Sunday, September 23, 2012

Mobile Opportunities


OPPORTUNITIES OVERVIEW

 Mobile works at a very personal level, allowing brands to develop an on- going dialogue with their customers to build brand loyalty
 Used for either branding or direct response
–Branding: full-screen interstitials, expandables, mobile video with pre-, mid-, post-roll or live event production, and original branded content in branded channels
–DR: mobile clubs, loyalty programs, mobile CRM, contests, sweepstakes, on-pack, retail POS, hook-ins to supply chain management system on retail level
 Integration of traditional and digital media
–Mobile marketing campaigns can be optimized and uniquely measured (via SMS) across all media formats – TV, print, OOH, online, mobile, etc.

Areas of opportunities

Internet Banners / Text links

-          Similarly to online advertising, purchase banners, textlinks, or pre-roll video to run across publishers’ mobile sites
-          Buying done at the site/publisher and network levels

SMS/MMS 

Allows advertisers to:
-          Promote the brand and create an opportunity to interact with the audience 
-            SMS/MMS can also be integrated with other forms of digital media such as console gaming
-          Evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns through response rates
-          Get instant response at points of interest and collect valuable customer data 

3rd Party Application Sponsorships

-          Reach a captivated audience of mobile consumers within trusted applications
-          Can choose applications and devices

Search

-          5.2 million US mobile search users
-          Expected to grow to 56.3 million by 2013

Proximity/Location-Based

Location-Based Services (LBS): utilize the geographical position of the mobile device
-          Location based maps of user’s current location, routing services to provide directions
-          Real time information about traffic conditions
-          Identification of particular points of interest based on user preferences
-          Interactive POS/POI: interactive screen on store front showing a 3D ‘virtual reality store’ and product promotions
-          Users can find out more about particular products, their functionality and their price
-          Can text a short code on their mobile to receive a discount voucher for any product promotions, to redeem when the shop reopens

M-Commerce:

-          Ability to conduct financial transactions using mobile devices
-          Currently, mobile content purchase and delivery mainly consists of the sale of ringtones, wallpapers, and games for mobile phones
-          Nokia is working to develop phones that will allow consumers to pay for items (or pay each other) via text messages or other cell phone applications, similar to Exxon Mobile’s Speedpass where consumers can “swipe ‘n’ go”

Proprietary Applications
Software programs that are downloaded installed and perform specific tasks on a mobile device
-          (Multi)media and entertainment
-          Games
-          Social networking
-          Productivity
-          Utilities
-          Education and reference

Couponing


Choose target audience

Demographics:

-          Age
-          Gender
-          HH Income
-          Geography
-          Education
-          Presence of Children
-          Ethnicity
-          Marital Status

Content Categories:

-          Search & Directories
-          News & Finance
-          Entertainment
-          Mobile Communications
-          Premium Content & Downloads
-          Sports
-          Weather

Behaviors:

-          Categories of high-propensity Individuals.
-          Based on mobile web browsing activity & premium mobile content purchase

Geographic

-          Zip code, DMA, state, country
-          Location-based targeting
-          Target users based on their exact location and serve them ads for restaurants, attractions, stores, etc. in their nearby vicinity

Device Targeting

-          Target based on type of device as well as mobile carrier
Ex. Target only iPhone users

Custom Targeting

-          Many publishers can work with advertisers to provide a combination of traditional targeting options
-           








 


Saturday, March 10, 2012

Mobile Advertising: Detailed Analysis




Snapshot of Current US Market:

  • US mobile penetration: 90%
  • US mobile content subscribers with Internet access: 137 million
  • The US mobile Internet audience stands at 67 million, 56% (37.5M) of which are smartphone owners.
  • 50% of consumers expect to increase time spent on the mobile web in next 6 months
  • 65% say mobile Internet is the most important feature when considering a new phone purchase
  • According to Nielsen Mobile, 55% of mobile phone buyers in the second half of 2009 bought a smartphone or web enabled phone.

Mobile advertising provides marketers with more efficient, memorable ways to engage with and build brand loyalty with consumers.


