I know I know, how good of a VP of Marketing can I be if I do not even write about the launch of my own product on my own blog. But the good news is that we have had such a great reaction that I have been swamped with work!

Nonetheless, when someone else blogs about your launch before you do that is pretty bad.

So here it is (check out the video bellow). The cat is out of the bag. The project startup that I joined and have been working on and off for the past year or so has finally come to fruition. I would like to belatedly announce to you all the launch of Flyscreen, Cellogic’s premier product.

We launched Flyscreen at the TechCrunch50 where we were selected to be in the demo pit. I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing the TC50 event was, not just for us but for all the companies. Even if you did not get selected as one of TechCrunch’s top 50 companies the attention we got just being in the demo pit was astounding. I have never been to a conference like this. The fact that no one pays to present really shows in who presented. Whether on stage or on a table TechCrunch50 had nothing but quality companies showing very very very innovative stuff.

So, about what we are doing. First lets end the confusion. The company is called Cellogic, the product is called Flyscreen.

Cellogic is a US and Israeli based startup founded by entrepreneurs (and my buddies) Itamar Weisbrod and Avi Elias, and backed by Israeli angel investor Yossi Vardi.

Flyscreen is a dynamic mobile platform that provides always on access and streaming content to the mobile phone’s sleep screen. Essentially, we let user put and use their favorite web services on their phones sleep screen to act as a kind of dynamic screen saver.

What does that mean? Oddly enough it appears to be hard to explain but once people see it in action they get it right away. The reaction is usually, “thats so obviously brilliant I cannot believe no one else is doing that.” Even Jason Calacanis who stopped by said he loved it and wanted it right away. Unfortunately we did not have his model phone ready.

The concept of the product is quite simple. When you are not using your phone the screen either turns blank or renders a dim image of the date and time. It probably looks something like this:

This screen is called the sleep screen or power save mode screen. Not to be confused with the idle screen, standby mode or home screen which looks like this blue home screen with the 12:52 time on it:

Many companies have tried to figure out what to do with the idle/home screen.
Flyscreen is not one of them. Simply put Flyscreen reinvents what happens on your phone while your not using it, while its sleeping. What was once a blank screen or dimmed image with the time and date is now a dynamic screen that renders constantly updating content that is relevant to you.

This puts the content that you want to see, such as weather, blog feeds, twitter or any RSS literally zero-clicks away. So, if you want to take a glance at your twitter feed all you have to do is pick up your phone and look at it. Wanna see the headline that everyone is talking talking about then just slide over to your TechCrunch widget. Thats it. We make getting your mobile content easy.

And the magic of the technology is that it does all this while remaining in power save mode. That means it does not effect the battery life (well, very minimally). How do I know? Well, for one thing, I helped build and test the product. For another thing it lasted three days of demo pit duty without a charge.

Users simply sign up at myflyscreen.com, choose which widgets and content they want, save, and then they next time Flyscreen updates on their phone they will be able to see what they want to see at an eyeball away.

Its also good for brands in that it help them leverage their mobile marketing experience on a valuable and untouched space of phone real-estate. Flyscreen is fully compatible with click to call, click to text, click to application and click to mobile web. In other words, with Flyscreen being the first thing people see on their screen, it can help drive a brands many other mobile marketing plays.

All in all its a pretty simple product made for a simple purpose, to make getting the stuff you want on your phone simpler. That’s a lot of simples!

Flyscreen is currently launched on Symbian so if you have an updated Symbian phone you can go to http://www.myflyscreen.com to get on the alpha invite list. If you use the code MOpocket we will speed your invite along.

If you do not have a Symbian phone do not worry! Other versions will be out shortly! Make sure you sign up for when Flyscreen will be ready on Blackberry, WIndows Mobile, Android and iPhone.

If the bellow video does not work… click here for a live demo and discussion!

Technorati Tags: calacanis, cellogic, demo pit, flyscreen, jason calacanis, myflyscreen, nokia, power.save, sleep.screen, symbian, TC50, techcrunch, techcrunch50

My post last week about Chase Banks Mobile Text-2-Win campaign has created a bit of conversation on and off the web.
Its a text message campaign to win US Open Tennis tickets.

