No.32 June 15, 2007
1) Mobile Advertising
Winners Selected for the 6th Mobile Advertising Awards
This May, members of the official Screening Committee for the 6th Annual Mobile Marketing Awards (sponsored by D2 Communications) convened award prizes to 19 companies for excellence in advertising and marketing using mobile, The Screening Committee was led by Mitsuaki Shimaguchi, Professor at Hosei University and Professor Emeritus of Keio University. There were over 314 entries to the competition, an increase of more than 100 applications over the previous year, demonstrating the rising number and variety of companies using mobile.
First established in 2002, the International Mobile Marketing Awards is the world’s first competition dedicated to promoting advertising communication and marketing activities using mobile phones. This year’s awards focus honored excellence in expression and design in advertising or marketing distributed or published via mobile phones between April 2006 and March 2007.
This year, the competition comprised four awards divided into two categories, namely Marketing (the Marketing Award) and Creative (the Picture Panel Advertising Award; the Push Advertising Award; the Content Advertising Award). The distribution of the 19 awards granted was as follows: Marketing Category/Marketing Award (6); Creative Category/Picture Panel Advertising Award (7), Creative Category/Content Award (4), Creative Category/Push Award (2) (for details, see Table below)
The Marketing Category award focused on excellence in combining traditional media mechanisms with mobile media, enhancing the effectiveness of existing media, using mobile in connection with real live events, and attaining a highly-refined and sophisticated cross-media approach. According to Screening Committee member Risa Tanaka (Editor in Chief of Senden Kaigi), “We found a number companies really understood how to put themselves in the position of the user when planning their mobile communication. In addition, the cross-media campaigns were very effective in providing support for existing media platforms.” Screening Committee member Koji Uchiyama (GT Inc) also commented, “These days, we are seeing a lot of innovation in the advertising industry, and this was reflected in the high number of qualified entries we saw this time around, suggesting how mobile is at last emerging to play a central role in the most cutting-edge campaigns.”
In the Creative Category, special emphasis was placed on entries that utilized Flash ™ or motion video. Dr. Tomoyuki Sugiyama, Founder of Digital Hollywood Graduate School of Digital Content, remarked, “We can identify a major transition in the fact that motion video was granted an award, despite multiple challenges related to capacity and production. Furthermore, when you think back to the early days of picture advertisements, you get a sense of just how much progress we have seen in the mobile advertising space.”
Screening committee member Gugi Akiyama (Daily Fresh) commented on work developed in the public service area, saying that “There was obviously a very high level of accomplishment here, with a remarkable ability to appeal to people’s emotions.” In the Creative Category, Screening Committee member Atomu Suematsu (Atom) commented, “In terms of cross media campaigns, there was a significant increase in the number of entries showing masterful creativity on mobile. And with the emergence of motion video, we are seeing an enormous increase in the expressive power of mobile. I am extremely eager to see what further evolution we will see next year in the Creative category.”
Summing up, Screening Committee Chairman Shimaguchi added, “This year, we had a large number of entries from major companies, demonstrating how established mobile has become as a major tool in corporate marketing. In addition, a look over the full range of entries provides a sense of the major patterns and methods that are emerging in mobile, and helps fuel anticipation for how things will develop in the future.
The Awards Ceremony is scheduled for July 19th, 2007at the ANA INTERCONTINTENTAL TOKYO in Minato Ward, Tokyo.
2) Mobile Research: Survey of Ad Sponsor’s Usage of Mobile Advertising
-Corporate Use of Mobile Advertising Up by 13.5% in 2006, Increased Attention Focused on Mobile Search Engine Marketing
In this study, the Nikkei Advertising Research Institute, Nikkei Media Laboratory, and D2 Communications surveyed usage trends by companies using mobile advertising to reach Japan’s more than 97 million mobile phone subscribers. Between February and March of 2007, survey data for advertising expenditure among influential companies was collected by the Nikkei Advertising Research Group from a target group consisting of 1500 leading companies, with 274 companies responding, producing a response rate of 18.3%.