Mobile Internet Advertising has Distinct Advantages Over Online Ads:


1.    Lack of clutter. In online, multiple ads served concurrently, distracting the viewer from focusing on one message. Mobile web pages only display one ad at a time. The issue of clutter – long the bane of many an online media buyer – is therefore eliminated.

2.    Size. Mobile ad units are proportionally larger to the screen than in online, making ads harder to miss and more impactful.

3.    Personalization. Mobile phone users are more engaged with ads on a mobile device because of the personal nature of a cell phone.

4.    Mobility. Marketers can use mobile display advertising to reach consumers when they are on the move and closest to the point of purchase.



Benefits of executing a mobile marketing strategy:

  • Enhance multi channel marketing efforts
  • Provide an easy and immediate channel for consumers to buy, inquire or otherwise engage
  • Build a one-to-one relationship with the consumer
  • Build brand awareness, preference and purchase intent
  • Extend special offers and promotions, often using LBS
  • Stimulate word of mouth and social media activity
  • Promote timely, personalized and location specific offers
  • Improve customer service
  • Improve the convenience of shopping
  • Generate an opt-in database for future direct response marketing initiatives
  • Extend print, TV, radio and outdoor campaigns by giving users an interactive channel through which to immediately engage.


Strengthen Customer Data:

Mobile campaigns also allow marketers to build valuable customer databases. Such opt-in is extremely valuable for obvious reasons:
1) Mobile is the first true one-to-one marketing channel. Mobile devices are rarely shared the way PCs are.
2) Users rarely change their number now that mobile phone numbers are portable, especially when compared to email or postal addresses.
Most mobile phone owners have their device within arm's reach 95% of the time over any 24 hour period. Marketers can therefore reach mobile users literally anytime of day.
But when is best? Much like they do in search, mobile users actually tell us when is the best time to reach them. Users generally make use of their mobile phone while out, often shopping, or simply to kill time. These are the brief moments when they are most open to receiving relevant ads.
With a mobile ad network, marketers can take advantage of dayparting and day of week targeting to serve ads to potential customers at both the right place and the right time.



SmatPhone Consumer Behaviour: How Users are using the device & which is getting the most attention


Years ago, when smartphones were introduced to the market, they were promoted as devices to help the busy, on-the-go, business professional.  It was a tool primarily made available to access one’s email, calendar and contacts when away from the desk or travelling. Today, that is far from the case – they are integrated into the daily lives of all types of consumers, and Compete is tracking that changing behavior.


For starters, consumers’ primary usage of their smartphones is for reasons of personal productivity and entertainment. In fact, when asked how much time is spent on personal use (with the remaining being on business) 74% of smartphone owners indicated they are using their device primarily for personal reasons







The fact that over 1 in 5 smartphone owners would be interested in these top-5 is very promising for the mobile marketing industry, considering that it is still in its early stages.  Brands need to focus on engaging and driving behavior of these “early adopters” in order to help bring these concepts to mass market. 
Cosumers were most interested in receiving grocery coupons (36%), scanable barcodes (29%), offers to save and pursue at leisure (26%), movie theater offers (26%), and ads via SMS when going by a retailer with a promotion / coupon (21%).


Saturday, March 3, 2012

Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice by the ACM and the IEEE-CS

Software engineers shall commit themselves to making the analysis, specification, design, development, testing and maintenance of software a beneficial and respected profession. In accordance with their commitment to the health, safety and welfare of the public, software engineers shall adhere to the following Eight Principles:

Short :

1. PUBLIC - Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.
2. CLIENT AND EMPLOYER - Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer consistent with the public interest.
3. PRODUCT - Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.
4. JUDGMENT - Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment.
5. MANAGEMENT - Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance.
6. PROFESSION - Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest.
7. COLLEAGUES - Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.
8. SELF - Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.

