No.1 September 10, 2003
Contents
1) Recent Advances in Mobile Marketing
2) Case Study 1: Case Study: Suntory BOSS Campaign for Canned Coffee
3) Case Study 2: NEC Camera Phone Campaign for NTT DoCoMo
4) Industry News: The International Mobile Marketing & Advertising Awards
5) Mobile Research: User Patterns in Downloading Ringing Tones
6) Carrier Trends: 2G Successes Help Advance of 3G
7) Japan Cellular Subscriber Data
1)Recent Advances in Mobile Marketing
Mobile Marketing now intersects with several different businesses, including media, media representation, mobile solutions and more. D2C started as a media representation company primarily involved in selling advertising space to clients or agencies on leading mobile Internet sites, such as NTT DoCoMo's portal. The company has since begun to offer mobile advertising and marketing services to a broad range of industries, such as food and beverage producers, distributors, companies in the service sector, and the automotive and airline industries as well.
D2C manages advertising distribution servers, and to date has distributed some 500 million advertisements across mobile networks. It has also successfully provided marketing development services to more than 450 companies. D2C now offers planning of mobile promotion campaigns, system configuration, post-campaign data analysis, and supports numerous other aspects of mobile marketing. In the near future, we expect to see further increases in the number of companies that conduct marketing exclusively via mobile phones.
2)Case Study: Suntory BOSS Campaign for Canned Coffee
Campaign Name: Get BOSS Series
Period: December 1 - February 28, 2003
Description:
The "Get BOSS" series campaign was organized to mark the 10th anniversary of the marketing of Suntory's "BOSS"-branded canned coffee. Suntory redesigned the look and taste of the product expressly for the event, and implemented a special "closed" on-line campaign. The promotion was centered on a web-based competition(accessible via mobile phone and PC)in which buyers of Boss canned coffee could peel off a seal on the drink container to reveal a 4-digit code. Customers were motivated to win points by inputting their code at the campaign website(available via both mobile and PC terminals)which they could apply toward prizes. With a single point, customers could receive a 4-panel cartoon from a collection of over one thousand. By accumulating 10 points, customers could enter a competition to win an original jacket emblazoned with the Boss logo, browsing via the web to choose from a broad selection of colors and styles.
The campaign made use of i-mode's unique Message Free* service, which made notifications accessible to users at no additional data cost, and also broadened access to the target group. For this event, Suntory targeted males aged 20 to 40. To maximize successful reach, the campaign was broadcast to customer's mobile phones via the Message Free at peak purchase hours, between 11am and 12pm. By combining this mobile promotion with cross-channel advertisements delivered via television, public transport and local events, the campaign increased brand recognition and helped boost sales of BOSS to 108% over the previous year to 54.2 million cases, which was 130% higher during the campaign period than for the same period the previous year.
* An advertisement tool developed by D2 Communications Inc. For details, please see Our Lines of Business
3)Case Study: NEC Camera Phone Campaign for NTT DoCoMo
Campaign Name: NTT DoCoMo Mover N251i / i-shot
Period: November 11- December 27, 2002
Description:
This promotion campaign was geared to drive sales of NEC-manufactured N251i camera phones for the NTT DoCoMo network. NEC publicized the campaign via NTT DoCoMo's network using the Tokusuru Menu* and Message Free channel and used a questionnaire directed at owners of the N251i. Respondents who sent in pictures taken with their N251i camera phones were rewarded with their photo reformatted as a screensaver in a Winnie the Poo frame provided by Disney. Winners selected in a drawing received the framed photos printed on a T-shirt. The campaign target group consisted of female customers in their twenties with an interest in Disney characters, and Winnie the Poo in particular.
The ultimate objective of the campaign was to make users aware that NEC's handset had now incorporated a camera. The campaign site received some 500,000 page views, with 8,300 users applying for the promotion. By offering users the free screensaver for their photos, the campaign boosted the incentive to participate, attracted attention to the promotion, and made use of the recently-added camera functionality on the handset.
* An advertisement tool developed by D2 Communications Inc. For details, please see Our Lines of Business
4)Industry News: the International Mobile Marketing & Advertising Awards
Established by D2C in 2002, these awards are divided into two categories: Advertisement Expression and Marketing. The Mobile Advertising Grand Prize Selection Committee is made up of marketing specialists, including academics, consultants, advisors in data communications, and creative leaders. These experts select the highest quality work from two areas:(a)the multitude of advertisements distributed or appearing on Internet-capable mobile phones such as i-mode, and(b)marketing campaigns that utilize mobile phones. The Committee awards honors and commendations to the advertisers and the advertising agents responsible for the selected advertisements or marketing activities.
