Taco Bell’s first foray into the mobile space results in our recently launched mobile website.

Customers have access to the latest promotions, menu, and nutritional information from Taco Bell anywhere, anytime.  Most important, customers can find their nearest Taco Bell from wherever they are at the moment.  Immediate, localized results are providing TB customers with the information they want, when they want it.

Connect with Taco Bell on Twitter @tacobellcanada or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-Taco-Bell-Canada/102155344957?ref=ts

Are you kidding me?! The quarterly numbers came in for Apple a few days ago. While the numbers were good, what is noteworthy enough to write about is the number that jumps off the page in regards to iPhone sales. Last quarter, Apple is reporting that it sold 5.2 million iPhones!

That is a 626% growth from last year when Apple was reporting 717,000 iPhones being sold.

That said, these numbers don’t break the record of iPhones sold in a quarter. Q4 of last year reported almost 6.9 million iPhones sold which could mostly be due to the huge launch around the 3G. The latest numbers only include a few weeks of iPhone 3GS sales so I am eagerly waiting for the next quarter report as iPhone sales trend upwards and may soon catch up to sale numbers of the iPod!

Pretty sick demo of Layar which provides context-relevant data through the use of the compass, camera and GPS embedded within the phone. AR at it’s best and a look into how powerful mobile is.

Hot.

Fun find on uTube worth watching. Shows a great depiction of how the mobile phone has evolved from 1985 until today. I have identified my old favorite clunker from 1994 in there!

Match.com has released an iPhone application for its 15 million members to date on the go. Match.commembers will now have the opportunity to edit their profile, upload photos, and opt-in to a location based feature that allows them to see singles in their area - all from the iPhone.

The location based feature is pretty interesting to me. It begs the question, will Mobile Location awareness potentially lead to unwanted real world confrontations in the dating world? Why didn’t you wink back at me?! It’s not you, it’s the app? Regardless, it will be interesting to see if this LBS feature will help to draw new subscribers or be utilized as a value-add by current subscribers.

TORONTO, February 24, 2009 - The Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada today announced that Mobile Advertising Revenue in Canada grew from $1.1 million in 2006 to $2.7 million in 2007, and is expected to almost double again in 2008 to $5.2 million.

Standard SMS advertising programs currently generate 75% of the total Canadian Mobile advertising revenue, with the remainder divided across Premium SMS, Mobile Content, Mobile (Display) Advertising, Mobile Search and Mobile Applications. All forms of Mobile advertising are growing rapidly year-over-year, with the exception of Mobile Search, which is virtually non-existent at this time.

In thousands of dollars, 2007 vs. 2006 Canadian Mobile Revenue by Advertising Vehicle, breaks down as follows:

2007 Canadian Mobile Advertising Revenue by Major Product/Service Category was also tabulated, and was as follows:

“This is an important day for the Mobile marketing industry in Canada,” says Peter Vaz, VP Director, Digital Communications, M2 Universal Digital, and VP of IAB Canada’s Emerging Platforms Council. “The results show not only the rapid growth of the market to date, but beyond that, the fact that Mobile marketing is poised to move from one-off experimental campaigns to becoming an important part of the overall Interactive marketing mix. Moreover, as multimedia and network capabilities evolve within the channel, the nature of the advertising offer will evolve as well, moving well beyond current SMS programs, into more sophisticated and personal Mobile Content, Video and Application campaigns across an even wider range of Advertiser categories.”

While Mobile Advertising revenue is growing exponentially compared to other major media — 143% between 2006 and 2007, compared to the 5% growth rate of all major media and Online’s 38% growth over the same time period — this is to be expected, given Mobile’s relatively small and nascent advertising revenue base.

Yet even with this rapid growth, Mobile is still not without its challenges. When asked to identify possible business constraints going forward in the immediate term, Mobile Survey respondents cited the small size of the Mobile Internet-enabled audience and the revenue-building restrictions imposed by the current Carrier/Provider business model as the main obstacles to overcome in the short-term. Understandably, there is also some concern about the current economic downturn and the impact it could have on Mobile advertising growth in 2009.

“Fortunately, like all other Interactive media, one of the key strengths of the Mobile channel is its inherent measurability,” says Adrian Schauer, Managing Partner, Vortex Mobile and Chair of IAB Canada’s Mobile Comte. “Add to that the very immediate, targeted and opt-in nature of the advertising, and you have a golden triangle of opportunity for accountability and future growth that is of paramount importance to all clients, regardless of economic climate.”

I’ve always carried a bit of a grey cloud around me when it came to QR codes.  Not only did the QR code capture your attention visually but the creative possibilities derived from incorporating QR into our strategy were numerous. However, there were just too many barriers that had to be overcome or were not conquered at all.  Despite two days of googling, downloading, creating and testing, I could not get a QRcode to render on the many numerous readers I had installed.  It’s hot in Japan, Korea and the UK, but it just wasn’t happening for this Canadian girl yet.  

