Mobile to become go-to call to action for advertising: Motricity CEO

Motricity, one of the leading providers of mobile content infrastructure and services, claims it is gung-ho about mobile marketing in this economy and so is its roster of clients.

In an in-depth interview, Motricity chairman/CEO Ryan K. Wuerch highlights the reason why he expects this year to be stellar and expounds on the trends that will shape mobile content consumption. He sees mobile at the center of a multichannel marketing universe.

“From the advertiser perspective, the mobile phone – and text messaging, in particular – will start to become the go-to call-to-action source for the advertising industry,” Mr. Wuerch said from the Bellevue, WA, base of Motricity, a company that has raised more than $400 million in venture capital since its 2001 founding. The interview:

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2009 – good for mobile marketing. Hype or reality?
Great for mobile marketing.

There will be so much opportunity for the industry in 2009. We have a lot to keep us busy.
This year, we’re seeing the demand for all-inclusive mobile data services and a more powerful way of accessing it. We are seeing the increase in adoption of mobile data services driven by:

• Cheaper, more powerful handsets
• The increase in mobile email and mobile browsing
• A growing interest in multimedia messaging – photo and video – mobile music, social networking and location based services
• Momentum of mobile applications platforms and proliferation of third-party mobile applications
• Increasing buyer interest in customization such as third-party applications, games and software
• Lower handset/data plan pricing trends globally
• Faster 3G networks
• Device convergence – GPS, music, camera, game console and media player
• Mobilization of business

Given this adoption of mobile data services and solutions, brands in particular are realizing there is a significant opportunity to provide high-quality content to mobile users.
In the past, many jumped head-first into the Internet and got burned by an unproven market.

Now, as brands take cautious steps into the mobile market, they are finding ways to deliver targeted content through the carriers to the end users.

Carriers are welcoming these brands and their strategies to encourage a flourishing marketplace.

Our ties with carriers offer brands a way to distribute their content to end-users. Both sides know this and can appreciate it. It’s just a matter of making it happen in order to grow mobile marketing.

How will this year be different from last year?
There are a few things we need to keep in mind.

First, the iPhone has educated consumers on what they can do on mobile devices.

Second, Internet juggernauts are moving more users off-deck.

Third is the increased competition within carriers.

Finally, the role of standards in the future is unclear.

Service providers must move from siloed point solutions and start to integrate and unify their platforms to maximize their returns from declining services.

They need to better prepare for the technical and business challenges in front of them in order to be competitive in the market.

What breakthroughs do you expect this year?
We think that all vendors in the mobile ecosystem will embrace the open strategy.

Content providers and brands are looking to leverage the data, intelligence and connectivity of the carriers in order to offer a personalized, relevant solution to consumers.

Carriers are looking to connect to a number of partners while protecting and monetizing their unique assets.

New solutions and services will arrive on the market enabling both areas of the ecosystem to expand.
From the advertiser perspective, the mobile phone – and text messaging, in particular – will start to become the go-to call-to-action source for the advertising industry.

Magazine ads, online banners, billboards and other forms of advertising will direct audiences to use their mobile phones to text messages to short codes to get more information on the product, service or campaign being advertised.

From the consumer side, mobile phones are no longer used primarily for voice applications.

Today, more and more users are beginning to rely on their devices for the mobile data services alone.

Developers and carriers will shift their focus on technology improvements—and advertising dollars—from voice services to data services. This will be further witnessed by the expansion of data-only devices such as the Apple iPod touch and the Amazon Kindle.

In a similar vein, we expect to see the mobile phone competing with Visa and MasterCard as the currency of choice for mobile payments—and consumers will no longer just be using their phones to purchase ringtones and mobile games.

They will also utilize the billing relationships established through carriers to move beyond the digital commerce realm to purchase physical goods, making the phone a point-of-sale machine.

Further, large numbers of consumers are showing a willingness to watch or listen to advertising on their mobile phones in return for free minutes or content.

This will continue to grow as content providers, marketers and retailers seek to increase awareness of their brands through these types of campaigns.

They will also utilize methods to send free, targeted text messages to mobile phone users who have opted in to their brands.

How is Motricity doing?
We’re doing great.

We’re thrilled about the direction we’re heading in and the growth we’ve seen year over year. We’re in the strongest position we’ve ever been in heading into 2009.

We’ve increased the functionality of our products and platform, new carrier binds now expand our reach to new subscribers, and new customer penetration translates into significant growth and expansion for our off-deck business.

Motricity’s focus, discipline and track record continue to deliver … results, and we’ve processed over $2 billion in gross content sales since 2005.

Are you positioning Motricity any differently?
We have successfully integrated Infospace Mobile into Motricity, so we’re certainly modernizing our brand to reflect the great opportunities we have in becoming one company.

Starting out, Motricity had a forward-looking, entrepreneurial style and InfoSpace Mobile was this long-standing unfaltering business, so we’re fusing the two to create a truly comprehensive powerhouse.

Motricity can confidently say we have a broader range of solutions, scalability, quality, reliability and faster delivery than any other company in the mobile data services ecosystem.

Amongst this merger and all of this new integration of staff and products, we’re still turning ideas into reality for our customers without skipping a beat.

What are your plans for this year?
Our No. 1 goal is to keep our global carriers and enterprise customers delivering personalized, compelling experiences to consumers in order to increase data usage, ARPU [average revenue per user] and brand recognition.

Innovation and challenging ourselves for continuous improvement is key.

As networks, handsets, and operating systems evolve, we are at the forefront of the mobile evolution and we need to keep harnessing all the information and all the knowledge coming in and turn it into advanced, original programs for our customers.

That’s why we formally developed our Motricity solutions and services group.

Will you pay more attention to some services that you offer over the others?
In fact, yes. “Services” being the key word.

Motricity has been focusing on the needs of our customers by developing the Motricity solutions and services group. This group is focused on four key practice areas:

• Bespoke/turnkey system development – Our consulting team delivers customer-specific new applications designed to meet specific business requirements.
• Systems integration – Motricity is the single-source vendor to integrate third- party applications and content designed to meet clients’ needs.
• Expert advisor/ideation – Our innovation team is the thought-partner to help define future offerings and develop business cases.
• Staff augmentation – Our solutions team augments existing staff with subject matter experts, providing support for line and operations work for clients.

We want our customers to know that their implementations will be fast, seamless and on time.

We’re really honing in on this because there is so much opportunity to grow our current customer base. If they aren’t satisfied, how would that help us in the future with other customers, prospective or current?

What’s the one thing you won’t do this year that you did last year?
In 2008 Motricity made significant technology investments in its … platform for mobile data, applications and services, the mCore Platform, to capitalize on the rapid growth of mobile data services globally.

This investment enabled Motricity to optimize its technology to advance the mobile industry in the areas of convergence and open mobile solutions, in order to deliver relevant content to consumers in a compelling way.

We are [at] the center of the mobile ecosystem, and Motricity will continue to deliver on its vision of powering the mobile lifestyle.

You have a new team in place, as well as a lot more funding. Great timing or intentional?
At Motricity, we are committed to working closely with our customers to help them develop and grow their mobile initiatives.

We continue to attract respected and proven executives known for success in their industries and dedication to helping customers achieve their goals.

We are attracting top talent to the team, namely Jim Smith to the role of president and chief operating officer, Richard Leigh as senior vice president and general counsel, Deepak Dhawan as senior vice president for solutions and services and Abe Danzinger as vice president of sales engineering.

Jim, Richard, Deepak and Abe are joining us at a time when Motricity is experiencing extraordinary momentum and growth. We look forward to leveraging their expertise and experience to take our business into 2009 and beyond.

Any recent milestones at Motricity?
Actually, we’re proud to announce that we just reached a record of $100 million revenue.

And we’ve delivered over 11.5 billion pageviews across all of our deployments, which is a 45 percent increase from 2007 to 2008.

According to comScore, Motricity’s mCore Platform reached 74 percent of all mobile subscribers that browsed any news or information on their mobile phones.

This significant milestone represents the breadth and depth of Motricity’s offerings in the marketplace.
Speaking of which, we’re expanding our mCore Platform’s capabilities – expect to see more details about that in the coming weeks.

How diverse is your client base?
We have longstanding relationships with mobile carriers, media companies, broadband suppliers, content providers, enterprises and handset manufacturers, so it really puts us in the center of the mobile ecosystem.

We’re fortunate to work with companies from every touch point in the mobile content space.

We power the content storefront where you purchase ringtones, themes and graphics from AT&T, T-Mobile, Alltel, Cricket, TracFone and BellMobility, along with information portals from carriers such as AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Virgin.

We also manage messaging applications for voting, polls, text to celebrities for brands like CNN, Fox News, A&E and Conde Nast.

We like to think of ourselves as the brand behind the brand.

What are your clients saying about mobile?
Our clients are seeing more mobile users heading off-portal to get the content and applications they seek, so there is a lot of opportunity here for carriers, in particular.

