Dublin City University Business School hosted a mini-conference on the current issues in mobile technologies and marketing, “Get Mobile” was held in The Helix on Tuesday 11th November from 2pm – 6pm. The event was organised under the Techspectations initiative, an initiative of Dublin City University Business School with the mission of increasing digital participation in all aspects of Irish life, with support from North Dublin Chamber of Commerce.
As part of the DICE module, participating students must create a mobile app to promote tourism in a specific town, city or region. So as you can imagine this particular mini – conference was of significant importance to the majority of attendees.
Dr Theo Lynn
Dr. Theo Lynn, Digital Marketing Programme Chairperson
Dr Theo Lynn, DCU’s Digital Marketing Programmer Chairperson, once again opened up the conference by giving us some information on how people interact with technology today and how the purpose of the phone has transitioned from being a verbal communication tool to a multimedia tool, adopting the name “mobile device” rather than being called a phone at all. In recent times, we have started to use our phones more for surfing the web, checking email, snapping photos, and updating our social media status than actually making phone calls.
Using statistics sourced by Thinkhouse and published in their “Irish Mobile Youth Report 2014” Theo definitely gave us some food for thought! Some of the statistics that jumped out at me were:
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96% of Irish 18-35 year olds own a smart phone
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78% often compare the price of something online before buying an item in store
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90% check phone when they wake up
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18% using phone while in the cinema
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18% using phone while on a date
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84% using phone while watching TV
When I look at some of these statistics, my mind is kind of blown. When Theo was reading out these statistics, I tried to figure out where I fit into among these statistics. I honestly would love to ask the 4% of 18-35 year olds who don’t own a smart how they live their life. If I leave my house without my phone I know within two minutes because I feel like I am missing a limb. As I type this I am starting to realise how scary it is to be so dependent on a mobile phone. I am totally guilty of checking my phone once I wake up in the morning but I try to reassure myself by telling myself that “of course I check my phone when I wake up, how else will I turn my alarm off?”. I thankfully can’t place myself among the 18% that use their phone in the cinema or while on a date, which I’m guessing is their first and last date with the other individual! I will admit that I cannot sit through an ad break without checking my phone and I know I’m not the only one guilty of this which makes me think that if I’m not watching an ad for something how will the business advertising on the television target me or anyone else using their phone during ad breaks? Ah yes, this leads us on to another batch of statistics.
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77% of mobile searches occur at home or at work, 17% on the go
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3 of 4 mobile searches trigger follow up actions, whether it be further research, a store visit, a phone call, a purchase or word of mouth sharing
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Games account for over 50% of all mobile app advertising spent
From these statistics alone it is easy to see why businesses need to adapt to the changing forms of advertising and consumer buying behaviour and how mobile devices impact such things.
Dr. Mark Hughes
Dr. Mark Hughes, Chief Technical Officer, Digifeye
Our next speaker was Dr. Mark Hughes of Digifeye. Dr. Mark Hughes is the Chief Technical Officer at Digifeye. Digifeye is a discovery and sales platform that integrates with some of the world’s leading publishing and retail companies. Digifeye focuses on merging computer vision and machine learning technology to convert visual content into shoppable content.
Prior to co-founding Digifeye, Mark was the founder of Style Eyes, which specialised in mobile based image recognition and recently featured on Bloomberg, BBC, Reuters, Forbes, CNN and Vogue. The technology allowed smartphone users to take a picture of a piece of clothing or an accessory – whether from a magazine, online or real life – and search for comparable items from a list of 900 retailers and three million items.
Further development of the Style Eyes app has been dropped and Mark explained that Digifeye’s business model has been modified to integrate the technology as a platform into existing online publishers, retailers and media outlets. Digifeye’s image recognition technology is an omni-channel solution which can be quickly embedded into any digital platform to enhance content. Digifeye provides an intelligent medium to provide the right product to the right person at the precise moment in time when it is desired.
I found Mark’s speech very interesting and not just because I loved the whole concept and idea of the company but because it really made me think about how technology is evolving. Computers are now officially smarter than us. They are giving us information that we would we would either spend hours trying to retrieve or never know at all, instantaneously. I mean, how amazing is it that you can see a top you like on a famous celebrity that costs like €500 and this software finds you an alternative for a fraction of the original cost?
