Profectio » Vortex Mobile

Commentary & Opinion: Apple Acquires Quattro Wireless

Dave Forde — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 19:50:59 +0000

With the news of Apple’s acquisition of mobile advertising network Quattro Wireless a few hours ago we took some time to get the opinion of some of Canada’s leading mobile marketing players. We asked them a series of questions on the acquisition by Apple and the impact on the future of the advertising industry.

Jonathan Dunn – Manager, Mobile Marketing Solutions, Digital Cement

Is this good or bad for the online advertising industry? Generally it should be good as you’d expect media heavy weights to invest in the networks. As both Google and Apple have their own mobile operating systems and application ecosystems, it’s pretty clear that they want to create a seamless flow from ad to app and make it as easy as possible for brands to buy more inventory. The main areas where I see promising developments are in the integration of ad units with phone features, more compelling rich media units and better analytics. Of course, the immediate benefit is the heightened visibility of mobile advertising among the general marketing community. Nothing these two companies does goes unnoticed.
What impact will this have on the Apple iPhone ecosystem? The most likely impact will be on the opportunities for developers to easily monetize their apps with display inventory. I’d be a bit concerned about Apple putting Quattro in iPhone only lockdown mode and saying that if you want to advertise on an app you have to use their network but that seems a limiting strategy. It all may come down to how relations between Google and Apple evolve. Currently, it’s a pretty heated rivalry.
What impact will this have on the advertising industry? On the Canadian advertising industry? On the ad industry as a whole, we should see more ad dollars drift away from traditional media and into digital mobile (but that’s not a particularly new or bold prediction as just about every research firm has been projecting exponential growth in the space for the past couple years). For Canada, I’d hope that it will go some way to diluting risk aversion leading to more brands piloting more mobile advertising programs. Google and Apple are trusted and familiar media entities. It’s something similar to everyone and their brother pushing out an iPhone app regardless of whether it’s the right thing to do. There’s an inherent sexiness associated with these companies and these acquisitions could underscore the viability of the channel.

(Jonathan is also a contributor to Profectio)

Phil Barrett, VP Digital & Mobile, BSTREET

Is this good or bad for the online advertising industry?
This is good in the sense that it will help solidify & scale the mobile channel. Mobile will become a bigger part of an overall digital media buy.
What impact will this have on the Apple iPhone ecosystem?
This is a logical step for Apple as they can refine & integrate with all their platforms – such as next generation ipods and tablets. This also allows Apple to extend their income reach on the App store (i.e. On free apps that have AdMob integration) and in some cases allow them to double dip. It shouldn’t impact a developer’s ability to make money, it just means there are fewer people to share the revenue with.
What impact will this have on the advertising industry? On the Canadian advertising industry?
This will have no short term impact on the Ad industry
Any other thoughts/ comments
The arms race between Google, Apple and Nokia has begun!

Kamar Shah, Managing Director, Vortex Mobile

Is this good or bad for the online advertising industry?
The online advertising industry is evolving on to new channels – specifically Mobile – Mobile is an engaging and interactive platform that requires experts that understand the platform and therefore can deliver the correct application for that channel – Admob was the best and Google took them – So Apple is making a great move, to enhance its platform and offering to its consumers.
What impact will this have on the Apple iPhone ecosystem?
This is a great addition to the Apple ecosystem – adding additional opportunities for our brands and clients to engage their products directly with the consumers. We work with clients and brands that have multiple offerings across different segmentations and when we build engaging applications there is great opportunity to cross promote using Quattros Wireless platforms.
What impact will this have on the advertising industry? On the Canadian advertising industry?
We are at a pivotal point within the advertising industry – where replicating traditional methods on to the mobile medium is not successful, because consumers are engaging on the mobile platform completely differently

Our expertise at Vortex is in developing specific products that achieve brand objectives on the platform required.

For a example Vortex’s User Generated Content application (executed for McDonalds and Ontario Tourism ) on Facebook utilizes the social media platform to its full advantage in Building Fans and Enagaging Fans.

We also have seen great success for our clients Scotiabank and VW when developing Mobile ATM locators and Mobile Diesel locators, utilizing the mobile platform selling point of GPS – always with you and always on.

So in answer to the question – this is an evolution of the advertising industry where traditional methods do not work and experts are needed to deliver meaningful relationships between brands and its consumers. Advertising is changing and evolving as consumers embrace and engage across different platforms.

