Apps That Simplify Travel Planning and Monetize Too

By Tim Cronin 

With users turning to mobile instead of their desktops and laptops, the idea of ‘smart travel’ couldn’t be any more prevalent than it is today. According to the ComScore MediaMetrix 2.0, nearly 40 million people age 18 and older visited a travel destination via mobile browser or app on their smartphone, representing 2 in every 5 smartphone owners accessing from a device running the iOS, Android or Rim operating systems. While TripAdvisor Media led the pack as the top travel destination for smartphone owners with an audience of 6.7 million visitors, Expedia and Southwest Airlines took the next two spots with 6 million visitors and 4.1 million visitors, respectively. Now add to the fact that almost 95 percent of all Android and iOS mobile traffic to travel-related content comes from mobile apps. So I wanted to highlight a few travel apps that don’t just simplify the travel process (from start to finish), but monetize too.

  

TripIt

One of the advantages of booking travel via mobile devices is that you can instantly access important details, such as flight confirmations and detailed itineraries. The TripIt app for iPhone and Android takes it one step further and lets users combine all of their flight information into one convenient location. As cool and useful as this app is for consumers, its developers knew that the app couldn’t survive just on adding users alone; they needed to monetize it. Frequent fliers like myself, who often spend two weeks out of each month on flights, in airports, in rental cars, and in hotels, can upgrade to TripIt Pro for an annual fee of $49. What’s great here is the clear delineation of benefits between the free app and the upgraded Pro version. Users who are less inclined to pay the annual fee of $49 won’t have their in-app user experience disturbed by ads or in-app purchases. However, those frequent travelers who care more about the long-term convenience and simplicity won’t blink twice about forking over the annual $49 fee for the Pro version. The TripIt app is a great example of why it’s important for app developers to understand who their target audience is, and tailor their monetization strategies accordingly.

HotelTonight

Since its January 2011 launch, last-minute hotel booking app HotelTonight has made some big strides  and as of January 2013, hit a huge milestone with four million downloads in the last two years. As HotelTonight CEO Sam Shank stated: “Mobile technology has revolutionized the way we plan our lives, totally shifting our mindset and approach to travel. We are no longer tied to pre-planned itineraries, but empowered to make spontaneous decisions about where to go and for how long.” I couldn’t agree more. The app, currently available in 10 countries and 80 destinations around the world, is in a very crowded and competitive market facing off against apps like Hot Hotels (UK & Ireland), Blink Booking (Spain) and JustBook (Germany). What better way to stand out amidst the crowd than to monetize? That’s exactly what the app did with the release of its 4.0 version in September, leveraging geo-location targeting to give users more personalized recommendations based on their exact location, booking history and feedback.

Is Your Mother’s Day Mobile Campaign Monetization-Proof?

By Tim Cronin

This year, Mother’s Day falls on Sunday, May 12. As consumers, moms have a considerable amount of influence and cache in making purchasing decisions. They aren’t just shopping for themselves; they’re making purchases for the entire family including their children and husbands. They’re purchasing goods across multiple categories, whether it’s apparel, groceries/food, consumer packaged goods, entertainment or technology. Now consider that moms are heavy-duty mobile consumers. According to our 2012 “Moms on Mobile” report, 97 percent of these “mobile moms” made a purchase using their tablet in the last month and 31 percent log more than 10 hours per week on their tablet, but log less than 2 hours on their PCs. That sounds just about right when you look at the latest statistics proving tablet sales are on pace to overtake PCs this year. So how can publishers and app developers be sure their sites and apps are monetization-proof this Mother’s Day?

Make mobile apps socially-compatible

Moms aren’t just mobile shoppers; they’re social, too. Take for example some of the findings uncovered in our “Moms on Mobile” report. Half of connected moms use social media on their mobile devices. 81 percent of them are fans of a brand, 86 percent post status updates and 84 percent comment on social media. In December 2012, social networking giant Facebook announced that nearly 200,000 iPhone and Android apps connect to Facebook. Developers like Wooga, Ludia and Buffalo Studios have also suggested that users who log into their mobile games with Facebook spend more time and money in the apps. Those are some pretty big numbers that publishers and app developers cannot afford to ignore if they want to get in on some of that $20 billion monetization opportunity Mary Meeker highlighted last year. Socially connected mobile users are clearly more valuable users than those who are just using social networks like Facebook and Twitter on their desktop computers.

Simplify the checkout process

When it comes to Mother’s Day shopping, the in-app shopping experience needs to be easy to use, display a multitude of products simply for users, allow for easy viewing of photo galleries, and simple to organize and share with friends/family. That’s a sure fire way to ensure your mobile app generates consistent clicks and revenue.

A great way to increase Mother’s Day sales would be to emulate Real Simple’s strategy last year. The mom-friendly magazine created a gift-guide app that allowed consumers to purchase recommended products right in the app. They could also share these products through social networking and mark favorites. With a mobile-friendly set up like the Real Simple app, app developers and publishers can market to moms and allow them ways to share their gift-receiving wishes through the channels they are already prone to using – social networking. This type of targeting could be great for monetization by allowing mobile shoppers the ability to share exact products, bringing consumers back to your mobile site or app to purchase the item.

