From cook-outs and camp-outs, to road trips and fireworks galore, Americans will be celebrating on Saturday. And mobile will be the star of the party in many, many instances.

Tomorrow, the road trip season officially kicks off. From traveling to water parks and family reunions, to beach destinations and lake cabin retreats, everyone will start going away and getting away immediately.

Without question, Americans who travel short or far now rely on their mobile devices just as much as they do the contents of their luggage.

The 4th of July is one of the biggest days of the year for mobile devices, mobile apps, and mobile marketing. There will be a thousand parades tomorrow. You’ll see restaurants with floats offering mobile coupons. Mobile ads relating to travel and dining will be everywhere. Social media commentary will explode. And digital daily deals will be purely American – discounts on everything from hotdogs to bug repellent.

According to no shortage of market watchers and analysts, Americans will be more more dependent than ever on their mobile devices this Independence Day.

Does this estimate ring true to you in your anticipated plans for the holiday? Please weigh in with a thought or comment below.

The post 4th of July Is All About Mobile in 2017 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Old Will never imagined (we think) how the “digital stage” would transform our acting gigs. Yes, you are who you are. But you might also be a space cat or candy corn kid.

Whatever you choose, you’ll be following the Nito dictum: “Be animated.”

The real-time motion tracking cartoon maker Nito has created an app that employs remarkable technology to take avatar creation to the next level. The motion-tracking tech captures basic facial characteristics  and renders voice, facial, and head gestures in real-time into a 15-second video clip for sharing. The program allows users to transform themselves into one of several cartoon figures.

The app creates 15-second-long videos that users can share via email or popular social-media platforms. Nine characters such as a pig, monkey, alien, shark, or “red berry cream” are offered. Three 99-cent add-ons let avatar creators project themselves into a mummy, “space cat,” or “candy corn kid.” Additionally, users can morph their voices to better suit their chosen characters.

“The effect is not quite in that uncanny valley of too-near human cartooning, but there is as much of a psychological as a technological trick going on here,” says Steve Smith, a blogger, digital commentator, and former professor who recently wrote about the app. “You are watching a strange kind of mirror of yourself. There are enough matches to your head, eye, and mouth movements to feel the connection between yourself and the avatar. The real-time rendering helps immeasurably in making that psychic link between yourself and the toon.”

While Nito is offering this to people as an engaging way to make a short video for redistribution over the social nets, it’s a trail balloon with commercial application.

“What Nito has in mind the larger utility of this to the animation and production industries,” Smith says. “It is evolving a markerless motion capture system and on-the-fly rendering (on a phone, no less) that clearly has application in the commercial space.”

Early reports suggest that a Pro version will soon be available (for developers, brands, and agencies) that includes a desktop version with unlimited HD video creation length.

You can check out the Nito app page at Facebook here.

The post Be Animated: There’s an App for That appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Since the birth of iOS and Android, mobile-focused start-ups such as Kiip, SessionM and others have been profitable by way of their creation of an advertising model built on incentivizing consumers with game credits, points on credit cards, or brand samples in exchange for consuming mobile ads or brand content.

“It is an interesting concept that diverges from traditional digital display advertising tactics, but with Facebook, Google and Twitter grabbing an ever-more dominant share of the mobile ad landscape, rewards-based mobile ads are tremendous equalizers for the ‘little guys’ in the game,” recently observed Kevin Cosenza of NativeMobile.

SessionM CEO Lars Albright insists that SessionM’s rewards-based model is exactly what today’s market demands. “What’s really resonating is direct relationships with consumers,” Albright explains.

Last month, SessionM announced a partnership with Punchcard, a shopping app that rewards consumers for completing in-store purchases at over 15 million locations. Consumers who use the Punchcard app will receive mPOINTS (mobile points), SessionM’s mobile loyalty point system, each time they make a purchase at a local business and take a photo of the receipt with the Punchcard app.

If you’re not a fan of free apps and games with incentivized ads, you’re out of luck. According to some industry analysts, the day is fast approaching when 95% of all mobile apps will be free, but heavily ad supported.

