Vodafone Details Sharp Focus on Mobile Ads & Ad-FundedThe Wall Street Journal looks at the mobile-advertising plans that loom large in Vodafone’s strategy to push ads to subscribers through a partnership with Yahoo. The article doesn’t cover new ground, but it does let us in on Vodafone’s thinking as detailed by Alan Harper, Vodafone’s head of strategy. For one, we have clear confirmation that Vodafone and Yahoo plan to use customer information to target their efforts. Yahoo’s technology, which Vodafone will use as part of the arrangement, enables advertisers to direct their message at people depending on gender, demographic group, location, and user behavior. “We can build up a social-interest profile over time,� Harper said in the article.
Vodafone will deliver ads only to customers who opt in to the service, in which case the mobile operator will collect details, such as the mobile user’s age and gender, at sign-up. Then, over time, it will build a profile of customers’ interests based on their activities over their phones. To sweeten the offer, Harper said Vodafone will offer users discounts on services such as mobile TV and games – but declined to provide details. However, he did indicate the freebies could include offering certain mobile television channels for free or giving a discount on the price of games.
Clearly, Vodafone is moving into mobile advertising to offset price declines and a steep sales slump across its core market of Europe. There are signs that Vodafone is thinking ahead to deliver ads via its fixed-line broadband offer, enabling a fixed-mobile ad approach. Harper said Vodafone is looking to introduce advertising in other countries, but won’t necessarily partner with Yahoo in each case. And Vodafone also has high hopes to deliver ads to users on their PCs.
