where does the mobile internet live?

please tweet and/or post this image!

In a meeting today we were joking around about mobile URL's that are cool and URL fails.

We recently registered m.ob.ly from libya to host all of our client's sites. We think that m.ob.ly is a cool mobile domain.

wap.site.com, on the other hand. Uncool. Very 1999.

I recently ran a co-ordinated, perl scripted and thorough investigation of the mobile capabilities of the top 100 most trafficked North American websites and the top 100 brands. Specifically, when they had any mobile presence at all, where did the company point the user? How many of them are cool? Well, a lot!

What's the most popular mobile site URL?

m.site.com was used by almost half (39%) of all mobile internet sites, for instance:

• m.yahoo.com
• m.youtube.com
• m.myspace.com
• m.bing.com
• m.toyota.com
• m.disney.go.com
• m.hp.com
• m.bing.com
• m.cnn.com
• m.flickr.com

mobile.site.com was next most popular with 14.4% of mobile site URLs:

• mobile.microsoft.com
• mobile.mcdonalds.com
• mobile.about.com
• mobile.nytimes.com

gibberish
the next most popular url format, coming in at 13.5% of all sites, was a bunch of gibberish in the mobile url, like:

• Amazon:  www.amazon.com/gp/aw
  
• MSN: sports.mobile.msn.com
• Lexus: www.lexus.com/lexus/jsp/pub/mobile
• Armani: apps.netbiscuits.com/57690/armaniExchange

This is really a problem because many mobile operators use nasty transcoders which rely on the format of the URL to determine whether the content is a mobile site or not. Without a specific mobile URL, the perfectly formatted mobile content could be mangled through a transcoder.

iphone.site.com
The iphone is so popular that many pubishers and brands are making custom sites especially for it. Typically if the publisher is building an iphone.site.com site, then they've also built another specific mobile site. For instnace, m.facebook.com and iphone.facebook.com

.mobi is used by less than 4% of brands and publishers
What was really surprising to me out of this study is that the .mobi domain is so unpopular. In fact, of the 200 brands and top sites I checked, very few of them had even bothered to register their .mobi domain. The .mobi top-level-domain seems overrun by domain squatters. Oh well... m.site.com works for me!

Having a mobile site and not using it? Priceless.

Having a mobile website and then not automatically redirecting to it from your primary site? WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!?

I'm talking about YOU yelp, and YOU linkedin, and YOU too nokia. Come on guys, get your act together and make sure your primary website redirects to the mobile site that you've spent hundreds of thousands of $ building. Here's a tip, they're here m.yelp.com, m.linkedin.com and mobile.nokia.mobi.

Net net?

m.site.com is most popular.

custom URLs for iphone.site.com, m.site.com and android.site.com very cool.

Not having a mobile website at all is understandable for some but not the top 100 brands and top 100 publishers.

Having a mobile site and not using it? Ummm.

For those interested in the gory details:
m.site.com 39.42%
mobile.site.com 14.42%
nothing sensible 13.46%
iphone.site.com 6.73%
nochange 6.73%
site.mobi 3.85%
site.com/mobile 1.92%
site.com/m 1.92%
site.com/iphone 1.92%
site.com/wap 0.96%
wireless.site.com 0.96%
wap.site.com 0.96%
wapp.site.com 0.96%
site.com/mobi 0.96%

Obama's Healthcare loss... failure to exploit his assets

 

Why isn't the Obama administration using mobile to shape the healthcare debate?

 

Obama’s challenge with mobile is the same as for many marketers. Generating interest in the initial campaign can generate huge follow on opportunities, but maintaining a dialogue with a consumer which they perceive is valuable can get tough pretty quickly. And yet, this is where brand loyalty is cemented and brand zealots are born. Consumers demand some form of value in a dialogue. During the Presidential Election the value was really worthwhile: “change”, now continued investment is required to continue to provide a valuable exchange with the consumer.

 

Obama has a significant database of voters which he can communicate with, but he needs to move from the existing political dialog and move to engaging us in supporting his policies, by doing things such as:

• Devise a true 1-to-1 dialogue with the people, which can help dilute the power of lobbyists and provide some tangible steps that help people know what action to take.
  

• Send a viral TXT message which loyalists can pass on to friends and relatives containing a link to a video which they can watch to hear Obama's side of the debate.  This could make it into the hands of tens of millions of people if the viral effect came into full force.  

• Send a blast-out SMS with a link to a really useful and informative wap site, sharing Obama's recommendation on the health debate.  The wap site could have a calculator allowing people to see how they or their family members would be affected by the proposed changes.

• Provide an iPhone app calculator which does the same and calculates the health care costs under the different plans being considered.

 

The goal is to create the crucial conversations not just between Obama and voters, but between loyalists and their friends, colleagues and families, where some real value and information is exchanged in both directions. After all one-to-one is the promised power of mobile right?

mobile & social media - blogradio interview

Michelle Batten from iMediaWorks invited me to chat on her digital and social media podcast this week. 

We discussed the following topics:

- Star Trek

- intersection between social media and mobile and the opportunities for brands

- content consumption habits on the mobile web

- how twitter & facebook have changed mobile

- iPhone apps - MasterCard's Priceless and the KFC Grillz App

- and more

You can tune in via your browser here: iMediaWorks Podcast

or 

access the podcast in iTunes here: iTunes Podcast

Timing is everything

Last year, The New York Times Magazine wrote about Stefano Pilati, Yves Saint Laurent’s genius designer. Over the years, Pilati has reveled in bleeding-edge fashion, introducing innovative designs and collections. The article notes his willingness to take risks and introduce rousing designs…designs that the fashion-elite could appreciate for their precision craftsmanship and innovation. But the appreciation was largely insider. When in came to consumers, Pilati’s designs were often too far ahead.

