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Nokia Launches Mobile Advertising Alliance
12 Jun 08
Global handset giant Nokia has launched a Mobile Advertising Alliance to help nurture the emerging mobile advertising business model.
Global Insight Perspective | | Significance | Nokia has launched a mobile advertising alliance to bring together leading mobile marketing solutions and simplify mobile advertising for brand advertisers. | Implications | Any attempt by Nokia and its alliance partners to limit the influence of mobile operators on the mobile advertising channel is bound to trigger an unhealthy unease in the industry. | Outlook | Given Nokia's clout in the mobile handset market, the initiative will help to nurture the nascent mobile advertising business model. |
Global handset giant Nokia has launched an advertising alliance which it says will simplify mobile advertising for brand advertisers. Nokia said it is forming the Nokia Advertising Alliance, which will bring together leading mobile marketing solutions, including couponing, location-based targeting, image recognition, and other emerging technologies, to offer advertisers a simple way to increase consumer engagement. The company is now inviting other companies to work with it to create a unified platform to nurture the emerging mobile advertising business. "Brands have the opportunity to deliver immersive, highly engaging experiences to consumers," said Mike Baker, vice-president and head of Nokia Interactive Advertising. "The Alliance gives brands access to a range of novel mobile ad experiences from one trusted vendor," he added. As part of the alliance, Nokia wants to encourage advertising firms to pull their resources together to promote mobile advertising. Nokia said brands can now work with it to combine the reach of mobile advertising on the Nokia Media Network with the latest mobile technologies for more effective campaigns. In a press statement, the Finnish group said that members of the alliance are integrated with its Nokia Media Network, allowing brands to plan, execute and measure mobile advertising campaigns through a single Nokia interface. So far, the alliance has certified several companies including i-movo, Mobile Acuity, Mobiqa, and uLocate, with many additional members in testing. Nokia also noted that leading brands from the automotive and entertainment industries have built campaigns using the Nokia Advertising Alliance. Outlook and Implications Noble Cause: Nokia's attempt to assemble an alliance to nurture the mobile advertising sector is a noble idea that would eventually help to boost mobile advertising. Although the mobile domain has been identified as the so-called "third screen", uncertainties over how the business model will develop have lacked a unified response. Unlike on the desktop internet, where any company can strut its advertising prowess with limitless alacrity (as exemplified by Google), the advertising channel on the mobile front remains a prisoner of the mobile operators, who are resolutely against any ideas to convert them into "bit carriers". Although the likes of Blyk with their ad-funded MVNO service are gradually emerging on the scene, the market is still inherently difficult to penetrate. Nokia's Advertising Alliance will offer a platform that can enable brands to leverage an established brand in improving their own brands. For Global Insight's comprehensive review of advertising on the mobile channel see World: 28 September 2007: Third Screen: The Mobile Phone as The Emerging Advertising Channel. Flexing its Muscles: Regardless of how noble its ideas are, Nokia's championing of the Advertising Alliance is based on its dominance of the mobile handset market. The company remains, by far, the largest mobile handset vendor in the market, with an almost 40% share of the global handset market. Accordingly, companies that sign up for its alliance will benefit from its extensive network of partners. Nokia said its Nokia Interactive Advertising initiative provides brands with all they need to connect with and engage the mobile consumer. That would include its Nokia Media Network, which gives reach to millions of mobile consumers through advertising on more than 100 blue-chip mobile publishers, operator partners and Nokia properties, plus the Nokia Interactive Solutions, which creates end-to-end, high-performance mobile campaigns for brands from banner ads, mobile internet sites and location finders, to mobile coupons, click-to-call and other advanced mobile mechanics. However, any attempt to limit the influence of mobile operators on the mobile advertising channel is bound to trigger an unhealthy unease in the industry.
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