Brands behind the initiative include Allstate, Bank of America, 1-800Flowers.com, Procter & Gamble, The Coca-Cola Company and Unilever.

The MMA Marketing Attribution Think Tank (MATT) “will help rethink the world of marketing measurement and attribution, giving marketers better measurements, tools and confidence in connecting marketing to business outcomes.”

The first initiative of MATT is focused on Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA), as many marketers believe it to be the Holy Grail to fixing marketing measurement.

“Multi-touch attribution will be the anchor of future marketing attribution. However, it’s an area where marketers lack the depth of knowledge and experience to evaluate solutions. Add in a highly-fragmented pool of solution vendors, each delivering a different modeling technique, and it’s nearly impossible for marketers to confidently select and apply the right solutions for their business,” explains Greg Stuart, CEO of the Mobile Marketing Association. “The MMA is a big tent organization and we are in a unique place to bridge the gap between the solutions and what brands need: clarity, education and standards around MTA performance, transparency and technology.”

Over the last six months, the MMA has conducted a comprehensive, deep-dive analysis into the providers, dynamics and implications for marketers around MTA, working with Joel Rubinson, President of Rubinson Partners, Inc. and former Chief Research Officer of the Advertising Research Federation.

Due to the technical complexity of MTA, the MMA also aligned with the Marketing Science Institute as an academic partner to support future technical development. The Institute is a nonprofit organization “committed to bridging the gap between academic marketing theory and business practice.”

The post MMA News: Mobile Marketing Association Launches Marketing Attribution Think Tank appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The app in question now allows moviegoers to purchase their tickets in advance on their mobile devices and walk straight toward the big screen.

Movie theaters are still one place where long lines are challenging to get around because it is most effective for movies to start within 15 to 30 minutes of each other. This means there is either no one in line, or a long line of ticket holders for the 5 or more movies that will begin at approximately the same time.

What makes MovieTickets’ app unique is that the electronic ticket contains more than just a barcode. It also features a visually verifiable electronic ticket that allows ticket holders to head straight to the ticket taker.

“We’re confident consumers will be very pleased with the new technology,” Joel Cohen, CEO of MovieTickets.com,  tells Mobile Commerce Daily. “It is more graphical and dynamic, and no longer a simple bar code.”

The post New App Allows Movie Goers to Skip the Line appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

If you’re keeping score at home, that’s a 20% increase from Q1 2013. Scanbuy says this expansion demonstrates continued strong growth and interest among mobile consumers.

“Mobile triggers continue to help consumers make product choices, engage their favorite brands, receive more informative information, quickly download their favorite apps, and much more,” explains Mike Wehrs, CEO of Scanbuy.  “With millions of mobile engagements completed each month, and with user activity distributed fairly evenly across age groups, and areas of interest, there’s no question consumers continue to value ScanLife for the quickest route to more information and the best deal.”

The top user type for both Android and iOS devices was “Value Shoppers,” demonstrating consumers most often scan to get information, reviews, prices, deals and more, making it apart of how they shop.  The most “liked” QR Code category by users were app downloads, a category that is gaining momentum as consumers see the benefit of accessing apps marketed to them in contextual, real-world circumstances.

Other highlights from the Q1 2014 report include:

• The most popular type of content accessed in mobile engagement campaigns was product information, video, customer relationship management, app downloads and mCommerce
• 51% of scans came from Android OS devices compared to 46% on Apple iOS devices
• The most “liked” brands by the ScanLife community were Lego, Lucky Lotto, McDonalds, Novartis and Taco Bell
• Cities around the world that scanned the most frequently: Houston, Madrid, Barcelona, Dallas and New York City
• Industries that saw the most scans included food and beverage, consumer electronics, entertainment, media and wireless

The post QR Code Scans Reached Record Heights in First Quarter appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

We’re told that Campus Special “will be rebranded” as Chegg Campus Deals.

“Combined with its leading student-first connected learning platform, Chegg’s new Campus Deals platform expands the number of ways students can engage with Chegg to save time, save money and get smarter,” the company said in a news release.

Students across more than 500 college campuses are already using Chegg Campus Deals to order and pay for food and to discover offers from local and national merchants.

The service derives revenue from every food order placed through the app, in addition to the local and national advertising sold both within the app and in its widely-distributed coupon books.