About a month ago, I made phone calls to a number of senior executives at some of our larger North American carriers and asked them if I needed to be concerned based on what’s happening in the economy, and based on some fluctuation we had been seeing in some of their numbers.

The answer: Not only is content and data usage the area of greatest growth and profitability right now, but that’s an area that will grow even further over the next three to five years.

They’re becoming more bullish than ever and are excited about it. That response was consistent with every carrier I spoke to.

But in order for their portals to stay relevant and the content providers and brands to make their products most accessible, they know they need to open up their walled gardens and partner with companies who have the ability to leverage the data, intelligence and connectivity of the carriers in order to offer a personalized, relevant solution to consumers.

The carriers then in turn will benefit by being able to connect to a robust number of partners while protecting and monetizing their unique assets. We like to call it “co-opetition.”

The Games of 2009

Over the course of December 2008, we rolled out a month of exclusive previews on some of 2009's biggest games (and a few smaller ones). It wasn't designed as a comprehensive list of everything coming out in 2009, nor a list of our most anticipated games, but rather a countdown of of exclusive previews highlighting many of the year's most promising titles. Check them all out below!
All Updates:

* Heavy Rain Heavy Rain (PS3)
* Infamous Infamous (PS3)
* MadWorld MadWorld (Wii)
* Wolverine Wolverine (360, PS3)

* GTA: Chinatown Wars Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS)
* Alpha Protocol (360, PS3, PC)
* Prototype Prototype (360, PS3, PC)
* Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? (PSP)

* Star Wars: The Old Republic Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC)
* Wolfenstein Wolfenstein (360, PS3, PC)
* Noby Noby Boy Noby Noby Boy (PSN)
* Splatterhouse Splatterhouse (360, PS3)

* Trine (PSN, PC)
* The House of the Dead Overkill The House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii)
* Bionic Commando Bionic Commando (360, PS3, PC)
* The Sims 3 The Sims 3 (PC)

* Batman: Arkham Asylum Batman: Arkham Asylum (360, PS3, PC)
* Dragon Age: Origins Dragon Age: Origins (PC)
* Diablo 3 Diablo 3 (PC)
* DarkSiders: Wrath of War (PS3, 360)

* Darwinia + Darwinia+ (XBLA)
* Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Wii)
* Tenchu: Shadow Assassins (Wii)
* StarCraft 2 StarCraft 2 (PC)

* Flower (PS3)

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Menambahkan Site di Index Google

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Verifikasi site di Google

Pada dashboard google webmaster tools, masukkan alamat url blog anda ke kotak di bawah tulisan add site. Habis itu google akan membawa anda ke halaman Verify a Site, pada halaman itu ada kotak yang bertulisan choose verification method. Di situ google menawarkan 2 alternatif yaitu menambahkan meta tag atau upload an HTML file. Untuk blogspot hanya bisa menambahkan meta tag, sedangkan untuk website formal bisa pilih yang mana yang anda suka.
Verifikasi meta tag

Di situ akan disediakan kotak yang bertuliskan code untuk verifikasi. Copy code tersebut dan masukkan kode html tersebut di dashboard > tata letak > edit html. Paste kode tersebut antara taruh meta tag di sini .
Membuat Html File

Pada Cpanel atau hosting anda buat html file dengan nama seperti yang disuruh google. Tapi lebih baiknya jika anda membuat html file pada direktori pertama ( public html).
Cara Cepat di Index Google (Wordpress)

Bagaimana agar site kita cepat diindex oleh google ? Tips yang menarik dari guru saya yang sudah menjadi blogger profesional di Indonesia ini.

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Obama says stimulus proposal could grow President-elect suggests he won't seek quick repeal of Bush tax cuts

*
Barack Obama will provide a tax cut for working families:

Obama and Biden will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 95 percent of working Americans the tax relief they need. They will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family.
*
Provide tax relief for small businesses and startups:

Obama and Biden will eliminate all capital gains taxes on startup and small businesses to encourage innovation and job creation.
*
Fight for fair trade:

Obama and Biden will fight for a trade policy that opens up foreign markets to support good American jobs. They will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world.

Plan to Strengthen the Economy

The Problem

Wages are Stagnant as Prices Rise: While wages remain flat, the costs of basic necessities are increasing. The cost of in-state college tuition has grown 35 percent over the past five years. Health care costs have risen four times faster than wages over the past six years. And the personal savings rate is now the lowest it's been since the Great Depression.

Tax Cuts for Wealthy Instead of Middle Class: The Bush tax cuts give those who earn over $1 million dollars a tax cut nearly 160 times greater than that received by middle-income Americans. At the same time, this administration has refused to tackle health care, education and housing in a manner that benefits the middle class.
Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Plan
Jumpstart the Economy

* Enact a Windfall Profits Tax to Provide a $1,000 Emergency Energy Rebate to American Families:Barack Obama and Joe Biden will enact a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families pay rising bills. This relief would be a down payment on the Obama-Biden long-term plan to provide middle-class families with at least $1,000 per year in permanent tax relief.
* Provide $50 billion to Jumpstart the Economy and Prevent 1 Million Americans from Losing Their Jobs: This relief would include a $25 billion State Growth Fund to prevent state and local cuts in health, education, housing, and heating assistance or counterproductive increases in property taxes, tolls or fees. The Obama-Biden relief plan will also include $25 billion in a Jobs and Growth Fund to prevent cutbacks in road and bridge maintenance and fund school re­pair - all to save more than 1 million jobs in danger of being cut.

Provide Middle Class Americans Tax Relief

Obama and Biden will cut income taxes by $1,000 for working families to offset the payroll tax they pay.

* Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families: Obama and Biden will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama and Biden will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans.
* Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less than $50,000: Barack Obama will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This proposal will eliminate income taxes for 7 million seniors and provide these seniors with an average savings of $1,400 each year. Under the Obama-Biden plan, 27 million American seniors will also not need to file an income tax return.
* Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans: Obama and Biden will dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes. Obama and Biden will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return. Experts estimate that the Obama-Biden proposal will save Americans up to 200 million total hours of work and aggravation and up to $2 billion in tax preparer fees.

Trade

Obama and Biden believe that trade with foreign nations should strengthen the American economy and create more American jobs. He will stand firm against agreements that undermine our economic security.

* Fight for Fair Trade: Obama and Biden will fight for a trade policy that opens up foreign markets to support good American jobs. They will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world and stand firm against agreements like the Central American Free Trade Agreement that fail to live up to those important benchmarks. Obama and Biden will also pressure the World Trade Organization to enforce trade agreements and stop countries from continuing unfair government subsidies to foreign exporters and nontariff barriers on U.S. exports.
* Amend the North American Free Trade Agreement: Obama and Biden believe that NAFTA and its potential were oversold to the American people. They will work with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to fix NAFTA so that it works for American workers.
* Improve Transition Assistance: To help all workers adapt to a rapidly changing economy, Obama and Biden will update the existing system of Trade Adjustment Assistance by extending it to service industries, creating flexible education accounts to help workers retrain, and providing retraining assistance for workers in sectors of the economy vulnerable to dislocation before they lose their jobs.
* End Tax Breaks for Companies that Send Jobs Overseas: Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that companies should not get billions of dollars in tax deductions for moving their operations overseas. Obama and Biden will also fight to ensure that public contracts are awarded to companies that are committed to American workers.
* Reward Companies that Support American Workers: Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 with Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to reward companies that create good jobs with good benefits for American workers. The legislation would provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America if it has ever been in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military.

Invest in the Manufacturing Sector and Create 5 Million New Green Jobs

* Invest in our Next Generation Innovators and Job Creators: Obama and Biden will create an Advanced Manufacturing Fund to identify and invest in the most compelling advanced manufacturing strategies. The Fund will have a peer-review selection and award process based on the Michigan 21st Century Jobs Fund, a state-level initiative that has awarded over $125 million to Michigan businesses with the most innovative proposals to create new products and new jobs in the state.
* Double Funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership: The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) works with manufacturers across the country to improve efficiency, implement new technology and strengthen company growth. This highly-successful program has engaged in more than 350,000 projects across the country and in 2006 alone, helped create and protect over 50,000 jobs. But despite this success, funding for MEP has been slashed by the Bush administration. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will double funding for the MEP so its training centers can continue to bolster the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers.
* Invest In A Clean Energy Economy And Create 5 Million New Green Jobs: Obama and Biden will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial scale renewable energy, invest in low emissions coal plants, and begin transition to a new digital electricity grid. The plan will also invest in America's highly-skilled manufacturing workforce and manufacturing centers to ensure that American workers have the skills and tools they need to pioneer the first wave of green technologies that will be in high demand throughout the world.
* Create New Job Training Programs for Clean Technologies: The Obama-Biden plan will increase funding for federal workforce training programs and direct these programs to incorporate green technologies training, such as advanced manufacturing and weatherization training, into their efforts to help Americans find and retain stable, high-paying jobs. Obama and Biden will also create an energy-focused youth jobs program to invest in disconnected and disadvantaged youth.
* Boost the Renewable Energy Sector and Create New Jobs: The Obama-Biden plan will create new federal policies, and expand existing ones, that have been proven to create new American jobs. Obama and Biden will create a federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) that will require 25 percent of American electricity be derived from renewable sources by 2025, which has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs on its own. Obama and Biden will also extend the Production Tax Credit, a credit used successfully by American farmers and investors to increase renewable energy production and create new local jobs.

