Vodafone Completes Roll Out of Mobile Advertising Services to 18 Markets in 18 Months

 In advertising

Interesting release from the team at Vodafone about their mobile advertising roll-out. 

Some of the services coming up from Vodafone I have been personally involved with and it will be good to see Vodafone roll these out in a range of markets.

The full Vodafone release is here.

Vodafone announces today that it has fulfilled its ambition to expand the availability of its mobile advertising services to 18 operating company markets in the last 18 months. Despite the worsening economic climate, Vodafone has also enjoyed strong revenue growth from mobile advertising services during 2008/9 and plans to continue the roll out, expanding both the portfolio of mobile advertising services and their reach.

Over the last year Vodafone Marketing Solutions has run over 2000 campaigns across its global footprint for hundreds of global brands*. While those brands continue to enjoy considerable success with mobile banner campaigns, they are increasingly trying newer mobile advertising formats including the use of branded content, sponsored alerts, opt-in push messaging and advertising on service based text messages**.

Rick Fant, Head of Internet Discovery at Vodafone said “In the current economic climate brands will look even harder at their budgets and how they spend them. Mobile advertising offers a combination of great response rates alongside the opportunity for advertisers to reach out to and engage with their customers. We are pleased with the performance of Vodafone’s mobile advertising business and that more and more brands are moving spend to this innovative medium”.

Vodafone will continue to invest in its advertising offering in the coming year both by adding to its global reach through its network of operating companies, affiliates and partners – including operators such as Mobilkom, Proximus, Vodacom, and China Mobile – as well as by seeking to extend the number, type and effectiveness of its portfolio of advertising services.

Vodafone’s advertising development programme is designed to provide customers with relevant and engaging advertising experiences and advertisers with effective and responsive marketing platforms.

Services in development or trial include:

Zonal marketing trial – This will allow opted-in customers to receive promotional messages from brands relevant to their profile and their real-time location. As they enter a pre-defined area they will receive an MMS or SMS message from Vodafone containing the promotion.

Incoming voice/text alerts advertising trial – Full screen advertisements from a range of advertising partners will be shown to opted-in customers during the moments before they answer a call or view a message. Customers who choose to join the database, and who go on to view adverts will be rewarded with points that they can redeem against goods or services.

Branded applications and widgets trial – Assessing customer acceptance of and interaction with, as well as brand marketing effects of, branded mobile apps.

Location based advertising trial – Vodafone plans to trial customer acceptance of and engagement with branded Points of Interest,(locations of – for example – stores, restaurants and petrol stations) and branded locational search.

Trial of an enhanced mobile internet browser – Vodafone is looking at how to simplify and enhance the mobile internet browsing experience for opt-in customers as well as investigating opportunities for mobile publishers and advertisers.

Vodafone myCampaign – An online self-service platform for mobile advertisers. Currently in development in Germany and Czech Republic, with further markets planned, this tool will allow small businesses to set up and run cost-effective, and local mobile advertising campaigns. The service is designed to be simple, quick and easy to use – combining creative, reporting and online prepayment via credit card.

Fant said, “We are an ambitious company in a leadership position and we have big plans for this space. Vodafone has always been an innovator in its products and services, in its technology and most importantly in its customer offering. So over the next year it’s natural for us to continue to invest in and improve our offering for all of customers – be they consumer & business subscribers or our brand & agency customers around the world”.

Read more on the Vodafone website.

About 

Based in London, The Actionable Futurist and former Global Managing Partner at IBM, Andrew Grill is a popular and sought-after presenter and comementator on issues around digital disruption, workplace of the future and new technologies such as blockchain. Andrew is a multiple TEDx and International Keynote Speaker.