Proving that advertising is more about engaging people than click-through rates, the New york agency Ringleader developed an ad campaign using Click-to-Call to create some buzz for the horror film “The Signal“. The most notorious part of this film is a mysterius transmission sound that turns people into serial killers.  The campaign gave the option of clicking on a number to listen the distinctive horrific sound (of course the campaign was mixed with other elements like video and a mobile website to create the total experience).

Another good showcase for this technology was seen in the campaign developed for Nickelodeon’s go, Diego, go presentation at Rose Garden auditorium in Portland last year. The Click-to-Call was used in combination with a promotional code to receive a 3$ discount to see the show.

The Click-to-Call apps

Several apps are now dedicated exclusively to provide you with a large database of telephone numbers for you to call. Apps such as the Yellow Pages, German Telefonbuch, White Pages, Qype… available not only for the iPhone, but also for other platforms like the Blackberry, Android and hopefully the anticipated Palm Pre (though too early to say).

The most challenging aspect of Click-to-Call is not how many clicks you get or even how many calls, but how many of these calls will convert into actual sales. To measure this efficiently is at the moment is not very clear and from what I understood very expensive to correlate.  According to Richard Rosen – “Call measurement requires an investment in dedicated phone numbers and some type of usage charge in order to prove ROI to an advertiser. Pay per call requires an entrepreneurial investment by providers in the phone lines in hopes of generating a premium “per call” fee to recoup those costs”. Richard Rosen is the owner of the consulting firm Calling Strategies which specializes among other things in Call Tracking.

In the next post we’ll be talking about the use of video as an advertising tool on mobile devices.

In an industry dominated by SMS campaigns, MMS, shrunken banners mimicking the ones on internet, ring tones and some other primitive forms of marketing, mobile phone has acquired the reputation of been the underachiever of the media world. Undeniably, the introduction of the iPhone changed the way we think about mobile phones, the way we interact with them and what we expect from our devices. We are now living what is been called by some the “Post iPhone era” and every new smartphone that comes out in the market is expected to be better or at least have the same functionality. While innovative and cool, advertisers are worried that an offer that can be streamlined and sold by the pound is yet to emerge in this current innovative climate. Just like the early days of the internet a lot of experimenting is going on, but defined formats are not well established.

Branding and advertising go a lot deeper than just trying to trick or brainwash someone to buy a product with the typical no-brainer “Call to Action”(then again that is not the point of this post today). In this post we will focus on the devices and the different technical possibilities they offer. Here some of the most popular formats used for advertising on the smartphones:

Click-to-call: in this format while browsing the internet with a mobile phone, the user can click on a phone number just like it can click on a link and make a phone call. One significant benefit of click-to-call is that it allows companies to track when online visitors change from the website to a phone sales channel.

Video: many devices are able to play videos, which increases the chances of users to see the latest trailer, click on the number and book the tickets… There are currently many similar apps available including one official app from Sony.

Audio: with the introduction of radio on the mobile devices, traditional radio approach still a viable way of reaching consumers. Existing radio campaigns are pretty much alive. A more sophisticated model would be that of last.fm, pretty famous on the web already. They are a mix of radio and music store, offering a wide selection for free or introducing people to new music with a small preview. It gives the user the chance of buying the music online or download it directly to the phone via iTunes.

Location Based Services (LBS): uses the GPS feature of the phone to help people locate services in the area. Communities such as Qype include a combination of web2mobile where reviews about places can be easily found while on the go. Another good example of the usage of this feature was seen in the Virgin 1′s campaign “Terminate your Mate” made for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. You could send an SMS to your mates from a website requesting their position, soon after the user receives a terminator styled video telling them where they’ll be target for termination by no other than the Terminator himself.

Other applications include retails store locators and recently some “where-can-I-buy-this-product-around-here” from companies such as where2getit.com

Applications: My favorite out of the whole bunch. Finally companies are giving something in return instead of trying to compete for attention. Companies like NIKE have sucessfully combined  online communities of runners with mobile devices turning the brand into a meaningful experience. Another good example is CHANEL releasing one of the first iPhone apps to the market. It didn’t take too much time until others followed. Brands such as COCA COLA, STARBUCKS, RED BULL to mention a few, have their own apps ready to download for several different smartphones platforms.

QR-Code: every smartphone is able to scan these bad boys which can contain everything from a text message, a web address, phone number…You name it. Holding up to 4, 296 characters. Created in 1994 by Japanese automotive parts manufacturer Denso-Wave and called Quick Response (hence the name QR) to check their own inventories. In October 2008 MindMatics AG (now called CLANMO) launched the first European-wide campaign via Mobile QR Mosaic posters for the upcoming EA game, SPORE. Other have since followed.

Mobile Web: internet on the go. Basically all formats we find online with the exception of flash banners which are not supported by the iPhone yet. The Palm Pre will apparently be able to handle flash. The guys at AdMob seem to be the leader company in this type of advertising offering everything from mobile analytics, campaign management and mobile metrics, I also have to mention that they deliver on all formats I touch on in this post.

Blyk (We pay you to watch our ads model): Blyk is the first free mobile network funded solely by advertising and available only in the UK (for the moment anyway). The model is pretty easy, you tell them what you like and they send you advertising from several products in their portfolio. In exchange for you attention you can make free calls. Not such a bad deal.

In the next part, I’ll be talking more in-depth about each individual format and how they can be measured. In the meantime if you have any questions, please contact me or leave a comment.

As it now the launch date for the product is as early as May 17th, but there are some rumors that the date might be pushed back to June 29th. This could be a potential fiasco, since Apple’s WWDC will take place on June 8th. Whatever iPhone related news can only hurt Palm’s chances of success and steal the momentum.