New Jobs Through National Infrastructure Investment

Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that it is critically important for the United States to rebuild its national transportation infrastructure – its highways, bridges, roads, ports, air, and train systems – to strengthen user safety, bolster our long-term competitiveness and ensure our economy continues to grow.

* Create a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will address the infrastructure challenge by creating a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank to expand and enhance, not supplant, existing federal transportation investments. This independent entity will be directed to invest in our nation’s most challenging transportation infrastructure needs. The Bank will receive an infusion of federal money, $60 billion over 10 years, to provide financing to transportation infrastructure projects across the nation. These projects will create up to two million new direct and indirect jobs and stimulate approximately $35 billion per year in new economic activity.

Technology, Innovation and Creating Jobs

Barack Obama and Joe Biden will increase federal support for research, technology and innovation for companies and universities so that American families can lead the world in creating new advanced jobs and products.

* Invest in the Sciences: Barack Obama and Joe Biden support doubling federal funding for basic research and changing the posture of our federal government from being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history to one that embraces science and technology. This will foster home-grown innovation, help ensure the competitiveness of US technology-based businesses, and ensure that 21st century jobs can and will grow in America.
* Make the Research and Development Tax Credit Permanent: Barack Obama and Joe Biden want investments in a skilled research and development workforce and technology infrastructure to be supported here in America so that American workers and communities will benefit. Obama and Biden want to make the Research and Development tax credit permanent so that firms can rely on it when making decisions to invest in domestic R&D over multi-year timeframes.
* Deploy Next-Generation Broadband: Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe we can get broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation's wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan incentives.

Support Small Business

* Provide Tax Relief for Small Businesses and Start Up Companies: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will eliminate all capital gains taxes on start-up and small businesses to encourage innovation and job creation. Obama and Biden will also support small business owners by providing a $500 “Making Work Pay” tax credit to almost every worker in America. Self-employed small business owners pay both the employee and the employer side of the payroll tax, and this measure will reduce the burdens of this double taxation.
* Create a National Network of Public-Private Business Incubators: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will support entrepreneurship and spur job growth by creating a national network of public-private business incubators. Business incubators facilitate the critical work of entrepreneurs in creating start-up companies. Obama and Biden will invest $250 million per year to increase the number and size of incubators in disadvantaged communities throughout the country.

Labor

Obama and Biden will strengthen the ability of workers to organize unions. He will fight for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Obama and Biden will ensure that his labor appointees support workers' rights and will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers. Obama and Biden will also increase the minimum wage and index it to inflation to ensure it rises every year.

* Ensure Freedom to Unionize: Obama and Biden believe that workers should have the freedom to choose whether to join a union without harassment or intimidation from their employers. Obama cosponsored and is strong advocate for the Employee Free Choice Act, a bipartisan effort to assure that workers can exercise their right to organize. He will continue to fight for EFCA's passage and sign it into law.
* Fight Attacks on Workers' Right to Organize: Obama has fought the Bush National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) efforts to strip workers of their right to organize. He is a cosponsor of legislation to overturn the NLRB's "Kentucky River" decisions classifying hundreds of thousands of nurses, construction, and professional workers as "supervisors" who are not protected by federal labor laws.
* Protect Striking Workers: Obama and Biden support the right of workers to bargain collectively and strike if necessary. They will work to ban the permanent replacement of striking workers, so workers can stand up for themselves without worrying about losing their livelihoods.
* Raise the Minimum Wage: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will raise the minimum wage, index it to inflation and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to make sure that full-time workers earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs.

Protect Homeownership and Crack Down on Mortgage Fraud

Obama and Biden will crack down on fraudulent brokers and lenders. They will also make sure homebuyers have honest and complete information about their mortgage options, and they will give a tax credit to all middle-class homeowners.

* Create a Universal Mortgage Credit: Obama and Biden will create a 10 percent universal mortgage credit to provide homeowners who do not itemize tax relief. This credit will provide an average of $500 to 10 million homeowners, the majority of whom earn less than $50,000 per year.
* Ensure More Accountability in the Subprime Mortgage Industry: Obama has been closely monitoring the subprime mortgage situation for years, and introduced comprehensive legislation over a year ago to fight mortgage fraud and protect consumers against abusive lending practices. Obama's STOP FRAUD Act provides the first federal definition of mortgage fraud, increases funding for federal and state law enforcement programs, creates new criminal penalties for mortgage professionals found guilty of fraud, and requires industry insiders to report suspicious activity.
* Mandate Accurate Loan Disclosure: Obama and Biden will create a Homeowner Obligation Made Explicit (HOME) score, which will provide potential borrowers with a simplified, standardized borrower metric (similar to APR) for home mortgages. The HOME score will allow individuals to easily compare various mortgage products and understand the full cost of the loan.
* Close Bankruptcy Loophole for Mortgage Companies: Obama and Biden will work to eliminate the provision that prevents bankruptcy courts from modifying an individual's mortgage payments. They believe that the subprime mortgage industry, which has engaged in dangerous and sometimes unscrupulous business practices, should not be shielded by outdated federal law.

Address Predatory Credit Card Practices

Obama and Biden will establish a five-star rating system so that every consumer knows the risk involved in every credit card. They also will establish a Credit Card Bill of Rights to stop credit card companies from exploiting consumers with unfair practices.

* Create a Credit Card Rating System to Improve Disclosure: Obama and Biden will create a credit card rating system, modeled on five-star systems used for other consumer products, to provide consumers an easily identifiable ranking of credit cards, based on the card's features. Credit card companies will be required to display the rating on all application and contract materials, enabling consumers to quickly understand all of the major provisions of a credit card without having to rely exclusively on fine print in lengthy documents.
* Establish a Credit Card Bill of Rights to Protect Consumers: Obama and Biden will create a Credit Card Bill of Rights to protect consumers. The Obama-Biden plan will:
o Ban Unilateral Changes
o Apply Interest Rate Increases Only to Future Debt
o Prohibit Interest on Fees
o Prohibit "Universal Defaults"
o Require Prompt and Fair Crediting of Cardholder Payments

Reform Bankruptcy Laws

Obama and Biden will reform our bankruptcy laws to protect working people, ban executive bonuses for bankrupt companies, and require disclosure of all pension investments.

* Cap Outlandish Interest Rates on Payday Loans and Improve Disclosure: Obama and Biden will extend a 36 percent interest cap to all Americans. They will require lenders to provide clear and simplified information about loan fees, payments and penalties, which is why they'll require lenders to provide this information during the application process.
* Encourage Responsible Lending Institutions to Make Small Consumer Loans: Obama and Biden will encourage banks, credit unions and Community Development Financial Institutions to provide affordable short-term and small-dollar loans and to drive unscrupulous lenders out of business.
* Reform Bankruptcy Laws to Protect Families Facing a Medical Crisis: Obama and Biden will create an exemption in bankruptcy law for individuals who can prove they filed for bankruptcy because of medical expenses. This exemption will create a process that forgives the debt and lets the individuals get back on their feet.

Work/Family Balance

Obama and Biden will double funding for after-school programs, expand the Family Medical Leave Act, provide low-income families with a refundable tax credit to help with their child-care expenses, and encourage flexible work schedules.

* Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act: The FMLA covers only certain employees of employers with 50 or more employees. Obama and Biden will expand it to cover businesses with 25 or more employees. They will expand the FMLA to cover more purposes as well, including allowing workers to take leave for elder care needs; allowing parents up to 24 hours of leave each year to participate in their children's academic activities; and expanding FMLA to cover leave for employees to address domestic violence.
* Encourage States to Adopt Paid Leave: As president, Obama will initiate a strategy to encourage all 50 states to adopt paid-leave systems. Obama and Biden will provide a $1.5 billion fund to assist states with start-up costs and to help states offset the costs for employees and employers.
* Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities: Obama and Biden will double funding for the main federal support for afterschool programs, the 21st Century Learning Centers program, to serve a million more children. Obama and Biden will include measures to maximize performance and effectiveness across grantees nationwide.
* Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit: The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit provides too little relief to families that struggle to afford child care expenses. Obama and Biden will reform the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit by making it refundable and allowing low-income families to receive up to a 50 percent credit for their child care expenses.
* Protect Against Caregiver Discrimination: Workers with family obligations often are discriminated against in the workplace. Obama and Biden will enforce the recently-enacted Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines on caregiver discrimination.
* Expand Flexible Work Arrangements: Obama and Biden will create a program to inform businesses about the benefits of flexible work schedules; help businesses create flexible work opportunities; and increase federal incentives for telecommuting. Obama and Biden will also make the federal government a model employer in terms of adopting flexible work schedules and permitting employees to request flexible arrangements.

