brand on a daily basis are drawn to the app through interactive sweepstakes and contests. Apps entice users to seek more information and become familiar with your company. This immediate familiarity makes people feel more comfortable with a brand, and also trains them on how to use the app. It’s also a great fit with the gaming aspect of MGM’s business.

MGM management observed, as smartphones apps have grown, that combining an iPhone and Android app for marketing, coordinated with promotions (sweepstakes, dining, entertainment and events) improves campaign results. That boosted customer loyalty as users segmented themselves by revealing desired services when using the app.

Hospitality, entertainment and other verticals aren’t unique. When mobile marketing app consumers engage on a regular basis with your mobile-branded app, your products, services and image become imprinted in consumers’ minds. This is critical as brands compete for mind share in mobile space.

Mobile Segmentation Boost

It’s interesting to think how mobile users segment themselves as they use mobile apps daily. By choosing specific offers—gaming, lodging, shows or entertainment–mobile app users disclose their interests when interacting with the brand, improving target marketing.

This also offers a competitive advantage to any brand or marketer to “tweak” the app for maximum ROI by engaging audiences in innovative ways.

Building Customer Loyalty through Mobile Apps

In a previous article about MGM and mobile marketing apps, I discussed how brands can use mobile apps to draw people to their resort destinations. It’s good to see brands like MGM continue innovating across the mobile channel. Customers appreciate the additional content and engagement shown by brands using multi-channel approaches.

Customer Loyalty and Retention

Building customer loyalty, retention and company branding is challenging. As more brands and advertisers, like MGM Resorts, leverage the marketing power of mobile apps, consistent messaging in the marketing mix improves campaign results.

The study also showed that 70% using mobile branded apps agreed that an app that isn’t useful or easy to use contributes to a negative perception about a brand. Brands today can’t ignore critical elements of the mobile user interface design and mobile user experience design when creating an app.

Close to three-quarters (73%) of users believe a mobile advertising app or a mobile marketing app should be easier to use than the company Web site. How many times have you felt confused when using a branded app?

Remember in the late 90s when the early web was evolving commercially? A visually unappealing website, frustrating to navigate with clunky functionality clearly conveyed “Wow. That company doesn’t get it.”

This is EXACTLY what brands portray - even to fans - when they execute a branded mobile app poorly.

A branded app is not just a checkbox on a list. Mobile branded apps for marketing and advertising have a valuable function and can sway consumer perception with the press of a button. Here are some factors to consider when executing a branded app:

• Is your branded app integrated well with your marketing campaigns across multiple platforms?
• Does your mobile user interface not only conform to device specific UI guidelines but exceed them? Good enough doesn’t cut it.
• Are you effectively communicating your message through utility or entertainment? The medium is NOT the message. The message is the message.
• Are you providing ongoing fresh content to drive repeat visits and encourage social media sharing?

The webinar is oriented towards marketers and advertisers and covers the following topics:

• Benefits of mobile apps
• Technical capabilities
• Viral and marketing capabilities
• Recommended Features
• Tips & Strategy

The following direct marketing best practices will be shown how to apply to apps:

• Showcase Products
• Lead Capture
• Testing Offers
• Harvesting Demographics
• Viral
• Spreading Info to Social Networks
• Managing Communication
• Loyalty Programs
• App Stickiness

The cost is $15 and you can register here.

This is a great way to unlock mobile marketing and advertising opportunities. There are many possibilities for brands to align with real-world actions.

Another great use of partner badges would be as a tool for consumer contests or sweepstakes. For example, a clothing store could give achievements points, special offers or coupons to the user taking a photo of the cutest “back-to-school” outfit. A health food brand could take advantage of mobile marketing and partner with Foursquare to promote healthy eating. Users could be rewarded with recipes, healthy hints or unique discounts.

This is a brilliant use of game behavior applied to marketing. To learn more about using game mechanics and get ideas for mobile marketing and advertising, I highly recommend reading Game-Based Marketing: Inspire Customer Loyalty Through Rewards, Challenges, and Contests.

It’s nice to see mobile advertising and marketing apps encouraging real world behavior outside of “get to the store and purchase.” Foursquare’s recent press release stated: “We look forward to the day when looking at your foursquare badges reminds you of all your proudest life accomplishments”.

Check out the video above demonstrating Google Voice Actions. Note that you can search for a business by name, dial the number and get directions without pushing a button. Think about the possibilities for mobile design.

