Mobile

Creative professionals still prefer to sit down with a pen and paper for most activities, but mobile devices are reshaping many parts of their jobs.

Digital technologies have considerable potential to transform how companies create revenue and results via innovative strategies, products, processes and experiences. But do companies recognize that potential, and are they mobilizing to capitalize on it?

These days, it feels like every company is using mobile marketing, but that doesn’t mean challenges don’t exist.

In keeping with the Mobile Marketing Association’s (MMA) new ‘marketer first’ mission and aligning with its commitment to help marketers around the world leverage the power of mobile, today the MMA announced the formation of MM25.

With mobile being the last thing we interact with at night and the first thing we wake up to in the morning, we bring you five essential thoughts for building mobile-ready brands.

Looking at app retention rates—the average number of times an app was used during the first six months of ownership—among mobile app users worldwide, the research found that the percentage of apps opened just once dropped from 26% to 20% between March 2011 and March 2014. Even more impressive, the percentage of users launching an app 11 times or more jumped from 26% to 39% during the same timeframe.

A new report released, “Hispanic Business Growth and the Mobile Future” details how mobile connectivity is fueling the thriving and dynamic Hispanic small business community. The report points to mobile technology’s fundamental role in the management, productivity and growth of Hispanic-owned firms. Hispanic entrepreneurs own more than 3.2 million businesses that together contributed over $468 billion to the American economy last year.

To reach a nationwide audience during this summer’s global soccer tournament, DISH collaborated with Google to develop a first of its kind presentation of “El Juego Bonito (the beautiful game)” across the web, including the first ever Spanish language masthead sponsorship in the U.S. on YouTube’s desktop and mobile sites.

Live entertainment seekers—defined in a recent study as mobile phone users who plan to see a live performance within the next three months—are turning to their phones to help plan for such events.

Don’t be surprised to see World Cup fever invading your newsfeed: Data released in June 2014 by Peel found that the social network tied with SMS for the top way US smartphone users following the FIFA World Cup planned to communicate with others about games while watching.

The MMA released an Interactive Creative Framework on how to build and execute the most effective mobile campaigns. The insights included are the result of an in-depth analysis of over 450 global mobile campaigns.

Consumers around the world are rushing into the embrace of the smartphone market, according to new figures from eMarketer on mobile usage worldwide. By the end of 2014, we expect 1.76 billion people to own and use smartphones monthly, up more than 25% over 2013.

Mike Sievert – Chief Marketing Officer /  T-Mobile

This week, the 2014 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Brazil, and we’re helping to bring this awesome global spectacle to your living room – and your phone – in typical Un-carrier style.

The World Cup is an amazing, incredible quadrennial event, and T-Mobile’s Simple Choice plan is hands-down the best option for the hundreds of thousands of Americans travelling to the games – with unlimited data and texting and low-cost calls while in Brazil.

The new mobile medium represents an appealing opportunity for brand marketers—enabling them to reach a pool of consumers that is growing by the day anytime and anywhere. Because of mobile’s relative youth, however, there is still confusion over how best to engage in mobile advertising. Differences in technology mean that marketers can’t always employ the same best practices in mobile that they use for television or online advertising.

Querying sports enthusiasts from 11 markets – Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States – who have smartphones and plan to follow the tournament, the survey reveals that 48 percent overall plan to use their phones to follow the World Cup, second only to TV (63%) when it comes to media channels for keeping up with the game.

JWT’s third annual report on trends in the mobile sphere spotlights key themes and builds on trends spotlighted in previous reports. The report covers significant drivers and manifestations of these developments, and their implications for brands. “10 Mobile Trends for 2014 and Beyond” is based around on-the-ground research at the MWC in Barcelona and SXSW in Austin, as well as desk research and insights gleaned from interviews with several mobile experts and influencers.

Los Angeles-based multicultural mobile marketing solutions company BRIABE Mobile launched its “ROAD TO RIO” platform, a curated mobile soccer content platform. The platform offers unique and exclusive content in both English and Spanish targeted to the more than 50% of U.S. Hispanics following the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

NBCUniversal recently announced that it will create original digital video across all of its entities. Scott Schiller, executive vice president of digital advertising sales at NBCUniversal, spoke with eMarketer’s Rimma Kats about how the recent initiatives will help advertisers reach consumers.

The 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament may not kick off in Brazil until next month, but viewers are already planning on how they’re going to watch the matches. And based on polling conducted by Instant.ly for YuMe, digital devices are reshaping game viewing.

Amid the squeeze on drug companies due to patent expirations on blockbuster drugs, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced in April an asset-swapping/joint venture deal, which includes Novartis picking up GSK’s cancer drugs and the two companies forming a joint venture on their respective nonprescription drug consumer units. The venture, GSK Consumer Healthcare, will combine the businesses of Novartis brands including Excedrin and Prevacid with GSK brands including Nicorette, TUMS and Aquafresh. Cheryl Policastro, director of shopper marketing and insights at Novartis Consumer Health, spoke with eMarketer’s Christine Bittar about selling over-the-counter medications and some of the differences between marketing prescription and nonprescription drugs.