A victory for Obama, a victory for mobile

How much satisfaction should mobile marketers have today that the man elected to become the 44th president of the United States proved beyond doubt the ability of mobile marketing to effect sweeping change?

For when President-elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office on that cold January morning, he will have proved to the nation and the world that the combination of mobile and the Internet with door-to-door canvassing can elect an intelligent person to the highest office without regard to color, experience or heritage.

All it required was hope and optimism in the face of daunting challenges ahead, and a willingness to take risk – with an atypical message and powerful platforms such as mobile and the Internet.

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The Obama campaign’s excellent use of text messaging and the Obama Mobile Web site at http://obamamobile.mobi or http://m.barackobama.com should encourage not just politicians.

Marketers have a lot to learn from the way the young senator’s campaign harnessed the imagination and stirred the emotions of millions of Americans through mobile. They should study how this campaign aroused passion and anticipation through 160 characters sent at the right time to the right audience.
How to build brand passion among millenials: Ad:Te

Barack to the future

Voters young and old willingly donated small and not-so-small sums via the Internet to fuel the movement for change and willingly parted with their mobile phone numbers as a show-of-hands for the grassroots effort that the “Yes, We Can” movement required.

Textbook campaign
This publication regularly followed the Obama campaign’s use of mobile. For those who signed up, the text alerts from short code 62262 (OBAMA) were friendly and earnest. It didn’t look like a senator was messaging from on up high, but someone that you would know sending a friendly message asking for your support.

The SMS texts proved that the Obama campaign didn’t take the candidate’s growing popularity for granted. Every opted-in mobile consumer counted, every text endeared with an appealing call to action.
Obama epitomizes frontier of digital marketing: ad

First to mobile

The texts came with familiar regularity: Just before a local appearance, before the debates, before the final primary contest between Senators Hillary Clinton and Obama (please type Obama in the www.mobilemarketer.com search box for all Obama campaign stories).

In what will be remembered as a turning point in mobile marketing history – and it is marketing, because that is what politics is, the marketing of ideals personified by the candidate – the announcement of Senator Joe Biden as Mr. Obama’s vice presidential pick set the standard for the excitement that a text message can create.

More than 2.9 million text messages were said to have been sent out on that particular occasion. The Obama campaign has never really released the size of its mobile database, but the Biden announcement goes down in history as the largest mobile marketing push by text, at least to date.

The Obama campaign sits on millions of names in its opted-in mobile database. Many more names lie in its Internet database, accounting for a large chunk of the $650 million in funds that the campaign raised to elect an eloquent and inspiring man to the White House.

Know the code
This publication does not lean Democratic or Republican. It leans ethical marketing and mobile. The praise for President-elect Obama comes not from a plank, but for his understanding that consumers – voters, in this case – want to be part of the story. Mobile is their lifeline to the outside world.

The Republican campaign, for some strange reason, didn’t get that. The Republican Party is known for its grassroots efforts. Its strategists are adept at mining the electoral database to a point of perfection. But they failed to enlist the enthusiasm of consumers through the most powerful medium of communication today – mobile.

In fact, when penning stories on the Obama mobile efforts, this publication tried each time to be fair and see if the McCain campaign changed its attitude to mobile marketing. It never happened. For example, the McCain short code for SMS signups was hard to find on www.johnmccain.com.

The world only became aware of the McCain short code at the party’s convention in St. Paul, MN. And that SMS appeal was directed to donating to the American Red Cross via text for victims of the hurricanes brewing in the South. Even the Obama campaign pitched the same $5 text donations to the Red Cross, so there wasn’t a point of differentiation.

Take the run-up to the elections. Here’s what short code 62262 had to say in a text message at 2:53 p.m. EDT on Oct. 30:

“Less than a week until Election Day on Nov. 4th! Barack needs your help. REPLY to this msg with your 5 digit ZIP CODE for local Obama news and voting info.”

Four days later, this writer received another text message at 3:15 p.m. EST on Nov. 3 from short code 46708:

“Put your country first and vote on Tuesday! To find your polling location visit Gop.com/ElectionDay. Forward to your friends.”

That message didn’t even mention the Republican presidential candidate John McCain by name. Where was the emotional appeal? Why wasn’t there a stronger call-to-action?

Exactly 24 hours later, another text message pops into the box, this time from short code 62262 on Nov. 4 at 3:28 p.m. EST:

“People who love their country can change it! Make sure everyone you know votes for Barack today. For voting info call 877-874-6226 or VoteForChange.com.”

Bite the bullet
Long story short, there is a lesson here in the Obama victory for marketers gun-shy of using mobile for customer outreach.

Yes, the economy is slowing. Yes, budgets need to be cut. Yes, Wall Street’s demands for sterling quarterly performance have to be met. But you don’t walk away from the future. You don’t trade tomorrow for yesterday. And mobile is the future, and the future is here.

The enthusiasm for mobile was palpable Nov. 3-4 at the ad:tech New York conference for interactive marketing technology professionals (see story).

The GoMobile! Zone was busy on both days. Visitors were researching the many ways they could include mobile in their multichannel plans. They sought advice from the pavilion’s 16 exhibitors – those smart souls who evangelized mobile to an audience of online and brand marketers because they saw the connection between the many interactive channels.

Many exhibitors plan to return to the next ad:tech in San Francisco. Why? They see the value in being spokespeople for an industry whose time has come, slowing economy or not. Consumers have spoken for mobile, just as they have for the first mobile president of the United States.

Inspiring by example
The Obama victory must inspire not just the African-Americans or minorities, but people of all backgrounds. People indeed have high expectations of Mr. Obama and here’s hoping he lives up to them.

Mr. Obama’s election should inspire marketers to take risks and include mobile and the Internet in their media and marketing plans.

There is absolutely no reason why the Fortune 500 brands or even small business should not embrace mobile advertising and marketing, text messaging and the mobile Internet.

The numbers of mobile subscribers is growing nationwide and across the world. Mobile phones are getting more sophisticated. Data plans are more consumer-friendly. Above all, the consumer is ready to dialogue on mobile.

An opted-in mobile database of consumers is gold for marketers and can do for them what it did for a bold man seeking to solve this nation’s problems.

At 12:16 a.m. EDT this morning, a text message popped into this writer’s inbox. The sender was short code 62262.

“We just made history. All of this happened because you gave your time, talent and passion to this campaign. All of this happened because of you. Thanks, Barack.”

BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN’S PLAN FOR SMALL BUSINESS

