My latest report – on wireless usage and advertising trends in the BRIC countries (Brazil / Russia / India / China) – launches today. Given their large populations, some of the numbers are understandably eye-popping. The full report is available here for Total Access subscribers, but here are a few stats that stand out:

• Over 200 million mobile subscribers in both Brazil and Russia by 2014
• 853 million subscribers in India by 2014
• 1.3 billion (yes billion) subscribers and 957 million mobile Internet users in China by 2014

The China stats highlight a key trend I identify in the report, namely that mobile subscriber growth is slowing, but mobile Internet user growth is speeding up. The days of triple-digit subscriber growth are long past. And as subscriber bases solidify, it is now the mobile Internet user populations that are increasing rapidly, albeit from small bases.

They also reveal the degree to which the adage “Everything is bigger in Texas” applies equally to China. Staggering as it may to conceptualize, there will be more mobile Internet users in China in 2010 than the entire population of the US.

Granted, these mobile Internet users do not currently monetize as well as smaller mobile audiences in, say, the US, so aggregate mobile advertising spending levels in China are still low relative to the size of the mobile Internet user base. Nevertheless, the growth trend is significant, and China’s mobile subscribers and Internet users will generate by far the highest advertising spending among the BRIC nations ($223.2 million in 2010, more than tripling to $699.9 million in 2012).

It’s easy to get caught up in the lure of big numbers and overlook the reality on the ground. The fact is that even as a rising number of consumers are purchasing smartphones, many mobile users across the BRIC footprint will remain on less sophisticated devices and legacy second-generation mobile networks well into the middle of the decade.

For marketers interested in reaching the bulk of BRIC mobile consumers today, this means emphasizing messaging campaigns and reserving flashier mobile sites and applications for the small vanguard of smartphone users. By the same token, marketers should also be prepared for changing behaviors as network speeds increase and mobile consumers graduate to more expensive devices and data services.

We recently spoke with Jeremy Lockhorn, the director of emerging media and video innovation at Razorfish, about best practices for approaching mobile app development and the importance of thinking about apps as part of a larger mobile marketing ecosystem. Here’s a snippet from the full interview available on eMarketer Total Access. (Read more…)

Much of marketing is language. Marketing to marketers is also very much a question of language. For instance, look at today’s New York Times piece on real-time bidding for online ad placements.

The article gives this example of the process:

“Say a man just searched for golf clubs on eBay (which has been testing a system from a company called AppNexus for more than a year). EBay can essentially follow that person’s activities in real time, deciding when and where to show him near-personalized ads for golf clubs throughout the Web.”

In fact, the method of personalizing ads based on user activity has not really been, as the article’s lead puts it, “largely missing until recently.” Instead, the term more commonly used for such real-time ad personalization has been “behavioral targeting.” (Read more…)

The recession in 2009 took a toll on many sectors of the economy, and B2B was no exception. B2B publishers were buffeted particularly hard by a drop in advertising spending and several, including Penton Media and Questex, filed for bankruptcy (although Penton recently emerged after a quick reorganization).

Even though ad spending is heading toward a solid recovery in 2010, the recession may have lingering effects. According to a study released this week by Outsell, B2B mobile ad spending will actually contract 38% this year (and that’s after growing by 5% in 2009 in a down economy).

“This is the first year that it’s negative,” report author and Outsell VP Chuck Richard told ClickZ. He attributed the decline to a “first year post-recession effect” but also noted that long sales cycles and the relative unimportance of geographic proximity in purchasing decisions reduce the impact of wireless campaigns.

On the other hand, Outsell’s Chuck Richard did suggest that the decline in B2B mobile ad spending was more of a temporary blip than a permanent condition. And other research firms have predicted a positive trajectory for B2B and mobile. Forrester recently issued a forecast showing four-fold spending growth over the next five years.

It is the case that no business is going to buy a $1 million ERP implementation, for instance, on the basis of a mobile banner ad. Of course, the same can be said about consumers and luxury cars, for example.

Mobile isn’t always the platform where the transaction ultimately takes place,  but in the case of highly considered purchases, mobile can be highly effective at driving awareness, consideration and intent, even in a B2B context. Microsoft, for one, got good results from a B2B mobile campaign for its SharePoint server, and the likelihood is high that more businesses will begin to use mobile for similar ends.

