Ask anyone on the street what item they would never be caught without and, chances are, one of the first responses you’ll hear is “My phone.”
Mobile phones are everywhere in the Philippines. From homes and schools to the workplace and everywhere in between, their ubiquity has prompted (sometimes heated) discussions in almost every field.
The development of new mobile technology runs alongside the conversation about emerging sociological trends, while several studies of new ailments connected to the use of mobile phones have sprung up.
In the Philippines alone, 50% of the population uses at least one smartphone, and this rapidly growing statistic is something many companies have begun to notice. In 2014, nearly half the country’s companies have invested in advertising through the mobile platform, and for good reason.
Mobile is often the last chance for brands to reach a potential consumer, and is sometimes even the means of a brand’s discovery. Some of the savviest brands in the world have designed entire campaigns around mobile apps, and have found great success. From Instagram and Snapchat, to the building of specially branded apps, companies are finding creative new ways to make themselves relevant in the mobile landscape.
As a local example, the call and messaging application Viber only started to make waves in the Philippines when it linked its image to the annual Labor Day beach exodus, Laboracay. Thanks to the parties (mobile invites only!) promos and other incentives accessible through users’ smartphones, Viber became —and remained—a must-have app for the Filipino on the go.
Unexpectedly, social networking and communication apps lead the pack in mobile, but many other iterations of the medium are closing in. The mere fact that mobile offers a myriad of options for marketers is only one incentive for companies to expand their influence to the mobile sphere.
Location tracking data and beacon technology, for example, allow brands the benefit of customizing their advertising efforts for target markets in specific areas or regions. Localizing their incentives, their content, and even just letting users nearby know they exist in real time sets the mobile medium apart from any other platform.
People’s lives, it seems, are encapsulated in the tiny little computers that practically count as appendages, and the possibilities for marketers to leverage on mobile technology are endless.
Marketing efforts in the most minimal to the largest-scale, mobile as a medium is a world ready for Filipino marketers to explore, and whose full potential is just waiting to be tapped, so get out there and start exploring.
Curious about how you can leverage on mobile to strengthen your brand?
JV Rufino of Inquirer Group and Raymon Cayabyab of Mobext PH are teaching what the best mobile touchpoints are, advantages and challenges of mobile marketing, needs to move into mobile, and more in the CDM Acceleration Program.
To join, log on to imadigitalmarketer.com