There are approximately 25.8 million businesses in the United States and over 99 percent of all employers are
small businesses, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will help
small businesses by cutting health care costs, improving access to capital and investing in innovation and
development.
Lower Health Care Costs with a New Small Business Health Tax Credit: Barack Obama and Joe Biden
understand that the skyrocketing cost of healthcare poses a serious competitive threat to America’s small
businesses. Small businesses are the drivers of job growth in our economy, creating, on average, more than twothirds
of net new jobs each year. Yet small business owners face unique challenges in providing health care to
their employees, including higher administrative costs, lower bargaining power, greater price volatility and
fewer pooling options. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will reduce the burden on small businesses in our
economy by offering a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide quality health
care to their employees. The Obama Small Business Health Tax Credit will provide a refundable credit of up to
50 percent on premiums paid by small businesses on behalf of their employees.
Obama’s Small Business Health Tax Credit will work alongside other aspects of his health care plan to lower
costs and improve competitiveness for America’s small businesses, including:
• Access to a Low-cost National Health Exchange: The Obama health care plan will provide small
businesses with new opportunities to buy low-cost, high quality health plans for their employees through
a national exchange similar that will allow small businesses to get the same benefits of spreading risk
and administrative costs over a large pool that larger businesses currently enjoy.
• Reduced Volatility and Lower Costs by Reimbursing Catastrophic Costs: The Obama plan will
reimburse employer health plans for a portion of the catastrophic costs they incur above a threshold if
they guarantee such savings are used to reduce the cost of workers’ premiums. This reimbursement
(often called reinsurance) is particularly important for small business plans, which can be overwhelmed
by the costs of catastrophic expenditures for even a single employee.
• Investment in Cost Reduction and Quality Improvement Strategies: The Obama plan will
aggressively lower health costs by facilitating broad adoption of standards-based electronic health
information systems, and other value-increasing innovations improving chronic care management, and
increasing insurance market competition.
Provide Zero Capital Gains and Other Tax Relief for Small Businesses and Start Ups: Barack Obama
believes that we need to reduce burdens on small business owners, many of whom are struggling to succeed as
health care and energy costs continue to skyrocket. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will eliminate all capital
gains taxes on small and start-up businesses to encourage innovation and job creation. Obama and Biden will
support small business owners by providing a $500 “Making Work Pay” tax credit to almost every worker in
America. Self-employed small business owners pay both the employee and the employer side of the payroll
tax, and this measure will reduce the burdens of this double taxation.
Expand Loan Programs for Small Businesses: Access to capital is a top concern among small business
owners. Barack Obama cosponsored the bipartisan Small Business Lending Reauthorization and Improvements
Act. This bill expands the Small Business Administration’s loan and micro-loan programs which provide startup
and long-term financing that small firms cannot receive through normal channels. Obama and Biden will
work to help more entrepreneurs get loans, expand the network of lenders, and simplify the loan approval
process.
Support Innovation and High-Tech Job Creation: Barack Obama believes we need to double federal
funding for basic research, diversify energy sources, expand the deployment of broadband technology, and
make the research and development tax credit permanent so that businesses can invest in innovation and create
high-paying, secure jobs.
Create a National Network of Public-Private Business Incubators: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will
support entrepreneurship and spur job growth by creating a national network of public-private business
incubators. Business incubators facilitate the critical work of entrepreneurs in creating start-up companies.
They offer help designing business plans, provide physical space, identify and address problems affecting all
small businesses within a given community, and give advice on a wide range of business practices, including
reducing overhead costs. Business incubators will engage the expertise and resources of local institutions of
higher education and successful private sector businesses to help ensure that small businesses have both a strong
plan and the resources for long-term success. Obama and Biden will invest $250 million per year to increase
the number and size of incubators in disadvantaged communities throughout the country.
Invest in Women-Owned Small Businesses: Women are majority owners of more than 28 percent of U.S.
businesses, but lead less than 4 percent of venture capital-backed firms. Women business owners are more
likely than white male business owners to have their loan applications denied. Barack Obama and Joe Biden
encourage investment in women-owned businesses, providing more support to women business owners and
reducing discrimination in lending. To create greater opportunities for women business owners who would like
to do business with the federal government, Obama and Biden will implement the Women Owned Business
contracting program that was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, but has yet to be implemented by the
Bush Administration.
Increasing Minority Access to Capital: Access to venture capital is critically important to the development of
minority-owned businesses. Yet there has been a growing gap between the amounts of venture capital available
to minority-owned small businesses compared to other small businesses. Less than 1 percent of the $250 billion
in venture capital dollars invested annually nationwide has been directed to the country’s 4.4 million minority
business owners. And in recent years, there has been a significant decline in the share of Small Business
Investment Company financings that have gone to minority-owned and women-owned businesses. In order to
increase their size, capacity, and ability to do business with the federal government, and to compete in the open
market, minority firms need greater access to venture capital investment, as well as greater access to business
loans. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will strengthen Small Business Administration programs that provide
capital to minority-owned businesses, support outreach programs that help minority business owners apply for
loans, and work to encourage the growth and capacity of minority firms.
Promote Small Business Ownership in the Communications Industry: Barack Obama joined Senator John
Kerry (D-MA) in calling on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to immediately address the issues
of minority, women and small business media ownership before taking up a second review of wider media
ownership rules. Obama has continued that fight by urging the FCC to establish an independent panel on
minority and small business media ownership. As president, Obama will support efforts to achieve diverse
media ownership, particularly in an era of increased media concentration.
Support Local Businesses Affected by Hurricane Katrina: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Barack Obama
introduced the Hurricane Katrina Recovery Act to rebuild the Gulf Coast. This bill included language to
increase the government-wide goal for procurement contracts awarded to small businesses owned and
controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals for recovery and reconstruction activities
related to Hurricane Katrina. Obama also established a government-wide goal for procurement contracts
awarded to local businesses in Katrina-affected areas of 30 percent of that total value for 2006 and 2007.
Provide Emergency Relief: Barack Obama supported legislation to provide emergency relief to small
businesses affected by a significant increase in the price of heating oil, natural gas, propane, or kerosene. This
bill authorized the Small Business Administration to make disaster loans to assist small businesses that have
suffered or are likely to suffer substantial economic injury as the result of a significant increase in the price of
heating fuel.
Support Rural Small Businesses: Barack Obama and Joe Biden will support entrepreneurship and spur job
growth by establishing a small business and micro-enterprise initiative for rural America. The program will
provide training and technical assistance for rural small business, and provide a 20 percent tax credit on up to
$50,000 of investment in small owner-operated businesses. This initiative will put the full support of the
nation’s economic policies behind rural entrepreneurship.
Promote Digital Inclusion: The lack of affordable, high-speed Internet access in rural, urban, and minority
communities has created a digital divide between those who have access to the Internet and those who do not.
This severely limits the growth potential of many urban and rural companies. Approximately only one-third of
rural areas and half of urban areas have high-speed Internet at home or work. The areas affected by Hurricane
Katrina have particularly suffered due to a lack of IT infrastructure. Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe we
can get true broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal
Service Fund, better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation technologies, and new
tax and loan incentives. As a key step to achieving full broadband access, Obama believes the Federal
Communications Commission should provide an accurate map of broadband availability using a true definition
of broadband instead of the current 200 kbs standard and an assessment of obstacles to fuller broadband
penetration.

8 reasons for building an iPhone Web application

These days, having an iPhone Web application or an optimized Web site is not just a nice to have for your business – it’s a must have. Why?

Because with the soaring popularity of the iPhone and the iPod touch, the mobile Web revolution has begun in earnest, and if you are not part of it, you risk losing your hard-earned customers to competitors who are.
Here are eight reasons why your business shouldn’t wait another day to develop an iPhone Web application.

1. The iPhone is the top-selling mobile phone – Consumers are flocking to the iPhone in droves. According to the NPD Group, the iPhone overtook the No. 1 spot for the first time in the third-quarter of last year, beating out the Motorola Razr V3.

2. More people browse the Web on the iPhone – Within just six months of its U.S. launch, the iPhone became the most popular device for accessing news and information on the Web, according to M:Metrics, a mobile measurement firm. An estimated 85 percent of iPhone users browse the Web on their handset, the firm reported. The average for other phones? About 13 percent.

3. The iPhone is an increasingly viable ad sales platform – IPhone users are exposed to mobile ads more than any other handset. In November 2008, the iPhone ranked as the No. 1 handset worldwide by count of ads requested.

Furthermore, brands looking to include banner ads in their iPhone sites can, in most cases, continue to use the same ad serving system that they use on your standard Web site or take advantage of one of the many mobile ad networks that offer iPhone-specific programs.

4. Competition in the space is limited – for now – Despite the overwhelming popularity of the iPhone, most brands do not have an iPhone-friendly version of their Web site yet. If you compete in a crowded vertical, this means you can really differentiate yourself and gain new customers by developing one.

5. Capitalize on the iPhone’s favorable brand image – Consumers are fanatical about their iPhones. They love downloading cool applications, and they love visiting iPhone-friendly web sites and are quick to tell their friends about it. If your company is wise enough to engage this key demographic on their favorite handset, then they will likely think favorably of you as well.

6. An iPhone Web site also works on an iPod touch – This is an important consideration, considering the iPod touch is also mushrooming in popularity.

According to AdMob, the number of requests to their network from the iPod Touch was up 300 percent between November and December of last year. The iPhone and the iPod touch now account for 15.5 percent of requests to AdMob’s network. So, in addition to reaching all those iPhone users, you are also able to reach iPod users as well.

7. Building an iPhone-enabled Web site is easier than you think – Remember, an iPhone Web application, as Apple calls it, is not a piece of software, but an actual Web site that is made to “fit” the iPhone viewing experience.

For example, when you view a regular Web site on an iPhone, you are forced to zoom in on the site to actually read and interact with it.

With an optimized site, everything appears full size on your iPhone screen. Here’s a good example of what an iPhone site looks like on your desktop browser: http://iphone.soapnet.com.

Although easier than software, building a good iPhone site still takes expertise to ensure a rich, interactive user experience that is consistent with a client’s overall branding. It also needs to match the experience that iPhone users have come to expect from best-in-class iPhone sites.

8. The mobile Web revolution has begun – time to jump in – According to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the mobile phone will become the primary means of accessing the Internet worldwide by the year 2020.

One of the main reasons is that researchers expect future mobile phones to have nearly all of the functionality that personal computers have. How can they assume this? Because the iPhone is nearly already there.

With its easy Wi-Fi connectivity, a browser that renders Web sites as you would see them on the desktop browser and the ability to download and run an increasingly broad spectrum of fun and useful applications, the iPhone is proving to be much more like a handheld computer than a phone.

Forward-thinking companies, who get their feet wet with iPhone-optimized Web sites, will be well poised for what the mobile future holds.

