The second panel at the IAMAI conference was a sponsor panel i.e. the sponsors made pitches. Thank god for making Mahesh Murthy as the moderator or this would have been a waste of a panel discussion.
Session Moderator
Mahesh Murthy, Managing Director, Pinstorm Technologies
Panelists
- Dhritiman Chakraborty, Vice President – Sales, ACL Wireless
- Anton Syazi Ahmed Sebi, Deputy CEO, Unified Communications
- Debmalya De, CTO, ACL Wireless
- Arun Bhati, Head Service Delivery Platform, Ericsson India & Srilanka
Mahesh Murthy initiated the panel with the fact that mobile phones today are not just calling devices but are even enabling commerce. He stated ‘Gphone has a camera which reads barcodes and tells u where u can get that product the cheapest.’ Now thats taking mobiles to determine commerce and and answer the question – what to buy?
Dhritiman Chakraborty – VP Sales – ACL, Wireless stated that mobile makes the other existing media interactive. He said that the main problem advertisers face is defined by the saying – Half my ad dollars are wasted I dont know which half. Mobile brings in measurement that eliminates wastage. Every 11-15 minutes a person looks at the mobile screen which again points at the opportunity this device possesses for advertisers.
Arun Bhati pointed out the need for being contextual in mobile advertising with the following example.
My wife got the following msg:
Know your compatibility with your spouse – sms spouse to 5XXXX
The msg that came as a reply – You are a perfect couple!
The ad below it – Download hotbikinibabes.com
The best part of this panel was the QnA. Excerpts below:
Mahesh questions – 4 paisa an sms today that makes 1000 smses for 40 rupees that’s 40 rupees cpm for a text ad.. How is mobile advertising cheaper? For 40 rupees today you can get a banner ad online!
Panel did not answer this significantly.
Mahesh questions – 1/2 a mega bit of voice call i.e. 1 minute voice call costs 50 paisa – sms is 160 bit of data why does sms cost 4 paisa? Shouldn’t it cost 0.5 paisa or even lesser?
Answer by Debmalya – Its a volume game that has reduced the price and not technology – but there are various middle men which increae costs.
Mahesh questions: Why isn’t there one standard platforms for all operators?
Answer: Global organizations are collaborating on standardizing one format.
Mahesh questions: Who is a publisher?? The Operator? Nokia – Handset? Why do operators and handset companies want to be media companies?
Again there wasn’t a satisfactory answer by the panel.
Audience questions: What are the various measuring tools on mobile?
Anton answers – We are benchmarking to similar metrics to online.
Audience questions – The literacy and language barrier to sending smses? How effective is it?
Answer yes its tough.. the only possible solution is voice.
Mahesh you rock very good questions you hv made ppl think about the costs………………
Mobile advertising provides measurable results for marketers if done properly. It is affordable, even at several paises per sending a message. The marketer has to increase the expectations from the service or solution providers in deliverability, open rates, response rates and conversions. Then only the medium will be meaningful.
It is not how much more or less you spend on the medium, but the question should be what is the return from that medium spend?
If Marketers try honestly finding the answer, they sure are betting on the right medium for marketing.