“This is a great fit strategically, because combining Chegg’s brand and reach among college students with our new mobile deals platform creates new opportunities for Chegg and our brand partners to engage with students every day and deliver value. We are excited to expand quickly and add new colleges, advertisers and students to the platform,” explains Dan Rosensweig, Chegg’s CEO. “Culturally, we gain a strong team, a great on-campus presence and a shared commitment to putting students first.”

The post Chegg Extends Mobile Advertising Platform appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

In the coming days, customers who pay for drinks and food with their iPhones will also be able to tip their baristas via this innovative mobile platform.

So how will a tip be tossed in? A planned app update set for March 19th will deliver a digital tipping option. In short, users will be able to add a tip of anywhere from $.50 to $2 to the baristas.

Until now, customers using either their mobile phone app or credit or debit cards to pay could not include a tip on their bill. About 10 million customers have already downloaded the Starbucks app, which accounts for about 11% of in-store purchases.

Making matters even simpler for users, once the app is open, reaching the pay screen only requires a shake of the phone. No longer will Starbucks users have to page through the various menus to reach the bar code.

Starbucks spokeswoman Linda Mills tells CNN that the app is being rolled out to iPhones first with an update for Android phones expected to follow soon.

All told, mobile payments solutions are expected to be a staple of the dining and retail experience in the coming years. Led by solutions providers ranging from the globally recognized Visa, to trusted mobile credit card processing giants like PayAnywhere, the mobile payment industry’s growth is now accelerating at a pace few thought imaginable only a few short years ago.

The post Starbucks 'Shakes' Things Up in Mobile Payments appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Microsoft also announced Monday that it will shut down the Microsoft Tag Service in two years from today’s date – August 19, 2015.

For current Microsoft Tag customers, for the next two years the Microsoft Tag Service will continue running as it has been, we’re told.

All Microsoft Tags in the market will continue to work, new codes can be generated, and scan reports will be available as usual through the Microsoft Tag Service until August 19, 2015.

Scanbuy plans to support Microsoft Tag Technology on the ScanLife platform beginning no later than Sept. 18, 2013, and to offer transition and migration services to Microsoft Tag customers who choose to migrate to the ScanLife platform. This transition path will help current Microsoft Tag customers to continue running campaigns using Microsoft Tags on the ScanLife platform.

“With the most popular mobile engagement platform in the industry, Scanbuy is a great choice for Microsoft Tag customers to continue to grow their mobile engagement programs,” said Eric Engstrom, General Manager at Microsoft. “Scanbuy is highly focused in this area with an impressive track record and stellar technology which made them a natural partner for licensing the Microsoft Tag technology.”

The post Microsoft Dumps Tag Mobile Barcode Program appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Delivering coupons directly to mobile devices, Toys “R” Us is heavily pushing scannable bar codes to help shoppers save at the point-of-sale.

According to a report from Mobile Commerce Daily, the company is running the mobile campaign within Us Magazine’s mobile site.

“These new mobile ads are part of the overall marketing campaign for Toys “R” Us and they complement our desktop display ads,” explains Meghan Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Toys “R” Us.

The Toys “R” Us mobile banner ad encourages consumers to tap for super savings. From there, the ad expands to a mobile-optimized site where consumers can browse featured deals and get further details for them. There is also a store locator feature that lets users find the nearest in-store location.

Per the usual routine when it comes to redeeming mobile coupons, consumers only have to hold up their mobile device during checkout for the scannable code discount to be factored into the final sale price.

“We continue to look for ways to reach shoppers on their mobile devices, as mobile is a key channel for Toys “R” Us, providing customers the opportunity to get great deals anytime, Kennedy says.

The post Toys ‘R’ Us Turns to Mobile Marketing appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

This week, ShopSavvy – the mobile application popular for its barcode-scanning and price comparison capabilities – joined forces with Capital One for a new effort that should be pleasing to mobile-savvy shoppers.

Together, the partners are moving into personalized deals.

Capital One and ShopSavvy have teamed up to offer you personalized deals instantly while you’re shopping. Scan or search for products with the ShopSavvy app and we’ll let you know when you have a chance to save, simply by using your Capital One card. Register now and you’ll get $20 back on your first purchase of $40 or more within 7 days using the ShopSavvy wallet, just for trying it out. Then watch your savings add up!

So how does it work? According to today’s announcement, interested parties simply sign up and register their card, download the ShopSavvy app and then make a purchase.

“The reason it’s interesting to us,” ShopSavvy CEO John Boyd says, “is that it actually provides content to our customers. When they make a purchase of $40 or more, they’ll be eligible for a $20 statement credit from Capital One. But, then, they’re also eligible for Capital One deals, which is exclusive content to ShopSavvy users, based on what they’re interested in.”