Imagine my excitement then when I got word from a friend at Microsoft that they just introduced their own version of the QRcode.  Coined Microsoft “Tag”, it uses High Capacity Color Barcodes (HCCBs) instead of the black and white matrix code used by QR.  Listed below is a quick overview of the advantages of the “Tag”:

• Designed from the beginning to work with the limited capabilities of a typical camera phone.
• Much smaller than other formats. Typical packaging application starts at 5/8 x 5/8”.
• Optimized for both print and video display.
• Enhanced Reed-Solomon error correction means Tags can still be read even if partially damaged.
• On many phones can decode using a direct real-time camera video stream, you don’t even have to “click” to read the code.
• Handles long URLs and allows for content to be dynamically changed

Overall, I am very impressed with the ease of which I was able to download the reader and how quick and painless it was to scan and retrieve the information within the Tag.   Try it yourself and scan the Tag I created. Have you tested out the “Tag” or seen it in action at any of the technology conferences? If so, I would be interested to hear your experience and what you think of it?  Do you think this is the next generation and potentially replace the use of QR codes?  What do you think about the possibility of Microsoft charging fees after it has gained ground in a few years?  Give us your feedback!  Needless to say, I’ll be watching this closely…

Nine years ago, when I had my first foray into digital marketing, I remember the largest barrier we would see in the advertising world was that there was a large percentage of brands, companies and traditional media planners that would show no consideration to “online advertising”. We then started to see a movement where they would throw a minimal portion of the budget into online for “testing”. Thankfully I now rarely hear the word “hits” in relation to the number of views on a website, and digital or interactive advertising has evolved nicely and become a necessity in any integrated marketing plan.

However we are now embarking on a new journey and I see myself yet again part of an advertising movement that right now is in it’s infancy in Canada. Mobile marketing has gained great momentum in Asia, Europe with the US is following suite. Canada can be seen at the tail end with some great mobile evangelists pushing for change. There are, of course, many barriers that exist in the telecommunications industry that have prevented growth and are carrier specific. However day by day, we see positive changes in the industry, with our carriers, handsets, and with the adoption of mobile within Canada. A recent Harris / Decima survey has reported mobile penetration in Canada at 72% - up from 64% in 2006. With so many Canadians connected to their mobile phones, my obvious excitement stems from the opportunities we can potentially leverage in this new forum.

However, what I’m seeing is a lot of confusion in the marketplace in terms of how to leverage mobile. I am brought back to the early years of ‘online’ where people weren’t sure what to do and thought that a one off tiny test would prove the measure of the media. The same thing seems to be happening in mobile; confused and uncertain, tiny budgets are being allocated to “tests”. A one off SMS campaign, a voting application, a mobile banner campaign here and there. But that has never been my approach. To operate in such a fragmented way, will never resolve the original business problem and most definitely not demonstrate the true power and opportunity that mobile provides. Mobile should be viewed as one of the arms of an integrated marketing mix that has touch points across all forms of media that your target audience interacts with. Simply put, it is one part of the whole. We need to consider what the business opportunity or problem is, what are our marketing objectives, what type of experience do we want to enable? At that point, we will best be able to determine how to leverage mobile, in what way, and how it will interact, engage and flow with the other media vehicles in the communication plan.

As we did nine years ago, our success will be driven by how well we educate and inform our clients on mobile, the opportunities it opens up, and how we can begin to shape our communication with the consumer through one-to-one engagement and experiences.

Toshiba, Vodafone and Sony Ericsson are among 14 companies that have shown their support for the Android platform by joining the Open Handset Alliance. The other new members are: AKM Semiconductor, ARM, ASUSTek Computer, Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin International, Huawei Technologies, Omron Software Co, Softbank Mobile Corporation, and Teleca AB. They joing the founding members, who include Google, T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm and Motorola.

Alliance members will either deploy compatible Android devices, contribute significant code to the Android Open Source Project, or support the ecosystem through products and services that will accelerate the availability of Android-based devices. With these commitments, the Open Handset Alliance says it will continue to drive greater and faster innovation for the benefit of mobile users and everyone in the industry.

The new members will add to the momentum of Android device availability, it says, providing developers with an even greater opportunity to deploy compelling applications that will reach a global audience. As a result, consumers around the world will benefit from a superior mobile experience that features less expensive devices, more compelling services, rich Internet applications, and easier-to-use interfaces.

Can you get an Android handset in Canada?  Not as of yet, but apparently the T-Mobile G1 handset can be used in Canada if you don’t want to wait.  You would have to get it unlocked, put a Rogers SIM card in it, and use an iphone/data plan from Rogers.  After that you have to modify the APN settings and you are off to the races!  These are some exciting times in the mobile space and we are set for accelerated growth.