28 June 2010

MEF Executive Questionnaire #15: Dr Lai, Buzzcity

MEF continues to seek new ways to profile its members and promote the thought-leadership of the senior executives within these companies. We are pleased to launch the MEF Executive Questionnaire to reveal the real people behind the industry in an informal and entertaining manner.

This will be a regular feature of the MEF blog, so make sure you subscribe via email or RSS. If you are a senior executive from one of our member companies and would like to be featured then please contact MEF Marketing Director, Stephen Jenkins.

The fifteenth in the series is from Dr Lai, CEO of Buzzcity.




1. Please describe briefly your main company activities and your role within that organisation
BuzzCity is a mobile media company offering brand owners and agencies access to a global advertising network on the mobile internet. The network is made up of publishers from across the world and BuzzCity’s own mobile media properties. As a leading international player, BuzzCity has developed in-depth knowledge of the mobile consumer and provides marketers with clear opportunities to reach this audience via its advertising and publisher programmes.

2. Without necessarily revealing any confidential information, please outline the principal business models your company uses
We target the “Unwired” which consists of two distinct audiences: the newly connected emerging middle class in developing markets and the blue collar sector in developed regions. These "unwired" consumers are accessing the mobile Internet on their phones due to widespread and affordable wireless access.

We also adopt the “aggregate-and-syndicate” strategy to create more premium mobile media properties. These properties allow us to offer more exciting options (sponsorships, cost-per-acquisition) to advertisers besides the standard cost-per-click model of ad networks, as well as helping us to gain access to a larger audience from the publishers.

3. What has been your company’s greatest achievement to-date?
Founded in 1999, we survived the dotcom crash and built a dominant global mobile advertising network. Over the years, the company has built a culture of strategic thinking, dedicated work, solid technology and customer service, attracting the right talents in the team.

4. What is your company currently working on that is going to move the industry forward?
We are educating the industry at large on the distinct audience segments on the mobile Internet and advertising. The Tier-1 consumers use computer and internet heavily in their professional work and life, and treat mobile as a supplementary connecting device to Internet. They use phones like iPhone and BlackBerries. The Tier-2 consumers are the “Unwired”. There are distinct differences on the products that will appeal to these two groups.

We are also pushing for an industry-wide and neutral verification of traffic metrics from advertising networks and publishers. This is essential to create an opened and trusted environment for mobile entertainment and advertising to thrive.

5. What is exciting you most in 2010 (either personally or professionally)?
BuzzCity has grown significantly from 45 staff to more than 70 staff, with offices in Singapore (HQ), Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, South Africa, France and the USA. I am most excited to gather such a talented and dedicated team of people who will help us to push the envelope in mobile advertising.

6. What is the most important piece of technology in your life?
It has to be the mobile phone. It affects my life personally, and we have built a business on it.

7. What mobile device(s) do you use?
I have been using this iPhone 3G for 2 years. I think I will upgrade to the iPhone 4 soon ...

8. What’s your favourite application?
I have 2 free applications on the London Tube and Paris RATP. They are great to tell me which line to take and change, without having to fiddle with small maps.

9.What’s your ringtone?
The default Strum ringtone on iPhone.

10. Which mobile industry blogs do you regularly read and why?
Techcrunch and Venturebeat. They give good updates on the relevant industry.

11. What is the biggest mobile content issue that is likely to affect the industry within the next 12 months?
As the questionable subscription practices are regulated out in most markets, mobile entertainment company must innovate to find the products that are entertaining and value-for-money. These companies must create the capabilities to introduce new products with very short life-cycle, i.e. 1-3 months.

14 June 2010

MEF Executive Questionnaire #14: Thawatvongse Silamanonda, Senior Vice President, Mono Technology

MEF continues to seek new ways to profile its members and promote the thought-leadership of the senior executives within these companies. We are pleased to launch the MEF Executive Questionnaire to reveal the real people behind the industry in an informal and entertaining manner.

This will be a regular feature of the MEF blog, so make sure you subscribe via email or RSS. If you are a senior executive from one of our member companies and would like to be featured then please contact MEF Marketing Director, Stephen Jenkins.

The fourteenth in the series is from Thawatvongse Silamanonda of Mono Technology.




1. Please describe briefly your main company activities and your role within that organisation
Mono Technology Co., Ltd is the No.1 content provider in Thailand, working closely with 3 major operators. We provide various content to satisfied mobile subscribers ranging from simple text sms service thru to 3G rich content. As International VAS Department, our main focus is to expand and utilize our current expertise and knowledge in the domestic market and to make ourselves present in the International arena.

2. Without necessarily revealing any confidential information, please outline the principal business models your company uses
Our principle business model that we primarily focus on is to create / aggregate branded useful content that can be consumed in various platforms. Give our subscriber choices to enjoy their favorite content thru traditional printed media, mobile screen, website, or IPTV channel.

3. What has been your company’s greatest achievement to-date?
Mono Technology Co., Ltd greatest achievement in the Thailand market came in 2009 when we crossed 10 Million mobile subscribers mark. However, we believe that we have not fully utilized our strength yet; our next achievement will be even more exciting.

