Alcatel-Lucent is trying to carve itself a place in the fast-growing mobile advertising space, launching a service with which agencies can buy permission-based mobile ads across multiple carriers and networks.

The French telecomms vendor, historically focused on the more conservative areas of networking, is an unlikely entrant to the space, but its mobile advertising vice president Thomas Labarthe told me the firm has augmented its existing “application enablement framework” by creating a brand new media arm comprising 50 to 100 staff across several countries.

Named Optism, the new service starts by Alcatel-Lucent partnering with mobile carriers (it so far has Orange in Austria, E-Plus in Germany and “there’ a big list in our pipeline”), then lining up media buyers. The ad buyers then create and book ads using Optism’s web-based tool. “We enable agencies to purchase and campaigns and get all sorts of analytics,” Labarthe said, adding the buying agency, operator and Alcatel-Lucent share revenue.

So far, Optism is claiming “many” agencies amongst its ad-buying customers, but names GroupM as the “main” one and is talking with Aegis and OMD. “We can aggregate inventories across networks and present it in an agnostic way,” Labarthe said, calling Optism the obligatory “one-stop shop”.

Mobile advertising is attracting many new entrants, but Optism is sticking to the uniquely personal qualities of mobile.

“AdMob and Quattro are display ad networks,” Labarthe added. “Display is not very targeted and offers a relationship between an advertiser and user which is static, you don’t build a history. What we are powering is permission-based marketing, using several types of formats, including response mechanisms.

“We are trying to avoid what you have in online display ecosystem where the revenue spend by an advertiser is shared with so many stakeholders that, in the end, the media owner is left with a very small share of revenue.”

Specifically, Optism supports SMS and MMS mailouts. An example in the announcement shows a lunchtime text from McDonalds ask a user which meal s/he fancies, from two choices. Replying by sending “2” invokes another message from McDonalds bearing a URL to the WAP page for a Big Mac. It’s not the best-sounding example – more effective-sounding are the discounts and offers that are also promised.

“End users are keen to receive branded messages, provided their preferences and privacy are respected, Labarthe says. “We’ve hired a team of experts from the media and advertising space. That was not part of the DNA of Alcatel-Lucent.” The team numbers staff with experience from OgilvyInteractive, MTN Networks and Blyk, the nascent ad-funded MVNO that was last year bought by Orange as part of an effort to offer discounts and third-party offers to customers that take advertising.

Labarthe said Alcatel-Lucent firm got the idea 18 months ago: “We’ve been talking about mobile advertising for several years and there is a lot of scepticism involved – rather than come with a brand new format, we want to keep it simple but go big.

“We are hearing a very clear call from our customers to help them extend in to new value chains, they need to diversify; some operators need some support to do this. That’s what Alcatel-Lucent wants to achieve, not just providing network elements.”

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1. Indonesia: 2.9bn ads served (+38% on Q4 2009)
2. India: 1.1bn (+71%)
3. US: 465.2m (+54%)
4. S. Africa: 357.9m (+15%)
5. Canada: 238.9m (+68%)
6. UK: 229.4m (+114%)
7. Saudi Arabia: 162.3m (-15%)
8. Norway: 131.1m (+92%)
9. Nigeria: 125.7m (+47%)
10. Malaysia: 116.2m (+14%)

“During Q1, a total of 32 markets each delivered monthly traffic in excess of 10 million impressions per month,” says BuzzCity CEO, KF Lai. “This demonstrates the continued advertiser interest in mobile Internet advertising, and with many of the campaigns now being run through experienced agencies, we are starting to see a more constant and structured investment in the medium. We are also starting to observe a greater investment in mobile from brands outside the mobile content sector, most notably among operators.
“With the increase in affordable high-end phones and greater public awareness of the mobile web, 2010 has also driven a rise in the volume of global mobile traffic. This increase in volume and continued advertiser interest has meant publishers can expect better returns as a greater variety of advertisers get better acquainted with the media. This is a trend which we predict will continue to fuel the rise of the mobile advertising industry during 2010.”
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Related posts:

1. Tweets from 2010-01-20
2. Tweets from 2010-04-09
3. Tweets from 2010-04-04

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There has been an increasing level of interest and debate in the topic of real-time, location-based marketing, and this will only increase as Google and Facebook enter the space in a serious way.
That said, I have been surprised at how little of the conversation has focused on the opportunities this new technology creates for brands with established customer loyalty and reward programmes. 
For example, the mobile social network/game Foursquare has been in the news after signing up its first national UK brands – Debenhams and Domino’s Pizza. The app detects Foursquare users’ whereabouts, and when they visit the store or restaurant they gain points for ‘checking-in’.
Brands get involved by offering deals to users based on, for example, the number of times someone checks in to their local branch. Businesses get increased footfall, and ideally, a network of brand ambassadors who will pass on recommendations. The consumer gets great deals that are relevant not only to who they are, but where they are, such as Debenhams giving Foursquare members a free cup of coffee in the restaurant when they check in

Engaging consumers
So it’s no secret that Smartphones and branded applications are an incredibly cost effective way of targeting and engaging consumers. By creating tools which engage and add value that your customer base can download and use on a regular basis, you can integrate with their lives in a way that advertising never has.
The iPhone is clearly the leader with respect to the app marketplace. While some point to the iPhone’s still relatively low penetration of the overall mobile market (at around 2%) and even of the Smartphone market (14%), it is quickly starting to grow in a market that will also continue to grow exponentially. It is also worth recognising that the iPhone already accounts for 50% of all mobile web traffic. 
At Collinson Latitude we have a lot of experience working in the travel sector, and some of the software we are developing illustrates the potential of the next generation of apps that can use a Smartphone’s GPS capabilities in a way that enables brands to hit a moving target.
We are about to release a product that offers travellers a web-based suite of services that help them plan, prepare and manage their whole journey. The capabilities include itinerary planning, destination content, check-in services, and miles management, as well as airline timetables and flight status texts – it’s a travel toolkit. It’s also enabled with an iPhone application, so travellers will be able to carry on planning and managing their trips on the move, even when offline, avoiding expensive data roaming charges.

