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Mobiento: in brief
Type of agency: Full service mobile agency.
Founded: 2001.
Acquisitions: N/A.
Main offices: Stockholm, Sweden (HQ); New York, USA; Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark.
Employees (in mobile): Over 50.
Ownership: Privately held/VC backed.
Contact details: hello (at) mobiento.com.
Web/Mobile Web: mobiento.com.
Recent news:
• Nov 2011 – Mobiento wins Silver at MMA Awards 2011.
• Nov 2011 – Mobiento voted Top-5 mobile agencies of 2011 (iMedia).
• May 2011 – Mobiento named one of Top mobile shops (Adweek).
• Mar 2011 – Test drive a Volkswagen inside a print ad.
• Dec 2010 – Scandinavian mobile agency Mobiento expands to US.
Profile submitted by: Per Holmkvist, founder and corporate development director, Mobiento.
Profile first published: Dec 2011.
Mobiento: in depth
1) Global annual revenue from mobile: Band D (US $5 to $10 million).
2) Is the mobile business profitable? Yes, in the mature business. No, in emerging business.
3) How is the company funded? Mobiento is partly funded via venture capitalists Stampen Media Group and partly by the founders/key employees of Mobiento.
4) Proportion of business related to mobile: 100%.
5) Business split: Strategy 25%; creative 25%; technology/production 50%.
6) Key mobile activities: Mobile Web 20%; mobile apps 20%; mobile messaging 15%; mobile advertising 15%; mobile social media 10%; m-commerce 10%, QR codes, short codes, premium numbers 10%.
7) What makes you stand out from the crowd? Mobiento is long-term full-service mobile partner. Since the company was founded in 2001, it has won awards for everything from simple SMS campaigns to advanced mobile sites and apps. No other agency has been a finalist at every single MMA Awards. Mobiento never uses technology as the starting point. The prescribed mobile strategy is always based on the studying the client’s requirements. Following consultation, half of the clients who thought they needed a mobile app will end up commissioning a mobile Website or another mobile solution. All projects are led by distribution – it doesn’t matter how brilliant your app is, if no-one downloads it – so the media plan should determine the creative concept in order to maximize reach. Bringing excellent creative ideas to market not only requires the best technology, but also cutting-edge interaction and user-experience design skills.
8) Main competitors: All digital creative agencies and specialist mobile agencies.
9) Type of clients/industries: Major regional and international brands in automotive, retail, FMCG, insurance, publishing, charity, telecom and other segments.
10) Client base: 40 to 50 clients including Volvo Cars, H&M, Adidas, Procter & Gamble, Lindt and Snickers.
11) Geographical coverage (with % of revenues): Scandinavia 65%; USA/UK/rest of the world 35%.
12) Works most closely with (apart from clients): Ad agencies; media agencies; publishers; messaging aggregators.
13) Case studies: There are video case studies showcasing Mobiento’s mobile Web, apps and ads work for clients including Adidas, WWF, Volvo, Comfort Hotels, Coca-Cola, MSF here.
Video case study: the multi-award winning VW campaign – Test drive a VW in a print ad.
• The profile continues below.
14) Recent award-winning campaigns:
• The full list of Mobiento’s accolades are here.
a) VW – Test drive a VW in a print ad, in partnership with TRY/APT Norway.
• Eurobest 2011: Gold (print category) and Silver (promo and activation category)
• INMA Golden Tag 2011: Gold (Best campaign)
• Cannes Lions 2011: Bronze (promo and activation)
• The idea was to showcase selected VW innovations by letting magazine readers test drive a VW Passat from within a print ad. This industry first was achieved with an augmented-reality app that recognized the pattern of a printed road within ads – these were inserts in leading Norwegian magazines that folded out to three pages. Three innovations were show-cased: Lane Assist mode, where the phone vibrates as the car gets close to the side of the road; Adaptive Lights mode, where the lights follow the curve of the road; and Adaptive Cruise Control mode, where the car maintains a safe distance from the car in front. The app also included VW news, a GPS-based dealer locator and a car model picture.
b) Situation Sthlm – SMS is King.
• MMA Global Awards 2011: Silver (Direct Response).
• The world’s first mobile-payment solution for a magazine sold by homeless people. Situation Sthlm is a Swedish street magazine sold by homeless people. So far cash has been the only payment method. But people are carrying around wallets filled with plastic, not cash. As it is not financially or practicably feasible for the homeless sellers to be equipped with credit card terminals, Mobiento created a campaigning solution featuring easy SMS payments, as well as tracking and reporting on individual seller level, as basis for each seller’s sales commission salary. This has created new revenue streams, and the investment had already paid for itself 10 times over, after just 3 months.
c) Volvo – On Call app.
• BusinessCar Fleet Technology Awards 2011: Best App.
• The app is an extension of Volvo On Call, a service that gives the driver direct access to a call centre in the event of an emergency. New Volvos fitted with On Call can now manage the vehicle from their smartphone checking location and status, e.g. fuel levels and service warning; and collecting detailed data of recent journeys. Drivers can check fuel economy and distinguish business from private journeys to facilitate expense claims. The car can also be locked and unlocked remotely via the phone and there are automatic phone alerts if the car alarm is triggered.
Video case study: Situation Sthlm – SMS is King.
• The profile continues below.
14) How do you sell mobile to your clients? The mobile channel is unique in that it is always with us, regardless of time and place. And the penetration is high. However, mobile is one of many channels, so to us it is more about what mobile can achieve in combination with the client’s other channels to maximize ROI.
15) What return on investment (ROI) should your clients expect from mobile? Mobiento loves ROI, but it can be measured in many ways. By defining ROIs and expectations early in a project, Mobiento steers creativity, production and media to accomplish these goals for clients.
16) Membership of/participation in industry bodies: Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), IAB, SWEDMA and INMA. Mobiento has been involved in developing Scandinavian mobile-marketing industry standards since 2005.
17) What needs to happen to accelerate mobile marketing/Web/services over the next five years? For starters, the acceleration is already quite impressive. But for mobile to reach its full potential globally we need smartphones for everybody and flat fee mobile data traffic for everybody. Also, brands need to keep on discovering the potential of mobile and allocate budgets that allows this to happen.
18) In 2015, mobile will be… … awesome. It will be the most used platform to access the Internet, a given choice for any serious marketer.
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