AOL acquires Third Screen Media

Just two weeks after the merger of Microsoft and Screen Tonic, AOL announced it has officially acquired mobile ad network and management platform provider Third Screen Media. Third Screen will operate under the AOL Advertising.com division.

Third Screen Media is currently the largest mobile provider and mobile ad network worldwide.  Third Screen offers MADX, the web-based mobile ad management/delivery system, and TSM which is the mobile ad network with over 100 publishers. Mobile ads can be delivered through WAP sites, SMS, MMS and mobile video.

This merger positions Advertising.com as the “One-Stop” shop for advertisers and publishers interested in mobile advertising. By taking the lead in their capabilities for online advertising, Advertising.com will combined their advertising solutions with the next levels of the mobile advertising channel and technologies.

New Mobile Video Platform from AdMob and Mywaves

Admob, the world’s largest mobile advertising network, and mywaves a mobile video company, are joining forces to create dynamic mobile video ads. Coca-Cola has signed on to be the first advertiser to utilize the Click-to-Video platform. Admob will deliver a banner like ad to any of its partner sites and the user can click to view a short video ad from Coca-Cola entitled “bubble.” The animated ad is on a mywaves landing page with the embedded player where the video appears.

For mobile, the challenge still seems to lie in the careful balance of creating an ad with entertainment and commercial value. Will the Coca-Cola mobile video live up to these expectations? We’ll have to wait to see, but clearly Coca-Cola has a lot to live up to. I was surprised to find no promotional elements with the campaign. As well, neither the estimated costs of the campaign nor the goals were discussed.

Microsoft Aquires Mobile Ad Company ScreenTonic

Today, Microsoft has announced the purchase of ScreenTonic, a Paris based mobile advertising technology company. Currently the ScreenTonic’s platform, Stamp, delivers text or banner ads to mobile devices throughout the UK. The technology uses Geotargeting ad delivery and provides campaign management, billing and reporting capabilities.

ScreenTonic will become part of Microsoft’s Digital Advertising Solutions Group.  Clearly, Microsoft is confident that the mobile marketing industry has a future.  However, it is not clear how this affects the US mobile industry.  Other rumors have surfaced about Microsoft purchasing Third Screen Media, a US based mobile advertising firm.  We’ll all have to wait to see what Microsoft does next in the mobile industry.

Mobile TV Most Popular Among Males 35 and Younger.

A recent survey by comScore discussed Mobile TV adaptability, awareness, content and key purchasing motivators. The comScore report clearly indicates the early adapters to the technology are primarily tech savvy males (65%) and 35 years or younger (46%). The report also shows that 46% of the women and 54% of the men surveyed are interested in Mobile TV.

Verizon V-cast leads in awareness among Mobile TV services. Of the current Mobile TV subscribers surveyed, 43% where aware of V-Cast, 34% knew of Mobi TV and 15% for Modeo. The majority of non-subscribers, 56% of the respondents, prefer a full-show and 53% prefer general content such as news.

The survey also indicates 71% of participants are most sensitive to the cost of the Mobile TV service. Other main influencers include picture quality and screen size. Another 67% of those interested in Mobile TV would support mobile ads to receive a free subscription.

Amp’d Mobile Shops New Agency

Today, Adweek announced that Amp’d Mobile is in search of a new agency. Amp’d, a MVNO – mobile virtual network operator for the Verizon Wireless Network, is seeking a California based agency. Boutique agency, Taxi of New York, helped launched the Amp’d US campaign in 2005. Today, Amp’d has over 100,000 subscribers with their target demographic being between 14-34 years old. Their main competitor is Virgin Mobile which has over 4 million subscribers worldwide.

Amp’d Mobile provides unique MTV mobi-sodes, Comedy Central Mobile, Third Screen Media ads for mobile advertisers, VOD – video on demand and several other features and content.

The Amp’d Mobile Creative review is worth around $65 million. Current shops in the running include OMNICOM Group’s Cutwater, Publicis & Hal Riney and Butler, Stern & Partners. Amp’d seeks a full-service agency that can provide more attention to the mobile brand.

US Military Goes Mobile with Air Force Campaign: “Do Something Amazing”

Amazing? Maybe. Risky? Yes. However, they have the audience in mind and in the end, with mobile advertising, that might be what counts. GSD&M created the new campaign for the Air Force to target young, tech savvy males. A reported 81% of the Air Force’s target cannot live without their cell phones, giving the Air Force a risky opportunity to test mobile advertising. The campaign, “Do Something Amazing” launches tomorrow, April 13^th, at the Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas. The tour will include Motocross, NASCAR and other sporting events around the US. The mobile campaign will use Bluetooth Transmitters sending messages to Bluetooth enabled phones, basic text messaging, QR (Quick-Response) codes and video/ring tone downloads. The goal is for high school students to show and tell Air Force career possibilities with friends.

iPhone: Taking the Mobile Industy to the Next Level

With only 2 months to go until the much anticipated release of the Apple iPhone, I can’t help but be a little giddy.  For mobile enthusiasts, it must feel like the night before Christmas. The iPhone is sure to push the mobile industry to the next level with a combination of suave technology and sleek design.  The features that stand out: a touch sensitive screen, built in sensors, 2 mega pixel camera, and iTunes compatibility. The iPhone will be available nationwide June 11th through AT&T/Cingular Wireless (the exclusive provider in the US) and Apple Stores.  The phones are priced at $499 for the 4GB or $599 for the 8GB.  Only time will tell how the iPhone will push the Mobile Industry and Mobile Advertising.  We’ll keep you posted.

GPS Cell Phone

MySpace and Facebook have extended their services to cell phones, but now big companies like Sprint and Verizon are trying to take advantage of GPS technologies. Services like Loopt, also known as Family Locator, or VZNavigator allow users to find the locations of their friends by allowing them to send signals to their cell phones. The distance of the signal identifies where the individual is located. Think about this. You now have the ability to decide if you should wait for a friend when going out or not. For advertisers this technology obviously becomes interesting based on the ability to do location based mobile marketing. Privacy rights and ad standards must be figured out first, but soon there will be the opportunity to send offers and ads to individuals based on their current location. In the future the mall may never be the same.

Wireless Device & Mobile Marketing

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New legislation and wholesaling cell services will allow many more device manufacturers to enter the wireless handset market. Marketing on cell phones will also gain much more traction. Expect new highly talked about mobile marketing campaigns.