2013

Mobile Advertising- Future of Advertising

Submitted to

Prof. Saripalli Bhavani Shankar

for completion of course credits for

Qualitative Market Research

Tyagi Sneha (2012PGP411)

QMR, PGP-2, IIM-Indore 12/10/2013

Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 1 Research Problem ................................................................................................................................... 3 Objectives ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Method of Inquiry ................................................................................................................................... 3 Profiling Respondents ............................................................................................................................. 4 Guides for Research: ............................................................................................................................... 4 Plan of Analysis of data .......................................................................................................................... 7 Expectations from the study.................................................................................................................... 8 References:.............................................................................................................................................. 8

Executive Summary Mobile advertising in India is still nascent. It stands at about Rs 100 crore. But at the same time it is a growing market, with dramatic growth rates, doubling year over year. The reasons behind the mobile market growth in India are external to the advertising environment. The mobile advertising market has evolved from a stage of mobile Internet being used for email access, to being used for social, to now being used for accessing various kinds of content from news to sports to games. Thus, the pressing need to understand the mobile usage patterns of consumers and how brands can be advertised at various touch points. The following paper attempts to lay a roadmap to understand the usage and attitudes of mobile user and various engagement platforms it can use to advertise.

Introduction
Size of mobile market in India Mobile advertising in India is still nascent. Mobile ad market in India as on Sep 2012 was around INR 1.8 bn. But at the same time it is a growing market, with dramatic growth rates, doubling year over year. Indias share in global mobile Ad servings as on Nov 2012 was 52% and consumers in India are demanding highly relevant, personalized, contentrich products and services on mobile Reasons behind the growth The reasons behind the mobile market growth in India are external to the advertising environment. Since the handsets are cheaper, they are more accessible now. Another reason for growth is the introduction of mobile data plans, which have allowed access to Internet on-the-go. The result of these factors is that now mobile is seen as a media device, besides being seeing as a communication device only. It is not only used for connecting and talking to people, but also for checking emails and news content, social media and other services. Further to these external changes happening on the consumers side, the advertisers have also found avenues to invest in mobile. Five years ago, though there was excitement about the medium, there were not as many avenues as there are now. Now both these factors coupled together have made it a lethal combination for advertisers. With the introduction of 3G this year, it is going to help the market grow even more significantly as the users will consume better with better connectivity. The mobile advertising market has evolved from a stage of mobile Internet being used for email access, to being used for social, to now being used for accessing various kinds of content from news to sports to games. We are now choosing to use a mobile phone to get instant access to the content, also because of better connectivity. India vs. other markets in the world The difference between India and other countries is that it is a mobile-first market. This means that for most people, the first Internet experience happens on the mobile, making it the primary mode of content consumption. This is different from other countries, which have a higher PC penetration, as there, the Internet consumption happens first on the computer. Biggest advertisers in India in mobile media One of the largest sectors in mobile media advertising is the automobile industry with brands such as Maruti, Honda and Yamaha engaging in mobile. FMCG brands such as Unilever, PepsiCo and Coca Cola, and telecom advertisers such as Nokia, Karbonn, and Micromax, follow the automobile industry.

The top five spending brands in India in the mobile advertising industry are Maruti Suzuki, Nokia, PepsiCo, Coca Cola and Unilever. Trends Permission-based mobile advertising Advertising on app-based VAS Mobile local search as advertising tool Location-based mobile advertising Demographics (Age wise and Gender wise)

Clearly, mobile advertising is skewed towards age group of 20-29 yrs. and primarily among males.

Research Problem
In a growing market like mobile advertising, plethora of opportunities exist; fromunderstanding attitudes and perceptions of consumers towards mobile as advertising medium vis. a vis. TV/ print to understanding habits and attitudes of consumers. Since the era of mobile advertising is till nascent and just beginning to grow, not much literature is available in this regard. We would like to explore the habits and attitudes of mobile users to identify key touch-points for consumers where advertising is successful. Also, we would like to identify how consumers are engaging with brands on this new found medium

Objectives
The objectives of the study are three-fold, as listed below: 1. To find the usage patterns and habits of mobile users 2. To understand the attitudes of consumers towards mobile advertising 3. To identify how consumers are engaging, currently, with brands through mobiles

Method of Inquiry
To understand the mobile usage patterns, observations and In-depth interviews are proposed. Observations will be most suited to allow researcher to gather first-hand data on the methods of mobile usage, frequency and duration of usage and locations of usage.

This allows researcher to also gain an understanding of the context and learn about things the participants may be unaware of or that they are unwilling or unable to discuss in an interview or focus group. In Interviews, responses from individuals will be helpful to provide first-hand insights into the respondents behaviours, attitudes, language, preferences etc. This will also help researcher to investigate the appeal of various existing mobile advertisers. Mobile phones have become ubiquitous and the high variety and customisation possible make them very personal to each individual. Thus, personal interviews will be more useful in deciphering the consumers perspective as opposed to understanding social interaction/norms on the matter. Besides, we do not want to gather any insights derived from social interactions at this stage of H&A study. Apart from understanding the existing and potential engagement platforms, it will also help in exploring possible avenues, ideas for mobile advertising. To understand attitudes of consumers and their current usage of mobiles, In depth interviews are suggested with participants to understand the need for mobile engagement and avenues where a gap exists. To understand attitudes of consumers towards mobile advertising, cartoon test approach is suggested. These cartoons will be interacting and the usage situation is depicted in the first drawing. The faces of characters are blank, to not influence the subjects response. An empty speech balloon, in the end, will be used to capture the reaction of the subject to the usage situation.

