Missed Call: A New Age Maketing?





Missed Call: A New Age Maketing? Date: Tuesday , November 24, 2015 A: \"Have you heard the Union Budget?\" B: \"Nopes, I was traveling to my aunt\'s house. You?\" A: \"Yes, I heard it over my phone.\" B: \"Phone? But you don\'t have a smartphone, then how?\" A: \"I just called a number, and could hear the Live Union Budget over the phone call.\" B: \"Amazing!\" Such a conversation demonstrates how the mobile marketing world is innovating to enter the lives of people. According to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the number of mobile subscribers by the end of May, 2015 crossed 1 Billion, and is increasing rapidly, encouraging the technocrats and the strategists to devise more creative campaigns to encompass a wider audience. The last year saw some really innovative trends in the field of mobile marketing, which have truly set a solid foundation for the coming years. While, m-Commerce, m-Banking, Geo-Targeting & Facebook Missed Call Ad Units have bought a huge change in the lifestyle and preferences of urban people by making a lot of things just a tap away from the place of their comfort, products like Mobile Radio and Live Audio Rally Telecast over a phone call has penetrated the Media Dark Areas to work seamlessly on a simple feature phone. According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), the Internet users in India reached around 350 Million till June, 2015 as compared to over one Billion mobile subscribers. Is it just the reach that makes mobile marketing more effective than digital or traditional mediums? Not really, the reach needs to be combined integrally with effective execution. For instance, Geo-Targeting enables brands to target the relevant product to a customer at an appropriate location. On the other hand, with the emergence of m-Commerce and m-Banking, brands not only provide exceptional services to loyal customers, but also engage and retarget the customers who they are about to lose. Phone call based Mobile Radio has now become a trend for marketers and advertisers to reach and understand the consumers so that brands can promote their products combined with infotainment. HUL\'s KanKhajuraTesan (KKT) is the prime example of this concept that created waves with its rural marketing initiatives along with providing engaging and free entertaining content, activated on demand. In 2014 General Elections, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) utilized LiveTalk, a Live Audio Broadcasting platform, powered by VivaConnect, across its 430 rallies to broadcast them live over a simple phone call. Due to its huge success, LiveTalk was also used to broadcast Shri. Narendra Modi\'s speech Live from Madison Square Garden over a phone call. Isn\'t it fascinating? What\'s even more interesting is the use of Missed Call for executing innovative marketing campaigns. It\'s free of cost for the end user; and every kind of phone, whether it\'s a feature phone or a smartphone, can make a simple Missed Call. Realizing this potential of Missed Call marketing, Facebook partnered with VivaConnect and launched a Missed Call Ad Unit specifically for the feature phone heavy Indian market, while Twitter acquired India-based \'Missed Call\' startup ZipDial. The \'Facebook Missed Call Ad Unit\' empowers marketers & advertisers to grab attention online and drive engagement offline. A person seeing an ad on Facebook, can make a \'Missed Call\' by clicking the missed call ad button from their mobile device, establishing a direct link between the brand and the customer, which can later be leveraged for engagement and acquisition. Similarly, Twitter allows offline users to follow celebrities by making a Missed Call. For instance, \'Follow Mr. Amitabh Bachchan& Shah Rukh Khan on Twitter by simply giving a Missed Call and receive their tweets on SMS for free\' created a huge buzz amongst the fans. The zero cost involved, and the ease in making a Missed Call made this engagement activity even more interesting and popular. The involvement of Facebook and Twitter, in the Missed Call market shall encourage the other international players too, and we could see some interesting acquisitions and partnerships. Mobile marketing, due to its simplicity and reach, is surely going to make its grip stronger in the coming years.