The infographic below gives a simplistic view of the rapid growth of mobile data computing and usage- across all the major devices. The shift towards Tablet, M2M and Smartphones can be clearly seen …

The infographic below gives a simplistic view of the rapid growth of mobile data computing – both online & offline. It can be seen that Asia is projected to become a hotbed of mobile information exchange and marketing…

Talking Book – At a glance!
This is in reality a very simple record-and-play audio device – manufactured for durability, Talking Book is designed for people with zero literacy and who still have not experienced the fruits of electricity. This portable device is utilized in the rural Africa to disseminate knowledge and current information in a very reliable and simplistic way. In Africa, where good transportation has still a long way to go, Talking Book is a splendid tool for teachers who complement their lessons with student-friendly interactive applications and audio books.

The philanthropists and field representatives procure Talking Books and record information about agriculture, health and education in their local languages and dialect. This stored information is then systematically permeated to every possible region which is willing to participate in the program – This program is always associated with an accompanying demonstration so that even a housewife / mother / grandmother can use it with ease.

Transforming life at birth!
Literacy Bridge is deeply involved in the maternity and maternal health programs in Africa – Talking Books are distributed freely to pregnant and young mothers as part of this program.

According to the Literacy Book founder -
“The devices will be loaded with health behavior messages created in collaboration with Ghana Health Service and UNICEF; and will include agriculture messages to help mothers identify and improve their production of crops that are most nutritious for children under five years of age. Simple messages, like hand-washing with soap and proper sowing of seeds, will result in behavior changes that are life-saving and life-changing. The project will show an extreme degree of transparency around the program costs to demonstrate to the world just how cost-effective the Talking Book is at improving health outcomes in a way that no organization has done before.“

Take a look at how Talking Book is helping the most impoverished rural families in creating a safer, healthier and a more educated society and next generation of African citizens…

Afri-Tech Johannesburg Summit (22th – 24th March, 2011) is a sincere attempt to create a mass scale awareness about the ‘synergy between the scientific community and the people of Africa’. This summit will witness the congregation of some of the most pioneering minds in the areas of Healthcare, Science & Technology, Education, Finance and Digital solutions – under one platform. We will need to churn out more innovations like Talking Book – which will work in favor of the African upliftment.

Video: Thebe Ikalafeng sharing his views during the Afri-Tech Nairobi summit:

The emphasis of the Afri-Tech Johannesburg summit will be on creating pro-development collaborative models between the best brains of various industry segments – singularly focused on the betterment of human lives in Africa and around the globe – The summit will witness a cross-functional expertise and collaboration in the following segments…

• Education
• Health Care
• Networking Solutions
• Banking & Finance
• Digital Marketing Strategies
• Science & Technology

The program guide should be out shortly. Early bird discounts and Afri-Tech Johannesburg registration details can be found on the website.

Will be back with more details on this exciting summit…Lots to cover considering the slightly unorthodox structure of this summit.

]]> http://www.copperbridgemedia.com/blog/afri-tech-johannesburg-summit-off-the-beaten-track/feed/ 0 http://www.copperbridgemedia.com/blog/online-video-marketing-getting-the-attention/ http://www.copperbridgemedia.com/blog/online-video-marketing-getting-the-attention/#comments Sun, 22 May 2011 12:21:46 +0000 Palash (Raj) http://www.copperbridgemedia.com/blog/?p=666 Market is an intelligent creature and seldom gives an ear unless there is lucre at the end of the tunnel. Videos have captured the imagination of not only the viewers, but also the search engines, and that is not fortuitous. Google controls the traffic flow and business sentiments of online shoppers for almost 90% of the global transactions, and if there is not enough reason for videos to have gained dramatic prominence in the online searches, then we can stop the argument by just mentioning that the video mogul ‘YouTube’ is owned by Google – So, the second most popular search engine in the world is now coupled with the most popular search engine – That’s a heady combination for any marketer who thinks on his feet.

Let’s get to some influential numbers…

• A recent eMarketer survey of the US online video landscape predicts that the volume of US video audience will climb up to 190 million by 2012 – That is approximately 88% of the entire online audience
• A much older poll by Prospectiv (2006) estimated that almost 85% of US travelers utilized internet for research
• Online Video Ads are now consumed and trusted in almost equal measure as the TV Ads
• Even Wall Street Journal is backing up its words that online Video is fast becoming the most effective online format for marketing
• A number of other reliable polls and surveys are in consensus that “Streaming video delivers nearly three times higher brand awareness and message association, and more than 100% higher purchase intent and online ad awareness than non-rich media ads.”

