AsiaInfo-Linkage touts Big Data contextual ad platform

Chinese BSS provider AsiaInfo-Linkage has teamed up with IBM to bring its Big Data appliance to Europe and other markets outside of China. The key to the Veris C3 (C cubed) offering is contextual awareness to ensure operators are only delivering relevant ads to their customers.

The platform processes data from mobile and wifi networks to produce insights into behavior and customers who opt in will receive relevant and personalised marketing campaigns or policy changes based on real-time knowledge of their mobile context.

The three ‘Cs’ in the product name are Context – a real-time understanding of where customers are and what they are doing on their mobile devices; Content – the ability to create very specific marketing messages and campaigns; and Control – the ability to target precisely defined customer segments and give end customers real-time control over their opt-in preferences.

According to Andy Tiller, VP of product marketing at AsiaInfo Linkage, contextual advertising is two to three times more effective than regular untargeted internet advertising. In fact, trials with China Mobile have delivered a 4.3 per cent click through rate, Tiller said.

A further benefit of the system is to make customer data usage transparent, so it is clear which apps generated which data charges on their bills. As a result of exposing data charge to customers, Tiller said support calls about data usage were significantly reduced.

Information about customer behavior is a hugely valuable resource for network operators, but they need to be careful how they monetise this resource. According to Justin van der Lande, senior analyst at Analysys Mason, “Mobile operators are seeking to unlock the value of their customer knowledge through mobile advertising and making customer insights available to third parties.  However, they are aware of the risk of upsetting their customers by inappropriate use of their personal data. Providing highly relevant context aware offers with systems such as Veris C3 that are perceived as a good experience by customers overcomes this dilemma.”