For those of you that do not remember I praised Chase for stepping up to the mobile marketing platform but criticized the campaign for its lack of interaction and conversation.

After sending the text message “WIN” to “CHASE” and loosing you basically reached a dead end. No mention of Chase’s mobile services are even mentioned. My past post is much more informative.

Well looks like someone from Chase read the post. The text message reply which once read

Sorry, try again tomorrow. No purch reqd. For a sure way to get tkts go to chase.com/tickets. Quit? Txt STOPWIN. Help? Txt HELPWIN. Other chgs may apply.

Now reads

Try again tomorrow. No purch nec. Quit? txt STOP WIN. Help? Txt HELPWIN. Other chgs may apply. Chase Mobile - Text UR account. It texts you back. Chase.com/mobile.

Now they got my attention! What is this Chase Mobile> If I have a Chase account I may try this out? But what do I text? My account number? hmmmmm I do not know how I feel about that. But anyways, its goo to know people are listening.

Would have been nice if the website they provided was linkable to a mobile webpage.

And why did they get rid of explaining the other way to win tickets? I still that they should have added a “text back your zip-code to find out where the nearest Chase bank is and ask them how else you can win tickets.” That would be cool. And would justify a two text return. And also a good way to collect information.

Technorati Tags: chase, sms, text messaging , us open, marketing

This post is about a company that has used Mobile Marketing in a wonderful way. Its also about pushing the envelope. Chase Bank has long been a sponsor of the US Open (Tennis not Golf). Last year they had a very interesting marketing campaign in which you could win free tickets by simply using their ATM Machine’s (I know the ‘M” in ATM stands for “machine” and I am being repetitive). Anyways, a lucky withdrawer simply needed to pay attention to his or her receipt. If there was a blue tennis ball in the logo then you just one free tickets. If it didn’t then you just won your own money (and a surcharge if Chase was not your bank).
From a marketing perspective Chase was ingeniously tapping “incentive marketing” while creating an interaction with Chases most used service, that being ATMs. It forced people to GO TO a Chase location, possibly even walk into a bank, possibly even converse with a Chase employee and possibly even see all the things that Chase has to offer.

This year Chase is going the incentives marketing route again but this time via what appears to heavy mobile play. An interesting choice do to all the hype around mobile technology and commerce as of late and Chase’s advertisements showing text message account alerts. But thats just my way of telling you that Chase has a functional mobile play for a latter point. As I was saying, from June 9th to August 9th all over New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, ads on top of taxi cabs, on bus shelters, on payphone kiosks, on billboards and in the subways Chase advertisements are drawing your attention (in text speak) to send the text message “Win” to the shortcode “CHASE (24273) for a chance to win free tickets to the Open. The exact reading being something like “Tennis ne1?” or “Cu @ the Open” followed by a much smaller print saying

“You could win US Open Tickets.
Text ‘Win’ to Chase (24273) Now”

Chase will immediately text back entrants to notify them if they’ve won or lost.

First off, I have to tell you that I have seen these advertisement for a while now but for some reason the text speak threw me off and I ignored them. I thought it was an advertisement for technical data base enterprise solutions mumbo jumbo. Nevertheless, adding the numerical value to the Shortcode “Chase” is a sure sign that the interactive marketing people at Chase have done their homework. The numbers without what they spell-out no would not be remembered. And just saying “Text ‘Win’ to CHASE” would have been to confusing. Text win to Chase what, I might ask? What am a chasing? A leprechaun? An Elephant on safari? The American dream? But they did it right and they deserve a bravo for that.

As to where these ads appear I found it a little troublesome. The first place I saw this add was while driving down the NJ Turnpike at 70 miles an hour. This is where I first ignored the signs as a tech advertisement. When I began to realize what they were saying (my interest sparked by catching the word “Text” and the semblance of a shortcode) I did not have enough time to take out my phone and remember what or how to text even though I slowed down to 60 miles an hour to try and do so (do not try this, I am a texting expert). Simply put, put these banner adds where there is a lot of standstill congestion. In NY its not to hard to fine. And it will give people something to do.

