On the heels of Placecast deploying several very successful pilot programs across the US, the company is set to debut its innovative ShopAlerts solution to help drive foot-traffic and sales to brick-and-mortar businesses based on its unique geo-fencing technology.

When a business signs up for ShopAlerts, consumers can opt-in via in-store sign-up, Online, via text message, mobile Websites and even Facebook to receive location-triggered SMS advertisements.  Once opted-in, and the Placecast technology is activated, consumers are alerted via text message when they’re either in close proximity to a location they’re interested in, or when a business is offering sales or specials.

The basis of Placecast’s technology is its use of geo-fences placed around a particular business or location.  Once opted-in, when consumers come within the virtual boundary, SMS messages are triggered- creating a true location-based SMS advertising solution.  Consumers will only receive a maximum of three SMS messages in any given week, and can opt-out at anytime by simply sending STOP back to Placecast’s platform.

Following successful trials for the likes of North Face, REI and American Eagle Outfitters, Placecast surveyed users to get a sense of their willingness to the idea.  60% of participants found the location-triggered messages to be innovative, 79% said it increased their likelihood to visit a store, 65% made a purchase as a result of a ShopAlerts message and 73% of participants would definitely or probably use the service in the future.

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ScanLife has created arguably the best and most widely used mobile barcode reader on the market, and recently announced updates to make its offering even stronger.

ScanLife was one of the first applications capable of reading all major barcode formats on three of the leading Smartphone platforms, including popular 2D barcode formats such as Datamatrix, EZcode and QR.  With the new version of the app, phones with auto-focus cameras –- such as the DROID by Motorola, BlackBerry Tour and iPhone 3GS –- can read 1D barcodes like UPC, EAN and ISBN as well.

ScanLife’s growth is largely attributed to the fact that its app is being preloaded on millions of handsets by leading mobile operators like Sprint and Telefonica, including handsets sold in North America.  Access to such apps has long been a major prohibiting factor to the mainstream adoption of mobile barcodes.  Leaving the process of acquiring a mobile barcode reader to the user was never a winning formula, and ScanLife knew it.  By pre-installing it, users are much more apt to recognize the benefits and increase usage.

ScanLife will continue to read 2D barcodes, which are commonly used as physical hyperlinks from traditional media such as magazine ads, business cards and direct mail, but with UPC and EAN barcodes being found on nearly every consumer product in the world, the addition will open up numerous usage possibilities for ScanLife users.  ScanLife can take the information found in UPC and EAN barcodes to provide a list of price comparisons and consumer reviews from multiple online retailers like Amazon.  More retailers and features will be added to the application like local search results as well.

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A new survey conducted by ABI research found that in most developed areas of the world, person-to-person mobile payments aren’t of much interest to consumers.

The survey, conducted in November 2009 in seven countries on three continents, found consistently low levels of interest in making person-to-person payments via the mobile phone.  The survey polled subscribers, equally divided by gender, in Germany, France, the UK, the US, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.  In all, about 200 respondents participated from each country.

The overall results showed that only 16% of Western Europeans surveyed considered themselves “extremely” or “very” interested in mobile P2P payments, while in the United States, the percentage was only 9%.  Consumers in the three Asia Pacific countries showed much greater interest, however, at 34% overall.  “It’s tough to make a convincing case for mobile P2P in most developed markets,” explained senior analyst Mark Beccue.  ”We believe it will have minimum impact in these markets because some forms of electronic P2P such as PayPal have operated there for several years with relatively low market penetration; and because these markets boast extensive ATM and banking networks, giving consumers easy access to cash to conveniently conduct P2P transactions.”

In developing markets, however, the results would be far different, says Beccue.  “In parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America which generally lack good tools for convenient P2P transactions other than face-to-face, mobile payment methods will be huge.”

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Point Inside, makers of the innovative “Smart Map” Android and iPhone shopping center mapping and navigation apps, today announced the launch of its new indoor mobile advertising platform that provides the world’s first indoor location and pull-based advertising solution for mall-based retailers and brands.

Point Inside’s Smart Map application provides a fully interactive directory of the interiors of shopping malls, level by level, allowing users to find over 100,000 stores, kiosks, or restrooms in hundreds of the top North American malls across nearly every U.S. state and Canadian province.  It can be described as the “Google maps for the inside world,” and as such, provides a unique mobile advertising opportunity for the brands and retailers located inside shopping malls.