Vortex Mobile Hires Kamar Shah As Managing Director

Dave Forde — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:36:10 +0000

Vortex Mobile has hired Kamar Shah as their new Managing Director and will be responsible for business development, sales and marketing strategy for the Toronto-based mobile marketing solution provider. Prior to joining Kamar was Global Head of Industry Marketing at Nokia. Over 15 years of experience in the mobile industry he has also worked with major brands such as Universal, Sony, F1 and Viacom properties. He is also a regular speaker and supporter at Stanford, MEF, 3GSM and CTIA.

Week That Was – 2008-01-09

Dave Forde — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:09:16 +0000

Two major annual event took place last week, Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which draws upwards of 150,000 attendees and MacWorld the stage where Apple announced all the latest innovations. They have become significant events as vendors of all shapes and sizes use them both as platform to introduce their newest product and service offerings for both B2C and B2B buyers.

We opened up a poll on PR In Canada to find out whether more online videos will be used for press releases, take the poll now.

A call for speakers was issued last week for our upcoming The Bold & The Blogging, we’re still looking for speaker for February’s As The World Searches and for Shop Online ’09 in April.

Here are some of the other industry stories and news that we talked about in this edition of The Week That Was.

Headlines:
Bell Mobility Shoots And Scores
Canada’s Most Influential Social Medial Individuals – Semi Finalists Announced
Top 100+ Social Media Influences of 2008

On The Move
Joanne deVisser Joins Vortex Mobile
Jacquelyn Corbett Cyr Tapped As New CEO Of Espresso

Deal Flow
OMERS Invests $50 Million In BMV Holdings

From PR IN Canada

Environics Communications Cleans Up With New Sustainability & Clean Energy Practice
Ys, Xers and Boomers: Getting the messages straight among colleagues, job candidates
Paradigm Public Relations Wins The House With PokerStars.net
1,200 Journalists Write Off Their Job Due to Economic Conditions
MaisonBrison Names Joanne Kennedy Vice-President, Strategic Communications
Measuring the Financial & Investment Community

Event Calender:
Inaugural Canadian Advertising Week To Be Held January 26 to 30, 2009
As The World Searches – February 24, 2009
The Bold & The Blogging – March 24, 2009
Shop Online ’09 – April 21, 2009

Are you part of the community?

Online Advertising 2008: Thoughts & Trends from the Top – Jonathan Dunn, Vortex Mobile.

Dave Forde — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:54:45 +0000

Our series wouldn’t be complete without a profile of a Canadian mobile marketing company and trends they see for 2008, below is the interview I did with Jonathan Dunn, Director of Communications with Vortex Mobile.

Any highlights for Vortex Mobile last year that really shaped your business?
2007 was a big year for Vortex. The first big change was a re-branding from Vortxt Interactive to Vortex Mobile. The change was made to better reflect our expertise in multi-media messaging and the mobile internet space. Trying to stay ahead of the curve in an emerging media space like mobile is hard work. But we succeeded by delivering programs that used picture & video messaging, user generated content, interactive voice recording, mobile websites and a broad range of SMS based applications.

The second major highlight was the growth of our client roster. New client wins included Dove, Adidas, Vtech, Nestle, Winners, Tag, Scotiabank, Staples, Jean Machine, Pure Divine and a whole bunch more. We also ran repeat programs with existing clients that include Levi’s, Barcardi, Playtex and Microsoft. The ability to deliver on the promises that came with our re-brand really help drive biz dev.

Our business tools division gained momentum as Shiftex, the first product in North America to use two-way SMS to resolve shift and scheduling issues, ran trials with several household-name quick service restaurant chains and signed up its first major client, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. We also minted a partnership with Kronos, a leading workforce management solutions provider, to offer Shiftex as part of their product suite.

Other highlights included revenue growth of 100% and the addition of 5 new staff. Our founders, Brady Murphy and Adrian Schauer, were named to Marketing magazine’s 2007 One’s to Watch. Brady has also been a regular contributor on all things mobile at the CMA’s blog while Adrian moderated the Mobile panel at the IAB’s Interactive to the Max: Genius Edition event in November.

Will mobile marketing continue to grow in 2008? Any particular factors that will cause this growth?
Mobile marketing will definitely continue to grow, but by how much depends on a whole bunch of factors. SMS programs will continue to be embraced by marketers looking to increase the interactivity of their media impressions and deepen brand-consumer engagement. Marketers will like the deep measurement that mobile can add and its cost-effectiveness as a plug-in to existing promotions. We’ve build our own measurement dashboard that clients really like, but the Mobile Marketing Association has struck a committee to establish measurement standards and it will only help the industry to have universal (or at least widely-accepted) metrics.

