Wednesday 12 December 2012

Bring on 2013


So that was 2012. On a personally level it wasn’t one of my favourites, but also I think from an industry point of view it went a lot better than perhaps we all thought it would at the start of the year. We only have to stay out of triple dip recession in the first half of 2013 and we are laughing.
2012 was notable of course for the 25th and 20th anniversaries of GSM technology and SMS respectively, but it also marked the watershed point at which more smartphones than normal phones were in use in the US (with the UK not far behind). The year also saw the rise of the tablet – with more than 10% of m-commerce likely to be carried out on a tablet this Christmas: a massive increase on last year.
In many regards I think that in years to come, technologists may well deem 2012 to have been the year of mobile. And let’s face it we have been waiting for it to be the year of mobile for at least the 25 years since GSM technology was mooted.
But what does it mean for 2013 that everything is now so mobile? From a commerce point of view, Christmas 2012 offers a great insight into how mobile is likely to be used across the retail sector in the coming months. And its not as straightforward a picture as you might imagine. Shoppers are not simply switching to a smartphone or a tablet and lying back on the couch and buying things there instead of on their PC or in a store. Oh no.
For starters, different devices are being used for different (and often multiple) parts of the sales journey. Advertising on websites, TV, in magazines and newspapers and on mobile itself often prompts some smartphone based research. This initial research is often then done in more depth on a laptop or tablet. For small ticket items the purchase often then occurs on one of these channels from home, but for the bigger ticket items, a visit to a retailer is often done and then how the goods are purchased can be anything from there and then in the store, to showrooming to click and collect to going home to think about it then buying on mobile.
Tablets, meanwhile, are being grabbed when the mood takes and lead to surfing and some buying but also a lot of social interaction about potential purchases.
Location services and mobile targeted ads are some way off the mainstream, but 2013 is likely to see these things also added into the mix.
So retail and mobile is a heady mix, with some really interesting things to come in 2013.
But the wider telemedia world also has some really key developments taking shape. Media is increasingly becoming interactive and digital and consumers are increasingly ready to pay for some things. Growing numbers of consumers are using digital channels to consume ‘multimedia’ content and increasingly are seeing that paying for value-adds –often in app – has some real value.
On the back of this, but with a much wider remit, ,microbilling is about to explode on mobile in 2013 for everything from buying a can of coke to paying for carparking to having a flutter on the nags to buying things in app.
And there is a growing move to make operator billing easier and more straightforward to deliver these services. We are, I believe, going to see some true telemedia payment coups in the coming year and, but this time next year, operator microbilling will be a natural part of the mix. We might even see retailers starting to get on board with that too: which will make 2014 look even more interesting. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Thursday 29 November 2012

PURELY CREATIVE – An apology and clarification



Back in early November we wrongly reported in our editorial blog From my Hat to my Shoes, that PPP had levied a fine of £800,000 against a company called Purely Creative for a misleading scratchcard campaign that attracted 15 complaints. This was wrong. The company fined £800,000 by PPP was in fact Churchcastle Ltd. NOT Purely Creative.

Churchcastle was fined for a newspaper campaign that used a PRS number to claim prizes for word search competitions which racked up huge phone call costs. The company also bombarded people with up to four promos a month.

Purely Creative was not involved in this at all. Purely Creative is looking to minimise the effects of a harsh European Courts of Justice (ECJ) ruling on PRS promotions that it feels we're made "by the ECJ based on what Purely Creative sees as the wider implications of the ECJs extreme interpretation of paragraph 31 of Schedule 1 to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive implemented in the UK by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.


Purely Creative seeking to try and get the effects of this minimised as it effects the whole PRS industry.


The basic question before the ECJ was very specific: it concerned whether, if a consumer has been told he or she has won or will win a prize, it is a breach of the law if the consumer has to or may incur any cost whatsoever in claiming that prize. The ECJ said yes, even if it is the cost of a local rate telephone call, a short bus ride or a postage stamp.

The ECJs interpretation will have an operational impact on all businesses and charities in the European Union that operate promotions that offer prizes. National Lotteries are not exempt. As such we are surprised by the scope of the ruling and believe that other businesses and institutions will be equally surprised once they become aware of the full implications.

In October the ECJ upheld its ruling. More on this in January.

Once again, apologies to Purely Creative who were not fined by PPP and have never been so.

Friday 23 November 2012

2013: a challenging year for operators?


This week saw leading analysts Accenture publish – with some fanfare it has to be said – its predictions for the communications, media and entertainment industries and finds that times are getting tough for all three sectors as they all chase the same consumers and each tries to ‘own the customer’.
Particularly at risk are network operators, who, says Accenture, can no longer rely on churn to sign up new users, but have to actively attract them with better services, better devices and better prices. But they are having to do this against a backdrop where the likes of Google, Facebook and Sony – not to mention Apple – who are not only doing a good job of offering services that consumers want that tread on the toes of operators, but also own the delivery channel and the devices.
According to Accenture, the only way that operators can try and survive is to create their own ecosystems – and that increasingly means partnering.
In fact we are at the dawn of an age of MNO partnerships unlike anything we’ve seen before. From a consumer point of view its great as it means better services and, with the possible exception of overpriced 4G, better prices.
But its not just the telcos that are facing problems. The whole value ecosystem around communications and media is changing. What’s interesting is how this has been driven in large by arguably the three major players in the digital space; Apple with hardware, Amazon with ecommerce and Google with search advertising.
Of course, there are many other organisations such as Facebook and eBay you could look to as well, but it is the way in which these three have leveraged themselves into the media and communications markets and shaped business models around them where we can draw our lessons.
What many organisations operating in the communications and media space need to be asking themselves is “How do my economics fit into this new world, and how do I preserve, protect and diversify my revenue streams?”
Organisations need to consider how they can participate in the new models around them. How can I, as a broadcaster, explore ecommerce services? How can I, a mobile operator, deliver a better and more integrated hardware experience for my customers than I have previously? How can these companies better leverage brands and new content?
For communications service providers, the age old question of voice and text revenues remains, as well as how they finally begin to properly monetise data services. It’s not a new question, but it’s as critical in 2013 as it’s ever been.
Life is now multiplatform. So how do the different screens we have as part of our daily media lives interact with each other and what forms of creativity and technology are required to orchestrate the consumer experience across those screens?
One immediate challenge for the content industries will be how to respond to the potential trend of the all you can eat subscription models moving towards an à la carte world. In the next five years, we will see fewer people spending the same fixed sum with one provider on a monthly basis, as they move to spend more with a number of different direct providers to suit their content needs. All this will be enabled by new “super platforms” that high speed broadband can make a reality.
Alongside this, there will be considerations for advertisers as the pull of more targeted, interactive experiences continues to challenge traditional linear advertising models. In particular, will we reach a point in 2013 where the whole industry can move together? Or will individual media owners still be wrestling on their own with the risks and challenges of moving to a new world of advertising?
The way in which we look at social will also change. Content providers, operators and broadcasters alike will evaluate whether it is simply a form of marketing, or whether it can become a form of actual distribution for getting their content out to their customers.
2013 is shaping up to be quite an interesting – not to mention challenging – year. I’m rather looking forward to it….