“We want users, when they go to ShopSavvy, to feel like they get offers, coupons, and deals that they’re not going to see anywhere else, and we want to make that as easy as possible,” Boyd concludes.

To learn more about the partnership and what it means for you, click here.

The post Capital One Makes ‘Savvy’ Move Into Mobile appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest post by Johannes Ahrenfelt, co-founder of 99SQUARED.

Are you thinking about marketing with QR codes? Take a look at this first.

When starting out using QR codes, companies sometimes make the same mistakes again and again. These mistakes not only cause businesses to lose out on profit but also, most importantly, ruin the consumer experience. This article will explain what some of the most common problems are and will suggest solutions that will ensure your marketing campaign with QR codes can carry on as you planned.

Problem: No Objectives

Many businesses using QR codes for the first time make one fundamental mistake, namely to use them without a clear business focus. Imagine if you set out to use Twitter for the first time and all you did was to set up the account and write one tweet: “Follow ME!”. What is the likelihood of someone engaging with you? Very unlikely of course. The same goes for QR codes. Even very experienced marketers that start using the technology forget to think of at least a basic mobile strategy.

Solution: Consider the following questions before embarking on a marketing campaign using QR codes:

• What call to action should we use to ensure that people scan our codes in the first place? We need to give them a reason.
• What’s in it for the consumer? What will people see when they scan? Should we direct them to a mobilized landing page or perhaps a message?
• How should we track engagement?
• List 5 ways we can retain their interest and get them coming back.

You would be surprised how many companies and individual marketers that forget to answer these important questions before beginning their campaigns.

Problem: URL Shortening and Linkrot

Companies that embark on marketing campaigns using QR codes tend to use third-party URL shorteners. This is a good strategy as it ensures that most smartphones can scan the code, because if the URL is too long some mobile phones are unable to complete the scan successfully. Some of these third-party tools can however cause havoc for those using it as if it goes bust (either the actual tool but also the business that created it) or has any glitches, then the links you created and the codes you have placed in ads, on  product packaging and so on, would also stop working. The links are basically dead – link rot.

Solution: Your codes and your hyperlinks must work all the time. The best way to make sure this happens is to either host shortened URLs on your own domain or, the easier option, use a dedicated QR Code tracking software to do that for you.

Problem: Lack of Purpose

The person scanning your code will go through a number of decisions during the process. They will:

1. see the code on for example a product packaging or business card.
2. decide if they should scan – so if there is no clear call to action this may not happen.
3. take out their smartphone, open the QR Code Reader app and then scan.
4. view whatever you decided they should see.

As you can see the consumer undertakes a series of steps before engaging with your brand so there needs to be a very conscious outcome, otherwise what was the point for them to scan? It may come as a surprise to you but the vast majority of QR codes lead to a company’s desktop website which has not been mobilized. This means that the consumer experience is one of pinching and zooming to find the information they scanned to get. Very few people would do this for any length of time. Giving consumers the same information via the QR code that they could already get elsewhere is ultimately a waste of a great sales opportunity.

Solution: The QR code is not merely a gateway to the online world, it is also a direct communication channel to exclusive content and information. So, when someone scans your QR code make it worthwhile. Whatever information they see needs to be exclusive to that particular experience, to that exact code and to that specific product. If you can change the information people see when they scan the code at different times of the day week or month that would be even better to retain their interest and for them to keep coming back.

As with all marketing, it’s important to consider your business objective for using QR codes and how this technology can help you achieve that. QR codes is an extension of the brand, an opportunity for your company to provide a gateway between products and services and targeted online content that will not only engage but also help to convert customers. There are other problems also worth considering that have not been mentioned here, for example the actual placements of the Code, frequency of codes in your marketing material and what size it should be to ensure a successful scan. But, if you consider the major problems listed above and how you can use the solutions suggested then you are very likely to have a successful and profitable campaign using QR Codes.

About the Author

Johannes Ahrenfelt is the co-founder of 99SQUARED Ltd. Their first product SQUARE:CODE is a QR Code Tracking Software that offers a unique management system for QR Codes, giving businesses complete and flexible control of how they communicate with consumers.

