More Blyk news - the mobile advertiser holds on to powerful analytics from Aito

News from Blyk is like waiting for buses - nothing for ages, then it all comes along at once. After Blyk announced it was being bought into Orange last year, we didn’t hear anything for months. Then in January, Orange announced a new service based on the Blyk offering. This must have gone pretty well, because mobile analytics service Aito has announced it will be continuing to work with Blyk.

Orange puts Blyk to good use with mobile brand advertising offering

There was a bit of a skirmish last year, in July 2009. Ad-supported mobile network Blyk went through a “will-they-won’t-they” period of shutting up shop, before finally dissolving and merging parts of the company with mobile operator Orange. And now Orange is launching what could be a powerful new advertising service using Blyk technology. Let’s have a look back to see exactly what’s going on.

Orange partners with Twitter for mobile updates

Orange today announced a partnership with Twitter, which will enable customers to send and receive Twitter updates directly from their mobile phones using text messaging. It also sees Orange become the first mobile phone operator to enable customers to upload and share photos on Twitter via MMS.

Blyk off!

Timeline:

On May 13 2009 – NMA reports that Blyk is to shut shop in the UK.

On May 13 2009 – GoMo News writes Bye Bye Blyk
http://www.gomonews.com/bye-bye-blyk-the-ad-supported-mobileoperator-closes-shop/

Blyk provides mobile advertising managed services to Vodafone NL

I mentioned in a links blog yesterday that the Guardian referred to some new deals with Blyk in Europe. The FT has picked up on this as well (see here).

Interesting mobile reading: Yahoo, Barclaycard, Orange and Advertising Stats

Yahoo conference call and strategy: http://www.medianama.com/2009/07/223-q209-call-we-are-internet-king-makers-says-yahoo-ceo-carol-bartz/

Orange Free Gifts for Students: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jul/22/orange-free-gifts-advertising-blyk

Barclaycard iPhone game:
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=99771

Advertising Spend:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007186

Marc Davies leaves Yahoo: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/21/AR2009072102007.html

Mobile network Blyk moves into India

Freebie mobile network Blyk has confirmed that it is moving into the Indian mobile market. The company won’t divulge any real details, but it has said that it’s in talks with local companies and apparently senior-level recruitment is already underway.

Freebie mobile network?

Blyk is a mobile network that offers its customers free voice minutes and texts [...]

Is anyone else extremely confused about blyk or is it just me?

Now, I am not one to keep my mouth closed. So, I fear I have to ask questions at a time when I see the impact of journalism, social media and Twitter juxtapose.
Yesterday, I saw Russell Buckley and Technokitten (Helen Keegan) re-tweet an article from Alex Farber from NMA. I instantly clicked on the article [...]

The Blyk Saga - updated!

 
We reported this morning that Blyk was closing it’s MVNOs doors and moving into VAS operator relations. Jonathan MacDonald, MD JMA (and previous Blyk big-shot), has since been in contact to clear matters up.
For the full story, check out Jonathans blog here. But the basic gist is that Blyk is not shutting anything down - [...]

Bye-bye Blyk: the ad-supported mobile operator closes shop

 THIS POST HAS BEEN UPDATED SEE: http://www.gomonews.com/the-blyk-saga-updated/
As early as last week, I heard the the praises of mobile operator Blyk being sung at a mobile advertising conference in London. The Blyk model of offering real incentives, like free SMS and voice minutes, to customers in return for advertising was seen as a method with real [...]

MVNO Blyk’s use of Google AdSense

This morning I responded to an email from a client from my other business (visibilitymobile.com). The email was about hitting or addressing the youth market with mobile SEO and social media. I had suggested in an email that they talk to blyk about marketing but I wasn’t sure as their product was for the 20 [...]

Phonevalley supports Warner Music’s Garage MMS advertising designed for Blyk

Phonevalley, the mobile marketing agency, and Warner Music have launched an engaging mobile campaign for the release of Warner Music’s “Very Best of Pure Garage” album.
The campaign was operated in partnership with Zenith Optimedia.

Who?
I hadn’t heard of Zenith Optimedia but they seem to be a marketing media group owned by Publicis Groupe.
What was the promotion?
 
From November 29 to [...]

Blyk Advertising based Mobile Network names Antti Ohrling new UK CEO

Co-founder of Blyk Antti Ohrling will replace Shaun Gregory as the CEO of mobile advertising network MVNO Blyk.
From the release:
“In 2008 Blyk achieved milestones in member and advertiser growth in the UK and it was a pivotal year for Blyk in demonstrating that the model works for both young people and advertisers alike.  We thank [...]

Blyk continues it’s Christmas Blitz with an offering for youth market research

Rating: New service allows companies to gather information from large panels of 16-24 year olds

Ad-funded free mobile network Blyk has launched a new service, marshalling it’s 200,000 large youth audience into a feedback service for advertisers and surveyors.

It will operate almost exactly the same way as its current targeted SMS ad service. Instead of targeting [...]

Ad-funded mobile network Blyk raises €40m with new partnership strategy

Rating: Massive round of funding accompanied by new expansion strategy and “streamlining”

Finland based mobile network Blyk offers free talk-time and messaging to UK subscribers in return for targeted ad placement. Launched only slightly over a year ago, and already boasting 200,000 subscribers, Blyk recently announced that it has secured a further €40m ($50m) from VCs. [...]

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