Afri-Tech Nairobi 2011

A recent jump in the viewership and registration for the Afri-Tech Nairobi 2011 drives the point home. The inclusion of the speaker’s videos on the Afri-Tech website (www.afri-tech.com) saw a jump of more than 65% in the viewership & a spike of more than 30% in the registrations.

Reasons for success

Democracy is the doorway to freedom, but unregulated democracy is chaos –and that sums up the ‘freedom of expression’ on the web. Content repurposing, unlimited duplication, mechanical content simulation – In one word ‘Spam’ is still the second nature of the web and text based content is the most abused of all the formats. While realizing the challenge of ‘authenticating the authentic content’, Google had pushed the paddle on the ‘universal search’ mechanism somewhere in 2008. This was aimed at serving the needs of the right content in the right way. The most promising part of the universal search pattern is that all the content formats have the level playing field – So, if you have an optimized video for your resort in Bermuda, then it has the same statistical probability to rank up in the search engine results as does a well researched article on the same report.

That speaks volumes about the credibility and craving for online videos in general – both from a search engine’s angle as well as a customer’s view.

The easy availability and affordability of   cell phones and tariff charges has made this the most practical means of communication and business transaction for the developing world.

Mobile revolution took center-stage in US and Europe, and most of the first-round innovations were because of the customer demands in these technologically advanced parts of the world. But, the markets which are making heads turn are the emerging economies – China, India, pockets of South-East Asia and Asia Pacific.

China & India factor

In addition to being one of the most populous regions on the planet, China and India are also witnessing an unheralded economic  economic growth, which is translating into a mammoth expenditure in the areas of telecommunication and connectivity. To account for the region as a whole, Asia pacific had a telecommunication budget of $405 billion in 2009 – And analysts are predicting an expenditure of $815 billion in 2015. China and India will jointly account for $369 billion spend on communications. In terms of mobile phone subscriptions, Asia Pacific will have 3.1 billion mobile phone subscriptions in 2015 – up from 2.1 billion in 2009.

In terms of sheer numbers…

• China will continue to have the world’s largest number of mobile phone subscriptions at 957 million in 2015
• India is poised to become the fastest growing mobile consumer with almost 93% increase between 2009 and 2015 – which approximately translates into 871 million mobile subscriptions.
• The one important number for the internet marketers is the volume of smartphone subscribers that is expected by 2015. Asia alone will be home to around 347 million smartphone users in another 5 years.
• To cap it off – Asia Pacific has the highest number of mobile phone subscriptions of all world regions, yet the potential is far from being exhausted.

credit: www.copperbridgemedia.com

This summit on ‘Digital and Internet Marketing’ to be held in Kenya (June, 2011) is most appropriately timed considering the resurgence of Africa as one of the most untapped business destination.

Outstanding business luminaries, philanthropists, government decision makers and one of the greatest NBA players of all time (Dikembe Mutombo) will be participating in this four day historic conference The spotlight in this year’s conference in Nairobi (Kenya) will be on ‘Internet and Digital’ marketing. It is projected to be the largest gathering of digital media gurus and industry pioneers in the continent of Africa.

The conference is being organized in the spectacular pavilion of Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) from 15th to 18th of June, 2011. Participants will be housed in the most luxurious hotels near the venue – Intercontinental hotel, Crown Plaza Hotel and Hilton Hotel.

CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

• Keynote sessions: Afri-Tech Summit Africa -”The State of the Media Industry”

• Panel discussion: Building brands through a digital platform – the agency’s role. Traditionally, companies built brands in the offline world through television, print media and the like. But today some of the most well known brands, Google, Facebook, Skype, all originated online. How can agencies help organizations build a successful online brand and are they currently equipped well enough to do so?

• Afri-Tech Summit Super-Sessions: Breakfast Briefings -Analyst Reports on Marketing, Technology and Advertising
  

• Day Long Strategic Track: The Future of Enhanced Advertising: Addressing Brands, Message, Technology, Media and Entertainment
  

• Workshops: Internet & Digital Marketing workshops

• Seminars: Customer service issues, Effective Telemarketing techniques, Inbound Telemarketing, Customer service Telestrategies Case Studies
  

• 30-minute discussions: Extremely interactive 30 minute sessions on topics relevant to your business

• Strategic Topical discussions: 1 -2 hour sessions where small groups gather together to unravel the issues surrounding a common problem

We look forward to seeing you at the AfriTech summit 2011.Furthers details about this historic summit is available at:             http://www.afri-tech.com.

For specific inquiries regarding speakers / sponsors / media partners, please contact  Pete at: info@copperbridgemedia.com