Adgully Exclusive | BuzzCity's KF Lai: Banking big on mobile media platform

Mobile commerce has been a much debated and discussed topic in the last few years. Today it is no longer a seed of thought but a full-fledged idea brimming with potential. Mobile marketers are on their toes with a research now saying that forty-eight per cent of mobile application users report using the mobile webs more often. A mobile being an easy hand held device that is now affordable to the common man, marketers understand its reach and are developing strategies that can be directly communicated to the targeted consumer.

Dr. K.F. Lai', founder of BuzzCity, a mobile media company tapped into this prospective line of thought, eleven years ago. Talking exclusively to Adgully, he divulges the challenges and highlights of this space.

Having graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering from NUS and a graduate degree at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Lai got funding and started BuzzCity during the dotcom boom in the late 1990s.

"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," Lai said

"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," he further added.

Lai then says that he was looking for a challenge in his stable life and when the dotcom boom came along he went ahead with BuzzCity, not realizing that venture funding was just the beginning.

Talking about some of his key highlights with the company, he said, "The company founding in 1999 was one of our fist highlights. Next came our first profits in 2003 after our venture into China, we have since retreated from China as the business environment and model has changed dramatically. And finally our focus in mobile Internet advertising from 2007 which led to substantial funding in 2008"

BuzzCity is a major player in the key markets in South Africa, India and South East Asia. Lai said predicting the future of this space, "As consumers spend more time on mobile internet, apps and gaming, more advertising dollars are going to move to this medium."

"We will be working with a lot more mainstream brands and business as they discover how mobile Internet can help or transform their core businesses. New markets will continue to appear as cost of mobile handset and surfing continue to drop," Lai further said.

The focus at BuzzCity is on the "Unwired' audience that is consumers who use the mobile phone as the primary and often the only device to access the Internet. "With the drop of handset prices and mobile surfing cost, there is huge growth potential in these markets," Lai further commented.

BuzzCity has a social networking service called myGamma. "Social networking services like myGamma connect like-minded consumers and allow them to share. They have the potential to stimulate adoption of mobile Internet and mobile commerce," Lai said.

Other properties at BuzzCity are m.myGamma.com, an ad-supported wireless social networking service, m.djuzz.com - free mobile games portal aimed at offering a rich variety of entertainment to the mobile user, m.JAMsked.com - free mobile internet directory of international live music events, offering listings of musicians, bands, venues and music events, m.now-cook.com - mobile site promoting everyday eating, a collection of recipes for simple food that is easy to prepare and quick to cook.

Lai said only by listening more to the consumers than to analysts can one make headway in this space, as often what the consumer wants is sidelined and one forgets the business is targeted for the consumers.

Speaking on the challenges in this space, Lai said, "We need to better educate the market on the use of mobile Internet as a medium to service the consumers more effectively"

"India will be a key market for the Unwired ' it has very small PC access and high mobile penetration. In a few years a few hundred million consumers will be accessible to marketers on the interactive mobile Internet medium. This represents significant huge growth opportunities and India may lead the world in best practices and innovation in mobile advertising," he said commenting on Indian market's high growth of potential.

Change is definitely the key word here, where marketers need to adapt to and understand the new consumers in a new generation. | By Janees Antoo [janees(at)adgully.com]