As a journalist at Computerworld Australia:
New content delivery technology has been developed to improve advertising to consumers' mobile phones. Aimed at large lifestyle companies wanting to foster brand loyalty amongst the younger generation, Broadcaster enables advertisers to broadcast multimedia applications without using expensive mobile Web browsing or WAP.
The system has been developed by Queensland-based software development company Absolute Data Group (ADG), in response to consumer demand for information that can be delivered here, and now.
Using a simple content-authoring program via the Web, advertisers can quickly and easily create highly visual content that is delivered to consumers upon receipt of an e-mail or SMS request. Applications can contain product catalogues, news, event details, and games, and are accessed via a download to the consumer's mobile phone.
The application can then be viewed offline from the consumer's mobile desktop, until it is deleted by the consumer. Whenever content is updated by the advertiser, registered consumers will receive SMS notifications to update or delete the application.
ADG CEO Tammy Halter expects Broadcaster marketing campaigns to appeal particularly to the 15 to 25 year old demographic, who she said expect to be able to do everything on their mobile phones. It will also serve time-starved, tech-savvy professionals who value the instant gratification of receiving information on demand, she said.
"I guess the key angle is that it's [mobile technology] the new permanent connection to information that I want, as opposed to something that you might try and market at me," Halter said.
"Successful brands are those gaining competitive advantage by harnessing technology to deliver consistently rewarding consumer experiences," she said. "The challenge for companies today is to deliver relevant, personalised content at a time when buying impulses are high."
The average application containing audio, video and text files is expected to be about 250Kb in its compressed form as it is downloaded. According to current data pricing schemes, Halter expects an average application to cost consumers about $0.48 per download.
However, Halter notes that applications can be as big as an advertiser's marketing team wants it to be, which depends on its target market and how much multimedia content is involved in its campaign.
"The average consumer these days seems to be paying for just about everything on their phones," she laughed. "And that's why the campaigns need to be quite funky, because they [consumers] need to have to want to have these applications on their phone."
Broadcaster is priced on a campaign-by-campaign basis, offering advertisers monthly, quarterly, biannual and annual subscription options. The base annual subscription is priced at $100,000, although Halter said this is likely to vary according to the advertiser's marketing strategy.