Plan to Strengthen Civil Rights

Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement

Obama and Biden will reverse the politicization that has occurred in the Bush Administration's Department of Justice. They will put an end to the ideological litmus tests used to fill positions within the Civil Rights Division.
Combat Employment Discrimination

Obama and Biden will work to overturn the Supreme Court's recent ruling that curtails racial minorities' and women's ability to challenge pay discrimination. They will also pass the Fair Pay Act to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
Expand Hate Crimes Statutes

Obama and Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice's Criminal Section.
End Deceptive Voting Practices

Obama will sign into law his legislation that establishes harsh penalties for those who have engaged in voter fraud and provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote.
End Racial Profiling

Obama and Biden will ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal incentives to state and local police departments to prohibit the practice.
Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Support

Obama and Biden will provide job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling to ex-offenders, so that they are successfully re-integrated into society. Obama and Biden will also create a prison-to-work incentive program to improve ex-offender employment and job retention rates.
Eliminate Sentencing Disparities

Obama and Biden believe the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.
Expand Use of Drug Courts

Obama and Biden will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior.

Key opportunities for mobile marketing in 2009: A sector-by-sector look

Where are the key opportunities for mobile marketing in 2009? As marketers look to engage with customers and prospects on tighter budgets, they will turn to mobile and the Internet for their ROI potential.

First off, the use of common short codes for text messaging along with a mobile-friendly Web site should be standard issue for every ROI-focused company’s mobile marketing and commerce kit in 2009. But there are other mobile marketing tactics that marketers can deploy to meet their strategic objectives in a year when most of the world will be licking its wounds from an economic meltdown.

Here are some ideas for marketers, ad agencies, publishers and mobile service providers to mull on. They are not comprehensive – and some tactics are already employed by many marketers – but at least should stimulate action in 2009. This is not a time to be coy, but to prove that mobile marketing will help revive a flagging economy because of the value it delivers to the end-consumer.
Apparel and accessories
The biggest value that mobile delivers to the apparel and accessories business is helping build a database of opted-in consumers.

Marketers can use their stores, shopping bags, wired and mobile Web sites, email newsletters and loyalty card bills to encourage customers to sign up for the mobile loyalty program.

SMS alerts on a pre-decided frequency will help inform consumers of sales, new merchandise, special offers, store openings and gifting occasions.

The mobile site should serve as a comparison-shopping service, store locator or inventory search tool. The site should actively encourage consumers to opt in for SMS alerts and for the brand’s email newsletter, thus cross-promoting with another channel.

Don’t forget the mobile coupon. While most point-of-purchase systems are not equipped for mobile coupons, it is just a matter of time before mass redemption becomes a way of life for deal-loving consumers.

And then there’s mobile video. Victoria’s Secret has its own channel on Qualcomm’s MediaFlo mobile television service. The lingerie brand recently ran a mobilecast of its famed fashion show on mobile.

Similarly, upscale fashion brand Stella McCartney launched a WAP and Apple iPhone site for its merchandise, stores and videos of its catwalk appearances. So can other fashion labels.

Arts and entertainment
This sector has been adept at using mobile for sales of music – ringtones fetch more revenue on a per unit basis than downloads of an entire song – as well as advertising new movie releases and television shows.

What would on-the-go consumers want from their mobile for entertainment? Short clips of movies and TV shows, songs, ringtones, trailers, theater locations, SMS alerts of premieres and concerts, discounted tickets, mobile coupons, mobile fan clubs, backstage passes, mobile games and links to mobile sites.

Enabling those activities are SMS, free content, mobile sites and microsites, mobile coupons, mobile videos, in-game mobile ads and mobile banner ads on popular content sites.

Automotive
Alas, this industry is on extremely shaky legs. But it must be said that the U.S. auto industry has been a good friend to marketing for the longest time – as one of the largest-spending ad categories and also in terms of marketing innovation.

If budgets are available, automakers should focus on using every possible channel to build a mobile database of loyal customers and prospects. Imagine a mobile fan club of Cadillac enthusiasts or the Chevy Malibu owners.

Automakers can use their wired Web sites to encourage visitors to sign up for alerts from dealers – new models, test drives, markdowns, dealer events and tune-ups.

In addition, automakers can use their various channels to encourage consumers to text in for dealer quotes by email, fax or phone call. They can also use mobile to invite consumers to car shows.

Every major auto brand should have its own mobile site, replete with specs, dealer information, pricing, images and videos. The site should offer the option for SMS and email alerts as well as feedback on the brand.

Consumers using mobile sites of auto information brands such as Cars.com, Kelley Blue Book or Edmunds.com are already comparing prices on dealer lots. It’s important to ensure that automakers and their key dealers have a comparison-shopping tool on their mobile sites.

What can mobile do to sway consumers toward an auto brand? In-game ads, mobile fan clubs, mobile videos, mobile banner ads on key auto sites, SMS alerts and mobile sites – all developed to complement existing marketing channels in their effort to create desire among consumers.

Above all, banner ads on mobile sites can work. Clicking on the banner takes the consumer to a mobile landing page, with request for further pre-qualification.

Once the ZIP code is entered, the consumer clicks through to another page to face three options: click through to a mobile microsite with the car brand’s details and videos, click to text or click to call directly to the car dealer or to a call center.

Remember, the car business is all about creating desire for a particular model – something Detroit forgot in the past 30 years. The car, the mobile phone and the house typically reflect the consumer’s personality.

Consumer electronics
It’s a no-brainer: Use SMS alerts to invite opted-in consumers to visit stores or online for deals on various electronics items. Retailers such as Walmart and Amazon employed mobile alerts to drive consumers to shop for discounted television sets over the holidays, for example.

Consumer electronics manufacturers must work closely with retailers to encourage such mobile shopping. They must use their wired Web sites to ask consumers to opt in for SMS alerts and tips on deals at various stores based on the ZIP code volunteered.

These manufacturers show also work with comparison-shopping services to ensure a presence on mobile sites.

Finally, there’s nothing like running mobile ads on reputable mobile sites as part of a wired and mobile Web buy. A Samsung ad across The New York Times’ mobile site at http://mobile.nytimes.com during the holidays would have won the manufacturer precious branding time and space, for example.

Would consumers buy a big-ticket electronics item from a mobile site or by clicking on a mobile banner ad? Yes – eventually. Who thought in 1999 that consumers would buy furniture online? And yet store chains such as Crate and Barrel, Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma have a strong ecommerce business.

Consumer packaged goods
Without any doubt, the No. 1 pressing need for all consumer packaged goods marketers is to list a common short code and pertinent keywords on all product packages.

There is no excuse: Research shows that consumers are trending toward more texting as data plans get cheaper. What better way to elicit feedback from consumers other than a keyword FEEDBACK texted to a short code?

Sure, CPG companies list a Web site and toll-free number on their product labels. But many consumers today prefer texting instead of calling and talking to a disinterested voice at the end of the line.

In addition to SMS for texting in praise or criticism, marketers can also use the short code for encouraging consumers to sign up for recipes, alerts, mobile coupons and fan clubs. Yes, why can’t there be a Campbell Soup mobile fan club?

Most important, SMS can help CPG companies build an opt-in mobile loyalty program. These companies are increasingly worried of becoming disconnected from their end-consumer since the retailer owns that last-mile relationship.

A mobile loyalty program keeps CPG players connected to their end-consumer, just as their online loyalty programs do with their newsletter updates, helpful tips and special-deals news.

CPG companies should employ SMS alerts, mobile banner ads on targeted sites, mobile coupons and a mobile loyalty program.

Education
Students are the most text-savvy demographic nationwide and around the world. Talk to them in their language: SMS alerts for classes and recorded wakeup or reminder calls from professors for their classes – all opt-in, of course.

Every university and college should have a short code. The short code can be used in conjunction with various keywords for purposes such as open houses, campus-wide alerts of closures or security threats, reminders, recruiting and feedback.

All campus bookstores should use mobile coupons to encourage student visits. So should campus and off-campus restaurants.

Educational institutions should begin working on building opted-in mobile databases for alumni activities. There’s a fair chance those students will retain their mobile phone numbers for a number of years, so texting them alerts on alumni gatherings, recruiting or fundraising events seem logical.

It is also common sense for every university or college to have a mobile site with class schedules and the ability to sign up for SMS alerts.

The institution’s mobile site and short code should be publicized everywhere: prospectuses, wired Web site and in stores.

Come enrollment time, educational institutional should run banner ads on top-notch publisher sites to attract not just the potential students but their parents. How about mobile banner ads on the mobile sites of U.S. News and BusinessWeek? They are known for their college rankings.

Let’s not forget mobile videos of lectures. Why not sell them a week after the class? It’s a good revenue stream for the university or college and a resource for the student who may have attended or missed the class.

Mobile videos – including a brief introduction from the dean – on the institution’s mobile site is also a powerful recruitment tool. The video file can also be delivered to the email account if the prospective student texts in to request.

Oh yes, how about the admission news by SMS?

Financial services
For all the turmoil that investment and retail banks have wrought, they are pioneers in mobile commerce. Bank of America, for example, has signed up more than 1 million customers for mobile banking. And that’s only since the summer, when it launched that facility.

Similarly, Chase ran a $70 million ad campaign on television, with supporting mail, online and in-bank collateral to promote its mobile banking service. Text alerts on balances, transfers from one account to another, checking balances, updates – you name it, these pioneering banks have it on their mobile applications.