Customer journey
The key insight here is that loyalty programmes should connect with all the different stages of the customer journey (in every sense of the word), from planning to booking, and from departure to arrival. Mobile technology can actually be viewed as a very direct way to plug in to that journey, wherever the customer may be.
What this means is that we already have a good idea of where the customer is going to be and when, as well as knowing how much loyalty or reward currency they have. This can be matched against the various outlets that reward programmes have affiliate marketing relationships with. Also, as the customer loyalty programme provider, you already have a huge amount of customer data, including payment information. As a result, the mobile device could actually be used, even offline, to facilitate some of the purchasing processes.
Say, for example, the customer uses a mobile app to find the nearest hotel where they can spend their loyalty points; they could actually book a room and check in via their Smartphone. A key principle of properly developed reward programmes is that they use as much customer insight as possible to make sure that the services and products offered are exactly what the individual wants and needs. This data should be used not just to meet customer expectations, but to exceed them.
It’s also worth noting that there is a lot of trust inherent in the relationship you have with your customer base, which retail partners can benefit from. Furthermore, because the customer’s payment details are not held on the mobile device, but rather, by you as the programme provider, no sensitive financial data needs to be transmitted. This resolves a major consumer fear and barrier to location-based marketing.
Another capability that mobile offers is to push messages onto the customer’s device. Relevance here is absolutely crucial; it’s a disruptive technique that can increase engagement with the right insight, but can easily irritate if the correct principles are ignored. There is a clear benefit, however, to being able to message a customer to let them know that now they’ve touched down, there is a restaurant nearby where their reward points are worth double.

Intelligent monitoring
This ‘intelligent monitoring’ is a key part of our development strategy. Previously, we’ve been able to narrow down the offers made to customers according to their pre-arranged travel plans, but now we will be able to target people, based specifically on where they are, with this next level of customer insight. So whilst you have a captive consumer waiting in duty-free, this can be directly integrated with your loyalty programme, offering them ways to redeem their points just as they are walking past a retail outlet you are partnered with. Moreover, based on their itinerary, specific products could be offered that are relevant to where they are going.
Utilising these highly accurate GPS capabilities will also create new data, with new patterns emerging of how your loyalty customers behave when on the move. It’s effectively an entirely new way to observe consumer behaviour, and should potentially lead to us being able to pre-empt customer needs specific to where they are.
Just as your communications with the customer must be relevant to what the customer actually wants, however, so must your offerings match your brand values and the specific objectives of your loyalty programme. That could be seeking to reward and encourage high spenders; prompting low users to spend more; motivating your customer base to use more of your wider service and product offerings, and so on.
Finally, I think there is a real opportunity for reward programmes to use peer-based social media capabilities. So instead of the app just saying: ‘Here are the five nearest car hire outlets where you can earn or spend loyalty points’, it could say: ‘Here are the top three in your vicinity according to ratings provided by your fellow Gold Card-holding members’. Providing scores, notes, suggestions, related recommendations and so on from a group of people who have similar tastes, aspirations and levels of affluence creates a great deal of trust and authority. Obviously, companies like Amazon have been doing this for years, but connecting it with your reward programme via mobile technology takes the concept to an entirely new level of relevance, utility and engagement.

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—Mobile DTV: At NAB, the Open Mobile Video Coalition provided an update on its efforts to roll-out national broadcast TV to mobile devices To date, it says 45 stations have started mobile broadcasts with Washington D.C. kicking off on May 3 and two stations in Detroit following. The association also says it has gained the support from Intel (NSDQ: INTC). Finally, the first available consumer device will be the “Tivizen,” which was funded by broadcasters. The small device, from Valups, receives mobile TV signals and then re-transmits them to Wi-Fi devices, such as a laptop or mobile phone. It will cost $149 beginning in May.

—The NASDAQ and Consumer Electronics Association has teamed up to create the “OMX CEA Smartphone Index,” which consists of 84 companies that are involved in one way or another with the “building, design and distribution of handsets, hardware, software, and mobile networks associated with the development, sale and usage of smartphones.” It has some of the usual suspects like Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), Google (NSDQ: GOOG) and RIM (NSDQ: RIMM), and has a starting valuation of 250.00. [Engadget]

—Facebook downloads: GetJar says that more than 50 million people have downloaded Facebook’s mobile app from its mobile store in the past six months. Late last year, GetJar was generating one million downloads a week, or about 8.5 million during a two-month trial period. When users visit the Facebook page from their mobile phone, they see a link to download the app to their phone. GetJar is the one that provides that service.

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»  A 20-minute hands-on look with the Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Kin. [MobileTechWorld]

»  Eric Schmidt explains what Google’s problem really is. [paidContent.org]

»  The fives achievements and mistakes of Palm (NSDQ: PALM), including the disaster of its first device, Zoomer. [Pocket-lint]

»  Will Shazam’s mobile success translate to the iPad? [Bits]

»  A much-needed iPad app: a nighttime one that doesn’t illuminate the room. [Gadgetwise]

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