DIY Democracy iPhone app connects with politicians

EDITOR'S NOTE: Although this does not directly concern our business, I was intrigued by this iPhone application. Call our office if you have an idea for a custom mobile application. Reach Susan by dialing 954-583-9000.

Get this, voter: The Do-It-Yourself Democracy iPhone application lets consumers communicate directly with government leaders at local, state and federal levels.

Consumers can look up their representatives and then click-to-call or email them. The DIY Democracy application won second place in the 2009 University of Southern California Student Innovator Showcase.

“The strategy is to use advanced technology to revolutionize the way citizens communicate with their leaders,” said Matt Harrison, founder and executive director of the Prometheus Institute, Los Angeles. The Prometheus Institute is a nonprofit public policy organization.

City hauled
Mr. Harrison said mobile GPS functionality lets the application provide granular data and targeted contact information.

The application was initially released in California, given that it is a state with a strong heritage of direct democracy and local activism, as well as plenty of problems about which to complain.

Mr. Harrison said the target demographic for the application is educated, middle-class or higher consumers ages 18-40 who demand responsiveness from their government.

Going mobile to let consumers reach their government representatives is about convenience.

“The inconveniences of government rarely occur at a time of our choosing,” Mr. Harrison said. “Mobile connectivity allows citizens to protest problems when they occur – a pothole on your way to work, a construction project interfering with your commute, a new oppressive tax on a certain purchase or a police officer double-parked in front of a local donut shop.

“With one click, the application contacts the person responsible for the problem you seek to fix,” he said. “Only mobile technology offers such potential to curb the abuses of government.”

-Chris Harnick

Mobile Advertising to Grow 45% in 2010 to $3.8B

EDITOR'S NOTE: Contact Susan at AdKing to get your own private labeled Mobile Advertising System. Order now before the price increase! 954-583-9000 or AdKing.com.

While the advertising industry had a tough time last year, the display ad portion of the ad industry really suffered, According to JP Morgan’s 2010 Internet Industry Outlook released yesterday, online display ads are set to rebound, and the mobile advertising industry is on the verge of an even stronger return.

JP Morgan’s leading industry analyst Imran Kahn released the 328-page Interest Industry outlook which notes that total U.S. mobile advertising for 2009 is estimated at $2.6 billion, up 62 percent, with $2.3 billion of that from text messaging. Just 178 million was mobile search, and $140 million was display. Both of these were up 80 percent last year.
Turn to 2010, and mobile advertising is, according to Kahn, forecast to grow 45 percent to $3.8 billion ($3.2 billion SMS advertising, $253 million mobile display, and $31 million mobile search.)

That explains why Google and Apple are diving head first into mobile advertising and marketing, with Google’s AdMob $750M acquisition and today’s announcement that Apple will likely acquire Quattro Wireless for $250M. (It looks like Microsoft / Yahoo might want to scoop up Millennial Media or another mobile ad firm to compete.) The advertising industry as a whole may take a while to recover, but one of the largest growth areas is in mobile. Even though year after year industry types say “this is the year of mobile advertising,” looking at the current state of the industry, 2010 is starting out on a foot that might prove that sentiment right.

-Mobile Marketing Watch

Apple Buying Mobile Ad Company for $275 Million

Apple appears to be getting into the mobile advertising business, through a rumored purchase of Quattro Wireless for $275 million. This is about a third of what Google hopes to pay for competitor AdMob, if the feds don't end up blocking that deal.

The news of the deal comes this morning from All Things D, which helpfully reminds us that both Quattro and AdMob, which Apple unsuccessfully tried to purchase, are in a hot sector right now. Getting advertising onto smartphones, such as Apple's iPhone and Google's Nexus One, being introduced today, is seen as a big growth opportunity by the investing class. And as another maddening distraction by the rest of us.

Businesses seeking to advertise in the mobile environment should consider Google's intended purchase of AdMob as a good deal, if only because it is likely to simplify ad purchasing.