The post Incentivizing Mobile Ads is All Fun and Games appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

From in-store product research to procuring mobile coupons, the connected-consumer is a savvy consumer.

One in five smartphone owners surveyed, for example, reveals that they actually purchased a product from a competing business while shopping in a retail store this past holiday season.

In what other ways are mobile devices making consumers wealthier and wiser? Check out the infographic below to learn more.

The post Infographic: Smartphones Making Shoppers Smarter appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Mobile games are on the minds of many mobile advertisers this week thanks to App Annie and the IDC.

A special new issue of the App Annie & IDC Future of Mobile Gaming Report for E3 charts the worldwide mobile and portable gaming installed base, as well as revenue by business model, average revenue per user (ARPU) and top grossing genres and countries for gaming-optimized handhelds, iOS and Google Play.

The data shows that the installed base of mobile and portable gaming devices is expected to grow 55 percent over the next 18 months, to more than 1.2 billion.

Equally impressive, however, is that total game software and direct advertising revenue is on track to top $12 billion in 2013.

Growth drivers include the trending freemium business model used by mobile gaming publishers. Emerging markets in Asia also suggest a pronounced opportunity for both mobile and GOH hardware and software.

“Although the audience for smartphone and tablet games has grown larger than that of gaming-optimized handhelds, devices like 3DS and Vita continue to realize significantly higher ARPUs,” explains Lewis Ward, IDC’s gaming research manager. “As smartphone and tablet games get more sophisticated it will be interesting to see if the genre preference distinctions that exist today will close.”

To read the new report in full at no charge, click here.

The post Mobile Games: The Ultimate Gateway for Mobile Advertising appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Electronic dance music – or EDM – is enjoying unprecedented popularity in the United States, particularly among younger music lovers and concert goers. And although electronic artists aren’t seen with regularity on the mainstream charts, don’t be fooled.

According to SF Weekly’s Ian Port, top acts on the EDM scene today can earn between $75,000 to $100,000 per live show, leading to the growing phenomenon of DJs bringing home paydays comparable or superior to what today’s leading mainstream acts are earning.

Not surprisingly, the digital age has contributed immeasurably to the popularity of EDM. Today’s biggest acts and their promoters are often described as digital and mobile marketing experts. From building fan bases through iTunes and YouTube, to engaging with music fans via SMS marketing and boosting concert attendance through electronic tickets, QR codes, and other mobile-centric offers, the EDM industry has been called mobile marketing’s Petri dish due to the industry expansion that has resulted from mobile’s role in the promotion of electronic dance music.

Nowhere will this reality be more apparent than in Las Vegas next week for the kickoff to Insomniac’s EDMbiz, a “ground-breaking and culturally essential conference” for the electronic dance music industry. Fittingly, the event takes place June 18-20, during EDC Week in Vegas.

Descending on The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas will be scores of top industry players, artists, and digital marketing gurus.

Event organizers say EDMbiz will facilitate relevant discussions focused on the most pertinent topics and issues specific to the scene including:  best practices, branding, direct-to-fan relationships, festivals, licensing, social media, sponsorships, technology platforms, and sustaining community, humanity and credibility during a period of massive growth.

“On the one hand EDMbiz is about creating business opportunities, learning and networking, but on the other hand it’s also about discussing the steps the industry must take to preserve the unique elements of dance music events that make them so special,” says Pasquale Rotella, CEO and founder of Insomniac. “We place a lot of focus on the fans and their voice will be heard at this year’s conference alongside artists, visionaries, and executives.”

Added to the list of confirmed speakers today was Jared Reitzin, CEO of mobileStorm, Inc., which has empowered clients spanning American Idol to Kaiser Permanente since 1999.

Focused on helping companies reach their customers via email, mobile and social channels and influence behavior to drive revenue, mobileStorm strives to reach customers where they want to be reached. In the world of EDM, for example, music fans have been more than willing to be reached by mobile. And the industry experts and participants headed for Las Vegas are poised to discuss that and more next week.

