London agencies AKQA and PHD go head to head for yell.com mobile business

 In advertising

As reported in New Media Age recently, the team at Yell.com mobile have devised an interesting way to stimulate downloads of their mobile maps application.

Back in July, we reported on the updated Yell mobile mapping application.  Since then I have tried to get it working on my Nokia E71 (latest Symbian 60 3rd Edition FP1 with GPS), but the mobile website says that my handset is “not supported”….. I did try …

When I was able to test the application on my older Nokia 6110 navigator, I noted that the application was great on the Yell content side (as to be expected) and the maps were great, BUT there was no location element (either via GPS or cell-ID auto location). 

I hear through the grapevine that the next version will support GPS, and hopefully in the new year it will line up with Google mobile maps (GMM) to probvide auto location via cell-ID.

The interesting part of the NMA story is that Yell have decided to get agencies AKQA and PHD to develop separate campaigns to drive downloads of the mapping client from the yellmobile.com website. 

Yell seem to be trying to compete head to head with the Google mobile maps application (which supports GPS and cell-ID auto location via Google’s ever increasing database), and so they need a significant number of people to download, install and use the application if they are to compete head on.

The interest for me will be the approaches of both agencies to encourage users to visit and download the application.  Of greater interest will be the response from users when they have downloaded it (especially if they are also a GMM user) to see if they keep using it on a regular basis.

Of broader interest will be to see how users react to the call to action to go to a website and install software – something that many readers of this blog may be comfortable with, but the “normob” user out there may be unsure of.  

At the last Mobile Monday London on mobile platforms, one of the audience members pointed out that Apple have been pushing their iPhone app store heavily – again encouraging users to visit a website and download and install software to their phone. 

Perhaps the two agencies in the pitch will look at how Apple approached this.

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.