For Apple, the Quattro deal is the company's first investment in ad delivery. There are a number of ways Apple could use Quattro are part of its iPhone and, especially, tablet plans. Sponsored content for the tablet might be a way to subsidize the device's cost or networking expense.

The key to mobile advertising is to be immediately useful, by combining the user's needs and interests with location-awareness.

Not all ads need to be location-based, but Google can presumably figure out that I like Mexican food and might deliver ads to be around lunchtime when I am near Mexican places.

The ideal mobile ad needs to include some sort of a coupon and, ideally, a payment scheme. We're seeing bits and pieces of this already, though nobody seems to have gotten this together. Sounds like a Google project to me.

Meanwhile, this is the latest round in the new epic struggle between Apple and Google for, well, what? The two companies used to be BFFs, but that soured relationship has been replaced with competition in mobile services and operating systems, which Apple does well, and, now, advertising delivery, which is hard to imagine Apple ever doing well.

The Microsoft/Google battle seems to have moved to the backburner, with Apple/Google becoming hotter and more interesting, if less strategic.

-David Coursey

Low-Cost Mobile Advertising Targets Local Merchants, Professionals

Adking.com offers a new, low-cost commercial text messaging system that enables small businesses and professionals to send unlimited promotional text messages, sales alerts, and discount coupons to their customers' mobile phones anywhere, anytime. ADKING has made mobile advertising accessible to local merchants and professionals with small ad budgets but big marketing ideas.

Plantation, Fla. (PRWEB) December 30, 2009 -- Florida-based software company Brandel, Inc. today announced the launch of ADKING (www.adking.com), a short code-based commercial text messaging system that enables businesses and professionals to broadcast promotional text messages, sales alerts, and discount coupons to their customers' mobile phones anywhere in the U.S.

ADKING is extremely affordable and easy to use. Business users pay only a low flat-rate, usually between $39 and $99 per month, to send unlimited advertising text messages to an unlimited number of customers. Advertisers can update and send their text messages as frequently as they want by simply logging in to their account online.

This ability to send SMS advertising on a flat-rate, unlimited-use basis clearly appears to answer the need which many small businesses have been expressing: an affordable mobile marketing solution for legitimate, permission-based delivery of promotional text messages to customers who are definitely interested in receiving such information on their mobile phones.

The timeliness and popularity of mobile marketing also makes ADKING an excellent vehicle for individuals who seek alternative income sources. In order to beat unemployment and generate immediate income, many job-hunters are creating their own opportunities as entrepreneurs, starting their own business offering mobile advertising services to merchants and professionals in their own local areas.

"ADKING can be used by a single advertiser or by multiple advertisers simultaneously" says ADKING Chief Developer, Ben Deleon. "You can use ADKING to advertise your own business, or you can use it to offer mobile advertising services and send advertising text messages for other businesses and professionals. We have clients who make a living providing mobile advertising services to local restaurants, retail shops, service companies, real estate brokers, insurance agents, and more."

With nearly 250 million mobile users in the U.S. alone, the mobile phone is expected to become the most powerful marketing tool for brand owners, small businesses, and professionals. "This is the ideal time to offer mobile marketing as a service to local businesses that need to reach out to their customers anywhere, anytime," adds Deleon. "We have made mobile advertising accessible to local merchants and professionals with small ad budgets but big marketing ideas. With ADKING, mobile advertising is no longer exclusive to big businesses with big advertising budgets."

ADKING is already being used by hundreds of businesses, professionals, website owners, and individual entrepreneurs to broadcast SMS advertising messages. ADKING users also include schools, churches, and other institutional users that use text messaging to broadcast critical information to its members.

Learn more about ADKING by visiting www.adking.com or by texting "adking" to DOTCOM (368266).

About ADKING
ADKING is a low-cost SMS-based mobile advertising system that allows any business, brand, or web site to easily and affordably send commercial text messages. ADKING is owned and operated by Florida-based software company Brandel, Inc., which was founded in 1991 by Ben Deleon, author of two books on marketing, "1001 Marketing Ideas" and "Marketing On The Go".