ARF Re:Think logo

This year the ARF decided to let the industry decide which papers they’d like to hear presented at their Re:Think convention in New York. We’re delighted to say that our presentation, “The Future of Mobile Advertising”, co-written with Microsoft Advertising and ROI Research, was one of those voted in.

Together with ROI, we’ve done some really thought-provoking research and it will help to change the way that the industry sees the potential of mobile advertising in a range of product categories.

With this project, and our ‘House Special’ study, BrandHeld, we’re suddenly all about the future of mobile advertising. And with the recent UK launch of The GSMA Mobile Media Metrics from ComScore, things are really starting to take off.

If you can’t make it to New York, we’ll post some updates from the Convention – and hopefully a copy of the slides too.

Stuart

Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop from Keiichi Matsuda on Vimeo.

Exciting, or worrying?

Those that know us will have noted that our iPhones are never far from our hands. Yet none of us are using any augmented reality applications at the moment. This is partly because Apple is “protecting the user experience” as our resident Apple evangelist might put it, but primarily because the applications just aren’t that useful.

Beyond the initial social currency of showing your friends how cool your phone is when at the pub (Exhibit A: Gun App), applications only gain traction if they have some meaningful benefit. So while Layer has the potential to enhance our travels, do people really want to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with their t-shirt? While the ever real threat of walking into a lamp-post is preventing us from attempting to type n walk.

If we are able to get accustomed to the even greater level of sensory overload, there is the potential for augmented reality to improve our lives, rather than offer an annoying distraction.

But having to wait for the kettle to boil? Surely something can be done about that.

sk

Press release: Handsets, cost and connection speed holding back mobile internet adoption

London, 21 January, 2010: A huge 76% of mobile phone users don’t use their mobile to access the internet a UK-wide study into our mobile habits by leading research specialist Essential Research has revealed. The news comes despite industry hype around the success of internet-enabled smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Nexus One.

Even more surprising is that 60% of UK mobile users claim to not even own a mobile with internet access and just 30% of these are interested in getting one. The picture gets worse for mobile operators with the revelation that even for upwardly mobile internet users and owners of smartphones, one third (31%) have never used their phone to connect to the internet, a quarter (24%) use it less than once a week and 8% tried it but don’t intend to do so again.

The independent study, titled ‘Brandheld’, is the most comprehensive study of its kind researching over 2,000 mobile phone owners aged 16+ with a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques plus ethnographic case studies. The focus of the research was developed in consultation with a number of well known brands and businesses from across the mobile industry (see Notes).

Alex Charlton, Partner at Essential Research which conducted the study over six months in 2009 comments: “This type of research doesn’t often see the light of day, and what we’ve found is pretty surprising news: there is an enormous gulf between the perceptions we hold about mobiles being a big part of our Internet lives and the reality. In fact only a small percentage of us are truly internet mobile users and the industry has a big job to do to move mobile internet into our everyday lives.”

Despite lower than expected adoption and usage of mobile internet however, consumer appetite for mobile media services, such as live TV and radio, is strong. 86% of current mobile internet users and 56% of non-mobile internet users report they would be willing to use services via their mobile phone.

…/more

Holding back the mobile revolution are barriers intrinsic to the ability to use mobile internet services, so called “hygiene factors”; speed of connection, the cost of mobile internet and handset battery life. Tellingly, even when cost isn’t part of the equation, half of us (57%) who have tried to get online with a mobile and failed reported that they found the technology too difficult to use, access to website was impossible and the mobile internet experience didn’t meet their expectations.

The biggest driver of mobile internet adoption to date is social. Almost as many daily mobile internet users (70%) use social media services including social networks, instant messenger, blogs and forums on their phones as they do on their computer (79%). In some cases mobile applications for services like Facebook and Twitter are replacing computer access.

The ability to perform everyday activities such as checking real time travel updates (33%) and tracking in-store offers, coupons and vouchers (31%) were the most interesting to those that don’t currently use mobile internet. Furthermore, they deemed well known brands the most appropriate to provide services for mobile internet spheres with 30% saying that they would like their favourite supermarket to offer grocery related services and 29% claiming that they are interested in their banks or building societies providing financial related services.

Charlton continues: “With high profile marketing campaigns all around us, consumers are aware that they can use their mobile to check their email and use Facebook. What we’ve shown here is that there is a genuine interest from consumers to engage with brands that they already connect with and use their mobiles as an extension to their everyday lives.

“There is a role for all of us to play in making the mobile internet a more attractive proposition to the mass market and the opportunity is massive. Our research highlights the task at hand to commercialise and monetise the mass mobile market and we have unique insight into what needs to happen to enable this. Brands hold the key.”

