Online Cannibalizes Print, Not TV

Television retains the greatest share of US major media ad spending, at 39.1 percent in 2011. Increases in online ad spending—set to grow from 15.4 percent of the total in 2009 to 25.6 percent by 2015, will not come at the expense of television, but of other traditional media like print and directories, eMarketer says.

In fact, eMarketer does not believe television advertising share will decline at all, between now and 2015. That doesn't mean changes are inconceivable. It is possible the actual venues and channels within the television segment will shift, from linear to online, for example.

TV Ad Spending Largely Unaffected by Growth Online - eMarketer

Social and Mobile Are Changing "Shopping"

One way to look at marketing is to say that channels today are highly fragmented, and becoming more fragmented. (Click on image for a larger view)

The other way to look at marketing is to day that products are more customized and personalized, and there are buying influences broadly scattered across a range of digital channels, including social shopping influences.

In other words, people have more input available from other shoppers, and shoppers use that information when buying themselves.

Some people think social commerce or social shopping is basically just social networking. That's likely too narrow a view. Social processes (people sharing and collaborating) are bigger than simple "social networking," and affect both the ways consumers find information and make choices, as well as the ways marketers have to plan on reaching potential buyers.

Simply Tap: Mobile Payments Aimed at Mobille Shopping

A new mobile payments service, Simply Tap, will launch in the United Kingdom at the end of the summer, allowing consumers to buy any product on any mobile phone by sending a text message bearing a numerical code displayed on a billboard, for example.

The service works independently of any mobile network or handset brand. Once they have registered their name, address, preferred delivery address and debit or credit card details, consumers can buy products by entering the retailer's product code, and having the product delivered directly to the user's home.

The service will be run by the Mobile Money Network, a company owned by Carphone Warehouse,Best Buy and Monitise.

The venture is another example of the different potential business models mobile payments represents, beyond the actual payment transaction. Google sees an advertising angle, Simply Tap is an e-commerce play. Others see in-store promotion as a key way to monetize the platform.

Mobile retail service Simply Tap prepares launch

Australia's National Broadband Network Becomes Law

Australia's parliament has passed legislation establishing the new National Broadband Network. The legislation passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The new law sets out a regulatory framework to provide that NBN Co. will operate on a wholesale-only, open and equivalent-access basis for all retail providers that wish to use the facilities. See Australia's National Broadband Network Law Passes Parliament - WSJ.com.

The NBN also effectively structurally separates Telstra operations into retail and wholesale operations, as Telstar will be required to sell facilities to the NBN. In principle, you would think such structural separation would not allow vertical integration. But some observers say that might happen, to a certain extent. Nor does the existence of the NBN deal with the issue of "monopoly" or "full competition" in all respects.

There are, for example 120 points of network interconnection. But that also means NBN can refuse to connect to any retail provider except at those 120 points.

Similarly, NBN Co is going to offer a bundle of voice and data services as a uniform product across its fiber, wireless and satellite networks. Apparently to protect the government’s promise of uniform national pricing of NBN services, NBN will have the ability to deny supply to any service provider that doesn’t want to take the bundle.

That commitment to uniform national pricing at the wholesale level necessitates a system of cross-subsidies. Urban customer bases will subsidize higher-cost rural and regional customers.

NBN also is going to be allowed to "discriminate" in its pricing, providing volume discounts as well as possible special pricing for enterprise, educational institutions, government and local government agencies. None of that is unusual for wholesale carriers. But such issues show that structural separation might not solve all the problems "monopoly" is thought to cause. See

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Stephen-Conroy-NBN-Co-Telstra-Optus-pd20110324-F9A44?opendocument&src=rss for a discussion of some of the issues.

Millenials Value Lots of Things in a Brand, Not Just "Coolness"

Affluent Gen Y: Media Survey | Robert Mertz from L2 Think Tank on Vimeo.
Authenticity, for example, is quite important.

Handet Leadership Changes Over 10 Years

In an industry that is changing so rapidly, you'd expect changes of leadership in just about all phases of the business. Consider handsets. A decade ago, European brands such as Nokia, Siemens and the Swedish-Japanese JV Sony-Ericsson lead, in terms of sales and market share.

Over time, Asian manufacturers and computer makers like Apple replaced them.

This infographic shows how the mobile industry changed over the last 10 years - Phone Arena

American Express Launches "Serve" Mobile Payments Service

American Express is launching a new mobile payment system called "Serve." Serve will allow consumers to make purchases and person-to-person payments online (serve.com), using mobile phones and at millions of merchants who accept American Express cards as well. Serve unifies multiple payment options into a single account that can be funded from a bank account, debit, credit or charge card, or by receiving money from another Serve account.

Serve aims to provide an alternative to cash, check and debit card payments. Serve accounts can be used on Apple iOS and Android applications, at Serve.com and through Facebook.

“A cornerstone of the long-term vision for Serve is developing partnerships with commerce, gaming, entertainment, and social networking organizations,” American Express says, suggesting Serve will be pitched as a standard payment method for applications and games.

American Express Announces ServeSM, the Next Generation Digital Payment Platform