Operator TIM Brasil has teamed up with mobile marketing and advertising technology company DigitalReef to create a new marketing and advertising channel using the My TIM application. The app will now send more assertive and personalized push notifications based on the profile of each individual customer. It uses software development kits (SDKs) that integrate existing applications into the My TIM application.

After receiving user consent, the app analyzes data such as geolocation information and application usage in order to establish a behavioral profile. The new model allows suppliers and partners to run advertising campaigns and suggest their products more effectively.

Tarifica’s Take

TIM’s partnership with a mobile marketing and advertising company appears to have yielded a profitable result. The software development kits created by DigitalReef enable existing apps to feed data into the My TIM app, so that mobile user data can be collected, analyzed and used to market products and services to users in a targeted, intelligent manner.

This kind of product can create and foster multiple revenue streams for a mobile operator such as TIM Brasil, as well as cementing relationships between the operator and a large number of participating commercial entities.

But key to its success is retaining and cultivating trust among subscribers of the MNO. It appears that TIM is doing this by collecting the geolocation and usage data on an opt-in, rather than opt-out, basis. Some operators in other markets, such as Verizon in the U.S., have begun programs of data collection by automatically including all users and placing the onus on them to choose not to have their data collected. This requires attention to detail and a level of awareness that not all users have at all times. As a result, many may realize too late that their data has been used without their explicit consent and therefore become worried or even resentful. TIM’s policy is preferable in this regard.