Marketing Technology 5

Marketing Technology Stories you might have missed

MT5 Edition:  #34

Stories This Week: mobile wallet adoption, klout brand pages, Instagram ushers in new era, the fifth screen, Path isn’t the next Instagram

1. Pew: 65% of Experts Say Most People Will Adopt Mobile Payments By 2020

[VentureBeat] There’s a lot of smart minds looking at how to facilitate purchases using a smart phone instead of a credit card.

My Take: If you click through and review the Pew study, you’ll see the factors believed to stall the adoption of the mobile wallet: device fragmentation, security concerns and industry adoption.  Still, I think 8 years is a relatively long time in technology and I expect innovation will hasten the adoption.  There’s too much value on both sides of the mobile transaction to slow down the trend.  Customers will benefit from specials and coupons; brands will enjoy the ability to market to customers at the moment of purchase intent.

2. Klout Launches Brand Pages To Help Companies Engage Influencers

[BrandChannel] Brand Squad pages offer three benefits to marketers: the reveal of top influencers associated with a brand or topic; a showcase for content; and another burgeoning platform (beyond Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest) for brands to reward social media influencers with exclusive perks.

Example: Red Bull Brand Page

My Take: On the whole I think this is a positive development. There seems to be a good value exchange between the brand and the consumer.  The brand page doesn’t currently provide for engagement between the brand and consumer, but perhaps it’s not intended to.

Red Bull Klout Page

3. It’s Not About Instagram — It’s About Mobile

[TechCrunch] The author says some incredible stuff:

Web 2.0 is over. Instagram is the Netscape IP of the new era. Mobile or death.

My Take: For me, there’s still a lot of uncertainty going on: Are we in another tech bubble? Was Instagram a bargain? Did Facebook buy Instagram to keep it out of the hands of twitter?

4. The Fight For The Fifth Screen (Fifth Screen!?) In Your Life

[FastCompany] Smartwatches, AR goggles, and more: There’s a mighty scramble afoot for your last sliver of attention. Is the start of ad-mageddon?

My Take: I kickstarted Pebble and I’m looking forward to see what apps are developed for it. I’m less excited about Google’s Project Glass, those glasses look odd and I’m not sure I want to experience the internet that way.

5. Cool App Update: Path 

Path

[Gigom] The Instagram acquisition has pundits looking around for the next big startup that’s ripe for being gobbled up.  The post argues why Path will remain independent.

My Take: I know not everyone likes Path, but I like it. It’s got a great UI and it’s a more intimate network.  The author argues that Path doen’t have a distinctive feature that makes it stand out, and he’s right. What bugs me is the over-emphasis on feature-apps. I’ll have to write a separate post on this, but the gist is, well rounded apps are overlooked in favor of single function apps.