MOBILE MARKETING IN PRACTISE:
TXT-SMS BASED CAMPAIGNS
Course Faculty: Mrs Yasmin Malik
Venue: IBA City Campus, Karachi
Course Start Date: Spring 2012 (Feb 1)
MIS553: Mobile Marketing Strategies (Week 2)
The Power is Still in SMS!
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When the Short Message Service (SMS) debuted more than 15 years ago,
few could have predicted that a 160-character based message exchange
mechanism would be so popular
Popular and profitable!
According to Juniper Research (2009), SMS generates more revenue that
all other data services combined on a global basis
Other research companies (inc Portio Research) predict a 78% growth rate
in SMS over the next 2 year period i.e. upto 2012
SMS in Pakistan
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In 2011, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) published a report
on the “SMS Trends” in 2010 in the Pakistan market
It claims that in FY 2009, 151.6 billion SMS were exchanged in Pakistan i.e.
approx 621 million SMS per day
Total revenue generated by SMS for FY 2009 = Pak Rs. 40.76 billion
(bundled and flat rate SMS)
In 2010: Pakistani mobile phone users exchanged 175.4 billion text
messages showing a 16% growth in number of total SMS exchanged (PTA)
Pakistan is following the trend of “emerging” markets where SMS “continues
to be harnessed at an increasing pace by government, banks/financial
institutions, brands, retailers, television channels” for increasingly sophisticated
purposes (Source:Mobile Communications Intl, www.telecoms.com, Feb
2011)
Year Wise SMS Growth in Pakistan
Source: PTA, ProPakistani 2012
SMS Traffic Per Mobile Network Operator
Source: PTA, ProPakistani 2012
MNOs Monthly On-Net/Outgoing SMS (2009)
Source: Study on SMS Traffic Trends & Global Trends 2010, PTA)
PTA’s Recommendations for SMS Growth
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Pakistan has shown considerable growth in SMS traffic over the last few years and
can be ranked among the top 5 countries that exhibit high SMS traffic trends
especially during the “festive seasons”
“…But to sustain growth over the next few years, Mobile Network Operators should
put more emphasis on lucrative flat rate promotions, enhanced WAP applications,
innovative push/pull and mobile commerce features, utilization of location based
services and also working where possible with popular established social-networking
sites etc to drive SMS traffic”
PTA also observes that:
“Advertising seems to have attractive potential driver for SMS traffic, and it demands
the operators to support the end-to-end campaign management and reporting
requirements of media buyers and advertisers”
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So the Power is in SMS….But….!
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Operator margins for SMS are not growing at the same rate and are only forecast a 28%
growth rate over the same period till 2012
The combination of increasing competition and subscriber expectations for bundled
messaging plans is driving a decline in revenue per SMS
SMS traffic growth is not translating into comparable revenue mainly due to commoditization
(more on this later….)
Even though Operators’ strategy of rolling out bundled and flat-rate billing plans to maintain
a competitive edge has boosted SMS usage – it has also driven down the Average Revenue
Per User (ARPU)
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Do you know what the ARPU for MNOs (Mobile Network Operators) in Pakistan is….?
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In 2007 it was about $4 and two years later in 2009 it was about $3
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Currently it is about $2.75 and expected to fall below $2 by 2012 (Source: BMI)
Hence…
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Many MNOs as well as companies are turning to mobile advertising as the solution
Informa Telecoms UK (www.informa.com) valued the global mobile advertising
market at $12 billion in 2013
Yankee Group research says:
“42% of mobile customers are open to mobile advertising, if its is relevant, if they
asked for it or if they get coupons for free service”
Type 1: Txt/SMS Based Mobile Marketing
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Case Study: Sprite ”Kholega To Milega”
This case study is featured on the MMA’s website as an example of successful SMS
marketing
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Brand: Sprite/Coca-Cola
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Country/Timeline: India, 2009
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Methodology: Txt-to-win to a Short Code i.e. SMS marketing that is based on
customer “opt-in”
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Parallels to Pakistan market?
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There are many!
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Similar campaigns i.e. Txt-to-win have been carried out by various brands of
Unilever (e.g. Lux), Strepsils (5050), Dalda (4232), Cartoon Network (4646) etc.
Question: how would you carry out a campaign such as Sprite-Kholega To
Milega in practise….?