This year, awards were granted in the Marketing Category for work demonstrating technical and conceptual excellence, such as implementation of Java-based mobile applications(known as i-appli), "instant win" mobile lotteries, utilization of CRM, and mobile community building.
In the Advertisement Expression Category, a rise in terminals featuring color liquid crystal displays has boosted the use of photographic ads and colorization, which in turn drew high praise for campaigns demonstrating effective color balance and skillfully-executed corporate logos. Awards in the Black and White category went to the campaigns featuring the most attractively presented character animations and eye-catching ad copy.
5)Mobile Research
In Japan today, a wide variety marketing surveys are conducted directly from participant's mobile phones. These surveys can prove extremely valuable in collecting otherwise inaccessible information about new consumer markets. The survey featured below focuses on mobile ringing tones, which in 2002 was estimated at a $3 billion global market.
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<Result of 56th Survey> January 7, 2003
69.9% of i-mode users get ringing tone from fee-based sites
Respondents: 48,422 i-mode users
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Although Japanese mobile phones feature a variety of pre-installed ringing tones, users still tend to visit fee-based download services to purchase their favorite tunes. Fee-based download services range from 100 yen to 300 yen per month. The following is a survey conducted to study the purchasing habits and selection criteria of the average ringing tone customer. It was conducted by Internet-based research service INFO PLANT Co., LTD(Head office: Tokyo, Japan). Survey data was collected via the Tokusuru Menu on i-mode from 48,422 i-mode users between December 9-16, 2002.
<Survey Results Summary>
30.6 % of respondents reported that they change ringing tones within one month. 25.3% said they did so after 2-3 months, and 20.5% change after half a month. Categorized by gender, 60.1% of female change their ringing tones within a month compared to 51.5% of males. Looking at the results by age, youngsters tend to change their ringing tones more frequently, although there is no age differential among the group of users who change ringing tones within a couple of months. 5.2% of those in their fifties and above never changed ringing tones.
<Data Set 1>
69.9% said they get ringing tones from fee-based sites, while 45.9% get them from free sites. By age, older users tend to make more use of free sites and pre-installed melodies.
<Data Set 2>
In terms of the frequency of change, users making frequent changes to their ringing tones tended to be users of fee-based sites, while those relying on pre-installed melodies changed their ringing tones less frequently.
<Data Set 3>
51.2% said they choose their favorite ringing tone site according to considerations of cost, 43.3% by the size of the selection, and 39.8% according to quality. By age, older users tend to choose sites that allow them to pre-listen, as well as those that offer unique melodies.
<from Data 4>
Those who change their ringing tones frequently tend to place importance on sites that offer greater quality and larger selections from which to choose.
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<Survey Description>
Questions:
(1)How often do you change your ringing tone?(Choose one)
(2)Where do you get ringing tones?(Choose two)
(3)Give two key criteria in choosing a fee-based site
Survey method: open survey, using "Tokusuru Menu" on i-mode site.