The adds on top of taxi cabs work for the most part, when you are standing in front of a parked one that is. But by the time I saw the advertisement and told myself ‘lets do it this time,’ the cab was already 5 blocks away. Once I got into a cab that had the advert on top and I stopped to take a minute to text but, in typical New York fashion, the cab driver told me to more or less get in or out of the cab. I was hoping to see an advert for it on the new TVs they have in the back of cabs now-a-days but no luck. Thats when I would have time to do this.

Finally I began to come across the ads on the subway platforms and trains. Finally I whipped out my phone, opened the text message app…entered the short code, entered ‘Win” but alas no cell found cell signal underground (a problem soon to be solved).

The subway stops and payphone adds work just fine although… if you have a cell phone that you are going to send the text message from what do you need a pay phone for
Chase also is also providing information about the ticket giveaway on ATM screen messages, in brochures at bank branches and with statement inserts. So, advertisements at Chase banks do exist but I have not noticed as many and, unlike like last years ATM campaign, there is nothing about the text messaging incentive campaign that drives me to a Chase bank to look at them.

And that is what I am getting at here. My main wonder about the campaign has nothing to do really with the placement of their advertisements. Although if they used more keywords other than “Win” they could track which ads were more effected, and that would be interesting. Nevertheless, for the most part they work, eventually. My wonderment is what, beyond product placement, does this text message campaign do for Chase?

Its important to point out that the text-to-win campaign does not stand alone. There is a chance to win Open tickets by opening a Chase Free Checking account with direct deposit with a minimum $500 deposit or depositing $15,000 into an existing savings account or brokerage account. Additional tickets to the Men’s and Women’s finals, semi-finals and quarterfinals are also available for larger deposits. But that is a far cry more demanding than the from the ATM withdrawal of yesteryear.

The mobile medium and text messaging are part of the New Media way of marketing… its about using the tools to create conversations and interactions that in the end draw people toward your brand physically and/ or digitally.

According to Chase spokesman Michael Fusco the promotion is a great way “to highlight our mobile banking service, Chase Mobile.”

Other than the fact that it is a mobile campaign that uses the shortcode “Chase” lets see what he means.

When I texted ‘Win’ to CHASE (24373) I got the following message:

Sorry, try again tomorrow. No purch reqd. For a sure way to get tkts go to chase.com/tickets. Quit? Txt STOPWIN. Help? Txt HELPWIN. Other chgs may apply.

Lets break down this text message for a second.

“Sorry, try again tomorrow.” - Ok I get it, I lost.

No purch reqd. - Purchase what? I do not have to purchase a ticket to win a ticket? Thats good.

For a sure way… - By the time I am in front of my computer I have already forgotten this and probably just went to the US Open website to get tickets. The webpage in the text is not even linkable (which is a good thing since I doubt it will bring me to a mobile webpage. And there is nothing about the making a deposit way to win…. get me while I am out an about and near a Chase bank. Not when I am home on my computer… unless I can open a checking account online and get free tickets that way. Winners, by the way, will also be directed to Chase.com/tckets to redeem their prize.

Quit? - Now, I know that they have to put this in their text as part of Mobile Marketing Guidelines but still it begs the question What am I quitting? I thought I was just entering a text and win contest are you going to send me more information (aka SMS spam) on what Chase can do to my phone? Damn straight I will quit.

Help? Again I realize that this is needed to comply with MMA guidelines. So I was curious. I did it. I texted ‘STOPWIN’. Here is what I got [my comments in brackets]:

Chase: Reply text to enter.[Didn’t I already do this and was told to try again tomorrow?] Questions? See Rules/FAQ’s at chase.com/tickets. [Again, not linkable] Quit? Txt STOPWIN. Other charges may apply. [What? To quit?]