For more information on the ‘Brandheld’ study findings, please contact EssentialResearch_at_championcomms.com (change _at_ to @)/ +44 (0) 20 7268 3076.

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

The ‘Brandheld’ study was developed in consultation with 3, BBC, BSkyB, BT, Carphone Warehouse, Channel 4, Garmin, Global Radio, Google, IAB, IPC Media, ITV, MBlox, Microsoft Advertising, MTV, NBC Universal, Ofcom, Orange, Saffron Digital, Sony Ericsson, UKTV, Vodafone, Yahoo!

The study was conducted over six months between June and December 2009 and involved hundreds of research hours using the following techniques and sample:

Ethnography

• 10 ethnographic studies over 3 months
• Including 2 visits, 1 at home and 1 out and about
• Handset placement and/or task setting
• Longitudinal respondent video diary

Qualitative research

• 8 discussion groups
• 5 accompanied shops
• 5 anonymous interviews with store assistants

Quantitative research

• 30 minute quantitative survey
• 2,000 UK adults aged 16+
• Weighted to the offline universe

About Essential Research

Essential is a research consultancy specialising in Media, Communications, Technology and Entertainment. Our clients include Microsoft, MTV, the BBC, Channel 4, Ofcom and 3 and we’ve worked on everything from the launch of new TV channels to consumer expectations of mobile video. Essential was established in 2005 by three former BBC executives; Luca Antilli, Stuart Knapman and Alex Charlton and in December 2007 was voted “Best New Agency” by the Market Research Society.

Please visit www.essentialresearch.co.uk for further information.

Media Contact:

Champion Communications

E: EssentialResearch_at_championcomms.com (change _at_ to @)

T: +44(0) 207 268 3076

We’ve just completed our latest House Special, ‘Brandheld’ which investigates consumers’ mobile habits in the UK. What we’ve seen is there is genuine interest from consumers to engage with brands that they already connect with in everyday life by using mobile internet services as an extension and addition to this whilst on the move.

The research reveals mobile internet adoption is not as prevalent as we might believe. We certainly all know it exists, but right now, the majority of UK consumers aren’t using it. There are a number of barriers for this, but none of them insurmountable. The opportunity however is huge. A staggering 86% of mobile internet users would consume media, such as live TV and radio, in additional to a robust 56% of non-mobile internet users. Sociability, often through social networks, is the biggest driver of mobile internet adoption to date, but our research also showed strong consumer desire for branded services for activities including shopping, banking, location-based vouchers and coupons for example.

The full ‘Brandheld’ report includes findings from our quant survey of 2,018 UK consumers age 16+, as well as qualitative findings and video diary extracts from our ethnographic work, and will be available from mid-February.  If you’re interested in finding out more, please get in touch with alex@essentialresearch.co.uk to discuss your needs.

What’s interesting is that this appears to be more than simple cocooning or feel-good purchasing in the midst of a recession. When it comes to consumer electronics, “must-have” has gone from being an empty marketing buzzword to a pretty accurate summary of consumer attitudes.

Stuart

The Frank Sinatra award for “Getting married her way” went to… Magda!

The Terry Butcher award for “Commitment (in attending a pitch briefing before he’d joined the company)” went to… Steven!

The Ludwig van Beethoven award for “Operating one of the noisiest laptops in history without complaint” went to… Kat!

The Simon Cowell award for “Unprecedented dedication to X Factor” went to… James!

The World of Wordpress award for “Tirelessly campaigning on behalf of the Essential blog” went to… Simon!

The Bryan Adams award for “Generally being a good Canadian, and introducing the world to ‘Monk nuts’” went to… Lee-Ann!

The Late Adopter award for “Overnight conversion to being an iPhone geek” went to… Sarah!

The Lord Reith award for “Continuous dedication to the BBC” went to… Daniel!

The Steve Jobs award for “Longest sustained WOM campaign in the history of modern marketing” went to… Chris! (Who wins it for the second year running)

The In At The Deep End award for “Getting on with things with minimal supervision” went to… Miranda!

The Phillip Kotler award for “Services to the Chartered Institute of Marketing” went to… Beth! (In absentia)

Yes, we need to update the “Meet the team” section of the website.We’ll do that soon. And yes, the photographer should learn when to turn on the flash on his camera.

In the meantime, click through here for our Elf Yourself video, and have a great Christmas and New Year

sk

Seasons greetings.

Stuart

Two points grabbed my attention:

1. Five years from now the internet will be dominated by Chinese-language content.

All I can say is we’d better learn fast, I heard it’s not easy!

