New concepts in mobile marketing come along every day it seems, but most are simply rehashed ideas and methods that have already been tried before. Such is not the case with a new method known as mobile “idle screen” marketing that, judging by its response numbers, seems somewhat promising.
The idea involves broadcasting media in the form of everything from news, sports, business, entertainment, “lifestyle teasers” and advertising messages. The difference is, since the broadcast is made directly to the mobile idle-screens- a synchronized, interactive network of personal billboards is created.
The concept is being tested by The Telefonica mobile operators group which has launched an innovative “idle screen marketing solution” powered by Celltick’s LiveScreen Media platform. For real-world testing, the service is being used by Movistar, the Mobile Phone Company from the Telefonica Group.
The service generates revenue from content downloads, subscription services and advertising fees. The solution aims to address what the group calls the “key challenges of the mobile marketing ecosystem” by cost-effectively monetizing the idle screen via streamlined distribution of personalized teasers.
The LiveScreen Media platform, which powers the new concept, is able to segment users based on location, handset type and areas of interest which are generated from tracking user response to the various idle screen messages. Advertisers are then provided an excellent opportunity since the platform provides segmentation based on age, sex, area of residence and content of interest along with the new interactivity feature, says Marcelo Mitroga, Content and Mobile Marketing Manager from Movistar Argentina. This advanced type of segmentation was earlier unavailable in most types of traditional media.
The innovative mobile marketing platform, which sounds complicated I know, was tested as part of a six-month trial in Mar del Plata, Argentina which involved around 5,000 customers. The results indicated a rather high consumer uptake with almost 82 percent of users engaged with the new communication channel on the idle screen. Though it was a first-round test of a completely new method, the future seems bright for the concept. It’s definitely something to keep our eyes on to see how it evolves in the near future.