February 14, 2007
Viral marketing at 3GSM
Internet companies such as Google, Yahoo, MySpace and YouTube are a powerful but largely unseen presence at the 3GSM World Congress.
These companies are constantly talked about at the trade show. Nokia announced a deal to put YouTube videos on its handsets; Vodafone announced an advertising tie-up with Yahoo, having announced a brace of web alliances in the run-up to the show.
In his keynote speech, Arun Sarin, chief executive of Vodafone urged the telecoms industry to adopt the speed of the internet companies, pointing out that it took YouTube just 18 months to reach 20m users, while it had taken the mobile industry a decade to do the same.
The physical presence of these companies at the show, however, does not match the talk. You would expect these brands to have large, centrally-located stands, matching the towering edifices put up by companies like Nokia and Samsung.
Yahoo is the only one with any sizeable presence, with a big and bright stand attracting crowds. But even this is tucked away in a hall at the far end of the congress site, sandwiched between tiny kiosks of companies promoting mobile downloads of bikini-clad women and furry kittens.
Google, the big beast of search, only has a small meeting room with a discreet plaque, among a warren of others, mainly small start-up companies.
Deep Nishar, head of mobile products at Google, said it was not the company’s style to make a big marketing splash. He said he was mainly at the trade show to scope out new technologies, with an eye to purchasing any likely-looking businesses.
Fox Interactive Media’s David Fischer - representing MySpace - was speaking at a panel session, but the social networking site was not manning any kind of stand.
"I was a little disappointed. Given how much we talk about them, I was expecting a bigger presence from the web brands," said Ben Wood, director of CCS Insight, the mobile telecoms consultancy.
"This will be the year of the mobile internet so I thought this would be the year we would see them a 3GSM."
Perhaps the problem is that these companies are so used to heir free, word-of-mouth marketing that they are unwilling to fork out for a stand and hospitality suite. Perhaps setting up a stand might even be considered uncool.
Their viral approach does seem to be working - they are commanding extraordinary mind-share at 3GSM, with little expense.
