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MANILA – October 24, 2013 – The third Mobile Marketing Conference 2013 kicked off to a great start, with various industry experts weighing in on various issue in the Philippine mobile marketing landscape.
Day one led off with Globe Telecom senior advisor for consumer business Peter Bithos, who gave a talk on taking the Philippines to best practice mobile marketing.
In his talk, Bithos discussed the current state of mobile use and marketing in the Philippines. Bithos noted the challenges that mobile marketers face in the Philippines today–for instance, the fragmentation among agencies, or the lack of creativity and innovation in the way we execute mobile.
Bithos was followed by Carlo Bernardo Santos, director of the technology industry practice group at Nielsen, who gave a detailed description of the Asian mobile consumer.
Santos highlighted the importance of social media, saying that it offered many opportunities to reach out to consumers. He also said that as far as consumer engagement is concerned, chat apps and games are taking the lead.
Oliver Rabatan, marketing manager for Golden Arches Development Corporation (McDonald’s), then gave a talk on mobile for retail.
During his talk, Rabatan gave examples of successful digital campaigns from all over the world, for instance, McDonald’s Denmark’s Coinoffers campaign, the Hijack campaign by Guatemalan shoe brand Meat Pack, and a virtual shopping campaign by Tesco/ Home plus in South Korea. Rabatan then shared his prediction that digital ad spend will increase, and engagement activities in mobile will be more creative.
After lunch, the sessions resumed, beginning with a talk from Hannelore Grams, head of digital and social media for Nestle, Greater China.
Grams discussed Nestle’s digital and mobile marketing strategies, stressing the importance of telling good stories and touching the consumers’ emotions.
MRM Singapore’s director for user experience Brendon Chase talked about designing a good user experience.
Chase started his talk by illustrating how devices have changed over time, and how internet users now are more diverse than ever so that there are both digital natives, and those still learning how to navigate. Chase emphasized that to design a good user experience, it is crucial to first know one’s user, and not to guess.
Melissa Limcaoco, SMART Communications’ group head for innovation and product development, then discussed the idea of using music to engage consumers.
Limcaoco named different ways on how to engage people through music, both for customer acquisition, and retention. For instance, one could offer music vouchers for those who open accounts, sign up for memberships, or renew subscriptions. Limcaoco also introduced spinnr.ph, which is a digital music inventory that combines streaming, downloading, and playlists.
The day ended with a panel discussion on the smartphone phenomena, where Star Mobile’s Katrina Tioseco and MyPhone’s John Chica discussed the edge that local smartphones have over bigger global brands such as iPhone and Samsung, as well as the challenges they face when marketing the locally-made devices.
Tioseco and Chica agreed that the biggest challenge they face in marketing local smartphones is brand image, but that they have an edge over international brands in terms of affordability and the innovations they can include that are unique to the Filipino market.
The second and final day of the conference will be held tomorrow, October 25, and will cover topics such as augmented reality, mobile coupons, marketing your mobile application, and more.
For choice quotes from the day one talks, head over to the adobo magazine Twitter feed or Facebook page.
