Blyk<\/strong>, the ad funded MVNO set to launch this summer, announced a set of world renowned brands will be the first companies to advertise on the network.<\/p>\n- \n
- Buena Vista, a division of Disney corporation<\/li>\n
- Coca-Cola<\/li>\n
- I-play Mobile Gaming<\/li>\n
- L\u2019Oreal Paris, a luxury goods company<\/li>\n
- StepStone, a recruitment service<\/li>\n
- Yell.com, part of the company that owns the Yellow Pages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Blyk is expected to launch in launch early this summer in the UK market, then role out to other European countries. The service will be targeted at 16 to 24 year old subscribers, and will be completely ad-funded. The subscribers will pay nothing for voice minutes and text messages, in return for receiving advertisements.<\/p>\n
Many of the details surrounding the upcoming launch are still being kept secret by Blyk. The exact format of the advertising has not been announced, but you would expect a full range of advertising options including video pre and post roll, display banners, and simple text links. Capabilities such as Location Based advertising have also not been discussed, but the participation of Yell.com gives some indication that this feature may be in the works. <\/p>\nThe details of how the service will be offered are also not public, but the rumor is that the service will be available for use on people\u2019s existing phones. Similarly, Blyk and has not announced which network they will run on, but most industry speculation is that in the UK they will run on the Orange network.<\/p>\n
The Blyk network has been designed from the beginning to do a good job of delivering advertisements. This includes features such as real time feedback as to what games the subscribers are currently playing. David Gosen, CEO of I-play Mobile Gaming CEO was quoted as saying: \u201cBlyk provides visibility on who and when people are playing mobile games, information which the industry has been sorely in need of. CRM is a basic business principle to driving revenues and building loyalty and we haven\u2019t been able to put this in place until we have access to real data on what our customers are doing.”<\/p>\n
Blyk will also spend a lot of effort developing accurate customer profiles, or \u201cmember profiles\u201d as the company prefers to say. The subscribers are asked to fill out questionaires on their likes and dislikes, and there is an on-going interaction with subscribers to refine this information and keep it up to date. Advertisers can use this profiling to develop more relevant campaigns for specific audiences.<\/p>\n