Dr. Cathal Gurrin
Dr. Cathal Gurrin, Lecturer, Dublin City University
Dr Cathal Gurrin is a lecturer at Dublin City University and an investigator in the Insight Centre for Data Analytics. He is a leading researcher in the field of Lifelogging and is actively developing search and organization technologies for big-data archives of personal sensor data.
The iPhone 5 is 60,000 times more powerful than the Apollo Guidance Computer. Can you get your head around that? Me neither. This fact was thrown out while Cathal discussed the evolution of technology but what interested me was Cathal’s experiment with lifelogging.
For someone who can’t even remember what they had for dinner yesterday, Lifelogging is an fascinating idea to me. Lifelogging does exactly what it says on the tin, keeps a log of your life. Lifelogging is the process of tracking personal data generated by our own behavioural activities. Lifelogging tracks personal activity data like exercising, sleeping, and eating.
Cathal has gathered a digital memory since 2006 (incl. over 12 million sensecam images) and hundreds of millions of other sensor readings.
Lifelogging and personal data tracking has invaded mainstream culture. Jawbones, FuelBands, Fitbits and numerous other wearables are becoming increasingly popular.
The device Cathal uses is the Google Glass. Google Glasses look like a pair of eyeglasses, but the lenses of the glasses are an interactive, smartphone-like display, with natural language voice command support as well as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Honestly, I found Cathal’s talk kind of scary. Especially since these devices will end up knowing more about us than we know about ourselves. Aside from the whole privacy issue, I just can’t imagine myself using one of these devices. I feel like it is pointless to live life looking through a lens, It just doesn’t make sense to me. However, I do appreciate the possible positive outcomes of such devices for those with Alzheimer’s Disease & Dementia.
Eoin Cruise
Eoin Cruise, Market Lead, Microsoft Mobile Devices, Ireland
Currently the head of Microsoft Mobile Devices in Ireland, Eoin has been with Nokia prior to the acquisition by Microsoft for the last 10 years.
I’m pretty sure at some stage we have all had a Nokia. Have a rummage around that drawer where you keep things that should really be thrown out but you can’t seem to part ways with and you’ll probably find a dusty Nokia 3310 with 75% battery full that has been dropped on the ground 100’s of times yet still seems to work. Ah, memories!
When smartphones started to emerge and take over the market, how did Nokia keep up? Well, they didn’t. Eoin Cruise spoke to us about the fall of Nokia and Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services division announced in late 2013.
To combat competition Eoin says that Microsoft are not in the position to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung and must first do some ground work. He mentioned that Microsoft is working on giving consumers quality phones at an affordable price to try and increase customer loyalty. In addition to this, Microsoft will incorporate their unique services such as Skype, OneDrive Bing, xbox, Office 365, and Outlook into the Lumia devices.
The Lumia 535 is the first Windows Phone from Microsoft and with the Microsoft branding. It was announced on November 11, 2014. The budget-friendly smartphone features a 5-inch display, 5 MP front and rear cameras, 1 GB of RAM and more.
Paul Davey
Paul Davey, Information Technology Consultant, IBM
Paul is the mobile leader for IBM in Ireland. Having worked in the information technology industry for over 20 years, both in Ireland and Australia, he was recently appointed to the IBM mobile leaders technical group for UK and Ireland. IBM Ireland has locations in Dublin, Galway and Cork employing 4,000 people.
IBM (International Business Machines) has helped pioneer information technology over the years and it stands today at the forefront of a worldwide industry that is revolutionizing the way in which enterprises, organizations and people operate and thrive. IBM has invented the likes of the ATM, swipe card and relational database.
Paul talked about IBM’s latest creation Watson, named after the founder of IBM, Thomas J Watson.
He then talked about IBM’s partnership with Apple and Twitter through Watson. Twitter and IBM have partnered to provide businesses with data about what people are saying about their companies on Twitter, and how they can use social talk to improve their bottom line.
