This diagram was just posted in an article in Venturebeat surrounding the DEMO conference.  The company that has created a unique advertising model across all formats is a company called Integrate.com.

In this model mobile is just one of the many channels.   We at ADO beleive that mobile is more then just a channel like the others, it is a basic element to the overall essence of advertising that works with the other channels in a concept we call  Cross-Screening.

In a recent presentation by Kevin Kelly, Wired Magazine,  he coins the phrase “Screening” that is another example of what we mean by cross-screening

Scan to LG FashionWeek Mobile

Covered by Luxury Daily , [Click Here]

We have entered 2011 and I have to say the first decade did fly by rather quickly for us in the mobile industry.   I am a big fan of JWT and their things to watch deck.  I thought I would share it and highlight the top 10 in my mind for those realigning and creating a  mobile strategy this year.

In a recent article by Geoff Ramsey, President of eMarketer ( See below), he definitely hit the nail on the head! In the wake of  the financial crisis, will we see a similar media crisis spurred on by the overflow of more and more content, while users still expecting to downloading it for free? We are in an age where everybody is creating, and the world has become  flat for media.  There is just so much out there and it is really becoming more and more available as we envisioned….the on-demand via multi-screens scenario.  I do believe in social recommendations of compelling content, but the market is there for the taking if you do something stimulating and original that really catches the eyes of the consumers. This then could potentially propel it with immense social velocity.

This is why it is critical to have all of your media ducks in a row.  As I say, your RIOTPM ( Radio, Interactive, OOH, TV, Print, Mobile) all working like a purring Ferrari ready to hit the road with your creative “eye-catching, ears-ring”, “Taste buds-swelling” “Fingers-itching” campaigns. The industry word has been coined “Earned-Media”, but I like to think of it as “Emotional-Earned Media”.

If as a marketer you can deliver on this kind of compelling promise to consumers, the last thing you want is for them to try to open that campaign on their mobile phone and the site does not work due to lack of preparation, or poor layout….. Mobile has to be there as well as Social media with the right strategy in place from the start, with its own creative twists….

2011 is the dawn of the new media creative that maps across all the different screens in that unique special contextual way… we are excited  to be part of this…

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2011 Trends: Content Marketing Is Critical

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Geoff Ramsey—CEO, Co-Founder

Next year, marketers will need to rethink their approach to advertising and marketing and intensify their focus on creating magnetic content that will naturally attract consumers, rather than relying solely on the interruption model of advertising, which consumers are responding to less and less. Think pull vs. push.

Magnetic content can include anything created on behalf of a brand—be it an ad, YouTube video, online game, Facebook page, Twitter promo or mobile app—that consumers genuinely want to engage with and pass along to others. This content entertains, amuses, informs, serves a function or satisfies a consumer need. It’s welcome instead of annoying or interruptive.

Marketers, especially those working in social media, have seen the proven value of branded content, sometimes also referred to as “earned media.” Nearly three-quarters of US companies with a social media strategy used such content in their campaigns, making it the most common type of content used, according to a June 2010 study by King Fish Media, HubSpot and Junta42.

Creating effective, breakthrough advertising has always been a challenge for marketers, as well as for the agencies charged with the task. But the classic interruption-disruption model of advertising is moribund. Marketers should ask themselves five questions about the magnetic content they are seeking to create to determine whether it will be truly attractive to their audience:

Is the content unique?
Is the content useful?
Is the content well executed?
Is the content fun?
Does the content make good use of the channel in which it appears (e.g., social, mobile, video)?
Marketers should base their magnetic content ideas on well-researched customer behaviors, attitudes and lifestyles. This entails altering your emphasis in marketing from “selling product” to identifying and solving a consumer need or want that transcends or complements the physical product or service you are selling. Ask yourself this critical question: Besides your product, what can you do for the consumer?

Amazon launched on Monday ( Nov 22) a new iPhone App for with advanced price comparison features on-the-go. Is this the straw that broke the camels back?  Will window shopping now be the only and main behavior for users shopping in the future? Has the Check-in replaced the Check-out?  Consumers look through the merchandise like they would through catalogs, but instead of buying it in that store, they hit the button on Amazon, buy it and have it delivered right to their home by the time you get there. This new change of purchasing behavior has evolved considerably with the growth of Smart Phones. Recently it was published that over 60% of users with Smart Phones will do some kind of product search in-store. Google recently launched its own new shopping product called Boutiques.com, and this wave of new eCommerce sites that incorporate mobile and offers is really exploding.

Recently, I have been seeing a lot of local supermarkets migrating to self-serve check-outs to cut the costs at the cash register  and make the flow quicker for people to move through the check-out lanes when congested.  It took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to use the automated system at Food Emporium and Home Depot, but once I figured it out, It found it quite convenient. But is it more convenient then just doing a quick product search, buying the product and having it delivered to my home.