Other advertised speakers and panelists scheduled for the conference include:

• Marc Geiger, Head of Music, William Morris Endeavor
• Vivien Lewit, Director Content Partnerships Music, YouTube
• Kerri Mason, GM, inthemix.com and Contributor, Billboard
• Bill Freimuth, VP of Awards, Grammys
• James Barton, President, Live Nation Electronic Music

To learn more about EDMbiz, click here.

The post mobileStorm CEO Jared Reitzin to Speak at EDMbiz appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Helping to fuel the projected compound annual growth rate of 6.7 percent will be… no surprise… mobile.

As smartphones and tablets become bigger players in the gaming ecosystem, gamers will no longer be limited to their consoles for a quality gaming experience. In fact, the global community of gamers is poised to climb from 1.21 billion to 1.55 billion before the end of 2013.

“Especially in the weeks leading up to E3 we are witnessing a large number of global market estimates and projections from various sources. In principle it is not hard to make high-level market projections,” explains Newzoo CEO Peter Warman.

“The devil is in the detail and the real challenge is twofold,” he continues. “First of all, projections should be based on primary data sources across all business models and involving all KPIs in the most granular way possible. This is very complex and is the reason we spent 12 months developing the model behind our global data report. The second challenge is to slice and present the data in a way that is useful to the industry and investors. This requires specific industry knowledge and hands-on experience working with global game companies on a daily basis.”

The post Mobile to Push Gaming Market to $86.1 Billion by 2016 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to Millennial Media, mobile traffic from NCAA Tournament fans spiked 18 percent around tip-off of the first day and grew 27 percent as the day progressed.

Other findings in the report include:

• There was a 10 spike in mobile traffic from NCAA Tournament fans during the dramatic endings of close Day 1 games with Marquette and Gonzaga.
• The volume of mobile sports content accessed by NCAA Tournament fans was 12 percent higher after work hours.
• Impressions on Sports content, Shopping and Retail content, and Health and Wellness content were all over 350 percent higher during Day 1 of the tournament than MM’s usual platform average.

To learn more, take a gander at the infographic shared below.

The post Millennial Media Infographic Looks at Mobile Madness 2013 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

What’s the new offering all about? We’re told the app is a groundbreaking, first-ever free-to-use, feature length film content app for Android.

The app makes more than 400 high-quality movies available on a free-to-use model.

“The development of this unique app with Tapjoy and Popcornflix is a first,” said Gary Delfiner, President of Screen Media Digital. “Combining high-quality feature films within a free-to-use model will kickstart a new development in how the viewer can access movies!”

Starting today, users can download PopcornflixGOLD at Google Play and earn virtual rewards—called “FlixPoints”—by engaging with the in-app advertising of their choice from the Tapjoy Marketplace, which helps app developers monetize a larger percentage of their user base by presenting a list of relevant advertisements that app users can choose to complete in exchange for virtual rewards or premium content. In turn, users spend their “FlixPoints” within the app to watch feature length movies with big stars across all genres.

“This is a game-changing experience that we are excited to lead with PopcornflixGOLD, one of the leading movie streaming sites,” says Rob Barnett, Head of Publisher Development at Tapjoy. “We have long believed that the Tapjoy Mobile Value Exchange® model that has worked so well for games translates well to premium content like movies.”

The post Tapjoy Behind Launch of PopcornflixGOLD appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The industry leading ad network also released a corresponding infographic revealing how people used their mobile devices during the festivities.

Among the highlights of the SXSW & Mobile report are:

• Overall mobile traffic in Austin was 50 percent higher during live shows.
• Impressions in entertainment content were 113 percent higher during live shows.
• Impressions in social content were 116 percent higher during live shows.
• 78 percent of mobile impressions in Austin were on smartphones, while 22 percent were on tablets. Overall impressions on both spiked between 11pm and 1am.
• The top audiences (ranked by number of impressions) were “Entertainment & Music Fans,” “Social Influencers,” and “Gadget Geeks.”
• Impressions for Entertainment and Music Fans and Social Influencers were both over 90 percent higher during live shows.

To learn more, check out the infographic below.

The post New Millennial Media Infographic ‘Rocks’ appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.