Earlier this year, Apple announced a deal with IBM in which iPhones and iPads would be sold to enterprises backed by IBM’s cloud and analytics services. The first products will be for the banking, government, insurance, retail, telecommunications and travel and transport sectors.
Alex Meisl
Alex Meisl, Chairperson, Sponge and WiForia Ltd.
Alex co-founded Sponge in 2002. Sponge is the UK’s most successful and longest established mobile agency working across Europe and the Middle East. Clients include Autotrader, Birds Eye, Coca Cola, United Biscuits and Vodafone through to the Press Association, News International and IPC. Sponge currently supplies mobile solutions to over half of the top 20 digital and creative agencies.
Alex launched WiForia in early 2014. The company focuses on in-store engagement by turning Wi-Fi into a communications channel and has partnered with the world’s leading Wi-Fi infrastructure companies to help the retail and service industry deliver personalised and rewarding experiences based on a customer’s location, actions and history.
Alex opened his hour and a half long speech giving us the 4 Misapprehensions of mobile:
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SMS is dead (143bn SMS were sent in the UK in 2013-hardly dead)
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Mobile Advertising is trivial
Actually, Mobile advertising will overtake Newspaper advertising in the UK in 2014
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Apps are the future
They are but only if businesses get them right! 80% of branded applications get less than 1,000 downloads
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Retailers are screwed
Alex talked about how companies can use technology and the internet to optimise their business rather than let it overtake them.
Some examples include;
Offering free WiFi within a business’s premises:
By identifying registered users every time they enter or leave a location, businesses can push offers, promote content and drive social sharing in personalised and contextually relevant ways.
Offers and promotions:
Large retail stores have thousands of offers available at any one time, by connecting that customer to a select few offers and inspiring them to buy that one extra item brings increased revenue to the retailer.
Optimising website for all mobile platforms:
I don’t know how many times I have exited out of a retailer’s website while on my mobile phone when it displayed a desktop view. It honestly doesn’t surprise me that 1/3 of Google’s top 10 clients do not have mobile optimised sites.
Companies that are getting it right!
Harris + Hoole
Harris + Hoole, a chain 49 per cent owned by Tesco, launched an iOS loyalty app for its loyal customers. Customers create a profile, including uploading a photo, and select ‘my usual’ to input details of their favourite coffee. When they check in using their handset at a branch of H+H, they can order their usual from the app without having to speak to the person at the till.
Meat Pack
Meat Pack is a shoe store in Guatemala, known for its special discounts of brands including Adidas, Nike, Puma and Supra. Meat Pack opened its doors three years ago and quickly gathered a cult youth following. They needed to launch a new promotion that lived up to their brand standards.
Using GPS tracking technology, Hijack was able to recognize customers entering a competitor store and then trigger a special notice with a promotion that gave the customer the chance to earn your discount. The discount would start at 99% and decreased by a percentage with each second that went by. The countdown discount sent people hurrying towards Meat Pack’s store to make the countdown stop. The faster they reached the store, the better the deal they got.
Tesco
Tesco Clubcard:
Tesco collected raw data on what people were buying and turned it into profitable information. It was also able to offer personalised discounts and rewards. Rolled out nationally in 1995, the card was an instant success. One year later Tesco became the UK’s top supermarket.
Tesco’s launched the world’s first virtual store in South Korea in 2011. The Korean virtual store allowed commuters to shop in subways and at bus stops by pointing their mobile phones at billboards. The concept was trialled at Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal in the UK the following year.
I found Alex’s speech very interesting and agree very much so that more businesses need to adapt to the digital age we live in.
Further Research – Readings:
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Consumers have demonstrated a clear preference for engaging with content on smartphones via apps, which account for 4 out of every 5 mobile minutes, rather than the mobile web.
This furthermore proves that businesses need to make their products and services more accessible via mobile devices by creating an app that is of a quality standard.
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1 in 3 minutes spent online is now spent beyond the PC.
As digital consumers become more reliant on their smartphones and tablets for everyday content consumption, we can expect this share to rise over time and perhaps take over majority share during the course of the next year.
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More platforms means extended reach for media companies
D.I.C.E 