Sure, security is a major fear with mobile, just as it is for online banking. But it is yet another option for customers on the go. So mobile Web sites and SMS alerts make absolute sense in this case.

Food and beverage
Why can’t every can of Coke and Pepsi have a short code with the keyword FEEDBACK? Why can’t every pack promote a mobile game or promotion? Why can’t Coca-Cola actively promote its MyCokeRewards mobile effort on its packages?

It’s the same argument as the consumer packaged goods segment: Food and beverage marketers need to engage with their end-customers to engender lasting loyalty with the brand, not the retailer selling it.

Fast food chains get mobile. McDonald’s and Subway franchisees are using mobile coupons to drive traffic in-store. Domino’s Pizza and Papa John’s Pizza allow consumers to order food and drinks from their mobile sites.

In fact, Papa John’s recorded more than $1 million in mobile Web sales from the five months since the mobile ordering system’s launch in July.

Restaurants can encourage consumers to sign up for mobile alerts geared to deals and special offers. Domino’s, for example, sends SMS alerts during lunch time.

Some food manufacturers are already texting recipes in the late afternoon so that consumers can shop for the ingredients on the way home to prepare dinner.

Employ the same tools as the CPG players: SMS alerts, mobile sites, mobile loyalty program, ringtones, leveraging television advertising on mobile, mobile coupons, in-game advertising, mobile banner ads and mobile videos.

Government
Mobile can be a legal swamp for government. But government departments can learn from online. How about allowing consumers to pay bills on mobile in the same manner as they do online? Local town councils can certainly benefit from that facility.

What government can certainly do is ensure that all public spaces – airports and train stations, for example – have Wi-Fi coverage to help laptop warriors and mobile users.

Another must for each town and city is a short code and keyword FEEDBACK. Town and city councils must know what’s on the mind of their citizenry.

And it should be mandatory for every town, city and state to have a mobile site and short code. Tourism and business visits play an important role in this interconnected world.

So, make sure that every city or state’s visitor’s bureau has a mobile site with all the details that their wired Web site would have – where to stay, tourist attractions, videos, video welcome from the governor or mayor, shopping destinations, parks, museums, beaches and the most important of all – maps.

Encourage visitors to those mobile sites to sign up for alerts for the duration of their stay. Those signed up can get text messages on shopping and dining deals, museum visits, hotels and tourist attractions. Serve mobile coupons, too.

Healthcare
Another area where the lawyers take a look before the ad agency. The highly regulated healthcare industry can certainly stand up informational mobile sites modeled on their wired Web sites.

A major utility is the use of SMS to alert opted-in consumers of the next refill of their prescription. This alert can come from a pharmacy such as CVS/pharmacy or Walgreens or from a pharmaceutical manufacturer such as Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson.

Pharma companies can also offer allergy information on their mobile sites and via text messages.

SMS is the best tool for pharma companies simply because some patients – the elderly, for example – may not care much for fancy mobile stuff. But given the fact that 99 percent of mobile phones nationwide have SMS, the channel is ideal for delivering refill reminders or health alerts.

It makes sense for pharma manufacturers to run mobile banner ads with links to microsites or videos on reputable publisher sites – weather.com, AccuWeather.com or the various newspaper brands with a mobile presence, for example.

Home furnishings
Similar to apparel and accessories and the retail sectors, the home furnishings business can benefit vastly from using mobile to develop deeper ties with customers.

Don’t expect consumers to buy a sofa from the mobile site – it may happen yet, especially on an iPhone-friendly site – but at least it offers pricing and style information that help with store, online or telephone purchases.

All home furnishings brands should list a short code and keyword DEALS on their catalogs. They should encourage consumers to opt into the mobile database to receive timely SMS updates of new merchandise, special offers, coupons or sales, be it cookware, tabletop items, rugs or furniture. The messages can drive consumers to the store or online.

Legal
Law firms can certainly use a short code and keyword ADVICE on all marketing material – ads in publications, television and radio commercials or on the subway. The goal should be to encourage those in need of legal help to text in if they haven’t already been recommended a law firm.

A mobile site would help, outlining the biographies of the attorneys, their specialties, victories and contact details. A video from one of the top partners would reinforce the credentials of the firm.

Media/publishing
The media industry, just like the financial services and automotive industries, is in for the ride of its life. The entire media business model has changed.

Compound that misery with an economic slowdown where advertising and marketing budgets are the first casualty.

Print advertising revenue that used to support a publisher’s operations is on a rapid decline, especially across daily newspapers and business and trade magazines nationwide. Blame the reader’s preference for consuming free content on the Web for this malaise. Advertisers have gauged that trend and moved budgets online, but with vastly smaller spend than in print.

Web advertising and content-access revenues alone will not be able to support a publisher’s expenses – mortgage or rent, salaries for staff or columnists, transportation, printing, postage, insurance and technology.

Now add to that another gathering trend: consumption of news on mobile phones. Ad revenues for Web aren’t even there yet, and mobile is still a rounding number for most publishers, so what to do?

Have a mobile-friendly Web site with banner space for advertising. Strike single-sponsorship deals with existing advertisers to combine their online buys with mobile. It is key to link the two channels.

What an established publisher has on mobile is a brand that advertisers can trust and place their ads next to without fear of unpredictability. Publishers and content owners need to leverage that reputation.

Also, work with advertisers to sponsor channels and text alerts. That’s another SMS-based revenue stream.

And then there’s mobile video that again can be sponsored.

There is no easy solution for publishers at this time. But their survival is critical for banner-based mobile advertising to flourish. Mobile ad networks and ad agencies should work closely with publishers and content owners to ensure that mobile is a complement to online.

The unspoken fear is that mobile sites will do to the wired Web sites what the wired Web did to print: not just complement, but cannibalize and question print’s utility in an interactive world.

Nonprofits
Every nonprofit must have two mobile tools: a short code and a mobile-friendly site. Individual donations are falling to below the $10-level, especially when large nonprofits such as the American Red Cross suck up all the household charity budgets during hurricanes and large-scale calamities.

So it is critical for smaller nonprofits, and even the bigger charities such as the Red Cross or The Salvation Army, to raise donations by text to rapidly respond to emergencies.

The Red Cross, for example, has successfully worked with the wireless carriers to encourage $5 donations for its disaster relief fund. The organization raised more than $200,000 in its most recent September through December appeal.

Subscribers of participating wireless carriers can donate $5 up to five times per month by texting the keyword GIVE to 2HELP (24357).

Charges for these donations will appear on the subscriber’s mobile phone bill each month. They can also be debited from prepaid account balances for those mobile consumers without a contract.

Standard text messaging rates may apply to those texted donations.

Other charities can follow the Red Cross’ example. Publicize the short code on the direct mail, email and Web sites. Encourage donors to sign up with the mobile program. Strike a similar billing relationship as the Red Cross did with the carriers and also work with an SMS aggregator.

Building a mobile database not only will save smaller charities in these hard-pressed times, but will also result in repeat donations.

Mobile also cuts creative, printing and postage costs out of a charity’s operations. Thus, a larger percentage of the donations can go to the actual cause for which the funds are raised.

Politics
Barack Obama.

Yes, ask Team Obama how they used the combination of a mobile Web site and SMS text alerts to elect the 44th president of the United States.

Ask them how they used SMS to build a database of grassroots supporters.

Ask them how much they spent on the Obama Mobile site. They will tell you: $7,000. Highly subsidized, of course.

Every politician needs to have a mobile database of voters, just like they do of mailing and emailing lists. That’s the future of get-out-the-vote efforts and stirring the base.

But the key point here is that mobile was used effectively in conjunction with other channels to elect a candidate to the highest office nationwide.

Real estate
Bad time to suggest mobile, isn’t it? But the irony is, mobile can help get those lots and houses sold.

Smart agents and Realtors will use short codes and keywords unique to each house on the signs or placards over the property.

Consumers walking or driving by can text in for information on that property, with returned links to the mobile site, images, videos and pricing information. They can also click to text or click to call the Realtor.

Agents get to know that a prospect is interested when that initial text is sent. So they are completely alert and informed and can respond accordingly.

Retail
Retail is the biggest beneficiary of mobile. Every retailer worth its salt should have a short code and mobile Web site.

Retailers should use mobile to build a mobile database of opted-in consumers signed up for the mobile loyalty program. Offer existing online and offline loyalty program members that option.

Once in the mobile database, retailers can text alerts on offers, discounts, store openings, sales, new merchandise and events.

A mobile-friendly site is a must. Consumers must have the convenience of shopping and searching for merchandise as comfortably as they would on the wired Web, keeping in mind the screen-size and download-speed limitations of mobile.

As cheaper data plans proliferate, more consumers will expect to have the same experience on the retailer’s mobile site as they did on the wired Web site. That’s just the way it is – see what happened with ecommerce as it developed in the early years of this decade.