Survey period: December 9-16, 2002(one week)
No. of valid responses: 48,422
Rate of valid response by gender: male 32.7%, female 67.3%
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Q1)How often do you change your ringing tone?(Choose one)
<Data 1>By Gender and Age
| Less than1 week | 2 weeks | 1 month | 2-3 months | 6 months | More than once per yearr | Never changed | |
| All | 6.2% | 20.5% | 30.6% | 25.3% | 11.5% | 4.9% | 1.1% |
| Male | 5.8% | 17.1% | 28.6% | 24.8% | 14.6% | 7.4% | 1.8% |
| Female | 6.4% | 22.1% | 31.6% | 25.5% | 10.0% | 3.6% | 0.8% |
| Under 14 | 26.5% | 34.9% | 21.9% | 14.0% | 2.3% | 0.0% | 0.5% |
| 15-19 | 14.7% | 32.3% | 28.7% | 17.6% | 5.2% | 1.4% | 0.2% |
| 20-24 | 7.2% | 25.2% | 32.0% | 23.7% | 8.2% | 3.3% | 0.4% |
| 25-29 | 5.0% | 19.3% | 32.2% | 26.8% | 11.6% | 4.3% | 0.8% |
| 30-34 | 4.4% | 17.2% | 30.8% | 26.9% | 13.6% | 5.8% | 1.3% |
| 35-39 | 4.5% | 15.8% | 29.3% | 27.4% | 14.8% | 6.8% | 1.5% |
| 40-44 | 4.4% | 15.3% | 28.6% | 26.6% | 14.7% | 7.8% | 2.7% |
| 45-49 | 3.9% | 16.4% | 25.3% | 24.6% | 17.6% | 8.8% | 3.3% |
| Above 50 | 4.5% | 11.8% | 22.0% | 23.9% | 20.0% | 12.7% | 5.2% |
Q2)Where do you get ringing tones?(Choose two)
<Data 2>By Gender and Age
| Free sites | Fee-based site | Corporate promotion | Sent from Friends | Made by self | Pre-installed in phone | Other | |
| All | 45.9% | 69.9% | 15.6% | 7.8% | 1.3% | 11.6% | 1.2% |
| Male | 48.3% | 63.8% | 17.6% | 5.6% | 1.8% | 13.9% | 1.5% |
| Female | 44.7% | 72.9% | 14.7% | 8.9% | 1.1% | 10.4% | 1.0% |
| Under 14 | 50.2% | 75.8% | 18.1% | 10.7% | 4.2% | 6.0% | 0.9% |
| 15-19 | 40.0% | 84.1% | 13.5% | 8.1% | 1.6% | 4.8% | 1.1% |
| 20-24 | 41.6% | 79.9% | 12.8% | 7.9% | 1.4% | 7.6% | 1.0% |
| 25-29 | 44.8% | 71.9% | 14.9% | 8.2% | 1.1% | 10.6% | 1.1% |
| 30-34 | 48.5% | 65.4% | 16.1% | 7.4% | 1.0% | 13.4% | 1.5% |
| 35-39 | 49.7% | 61.1% | 19.7% | 7.0% | 1.3% | 15.0% | 1.2% |
| 40-44 | 51.9% | 55.2% | 19.0% | 7.8% | 1.8% | 17.5% | 0.9% |
| 45-49 | 52.2% | 49.6% | 18.2% | 8.2% | 3.0% | 23.4% | 1.9% |
| Above 50 | 53.0% | 39.0% | 17.2% | 10.8% | 2.2% | 31.3% | 1.7% |
<Data 3>Frequency of Change
| Free sites | Fee-based site | Corporate promotion | Sent from Friends | Made by self | Pre-installed in phone | Other | |
| All | 45.9% | 69.9% | 15.6% | 7.8% | 1.3% | 11.6% | 1.2% |
| Less than1 week | 42.5% | 83.7% | 13.3% | 6.4% | 1.3% | 4.7% | 1.6% |
| 2 weeks | 42.9% | 81.0% | 14.7% | 7.3% | 0.8% | 4.7% | 1.6% |
| 1 month | 44.5% | 75.7% | 15.4% | 7.8% | 1.1% | 7.1% | 1.1% |
| 2-3 months | 49.7% | 66.1% | 18.3% | 8.0% | 1.3% | 11.4% | 1.1% |
| 6 months | 53.0% | 54.2% | 16.3% | 9.0% | 2.2% | 21.4% | 1.2% |
| More than 1 year | 45.9% | 41.9% | 12.0% | 9.6% | 3.9% | 34.3% | 2.3% |
| Never changed | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 0.0% |
Q3)Give two key criteria for choosing a fee-based site
<Data 4>By Gender and Age
* population parameter: those 41,923 people ever used charged site
| Price | Popularity of site | Range of selection | Number of new tunes | Quality | Uniqueness of melodies | Allows prelistening | Part of promotion | Other | |
| All | 51.2% | 5.3% | 43.3% | 15.4% | 39.8% | 6.7% | 14.1% | 3.8% | 3.8% |
| Male | 42.5% | 5.7% | 44.2% | 13.9% | 43.0% | 10.2% | 13.3% | 3.9% | 4.4% |
| Female | 55.1% | 5.1% | 42.8% | 16.0% | 38.4% | 5.2% | 14.5% | 3.8% | 3.5% |
| Under 14 | 55.9% | 5.9% | 34.4% | 18.3% | 50.0% | 2.2% | 13.4% | 4.8% | 4.3% |
| 15-19 | 50.7% | 6.4% | 43.6% | 13.5% | 61.3% | 4.3% | 6.1% | 1.9% | 2.9% |
| 20-24 | 51.1% | 6.0% | 45.3% | 15.3% | 49.8% | 5.2% | 9.3% | 2.2% | 3.1% |
