Alcatel-Lucent helps bridge the gap between mobile operators and advertisers

Advertisers look to mobile operators—and their relationships with subscribers—as an ideal channel to engage with consumers. To take advantage of that interest, mobile operators must create highly responsive, permission- and preference-based mobile ad inventory for advertising partners seeking easy access these willing and highly targeted audiences.

To address that opportunity, Alcatel-Lucent, Egypt’s Mobinil’s (30 million subscribers) and brand advertisers adidas and Nokia have partnered to launch an advertising service (based on Alcatel-Lucent’s Optism solution) that will enable the “conversational marketing” so coveted by advertisers.

A major problem for any mobile ad solution to overcome is complaints from advertisers about the sheer number of formats and inventory types (choices for ad channels) with which they must work on a one-off basis—operator to operator. Because each operator approaches inventory—mobile web banners, inserts, in-application banners, messages, rich messages—in its own way, advertisers are forced to work with different formats, processes and protocols, when what they really want are automated, standardized ways to launch and book ad campaigns so they can quickly promote and change gears according to trends or behavior changes among mobile subscribers.

“As mobile operators try to figure out how to make the most of potential relationships with advertisers, they will increasingly recognize the opportunity for ‘conversational marketing,’ which targets different demographics, age groups and enthusiasts with targeted, interactive marketing campaigns and promotions, discounts, content and exclusive opportunities,” said Hani Ramzi, director of global business development, Alcatel-Lucent. According to Ramzi, there was a 35% success rate, with more than 200,000 subscribers opting in during the soft launch of its advertising solution with adidas and Nokia.

In comparison to other digital media, that is significant, as click-throughs for banner ads on mobile phones usually land somewhere between .5 and 1%. Ramzi attributes the 35% success rate to the trust subscribers feel toward mobile operators, which thus far have seen success when asking subscribers to do quick surveys in exchange for more targeted content. “For a third party, subscribers probably wouldn’t participate, but when operators come up with short and easy-to-complete questions about preferences, in exchange for promises of more targeted content and perhaps even additional incentives like free SMSs or downloads, the willingness is amazing.”

Egypt’s Mobinil, for example, realized an 85% success rate in getting customers to complete profiles about personal preferences. Similar success has been realized in Germany, France and other Western European countries, so Ramzi believes people are willing—in both emerging and mature markets—to give up information about themselves if it means more personalized content on their mobile devices.

“For mobile operators, this type of data is invaluable not only for their advertising partners, but for themselves and their own product development,” pointed out Ramzi. “This is particularly good for plans to do long-term campaigns where long-term engagements are possible over the course of a year with subscribers. “Certainly, advertisers like the opportunity to air more than one campaign, so the continuity facilitated by the mobile operator’s relationship with customers is very attractive,” added Ramzi.

For mobile operators, advertising representsa new profit stream, though overall it remains a small portion of their overall business. The other plus is the trust this model can build, as operators can get information directly from subscribers who opt in or out, as opposed to more “hidden” or opaque behavioral tracking systems, which many subscribers do not like. “This is transparent and explicit, so subscribers tend to look at this as a more up-front way to work with their provider, which in turn gets them more relevant content, and gets the operator more information for future marketing internally and with partners,” added Ramzi.

Simultaneous to this work, the Mobile Marketing Association, of which Alcatel-Lucent is a member, also is engaging in work to standardize the aforementioned inventories and formats to further bridge the gap between advertisers and mobile operators.