Grapevine Consulting

What? I want to understand this. Did this bloke really use a Motorola phone to film his marriage proposal and then Motorola heard about it?

Did Motorola find some bloke to use their phone and film his marriage proposal? What happened? What did she say?

I looked at the website as instructed but can’t work it out. So many questions - is that supposed to be the point?

Interesting application of mobile communications.

“British parents are enlisting their mobile phones in the fight against head lice. A campaign called ‘Beat The Bugs’ is letting them sign up for text messages whenever there’s an infestation at their child’s school. They’re called ‘Outbreak Alerts’, which sounds very exciting. After a trial run in Northampton, 77% of parents said they were supportive of the idea.”

[Via Pocket Picks]

…apparently. And, they’ve been handily labelled by InsightExpress as Mobile Pioneers, Mobile Wannabes and Mobile Traditionalists. I started thinking about the consumers behind the research. Below is my summary of the 3 types and my creative interpretation of which TV characters they might be.

Mobile Pioneers (15% of the market):

• Ahead of peers
• Uses advanced features weekly e.g. internet, unique apps, video
• Under-35, male and single
• 1/3 have a Smartphone
• Most likely to have thrown their mobile phone at someone or something
• Could be: Russell Owen from Hollyoaks. He fits the demographic and often seems to be both on his mobile and angry/stressed (could trigger a throw?). I’m not sure if it’s a Smartphone but generally other characters refer to how “smart” Russell is so I assume that would at least qualify him as ahead of peers. Russ was married but is currently single making him a close match for this category

Mobile Wannabes (25% of the market):

• Less than half are under 35
• Only 5% own a Smartphone
• Has tried some advanced features and would like to use them more
• Not as likely as the Mobile Pioneers to have walked into something while using device
• 30% of Pioneers had taken a picture of a product using their phone and sent it to someone to get an opinion
• Could be: Kitty Walker from Brothers and Sisters. Kitty is 39 so pretty much sitting on the age cusp of this group. She looks confident on her Blackberry but I’m sure would be interested to try more advanced features. Kitty asks her family about everything before she makes a decision, so I think she’d take pics and send them round the Walker family.  I still have an image of her as Ally McBeal so was troubled on the “walking in to things” criteria but think Kitty just scrapes in this category

Mobile Traditionalists (60% of the market):

• Most are over 35
• Mainly use phone for calls and texting
• Almost 1/4 have added ICE (in case of emergency) to their contacts list
• Could be: Dan Scott from One Tree Hill. He uses his mobile to call people and receive sinister texts from someone who knows he killed his brother (Dan thinks it actually *is* his dead brother texting him but I don’t think that qualifies as a mobile app). I’m pretty certain ICE would appeal to Dan as when he was having a heart attack his ex-wife threw his mobile at him and told him to call for help himself (N.B. If she threw the mobile could that class her as a Mobile Pioneer???)

[Via Mobile Marketing]

Digg it?

Sofia’s Diary, Bebo’s new interactive drama to follow on from KateModern, has signed-up Pearl Drops as the first integrated brand for the series.

I think it’s exciting to watch how this type of advertising will create new channels for up-and-coming creative talent, particularly in broadcast/film.

On a recent trip to NZ I caught up with Bevin Linkhorn of The Gibson Group and brains behind ‘My Story’ a 2-minute x 40 episode drama series which aired on terrestrial television in NZ  & was delivered to fans via mobile SMS.

Bevin highlighted some interesting benefits to this type of work:

• It was relatively cost effective vs. traditional production costs
• Short episodes could be shot and turned around faster (allowing future opps for audience interactivity in the story)
• Fans could virally share episodes by forwarding the clips

While MyStory did get some sponsorship on board it wasn’t essential as the project was funded by TVNZ.  [Update: Bevin got in touch to put me straight -  show was funded by NZ On Air's innovation fund ]. As projects like this become more commonplace though and funding gets competitive brand sponsorships could drive content creation and start turning production companies into distributors. We’re already seeing the music world changing distribution.

I also saw that at the recent 3GSM World Congress Robert Redford discussed the role mobile will particularly play in allowing independent filmmakers to reach new audiences. (The GSMA recently collaborated with the Sundance Film Festival: Global Short Film Project last year.)

If I was a film student right now I’d be all over this to get my work funded and out there - and if was a brand I’d be looking at the potentially attractive ROI of this type of activity.