Mobile Point View by Paul Ruppert

Interview: Lisa Gersh, President Strategic Initiatives NBC Universal & Managing Director, The Weather Channel

 
Recently I had the opportunity to attend the Conference Board's Corporate Development Conference sponsored by Ernst & Young's Transaction Advisory group. The conference was attended by leading Corporate Development Officers from 3M, P&G, SAP, Microsoft, Colgate-Palmolive, Sun and others, covering such topics as Organizing Corporate Development, Repurposing Corporate Development for Challenging Times and Valuations of Multinational Acquisitions and Divestitures--my favorite panel of the day, which I stumped with my question regarding US vs ROW style M&A.

While there I had the chance to sit down and interview Lisa Gersh, President of NBC Universal's Strategic  Initiatives Group and the Managing Director of The Weather Channel.
Gersh joined NBCU in November of 2007 after the company acquired Oxygen Media, which she co-founded and served as its President & COO. Upon joining NBCU she led the multi-billion dollar acquisition of The Weather Channel Companies and is currently the executive in charge of the investment, aka, the CEO. Thanks to Lisa for spending a few minutes with me there.

With advertising revenues getting hammered in this contracting economy, is NBC Uni's Corporate Development looking to expand aggressively into different modes of media, especially the mobile platform, for future growth?

"Our acquisition of the Weather Channel is a great example of our strategy--looking at how we can leverage content regardless of platform, then swiftly positioning it to take advantage of its benefits such as its power via mobile. Weather information and related imperative content effectively applies itself across all our platforms--mobile, internet and  TV--which is why we have integrated the Weather Channel content from MSNBC to the Today Show to mobile applications. It is a great standard of defining a multiple platform strategy for NBC Universal."

How has Corporate Development and the M&A environment changed as a result of the current period of contraction?  From where you sit in the media conglomerate world, what do you see as tangible significant changes?

"One of the biggest changes is a broader consideration of what is going into the mix. While with Oxygen Media we had a strong sense of where a property might sit, what would be accomplished in its first year, all the metrics and projections worked out, very traditional financial analysis of the stakes involved.  A year later with the Weather Channel, which occurred at the first stage of the economy's troubles, we and GE were quite concerned with the human impact of a change in control in a private company, with the reality of people loosing their livelihoods in a very difficult time. The conditions made us think very differently as a company and the HR impact of the deal and the impact of integrating the Weather Channel into the GE family of companies"

"As a result, the responsibilities of communicating the value of the deal have shifted. Communicating up and down the corporate ladder has a higher scrutiny now, especially for the CDO. Essentially the more things have changed the more they have stayed the same. It comes down to the foundation, the management expectations, the synergies attained, and how effectlvely it is communicated."

On the topic of gaining synergies, do you think the weighing of deal prices and valuations, combined with the flat economy has escalated the importance of capturing deal synergies faster, slower or the same as in the past?

"I think timing is everything. Let's call this "pre-Lehman" and "post-Lehman" considerations.  Post Lehman, capturing quick synergies are critical. We're looking to bring the value of an acquisition much closer. In the past, we might have targeted 18 months for identifiable returns, now those are moving to 9 months, with a greater focus on integration needs to gain control of the business operationally and financially. This is especially true in the media business where it is critical to move quickly, as we did with The Weather Channel acquistion.  Also I think the understanding of the friction and obstacles are more candid now post-Lehman. People expect bad news and challenges in these times--no more glossy deals. In fact that makes it an improvement since now there's a more real sense of expectations and friction than pre-Lehman."

How are corporate development initiatives such as M&A opportunities managed within NBC Universal?

"Smaller, digital technologies such as mobile centric ones, or properties of that sort, are led and identified by a business unit's GM or leadership that might be utilizing it or are more closely aware of technical applications or the strategic advantages of content.  If it is cross fucntional, impacting multiple aspects of NBC Universal, than it is up to my group to identify and source the advantages and challenges of the opportunity. Plus we have an on going process analyzing a number of potential deals regularly as part of our functional responsibilities."

This was a great conference--at roughly 100 elite participants, small enough to meet everyone, many of whom both served as great panelists who then stayed for the conference, like Lisa--a true measure of its value and importance if the panelists stay on to sit in the audience. Check it out for next year.