The point here is not to chastise their use of text space, which is not perfect but gets by ok. Hey I understand that 160 characters is a limited amount of space. The point here is to express wonderment at how Chase is using a tool with such great possibilities of marketing interaction-ability without any other types of interaction or conversation concerning Chase products or banks. While they are creating conversation in the sense I am talking about how many people are really going to make the connection to Chase’s mobile offerings? The only web reference has no mobile web link and the reply text message provides no opportunity for any other Chase goodness to come about where I am standing with the phone in hand. After texting in to win nothing about it is, in a sense, mobile.

A text message campaign should always be interactive and ubiquitous. It should always have something to do with where I am and the fact that I am mobile. In the end it should pull me into a willing and deeper interaction and conversation and tie in together the brand and brand product. It it must do this organically.It must be organic. It must not be about the company or the product but about the user and the product. It must let me share, interact and act upon or comment upon if I want to. If it is not something that I can act on or follow through on immediately wherever I am with my phone then it is a dead message. And text-to-win will soon become a novelty that that will ware off.

While the campaign itself is a hint or, as Fusco put it a “highlight” of Chase Mobile service, no other mobile tie in is apparent and their is no mention or pull toward a conversation of Chase’s Mobile Banking offerings. The bank is, however, promoting its mobile banking options through a $70 million campaign begun this year that includes television commercials pitching Chase Mobile and texting for balances and transactions. Perhaps I do not watch enough television but its has bin a while since I have seen one of those ads. Hopefully, from now till August they have a more than just 3 second announcement at the end of the text to win campaign.

Do not get me wrong, I think its wonderful that Chase is using a Text-to-Win strategy. And they are doing a great job of getting me to text them wherever I am for the chance to win something. I am just disappointed that that is all it is. That after that nothing happens. The the return message is static.

Unlike their ATM-to-Win campaign (which included anyone who could use an ATM machine and did not require a deposit of 500 dollars to a free checking account) the Text-To-Win message does not draw me into Chase. It seems more like a dead end product placement for my phone, a sort of “hey look at us, we are hip, we get the new technology sort of play.” Which is fine and a step in the right direction. But, with the ATM campaign I had to walk into a Chase. After getting the (loosing) text message I simply put the phone in my pocket and go about my day. A missed opprtunity.

I just wish it could have been more and better tied in all that mobile marketing and the wonderful stuff that Chase Mobile has to offer (its really is a great and innovative product).

This post is already to long but if anyone asks in the comment section bellow I would be happy to share some thoughts as to how else they could have leveraged this. How about, for example, texting in your zip code to get the nearest Chase branch to inquire on more ways to get a free ticket. Or better yet allowing people to reply to the short code via a mobile devices many upload-able media ways.

In the meantime I will leave it with this: Mobile marketing is not a good stand alone strategy… as an always on technology it works best when it is tied into other new media and social marketing plays. Its not about putting all of Chase services on a phone or Chase using a phone. Its about how Chase can best leverage the mobile medium for an already existing product or campaign in order to drive more interest and interaction with Chase. In this case Chase leveraged the mobile phone for their already existing US Open Product placement. After that the conversation and interaction stops, which is a shame since Chase has so much more, on the mobile end, to offer.

By the way, if you are a winner then everything I just said above goes right out the door. With the exception of winning, I am not pulled into Chase any deeper. When I unscrewed a Coke cap to look underneath it to see if I am I winner at least I got to partake of the refreshing sugar water beverage if I was not. With my loosing text message I am only left with a kind of negative feeling since I did not win and was left with nothing else to do but the sterile assurance that I can by tickets or get more info at Chase.com/tickets if and when I get in-front of a computer. With that the campaign ends. Doomed to the static product placement grave that is the “erase this message” option. Not a good place to end a “conversation.”

More info from Mobile Marketer

UPDATE 7/28/08 Chase Responds (Well, Kinda)

Technorati Tags: chase, chase bank , marketing, mobile marketing, sms, tickets, us open, win

CBS News and Fox News announced partnerships with social networking solutions developer Neighborhood America to enable citizen journalists to upload their user-generated video news reports for possible network broadcast. Fox News’ UR Report service debuted Monday and will enable viewers to submit video clips from their mobile handsets and PCs to the network’s website–according to Neighborhood America, Fox News programs including “The O’Reilly Factor,” “Hannity & Colmes” and “On the Record with Greta van Susteren” will each air user-generated content on a daily basis.

