In-store digital experiences

Digital plays a part across our lives, not on the ‘three screens’ many media companies like to talk about.

Here is a great example of this, created by Amnesia for Lonely Planet Stores in Australia:

The simplicity of placing a lonely planet book onto a screen to activate and instantly interact with content from the book makes browsing far more engaging. It would certainly make my purchase decision easier, when there is increasingly very little difference between a Lonely Planet Book vs. Rough Planet. So, when thinking about digital you should also extend it away from just online sites, mobile or TV. What are the other touchpoints that could be supercharged to meet your brand’s objectives?

Is mobile banking hitting tipping point?

Mobile banking stems from iPhone and Blackberry sales

US research published this month points to the fact that mobile banking usage is increasing towards a natural tipping point.

The headline from Bank of America shouts that ‘…more than 40% of active mobile banking users —  defined as someone who has  accessed their bank account using their mobile within the past 90 days — use Apple’s iPhone or iPod Touch, and most of these use the BoA downloadable application’.

This is an interesting trend…

Not the idea of  ‘…accessing my bank account when I want’ which is a rather old idea, but that mobile hardware penetration is at a point that allows mobile banking to become an accepted channel by consumers.

Without the jump in hardware technology, this wouldn’t be happening

The hardware in question is of course the iphone and Blackberry Storm. Although both are slogging it out in a sales battle in America’s mean city streets, they are both a success. They are faster, more engaging by encouraging open source app development and ultimately the power of ‘touch’ delivers an easier interface, compared to their older ‘smart phone’ rivals such as Palm and Nokia. This is delivering strong sales in a tough climate and the resulting penetration  in the US market has led to more consumers accessing the ‘digital cloud’ like never before. So it isn’t surprising that accessing your bank account or bills when on the move is steadily on the rise.

What’s the opportunity?

So naturally for me,  I wonder how we can start leveraging this mobile banking trend for my brand and product marketing initiatives.

We know bank and credit cardholders were more receptive to marketing and service messages when reading their old paper statements. These seeded messages enjoyed very successful conversion rates when relevant eg promoting financial services directly or large purchases that required financial assistance such as long holidays, cars, home improvements etc.

So how do we intelligently and creatively use this  mobile channel opportunity to engage users, when they are reviewing their online statement at the bus stop, on the train or even on the toilet! Are there any great examples already being employed?

Ultimately, we really should start thinking about this as banks desperately fight to engage customers during the economic recession and as mobile banking starts reaching tipping point.