Live blogging OMMA Global conference
March 17th, 2010I’ll be liveblogging the OMMA Global conference today, with nuggets of Online Media, Marketing, & Advertising goodness.
Follow #ommaglobal on Twitter.
First up: Keynote by Mark Kvamme of Sequoia.
“Mobile Wars: Will the Mobile Web Be Open or Closed?”
Moderator: Laura Marriott (here at the SF Marriott)
Panel: Tom Bedecarre, CEO, AKQA
Mark Kvamme, Partner, Sequoia Capital
Alexandre Mars, CEO Phonevalley & Head of Mobile Publicis Groupe, Phonevalley & Publicis Groupe
James Min, Managing Partner, Montgomery and Company
- Stats on worldwide smartphone penetration: 45% Nokia, 19% RIM, 13% Apple, 6% HTC
- US: 43% RIM, 25% Apple, 16% MSFT, 7% Google, but almost 50% of mobile web access is via Apple iPhone
- Show of hands, how many used a physical coupon in the last year? About 20%.
- The market for location-based promotions is probably 5x that of physical coupons.
- It’s too early for Apple to run a victory lap. Android is open, and Java devs will build a lot of momentum behind Android.
- Kvamme: iPhone is a terrible telephone — it’s not all AT&T’s fault. RIM is a great PDA.
- James Min: Platform wars are over. You need a closed platform to develop. Apple’s proved it, b/c of fragmentation.
- James Min: But… in the BRIC countries, Nokia/Symbian phones are much cheaper. If Nokia wants to make headway in the US, they have one real asset — mapping.
- Google sees 50x more mobile searches from iPhone than any other device. That’s engagement.
- Mobile marketing hasn’t exploded because the targeting and attribution to get customer to POS isn’t there yet.
Pepsi Refreshes the Brand, with Andrew Katz from Pepsi and Aaron Shapiro from HUGE.
- Pepsi was the most-remembered brand from the Super Bowl this year, but they didn’t advertise!
- Utility-driven marketing: Some of the most effective marketing helps people achieve what the brand stands for.
- What is your brand’s higher value? How do you manifest it on the web? How do you make it viral, social, and CRM’ed?
- “I’m SVP of Refreshing the World.” Groan.
- Why doesn’t Pepsi do pop culture anymore? Pop culture doesn’t exist anymore. Pop culture is whatever you’re into.
- Pepsi Refresh Project: Declare the Refresh Movement, Spark a Conversation, Make a Difference.
- People submit ideas for projects for $20MM pool, voted by users, distributed. Being part of the content, instead of advertising. Partner with media, retail, and celebrities.
- Impressive impressions — it’s a business change, not just a branding campaign.
Marketing track session: New Creative Options for Marketing with Online Video as Web Becomes ‘Lean-Back’
- VuMe demoing interactivity within ads, including a pre-roll that interacts with the adjacent display ad
- GRPs vs. iGRP. GRP (TV) is based on panels. iGRP is based on impressions and engagement.
- Branded entertainment makes sense as an element of the mix. It doesn’t change anything.
- Attribution modeling = Tracking all the ads that a user is exposed to, against eventual user actions and outcomes.
- Is the web going to be long-form “lean back”? More so, but different audiences will want different forms.
- Online industry needs to overcome advertiser objections of online video.
Marketing track session: Social Media Marketing Doesn’t Have to be a Gamble
- Social Media team at MSFT is always-on. Not in campaign mode.
- Walmart.com — Q&A for products, builds an archival asset
- How do you measure the effectiveness? Time spent on an engagement; likelihood to share; how many of those shares convert. MSFT: Measures ROI (based on reach) vs equivalent $$$ display campaign.
- MSFT got 200M free impressions week of W7 launch
- Levi’s — Content management is the great challenge for always-on social media. Solution — UGC (but do you still need to moderate?)
- Marty Collins from MSFT: retailing and augmented reality will help consolidate profiles. Will Whole Foods and the Gap have to ID you with different profiles?
- How do retailers feel about customers shopping on Facebook? Levi’s Brand Marketing VP: You gotta fish where the fish are. Huge potential if you can figure out the purchase component of the FB experience.
- The big Skittles UGC FAIL: What was their business case anyway?
- MSFT: Social media blows away TV or outdoor on cost per impression.

Last Friday was my final day consulting with Wells Fargo. In two weeks, I’ll be starting a new gig with Google.