| 25-29 | 52.0% | 5.1% | 43.7% | 15.7% | 38.0% | 6.7% | 14.8% | 3.7% | 3.7% |
| 30-34 | 51.2% | 4.8% | 43.1% | 15.6% | 31.9% | 7.9% | 16.5% | 4.6% | 4.4% |
| 35-39 | 50.8% | 4.7% | 41.8% | 15.7% | 28.9% | 8.2% | 19.0% | 5.6% | 4.5% |
| 40-44 | 49.0% | 4.6% | 41.5% | 16.9% | 27.4% | 8.5% | 20.1% | 5.9% | 4.1% |
| 45-49 | 50.3% | 3.7% | 34.8% | 13.8% | 28.5% | 9.6% | 25.2% | 5.6% | 5.1% |
| Above 50 | 48.5% | 5.2% | 32.1% | 11.1% | 22.5% | 11.7% | 28.7% | 9.6% | 6.2% |
<Data 5>Frequency of Change
* population parameter: those 41,923 people ever used charged site
| Price | Popularity of site | Range of selection | Number of new tunes | Quality | Uniqueness of melodies | Allows prelistening | Part of promotion | Other | |
| All | 51.2% | 5.3% | 43.3% | 15.4% | 39.8% | 6.7% | 14.1% | 3.8% | 3.8% |
| Less thanonce per week | 43.5% | 5.8% | 40.7% | 24.2% | 54.2% | 6.1% | 7.8% | 2.8% | 2.2% |
| 2 weeks | 50.1% | 5.9% | 42.6% | 20.0% | 46.7% | 5.6% | 10.3% | 2.5% | 2.9% |
| 1 month | 53.3% | 5.5% | 43.1% | 16.3% | 40.1% | 6.3% | 12.6% | 3.5% | 3.3% |
| 2-3 months | 53.0% | 5.0% | 44.3% | 11.8% | 35.6% | 7.2% | 16.6% | 4.6% | 4.1% |
| 6 months | 49.7% | 4.2% | 44.4% | 8.3% | 29.6% | 9.0% | 22.0% | 5.5% | 5.7% |
| More than once per year | 44.5% | 3.7% | 43.4% | 7.0% | 25.6% | 9.0% | 23.5% | 5.5% | 9.6% |
| Never changed | 51.2% | 4.8% | 43.1% | 15.6% | 31.9% | 7.9% | 16.5% | 4.6% | 4.4% |
** Questions and Interviews *****************************
INFO PLANT CO., LTD PR Section : Mr. Takenaka, Ms.Yoko
TEL : +81-3-3350-8946, FAX:+81-3-3350-8945
mail: ktakenaka@info-plant.com http://www.info-plant.com/
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6)Carrier Trends: 2G Successes Help Advance of 3G
Japan's mobile market is dominated by four major companies: NTT DoCoMo, J-phone(Vodafone), au(KDDI Group), and TU-KA(KDDI Group). Third-generation(3G)mobile services have so far been introduced under three different service brands: FOMA(NTT DoCoMo, W-CDMA), Vodafone Global Standard(Vodafone, W-CDMA), and CDMA 1x(au, CDMA2000). Au has secured the largest number of subscribers to its high-speed service, in part because its cdmaOne network uses an infrastructure that is compatible both with older and newer standards.
Many have looked to the arrival of 3G mobile networks to promote richer content and visual services. In the Japanese market, however, picture services have already flourished on the 2G(PDC)networks, led in particularly by the enormous popularity of phones featuring built-in digital cameras. Camera phones were introduced by J-phone as early as November 2000. Since then, the number of camera phones in Japan has surpassed the 30 million mark. According to some counts, more than half of camera phone users take pictures at least once per week. Many camera phones now offer the ability to take and send short movies as well. The popularity of these services has helped drive further development of mobile terminals to include 1-megapixel CCD cameras, memory cards, QVGA liquid-crystal displays, and even fingerprint recognition functionality. As these handsets begin to approach the PC in their capabilities, they are providing a preview of 3G services that will offer richer content delivered at greater speeds, yet at more reasonable prices.
For 2003, the top operators have announced the following targets for their 3G services: FOMA: 1,500,000; Vodafone Global Standard: 1 million; and CDMA 1X: 12 million.
7) Japan Cellular Subscriber Data
Here is the latest Japan cellular subscriber data for your reference.
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