Harassment or enrichment?
SMS as an advertising medium requires a sense of privacy
SMS as an advertising medium requires a sense of privacyBy Bruno AmstutzSMS is an established form of communication - but sending advertising with it is tricky. Cell phone owners feel easily disturbed.
The cell phone should actually be the ideal advertising medium: A broad target audience can be reached directly, regardless of location, and a high level of attention is guaranteed. Nevertheless, the possibilities for using cell phones as an advertising medium are limited. Firstly, SMS as a text-only medium cannot accommodate graphics and secondly, it does not offer much space for advertising messages. WAP technology, on the other hand, which no longer has such obstacles, is not yet user-friendly enough.
On a pure SMS basis, it is possible to integrate sponsor messages into text messages. These usually appear when SMS messages are sent free of charge from websites or when subscription services send their messages to a registered subscriber base. The sponsorship messages are primarily intended to generate traffic to the corresponding website. The third advertising option is an SMS that is designed exclusively as an advertising message.
Combinations of SMS and WAP offer more options. A text message can be used to send a request to visit a WAP page with more information. WAP pages offer similar advertising opportunities to those on the Internet: Banners, links or so-called interstitials, full-screen advertising messages that can either be clicked away or disappear after a few seconds. Recently, telephone connections can also be made directly via WAP links.
Permission marketing is the magic word
The great advantage of cell phones, their widespread use and proximity to the user, also has a delicate side. The cell phone is perceived as a personal object. Unsolicited advertising can quickly become annoying. Broadly distributed unsolicited advertising mailings are frowned upon as spamming in the e-mail sector. They are not currently banned in Switzerland, but can prove to be a shot in the arm.
"Professional marketers do not engage in spamming, it proves to be counterproductive," explains Martin Radelfinger, Managing Director of the Swiss branch of Internet marketer AdLink. A few months ago, AdLink added SMS and WAP advertising to its range of services. Robi Weber, who holds a consultancy mandate for marketing and communication at Pagemedia, has a similar view: "SMS is an extremely sensitive medium," says Weber, "users very quickly feel that their privacy is being violated." Pagemedia is a content provider for SMS services. Weber sees these services as the best way to place advertising messages.
Users who receive information on selected topics by text message also agree to receive advertising on these topics. This permission marketing is practically the only way to define target groups from the flood of cell phone numbers. "Reputable providers must engage in permission marketing," says Erwin Schnee, head of the Telecommunications Division of the Swiss Direct Marketing Association, with conviction, "there is a very fine line between acceptance and harassment." The lure of a cheap and fast distribution channel must be handled with care.
"With SMS advertising, it is important that the user perceives the message as a personal benefit," explains Werner Fuchs, member of the management team at Dolphin Systems. With eCall, the company offers a web-based SMS service that can be used to send mass mailings, request confirmation of receipt and send messages at predetermined times.
According to Fuchs, there is still a lot of untapped potential in the SMS sector. Companies could inform interested recipients quickly and cheaply about the latest offers or services, remind customers of appointments or send out collection invitations. This is the most direct way to combine advertising with customer benefit.
WAP is too unstable with today's technology
WAP technology is currently getting poor marks. The applications are too slow, the connections are too unstable and the dial-up procedures are too expensive and cumbersome. Nevertheless, WAP offers interesting prospects for the future. Roberto Donati, Managing Director of Kauf.com, is very optimistic about this. His company provides various WAP services, such as Wapitout, one of the largest WAP search engines.
However, according to Donati, WAP advertising is already generating more clicks than banners on the Internet, mainly because it is better perceived due to the small cell phone displays. "WAP is also evolutionary," adds Donati, "the Wireless Application Protocol is just the basis, and the transmission technologies will develop rapidly." Of particular interest for advertising is the possibility of geographic localization of cell phones. Local-based marketing is the appropriate buzzword.
Scenarios are conceivable in which, depending on their location, cell phone users receive advertising from stores in their area on their WAP applications. "Then, for example, the bakery next door could also run electronic advertising," predicts Donati, "the Internet is not really suitable as an advertising platform for such companies." In future, the nearest cinema could be shown on a city map on the cell phone display, the trailers for the latest films would be played on the phone and tickets could also be reserved by cell phone.
However, reality is still a long way from such visions at the moment. Telephone companies will integrate local-based solutions into their services from the beginning of next year. At the same time, GPRS, a more powerful transmission technology, will be put into operation. However, there is still little interest in wireless advertising on the part of advertisers.
Skepticism prevails in the advertising industry
"We are aware of SMS and WAP, but so far it hasn't fitted into any advertising campaign," says Peter Döbeli, Managing Director of the media agency Micom Carat. "SMS is a tool that can be used in special cases," says Heinz Bischof, Managing Director of the media agency Media Planning, assessing the situation, "I'm skeptical about WAP as it presents itself today."
Beverage manufacturer Rivella, on the other hand, has already gained concrete experience with WAP advertising. In connection with the Olympic Games in Sydney last September, the company placed links on WAP pages that generated a response by means of a competition. "Rivella is a dynamic company. New technologies and their acceptance by our consumers are taken seriously and implemented," says Catrin Wetzel from Rivella Marketing, explaining the strategy.