The new mobile advertising platform is primarily pull-based, meaning the consumer initiates the query to view the ad based on their interest in a particular store or brand.  Retailers benefit from highly-targeted, highly-relevant location-based advertising, and consumers can more easily find information on the events and promotions occurring from the brands and stores they like while they’re actually in the mall or the store itself.

A recent example of the new mobile ad platform in action was this past President’s Day Weekend, from 2/11-2/16, when Kate Spade New York  ran a special promotion to Point Inside app users promoting; “Enjoy 40% off your entire purchase at our outlet shops.  Show this offer in store to receive an additional 10% off.”  Point Inside is targeting all levels of retailers, from large national chains — such as current promotions with Nordstrom and American Eagle — to mid-size and smaller chains such as Kate Spade, Takken’s Shoes, ROAD Apparel and Obadiah Salon, all of which already implementing Point Inside’s mobile ad-platform.

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It only seems logical for electronics juggernaut Best Buy to be on the forefront of marketing opportunities born of the mobile technology boom of the 21st Century. And while the company has dabbled in mobile marketing before, Best Buy seems to be gearing up for their most comprehensive mobile efforts yet.

According to sources at the company, Best Buy is putting the wheels in motion on a spruced up mobile website, more aggressive and targeted SMS texting campaigns, and mobile application updates to help capture a larger share of the mobile community’s attention.

It was just late last year that Best Buy introduced its mobile site and a corresponding iPhone application.

Best Buy’s chief marketing officer, Barry Judge, told the Wall Street Journal last month that his company “wants to use mobile to make standard ads more interactive. A print ad or billboard, for instance, might give consumers an address they could text-message for more information.”

“This is going to be a big area. It may dwarf what the PC Internet does,” Judge added.

Consequently, many market analysts expect Best Buy’s advertising budget to begin being more proportionately consumed by mobile efforts rather than by traditional print, television, and radio advertising.

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I’m always on the look out for new and innovative approaches to mobile marketing, and one such example caught my eye recently in regards to a mobile campaign sponsored by Editoras Online, the Brazilian equivalent of Amazon.com.

In an attempt to draw offline interest to their online store, Editoras incorporated a “guerrilla” marketing strategy that included the use of 4,000 QR code stickers that were placed at various locations around Sao Paulo.  Mobile users who participated quickly discovered that each QR code redirected them to select Twitter messages-  and here’s where it gets interesting.

Each Twitter message related to either “love” or “hate,” and refreshed every seven days throughout the campaign.  The result of this strategy was that Editoras was able to produce a 200+ page so-called “living book” that was made up entirely of QR codes and messages from Twitter feeds.  To bring it all together, each message also included a call-to-action that ultimately drove users to the Editoras website.  Beyond driving an insane amount of traffic to their Online store, Editoras generated so much buzz with its unique guerrilla marketing campaign that copies of their “living book” sold out in less than a week.

The ROI experienced on behalf of Editoras was off the charts, and they fully deserve to reap the benefits of creating such a unique and innovative campaign.  This just proves further that thinking outside the box, even using a marketing medium that’s still in its infancy, can pay off big time.  Check out a video that chronicles how the campaign came together and what exactly the “living book” amounted to.

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Juniper Research has published their forecast that in five years, one in every six mobile subscribers in the world will possess a mobile phone enabled with Near Field Communications capabilities.

The consequences, of course, for businesses, consumers, and mobile marketers will be as significant as they are promising.

According to Juniper’s research, the NFC report illustrated that payments and retail transactions (including mobile coupons) will contribute dramatically in transforming the cell phone into a widespread payment tool and an unprecedented mechanism for sales and promotional opportunities for retailers.

Howard Wilcox, the report’s author, explained the practical value providing the impetus for the predicted growth: “Our research found that both the business model and the roll out of POS (Point of Sale) NFC readers at merchant locations are issues that need solving – depending on the country. As these are overcome NFC is poised to enter an operational build up phase culminating in mass service roll outs across many countries.”

The NFC research also showed that while NFC payments are currently well established in Japan, it could take until 2014 for North America and Western Europe to experience similar growth. By that time, however, the NFC global gross transaction value will likely exceed $110 billion.

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