Tipping Point 2SMS: Enterprise Messaging

Finding true trends in the sea of noise created by the hype-manufacturers in mobile is practically impossible. Last week’s CTIA was a clear example. The multi headed hydra of the pundit-ocracy clamors a singular vision. The PR flacks shed a thousand points of light on their next big things. The organizers spotlight the themes of “men on white horses”—keynote speakers and sponsors--which we mere peasants should naturally be following.

Meanwhile most journeyman attendees (like me) are too busy in meetings, pleading for face time, attending dinners conflicting with 10 pm receptions, all within an average stay of three days and two nights in the bull’s eye of Vegas’ adult distractions--this is a massively male industry mind you. Little gets really noticed, let alone understood. Less makes an impact. Ahh, least we not forget the “current economic conditions” either.  Trying to capture a true trend is like noticing a single sequin in a strip club. 

But as even a blind man can find a sequin if he's feeling for it, I think I found one of those true trends: Enterprise messaging.

Since its birth, SMS has been the finger tool of consumers, passing trillions of notes as a terse, powerful means of communicating. I consider text a fully developed medium on par with film, TV, radio, and print. It informs. It entertains. It connects. It has billions of users. It earns its keep in the mind of individuals. Now it is carrying multiple payloads, whether financial, advertising, entertainment, medical, even payments. Seems 160 characters can be quite effective.

My enterprise ‘tell’ is not the developing bubble of one shot wonders of apps developers focusing on calendar synching LBS widgets, but the growing number of scale-sized enablers which are now managing all the complexities of routing, delivering, securitizing, sorting and prioritizing the messaging needs and benefits of enterprise users.

These are not the massive aggregators managing traffic to the networks, but companies specifically developing targeted turn key solutions for enterprises, while using the back haul delivery network of a global messaging aggregator. It’s a sign of a developing, healthy ecosystem evolving beyond consumer messaging.

One stood out to me at CTIA : 2SMS.

2SMS is a British born firm, 8 years on. They provide a software based solution to enterprises providing an integrated solution beyond just mere alerts and notifications. By having a synergistic messaging notification platform provided by 2SMS, an enterprise’s employees, customers, suppliers--perhaps even share holders--can be kept current on a variety of activities, notices and actions required. This is not your father's alerts and notifications.

2SMS has obtained ISO 27001, an international standard for information security, something neither cheap nor easy to implement and maintain. A clear differentiator from the other enterprise oriented SMS providers and clear advantage for 2SMS as they overcome security challenges for text in the enterprise segment.  Usually this is the biggest hurdle for SMS in an enterprise environment alongside storage, retrieval and messaging management.

Listen to my conversation with 2SMS CEO, Tim King here (6:38)   

But the real power comes in 2SMS’ technology. Not just content with the hiding in plain sight “security” measures of SMS, their solution incorporates a proprietary component where secure messages are identified from a trusted source and naturally delivered to the recipient. But, the message doesn’t sit perilously on the handset, its in the cloud, thus protecting the user from any loss or “transfer of handset possession” e.g. being “pinched” or lost.  Plus it provides auditing and a legal trail as well.

 I spoke with Tim King the CEO of 2SMS [click here to listen to the podcast or tune in here at iTunes ]. As Tim relayed “business leaders are now recognize the power of SMS and identify with its non-financial benefits. They are going beyond financial benefits, and now see impacts  on operations or mission performance and results such as improved customer satisfaction, faster information distribution, improved productivity, improved efficiency. That’s how we harness SMS.” Having sold to enterprises in the past, the real marketing value of proof in their pudding was their tool which shows the ROI on the purchase of their services. Something buyers are always looking for to support a purchase, and a technique I've often used. Smart move as exemplified by their customers which include SnapOnTools, Exxon and Pfizzer.

2SMS’ enriched enterprise messaging services have placed the company at the leading element of a number of companies that are gaining traction and scale. Unlike Twitter texting, here’s a concrete business model with secure messaging services within a broader segment that pays the bills. This is a company that has many of the pieces in place, prepared as the wave of opportunity is breaking towards them.

2SMS and their noble competitors developing the enterprise messaging segment will add another wave of growth to SMS usage and further the next evolution of text. Check them out.

