Many Brands Moving onto Mobile

Written by Jason Thursday, 07 January 2010 19:00

If you keep up in mobile web news you not only see many articles and blogs about how 2010 is "the year" for mobile to really take off, but you also see so many popular brands starting to make mobile efforts.

Companies all over the world are learning how right now it is vital to get into this rapidly growing industry. People may think of the mobile web as just a "tiny web." A tiny version to the regular PC web, but on a scaled down smaller screen. But the reality of it is, it's so far from the PC web. It really is a completely different medium. Just because you know what works on the PC web, doesn't mean you can translate it straight over to the mobile web. Things on the PC web can be a lot more complex because people view the webpages on a much bigger screen. On the mobile web, things have to be kept much simpler to keep consumers interested. Though this is not stopping companies from jumping to mobile...

There are many different ways to go about getting your brand out onto the mobile web. Some of the most popular types are: SMS campaign strategy, coupons/bar codes, click to call, mobile websites, and applications.

There are so many different industries that you see every day in mobile internet news starting to make their mobile marks. Anywhere from television shows to healthcare providers to convenience stores.

Some brands that have recently announced that they have made efforts to go mobile are: Ford, Toyota, Best Buy, Procter & Gamble, UnitedHealthcare, Continental Airlines, 7-Eleven Inc. convenience stores, Home Depot, Auntie Anne's, Coors Light, and many, many others.

A recent article I read stated that roughly two hundred 7-Eleven Inc. convenience stores were advertising to local residents in the SanDiego area to text FAST (or in Spanish, RAPIDO) to 72579. In response they will receive a bar code that will give them one free drink of four popular drinks that are found at 7-Eleven stores. Then when they either go online to 7-Eleven's website or go to the their local 7-Eleven store, they can redeem their coupon to see which of the 4 drinks they received. They are testing this campaign to see how their customers will respond to the texting and then the redemption process of the coupons.

I can't imagine that this campaign wouldn't be successful. Who doesn't like free stuff? I wish it was at 7-Eleven's nationwide...I'd be redeeming my coupon for a free drink today!

Another brand that recently announced mobile efforts was UnitedHealthcare. This healthcare provider has an application for iPhone 3G & 3GS. It uses the phone's GPS to locate local doctors (of all types) and facilities near by. This is definitely cool if for example, you move and want to check to see what facilities and doctors accept your health insurance. Or maybe you moved and haven't thought about finding a new doctor and now you're sick and need one ASAP. Because we all know, when you need to go to the doctor's, the last thing you want to do is to have to make 25 phone calls before you find a facility/doctor that will take your insurance. So this is definitely convenient in so many ways.

It's great to see so many popular brands taking mobile initiatives. 2010 is seen to be the year where many people are upgrading to SmartPhone devices. Mobilemarketer.com reported that, "Nielsen estimates that 150 million U.S. consumers will carry SmartPhones by 2011."

Not only is the industry looking bright for 2010, but in the many more years to come. Technology definitely has a long way to go before people leave their PC's and isolate themselves to the mobile web, but you never know... the future of mobile has many opportunities for growth.

Sources: mediapost.com, mobilemarketer.com, mobilecommercedaily.com, neilsen.com