We recently spoke with Jami Lawrence, associate director of mobile marketing at Publicis Modem & Dialog. Here’s a clip from the full interview on eMarketer Total Access, in which Lawrence discusses best practices for developing a mobile application strategy that can strengthen the relationship between brands and target consumers. (Read more…)

Wired Magazine just released a video promoting their upcoming app for the iPad, and it looks gorgeous. We’ve all heard about how large-format e-readers such as the iPad and Amazon Kindle DX can deliver a truly immersive experience, but this video gets that point across visually. I was especially struck by interactive features embedded in the ads – something we haven’t heard much about because we’ve been understandably focused on editorial content. Delivering this type of rich media advertising experience will be crucial for publishers threatened by a sluggish economy, competition from other forms of entertainment, changes in consumer behavior, and the inexorable march of technology. (Read more…)

Boston-based company uLocate unveiled what looks to be the next logical step in the location-based marketing puzzle today with the debut of WHERE ads, a “hyper-local ad network” that aims to serve consumers with more geographically and contextually relevant ads than those provided by standard third-party ad networks. uLocate will make WHERE Ads available to other publishing platforms as well. (Read more…)

We recently spoke with Chris Epple, senior manager of media strategy at PepsiCo, about the company’s Propel brand of low-calorie flavored water. Here’s a clip from the full interview about the brand’s new mobile app, and how along with product enhancements and various promotions, Pepsi is working to streamline the lives of busy female shoppers (and sell more Propel). (Read more…)

This week, Omniture announced details of its plan to integrate Facebook into its Web analytics system. The full integration won’t happen until later this year, but (assuming the software works as planned), it’s a sign that social media marketers are finally starting to get what they need: third-party analytics that show them how well social media advertising works compared to other kinds of advertising. There are dozens if not hundreds of social media analytics firms and tools, but only a few companies can bridge the gap between social and the rest of what marketers do, online and offline.

The other aspect of the announcement that is interesting is that Omniture will extend its search-marketing system, SearchCenter Plus, so marketers can also buy ads on Facebook. Presumably these are the self-serve performance-based ads that populate the right side of many Facebook pages, but it may include the branded Facebook engagement ads as well.

The Omniture announcement followed on the heels of another Facebook integration announcement, by Omniture competitor Webtrends. The new Webtrends Analytics for Facebook gives marketers the ability to measure the performance of fan page tabs, applications and shares.

Measurement and analytics are going to be big buzz words for social media marketing this year. Thus far, most marketers have focused on Website traffic as the default measurement tool.

As Geoff Ramsey, eMarketer’s CEO, writes in our recent Social Media Insight Brief “Seven Guidelines for Achieving ROI from Social Media”:

“Clearly, site traffic can be an important barometer of consumer interest for a brand, but on its own it cannot justify heavier investment in social media.”

The more social media sites can provide the analytics to show ROI beyond site traffic, the more successful social media marketing will become.

As more consumers opt for smartphones, it’s becoming progressively harder for brand marketers to ignore the call for an app-based mobile experience, especially when comScore’s lastest figures show that app usage now rivals, if not exceeds, browser-based Web access among iPhone and Android device owners.

It’s tough to turn your back on this kind of evident consumer demand. Fortunately, most marketers appear to be heeding the call: 65% of marketers and publishers responding to a December 2009 survey from DM2PRO and Quattro Wireless reported that they plan to invest in mobile apps this year.

Of course, where there is app-ortunity, there are also challenges. There is growing competition for mobile users’ attention, not only among app stores (which number more than 30 worldwide at this point) but also within each storefront.  According to recent analysis by Distimo, a Dutch app store analytics firm, there are nearly 200,000 apps in the six largest mobile device manufacturer/OS app stores alone.

What’s a marketer to do? In my latest column for iMediaConnection, I go into detail on some key steps marketers should take to make the most of the mobile
“app-opportunity.” Here’s a brief summary of the main points:

1) Ensure your app satisfies a consumer need, but does so in a way that also reinforces (and stays true to) your brand’s values. Ideally, strive to combine entertainment, social communication and utility into a single experience.

2) Promote your app like you would any other product using all available media, but pay especially close attention to social discovery. In other words, include apps in your brand’s social media strategy and include social media in your brand’s app strategy.

3) Keep your users engaged by keeping things fresh. Make an update schedule an integral part of your app strategy, much as it would be with any other product.

Getting consumers’ attention is increasingly challenging, but branded app experiences still have room to grow. According to Razorfish’s November 2009 “FEED: Digital Brand Experience Study,” only 24% US Internet users had downloaded a branded application. The right kinds of apps, backed by the right level of marketing support, can help drive those figures up.