4. What is your company currently working on that is going to move the industry forward?
VAS industry in Thailand is growing; our 200% growth in 2009 had confirmed this. Newer tariff plans and cheaper mobile devices proliferate the markets. What we are trying to do here is not only finding new services to provide to market but also make sure that our current subscribers enjoy using our service that match their lifestyle, receive full attention when contacting our call centre. CRM will be our primarily focus and an area that we believe will move the whole industry forward.

5. What is exciting you most in 2010 (either personally or professionally)?
We truly believe that the future of the third screen device will be much bigger, what we see here is only the tip of the iceberg. The Mobile VAS market has an immense potential of growth, we all need to be open to need application, content and ensure we keep ourselves up to date in such a fast paced industry.

6. What is the most important piece of technology in your life?
Mobile has become mandatory in professional life, replacing the laptop by enabling internet access. Not only because of its small attractive designs but also because it provides access to many useful personal features like camera, games, music and numerous features and applications.

7. What mobile device(s) do you use?
i-Phone and Black Berry

8. What’s your favourite application?
Now it’s Perlingo

9. What’s your ringtone?
Own artistic, Candy Mafia

10. Which mobile industry blogs do you regularly read and why?
http://www.mobileinnovation.org/ of GSMA

11. What is the biggest mobile content issue that is likely to affect the industry within the next 12 months?
Location Based application VS Behavioural Targeting on Mobile advertising

08 June 2010

MEF Executive Questionnaire #13: Patrick Kennedy, Sidebar


MEF continues to seek new ways to profile its members and promote the thought-leadership of the senior executives within these companies. We are pleased to launch the MEF Executive Questionnaire to reveal the real people behind the industry in an informal and entertaining manner.

This will be a regular feature of the MEF blog, so make sure you subscribe via email or RSS. If you are a senior executive from one of our member companies and would like to be featured then please contact MEF Marketing Director, Stephen Jenkins.

The thirteenth in the series is from Patrick Kennedy of Sidebar.




1. Please describe briefly your main company activities and your role within that organisation
Our business solves the universal problem for consumers when it comes to finding the content that’s right for them while at the same time, maximizing profitability for the storefront operator. It amazes me to see how consumers are treated as if they all have the same interests and aspirations. Mobile content is one of the most personal of all purchases and should be merchandized accordingly.

2. Without necessarily revealing any confidential information, please outline the principal business models your company uses
We drive value in terms of enhancing the user experience, maximizing profitability, AND providing robust analytics for continuous improvement in the marketing and operational arenas. Our business model reflects the carrier, platform operator & aggregators’ specific needs. Because we have an efficient platform, we can charge low fixed fees, and in many cases we build a performance driven pricing structure that reduces fixed costs to our customers and allows us to share in the upside of the value we create.

3. What has been your company’s greatest achievement to-date?
Creating a powerful engine for truly personalized content merchandising and analytics – and providing a truly innovative product. I’m very proud of the elegant solution created by our CTO Eric Wilson currently being deployed with two large customers in South America and India. Our customer roadmap is replete with content merchandisers who recognize the importance of offering personalized recommendations as an offensive and defensive move in their markets.

The game is being taken to a new level where the consumer and operator both win.

4. What is your company currently working on that is going to move the industry forward?
Making content recommendation on any networked devices a seamless user experience. Our Smart Menus solution provides the ability to recognize each unique user, regardless of the device type, and offer recommendations that are optimized for the specific device OS and form factor they want to consume the content on. By leveraging powerful analytics we can create both real-time recommendations and ongoing feedback loops for our customers, helping them become ever-more effective at satisfying their users demands.

5. What is exciting you most in 2010 (either personally or professionally)?
Using my business and digital background to solve one of the most important user issues when it comes to making content discoverable – finding what the consumers want. Why are most menu presentations homogenous especially on a mobile device? Well, I aim to change that.

6. What is the most important piece of technology in your life?
My new iPad

7. What mobile device(s) do you use?
Blackberry, iPhone

8. What’s your favourite application?
NPR News, Google Maps, Minnesota Twins baseball app

9. What’s your ringtone?
Vibrate

10. Which mobile industry blogs do you regularly read and why?
Techcrunch, MocoNews, Gizmodo, Mobile Marketer, Fierce Wireless, Wireless Week, Mobile Entertainment News

11. What is the biggest mobile content issue that is likely to affect the industry within the next 12 months?
As the amount of content grows exponentially it becomes harder for the consumer to find content that is relevant and engaging. An engaged user is a more profitable user and personalization tools are a critical piece that ensures that users come back, time and again to see what is available for them. Personalization increases purchase size and frequency, major factors for growth in overall profitability. One final driver, the margin contribution, ensures the storefront gets the most revenue for each piece of content.

12. Which other MEF member organisation do you most admire?
AdMob - Omar Hamoui and I are former colleagues at Sony; Motricity as they have built an amazing business getting ready for IPO.