For CBS News, Neighborhood America developed CBS Springboard, bolstering the network’s existing citizen journalism service with mobile access via the company’s 2006 acquisition of wireless solutions provider Movo Mobile. Neighborhood America will also approve all videos uploaded to the CBS News website, further verifying mobile content to guarantee it originates from a local source.

Technorati Tags: cbs, fox, fox news, greta van susteren, hannity and colmes, movo mobile, neighborhood america, o’reilly

I have waited for a long time to be able to get back at all those damn companies that try to get me excited about their stock by sending me emails with weird subject lines like “Prime Minister” and email address’ that make it look like they are from friends.

I get lots of emails from PR people asking me to look at various wireless companies so this one almost slipped by me when I started reading it this morning (although the subject line “Prime Minister: should have give it away). The email was about Microsoft certified Mobile Airwaves a company that develops innovative software solutions for secure, real-time, wireless access to corporate data and applications.

The world has gone wireless and Mobile Airwaves (MBWC) is in the right

spot with a Red Hot Product!

We are expecting financial results to be announced by the company any

day. With all the new contracts they have acquired we are expecting

record earnings!

MBWC is currently tradding at around 3 cents. With the company being so

tightly held we expect the influx of buying to push the price off the charts!

Get in on this breakout winner early!

Apparently, from their website, the “red hot” product they are talking about is their Aqivo® Wireless Information Server which “leads the industry in ease of use, speed of implementation, features and functionality.”

Then, at the bottom, in order to slip it through spam filters Erika Hunt added

In his speech Benedict quoted two previous pontiffs including his predecessor Pop

e John Paul II who referred to the spiritual bonds between Christianity and Islam in a 1979 speech in Ankara

He also quoted Pope Gregory VII an 11th-century pontiff who talked about the charity that

Christians and Muslims owe each other because we believe in one God albeit in a different manner

All of which is very important to the stock information they are trying to get across, especially when they hire a company like a3design to do their spam marketing. The email came from doylehlobemolea@a3design.com. An example of a legitimate company embracing spam.

I never heard of Mobile Airwaves before and now I never care to.

File this under mobile shame.

Technorati Tags: mobile airwaves, airwaves, spam, email, a3design

I know you have been there with me… you are in a new city, you just need to feed your caffeine addition, but you cant seem to find a Starbucks… All you want is a Starbucks to start off your day.

Starbucks has made a few efforts to help out in these dyer situations. The coffee behemoth has launched a new cell phone-based service that lets you efficiently locate the nearest store through SMS and they added a WAP version of their site.

Try it out: text your zip code to “MySBUX” (697289).

I think this is a great start, but I see just a few problems. In the times you can’t find a Starbucks you are probably in a place you don’t even know the zip code. They should add a search by city name and state. And yes, you could now use the WAP site when you don’t know the zip code, but we all know how long using Internet on your mobile takes! Finally, I think the shortcode is a bit hard to remember. I can totally see myself asking what that abbreviation they used was again. What I suggest is that we start seeing the abbreviation “sbux” ALL over the store so we get used to it.

Source: CNet News

“We believe that mobile marketing is one of the few instances in which the current hype actually underestimates the full potential of the market opportunity,” says Scott Ellison, vice president of Wireless and Mobile Communications at IDC. “The winners will be those players who fully leverage the mobile ecosystem rather than try to simply translate other marketing and advertising business models to mobile.”

Ellison hit the nail on the head with that one. Mobile is unique to mobile. What works well on the Internet will not always work well on the phone. (Case and point: compare selling email addresses and selling mobile phone numbers). And all too often I see mobile marketing companies providing cookie cutter campaigns to all of their clients. These mobile solutions miss needed individuality and take advantage of the mobile device without considering the personal relationship people have with their phones. They also seldom provide users with anything useful or motivational to act favourably on a brand (Example: Ford’s Mobile Campaign is Boring).

IDC also confirms the link between mobile marketing and relevancy based on users’ mobile search patterns and profiles. “If done right, mobile marketing provides an unparalleled window into the lives of mobile users such as their search, discovery and sharing of content,” the report concludes.

