From new .MP domain names to wearable devices and astro forecasts, mobile's heating up.
If it seems like everyone under the sun is talking or texting on a mobile this summer, you're probably right. OVUM Research's prediction that the number of wireless devices worldwide will exceed 1.5 billion in 2004 is coming true. Pastel-tinted, multi-modal handhelds and "power e-wear" are de rigueur this summer for the new techno-chic connected generation.
The hottest sport for savvy brand leaders and marketers this season is leap-frogging to the forefront of this mobile marketing movement. To keep you ahead of the game, here are some of the best opportunities for you to cash in on mobile commerce, content and community.
At the top of the mobile marketer's list of resources is last week's launch by Saipan DataCom, Inc. of the DotMP ".mp" Internet top-level domain (TLD) package that includes a complete mobile Internet content platform with a suite of mobile content publishing tools. The previously unavailable .mp extension is the only TLD dedicated solely for Mobile Internet sites. All .mp domain names (acmehats.mp, for example) display properly on mobile phones. Gib Bintliff, the firm's president, believes that users will easily equate .mp with the mobile Internet, because "mp" is synonymous with "mobile phone".
One in every 100 people owns a domain name
Marketing applications for dotMP abound, especially in light of VeriSign's figure that says one in 100 people on the planet own a domain name. More than 63 million Web sites are already online and over 4.7 million new registrants joined the list of domain owners in the first quarter of 2004, a 21 percent growth year-on-year. GenY mobile favorites alone could span from Nike.mp to Snapple.mp to AmericanIdol.mp.
Enough daydreaming. Don't forget that many trademark holders often engage in defensive registrations of newly available TLDs. However, Bintliff says, "dotMP is not about brand protection -- it's about brand projection."
Be sure to note that Sunrise registration of dotMP domain names and Mobile Sites is open to registered trademark holders now through Sept. 30. Bintliff explains "Sunrise" is a courtesy period for major brands and international marketing leaders to acquire their dotMP locales in advance of the consumer onslaught some forecasters are predicting for the mobile domains. Open registration (read: consumer registration) for dotMP domains and mobile sites will begin October 1.
How did the idea originate? Bintliff says that his firm, Saipan DataCom, Inc., is a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Corporation. The CNMI is a United States Commonwealth and .mp is the CNMI's country-code top level domain. The company has been the administrator and registry for the .mp TLD since 1996, and Bintliff says that .mp was purposely held off the market while the Internet and mobile phone market sectors merged.
What seems special about dotMP is that it employs a proprietary device detection system ensuring "universal mobile content" or proper formatting and display of content on mobile phones and wireless devices around the world. The commercial versions of dotMP may serve as mobile marketing tools for businesses.
Don't confuse the .mp TLD with the pending Nokia, Microsoft, Samsung and Vodafone's proposed mTLD .mobi Alliance currently being reviewed by ICANN. Kieran Baker, general manager of communications and public participation for ICANN says there are 10 current Sponsored Top Level Domain (STLD) names pending ranging from .Asia to .Mail to .mobi.
He says, "Current STLD applicants are in the final stages of receiving analysis and feedback. One hopes we can further negotiate with successful applicants by fall, 2004."
Unlike the proposed .mobi TLD, the .mp TLD is fully sanctioned by ICANN and available.
Mobile site just doorway to commerce
For many major brands, building a mobile Web site is just the doorway to the ongoing challenge of cashing in on the $88 billion in mobile commerce revenues these mobile communities will generate by 2009. Diving into new campaigns is crucial now that data-capable wireless devices are even surpassing the number of Internet-connected PCs and topping the number of TVs internationally.
Capturing Generation C (Content) creators is becoming a national past-time as millions of snap-crazy consumers upload pics this summer to dedicated multimedia messaging service (MMS) sites. Canon, Sony, Sprint and NTT's DoCoMo are suddenly all competing for attention from the content-crazed teen market driven to eBay-style marketplaces for content like lulu.com and redpaper.com, or yearning to get rated as top mob on textamerica.com, like the current favorite cleavagetextamerica.com.
Most of these online retailers are selling bits of digital real-estate to park your creations -- not unlike GeoCities did when it let newbies design custom-home pages under the GeoCities URL. According to Trendwatching.com, conservative estimates are that more than 380 million camera phones will be sold worldwide by 2008. Not surprisingly, about two million sites online are created by kids aged 6 to 17, and by 2005 there could be 6 million more, according to Peter Grunwald of the Internet research firm Grunwald Associates. Blogs are fast-becoming passé, according to the digerati who sniff at the addition of Nike ads.
Marketing in motion
The avant garde find solace in digital communities like Second Life where your avatar can venture into "body technology assimilation" where blog meets Star Trek's Borg and all marketing is in motion 24/7.
At the SIGGRAPH Third Annual CyberFashion Show this month, gawkers got a glimpse of the future of high-tech body adornment produced by Alex Lightman, CEO of Charmed.com, and Isa Gordon, artistic director of the Psymbiote Project. Vibrowear from Carnegie Mellon took center stage as mannequins modeled the latest in functional tech gear and aesthetic cyber-wear. CAD/CAM bling-bling accented eco-fashion from Los Angeles designer and eco-luxury, lifestyle leader Linda Loudermilk.
Ecycling of techno-gear not only promotes goodwill for green marketers but also attracts kudos from the cyber-celeb crowd. Earlier, mobile marketers venturing into SIGGRAPH's Emerging Technology arena saw samples of next-stage holographic systems perfect for projecting logos and socially responsible corporate log-lines anywhere night or day.
Astro-marketing launch
Most of all, mobile marketing means fun in the sun this summer. San Francisco-based Michael Becker, COO of Innerloop Mobile Communications urges subscribers to start their day with a little more clarity on what will happen in the next "24." Joyce Jillson, renowned author of horoscopes syndicated to 20 million subscribers, is now available via mobile phones
To subscribe to Horoscopes on your cell, text ASTRO and the first three letters of your sign to the short code 76278 -- for example ASTROSAG (for Sagittarius). Subscription is $4.95 per week and subscribers receive a text message on their mobile phone to complete the opt-in process. It's a perfect example of consumer content that is just a sitting duck for mobile marketing sponsorship by a major brand who wants a consumer's attention every morning, noon or night.
Mobile en Español
Don't forget that an increasing percentage of mobile owners want their entertainment and marketing options in their native language. Seattle, Washington-based Versaly Entertainment, a wireless new media company, created the first Spanish-voice ringtones available in the United States, which launched earlier on Sprint. Now Matt Feldman, president and CEO, says his firm is signing an agreement with NBC Universal Television and the Telemundo Network Group to create, produce and wireless distribute music, images and sounds from TV programs aired on Telemundo. Hasta la vista to English-only mobile marketing campaigns.
To be a successful mobile marketer today, you need to understand how to exploit the mobile medium in traditional one-to-many broadcasting mode -- and also to venture into one-to-one narrowcasting using evolving tools like Premium SMS, wearable designs, bilingual promos and of course your own mobile site.
Here's hoping that http:joycecom.mp is still available or else the Hello Kitty robot I ordered for the holidays shall be nameless forever.
Joyce A. Schwarz is an author and emerging technology consultant who heads JCOM in Marina Del Rey, California.