Another effective tool for marketers

Another effective tool for marketers

Mahendra Gautama, Contributor, Jakarta

In the 1920s, when John Logie Baird first demonstrated
television and video cassette, he was fully aware that his
invention would have a great impact on both the media and
entertainment world. What he probably did not realize was that
one day television could be turned into a powerful medium for
marketing.

Similarly, Vint Cerf and other pioneers of the Internet in the
1970s might not have realized that the e-mail they had created
would soon be used as one of the effective and efficient
marketing tools.

A study of voice and wireless commerce conducted by The Kelsey
Group and ConStat Incorporated further confirmed that wireless
phones would indeed join newspapers, radio and television as a
sponsored delivery medium for information, shopping and
entertainment services. Hence, Mobile marketing (M-marketing) was
born.

M-marketing has been made possible by one of the sophisticated
technologies in telecommunication: the Global System for Mobile
Communication (GSM) along with its Short Message Service (SMS),
which today are phenomenal successes in the telecommunications
industry.

The SMS was the first medium used by major corporations for
their M-marketing. The McDonald restaurant-chain, for example,
used it in 2001 by introducing its McSMS program in Italy,
England and Sweden. The result was impressive, as in just ten
weeks McDonald acquired 220,000 new customers.

However, marketers soon became dissatisfied with SMS, as one
of its shortcomings was the limited number of words that could be
sent. So, it was not surprising that the arrival of General
Packet Radio System (GPRS) was enthusiastically welcomed.

By using the GPRS technology users are constantly connected
and only pay for the amount of data they send. GPRS, also known
as 2.5 Generation, also enables much faster data transfer -- 115
kilobytes per second -- which is 10 times quicker than the
conventional GSM.

The GPRS has certainly opened up newer horizons in M-
marketing, as it has greatly improved the quality of messages
from text only to picture messages, enhanced messages (text plus
sound, pictures and various text formatting enhancements) as well
as multimedia messaging (rich multiple media formats comprising
video, audio plus text etc.).

The key technologies underlying these new applications and the
newer innovative services that will emerge in the not-too-distant
future are EMS (Enhanced Messaging System) and MMS (Multimedia
Messaging System).

Naturally, compared with the conventional text message, the
EMS and MMS technologies make the messages more emotional,
interactive and measurable. The messages, next to building
awareness, makes it possible for continued dialogue for customer
retention. With the broader bandwidth of GPRS, it is also
possible for marketers to apply a totally integrated marketing
communications, which means consistency of advertising messages
in all kinds of media, including those sent to their customers'
mobile phones.

Realizing the potentials of GPRS in M-marketing, major
manufacturers of cell phones have also enhanced their products
with the entire up-to-date compatible features.

Apart from all the latest technology in telecommunications,
all the GPRS, EMS and MMS will not mean much if marketers do not
understand consumers' attitudes and behavior related to M-
marketing.

A relevant survey conducted by Nokia in 2002, titled "M-
marketing: An end-user perspective", revealed what goes on in the
consumers' minds, called the 4 C's. These were: Choice -- to be
able to decide whether or not to receive messages; Control -- to
be able to bypass sales messages easily; Customization -- to be
able to tailor the types of message received; and CQuid pro quo
-- to get something beneficial in return, namely reduced prices
for products and services offered.

So far, history has proven that marketing is behind the
success of various communications and entertainment media, like
radio, television and the Internet. Likewise, the emergence of
GPRS, along with its highly enhanced messaging, offers tremendous
opportunities for M-marketing.