IPSH Frequently Asked Questions
Q: When was IPSH founded and why decide to use SMS as a viable vehicle for marketers?
A: In 1999, while many were chasing dot-com dreams, we were developing nightlife event-marketing technologies. I read about SMS being used as a tool in Europe and Asia, so I started developing an application that would give event-goers a time-sensitive way to know what's going on in their city. Imagine getting an SMS to let you know what party is going on after all the bars close at 2 a.m. We thought that mobile text alerts could serve as a killer app for delivering this information when one is away from the PC, and spun off the technology as a B2B product focusing on our immediate interests, media and entertainment. That's when ipsh! was founded, in June of 2001.
Q: What are the advantages of SMS?
A: Mobile devices are always-carried, highly visible social communications tools. SMS offers stronger ROI than other media at a fraction of the cost; the dialogue is immediate and is two-way between the marketer and the consumer; it can be very targeted, to age, gender, time of day, and handset type; it fits in nicely with radio, TV, and print; it's viral: an average of 6% of messages are forwarded, and 20% are shown to a friend; and it's fun. Billions of messages are sent per month.
Q: Are there any disadvantages or pitfalls with SMS that advertisers need to know about?
A: Yes. Advertisers should align themselves to companies with the most experience and best practices for the business. Variants such as message frequency, content size, wording, call to action and tone can greatly affect conversion rates, brand loyalty and commerce opportunities.
The youth demo is such a moving target that advertisers should rely on current case studies and analyze comparable conversion rates to best understand the appropriate deployment and campaign.
Also, marketers need to ask themselves: "Is this promotion something that is truly enhanced with a mobile component?" If the answer is no, then mobile marketing may not be the right option.
Q: Do you think that spim (spam for instant messaging) will hurt legitimate mobile marketers, just as spam has with e-mail marketers? What can be done about it?
A: Spim will not nearly have the impact that e-mail spam has had on society. Carriers have too much to lose. With an average acquisition cost of between $350-$400 per customer, phone carriers have way too much to lose on a revenue stream of SMS/MMS (multimedia messaging services) that only brings in a fraction of that revenue. Carriers will shut down gateways to aggregators and marketers that abuse their customers, simply due to the economic strain it would cost them to lose a customer.
Also, ipsh! has developed internal barriers to spim, including authentication technology that prevents users from receiving spim from our campaigns unless they confirm the message sent to them -- like a double opt-in.
We have learned from e-mail. SMS marketers have drafted and agreed to universal principles on mobile marketing. Many of these principles can be found at the Mobile Marketing Association. Will this really reduce spim? Perhaps. At least these practices provide guidelines for legitimate marketers and mobile media firms while creating a line between mobile marketers and spimmers. If your brand is looking to work with a reputable firm, then it is imperative that you make sure they follow MMA codes and practices.
Q: You've had a lot of music and entertainment clients -- do you see more interest in this kind of marketing from the consumer brands?
A: Yes. There's a trend in marketing where consumer brands that focus on the youth demo are experimenting with techniques that work well when marketing music. A perfect example is street marketing. Music labels were the first in the U.S. to have youth street teams, then corporate America followed suit.
The same is true with mobile marketing. We're offering a strategic program to consumer brands that utilizes our music industry experience. We call it "Band2brand" mobility. Through Band2brand, we can offer marketing services based upon statistical results of our mobile music campaigns. There are also times when we broker deals between brands and bands, like our interactive two-way SMS campaign developed for Radiohead and sponsored by AT&T.
Q: There's a whole generation of kids who have cell phones and are more comfortable with text messaging. Is there also a way to tap the older demo?
A: The youth generation would facilitate older demo adoption if they could sit down with their parents in private and have a candid conversation about "text." No, seriously, many adults just need a simple tutorial on the ease of text just as many have had to learn e-mail and Internet browsing. It also helps to have a killer app that could push the demo to adoption, such as alerts about when to take medication, schedule service for their car, or portfolio stock alerts. More progressive clients, such as American Express, are piloting text campaigns with us in hopes of breaking the ice among the older audience.
Q: What the significance of ipsh entering the European market?
The european market gave birth to the mobile marketing industry. industry pioneers flytxt (1999) and 12snap (2001) started the revolution
and began to turn marketers heads to the new media. due to the quick update of text messaging in europe, business boomed. however, these companies looked at mobile as a technology channel and strove to roll out standard, out-of-the-box solutions that quickly became commoditized as everyone adopted similar technologies. today, in 2006, we see a new revolution, 'mobile marketing 2.0' -- looking at mobile as a MARKETING channel and not a technology channel. providing actual solutions to marketing paradigms,
i.e. customer acquisition, retention, loyalty, CRM, revenue generation--not with out of the box solutions, but with strategy & creative. something that cannot ever be commoditized. and something that europe is now lacking.
ipsh! saw this opportunity and wanted to launch as a strategic mobilemarketing AGENCY v. technology company to give brands and agencies what they craved for.
What are the strengths in being a part of Omnicon's ZULU partnership?
Is this the first time ipsh has worked with Omnicon?
NM> ZULU is highly regarded as a 'future facing' collection of marketing channels for the marketer. as everyone knows, marketing and media is changing rapidly. from brands embracing myspace and youtube, to wireless, broadband, and interactive TV, it is imperative for brands to enlist in the revolution or get left in the dark. ZULU aggregates an interactive TV company (weapon7), the leading interactive agency (agency republic), the leading DM agency (claydonhealy), and ipsh! Europe (wireless), to provide a 360 degree future facing gamet of services & opportunities to the client. ipsh! is owned by Omnicom (acquired Oct 2005), so such a partnership was
natural to extend.
What challenges do you expand as the company expands globally? Will there be more overseas hires and expansion as a result.
NM> constant carrier and handset profileration & fragmentation make it difficult to roll out campaigns with ease around the world. different
technologies, carrier regulations, handset compatibilities, are all challenges that our team is currently tackling to provide a seamless,
global experience for the multinational brand clients. currently, we are building the london office (craig patton is our new