Rather than linking to a single, fixed URL from the QR Code, SQUARE:CODE lets businesses manage their code – so that it could point to a website about a sale one day, and an event on their business’ Facebook page the next.

www.squarecode.biz – QR Codes You Control

The post How to Make Marketing with QR codes Work for Your Business appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Think about it, what other industry or company do you know of that charges you for service every month but you cannot start using the service for 4 months? Go ahead, I will give you a few minutes, please add your comments below. Can’t think of any? It’s because if a company like this existed, nobody would want to do business with them, and they wouldn’t be around for very long.

However if you have a monopoly on the space and people really needed your service to grow their business, they wouldn’t have a choice. For mobile marketers this may sound like familiar territory. We all know that mobile marketing through a short code is ultimately the best way to go. I’m not sold on QR codes yet as the user experience isn’t that great.

I’ve been at the helm of mobileStorm, a top mobile marketing company since 1999, even before short codes really existed (and yes this link is strategically placed for SEO goodness). There was really one aggregator back then, Simplewire, and if you didn’t use them to send SMS messages via SMPP (Short Message Peer-to-Peer Protocol), then you sent your messages via SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) which is how email is sent. However, everyone knows that sending SMS messages this way is unreliable and doesn’t offer much in the way of analytics and reporting. I can’t remember when it happened but at one point Neustar, founded in 1996 to meet the technical and operational challenges that arose when the U.S. Government mandated local number portability, and the CTIA, the all-powerful carrier association, got together to create USShortcodes.com. USShortcodes was, and still is, the only service that would allow you to lease a 5 or 6 digit short code that either meant something (a.k.a. vanity short code), or was completely random (a.k.a. random short code). Two major events in the U.S. taught Americans how to text in to a short code. The first was American Idol, where you could vote for Sanjaya by simply texting VOTE to 4701, and the second was Barak Obama’s VP candidate announcement of Joe Biden via his vanity short code 62262, which spells OBAMA. The latest statistics from Pew show that 80% of Americans send text messages, with billions being sent on a daily basis. To say SMS is mainstream is an understatement.

SMS is a brilliant way to engage with potential customers and retain existing ones. Response rates dwarf other channels like email, IVR and direct mail. The average SMS is read within 4 minutes. If you’re still not convinced about the power of SMS, think about how it’s disrupting healthcare. Our client Kaiser Permanente proved they could reduce the number of no-shows by sending SMS appointment reminders. They saved close to $275k in 30 days at one facility. SMS is helping pregnant moms through pregnancy, smokers to quit smoking, and keeping those with Diabetes adherent to their medication.

So why does Neustar and the carriers make it so difficult to do business with them? Wouldn’t you think a technology that improves peoples’ lives, and has 80% of Americans engaged, could be as simple as buying a domain name? If I went to Godaddy.com and registered a domain name, it would cost me $10 for the year and I would immediately get to start using it. With USShortcodes, it costs me anywhere from $1,500 – $3,000 for the quarter depending on if I license a random or vanity code. Going back to my opening sentence, the average wait time to get your short code approved is around 4 months, and guess what; you’re paying for that code even though you can’t use it. Most people would consider this a scam, but this is how things are done and you don’t have a choice in the matter. If you want to do SMS right, you need a short code.

At mobileStorm, we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year with USShortcodes.com because SMS is a wonderful channel — but it doesn’t mean we love the experience. The cost of the codes, the time it takes to get them working, and the audits performed each month with the “guilty before being proven innocent” method is beyond frustrating. I really can’t think of another industry that makes it so difficult to do business, other than maybe complying with city code when trying to build an addition onto your house.

Each code is hand approved by someone at the carrier, and they have a pile of applications sitting on their desk. When they go to test your workflow, if your application doesn’t match it seems as if you go to the bottom of the pile. Oh I almost forgot, you can’t talk to the carrier either, you have to work with your aggregator, so it becomes a game of telephone.

Recently Verizon wanted a client of ours to indemnify them of any litigation that would arise from their SMS program. Are you kidding me? How is SMS supposed to be the killer app in healthcare if the carriers demand indemnification clauses on a short code?