AKQA Mobile: Advertising for the Digital Mobile Age

AKQA is a global digital advertising agency that is at the top of the mobile advertising game, having won AdAge's Digital Agency of the Year for 2008, and being named the 48th most innovative company in the world by Fast Company. Mobile is a key component to their digital advertising practice is a key component to their strength, but their mobile  initiatives are their reals bench strength.

AKQA brought in Dan Rozen about a year ago, a long standing mobile marketing veteran in the UK, and since then they have grown to a dedicated mobile team of 20 with campaigns for Coca Cola, Visa, ESPN, Orange, Nike and most mobiley noteworthy Smirnoff vodka.

Listen to my interview with Dan Rozen, GM of AKQA Mobile here:

Smirnoff made its first stab at mobile with a WAP site built by AKQA. Rather than simply re-creating the Web experience on the phone, AKQA opted for an on-the-go cocktails and nightlife guide. In the U.K., the mobile site reaped about one-third the traffic of the Web site, reports Michelle Klein, Smirnoff's global digital marketing director, who calls AKQA "at the bleeding edge. They know what's happening in the technology space and they bring those ideas to us. They have their fingers on the pulse. They came with a big idea and then blew the idea out."

In other words, while mere ad mortals struggle to understand the social MOBILE web, Dan Rozen and his trailblazers are already deep into the next big thing.

Now on iTunes: Mobile Point View Podcasts

Ever seeking a chance to expand my communications efforts and marketing of Mobile Point View, my Mobile Influencers Podcasts are now available via iTunes and the iTunes store.
 Log into your iTunes account and either search for "Paul Ruppert" or "Mobile Point View by Paul Ruppert" and you can select from any of my growing library of podcasts--all 38 will soon be available on iTunes for your listening convenience spanning over 9 hours of interviews with leading CEOs, innoavtors, and Mobile Influencers. Plug in and add it to your "life soundtrack, and feel free to add a Customer Review while your there. Much appreciated.

Psychology not Technology: On TV at the Mobile Marketing Association

BnetTV.com's correspondent Michele Sklar interviewed me at the Mobile Marketing Association forum in San Diego, CA on November 12th.

You can view the 8 minute interview by clicking here. Covering the range of issues at the MMA's Forum event I spoke of how advertisers need to be focusing on the psychology of making mobile impressions instead of the draw of the technology of mobile. The contextuality of mobile, it's "lean forward" and small screen more dynamics require emphasis  on the creative side of mobile advertising instead of being drawn to mobile's power to provide more impressions over other types of traditional media.

Mobile Culture Codes across the Globe
The context of differences are more important than similarities once you go global, and Michele and I covered how differences between the North America, Asian and European mobile advertising markets are shaping the development of mobile marketing globally.

Case Made: Recession Proof Business Models for Mobile Marketing

With economic ripples crashing against our ecosystem we also covered the false reality of a shrink to grow strategy under stressful economic conditions, and why mobile is well suited to survive as a component in broad advertising intiatives because of it's impact, high return and competitive strength against other larger, ahem less effective components of an overall advertising campaign.  Learn more by viewing the entire interview here.

Coca Cola & Mobile Marketing: Reach & Refreshment

Within Arm's reach of Desire
The Coca Cola Company, aka Coke, has been a leader in mobile advertising for some time. Going back to 2005 when they launched a bottle top short code campaign in Turkey and the UK, Coke has been forward leaning into the potential of mobile. BTW, I led the carrier connectivity supporting that project while I was at Mobile 365; we delivered the SMS payload for Coke to mobile subscribers in both countries, hence I've had a long standing interest in their leadership in mobile marketing.

Coke's view of the mobile world is that every person on earth should have a Coke product "within arm's reach of desire."  Good mobile advertising looks to capitalize on a first mobile impulse and Coke is effectively executing in both areas. Coke provides 1.4 billion servings a day, and there are 3.4 billion mobile phone users in the world. Hence they are slightly behind and need to fill a 2 billion gap by driving arm's reach demand, naturally through the mobile phone.