A presence on mobile comparison-shopping sites is a must. Consumers will flock to such sites to compare prices, especially as more iPhone-friendly sites proliferate.

Retailers must use SMS, mobile sites, mobile videos, coupons, mobile banner ads on content sites mobile email, mobile search and a mobile loyalty program.

This industry must also prepare for mobile commerce.

It is a matter of time before impulse or smaller-ticket purchases – flowers, books, music, theater tickets, utility bills, travel and food – migrate to mobile. In that respect, mobile will take cues from the wired Web, which poached those purchases from store, telephone and catalog.

Yes, many have security concerns over mobile commerce. And many still do harbor fears over online shopping. That still hasn’t stopped tens of millions of shoppers from making ecommerce the one bright spot for retail this holiday season.

Retailers shouldn’t let their fears hold them back. Eventually, almost every mobile phone nationwide will have Web-capability and every subscriber will have the same expectations of mobile commerce as they have of ecommerce.

Better to be prepared now, with mobile marketing and commerce, and learn on the job with a smaller audience than have an outage during a future holiday season because of crushing demand.

Amazon and Walmart are smart in that respect. They have got their alerts program up and running and are sure to analyze the response to mobile overtures this holiday season.

Walmart’s mobile holiday alerts program is a pioneering venture that few expect from a limbering retail giant whose superstores lack gloss.

Carriers have to gear up, too. Mobile commerce can not only be an opportunity – the purchases can be added to the subscriber’s bill if a retailer has partnered with the carrier – but it can also threaten the network.

Too much shopping traffic during the holidays and the network may slow down crash, unable to pull up the request Web pages. That could harm the retailer’s brand and also the carrier’s reputation.

So carriers need to anticipate that by 2010 or 2011, mobile purchases will become second-nature to consumers as ecommerce.

Sports
The opportunity for sports publishers and franchises on mobile is tremendous. Checking sports scores is one of the top activities on mobile. So it’s no surprise that ESPN Mobile is one of the top mobile destinations nationwide.

For publishers, the sports section or the sports mobile site is an ideal opportunity to sell banner ads or sponsorships against content. Marketers can also sponsor text alerts to opted-in consumers, as well as run ads in mobile videos of games.

Sports franchises such as Major League Baseball or the National Football League can transfer their wired Web dominance to mobile.

With their grip on content, these organizations can charge consumers for access to their mobile sites for exclusives, screensavers, ringtones and videos. Don’t forget the potential to sell tickets to games.

Selling mobile with the wired Web in a package would be ideal.

Team owners can pretty much do on mobile – content-, commerce- and advertising-wise – what they do on the wired Web. Only the imagination limits.

Travel
Travel is ideally suited for mobile. So it’s not a surprise that the industry is one of the most mobile-savvy.

Mobile sites and SMS alerts to hotel and airline deals as well as gate changes have become standard issue. Many hotel chains allow mobile bookings. Airlines let fliers change flight details as well.

All players in the hospitality and travel business are acutely aware of mobile’s valuable use. Hence the emphasis of getting consumers signed up for the mobile loyalty program. Hotels, for example, can text guests that a restaurant on the property has a special deal for dinner.

Likewise, casino players such as Harrah’s are using mobile to track the movements of loyalty club members on their premises. Driving traffic to the desired venues and to increase spending per guest are key objectives.

In addition to SMS, the mobile database and the mobile site, hotels and airlines must use mobile banners on reputed publisher sites to advertise packages and deals.

There’s no reason why, say, a British Airways media buy on The New York Times’ wired Web site can't extend to the publication’s mobile site, since the demographic will likely mirror.

In conclusion, regardless of the state of the economy, budgets are moving toward more measurable, ROI-focused media. That means Internet marketing and mobile marketing.

This is not the time for mobile marketers to hibernate, but to press their case to marketers looking for value from their advertising and marketing budgets.

Neither is this the time for marketers and brands to completely disappear from the consumer marketing scene. Remember, out of sight is out of mind. Better to trust a short code than a short memory.

The euro and the competitiveness of European firms

Much attention has been paid to the impact of a single currency on actual trade volumes. Lower trade costs, however, matter over and beyond their effects on trade flows: as less productive firms are forced out of business by the tougher competitive conditions of international markets, economic integration fosters lower prices and higher average productivity. We assess the quantitative relevance of these effects calibrating a general equilibrium model using country, sector and firm-level empirical observations. The euro turns out to have increased the overall competitiveness of Eurozone firms, and the effects differ along interesting dimensions: they tend to be stronger for countries which are smaller or with better access to foreign markets, and for firms which specialize in sectors where international competition is fiercer and barriers to entry lower.

Household debt repayment behaviour: what role do institutions play?

Despite the lively policy debate on rising household debt, arrears and personal bankruptcy filings, there is relatively little empirical evidence on the determinants of households' debt repayment behaviour, or on the incidence of arrears. Even less is known about how arrears compare between countries, although debt levels are known to vary widely. Using data from the European Community Household Panel, we first show that arrears are frequently associated with subsequent adverse consequences, such as future unemployment or bad health. Second, we find that arrears are often precipitated by an adverse shock to the household's income or health, but that there are large differences between countries in how households react to these events. Finally, we show that these differences can be partly explained by local financial and judicial institutions, as captured by contract enforcement and information sharing indicators. In other words, we show that while adverse shocks are highly important, the extent to which they affect repayment behaviour depends crucially on the penalty for defaulting. This finding suggests that although repayment problems often arise from a genuine inability to repay, some households seem to behave strategically.

Regional inflation dynamics within and across euro area countries and a comparison with the United States

Inflation differentials across regions of an integrated economy can reflect a proper response to demand and supply conditions, but can also indicate distortions with negative welfare implications. Using a novel dataset of regional inflation rates from six euro area countries, we examine the size and persistence of their differentials and find that they appear to be related to factor market distortions and other structural characteristics, rather than to cyclical and growth dynamics. Our empirical analysis shows that only about half of inflation rates variation is accounted for by area-wide factors such as monetary policy or oil price developments. National factors (such as labour market institutions) still play a very important role, and a regional component accounts for about 18% of inflation variability.

Cracking down on credit card craziness

Elisa Rizzo of Seattle just got her credit card statement. Her “fixed” interest rate nearly doubled, from 7.99 percent to 14.99 percent, even though she always pays her bill on time and has a good credit score. Why? The bank told her it had to charge the higher rate because of the downturn in the economy. Rizzo says she is “appalled at this action” and wants something done to “stop this madness ASAP!”

Let’s cut to the chase. For years, banks have taken advantage of their credit card customers with excessive fees and unexpected interest rate hikes. People who can barely make their monthly payment are devastated when it doubles overnight. “It is literally in some cases pushing them over the edge,” says credit counselor Renee Chamkunthod.

Help is on the way. In December, the Federal Reserve Board issued regulations to stop what it called “certain unfair acts or practices” that hurt cardholders. Among other things, the new rules will limit unexpected interest charges, prohibit an interest rate hike on pre-existing balances and require a reasonable amount of time for customers to make their payments.

Consumer groups like the new rules. But they say the Fed gave banks way too long – until July 2010 – to implement the changes. Consumer groups want Congress to stop the pain now.

“The Federal Reserve said these are abusive and deceptive practices,” notes Travis Plunkett, legislative director at the Consumer Federation of America. “It’s unfathomable that they would wait a year and a half and let the credit card companies continue to use them.”

Linda Sherry, director of national priorities at Consumer Action, believes the credit card companies “will continue to take advantage of consumers to boost their profits until these rules go into effect.”

Congress is already on the case. Last week, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) introduced her Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2009.

“This bill will allow consumers to manage their credit and not get interest rate increases unfairly put on them,” Rep. Maloney says. “They will know the information that is given to them is accurate.”

Know your rights Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights Act of 2009 The bill does not contain any rate caps, price controls or set fees. It would prevent: — Arbitrary interest rate increases — Excessive fees — Misleading terms — Due date gimmicks — What are considered abusive ways of calculating interest — Giving subprime credit cards to people who cannot afford them The new bill is the same as the one passed by the House last session, with the new provision of taking effect within 90 days of being signed into law. Read more about the bill (.pdf)

Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Mark Udall (D-CO) are co-sponsoring similar legislation in the Senate. “It’s time to give the power back to the consumer,” Schumer says. The bill will do that, he says by outlawing “predatory practices” and banning “unannounced, unfair and deceptive fees and rate increases.”

The Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights would do many of the same things the Federal Reserve Board’s rules will do, but much faster. It takes effect 90 days after being signed into law. Rep. Maloney tells me she believes Congress will pass the bill “because the public is demanding it.”

It could happen to you!
Karen Reid is a horse breeder on Fox Island, Wash. She calls what happened to her “absolutely criminal.” Her credit card had a “7.99 percent fixed APR.” The ad states that in several places. But last August, her interest rate jumped from 7.99 percent to 20.39 percent on both her existing balance and new charges.