Whether next-generation applications (next generation in Canada, anyway) like mobile advertising, multi-media messaging and the mobile internet will take off really depends on the carriers bring down data rates to a level more in-line with what we see in other countries.

I think we’ll also see mobile ticketing and mobile coupons take a step forward as QR codes and the required technology get more of a foothold. But don’t be surprised if we’re saying the same thing at this time next year too. We might also see mobile commerce applications start to peek over the horizon but there’s still a big technology gap to bridge.

Ultimately, mobile’s success will have a lot to do with marketers and mobile service providers like Vortex respecting the highly personal nature of the mobile phone. Mobile’s a permission-based marketing activity. The consumer is ultimately in control and they will quickly stop paying attention to any campaign that abuses that permission or doesn’t deliver a compelling interaction and balanced value-exchange.

What can we expect from Vortex Mobile in 2008?
We’ll definitely be looking to add more people to help us manage the business growth and the technology requirements of living in this space.

The mobile marketing business will continue to be our bread and butter and I’d also expect to see big growth in our mobile business tools operations as Shiftex starts to generate more attention and more companies recognize how mobile can be used to solve human resources and other operational business challenges.

We’re making one big move with the launch of Vortex Social (more on that soon). Leveraging our development team’s expertise with emerging platforms, Vortex Social will focus on Facebook application development and we’ve already locked down some nice pieces of business on that front. Expect to hear a lot more from us in that space.

Vortex Mobile launches new social media division, Vortex Social

Dave Forde — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:56:45 +0000

The team over at Toronto-based Vortex Mobile have launched a new sister company, Vortex Social to offer its clients branded applications leveraging social media networks such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Hi5 and many others as Google’s OpenSocial platform evolves.

“We already have several applications in development for some household name brands and media properties,” says Adrian Schauer, Vortex’s managing partner. “Over the coming weeks, we expect to launch a half dozen branded applications that include fun personality profilers, interactive product experiences and some very cool voting and audio widgets.”

No surprise really that the up and coming company has jumped into the social media game and targeting Facebook as Canada has certainly become a popular destination (or distraction for some) for Canadians, and the stats certainly back it up. Over the next few weeks the company has said they’ll have more news on other new Facebook applications.

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment selects Vortex Mobileâ€™s Shiftex

Dave Forde — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 13:20:47 +0000

These days it would be pretty hard to find someone who doesn’t own a cell phone, and Toronto-based Vortex Mobile has figured out a way to help corporations increase more staff productivity through their platform, Shiftex. The platform was recently selected by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, owner of the NHLâ€™s Toronto Maple Leafs (and most profitable NHL franchise), NBAâ€™s Toronto Raptors and Air Canada Centre to improve staff scheduling and workforce management. Shiftex will aid in managing the schedules of Air Canada Centreâ€™s 1,700 event staff including ushers, food and beverage servers and gate attendants.

â€œShiftex is a one-of-a-kind platform. This is an innovative, revolutionary, product,â€ says Sasha Puric, MLSEâ€™s Director of Information Technology. â€œShiftex will further enhance our efforts to provide exceptional service to Air Canada Centre guests because the platform ensures reduced staffing shortages and service gaps.â€

The application can also be leveraged as an inventive tool for employees as they look to gain additional shift hours can now receive an SMS message of when shifts are available which is perfect as we move into the final days of the Christmas shopping rush.

Profectio » Vortex Mobile

Commentary & Opinion: Apple Acquires Quattro Wireless

Jonathan Dunn – Manager, Mobile Marketing Solutions, Digital Cement

Phil Barrett, VP Digital & Mobile, BSTREET

Kamar Shah, Managing Director, Vortex Mobile

Related Stories:

Vortex Mobile Hires Kamar Shah As Managing Director

Related Stories:

Week That Was – 2008-01-09

From PR IN Canada

Are you part of the community?

Related Stories:

Online Advertising 2008: Thoughts & Trends from the Top – Jonathan Dunn, Vortex Mobile.

Related Stories:

Vortex Mobile launches new social media division, Vortex Social

Related Stories:

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment selects Vortex Mobileâ€™s Shiftex

Related Stories: