Vodafone, O2 and Everything Everywhere have made moves to form a JV that would create a mobile wallet platform and an advertising sales house that could reach every subscriber on their networks.
The project is definitely an attempt to re-establish the supremacy of mobile operators and take on the likes of Google, Apple and Facebook. And who can blame them? After all operators have access to deep data on their subscribers’ demographics, location and consumption habits – all of which should make brands and their agencies stand up and pay attentions – or should it?
Here James Lusher, associate consultant at communications agency Fishburn Hedges gives us his thoughts in the power move. If you feel like contributing some comment to the article then drop us a line (brandshandy@gmail.com)
…take it away James. As the blurring of the digital and physical continues, particularly with regards to how we pay and interact with brands through mobile devices, it is significant that the UKs three largest networks have joined together to create a mobile wallet and an ad sales platform.
The battle for payments and data ownership has clearly been stepped up a level by the telecoms companies, with Project Oscar being a two-tiered process. Firstly, it will be the gateway to 27 million customers, where brands have a large platform to interact with customers through geo-location coupons, SMS and display advertising. At the same time through a joint mobile wallet, on top of existing telecoms data, Project Oscar will have extremely detailed information on consumer behaviour, purchasing trends and demographics.
While the likes of Google, Facebook and Apple all have their fingers in this pie, telecoms companies are well versed to join in and make the most of this data. For agencies, the project’s own advisors will undoubtedly look to build brand relationships and can offer real insight into consumer demographics.
However, utilising this new platform in a way which is innovative, memorable, commercially sensible and personable will still rely upon agencies expertise of delivering targeted messaging across multiple channels and using new technologies and formats such as HTML5. Personalised, mobile consumer communication is the future, and while there will undoubtedly be bumps along the way, I believe agencies will still be a part of the picture to help brands make the most of these new exciting platforms and joint.
Follow James on twitter
Operators do a deep dive in to data for mobile ad JV
The project is definitely an attempt to re-establish the supremacy of mobile operators and take on the likes of Google, Apple and Facebook. And who can blame them? After all operators have access to deep data on their subscribers’ demographics, location and consumption habits – all of which should make brands and their agencies stand up and pay attentions – or should it?
…take it away James. As the blurring of the digital and physical continues, particularly with regards to how we pay and interact with brands through mobile devices, it is significant that the UKs three largest networks have joined together to create a mobile wallet and an ad sales platform.
The battle for payments and data ownership has clearly been stepped up a level by the telecoms companies, with Project Oscar being a two-tiered process. Firstly, it will be the gateway to 27 million customers, where brands have a large platform to interact with customers through geo-location coupons, SMS and display advertising. At the same time through a joint mobile wallet, on top of existing telecoms data, Project Oscar will have extremely detailed information on consumer behaviour, purchasing trends and demographics.
While the likes of Google, Facebook and Apple all have their fingers in this pie, telecoms companies are well versed to join in and make the most of this data. For agencies, the project’s own advisors will undoubtedly look to build brand relationships and can offer real insight into consumer demographics.
However, utilising this new platform in a way which is innovative, memorable, commercially sensible and personable will still rely upon agencies expertise of delivering targeted messaging across multiple channels and using new technologies and formats such as HTML5. Personalised, mobile consumer communication is the future, and while there will undoubtedly be bumps along the way, I believe agencies will still be a part of the picture to help brands make the most of these new exciting platforms and joint.
Follow James on twitter
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