Detailed Information

Principle 1: PUBLIC
 Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:
  • Accept full responsibility for their own work.
  • Moderate the interests of the software engineer, the employer, the client and the users with the public good.
  • Approve software only if they have a well-founded belief that it is safe, meets specifications, passes appropriate tests, and does not diminish quality of life, diminish privacy or harm the environment. The ultimate effect of the work should be to the public good.
  • Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities any actual or potential danger to the user, the public, or the environment, that they reasonably believe to be associated with software or related documents.
  • Cooperate in efforts to address matters of grave public concern caused by software, its installation, maintenance, support or documentation.
  • Be fair and avoid deception in all statements, particularly public ones, concerning software or related documents, methods and tools.
  • Consider issues of physical disabilities, allocation of resources, economic disadvantage and other factors that can diminish access to the benefits of software.
  • Be encouraged to volunteer professional skills to good causes and contribute to public education concerning the discipline.
Principle 2: CLIENT AND EMPLOYER

Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer, consistent with the public interest. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:
  • Provide service in their areas of competence, being honest and forthright about any limitations of their experience and education.
  • Not knowingly use software that is obtained or retained either illegally or unethically.
  • Use the property of a client or employer only in ways properly authorized, and with the client's or employer's knowledge and consent.
  • Ensure that any document upon which they rely has been approved, when required, by someone authorized to approve it.
  • Keep private any confidential information gained in their professional work, where such confidentiality is consistent with the public interest and consistent with the law.
  • Identify, document, collect evidence and report to the client or the employer promptly if, in their opinion, a project is likely to fail, to prove too expensive, to violate intellectual property law, or otherwise to be problematic.
  • Identify, document, and report significant issues of social concern, of which they are aware, in software or related documents, to the employer or the client.
  • Accept no outside work detrimental to the work they perform for their primary employer.
  • Promote no interest adverse to their employer or client, unless a higher ethical concern is being compromised; in that case, inform the employer or another appropriate authority of the ethical concern.
Principle 3: PRODUCT
Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:

  • ·         Strive for high quality, acceptable cost and a reasonable schedule, ensuring significant tradeoffs are clear to and accepted by the employer and the client, and are available for consideration by the user and the public.
  • ·         Ensure proper and achievable goals and objectives for any project on which they work or propose.
  • ·         Identify, define and address ethical, economic, cultural, legal and environmental issues related to work projects.
  • ·         Ensure that they are qualified for any project on which they work or propose to work by an appropriate combination of education and training, and experience.
  • ·         Ensure an appropriate method is used for any project on which they work or propose to work.
  • ·         Work to follow professional standards, when available, that are most appropriate for the task at hand, departing from these only when ethically or technically justified.
  • ·         Strive to fully understand the specifications for software on which they work.
  • ·         Ensure that specifications for software on which they work have been well documented, satisfy the users’ requirements and have the appropriate approvals.
  • ·         Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and outcomes on any project on which they work or propose to work and provide an uncertainty assessment of these estimates.
  • ·         Ensure adequate testing, debugging, and review of software and related documents on which they work.
  • ·         Ensure adequate documentation, including significant problems discovered and solutions adopted, for any project on which they work.
  • ·         Work to develop software and related documents that respect the privacy of those who will be affected by that software.
  • ·         Be careful to use only accurate data derived by ethical and lawful means, and use it only in ways properly authorized.
  • ·         Maintain the integrity of data, being sensitive to outdated or flawed occurrences.
  • ·         Treat all forms of software maintenance with the same professionalism as new development.

Principle 4: JUDGMENT

Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:

  • ·         Temper all technical judgments by the need to support and maintain human values.
  • ·         Only endorse documents either prepared under their supervision or within their areas of competence and with which they are in agreement.
  • ·         Maintain professional objectivity with respect to any software or related documents they are asked to evaluate.
  • ·         Not engage in deceptive financial practices such as bribery, double billing, or other improper financial practices.
  • ·         Disclose to all concerned parties those conflicts of interest that cannot reasonably be avoided or escaped.
  • ·         Refuse to participate, as members or advisors, in a private, governmental or professional body concerned with software related issues, in which they, their employers or their clients have undisclosed potential conflicts of interest.