Like many of the Retail brands, Food Emporium is doing its best to meet these online challenges with its own Online Shop, and FREE Delivery for sales over $75.  They have their own strategy for coupons and they have a great methodology of pick-up vs. delivery for making it convenient for their shoppers, but is it enough?

When I searched on Google for Home Depot and clicked on the link, Google kept me within Google’s index for my first couple of searches and clicks on Home Depot. I thought I was crazy when I was navigating within Home Depot’s site, but the URL string in my search bar was still Google? What does Home Depot thing of this? Google is now doing analysis of the users behavior in the site even after the search that is beyond just the lead. They seem to be pushing the envelop to gathering information that is beneficial for them. Google is trying to build deep information even before you can enter the online site of the Retailer for their own competitive advantage ( see diagram)

Retail brands are going to have to come up with new ways of assuring they not only have the right low price, but also the right “stickiness” in their apps to get users to use them over the Amazon’s of the world.  With Google running the search show, even when users go to the Retail Brand via the Web, Google is hanging on as long as possible to gather information on the user, making it potentially even more difficult for even Retail brands to understand holistically that first step.

In addition, this new era is one of optimized fufillment  where delivery and convenience is potentially the winning card.

2010 seems to be the year of the social promotion. 50% off for this or 90% off for that, if you register for the goods prior is the model that has worked so well for Groupon, but nitche players like Gilt.com, LivingSocial, Yipit and a variety of others are now making it easier for users  to find these promotions and coupons related to a location in real-time. This combined with the behavior of social recommendations and purchase history of your “Friends” will add even another unique dimension on the behaviour of online shopping on the go.

Even though Facebook seems to be quite quiet when it comes to eCommerce and one-click to buy shopping, they did have an unique release that better integrates the social graph as part of a sign-on process recently for mobile.  Once they also add this one-click to buy and make it easier to find products and services on-the-go, they will become another “Guerilla in the Room” that makes it more and more difficult for the Bricks-and-Mortars” to control that check-out experience.

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Amazon Price Comparison App Aims At Brick-and-Mortar Stores
by Mark Walsh, November 23,2010

Amazon will use the iPhone as a vehicle for snagging more business from brick-and-mortar stores this holiday season. With the company’s new price comparison app for the iPhone launched Monday, users can scan a product barcode, snap a picture of an item, or say a product’s name to find out if they can get a better deal from Amazon.

If they choose to go with Amazon, they can then make a purchase directly through the Price Check app and have it delivered to their home. That’s a clever way to try to take sales away from physical store rivals while shoppers are strolling down their aisles.

“For example, a customer may be shopping for a toy in a toy store and decide to compare the in-store price of the item to Amazon.com and other online merchants using Price Check,” explains Amazon in its announcement. But the third-party merchants online are limited to those that sell through Amazon.

That’s not the same as a popular app like Red Laser, acquired by eBay in June, which lets users scan a product barcode to compare pricing and stock across multiple online and physical stores. Amazon’s new app is essentially comparing its own pricing against that of the store someone is shopping at.

“While we love the search and quick purchase options, the [Amazon] ultimately isn’t that useful because it only allows users to compare a single store price with the prices of Amazon and its sellers,” noted Mashable. Once someone has already decided to brave the holiday crush by heading to a local store, there’s also a question of how often they would forgo an immediate purchase for a better price on Amazon.

The most likely instance for opting for Amazon would be where an item was out of stock and a shopper could use the Price Check to say the product name to find out if was available through the online retail giant. Or where the price difference was big enough to switch to Amazon despite adding in any shipping costs.

A report from research firm IDC Monday revealed that smartphones are changing consumer behavior. It found more than one-third of smartphone-carrying consumers (who represent 24% of all U.S. consumers) “are ready to use their mobile devices in ways that transform how they shop everywhere, and in particular, how they shop in retail stores.” That includes searching for price and product information, comparing prices at nearby stores, and buying things.

IDC projected that mobile-shopping “warriors” and “warrior wannabes” will account for 28% or $127 billion of the $447 billion the National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates U.S. consumers will spend this holiday season. Amazon itself said in its second-quarter earnings report in July that its mobile sales had surpassed $1 billion during the prior 12 months.

Brick-and-mortar retailers have released their own apps to take advantage of the smartphone explosion and aid in-store shopping. That includes major chains and department stores such as Target, which Monday was named “2010 Mobile Retailer of the Year” by Mobile Commerce Daily, Best Buy, JCPenney and Nordstrom.

Julie Ask, a mobile analyst at Forrester Research, noted that Amazon and Best Buy — which finished second and third behind Target as top retailer of 2010 — may actually have an edge when it comes to having more mobile-savvy customers.