Mocean Mobile VP Denise Fiore Featured In “Top HR Executive Rankings” By ExecRank

By Tim Cronin

In a recent interview with Forbes, our CEO David Gwozdz talked about what differentiates our premium mobile ad network from the competition in a very crowded market.  Some might suggest that having the best technology is what matters most. We don’t agree. In the words of our CEO David Gwozdz, “Our team really puts their heart and soul into it every day to make sure we deliver for both advertisers and publishers. As a result, even with fewer feet on the street than many ad networks, we are growing fast due to repeat business. While we have superior technology, at the end of the day, it’s all about the people.”

So we’re especially proud to announce that our very own Denise Fiore, Vice President of Human Resources, is featured in the 2012 list of “Top HR Executive Rankings” by ExecRank. It’s a great accomplishment for us and one that we feel is well deserved. Denise and the human resources team work hard to not only recruit and retain top talent, but also establish an employee culture through peer awards, appraisals, our Healthy Mojiva initiative, “eat and learn” sessions and educational/training reimbursements, to name a few.

We have a saying at Mocean Mobile “Everyone here is an A-Team player.” Everyone we hire thinks like an owner, not an employee. They’re invested in making our business grow in an organic and sustainable way. Whether it’s deciding to improve the work space flow and efficiency of an existing office (as opposed to moving to a new location), our teams do not approach decisions with the attitude of how it can benefit them. Instead, they’re looking at how their contributions can impact the business in a real way and help it grow into something strong and meaningful for years to come. That’s why our employees have always been, and will continue to be, our greatest asset.

As much progress has been made in our first five years of business, there are still areas to grow and improve. That will include partnering with the marketing and communications teams to develop consistent and engaging internal communications across all staff levels and global locations. To join our growing team, check out our Careers Page. 

Our Three Favorite Things From Advertising Week Europe

By David Gwozdz

Mobile creative, big data, monetisation, programmatic buying, Web 3.0, brand personalization, digital cinema – you name it, they were talking about it at Advertising Week Europe. The energy was definitely electric in London. Here are my three favorite moments from Advertising Week Europe.

Weve Leadership Breakfast packs a mobile punch.

Just by looking at how packed the room was at the Weve Leadership Breakfast, it was pretty clear just how top of mind mobile is on everyone’s minds. Moderated by Havas Global CEO David Jones, the panel’s powerhouse mobile carriers (and their CEOs) described their ambitious plan to combine their user bases of 15 million British mobile users to offer brand advertisers scale in their effort to access services like mobile payment, loyalty programs and through deep carrier consumer data, give advertisers the ability to reach consumers in a much more relevant way. It’s no surprise mobile operators have been somewhat on the outskirts of the mobile ad spend pie. Maybe Weve will finally find a way to insert these carriers into the equation in a meaningful way and, as a result, provide a model for other countries with fractured carrier models.

It’s all about truth, privacy and identity.

There was one session that was being talked about in the halls of BAFTA all week - Mission Impossible II: Truth, Privacy and Piracy. “Catch Me If You Can” real-life star Frank Abagnale recounted his own personal experiences of how he made a career out of duping and fooling friends, family, employers and the government into believing he was something he really wasn’t. Now an FBI security expert for the last 37 years, Abagnale is a great example of learning from your mistakes and has since paid back all of his ill-gotten cash. 

It made me realize just how sacred truth, privacy and identity are in the bigger scheme for both brands and consumers. It’s a great lesson for brands to be authentic and true in every advert, message and download they deliver to consumers. Is your mobile video ad authentic and engaging? Can you honestly say your banner ad answers the promise made when consumers click on it? Can consumers trust the safety of their identity when they click “purchase” on their smartphones and tablets? As much as I’m sure brands want to say “yes” to all of these questions, we’re not there yet. But acknowledging that you’re not always transparent or authentic is the first step. The next step is making sure you can deliver on that promise to consumers because, let’s face it, they’ll respond more favourably (clicks, downloads, video views and purchases) if they can trust you and vice versa.

Monetization matters.

When I saw the topic and impressive list of speakers for the panel, The Guardian: Monetisation Masters, I was intrigued. Talk about a powerhouse of insight all on one stage - Facebook, LinkedIn, Yahoo! UK, Criteo, SponsorPay, RadiumOne and PwC. And all of it was focused on how digital, mobile and social can work together to deliver ROI, what it means specifically for each medium, and the best ways to execute (creatively) and measure it.

One thing that stood out to me is that mobile-centered advertising isn’t as “unheard of” or preposterous as it once was when I presented at Cannes Lions last year. One year later and I’m happy to say mobile-centered advertising is better understood. The message has caught on so much so that a back-and-forth battle unraveled on stage. Standing firmly on one side of the debate was Michael Steckler, EVP Global Business Operations at Criteo. “The job of online advertising is to convert the final sale, and a point of sale should be included in an advert to facilitate this,” he said. To that, the panel retorted almost in unison that advertising has two functions – to inspire and to harvest demand. And what better way to harvest that demand than with mobile devices which allow consumers to engage in multiple activities (simultaneously) wherever they are, 24/7.