■ 13.5% of Companies Used Mobile Advertising in 2006, 51% Used PC Internet
Of the companies responding to the survey, 51.1% conducted advertising on the PC Internet in 2006 (1.9% increase over 2005), as compared to 13.5% on mobile (a 4.1% increase over 2005).
■Digital Advertising Share Increasing Within Overall Advertising Expenditure
Looking at overall advertising expenditure and the percentage spent on each respective medium, top positions were occupied by newspapers (22.9%), TV (19.4%), and magazines (14.2%). PC advertising and mobile Internet combined were classified collectively as “digital advertising,” and comprised 7.8%.
Companies advertising on mobile accounted for 18.4% of digital advertising overall. This means that mobile advertising share within digital was 10% greater than digital’s share of overall advertising expenditure.
In addition, of the companies running digital campaigns, the ratio of PC Internet
advertising to mobile advertising was about 7 to 3 in 2006, marking a gain for mobile over 2005 levels, when that ratio was 8 to 2.
■35.4% Have Company Mobile Sites
When asked about the status of company mobile sites, 35.4% of companies said they had a permanent site, compared to 5.5% who said they had set up a temporary mobile site for campaigns, and 56.9% who said their companies had no mobile site.
Among the pool of companies reporting corporate mobile sites in 2006, 33% said they had also run mobile advertising campaigns. This represents a notable increase of some 12% in just one year over results for the same survey in 2005, when only 20.8% of companies with mobile sites also sponsored mobile advertising.
■Appraisal of Mobile Advertising is Up, Irrespective of Sponsorship
When surveyed on the advantages of mobile advertising, answers reflected positive awareness, with the top responses stating it is “easy to zero in a specific target group” (37.6%), “easy to use with a specific objective” (29.2%), “has few limitations, and is useful for taking on new challenges” (26.3%), “provides rapid access to results” (25.5%), and “offers positive effects from word of mouth communication” (24.8%).
■Mobile Advertising Focused Mainly on Exposure and Time Period Models
Of 37 companies placing mobile advertisements in 2006, when asked about the types of advertisements they placed (multiple responses possible), the main replies emphasized “guaranteed exposure” (guaranteed number of impressions of the ad) and “guaranteed time period,” which together comprised 64.3%, followed by “search engine referral” (46.4%). In addition, in terms of the types of advertisements placed, picture advertisements were the most popular (54.1%), followed by text ads (37.8%) and mail- and content-driven advertisements, which together made up 29.7%.
■Dissatisfaction with Mobile Advertising Focuses on “Number of Characters” and “Amount of Information”
In terms of metrics used to measure mobile advertisements at the time of placement, the most popular method was the number of clicks (62.2%), followed by page views and CPC (43.2% combined), CTR (35.1%), and CPA (32.4%). In addition, with regard to specific points of dissatisfaction toward mobile as an advertising medium, the most popular complaints cited by advertisers were “too little information is communicated” and “too many restrictions on the amount of characters and information,” (35.1%), followed by “limited expressive power” (29.7%) and “hard-to-assess in terms of effectiveness” (21.6%).
■Over 80% Awareness of Search Engine and Affiliate Marketing
When asking advertisers about their awareness of search engine and affiliate marketing, both of which have become hot topics of late, some 69.3% said they were very familiar with search engine-based marketing, with 24.1% having heard of it, making up an overall awareness level of some 93.4%. In addition, some 63.5% surveyed were very familiar with affiliate marketing and 21.5% had heard of it, making up an overall awareness level of some 85%.
Finally, when asked what medium they was being used to drive the target audience to either a PC or mobile-based search engine, the most popular answer in the case of PC sites was magazines (25.5%), followed by newspapers (20.8%) and TV (10.9%). In terms of mobile sites, the most popular answers were again magazines (8.4%), followed by newspapers (5.1%), and TV (2.9%). However, with regard to companies placing mobile advertisements, it should be noted that the majority of these were used to lead users from other media to magazines (45%) and newspapers (24.3%), rather than the other way around.
