Presented by Swrve and the MMA, the webinar and its presenters look forward to 2016 and “discuss the extent to which new mobile models herald ‘the end of marketing’ (don’t worry – you’re not out of a job).”

We’ll look at five predictions for the coming year in mobile, from the rise in ‘mobile moments’ to new models in data sharing. And we’ll discuss how best to position your business to take advantage of them.

Want to learn more or register? Click here.

The post The Top 5 Mobile Predictions for 2016. Is the END of Marketing Near? appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

FDA Plans to Take a Hands Off Approach to Apple Watch
With Apple Watch set to launch on April 24th, questions have swirled around how the FDA might intervene to somehow regulate the first-ever wearable released by Apple. But this week, the FDA is making their position on the matter very clear. They want very little, if anything, to do with putting up regulatory hurdles for Apple Watch.

Google Coming to the Operating Room?
It isn’t enough that Google has worked its way into our desktops, mobile devices, and even wearable technologies. Now, Google wants to play a vital role in our healthcare too. As it turns out, Google is coming to an operating room near you.

RWJF Grant Aims To Make Wearable Health Technology More Engaging
There are many wearable health products that have hit the market in the last few years, but few have successfully retained consumer’s attention for more than a short period of time. Think of this in the same way as someone who invests in a treadmill for their home gym, and uses it consistently at first—then tapers off to hardly ever at all.

Washington State Senator Presents a Telemedicine Bill To Legislature
A bill sponsored by Washington State Sen. Randy Becker was recently introduced to Legislature. The bill’s primary goal is to require both private insurance companies, as well as Medicaid to reimburse patients who receive medical care that is covered under their insurance but is completed via telemedicine.

eRelevance Touts New Interactive Marketing Solution for Healthcare
On Monday, eRelevance issued a statement that its patient engagement service is leveraging what it calls the first interactive marketing solution for healthcare.

Want to get the latest mHealthWatch news and insight delivered straight to your inbox every morning? If so, sign up for our free newsletter today.

The post mHealth News: The Headlines You Might Have Missed appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

On Tuesday, Google announced the hottest topic searches of 2014, both globally and domestically. So what were the most in-demand sources of searches this year?

According to Google, here’s the rundown:

United States Trending Searches

1.     Robin Williams
2.     World Cup
3.     Ebola
4.     Malaysia Airlines
5.     Flappy Bird
6.     ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
7.     ISIS
8.     Ferguson
9.     Frozen
10.     Ukraine

Worldwide Trending Searches

1.     Robin Williams
2.     World Cup
3.     Ebola
4.     Malaysia Airlines
5.     ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
6.     Flappy Bird
7.     Conchita Wurst
8.     ISIS
9.     Frozen
10.     Sochi Olympics

The post Google Reveals Top Searches of 2014 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the projections made, it will take more than 5 years for 5G to reach the 100 million subscriber mark—2 years longer than 4G.

ABI says the reason 4G subscriber growth was much faster than previous generations is because it was fueled by the capabilities of increasingly powerful smartphones and the availability of 4G devices.

Unfortunately, 5G subscriber growth will “likely be a bit more muted at first due to the increased complexity of 5G cells and networks.”

But by 2023, 5G will gain serious steam.

“There are a number of commonalities between countries that are early builders of 5G networks. They have a large population, of which a large percentage is living in urban areas. They also have many companies pushing the envelope with IoT strategies. These countries will drive 5G subscriber volumes,” says ABI Research Director, Philip Solis. “These are the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom in order of 5G subscribers in 2025.”

The post Waiting for 5G? Keep Waiting… appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

“30 billion inbound sales calls were made from mobile search in the US in 2013,” Cole says, “and 73 billion are expected in 2018. This means that the idea of smartphones as merely a handheld web browser and nothing more is fading out. You can’t argue with numbers like those, after all: consumers are using their phones for the email, social media, and all other things Internet…but they’re also using them as phones.”

How else have smartphones impacted retail? Check out the visual below for more insight.

The post Infographic: The Smartphone's Impact on Retail appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post to MMW by Michael Benedek, CEO of Datonics.

The practice of retargeting ads to consumers who have shown a previous interest in a product or service has been around for years. However, changes in consumer behavior online and across devices has added a layer of complexity to this practice. A few years ago, advertisers would see a return on ads that were retargeted based on activity from the desktop alone, but now, with users switching from a desktop, to a phone, to a tablet and so on, retargeting is not as simple as it once was and advertisers need to rethink some of their old strategies.

Here are some tips to keep in mind to retarget successfully in the midst of this shift:
1) Make sure your campaign is running across devices. An average consumer may browse for an item on a desktop in the office and then continue on a smartphone during the commute home and complete a purchase on a laptop at home in the evening. Retargeting campaigns that run consistently across devices and engage with the user through the purchase cycle are more effective than retargeting on just one device.

2) Leverage dynamic creative or ads whose content changes depending on the user. For example, a car ad with information about the closest dealer changes depending on the recipient’s location. When a user is on her desktop in Manhattan, a dealership a few blocks away will be highlighted in the ad, but when that same user sees the ad again on her tablet at her house in a New Jersey suburb, another dealership a few towns away is presented. This dynamic messaging ensures that the ad remains relevant every time it’s served.

3) Know your target audience. This is one aspect of retargeting that hasn’t changed, but remains critical to success. An advertiser must hone in on the specific consumer traits the campaign is targeting to ensure that it’s reaching the right audience.