Principle 5: MANAGEMENT

Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance . In particular, those managing or leading software engineers shall, as appropriate:

  • Ensure good management for any project on which they work, including effective procedures for promotion of quality and reduction of risk.
  • ·         Ensure that software engineers are informed of standards before being held to them.
  • ·         Ensure that software engineers know the employer's policies and procedures for protecting passwords, files and information that is confidential to the employer or confidential to others.
  • ·         Assign work only after taking into account appropriate contributions of education and experience tempered with a desire to further that education and experience.
  • ·         Ensure realistic quantitative estimates of cost, scheduling, personnel, quality and outcomes on any project on which they work or propose to work, and provide an uncertainty assessment of these estimates.
  • ·         Attract potential software engineers only by full and accurate description of the conditions of employment.
  • ·         Offer fair and just remuneration.
  • ·         Not unjustly prevent someone from taking a position for which that person is suitably qualified.
  • ·         Ensure that there is a fair agreement concerning ownership of any software, processes, research, writing, or other intellectual property to which a software engineer has contributed.
  • ·         Provide for due process in hearing charges of violation of an employer's policy or of this Code.
  • ·         Not ask a software engineer to do anything inconsistent with this Code.
  • ·         Not punish anyone for expressing ethical concerns about a project.

Principle 6: PROFESSION

Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate:

  • ·         Help develop an organizational environment favorable to acting ethically.
  • ·         Promote public knowledge of software engineering.
  • ·         Extend software engineering knowledge by appropriate participation in professional organizations, meetings and publications.
  • ·         Support, as members of a profession, other software engineers striving to follow this Code.
  • ·         Not promote their own interest at the expense of the profession, client or employer.
  • ·         Obey all laws governing their work, unless, in exceptional circumstances, such compliance is inconsistent with the public interest.
  • ·         Be accurate in stating the characteristics of software on which they work, avoiding not only false claims but also claims that might reasonably be supposed to be speculative, vacuous, deceptive, misleading, or doubtful.
  • ·         Take responsibility for detecting, correcting, and reporting errors in software and associated documents on which they work.
  • ·         Ensure that clients, employers, and supervisors know of the software engineer's commitment to this Code of ethics, and the subsequent ramifications of such commitment.
  • ·         Avoid associations with businesses and organizations which are in conflict with this code.
  • ·         Recognize that violations of this Code are inconsistent with being a professional software engineer.
  • ·         Express concerns to the people involved when significant violations of this Code are detected unless this is impossible, counter-productive, or dangerous.
  • ·         Report significant violations of this Code to appropriate authorities when it is clear that consultation with people involved in these significant violations is impossible, counter-productive or dangerous.

Principle 7: COLLEAGUES 

Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues. In particular, software engineers shall, as appropriate

  • ·         Assist colleagues in professional development.
  • ·         Encourage colleagues to adhere to this Code.
  • ·         Credit fully the work of others and refrain from taking undue credit.
  • ·         Review the work of others in an objective, candid, and properly-documented way.
  • ·         Give a fair hearing to the opinions, concerns, or complaints of a colleague.
  • ·         Assist colleagues in being fully aware of current standard work practices including policies and procedures for protecting passwords, files and other confidential information, and security measures in general.
  • ·         Not unfairly intervene in the career of any colleague; however, concern for the employer, the client or public interest may compel software engineers, in good faith, to question the competence of a colleague.
  • ·         In situations outside of their own areas of competence, call upon the opinions of other professionals who have competence in that area.

Principle 8: SELF

Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession. In particular, software engineers shall continually endeavor to:

  • ·         Further their knowledge of developments in the analysis, specification, design, development, maintenance and testing of software and related documents, together with the management of the development process.
  • ·         Improve their ability to create safe, reliable, and useful quality software at reasonable cost and within a reasonable time.
  • ·         Improve their ability to produce accurate, informative, and well-written documentation.
  • ·         Improve their understanding of the software and related documents on which they work and of the environment in which they will be used.
  • ·         Improve their knowledge of relevant standards and the law governing the software and related documents on which they work.
  • ·         Improve their knowledge of this Code, its interpretation, and its application to their work.
  • ·         Not give unfair treatment to anyone because of any irrelevant prejudices.
  • ·         Not influence others to undertake any action that involves a breach of this Code.
  • ·         Recognize that personal violations of this Code are inconsistent with being a professional software engineer.

This Code was developed by the ACM/IEEE-CS joint task force on Software Engineering Ethics and Professional Practices (SEEPP)

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