■Nearly 30% of Companies That Have Not Used Mobile Advertising Plan to Do So in the Future
Of those companies that did not use mobile advertising in 2006, when asked if they intended to do so in the future, 8% said they were considering it, while 18.1% said they had not yet begun to investigate but planned to use mobile advertising in the future, adding up a nearly 30% of companies showing an intention advertise on mobile. Looked at by experience, 40% were companies with a corporate mobile site. In addition, plans for mobile advertising were closely linked to advertising budget levels for 2007, with some 45% of companies spending over US$20m saying they were investigating advertising with mobile or interested in using it in the future. Looked at by sector, there were high levels of interest in the service and financial sectors.
■ Over 50% of Companies that Advertised on Mobile in 2006 Plan to Increase Mobile Ad Budgets in 2007, with 56.8% Directing Spending Toward Search Engine Marketing
When companies advertising on mobile were asked about changes in the allocation of their advertising budget for 2007 according to different media, those showing an increase were as follows: PC Internet was the leader (35%), followed by mobile advertising (18.6%), TV (17.9%), magazines (16.1%), and newspapers (13.5%). By contrast, companies reporting decreases listed reductions in the following media channels: newspapers (17.9%), magazines (16.4%), and TV (10.6%). The percentage of companies reducing ad expenditure in mobile numbered only 1.1%. Of the companies advertising on mobile in 2006, some 54.1% responded that they planned to increase mobile advertising expenditure moving forward, with 29.7% saying they had no plan to change. The combined figures added up to show 80% of these companies expressed an intention to continue with mobile advertising.
3) Carrier Update
Mobile Operators Take Up Position with 2007 Summer Models
With the number of mobile subscriptions in Japan hitting 97 million in April 2007, it is only a matter of time before Japan breaks the 100 million mark. For mobile operators, competition has continued to intensify, especially with the introduction of number portability last autumn. In May, operators announced their latest handset lineup for the spring. A look at these devices suggests the specific approaches being pursued by each operator, including new services, functionality, design, and more.
NTT DoCoMo Launches New 2in1 Service
Starting in June, NTT DoCoMo launched five new 3G FOMA™ 904i models, the latest in DoCoMo's flagship 9 Series.With this series, DoCoMo has kicked off its new 2in1 service, which takes the capabilities of two phones and folds them into a single handset, providing two separate mobile phone numbers and mail addresses.
All of the models in the new series include 2in1, an intuitive motion game called Chokkan Game that can played by tilting or waiving the handset, along with Uta-hodai support, which allows users to download full music tracks from compatible i-mode sites for a flat monthly subscription fee. DoCoMo has launched an aggressive advertising campaign to highlight this new phase of functionality, organized around the campaign slogan DoCoMo2.0 .
au Handsets to Match your Lifestyle
au has announced a new seasonal line-up if 15 handsets. The concept behind the latest series is to fit closely and support the individual lifestyle of each user. Examples of this include a number of converging collaborations with the world of household electronics, such as the Waterproof 1-Seg mobile, which can be used safely around water, such as in the bathroom or kitchen; the Exilim mobile, which features a 5.1 megapixel image-stabilizing camera; the Walkman mobile, which supports 110 hours of continuous music playback. The line-up features slim bodies packed full of functionality, with unique models to suit every different type of lifestyle.
Softbank Stands for Style
Softbank has announced the release of 12 new handsets under the keyword “style.” The lineup includes the world’s first full-face sliding format one-seg handset, along with a full range of body colors, customizable changeable panels, and LED illumination that support some 240 million variations to epitomize the pursuit of style in a mobile handset.
Other key offerings in these new lineups include full track music downloads and games, mail, social networking sites and communication services that are a key part of daily life for users. In addition, with the number of “osaifu keitai” mobile wallet users surpassing 30 million, the number of shops and retail outlets deploying Suica or iD readers is increasing rapidly. It seems certain the mobile phones will continue to become a powerful force in making the lives of users richer, more convenient, and more entertaining.
4) Japan Cellular Subscriber Data
Here is the latest Japan cellular subscriber data for your reference.
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