The Times reports, “When he showed tulip-shaped skirts in 2004, the proportion was still confusing to women, and the collection did not sell well. Now, it is difficult to find a skirt that is not tulip-shaped. When, in 2006, he designed long, narrow tunics over pants, his collection was panned, but the following year, the look became a mainstay of women everywhere. ‘I used to think it was a good thing to be different than the other designers, but no, it’s not. But I can’t always help it. When I was 17, the design director at Nino Cerruti, who was my first mentor, taught me that to be too much ahead is to be behind. The most important thing is to be right on time.’”

Like fashion, new communications planning requires managing trends in technology – understanding when and how to take advantage them. At the end of the day, we have to be aware of more than just the new. We have to be aware of the now. We’ve got to pay attention to what consumers are willing and able to do today. Right now I have many really cool, crazy ideas for brands…but like Pilati’s designs, they could reach ever so slightly over the heads (and devices) of most consumers. So, the challenge is timing campaigns correctly with the technological reality, when consumers are ready and willing to get involved.

Agenda Setting

In Sunday’s New York Times, there is a great article on President Obama’s “political narrative.” While the NYT and others applaud Obama for his dynamism and unique abilities as storyteller, they question his ability to tell so many at one time – that his legislative priorities are spread too broadly. Peggy Noonan of The Wall Street Journal said, “An administration about everything is an administration about nothing.”

The article goes on to call Obama “the nation’s first shuffle president,” so dubbed because he’s telling many stories at once time, and in no specific order. Even more interesting is that his entire agenda is downloadable (literally in some cases).

“If what you care most about is health care, then you can jump right to that. If global warming gets you going, then click over there. It’s not especially realistic to imagine that politics could cling to a linear way of rendering stories while the rest of American culture adapts to a more customized form of consumption. Obama’s ethos may disconcert the older guard in Washington, but it’s probably comforting to a lot of younger voters who could never be expected to listen to successive tracks, in the same order, over and over again.”

This “shuffle” phenomenon has implications on the brand/marketing world as well. Like the President, some brands try to tell many stories at one time. Some do it well, some don’t. It’s why setting a clear agenda for the brand and communications is so critically important. Mel Exon wrote a great piece on BBH Labs’ blog along similar lines – about the importance of the big [strategic] idea.

At the same time, how do we ensure that we give different kinds of consumers relevant entry points that inspire – digital, social, mobile? Tapping into the “shuffle” and delivering on the big idea aren’t mutually exclusive. In fact, they’re inextricably linked.

Obama’s brand of storytelling is amazing to watch. We’ll see where it lands him in three years…Will it appeal to only younger generations? Or will it appeal more broadly to voters at large, making way for a new kind of politics in Washington?

Adapt, improvise, overcome.

The U.S. Marines are known for their ability to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Hence the mantra: "Adapt, improvise, overcome." This ability is critical for survival when you're at war. But surely it is applicable in other places...say advertising.

When dreaming up campaigns, we can plan for the things we know about and some of the things we don't know about. But we can't plan for everything. Every now and then, something happens...cultural, legal, etc. that effects how we operate and communicate. We're then forced to adapt media plans, messaging, etc to suit the needs at the time. 

An interesting example is in Japan where QR codes were hugely popular in print ads to activate mobile web content. However, it appears that QR codes are being used less frequently in [print] ads. Why? 

About 1-2 years ago, train and metro companies in Japan banned camera phones on trains because of stalkers and upskirt photos. This meant people couldn't use their QR code reader on the train anymore either. As a result, Japanese ad agencies started using other methods to activate content like search boxes (see image below) along with the search keyword you would use for online and mobile search. Evidently, this is trending through the ad space and being used in more than just print advertising. 

 

It's amazing how little things can lead to bigger changes. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for QR codes in Japan. 

Big thanks to Chris for the insights...

Mobilize, Don’t Miniaturize

Mobilize.

Don't miniaturize.

It's a famous quote and I think it's one of the best quotes I came aross when it comes to mobile application design principles. This quote has been most populized by Barbara Ballard from Little Springs Design

Read Mobilize, Don't Miniaturize.

But apparently, she wasn't the first one who came up with this quote.

She said "I've been saying it for a few years now, although the exact phrasing was coined by fellow mobile UE professional Bob Miller: Mobilize, Don't Miniaturize. You can not get the same experience on the mobile as you do on the desktop, nor do you want to. The mobile platform offers so much more that can make the experience that much better. Basically, the mobile device is mobile. Thus The Carry Principle applies."

Great Cross-Media Campaign Design

Check out this compelling interactive solution for recruiting fans to support their club. The creative is seamlessly integrated with the technology to deliver a unique experience. This is great design of a cross-media campaign as it incorporates flash and IVR in a way that totally personalizes the user experience. The coach makes a call to your handset to enroll you to watch the game... it's really quite neat!

finger food vol. 1

finger food vol. 1

View more presentations from 5th Finger.

Will I need an umbrella today?

Some of you may have heard of Umbrella Today?, a service that alerts people when they will need an umbrella. People enter their location online and can sign up to receive a text message or an email on the days when they will need an umbrella. 

The service is a simple response to a question that often runs through people's heads before they head out the door: will I need an umbrella today?

 

Sometimes all it takes is a basic understanding of why people do things in order to give people something they will find useful. In this case, knowing that people often check the weather in order to be prepared for a rainy day led to offering a service that helps people be prepared for rainy days.

Not rocket science? Exactly. Umbrella Today? is a great reminder that not all ideas have to be complicated in order to be useful.