Mobile

Image via Mobile Behavior

Over the past few months we’ve embarked on quite a large endeavor — 7 mobile reports covering nearly every topic of this emerging landscape, from mobile-social and apps to SMS marketing and search. Below is a final rundown of the series. You can download the full PDF for any of these by clicking the “Download” button within Scribd.

• Mobile Marketing Overview
• Mobile Search
• SMS (Text Messaging)
• Mobile Social Marketing
• Mobile Applications
• Mobile Shopping, Coupons & Barcodes
• Mobile Marketing & the Challenges that Lie Ahead

You can expect lots more from us by way of mobile in the coming months. Which topics would you like to see more of on the blog? Let us know in the comments below.

Image via Twitter

Yesterday Twitter announced a new feature, dubbed Fast Follow, that will let people (only in the US for now) follow Twitter accounts without actually signing up for the service. Twitter is hoping to tap into soaring mobile consumption rates by allowing mobile users to opt into SMS updates for any Twitter account. (More on SMS Marketing in our recent report).

To receive mobile updates from any Twitter account, simply text ‘follow [username]’ to 40404. For example, you can text ‘follow 360i’ to 40404 to get updates from us in real time, all the time. To get only the most recent tweet, text ‘Get [username]’ to that same shortcode.

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Do you wish there was another mobile application where you could check in at a location? There’s no shortage of options. Yet another contender just launched very publicly with a different approach, turning the whole act of checking in into a game.

Meet SCVNGR, which is as long on ambition as it is short on vowels. With its latest version having debuted last week for consumers, it’s making big announcements at Google I/O, the annual developer event. SCVNGR has been quietly growing over the past couple years, reporting that over 600 institutions in 44 states and 20 countries have worked with them so far. Today, it released the names of some of the larger brands that are starting to build on it: the Boston Celtics, Boston Globe, New England Patriots, Journeys, The New York Times, Universal Music Canada and Warner Bros. Its client base also includes hundreds of colleges and universities – notably Princeton University, where 21-year-old SCVNGR Chief Ninja founded the company in 2008.

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Stickybits provides a fun and social way to attach digital content to real world objects.

Seth Goldstein, Chairman and founder of SocialMedia, and Billy Chasen, the original programmer of Chartbeat, launched Stickybits this past March at the annual SXSW festival. Their concept holds the rare honor of being completely awesome and simple, while at the same time enabling limitless possibilities, the majority of which have yet to be seen.

So, what exactly are Stickybits? According to Goldstein, they’re a ‘fun and social way to attach digital content to real world objects’. Using the mobile application (currently available for the iPhone and Android), users scan standard barcodes, which are found on every consumer packaged good you can think of.

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Couponing Then & Now: Mobile technology is changing the way retailers connect with their customers.

The New York Times recently reported on innovations in web couponing technology.  Multichannel retailers can now deploy tools to identify the relationship between online research and offline sales.  And not just mass population, but individual user data.  New single-user web coupons can connect a user’s online behavior – such as keyword searches – with his/her offline purchases, in a way we could only dream about a few years ago.  The proposition of matching the right offer to individual propensity is intriguing for retailers in 2010. Hopefully this article will inspire you to consider the potential web couponing has for your business and how to get started.

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Ralph Lauren is one of many brands that have integrated QR codes into their marketing programs. Will the trend continue to surge?

The Japanese embraced them nearly fifteen years ago. They’ve been used by major film studios in America for numerous marketing campaigns. Ralph Lauren incorporated them nearly two years ago at their Rugby store near New York’s Union Square. So why aren’t QR codes being used everywhere, by everyone, all the time?

Let’s back up. In case you’re not familiar with the technology, QR codes, short for quick response, were created by a Japanese corporation, Denso-Wave, in 1994. The Wikipedia entry will give you the basics, but the real story is about to unfold, one mobile phone at a time.

The technology takes the basic bar code concept and literally adds an additional dimension. Instead of just grabbing a series of numbers to say, scan a can of corn, QR codes allow scanners to pick up additional types of information, such as a URL, text, phone number, or SMS. In the URL example, that link connects Smartphone (and some flip phone) users to a mobile site, where they can engage with a piece of content, such as a photo, video, or anything else you can think of.

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While at the Consumer Electronics Show, I moderated a panel at Digital Hollywood on “Mobile Commerce and Content: The Mobile Web, Texting, Search, and Advertising Options.” As you can see, the panel covered a lot of ground, and I can’t begin to capture it all. But I did take some notes and I’ll share those here.

I need to thank my panelists here for all their insight, and I wish I could have done the session more justice, but look out for any of them at other events as you’re guaranteed to learn a few things.

• Ali Rana, Vice President, Digital Strategy, Dynamic Logic
• Jamie Wells, Director, Global Trade Marketing, Microsoft Mobile Advertising
• Brian Johnson, Senior Vice President, Americas and Asia Pacific, mBlox
• Thomas Roberts, Chief Product Officer, Digital and Mobile Services, kgb
• Pooj Preena, CEO, Groupe Hi-Media USA;
• Greg Fawcett, co-founder, MobiAd Sales

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