"Mass marketing plans are handset agnostic"

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: As the penetration of mobile phones in the country increases, the possibilities open to the burgeoning MVAS (mobile value added services) industry appear limitless. That is also a reason Manoj Dawane, who took over as CEO of MVAS provider People Infocom last year, has his plate full. Consumer demand is keeping his company on its toes—urging it to constantly churn out new concepts and services to differentiate its offering. For Dawane, innovation will drive the growth of the sector in India, and he hopes his 15 years of telecom and software industry experience will come in handy in the company’s bid to improve customer experience. A regular speaker at various industry forums and conferences, he spoke to FE’s Ruchi Kapoor on the prospects of mobile marketing in India, global trends in mobile gaming and the company’s plans to expand its reach. Excerpts:

What is the scope of mobile content and applications in India? Do you think consumers understand the scope and its utility?

Yes, very much. India is a country where astrology, Bollywood and cricket will always draw attention. Content built around Bollywood continues to see great uptake. Cricket content also has a decent download rate. The fact that Bollywood and cricket are two of the most highly marketed entertainment mediums in the country gives any additional service or product developed around them an added impetus. When it comes to astrology, the sheer intrigue that the science instils is what makes it an interesting download across age groups.

How is mobile marketing different from other platforms of product marketing, say TV or radio?

The mobile is an intensely personal device in more ways than one, it has today become as an extension of an individual’s personality. While this situation provides opportunities—for example, better user profiling, increased interactivity, call-to-action—it also adds a lot of responsibility on the marketer, in terms of harnessing the complete potential of the device and ensuring that there is no cause for customer dissatisfaction.

How would you describe the core competence of Mauj Telecom? Also, how do you differentiate your services from those offered by your contemporaries?

Mauj Mobile is one of India’s leading mobile value added solutions (MVAS) providers, catering to telecom operators, media and entertainment companies and consumer brands through various divisions. Our area of expertise in the mobile technology domain lies in content aggregation, repurposing and distribution, managed services, product development, mobile marke- ting, mobile advertising, campaign management and mobile gaming.

Mauj also provides end-to-end programme management on WAP and SMS platforms for some of the leading mobile operators in India and has billing relations with all operators. We have also worked internationally with Batelco and Maxis about 22 operators across the world.

In the VAS value chain we are the only player who is an aggregator, a content/application owner, a software developer and a technology enabler, all rolled into one. We were recently awarded at FICCI BAF 08 for the Best Mobile Game.

With such a wide array of services on offer, who is your primary target?

We cater to customers across locations, demographics and psychographics. We have worked with telecom operators in

India and abroad (for example, BSNL, Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance, Tata, Batelco, Maxis etc), movie production houses (for example, Eros, RGV Film Factory), software companies (BTSL) and consumer brands (Godrej, HSBC, Arrow, Tourism of Ireland etc). We also offer our services (content downloads) to individual customers via our site www.mauj.com and wap.mauj.com.

Mobile marketing hasn’t really taken off in India. Is it because of the kind of handsets available in the country?

Handsets won’t really hold a market back. Campaigns are usually launched targeting a specific genre or categories of recipients, and as such, the type of handsets used is taken into consideration.

Typically, mass marketing programmes will launch on SMS or voice which are handset agnostic. Campaigns, which cater to a niche audience like the youth usually, happen on on-deck properties like operator portals. Also properties like games, work across 65-70% of the available handsets.

What segments lend themselves better to mobile marketing?

The mobile as a medium is unrestricted in terms of acceptance, and hence as a marketing tool it reaches out to audiences across segments.

What is your take on mobile TV?

The advent of 3G should definitely provide the much-needed thrust for this feature.

How is the gaming market in the country shaping up?

According to the In-Stat report, India’s mobile gaming market is projected to earn $336 million in annual revenues by the year 2009. There is huge potential in the tier II and tier III towns; in places like Kanpur and Visakhapatnam. People there have fewer options for entertainment.

In this sense, the future of mobile gaming industry appears bright. In the coming days, touch screen technology, 3G networks, faster processors on handsets, cameras and motion sensors will push this business forward in a creative way. As consumer awareness grows and publishers release more content, worldwide mobile gaming end-user revenue will grow.

What are the problems faced by telemarketers under the do-not-call regime?

Any type of a marketing campaign needs to have an opt-in facility. That’s when you differentiate marketing from spamming. In the digital world, this holds true more than ever. A do-not-call scenario is plainly an opt-out case, and this customer would require a different mode of targeting.

In terms of reach also, the penetration of the mobile phone has long surpassed that of any other medium.

Given the way the mobile marketing if growing, will the non-traditional media finally overshadow the traditional media?

Both traditional and non-traditional media have their own respective significance when it comes to reaching the end consumer. The ultimate choice of media depends on the messaging, and target audience. Hence, some campaigns would always prefer the traditional media, while others would opt for non-traditional methods, while still others would rather go for a mix of both.

How do you get feedback on whether your marketing and advertising strategy is working or not? What is the role of the operator that supports you in this?

Mauj drives its various campaigns for brands through mobile operators, who have a rich base of data—in terms of demographics, psychographics, consumption patterns etc—that provide wide targeting parameters. Also the operators drive access channels such as voice,

WAP etc and hence we work closely with them on rolling out mobile programmes.

What is the next big thing on the service agenda of Mauj Telecom?