Aside from the cool factor, there are real world applications that make voice interaction an important feature. In addition to opening up mobile to those with mobility and sight restrictions, hands free texting can literally save lives on the road.

There will be even more amazing mobile design possibilities if Google enables a Voice Actions API, letting Android app developers build voice control into their apps.

Branded marketing and advertising mobile apps could easily leverage the API to guide users to nearby stores, call them, and give directions.

Other commands include:

• send text to [contact] [message]
• listen to [artist/song/album]
• call [business]
• call [contact]
• send email to [contact] [message]
• go to [website]
• note to self [note]
• navigate to [location/business name]
• directions to [location/business name]
• map of [location]

Eventually, I’d like to see devices presenting content to me with voice. I could search with my voice, have results presented with the device’s voice then respond back with my voice.

For example, there’s a new app from Kimberly-Clark that helps parents potty train their kids. The iGo Potty was created to give parents information and tools without advertising or direct sales. This is a great move from the makers of Pull-ups in light of a new study reported in the New York Times. The study says that the demographic group most interested in receiving mobile advertising is mobile owners with children.

Another company avoiding the hard sell in a mobile marketing/branded apps is organic foods chain Whole Foods. Mobile Marketer reported that the Whole Food’s Market Missions application centers around missions encouraging a healthier lifestyle. “Advanced Lettuceness” and “Smoothie Operator” let consumers complete steps, earn badges and share favorite tips through email and social media. This is an excellent example of aligning users needs with a free and useful tool while reinforcing mission and brand.

Wedding planning can be a very long, very complex and very costly endeavor. The newly renamed Brides Wedding Genius app has tools to keep insanity at bay including everything you need to know about dresses, rings and honeymoon locations. Conde Nast’s Brides magazine has expanded the iPhone and iPad application and added Marriott Hotels & Resorts as an aligned sponsor. Another great targeted utility app that knows its audience and isn’t afraid to embrace it.

Mobile advertising and mobile marketing oriented branded apps that focus on knowing their audience, aligning with their mission, and promoting utility will find better results than the hard sell.

Interactive and social television is usually delivered ALONG with a broadcast stream. However, a companion app to a show is a great idea that brings Social Television over and above traditional programming and viewing. The use of a mobile device makes deployment easier and quicker than tv devices. It can also deliver great mobile user experiences that are optimized for mobile devices.

The Superbowl might be the only televised event these days that brings people together at the same time, in the same room to experience a televised event simultaneously. With the evolution of DVRs, Hulu, YouTube and other online streaming sites, shared television watching has been deeply fragmented. Social TV brings together programming, communication and social interaction to perfectly promote next-day water cooler talk. This is vital not only for word-of-mouth promotion but important for advertisers and sponsors.

I had a few ideas about how to expand and improve the mobile user experience on a tv network application:

• Sell season passes to a show
• Sell monthly subscriptions to the network as a whole
• Offer discounts for DVD purchases if you’ve purchased earlier shows
• Offer viewers a limited amount of recent episodes for free but charge for older episodes
• Offer discounts for additional merchandise (such as associated games)
• Offer free content (like daily trivia or wallpapers) that a user can distribute virally

Benefits include:

• Harvesting valuable viewer demographics by offering free programming in exchange for answering profile questions
• The ability to promote other shows on network at same time
• Create deeper immersion with characters and network experience with the ability to look up information on your favorite actors or their characters.

Look for other networks to quickly enter the live TV app market.

When I think of Rolex, I think luxury, quality and style. But I also think of an older demographic, that sticks to print. So I’m glad to see Rolex taking a step in a fresh and innovative direction. If print becomes more interactive in various ways, it could become even more interesting than a purely digital magazine. (see my previous post about a video player embedded in an issue of Entertainment Weekly) Hopefully, other luxury brands will follow and increase mobilized print ads in consumer publications.

The ad itself relies on pure image recognition. The way it works is that readers can snap a photo of the ad, send the pic to an email address and get more information as well as an entry into the cash sweepstakes.

Moving forward, print publications could offer readers a companion mobile app to make the interactive experience even easier. A magazine app could just require the user view the ads and use image recognition via the users device as opposed to emailing it. This would also allow the magazine to harvest valuable demographic info. Finding out exactly who is reading the ads would be a great pitch to attract new advertisers not previously considered.

Making print ads interactive (regardless of the method) is a good way to inject print magazines with more life and prop up the whole publishing industry.