On a serious note though, I recently caught up on all series of The Hills (please, don’t judge me!!) via at least 5 different sites, all Chinese*. To be honest I didn’t have any problems trying to work out where my next episode is, the quality was sometimes unbearable, some sites only allowed me to watch 72min in one go (then I had to wait for 1h before I could start again, which I did. Again, don’t judge me!!!). It wasn’t the worst experience… But I would never have done that a year ago, I would get frustrated, bored of waiting and I would moan about quality! What’s changed? I do not know. Maybe, by being surrounded by so much crappy quality video content online, the acceptable standard lowered for me, and it is more about the content now (not that The Hills has a very deep storyline!). Would that ever be the case for TV? Hm…

2. Within five years there will be broadband well above 100MB in performance, and distribution distinctions between TV, radio and the web will go away.

Schmidt also talks about superfast broadband. I remember speaking to Beth (hi Beth!!), one of my colleagues who recently visited Korea for some OTT media fieldwork. Apparently Koreans complain even if something takes a millisecond longer than they expect (forget my 1hour waiting or even buffering!), Koreans have been spoiled with such amazing technology, it makes me want to live there! I don’t want to wait another 5 years

Anyway, it was a Santa Claus Day in Poland on the 6^th December, so Best Wishes to all of you who still believe in Him!

Magda

*Essential Research Ltd does not condone or encourage illegal file sharing or streaming

Some people only take part in research for financial benefit. There’s no point pretending this motivation doesn’t exist, because it does. Instead, it should be recognised and marginalised. This is done through a combination of the metaphorical carrot and stick.

I won’t dwell on the stick, since these mechanisms should be hygiene factors for any research project – triple-checking the legitimacy, consistency and consideration given to responses.

Beyond the obvious requirements of running an interesting research project, it is with the carrot that researchers can get creative. I personally disagree with the ban on client products as incentives, but there are many non-monetary forms of gratitude that help facilitate a relationship based around mutual respect and reward. The opportunities to plant some carrots will vary depending on the nature of the research and the methodology utilised but a couple of (quantitative) examples include:

• Share basic data: Despite Marina Hyde’s protestations, lists are popular. So popular, that they are starting to eat themselves (which is why I like that a blog well-known for hosting a list of lists is called Fimoculous). Where opinions or intentions are aggregated, why not share the results? I might think Newcastle United are going to win the Championship this year, but is it a consensus opinion?

• Provide a basic segmentation: We may not necessarily appreciate them, but labels and stereotypes (or “pen portraits”, as we like to call them) are a useful way to communicate information at a broad level. We may even be curious to see which characteristics best fit our personality, and the promise of answers can be a strong motivation to participate with careful consideration. Quizilla has formed a business out of “What twilight character are you?” type surveys and Channel 4 ran a great example with their UK tribes project (Disclosure: We work with Channel 4, though we didn’t contribute to this project. And I’m an Indie Kid).

• Offer recommendations: This could be either editorial or response-generated. The latter would be more likely to produce “better” results, but the size of the data set needed limits usefulness to  only the biggest projects. In the same way that Last.fm can tell me that as I am listening to Lift to Experience I may also enjoy Six By Seven (I do), we can correlate consumption information to display the “nearest” options to those initially answered

There are multiple ways that we seek to maintain interest and involvement among our respondents, and we are regularly trying new methods to share and exchange . Doing so limits professional respondents, and encourages considerate participants.

sk

Image credit: Ryancr

Essential is of course platform-neutral, independent and impartial when it comes to media. But as a Virgin Media customer, I am almost salivating with excitement about the announcement today of this potential tie-up between Virgin Media and TiVo.

Although the FT describes it as a ‘rebuff to Project Canvas’, I’d imagine this has got much more to do with Virgin Media finding a better way of helping viewers navigate through its growing library of VOD content, ensuring that they can always find something they want to watch, which has got to be the holy grail as far as VOD is concerned.

Last year we produced a major study of VOD (VOD: State of Play) which suggested that the next (and potentially most exciting) wave of digital TV will involve the deployment of services that truly help audiences find the content that they will most value, regardless of whether this is delivered through a broadcast, an IPTV service or from their hard disk.

Simon recently blogged on here about an essay by Kevin Kelly of Wired, entitled Better Than Free, which argues that when digital content is all free or infinitely available, one of the eight things that people will actually pay for is ‘findability’. (Another one is ‘personalisation’.) We believe that in a TV context, this means intelligent recommendation tools – an area in which TiVo is a recognised pioneer.

Who would have thought that middleware could ever be this exciting?

Stuart