“Both sell a lot of products that fall into the sweet spot for mobile — consumer electronics (one of the top activities for consumers on mobile devices around commerce is price comparisons — especially in the CE category) and books/DVDs,” she wrote in a blog post Monday. By creating an app patterned after customers’ mobile habits, Amazon is hoping to drive mobile revenues even higher.

In a recent Media Post article yesterday, Steve Smith gives another jab at the mobile video industry- Lets Give Mobile Video a little Push.  However, even though I am a mobile guy myself, I have been quite frustrated with the lack of true delivered content online.  Well, I have looked at the $8.99/month on Netflix and I am avidly scouring to find good movies to watch on Hulu, but the world of mainstream movie media going online has yet to begin.  What will it take for this revolution to begin?  We saw the problems that surfaced in the TV industry between National and Syndicated TV over the major upheaval between Conan and Leno, but with broadband now so prevalent, and some shut-down of services such as Limewire and now the debate over Bittorrent, It makes you really wonder why the MPAA and other organizations are not taking this “horse by the reins” and moving forward with a better model for more distributed cross-channel media in the 21st century.  As it is 2010, how much longer will we have to wait to get proper available new titles and shows to be launched multi-platform. We saw how effective cross media distribution started to work for the Olympics in Vancouver 2010, as well as the World Cup 2010.

Will we need to wait for Steve Jobs to bring all of this via the Apple storefront?  Will it become Amazon’s next mission over eBooks? …Or will it take more file-sharing to just get this Industry so antagonistic and pissed off in order to make change?

As we can see in the advertising space, Hulu is clearly leading the charge with Ads served, but I feel for myself that users would be willing to pay for a reliable convenient service, even with some advertising like Hulu.   Look at what Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon has been able to achieve with Amazon and the Kindle.  His goal is to get every book available with a 60sec search and download lead time.  They were able to get 600K titles in 33 months.  It should makes sense that we would be seeing this today for all media.  Where is this real giant to make this happen?  Google’s  Youtube just increased the upload lengths to 10minutes, but we need that one-shop-stop of 100′s of thousands if not Millions of movies…. Will Google Video and Google TV in the end be this answer for bringing this all together?  Well the alignment with the Hardware companies has in someway started to attack right in the gut of it all… Having this possibility from the get go right in the box might push users to drop those media cable payments only for more of these online subscription services?

As I have just relocated 50/50 to New York City, I have been subletting a space and do not have a TV.  It has been refreshing to be able to do everything online, but now and again I would like to kick-back and watch a new movie without having to go out and get the DVD ( or go to the theaters and pay $5 for Popcorn).   When I use Hulu, my choices are rather limited and I seem to be browsing through so much stuff from the 1990′s and older, that my interest level has dropped to zero.   Not much of a catalog for the 21st century.   Here is a snap-shop of what comes up in Action and Adventure titles in Hulu…. not that much leading edge stuff ( good, but not great as far as I know what they could do!)

So I then thought to try Netflix… for the $8.99 a month they do seem to have a bit better selection, but still they advertise with  21 leading titles, but this is really it! … Did not entice me to want to get locked into that payment scheme yet until I can feel that they are on-top of getting the best stuff, all the time.

I guess spending the $10~15 at the movie theater is the only real way to see the latest and greatest.  I beleive having a strategy that works along side the DVD releases could possibly be the way to go.  As Computer screens are getting better and better like true TV sets and TV sets are now becoming computer screens, why not have the same kind of pricing structure for starters that mimics the rental DVD business.   I know Netflix and Hulu guys are working hard at this everyday, but just making the movies available at the same price point would not only eliminate the need for me to either drive to pick up a DVD or even pay for the mail back and forth.   It would not only be convenient and add a bit more liquidity in choice that would most definitely bring more distribution and volume….. and think of how green it would be to not expend all that Gasoline.  I am not sure of the carbon footprint between a video stream and a ride to the local Movie Theater, but I would guess it is much less.  I guess the fear is still too great to digitize everything do to piracy, but is this not happening anyway. Does not take long to rip and upload a DVD that has been hacked these days. If Steve Jobs has shown everybody in the music business and the mobile application world that getting stuff out there in an easy and effective way to consume, users would be willing to pay…. We all know he is driving a low cost structure, but does it have to be so low to begin with. Get the stuff out there at the same standards and see what happens!

I feel that it is about time for not only a “little push” as Steve Smith says, but a ” big push” and gripe from consumers to bring us to the 21st century with all the content online and mobile.

Liz Gannes, published an article on NewTeeVee in 2008 decribing that by 2010 we would see 25% of all traditional TV viewers go Online to watch TV…. so is 25% not enough to kick start this revolution?   We are all waiting…. at least I am.

