Red Bricks Media’s News Blog

by Beth Morgan, VP of Operations

Two recent related stories point to the continued flux in the mobile search market:

1. To the surprise of no one who has paid the least attention to the hype, the iPhone has increased its share of the US smartphone market quite rapidly for such a new entrant into the market. It is now the number 2 smartphone in the US, with a market share of 28% (compared to market leader RIMM/Blackberry with 41%). It also has a reasonably strong share of the global market; it comes in #3 with 6.5% (market leader Nokia has 53%). The iPhone is popular and its popularity is increasing; more importantly, the clamor over its user-friendly interface is having a big effect on overall smartphone design. And that brings us to:

2. Google has revealed that it gets 50 times the searches from the iPhone as from any other mobile device. That’s right, the iPhone represents a 98% share of Google’s mobile traffic. And since Google gets about twice as many mobile searches as Yahoo (according to an iCrossing report from May ‘07), that means that the iPhone is pretty much dominating mobile search. This is no surprise to anyone who has ever tried a search on an iPhone and on another smartphone; the iPhone’s intuitive interface makes searching easy, while with other phones you’ve got to really want that info.

Why are these two stories so important for influencing thought on mobile search? Because with the iPhone interface mobile search is really not separate from computer-based search. The search page you come to when you search Google on your iPhone looks like the same page you get on your computer; the ads are the same as well. There is no need to create special ads and landing pages, as there is with other interfaces. To me it appears the writing is on the wall in terms of the direction mobile search is going, and it is away from the separate ecosystem of mobile-only ads and landing pages. This very fact will only increase the iPhone’s dominance as sites stop investing in mobile-only design.

For marketers, this means that if you’ve been feeling vaguely panicked because you aren’t in mobile yet, you can relax– for once waiting was the right move. The market is coming to you.

As a P.S., Google’s own press release about the dominance of the iPhone in mobile search makes last week’s announcement about their new partnership with Nokia (a distant fourth in the US smartphone market) seem a little odd, to say the least.

This article is cross-posted on Beth’s blog.

by Lauren Quan, Associate Marketing Manager

Guests who attended our recent NYC Open House party saw our first mobile marketing campaign in action. We set up a simple text messaging trivia game to test our guests’ knowledge of our New York-based clients for the chance to win an iPhone.

To start the game, guests text messaged the keyword “Applecado” to a predetermined short code. The contest, a series of five questions, was conducted entirely via automated text message. After receiving the first question, guests could text message their answers. They continued on in the game only if they got the previous question right.
Red Bricks Media’s mobile vendor tracked campaign data in real-time, keeping detailed statistics of phone numbers, dates, and times that messages were sent and received.

Red Bricks Media’s CEO Ed Kim predicts mobile marketing will become increasingly popular over the next few years. “Mobile marketing is a trend to watch in 2008,” he says. “A challenge for marketers has always been reaching consumers while they are on the go, and with mobile marketing you can bridge that gap.”

Although mobile is a new service offering for Red Bricks Media, mobile marketing strategy is similar to that of a current service line – email. “People may not realize that mobile marketing and email marketing are actually very similar,” explains Ed. “Both channels can be used to acquire new customers and market to in-house lists. More than half of our senior management team came from a background in email, and our experience will undoubtedly help shape our mobile strategy. ”

In addition to trivia-based campaigns, Red Bricks Media can set up more complicated campaigns including polls, voice and image messaging, and ringtone giveaways. Contact sales@redbricksmedia.com today and learn how you can use mobile to captivate your audience while they are on the go.

We’re excited to announce that Edward Kim accepted the responsibility to assume the helm of Red Bricks Media. Ed had previously served as Vice President of Client Services and will be Red Bricks Media’s first CEO. As our co-founder and vice president of Sales and Marketing, Elliott Easterling, put it, “Ed has shown leadership in all aspects of the business, from client service to sales to human resources to operations. There is no aspect of the business that Ed has not touched.”

Ed has been a driving force in defining our vision for the future, and has served as a great motivator for our team. Ed’s long-term goal for Red Bricks Media is to become the industry leader in delivering creativity, performance, and client satisfaction. His short-term goals include expanding our work in emerging forms of media, applying our patented creativity and performance-driven analytics to channels like video, social networking, and mobile search.

Before joining Red Bricks Media in 2004, Ed served five years as Director of Sales and Services at the digital marketing agency Digital Impact (now Acxiom Digital), where he developed award-winning programs for Fortune 500 clients such as Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Wal-Mart, and Target. He also spent five years as a consultant and manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Feel free to contact Ed and congratulate him on his promotion! He can be reached at ekim [at] redbricksmedia.com.

by Elliott Easterling, VP of Marketing and Sales

Recently, I spoke at the Digital Hollywood conference regarding mobile search, an exciting emerging media channel. With mobile search, consumers can get personalized information anytime, anywhere. In no particular order, here are my top 6 trends in mobile search:

1) GPS/Location-Based Results

This type of search technology will allow you to search for a specific listing type (e.g. Pizza Restaurant) and then will return results based on your location. The many uses of information retrieval based on location will be a great service to people on the go. This technology could also add a whole new dimension to social relationships; for example, Google recently bought a company called Dodgeball.com that allows users to find friends or even dates based on their GPS locations.

2) Cell Cameras Acting as Barcode Scanners
In Japan, services like Mytago.com allow users to photograph special Mytago barcodes applied to products in-store using mobile phone cameras. Users can then retrieve information and promotions on that product at a later time at the Mytago website. Imagine the power of being able to easily scan any product in a store. You’ll no longer have to ask salespeople for product information, and you can get coupons and sales sent directly to you.

3) Search Integration with Mapping Applications
Search results mixed with mapping applications can really benefit people on the go. You’ll be able to find a restaurant or store and get directions based on your current location - all by using your phone.

4) Search and Real-Time Store Pricing
This involves taking search shopping engines such at Froogle or Shopping.com and then bringing them into a brick-and-mortar retail environment. Imagine walking into a store, finding a product you like and then querying a mobile application to get the lowest price online. This will empower consumers to negotiate down store prices – retailers beware, there may be dangerous waters ahead!

5) Voice Activated Search
Lets face it, when you are on the road, fidgeting with small cell phone buttons is unpleasant. In the future voice navigation will power many web browsers and search queries. What many people do not realize is that these services already exist. 1-800-FREE-411, for instance, offers free voice activated directory assistance. This service is the beginning of voice activated information retrieval.

6) SMS-Based Search
With SMS based search, you send a specific text message code to a search engine and are given back a result. These messages are sent to short code addresses such as “googl” for Google and “4info” for services like 4info.net. SMS search vendors provide an array of SMS information retrieval services. The table below shows the more powerful service features for 4info.

TYPE OF SEARCH: SAMPLE TEXT QUERY
———————————————–
Sports Scores: packers, nfl
Stock Quotes: ibm
WiFi Hotspots: wifi 94025
Weather: w 10001
Yellow Pages: sushi seattle
News: n nyc
Flight Status: swa 197
Movie Show Times: m 94025
Price Lookup: price xbox 360

What happens after you enter your query? How does the service work? As an example, if you send an SMS to 44636 (the numerical equivalent of 4info) with the message “ibm,” you will get a reply like:

International Business Machines Corporation
(IBM)
Last:97.20 +1.54(1.61%)
Hi:97.23
Lo:96.27
V:4,571,600

//Delayed Quote Data

Try sending one yourself and you will see the power of SMS based search. You should note that some cell providers have been blocking these types of services, so make sure that your provider allows them.

So those are my top 6 most exciting trends. I look forward to revisiting these in the future to see how these technologies fare.