The Language of Refreshment
Does anyone actually want to view ads on a mobile phone, let alone interact with them?  Silly question, of course they do. Coke actively recognizes the singular opportunity to interface with the world's most intimate electronic device, a mobile phone. Moving well beyond the simple messaging which I was involved in, The Coca Cola Company is into viral advertising enabling shared content via your social graph enabled via your mobile device, as well as providing idle entertainment through limited reach bluetooth zones--for more, listen below. No mobile frontier will be left unexplored for the most recognized brand on earth.

Listen to my conversation with Tom Daly of Coca Cola who heads up their global mobile marketing efforts 13 mins

Recently at the Mobile Marketing Association Forum in San Diego, I had the chance to talk to Tom Daly, Group Manager--Strategy & Planning for Global Interactive Marketing at The Coca Cola Company. Tom's the key guy--globally--at the forefront of their digital marketing and mobile is a key component to their strategy--not surprising.

Refreshment is a language everyone understands. No one speaks it better than Coca Cola.

Mobile Advertising: Snap, Send, Get.

There's much buzz about the ever increasing impact of short code applications in mobile advertising and marketing. Sending simple texts messages when you see an advertisement in the world of old media such as magazines and newspapers, and engaging the brand through new media mobile. Look at ShopText as a great example of this and their campaigns with Cosmopolitan and other Hearst magazine properties. An emerging leader in the mobile short code marketing category.

Yet, short codes may be too early and too late. Now emerging mobile technology surrounding QR codes and dot matrix codes are starting to demonstrate their technological innovation. Instead of six to 10 key punches, now you can easily take a picture of a code and have the same functionality.

While at CTIA IT in San Francisco three weeks ago, I saw the next iteration of image recognition, Snaptell. The Snaptell solution doesn't even need the code. You just snap a photo of the advertisement and you're off. One touch functionality.

Listen to my interview with G.D. Ramkumar, the CEO of Snaptel ( 9 mins)

Interactive Media in Magazines
You can see how Snaptell works in the real world in the September 9, 2008 issue of ESPN Magazine. They've partnered with Snaptell with all their advertisers for this issue. The reader snaps a picture of an ad their interested in. Their phone is directed to a mobile web landing page, and they get more information about the product/service plus cool rewards, like ring tones, screen savers, games, ring back tones,  free-miums! 

In the background, the brand is able to easily access detailed information about the user, such as type of handset, network subscription, and other data which the reader might be interested in sharing, essentially all the actionable metrics which make these mobile advertising offerings of such great contextual value.   Snaptell provides an end to end solution for mobile marketing that includes campaign management, carrier gateway integration, content delivery, and an intuitive, easy to use interface for the advertising agency to set up a campaign.  Essentially the "snap on" Snaptell solution puts simple short codes to shame. 

How'd they do that?
The technology behind mobile image recognition is quite intriguing. Interlaced into the advertising image are feature points which are picked up by the phone, and compared against a data base, with over a billion components of images. Within a second it identifies and recognizes the feature points and activates an interactive instruction application. You don't even need to have the full image or even a majority of the image in picture, you can crop it, capture just a corner, and it still works. The payload is through an MMS message being sent of the image.  The coolest part is that it doesn't need to be still images such as a magazine or print ad.

It works with video, too!  Just watch a tv commercial, click an image, et voila, and actionable event is being requested of you. Pretty slick technology. 

Look for Snaptell in Men's Health, ESPN Magazine, Wired, and other magazines in the future.

Mobile Advertising: Bango Measures Exposure, Pursuasion and Transactions

Understanding how analytic metrics illuminate and profile users, with a measure of customer acquisition costs is a key performance indicator for advertising whether it is traditional print, fixed billboard or media such as TV and radio. The same now applies with the emerging mobile advertising channel.

If the real value exchange between mobile and advertising is to be fully capitalized, new data sets need to be developed for the advertising and brand industries that drive this space.

An on-going interest of mine has been how the mobile segment is moving to solve core questions like: a) how many people have been exposed to an advertisement? And (b) how effective is the advertising?  (c) what do my buyers look like across a score of indicies?  These are cornerstone questions to advertising, and nothing has changed now that it mobile is increasingly part of the advertising mix. 