Profiling Respondents
The respondents for the proposed study are in the age group of 19-28 in India, who are the most popular with mobile advertisers in India. It is proposed to conduct an indepth interview with 30 respondents for about 20-30 minutes. Sampling: Criterion sampling with criteria as 1. Age group between 19-28 yrs 2. Smartphone user 3. Equal Males and females 4. Equal no. of Tier-1 and Tier-2 respondents

Guides for Research:

1. Detailed Guide for Observation The following questions are a checklist to understand the penetration of mobiles into the everyday lives of the people. Where do they use smartphone? (Observe in checklist) (These sites provide an understanding of the usage of mobiles in different locations) o Air-port lobbies o Trains and Railway Junctions o Hang out places o Movie theatres

o Gardens o Restaurants o Bus-stand queues o Office breaks etc. o Shopping malls o Others. How do people tend to use mobiles? Observe in checklist (add is new observations are made) o Intermittently check phones o Play games/read books while waiting o SMS/ Chat o Attend calls o Search way/ nearby locations Is there any reduction in usage if people are in groups? Or if the location changes to monotonous ones like waiting rooms and lounges? (Note: Such disproportional use of phones based on location can aid in location based advertising) Detailed Guide for In-depth interview Name Age What do you do? ......................................... What do you do to recreate? For leisure? (These questions are for observer to build a rapport with respondent) Do you have a mobile? What do you use it for? (Discuss each one to understand needs and usage habits) o SMS o Call o Games o Internet o Social networking o Productivity o Watch o Read e-books o Watch Videos o Listen to music o Read news What other things can mobile be used for? .. Do you ever leave your house without mobile? Why/ Why not? (Understand the role of mobile phones in his/her life) Do you use apps? What are they for? Have you played angry birdsor other relevant example like Dhoom-3 film app and game)? Have you seen ads around it? Do you like it? If you like an app/game on phone, do you discuss it with your friends/family? (understand influencers) Have you ever installed a game because your friend/ family suggested it? Did you ever downloaded and played with app after seeing its advertisement?

2.

Do you play games on mobiles? .(talk about it in detail- what game/ how play, whats the setting? Does he/she remember and recall it?) What do you find most engaging/ irritating about branded apps/ games/ productivity tools etc.?

Show mobile users some branded apps/ games etc. like:- Branded content for brands such as Maruti Suzuki and Vaseline. For Maruti Suzuki, a campaign called Cricket Maharathi, which involved advertising around sport. Launched during the ICC World Cup and Indian Premier League in 2011, the idea behind the app was to provide a forum to an average cricket consumer to voice his opinion. Thus, users rated players after each match and commented on the match. Another branded campaign for Vaseline Dressing Room, which is a mobile magazine that gives news about cricketers. Then continue Have you seen such apps? Do they interest you? What was good? What was bad? So you ever see ads on internet? Y/N? Do such ads come on mobile? (Find out if they find it intrusive and disturbing through casual conversation. For eg. I sometimes get very tired of listening and seeing ads all around. Does it ever happen to you?) Any branded app/ game/ service you can recall? Do your friends discuss the latest buzz in mobile apps? 3. Guide for Cartoon Test ( Cartoon tests aims to elicit response from consumers about different user sitiation) Image 1:

Image 2:

Image 3:

The last sheet will help in eliciting response from the respondent about how he will react. This is a sample and many situations can be built for such testing. For e.g. 1. Games 2. Discounts 3. Brand awareness 4. Productivity tools of different brands etc.

Plan of Analysis of data

For the data and notes from interviews to make sense, it should be grouped into different umbrella-headings. For that 1. Read data in full (all notes) 2. Identify emerging themes- For e.g. based on a. Popularity of certain apps (productivity tools) b. Games and videos (entertainment tools) c. Uncategorized insights Note: Make sure that during compiling, originality of data is not lost 3. These data can be recoded or reassembled if it makes more sense by emerging themes/patterns. For examples a. Influencers/ Trial Initiators, Followers b. Advice Seekers / Help seekers ( say for grooming, driving etc.) c. Gamers/ entertainment seekers Note: This can be done in matrix form and array and researchers notes can be gathered in footnotes

4. Interpretation of the data can be done to identify important touch points which can be effective for advertising

Expectations from the study

The study aims to gain insights into emerging trends of the very nascent mobile advertising market by 1. Understanding habits of mobile users 2. Ways of engagement of users with their mobile 3. To identify how consumers are engaging, currently, with brands through mobiles Since the consumers are newly exposed to mobile advertising, lot of imputs regarding apps (variety of examples) need to be prepared by researcher and shown to respondent as stimuli. (In this research we have used examples of Maruti and Vaseline)

References:
1. http://www.affle.com/media-centre/recent-coverage/mobile-advertising-indiastill-nascent accessed at 1800 hrs on 8th Dec 2013 2. Netscribes report on Mobile advertising in India in 2013