April 2009

Potentially the next killer app in 1:1 marketing
Coming soon to your customer’s mobile phone By Pat Atkinson

Back story:
Last July saw the advancement of greater cell phone competition in this country when Globalive Communications Inc. publicly announced its intention to launch Canada’s fourth national wireless service during the second half of 2009. By investing $442 million in the wireless spectrum, the airwaves over which cell phone networks operate, Globalive won the privilege of competing with Rogers Communications Inc., Bell Canada Inc., and Telus Corp. for a share of Canadians’ wallets, although Quebec was not part of the arrangement.

Expected to launch in Canada by year end 2009, MyScreen, a free mobile solution, will deliver targeted advertisements to handsets at the end of call. The opt-in service will be free to subscribers who enter basic demographic and lifestyle information. This data will enable advertisers to target specific audience segments with brand messages while subscribers earn rewards for ads viewed. We value the consumer’s time. If an advertiser is going to get really targeted advertising, in the long run, we believe it is to their advantage to make messages available when consumers want to see them and consumers deserve to be compensated for this. Kilambi

Globalive Wireless Management Corp. was formed for the purpose of bidding on this opportunity via Industry Canada’s Advanced Wireless Services Spectrum Auction. International wireless operator Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) S.A.E., a key financial backer of the Globalive venture, is no stranger to the telecom industry. Serving more than 70 million subscribers globally, OTH provides wireless communications and Internet services in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

On the soapbox
Which is why it was perplexing that during the announcement of the new wireless mobile service, Globalive chairman and CEO Tony Lacavera made no mention of supported devices, air time packages, or subscriber contract terms and conditions. Instead, he announced the launch of WirelessSoapbox.com, a Web site where Canadians can share their thoughts and opinions on what product and service characteristics they would like to see from the next mobile provider. In true social networking style, the site invites participants to read and write blog entries, respond to polls and even dialogue with Lacavera himself in online forums.

Globalive Communications Corp., a ten-year old entity that has been rated, among other things, one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed companies five times, would certainly have a plan for attracting subscribers and generating profits. The Toronto-based company serves over one million customers with brands such as Yak Communications, Canopco and OneConnect; and develops and delivers applications and telecommunications services to clients in the consumer, enterprise and hospitality segments worldwide. So what then could all this mean?

Introducing the (killer) app
In October, Globalive confirmed its intention to launch mobile advertising and related services in Canada via an application called MyScreen. A Canadian innovation, MyScreen is a patent-pending, marketing and advertising solution that will compensate mobile subscribers for allowing targeted, full-screen advertisements to be displayed on their mobile device at the end of a call or SMS. The application, which is already being marketed to carriers worldwide, has been optimized for smartphones, (mobile phones offering advanced capabilities, often with PC-like functionality) including Windows Mobile, Symbian, Palm and RIM platforms, and versions for other major platforms will be announced as they are ready.

“This is technology that was developed by a Canadian entrepreneur—Gino Porco —who had done some business in the telecom space but not really in the mobile space,” explains MyScreen chief financial officer and executive vice-president Raghu Kilambi. “He [Porco] had seen the reality that in digital marketing, the big challenge right now from a consumer’s perspective is spam and the lack of relevancy of the ad messages they receive. MyScreen is really a solution that allows an advertiser or brand to have an excellent engagement with a consumer but in a way that the consumer wants to have it.”

Here in Canada, MyScreen will be loaded onto mobile devices available exclusively from Globalive. (Orascom is also a major investor in MyScreen Mobile). Hence, the application will become available once the fledgling mobile carrier goes live—which is now estimated to be this December. Kilambi says that MyScreen is likely to launch in Europe and two other Orascom markets before it is released here.

How it is expected to work
To opt-in to the free application, Globalive subscribers will define how many ads and what kinds of ads they want to see and when they want to see them. They will also select lifestyle categories that interest them. User profiles can be updated at any time.

“The key around our model is that it is end of call or end of SMS — on an opt-in basis,” he explains. “You get an ad from us only if you wanted it. When you end a call, you automatically look at your phone to ensure it has disconnected. When you hit the “end” button, that’s when our ad pops up,” he adds.

Optimized for the subscriber’s handset, ads are full-screen and colour, appearing in a visually rich format that Kilambi says is consistent with brand quality in other channels. (See photo.) Ads can also include calls to action, with the direct response mechanism made available through “hot-keys.” A subscriber can simply press the appropriate key on the phone to view a particular advertiser’s Web site for promotions or hear about special offers via a voice hotline. The most important thing is that the subscriber can dispose of an ad instantly or save it on the device—such as coupons that can be presented at the point of sale.

Paid- to-view
By viewing ads, subscribers will be able to earn rewards that will be transferred to third-party loyalty cards, prepaid credit cards, gift cards or even a favourite cause. Kilambi explains the rationale:
“We value the consumer’s time. If an advertiser is going to get really targeted advertising, in the long run, we believe it is to their advantage to make messages available when consumers want to see them and consumers deserve to be compensated for this.”

Acknowledging that compensation won’t be of interest to everyone, the CFO opines that most people have a particular interest that they would like to receive more information about and MyScreen can help them obtain it—perhaps with an added incentive. “This application has great potential not only for national and multi-national brands but also for local advertisers because of the power of coupons and location-based advertising,” he stresses.

For example, restaurant owners who are MyScreen advertisers will be able to look at the evening’s reservation list and issue a discount coupon to MyScreen subscribers within a ten-mile radius. Based on their earlier preferences, subscribers can opt-in or out of such offers.

Mobile marketer’s nirvana?
While it is not yet available, MyScreen boasts some interesting capabilities as an advertising vehicle—not the least of which is the promise of delivering targeted, one-to-one communications to a subscriber who has both opted-in and defined for marketers in advance that which is desirable and relevant content to him.

The CFO says that marketers will access an advertiser-facing portal where they can log in, upload their ads and decide who they want to target, how many ads they want to launch, the time at which the ad will appear, the frequency, and whether they want to send the ad to subscribers who have opted-in to view ads based on location.

The MyScreen reporting analytics tool will provide metrics about consumer behaviour related to new product launches, promotions, survey and polling or advertising feedback. Kilambi says that this will give marketers the ability to measure actual return on investment from their advertisements over the mobile channel without needing to understand the medium’s technical complexities.

MyScreen is busily forming partnerships with agencies that focus on the digital and mobile landscapes—parties that, in earlier days, might have been viewed as competitors.

Global brand advertisers are also expected to be referred to MyScreen Canada by major agencies. (Since major investor Orascom has an existing relationship with Omnicom Group in the US, that arrangement will extend into Canada once Globalive and MyScreen launch.)

Kilambi says that MyScreen is the kind of solution that heads of major ad agencies can comfortably recommend directly to a CEO because it’s a full-colour, brand interaction.

“We envision mobile advertising entering the C-suite as a strategic decision,” he emphasizes. “From an advertiser’s perspective, cell phones are ideal because people always have them with them. There are more cell phones now than TVs and broadband Internet connections so this is the number one device out there.”

On March 25th, MyScreen announced the appointment of Maurizio Angelone as chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors, effective May 1, 2009. Previously, Angelone spent 15 years with Nokia in senior executive roles, including global account head for one of Nokia’s largest customers, Telefónica S.A., which has extensive operations in Europe and Latin America.

Marketers who would like to explore future MyScreen advertising possibilities are invited to send an e-mail to canadalaunch@myscreen.com.