The system is completely inefficient. Let’s recap:

1. It’s expensive: Small businesses cannot afford the cost of a short code. Most have to resort to a shared code. But oh yeah, there’s rumblings that USShortcodes wants to do away with that as well. Soon most companies in the U.S. will not be able to use SMS. It’s as if the industry is forcing people towards QR codes.
2. The time to market seems like an inside joke, but it’s not:  If your business is built on top of SMS and you need to wait 4 months to get your business going, you might as well stop everything you’re doing and wait for the code to be approved. Just don’t pay any attention to the stat that most businesses fail within the first year, because you only have 8 months left.
3. The cost of doing business is high: The CTIA spends millions of dollars a year on independent auditing firms. Their entire goal is to find SMS programs that do not follow the original workflow and shut them down because spam is such a huge problem with SMS. Can you hear the irony in my voice? Think about email. Now think about how many unwanted SMS messages you get. Is there even a comparison? Keeping spam out is one thing the carriers did right. Unlike email they control the pipe and can shut someone down quickly. So if it’s not spam, why the audits? It must be the lawsuits they don’t want to be involved in right? When you get an audit, you have to stop what you are doing and respond. To say this disrupts your business is an understatement. Imagine having to manage and audit 20 clients. Now imagine trying to find every single location these clients have ever promoted their short code and add some copy that would further indemnify the carriers from a lawsuit. Our friends over at TextPower wrote a great article on this called “It’s Official: Cellular Carriers Have Gone Nuts.” Audits are nightmares that take important employee resources away from other revenue generating activities, like helping a client understand how to properly build and market to their database. It’s as if the carriers are looking for ways not to do business with you.
4. It feels like a scam, but supposedly it’s not: Why do we need to pay to license the code when it is not usable? Can someone please answer this for me? Now is your chance to tell the industry why they pay for a service they can’t use. If you give us a good reason we’ll forgive you, but we want our money back for the years we spent on codes we couldn’t use.

It almost feels to me like the carriers don’t want to provide short codes, but they have to. Why else would they make it timely, expensive, and wasteful?

There’s something else that doesn’t sit well with me. The carriers should be a lot less worried about the small businesses that occasionally send a coupon to their customers, and a lot more worried that legitimate companies are being sued because they were following the MMA’s consumer best practice guidelines. Let me repeat that, businesses are being sued for millions of dollars because they followed consumer best practices, as set forth by the MMA (and the guidelines were created with the carries input as well). I would laugh, but I feel bad. Sounds like these companies were just trying to do the right thing. Soundbite Communications, Redbox, and American Express were just a few of the companies blessed with lawsuits for sending a confirmation message to consumers after they’d opted out of their SMS program. These companies were sued under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) because they sent someone a message confirming an opt-out. This is a classic “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” situation. If they send the message they are sued, if they don’t send the message the carriers will audit them and shut down their short code. Oh the joy!

On April 5th and April 9^th of this year, two mobile marketing companies (Eztexting out of New York, and TextPower out of Los Angeles), filed punitive class action antitrust lawsuits in the Southern District of New York against the country’s major wireless carriers, the CTIA trade association, and various text-message (or Short Message Service) aggregators.

I know the CEOs of both companies and for years we’ve discussed how the squeeze is becoming more like a choke. In short, these entrepreneurs reached their breaking points and decided to fight back. All eyes right now are on these lawsuits. Will they bring the change needed to reverse the industry’s biggest problems? Or will they be crushed by the unlimited funds of the powerful association?

I personally don’t think the parties involved (the CTIA, Neustar and USShortcodes) are evil, I just don’t think they have a very good process for how things work and it’s too expensive for them to go back and fix anything. Maybe they don’t see this as that big of a revenue stream, even though it’s reported that the CSC industry brings in  roughly $2.3 billion a year in revenue.  Hey Neustar, spend 1% of this revenue and create a fully automated approval system. This would bring the cost of short codes down and get businesses up and running in the same day. Don’t you think SMS marketing would at least double in size?

My hope is that these lawsuits will wake someone up over there that has the power to bring swift and immediate change. If we continue down the path we’re on, businesses will be forced elsewhere; and we already see it happening. Push notifications and in-app messaging are already threatening SMS usage.

This is a warning to the carriers — if you guys don’t make changes necessary to make mobile marketing more attractive, you will lose billions in revenue a lot sooner. This isn’t a threat, it’s a fact. We know how much money SMS brings in revenue so I understand the need to protect it, but you’re guarding it the wrong way. The security team at Fort Knox isn’t packing squirt guns.

Please make marketers happy again about sending SMS. If you make it cheap, easy and free like the Internet is supposed to be, then you have a shot at the 88 million small businesses in America. I know we’ll need to add a couple more numbers to the short code, and maybe they’ll need to be called medium codes, but hey, that would be considered a good thing right?

The post Short Codes are a Scam, and SMS Marketing is Dying. Is there Hope? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.