Mobile Beyond The Call & SMS

Mobile is a marketing time bomb ready to blow and we should be ready when it does. This month, we are sharing some interesting trends and alternative uses of mobile technology. Notice that the trends aren’t directly related to marketing however smart marketers will think of ways to leverage the means by which mobile is being used.

The digital age has brought with it an expectation of personalization. Our computers let us create unique content and experiences with all forms of data–audio, pictures, video, location. Digital cameras and digital cable allow us to freeze a moment in time, record it and review it. Phones are essentially tiny computers we carry around with us. These technologies are breeding a generation of kids who expect to interact with and control the world around them. New technologies are making this a reality and changing media as we know it.

Digital Out of Home

Digital Out of Home (DOOH) is any public, on-screen content. This includes digital billboards, jukebox screens, elevator networks, concert screens, and in-store TVs. Anywhere you put a screen, there can be action, interaction and reaction. We’re seeing this more often at live events through text-to-screen technology. Here are some more examples out there now:

- Akoo’s Music ID and Discovery lets you find out what song is playing or pick the next one through SMS or WAP. Companies can sponsor Akoo’s program in stores and have specific messages sent to consumers who submit music selection suggestions.

- Locamoda’s FotoWall is a photo upload application that can send photos MMS to digital screens in bars, restaurants, cafes and other venues. Their Jumbli application lets you play games on a billboard in Times Square using your PC or phone.

- Screenvision runs interactive polls in movie theaters. The audience can text in their answers and the results are displayed to everyone before the movie starts.

Next Gen Remote Control

What about Digital In-Home? How will our private viewing experiences become shared and social? New web shows let you interact with content: friending the characters, chatting while watching, even influencing the storyline. This real-time participation will translate onto the TV screen through mobile. It’s already already happening through voting and polling on shows like “American Idol” and “Top Chef,” but that’s just the start.

SMS Galaxy from Artificial Life compliments live TV with mobile-controlled avatars. Users can control 3D avatars on the TV screen through SMS or the mobile web. It even uses photo recognition technology to make an avatar in your likeness. Using this system, the first interactive TV game show in Japan premiered in June. “Hoshi-ichi owarairyoku test” let participants (up to 500,000 at one time) compete with other viewers by using their avatars to answer quiz questions. “Now that a mobile phone has literally become an alter ego, particularly for the young generation, I am convinced that they will truly enjoy the excitement of virtually appearing on TV as a 3D animated avatar,” said the CEO of Artificial Life.

Mobile can also enrich TV viewing by adding a social and informational layer. See “tweets” from friends about the show right on the screen. Text a shortcode to get “Pop-up Video”-like facts, director’s commentary or other supplementary content on your phone.

In an age of diversification and diffusion, it is going to be vital for us to redefine how we watch. Multi-screen platforms like these will lead to richer, customized, social experiences with traditional forms of media. Think of it as the world 2.0.