Move over PokemonGo, You're PokemonGone with FreeBetHunt on the loose

The recent frenzy around the augmented reality PokemonGo mobile game can’t have escaped most of you. Whether it was you, your friends, your colleagues or your children who were hooked, there’s no doubt that PokemenGo had an immediate impact with some crazy scenes of mass PokemonGo players from across the globe. In case you missed the frenzy, my friend George did a little video about it to help explain the overnight sensation that was 20 years in the making.

I must admit, I did succumb, briefly, to see what all the fuss was about. It was kinda fun to play in Central London and it was kinda fun to compare which Pokemon you had with friends. But outside of that, not so much fun when you’re outside a big city due to lack of Pokestops and lack of Pokemon to actually catch that weren’t Rattatas, Spearows or Pidgeys. It also slowed down my walking when I’m actively trying to increase both my step count and the effort I put into my steps.

When PokemonGo first hit the market, you could see people playing locally where I live as it turned them into Pokemon zombies wandering aimlessly near Pokestops searching for rare virtual creatures. But that’s all but stopped now from what I can tell as the novelty has worn off. I deleted the app from my phone last week. The vibe was over.

It seems, however, that I was wrong. Brands are now getting in on the act and coming up with their own PokemonGo inspired geo-targeted treasure hunts.

The first is a game from betting company, 888Sport, imaginatively entitled 'Free Bet Hunt'. Instead of hunting Pokemon, you can hunt free bets around football stadiums.

FreeBetHunt is not quite as pretty as Pikachu's virtual playground. However, that may not matter. I’m not exactly the target market for this as I neither bet nor have any interest in football despite my surname being the same as a famous footballer of the late 20th Century. So, is this a winning strategy to get football fans betting more? I don’t know. How interested are 21st Century football fans with virtual treasure hunts? I guess time will tell. I welcome your comments on that score. I do applaud 888Sport on their speed to market though and their willingness to experiment with new technologies.

More info on how to play here (you need to be over 18 and have an 888Sport account and have deposited actual money in it in order to qualify).

Thursday thinking

Well, not so much me thinking as other folks are thinking about mobile stuff saving me having to think about it so much.

Tomi Ahonen writes about why the iphone isn't going to rule the world. It's a long post, but it's well worth a read. Web developers are obsessed with the iphone but this post clearly explains why that thinking is misguided. Meanwhile Screendigest believes that the iphone will revolutionise gambling. Hmm.

Russell Buckley questions Microsoft's current mobile strategy and believes they're in more trouble than they're letting on sales-wise. There's plenty of debate there so head on in and add your 2p. Whilst Alfie discusses the potential for Nokia to have the monopoly on computing (not just mobile) in the next 5 years. And it's raised a few heckles.

The TV: is it losing the battle for our attention? [I think it probably is as I sit here writing on my laptop, chatting on MSN with the tellybox on in the background]. And Blyk customer, Samantha, wonders if mobile marketing will ever work.

It's been a while

I've been gallavanting in Ireland at the rather marvellous Electric Picnic, and then had a bout of laryngitis and now I'm kinda back with a few links for you on a Monday. Of course, there's a ton of stuff I still need to catch up on but there's the day job to think about too. So you'll have to do with a few links until I magically find some time to blog more.

Stephanie from Atlantic Records dropped me a line to tell me about the mobile marketing she's doing for Yung Joc, a top-selling US hip-hop artist (no, I hadn't heard of him either, but then I guess I'm the wrong side of 22, much to my chagrin). Stephanie tells me, "to be a hustler, you gotta know how to trade like one. With the rise of the digital age, trading cards are shedding their physical skin and moving to the mobile world, Yung Joc style. Collect, trade, and redeem Yung Joc wallpaper for your cell phone and you could win a grand, or a call from Joc himself. Sign up for Yung Joc trading cards at cards.yungjoc.com or Text JOC to 87233 (TRADE). Get 3 cards straight to your cell for only a $1 a week. Collect all 42 and you just earned yourself street cred and an A in Hustlenomics. Competition is for US residents only.

And while we're talking about gaming and gambling, did you know there's new legislation covering this area in the UK. And as legislation is such a minefield, the nice folks at Million 2-1 (the lottery and games company), have created a lovely free guide to the new regulatory framework covered under the directives and legislation laid out in the new Gambling Act (effective September 1, 2007). Well worth a read if you're looking to do anything using premium rate SMS and telephony.