4) Don’t overdo it. Consumers have been vocal about the “creepiness” factor when being retargeted, so make sure you don’t deliver too many impressions to the same consumer. There is usually no magic number. It varies based on the product and/or the specific campaign. Setting a frequency cap for each campaign that still helps you reach your target without overwhelming the consumer helps brands to avoid becoming stalkers.

5) Avoid sensitive products and categories. Targeting users based on data concerning sensitive health matters, sexual orientation, ethnicity, etc is improper and the industry has set standards that are important to follow. Furthermore, having consumers associate a specific brand to this practice will likely leave a negative impression and might even result in consumer backlash.

The post MMW Op-Ed: Five Tips for Mobile Retargeting appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The folks at Marriott have taken a good, hard look at research on Millennials and what they discovered is that Millennials love travel (in fact, they average two times as many business trips as those over the age of 45.)

For most Millennials, however, staying in a hotel is a luxury, and that means they want the experience to be luxurious, without necessarily having to pay for luxury prices. So far, few brands have been able to capture the attention of the Millennial. Nonetheless, as Forbes recently profiled in-depth, Marriott has made a play for this demographic by make two simple introductions. First, app integration—an app that makes it easy to book hotels rooms and even make requests or ask for room changes.

Second, wireless charging for all those hip devices that the young kids are carrying around today. Additionally, Marriott has taken a survey of Millennials and asked what kinds of changes they’d like to see. Responses have ranged from healthier snacks on hand to beehives on hotel roofs to help protect the honeybee.

If the team at Marriott continues to listen to these suggestions, they will likely become the overwhelming hotel favorite among individuals born after 1982.

The post Marriott Makes a Play for Millennials with New Mobile Innovations appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

As a result of many shoppers being compelled to shop from home, there was a boom in eCommerce activity late in 2013, which left shipping companies overworked and having serious difficulty getting items delivered before the holidays.

In order to combat that issue this year (because, yes, the Polar Vortex is coming back for us), many retailers are considering new and innovative technologies in order to take their shopping experience to the next level. Consequently, ecommerce is expected to be even larger this year than it was in 2013, meaning there will be even more pressure on shipping firms.

You see, what countless retailers are expecting is for shoppers to visit their stores and buy their products… but not in store. Countless consumers only pull the trigger after leaving, shopping around, and returning home to make their final purchase selections via mobile.

The growth year-over-year in mobile commerce is expected to contribute to this ultra-convenient process, as more and more consumers are using their mobile devices for shopping. Many retailers are taking advantage of this tech evolution by using beacon technology to send push notifications or marketing materials right to the phones of individuals who are in or around their stores.

This beacon technology will get its first real round of use during the holiday season, merging the online and physical shopping experience. Yory Wurmser, of eMarkter says, “The key is to make the experience magical. You want the consumers to be surprised and delighted about the information they’re receiving, and not necessarily know that it’s from beacons.”

And the first major test of this tech-centric approach to retail marketing is now just days away — Black Friday 2014.

The post Tech More Important Than Ever This Holiday Season appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

But why? According to QRcodepress, this effort is an attempt to get individuals more interested in the world around them and to raise awareness about the importance of trees in the urban environment. Twenty-four of the species in the park are now equipped with quick response signage, which allows anyone in the immediate area to learn about the tree.

Ron Muller spearheaded this project and was integral in creating the codes and affixing them to the trees. He said, “I think it’s important for the younger generation, who use these QR codes for sure, to get acquainted with what’s around them and trees are certainly an important part of what we are and what we have.”

It is definitely a unique take on integrating technology with nature and engaging the population of people that most need to learn about the importance of urban trees.

To learn more about this innovative use of tech in nature, check out the full story here.

The post QR Codes Really 'Branching' Out appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The research focused on a specific mobile-only campaign for the “Innocent Super Smoothie,” a healthy fruit smoothie product popular in Ireland and the UK.

The study, conducted in partnership with MEC and its client Innocent with a specific mobile only campaign for a range of the Super Smoothies, showed that an increase of 25 percent was recorded in brand preference among those who saw the mobile ad versus those who did not see it.

According to AdWorld, the campaign was supported by IAB publishers including TheJournal.ie, DailyEdge.ie, Entertainment.ie, Daft.ie, IrishTimes.com, Done Deal, Independent.ie, Joe.ie, Her.ie, Irish Mirror, Sky News, MyHome.ie, Ticketmaster, The Score, and Yahoo!

The research posits that the Innocent Smoothie mobile campaign achieved a brand impact score of 80, higher than the norms for all other media channels. The campaign also outperformed all other media on “both rational and emotional impact.”

Adrian Acosta, Chair of IAB Mobile’s Council, said the study showed mobile campaigns can be game changers.

“The Innocent Super Smoothie campaign has clearly demonstrated that mobile advertising delivers powerful branding impact,” Acosta said. “The study conveys great insights to advertisers on the branding effectiveness of mobile and demonstrates the opportunity for advertisers to maximise their branding ROI with increased mobile ad spend.”

Richard Colwell, CEO of RED C Research, agreed that mobile is increasingly effective.

“It is expected that mobile advertising could have a good impact on the short term rational call to action, but far more interesting is the impact that this mobile ad has had on the more long term emotional connection with the brand, which has been shown to deliver a bigger return on advertising investment. It suggests mobile can be very effective at the heart of any campaign,” Colwell noted.

The post Research on Ireland Super Smoothie Campaign Proves Mobile Works for Brands appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.