Holiday Inn just launched a mobile solution for room keys going mobile.  I spent a considerable time today on Foursquare and although I have been overwhelmed by the grown, what I found disturbing was the lack of content for each of the places.  Companies like Yelp and other joined the bandwagon of “Check-in” but they come with considerable content. Unless the Foursquares of the world figure out a strategy to get users to post more tips and content, I just do not know how sustainable it will be.

With that said, the concept and leadership they created with the concept of “Check-in” and the database of places is clearly the next wave in location based services and mobile.  Seeing Holiday Inn take this initiative to further the entire process and build a complete engaging solution around the entire concept of ” Checking-in” without customers even going to the front desk is the usage case of mobile cross-media that is where mobile is powerful.

eCommerce and other conversion techniques exist for mobile, but the creativity of taking a brand and enabling a “full experience” that is truly convenient is where I like seeing mobile going.

At CTIA I stayed at the Hilton Hotel Convention center, and there were Foursquare banners all over the lobby to “Check-in”.  The vision was there as well and seeing Hotels and the travel industry now embracing mobile in its full form shows the power of the mobile device.

Last week at OMMA mobile in NYC, Charles Johnson from Microsoft’s Mobile Advertising organization announced a key initiative that in my mind is in the forefront of mobile convergence; Multiscreen marketing in the mobile world.

[ Slide presentation]

The keynote paralleled Microsoft’s release of a full cross-media strategy of integrating their own assets of  MSN mobile to a consistant experience between Online and mobile.

1) Consistant Experience between PC and Mobile

2) Optimized for Smart Phones

3) Dynamic tabbed content and Auto suggest with Bing Mobile

4) Integrated seamless display and search through out all properties making it ubiquitous throughout a consumers day

This was a very strategic and forward thinking move by Microsoft as very few of the online ad networks have released as similar platform.  Now media buyers and planners can streamline their process with the integration of mobile as part of the overall strategy; A one-stop shop for media placement bringing a consistent experience across all the different platform types.  With this step and process moving forward, Microsoft is validating that  mobile is not only a separate channel but an integrated part of an entire media strategy.  As brands and marketers grapple with the right mobile strategy, this is a very clean and easy-of-entry strategy to buy cross-media through the entire Microsoft network and compare all media distribution for the most effective ROI. “Not only is it the media delivery” stated Charles, “but an integrated solution that will bring insights and analytics in one consistent vantage point.”

I am sure we will see many more companies following this lead in the near future, but this time Microsoft is a clear leader!

Today is a very exciting day in the field of brand marketing and advertising!  It marks the day of the Advertising Revolution in my mind. Steve Job announced iAD at the iPhone 4.0 Dev conference.  It has been something we have all been anticipating for some time.  I myself have been looking at the ideas around emotional brand marketing and interactivity with mobile as a core part of our work here at ADObjects.   As the mobile device is so personal it is our emotional amplifier.  It is with us night and day and clearly something we just can not keep our eyes off of… it goes way beyond the SMS lead, but what experience surrounding the brand.

Our vision and motto: Digital Hand. Analog Touch is further realized….

Well Apple gets it and keeps revolutionizing upon the vision of all of us in the media space for what the true mobile device can be all about. Besides creating a massive ecosystem for publishers to bring unique new tantalizing experiences via applications, they have set a new bar in bringing out this exciting platform for brand marketers…

Here is some of the coverage……. not only is today the day of the Golf Masters where Tiger Woods is back with NIKE,  Steve obviously is bringing NIKE as an example at such a serendipitous time.   NIKE is attacking brand marketing from all different angles today!

1) iPhone Nike Ad Demo

Here is the coverage on Techcrunch

2) Apple Announces the iAD mobile advertising platform

And here is the comprehensive coverage of the day on gdgt.

3) Live iPhone 4.0 coverage

So now we have video, information, click-to-action and all different exciting formats blended together for brand marketers in a unique delivery system that came from the foundation of the mobile advertising company Quattro Wireless.  Regardless of what they paid for this company, Apple has been able to transform the vision of unique engagement marketing into there magical experience around the iPhone. Google has been about reach and performance via clicks-on-links.   Apple is about reach and performance based on clicks-on-emotions.   Our from this we will see new metrics emerge for the foundations of brand marketing as part of the conversion funnel such as CTE ( Click-to-Emotion).

How exciting is it going to be now to see how all the incumbents match this challenge.   Google is still in discussion with the FTC over Admob, Microsoft has been so focused on Search, and all the mobile advertising companies out there are trying to innovate in there own right with new mobile ad formats and concepts to bring differentiation.   This is big day as it will definitely get  media buyers to go deeper with their creative producers in the agencies to build that new from of brand-experience  for their clients with mobile.