As part of my quest I had the opportunity sit down recently with Bango's Anhil Malhotra. Bango is paving the way in mobile advertising metrics, working with the Media Rating Council and Mobile Marketing Association, moving beyond simple CPM (cost per 1k exposures), PPC (pay per click), CPC (cost per call) and CPA (cost per action) metrics to establish new audience verification metrics for mobile. 

Listen here [8.5 min]

         to my podcast with Anil Malhotra, SVP of Marketing with Bango (recorded at the Harvard Club of New York) as we explore the future of mobile advertising metrics, and how there is no end to the appetite of what people want when it comes precise and concise audience verifiability.

The reality is that mobile provides much more power in the battle from exposure to persuasion to transactions. Listen and find out how. 

Paul Ruppert chosen as Managing Editor for Mobile Messaging 2.0

I've been a contributor to Mobile Messaging 2.0, a corporate sponsored blog covering the mobile industry since September 2007. Last month Beeline Communications and the blog's sponsor, Airwide Solutions, chose me to be the new Managing Editor of the blog which has 12 paid contributing analysts of the mobile industry.  Click here for my most recent post at MM2, "China's Black Market iPhones surpass 1 million.

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China Relief: Here's Hao (How) You Can Help

After yesterday's Chinese quake-poem post I want to help guide informed readers to take action and help those in need in China.

With thanks to Ryan McLaughlin a friend who runs the extremely helpful "Lost Loawai" website covering China and Ex-pats plus the "Hao Hao Report" which compiles great web content on China, here's a more Asian centric group of relief organizations. Note you can text your contribution directly through China Mobile's Text contribution service. A great idea. 

Use the following information so that in your small way you can give and help. 

Red Cross Society of China

The Red Cross has set up a bank account for donations that will go directly to help the victims. Please use the following account information to give whatever amount you can to help. 

In China

RMB Account: 0200001009014413252
Address: The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Beijing Dongsinan Branch
Foreign Currency: 7112111482600000209
Address: CITIC Bank , Jiuxianqiao Branch

If Overseas:

If you are outside of China, but would still like to offer some support, you can deposit US dollars into the following account:

US Dollar Account: 7112111482600000209
China CITIC Bank Beijing, Jiuxianqiao Branch
C&W Tower. No.14,
Jiuxianqiao Street, Chaoyang District
Beijing, China
Zip Code: 100016
Swift Code：CIBKCNBJ100
TEL: 86-10-64319780

Heart to Heart

Heart to Heart International is a global humanitarian organization that inspires, empowers and mobilizes individuals to serve the needs of the poor in their communities and around the world. They accomplish this mission through partnerships that promote health; deliver resources, education and hope; and provide opportunities for meaningful service.

The Heart to Heart team in China mobilized for action shortly after the magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck northwest of Chengdu, where their office and clinic are located. Their medical director and staff were onsite providing medical and direct patient care in support of local relief efforts.

The organization has a number of ways you can donate - either through bank deposit, or directly online. Please see their donation page for details. The Web site also includes an excellent donor guide to appropriate disaster giving, and information on assembling care kits. 

Jet Li's One Foundation

Another way to donate is through Kung Fu master actor, Jet Li's One Foundation. The site has options to pay by various online methods (including PayPal) with all proceeds going to the Red Cross Society of China.

China Mobile - donate through SMS

China Mobile has set up an earthquake relief fund. To donate via your mobile phone, simply send a text message to the telephone number ‘10699988’, writing the number amount you would like to donate (from 1RMB to 30RMB) in the body of the text. The money will be deducted from your phone bill or prepaid card.

Other Means for different Means

If none of these donation methods suit your particular situation, definitely check out CNReviews' China Earthquake Donation guide. The blog master Elliot Ng is continually seeking additional ways you can donate. Check it out.

Add a badge to your blog/site  [Look Up and to the Right]

If you want to help spread the word about how people can help with donations for disaster relief you can use the following code badge for your website. Note, I've placed it on Mobile Point View. You can do the same for yours. 

     THE CODE:      

href="

http://www.lostlaowai.com/china-earthquake-how-you-can-help" title="China Quake Relief"><img src="http://www.lostlaowai.com/images/china-quake-donate.png" alt="China Quake Donation" width="200px" height="100px" border="0" /></a>

If you know of any additional ways in which help can be offered to the people of Sichuan,  China please please send me a note and I'll include it here.