Optism Mobile Advertising: Bridging the gap between mobile operators and advertisers

Sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent

With mobile advertising, brands can have a one-on-one "conversation" with potential customers -something that's not possible with other advertising media. However, with this capability comes a caution: consumers have a special relationship with their mobile devices that advertisers must respect. Step one in any mobile advertising strategy should be to get consumers' permission to send them advertising. After that, advertisers should make sure the messages they send are relevant to the consumers, targeted to their interests and preferences.

One valuable option for addressing consumers' requirements is to partner with mobile network operators. The operators, over whose network the mobile advertising service will run, already have established relationships with consumers. They can identify those within the mobile population who are willing to receive advertising, and they can fine-tune this opted-in population according to key demographics and specified preferences.

That's the premise behind a new mobile advertising solution from Alcatel-Lucent called Optism^TM. Optism brings mobile operators and advertisers together and creates an opportunity for advertisers to reach willing, opted in, consumers. As part of the opting in process, consumers provide information about their preferences. Advertisers can use that information to create highly targeted campaigns based on those known preferences. Optism also aggregates the advertising media of different mobile operators, to ensure advertisers have the reach they need for their campaigns.

"The mobile advertising market is still evolving," said Lisa Ciangiulli, director of marketing, Global Advertising Solutions with Alcatel-Lucent. "The approach we are taking is quite different from what is out there today. With Optism, we're providing an open business model that empowers the mobile operator to play a more significant role. Meanwhile, advertisers can go to a central place to build their highly targeted mobile campaigns. Because Optism aggregates multiple mobile operators' advertising media, those campaigns can reach the pockets of a mass audience."

A lot of the mobile advertising happening today is based on display banner ads on web and WAP sites. These ads offer little to no engagement with the consumer and very little ROI for the mobile operator. Some advertisers have also used SMS campaigns that are delivered over-the-top of the operator's network. Because these ads are not being delivered to opted-in consumers and are untargeted, they could do more harm than good, particularly if consumers perceive them as SPAM. Of course, operators don't like this approach either, because it provides them with no revenue.

"When we talked to our operator customers, many told us they didn't know how to tackle this market. They want to be involved, but they don't have the expertise," Ciangiulli said. "Optism addresses their concerns."

Optism creates a new ecosystem that allows mobile operators to play a bigger role in the value chain. It brokers relationships between mobile operators and advertisers, and greatly simplifies the media selling process for aggregated operator inventory.

The other key piece of the Optism solution is a highly scalable, hosted advertising platform that requires no up-front investment from mobile operators. The solution offers much more than just technology and provides go-to-market support for operators combined with media sales and campaign management for advertisers. Both operators and advertisers make money from revenue sharing.
"To start with, we make the whole process much simpler for both the mobile operator and the advertiser through our hosted platform, which creates a one-stop shop for advertisers to purchase advertising media. And then we look after the end user - we decided that our approach would center on permission- and preference-based campaigns. This helps operators and advertisers to maximize the engagement with end users by making sure the campaigns are targeted to their interests.," said Thomas Labarthe, vice president of mobile advertising with Alcatel-Lucent.

For instance, a fast-food chain could run a campaign in the Boston metro area as lunch time approaches. An SMS coupon is sent to only those subscribers who have opted in to receive advertisements and who have been identified through their profiles as good candidates for the offer.

How does an advertisement reach that level of personalization? Labarthe said the process begins by asking mobile users for their permission and a few questions about themselves, such as age, gender and topics of interest. The preferences of subscribers are continually fine-tuned based on the reactions of users when an advertisement is presented to them. No reaction to a campaign means that subscriber won't receive similar advertisements in the future. The platform manages these preferences to improve efficiency and increase the number of subscribers who respond. It's important to note, however, that consumers retain complete control over their profiles, canopt-out whenever they want, and that no personally identifiable information (PII) is ever shared.

Orange Austria is one of the first mobile operators to engage with the Optism solution.
In a recent report, Forrester Research indicated that consumers will grow weary of the frequency of marketing messages pushed through phones as mobile advertising proliferates. Marketers will have to come up with more creative ways to stay close to their customers and prospects. "Brands that offer contextually relevant messages and allow for consumers to control when and how they engage from their mobile devices will best avoid this coming resistance," the firm said.

To learn more about Optism, go to www.optism.com.