One-day course in Mobile Marketing in London - 16 September 2008

For those of you who are interested, I'm running a one-day course on mobile marketing for the lovely folks at E-Consultancy on 16 September in London near Old Street. It'll be a small class and we'll cover all aspects of mobile marketing from SMS to mobile web with plenty of time for in-depth discussion, knowledge-sharing and case studies. And yes, we'll even talk about the iphone effect. At the time of writing, this is my last planned public course for 2008.

The course is suitable for marketers at all levels, all I ask you to bring with you is a smile, a good attitude and a willingness to take part. It is not a technology course so there'll be no programming although there might be a few gadgets to look at if I can borrow some in time for the day. Previous delegates have been more than pleasantly surprised at how much they enjoyed the day.

I'm currently updating the case study section of the course and I'm always interested to be updated with new, interesting, relevant case studies. So if you have something to share - with images and some indication of results (why it was a success or failure), then I'm very interested to hear about it. You can contact me via email. Also if you have relevant mobile gadgets or gizmos to lend me for the day, please do get in touch. I'm thinking specifically upcoming handsets, a Flip camera (to demonstrate UGC), NFC handset/demo or anything else you can think of.

Technorati Tags: mobile,mobile marketing,mobile web,training,seminar,sms marketing

Mobile Marketing - London Seminar | Training | E-consultancy.com

Museums are embracing mobile technology

Mike Short tipped me off to an interesting event coming up in September showcasing how museums like London's Tate Gallery are using mobile technology to enhance the visitor experience. (It's a one-day event "From Audiotours to the iphone" on 5th September and costs £150.)

And it got me thinking as to what museums are doing in the field of mobile marketing, advertising and media. And it seems they're up to quite a bit. And I imagine some of these things will be explored further at The Tate's forthcoming Symposium.

Across the pond, Cellit ran 'The Digital Post Office of Love', a Valentine's Day promotion, for the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art as part of its ongoing SMS marketing effort. This featured a large, interactive display where visitors could use their mobile phones to instantly post messages via sms to woo other visitors, all in the spirit of Valentine's Day.

Dan Sutch from Nesta's Futurelab has some ideas as to what mobile learning and mobile experiences could be like, particularly from a youth marketing and youth engagement perspective. The slides are interesting and should be food for thought.

Boston Museum of Fine Arts launched a mobile initiative, MFA Mobile. Through MFA Mobile, users are able to personalize a mobile device with works of art from the Museum’s extensive collection of art, ranging from a Claude Monet water lily or Edward Hopper lighthouse to an Egyptian sculpture or African mask.

However, I'm slightly more cynical about this as they were charging $1.99 for an individual image or $4.99 a month for a subscription. I suspect that you could actually take a picture with your cameraphone of *most* of the exhibits which would negate the need for the download. And not only that, if you go to the website, it's easy enough to save the images for free.

I think if I were running this service, I would look to make a donation optional but easy to do to help generate revenues. And perhaps provide the subscription package as an added value bonus to some other fundraising scheme. Maybe Boston museum-goers are happy to pay these prices?

I've been a fan of TXTual Healing for some time and they help create public performances with text messages, some of which are at museums and art galleries. Check out their blog for details of past events.

And if that's not enough, then a rifle through Textually's blog using the tag museum will come up trumps with some interesting examples of what's happening with mobiles and museums, including a lot of art exhibits.

Mastering Social Media

If you're interested in social media but not sure where to start, then I can recommend starting at the Mastering Social Media seminar next week in London at One Alfred Place.

In this masterclass you’ll get to work with Lloyd Davis, who is one of London’s most popular and experienced social media experts (and also organises the rather fabulous Tuttle Club). He'll help you understand what social media’s about without reverting to geekspeak and how to build rich and productive online relationships using simple tools. You'll also gain some practical experience of creating some social media and get help with applying what you’ve learned to your personal business context.

The day is designed for marketing and communications professionals who want to understand better just how social media and online social networking can work for them. With no more than 9 participants, you’ll be assured of individual attention. Most participants will already have some experience of at least one aspect of social media, but will want to become more comfortable and confident with a wider range of tools. You should bring along an example of a business issue that may be solved by using social media.

It costs £495 + VAT to attend the day and you can book it online right now. Lloyd really knows his stuff so if you want to learn about this stuff too, then go hang out with Lloyd for the day and become your own expert on the topic.

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