Got a Nokia N-Series phone? Like Audi? Then you might like this. Nokia users will be able to download one-minute clips from longer Audi Channel programmes such as Anatomy of Fear , which provides a scientific look at the emotion as we take celebrities Lady Isabella Hervey and Oliver Skeete to Dubai for a series of psychological tests to push their limits, and R10 v Harrier, which features the Le Mans winning Audi R10 going headto-head in a sprint race with an RAF harrier jet at RAF Wittering. The service is fully on-demand, so users can download the clips whenever they want using the N-series Plus service (which I've never heard of until now, and I've had a N-Series phone for over 18 months). The Audi Channel - a 24-hour non-subscription service on Sky Digital channel 884 and at www.audi.co.uk - will now also be available free to users of peer-to-peer network Joost, and Nokia N-series mobile phones.

Wednesday linkage

Some of these links are a little out of date as I've been away from my puter but I thought it was worth capturing them anyway just for the record. They're in no particular order...

• Mobile music price scandal (well billshock based on data charges) is a hot topic. Flat rate, easy to understand data plans are the answer IMHO and although we're moving towards that, we're not fully there yet.
  

• On device portals still going strong with Picsel powering KTF mags in Korea

• Mobile spam alienates users. Getaway! Of course it does, d'oh! Remember spam is in the eye of the beholder.

"The survey, carried out by research company GfK NOP, found that 64 per cent of users admitted to being annoyed by marketing offers received from mobile service providers. The survey also found that 70 per cent of phone users found the offers irrelevant to them.

The strategy of texting or phoning users with unsolicited offers appears to be failing with only 11 per cent of the 752 respondents surveyed buying products as a result of receiving an offer from their operator."

Of course, what they're missing here, is that an eleven per cent response rate is very high compared with other marketing methods. And in fact, if a network operator is sending a message to their own customer it isn't *legally* spam although it may be perceived as spam by the recipient if it's unwanted.

• Personalise your mobile with death and destruction in China... not sure why you'd want to, but hey, there's probably a market for it, unfortunately.

• Mobile advertising is working according to 2ergo and o2 (well we kinda knew that already from Admob's success with serving over 5 billion ads to date...)

• Turn your website or blog content into a phone call with Unwired Nation (sounds similar to one of the things that Spinvox can do)

• T-Mobile's video poker service has had over 60,000 visits since launch last year and also celebrates a £25,000 video poker winner soon after it's first £20,000 winner on mobile roulette

• World of Warcraft is working on a full mobile solution for their WoW gameplayers and has set the ball rolling with an interim solution for keeping up to date with what your character is up to. I wonder how long it will take for the experience of WoW, Second Life et al to become fully mobile?

• Can the iphone become a gaming platform? More hype or is there some substance to this? Not sure...

• Buy a domain, reboot your server, add emails, pay your bill, get support and more - on the go - from the world's first iPhone enabled web hosting control panel. Simple, intuitive and 100% iPhone compliant, with more to come from MediaTemple. Is this innovation or fad?

The Implications of the New Gambling Act - seminar 25th July

NOC and 160 Characters have joined forces to put on an event to discuss the implications of the new Gambling Act. This has implications for the way quizzes and competitions are devised and managed on television, but it also has implications for sales promotion quizzes and competitions too and how those are handled. NOC has brought together a variety of speakers (and delegates) to discuss the impact on the service providers in this sector and to assess the future landscape of this currently lucrative industry sector after the Gambling Act comes into force in September 2007. There are new compliance and regulatory rules to consider and if you are active, or considering being active in this sector, then this seminar is probably well worth a look.

The seminar is being held at 3pm on 25th July and costs £50 for members of 160 Characters or NOC and £80 for non-members. More information on their website.

The topics and speakers include:

"Bringing the GA to Life - The latest views and decisions of the Gambling Commission"
Tom Kavanagh, Deputy Chief Executive,
Gambling Commission

"The new regulatory framework for PRS in broadcast"

Paul Whiteing, Director of Policy & Innovation, ICSTIS

"What does the new GA mean for the Interactive Media Industry? - A checklist of actions to consider"
Brinsley Dresden, Head of Media, Brands &

Technology, Lewis Silkin

"Defining the roles and responsibilities of service providers and their customers within a clear regulatory framework"

Scott Davies, Director, Million-2-1

"Vote for independence - the importance of getting that external assistance for all promotional activities"
Jeremy Stern, Managing Director, PromoVeritas