MediaVision Blog : Search Engine Marketing

Vodacom, a South African-based telecommunications company, recently announced that that it will be launching a free mobile soapie (ad sponsored) to all Vodafone live users. This soapie, SoLikeLife, is specifically designed for mobile phones, a concept that they aptly named a mobi-soap. Episodes are available to download free of charge through Vodafone Live (or via sms for those without Vodafone Live access from their mobiles). The story revolves around two 20+ South African’s who meet and fall in love, etc and is all played out in a virtual cell phone world.

Image From the SoLikeLife FaceBook page

This is a very interesting move by Vodacom, as there are more mobile users than there are internet users. Almost every teenager from 14 years upwards has a cellphone of sorts; just take a look at the big hype around Mxit, a cheap instant messaging service that’s very popular among teenaged cell phone users.

SoLikeLife is available to download directly from the Vodafone Live , the new launch is aimed at creating a larger audience for their mobile advertising initiatives. Mobile is where the future of marketing is headed, a point which is born out by Vodacom’s MD Shameel Joosub, who is reported to have said:

There are more cell phones in the world than all the televisions and PCs combined and mobile is emerging as the seventh mass medium for marketers. It rivals Print, Recordings, Cinema, Radio, TV and Internet mediums and due to its wide reach, for the first time provides a comparable channel to outdoor advertising.

What grabbed my attention with this new “product” are all the small deals and activities taking place in the background, such as:

Vodacom’s 40% buy-in of Zoopy, South Africa’s growing social media network for Video’s, photo’s, podcasts and blogs. Not only is this network available online for users, but they have also released a beta version that allows users to upload multimedia directly from their handsets. This smart business move now allows Vodacom to become a strong mobile content provider within South Africa.

AdMob, a large international mobile ad company, announced that they will be entering South Africa, as they see potential within our growing mobile market, which allows marketers more scope in how they challenge the mobile marketing/advertising world.

Soapies on mobile phones is just the beginning. Offline marketing is beginning to merge with the online world, and website owners are starting to look into branching into mobile search. The mobile market in SA is moving fast, it’s moving fast worldwide in fact; are we keeping up with the changes?

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