She sees the importance of WAP in flanking measures for promotions and campaigns with a strong focus on topicality. Rivella's first experiment in a new media direction has certainly lived up to expectations.
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The cell phone should actually be the ideal advertising medium: A broad target audience can be reached directly, regardless of location, and a high level of attention is guaranteed. Nevertheless, the possibilities for using cell phones as an advertising medium are limited. Firstly, SMS as a text-only medium cannot accommodate graphics and secondly, it does not offer much space for advertising messages. WAP technology, on the other hand, which no longer has such obstacles, is not yet user-friendly enough.
On a pure SMS basis, it is possible to integrate sponsor messages into text messages. These usually appear when SMS messages are sent free of charge from websites or when subscription services send their messages to a registered subscriber base. The sponsorship messages are primarily intended to generate traffic to the corresponding website. The third advertising option is an SMS that is designed exclusively as an advertising message.
Combinations of SMS and WAP offer more options. A text message can be used to send a request to visit a WAP page with more information. WAP pages offer similar advertising opportunities to those on the Internet: Banners, links or so-called interstitials, full-screen advertising messages that can either be clicked away or disappear after a few seconds. Recently, telephone connections can also be made directly via WAP links.
Permission marketing is the magic word
The great advantage of cell phones, their widespread use and proximity to the user, also has a delicate side. The cell phone is perceived as a personal object. Unsolicited advertising can quickly become annoying. Broadly distributed unsolicited advertising mailings are frowned upon as spamming in the e-mail sector. They are not currently banned in Switzerland, but can prove to be a shot in the arm.
"Professional marketers do not engage in spamming, it proves to be counterproductive," explains Martin Radelfinger, Managing Director of the Swiss branch of Internet marketer AdLink. A few months ago, AdLink added SMS and WAP advertising to its range of services. Robi Weber, who holds a consultancy mandate for marketing and communication at Pagemedia, has a similar view: "SMS is an extremely sensitive medium," says Weber, "users very quickly feel that their privacy is being violated." Pagemedia is a content provider for SMS services. Weber sees these services as the best way to place advertising messages.
Users who receive information on selected topics by text message also agree to receive advertising on these topics. This permission marketing is practically the only way to define target groups from the flood of cell phone numbers. "Reputable providers must engage in permission marketing," says Erwin Schnee, head of the Telecommunications Division of the Swiss Direct Marketing Association, with conviction, "there is a very fine line between acceptance and harassment." The lure of a cheap and fast distribution channel must be handled with care.
"With SMS advertising, it is important that the user perceives the message as a personal benefit," explains Werner Fuchs, member of the management team at Dolphin Systems. With eCall, the company offers a web-based SMS service that can be used to send mass mailings, request confirmation of receipt and send messages at predetermined times.
According to Fuchs, there is still a lot of untapped potential in the SMS sector. Companies could inform interested recipients quickly and cheaply about the latest offers or services, remind customers of appointments or send out collection invitations. This is the most direct way to combine advertising with customer benefit.
WAP is too unstable with today's technology
WAP technology is currently getting poor marks. The applications are too slow, the connections are too unstable and the dial-up procedures are too expensive and cumbersome. Nevertheless, WAP offers interesting prospects for the future. Roberto Donati, Managing Director of Kauf.com, is very optimistic about this. His company provides various WAP services, such as Wapitout, one of the largest WAP search engines.
However, according to Donati, WAP advertising is already generating more clicks than banners on the Internet, mainly because it is better perceived due to the small cell phone displays. "WAP is also evolutionary," adds Donati, "the Wireless Application Protocol is just the basis, and the transmission technologies will develop rapidly." Of particular interest for advertising is the possibility of geographic localization of cell phones. Local-based marketing is the appropriate buzzword.
Scenarios are conceivable in which, depending on their location, cell phone users receive advertising from stores in their area on their WAP applications. "Then, for example, the bakery next door could also run electronic advertising," predicts Donati, "the Internet is not really suitable as an advertising platform for such companies." In future, the nearest cinema could be shown on a city map on the cell phone display, the trailers for the latest films would be played on the phone and tickets could also be reserved by cell phone.
However, reality is still a long way from such visions at the moment. Telephone companies will integrate local-based solutions into their services from the beginning of next year. At the same time, GPRS, a more powerful transmission technology, will be put into operation. However, there is still little interest in wireless advertising on the part of advertisers.
Skepticism prevails in the advertising industry
"We are aware of SMS and WAP, but so far it hasn't fitted into any advertising campaign," says Peter Döbeli, Managing Director of the media agency Micom Carat. "SMS is a tool that can be used in special cases," says Heinz Bischof, Managing Director of the media agency Media Planning, assessing the situation, "I'm skeptical about WAP as it presents itself today."
Beverage manufacturer Rivella, on the other hand, has already gained concrete experience with WAP advertising. In connection with the Olympic Games in Sydney last September, the company placed links on WAP pages that generated a response by means of a competition. "Rivella is a dynamic company. New technologies and their acceptance by our consumers are taken seriously and implemented," says Catrin Wetzel from Rivella Marketing, explaining the strategy.
She sees the importance of WAP in flanking measures for promotions and campaigns with a strong focus on topicality. Rivella's first experiment in a new media direction has certainly lived up to expectations.
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