To read more on mobile marketing dos and don’ts check out the IDC study, U.S. Mobile Marketing and Advertising 2007-2011 Forecast: The Potential Actually Exceeds the Hype. (enpocket might learn a thing or two from this paper).

Source: MocoNews

First, lets play a little catch-up: In case you do not remember: Mozes: Defining the Ubiquitous SMS Generation One Great Idea at a Time… let me briefly outline what Mozes does. Mozes is a call-and-response SMS service. That basically means that people are able to reserve keywords on the Mozes shortcode and leave messages for their friends, family, and fans. Additionally, keyword owners can send ringtones and perform polls. Your first keyword is free, after that its $5 a pop.

Example: Text “KathieLegg” or “joberman” to Mozes (66937).

What the masses are saying on TechCrunch:

This sounds like the thousands of services that were launched in Europe in 1999 and 2000. I’m amazed that a) things like this still get funded these days and b) how this can be new and exiting to anyone (VCs especially) as this technology and business model is almost ten years old. -Juha

Why would someone invest in SMS when tools like the Blackberry is picking up fast in the marketshare. Why would someone want to send an SMS message when I can send a full email with pictures attached to it? I guess in the long run the Short Message Service will no longer be a short version. –Startup Booster Blog

My thoughts: Sure, $5 Million is a lot for a tool that is already used in other countries years ago, but perhaps investing money in an area the US should increase usage in is a way to expand our mobile capabilities. I think without the basics, the US mobile sphere will not be able to advance.

One more TechCrunch reader comment:

Although there is a huge increase in the number of people switching to smartphones, the fact of the matter is that sms and email are two different things. The vast majority of consumers do not have a push-email appli on their phone, but all phones come with the sms appli. It is a standard. Also saying that email features will crush sms is like saying I have an email address so let me ditch my IM appli. – E O Fall

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) just released key findings of its annual attitude and usage study on mobile marketing effectiveness.

Text-messaging was the most popular feature, with 69% of survey respondents indicated that they use text messaging, and 44% use it daily (up from 41% in 2005). Of those responding to mobile marketing campaigns, their participation in voting increased to 29% in 2006 from 8% in 2005. Downloads, coupons and alert-based services were among the most highly prized mobile services.

The research findings also indicated: 


• 48% percent of the respondents reported their wireless phone usage has increased significantly over the last year.
• The average consumer uses approximately 4.8 features on their mobile phone.
• Of those respondents who have participated in mobile marketing campaigns, their participation in voting campaigns has significantly increased, from 8% in 2005 to 29% in 2006.



Technorati Tags: MMA, SMS, Survey

As work on, analyze and review mobile marketing campaigns I am always interested in where and how the shortcode is being promoted. Take for example this failed 4 second shortcode in TV attempt. Nevertheless, our good friends at M:Metrics have put out a little report stating that which found that a relatively high number of mobile users have responded to shortcodes in ads: “With Spain topping the list at 29.1 percent, followed by the UK at 18.5 percent, France at 10.1 percent, the United States at 7 percent and Germany at 3.4 percent.”

The report goes on to state that a large number of those responding to shortcodes are from when they appear on television, but this is mostly because of American Idol like voting uses. After that the Magazine and Newspaper are pretty much where you see the heavy uses. No surprise there.

Of course you have to take into account the cultural ritual of how people commute in different country as this has a major influence on where people come across shortcodes and how they can respond to them

“These numbers are not unlike what we saw in e-mail response during the mid-1990s as the Web emerged an advertising medium,” said Will Hodgman, CEO, M:Metrics, who also founded AdRelevance, the global standard for advertising measurement on the Internet. “The growing adoption of major brands using SMS and the substantial consumer response rates indicate a couple of important trends: mobile as a commercial medium is on steroids; and multimedia convergence is real.”

If shortcodes are working this means that SMS proves to be a major catalyst in beginning any kind of mobile marketing campaign. These are exciting times.

[read]

Technorati Tags: mobile marketing, nysdc, shortcodes, sms