mobiK, Global Pioneer of Free/Ad-Sponsored Mobile Services Launches in Australia

Written by PRESS RELEASE

Monday, 25 June 2007

Sydney, 12 June 2007 - mobiK, the global pioneer of ad-sponsored mobile services, today launched its mobile community network to its growing Australian user base. Subscribers have been able to send free Internet : mobile and mobile : Internet texts since mobiK began testing the service last October. From today, they will also be able to send free mobile: mobile messages. "mobiK is an Australian revolution," according to CEO Damian Thompson. "We are certainly the first company in Australia to work out how to provide free/ad-sponsored mobile services. We believe we are the first company in the world to deliver this service as well." APAC Footprint With over 400,000 members in Southeast Asia and Australia/New Zealand, mobiK is expanding its user base with a relaunched web-site and increased functionality. Since Beta-testing and advertising trials began, mobiK has attracted more than 20,000 Australian subscribers. This has been achieved purely by word-of-mouth, and without mobiK itself being marketed. The mobiK product is aimed at anyone with a mobile phone. During testing, the product has been most successfully received by the 15-30 demographic: the most value-driven market segment whose preferred communication platform is mobile. Until now, advertisers' attempts to penetrate the mobile media have proved disappointing. According to UK analysts ‘informa', global mobile ad-spend totalled only US$871 million in 2006. They forecast a rise to US$4 billion by 2008. A Mobile Ad Strategy That Works mobiK sponsors its services by selling cross-format ads to a targeted user base. Banner and video ads are served to Internet users; tag advertisements are appended to text messages and mobile banner ads are delivered to the mobiK mobile application. "As an advertising strategy, it works because it is carefully targeted and unobtrusive," says Thompson. "Plus we offer advertisers ‘unique' viewers who, as subscribers, have already signed up to receive adverts." From today, Australian subscribers can take advantage of mobiK's unique ‘K' rewards scheme. ‘K' are awarded to members for signing on, attracting new subscribers, and completing questionnaires. They can be redeemed for mobile consumer products and accessories. Designed for Mobile mobiK's mobile applications are designed specifically for online mobile. "Online mobile is still a messy area because service providers still think in terms of putting the internet into mobile," says Damian Thompson. "Online mobile is a fundamentally different proposition. We don't want to search on mobile, we want to find." The mobiK sponsored mobile services offering is built on proprietary ‘Triple Play' technology, which allows advertisers to deliver a ‘unitary' serving to the target audience. A seven second FLV / SWF 500K max video clip is served to online users sending text. A thematically linked GIF, JPG or Polite Flash format 250*250 banner is served in an adjacent box, allowing the user to click through to an advertiser landing page. The receiver is served a 40 character tag appended to the body of the text message. Benefits to Advertisers The attraction for advertisers is that mobiK's subscribers are exactly targeted, so that specific adverts can be served to unique audiences at optimal times of the day. By changing the target criteria and time-slots delivery, and by measuring click-through rates on their banner ads, advertisers can dramatically change the effectiveness of their campaign. One advantage of this multi-format online-mobile marketing technique is the targetable interaction. "If advertisers want market research, we can incentivise our members to give it to us," says Thompson. The time and targeting facilities permit marketers to devise detailed call-to-action campaigns. In a campaign for Paybymobile, mobiK increased traffic flow to the advertiser's landing site by 500 per cent, and increased registrations for their product by 250 per cent. The technique is also suited to brand-building campaigns. mobiK's breakthrough into sponsored mobile services demonstrates a determining factor in how online mobile will develop. "Our business proves that mobile consumers are willing to be served advertisements in return for services," says Thompson. "Ultimately - just as in television - sponsorship will drive premium content. But the advertising will be so targeted that it won't be anything like as annoying as mobile advertising has been to date." Mobile advertising is currently dominated by texting. According to UK analyst firm, ‘informa', in 2006 sponsored ‘Messaging' (SMS and MMS) comprised 72 per cent of total mobile advertising spend. However other formats are forecast to supersede text by 2009. As 3G technology broadens handset functionality informa forecast that mobile Broadcast TV, Video, and Search will become major avenues of mobile advertising spend. www.mobik.com Related news items Tiny Rugged UMPC WIth Vista -10/10/2007 Consumers Want FMC: Companies Don't See The Benefit -02/10/2007 Nokia Buys Map Company For US$8 Billion -02/10/2007 Seven In Unwired Takeover Bid -26/09/2007 Next-Gen 3G RAZR DownUnder -24/09/2007 Newer news items AUSTAR and Nortel Working to Deliver World-class WiMAX for Regional Australians -24/06/2007 Tag This Now: