Mobile Marketing through some very different eyes

09/08/2010

Posted by: Martin

Following our recent Blog about the increase in mobile advertising spend, and mobile search being the fastest growing format, I thought I’d take a quick look at something that could play a massive part in shaping the future of mobile search…

Google Goggles

If you haven’t already heard of it, Goggles is a mobile phone application developed by Google for their Android smartphones (rivals to Apple’s iPhones) that allows the user to perform a ‘visual search’ from the palm of their hand.

Put simply, using the camera on your phone you take a picture of an object (a book, a bottle of wine, Big Ben etc) and Google Goggles uses advanced image recognition to return Google search results for that object.

So no typing on a fiddly touch screen; no talking into your phone for voice (mis)recognition; just point-and-click to get your search results. Easy.

Take a picture of a book and get the price, latest reviews, local stockists etc.
Shoot a bottle of wine and find out what food it complements, and order a case there and then.
Snap a landmark and instantly know all about its history.
Photograph a foreign menu and get it translated…

…this is just the beginning. As the software develops, the ability to search is only going to get more advanced, more impressive, more fun, and ultimately – more useful.

Granted, this kind of software isn’t brand new, and Google Goggles itself was launched at the end of last year, but the power of Google, the sheer volume of their index, the unrivalled access to the data they possess and the increasing popularity of Android smartphones could bring the concept right into the mainstream.

 

But where does all this fit in with your business and mobile marketing?

Well, the marketing opportunities with Google Goggles are pretty exciting.

When a consumer takes a picture to find out more about an object, already key information about that individual exists – their interests, their tastes, their frame of mind, maybe even their location if they are snapping a landmark.

So this is your cue to tie your marketing in with the consumer’s search results. You can tailor your activity around the object that has been searched for, ensuring you’re targeting exactly the right type of person for your product or service, and at the right time too. This is, of course, a real boost for your ROI.

What’s more, this is all consumer-led. You don’t need to be forcing your message on anyone when it’s them who are coming to you on the back of their own curiosity and intrigue. This, in turn, makes them far more receptive to what you have to say.

The opportunity to deliver highly targeted, completely relevant content directly to the palms of a consumer who is actively searching for something is nothing short of a marketeer’s dream.

Augmented Reality in action

And there’s more…

Turn on your camera, flip your phone on its side and without even taking a picture there’s yet another aspect of Google Goggles that potentially lends itself to effective mobile marketing – a feature called Nearby Places Overlay. An example of the much hyped Augmented Reality, this feature uses GPS to locate your position and displays information about your immediate surroundings on your screen, layering it over the viewfinder as you pan your camera-phone across the buildings and objects around you.

 

 

This brings mobile marketing to a truly local level, putting the consumer ‘in context’ by indentifying where they are stood, at what time, and what’s going on in their surroundings. And with this comes the opportunity to integrate marketing with their real-time environment.

As you sweep across a building, up pops a label displaying the business name. Tap this label on your screen and you’ll get information about the business.

Want to know more about a restaurant you’ve stumbled across? Just pan your phone across the premises and (potentially) up pops a tag including a menu, prices, special offers, customer reviews.

We’re already pretty much at the stage where homebuyers can point their phone at a house for sale and see all the information they need displayed on the screen. Property features, price, Council Tax band, the amount the current owner paid for it, average house prices in the area etc. Just check out this Zoopla App for the iPhone by clicking here:

It won’t be long before Google Goggles is also performing to this level. And it’s fair to say this could change the face of how consumers search as well as how businesses reach their audience, allowing them to do so at the exact moment an advertising message is most relevant.

Just Beer Goggles?

But should we be getting this carried away already? Here’s the thing. Whilst all the signs are good and certainly exciting, it’s still very early stages for Google Goggles and any similar applications. To really take off it needs to become consumer habit, with many people using this form of mobile-search on a regular basis. Will this happen? Or could Google Goggles, in actual fact, just be a form of ‘mobile beer goggles’?

By that I mean have we become so intoxicated with this impressive technology that we are ignoring the practicalities and think all this is better than it actually is?

To continue my metaphor; when it comes to the ‘morning after’ – once the novelty has worn off – am I really going to be wandering around town with my phone in front of me getting local business information I can obtain from other sources? And really, how often will I need to do it?

With European mobile roaming data charges so high am I going to spend a fortune translating that Spanish menu or getting the history of La Sagrada Familia when it’s all there in my second-hand Lonely Planet passed on to me for free?

Time will tell I guess, but if anyone can get it going, you can bet your smartphone that Google can.

And one thing’s for sure, if it does come to the time your business is not only being ‘Googled’ but ‘Goggled’ too – you’d better make sure you’re ready!

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