OK, so this isn’t going to be a post about the mathematics of Pongr’s visual search technology (sorry if you were hoping for such!). Instead, as the title may suggest, it will loosely touch upon the value of a mobile picture when it comes to the rational economics, and sometimes irrational choices, of what’s going on in the social and physical universe.  Mobile picture taking, social network sharing, and how we all, as consumers, make the purchasing decisions that we do are increasingly intertwined and need to be discussed by mobile marketers, traditional media experts and technology solution developers, like Pongr.  As regular buyers of goods and services, we think often about how to spend dollars (or dongs, dinars, dirhams, or otherwise hard-earned unit of currency as may be the case for you, dear international reader) and what appeals to us can be boiled down to a few words — value and relevance.

After having lunch today with a marketing executive who said something to the effect of, “it used to be easy to market to people — you would show them the value points and they’d decide if they liked it enough to buy it.”  The underlying theme of our conversation was around the shifts in how we, as wired (or wireless as the case may be) consumers connected to our friends, family, followers and fans, are looking for more than just a list of “features” when it comes to buying the things we do.  We want relevance more than ever. We want experiences.  And, we want it all connected into the multiplicity of dimensions in our lives — online, offline, social, work, etc.  We want it now, but not without checking in on those other worlds, all connected through the Interwebs.  Online and physical are not distinct in the mind’s eye of hundreds of millions of enthusiastic mobile fans. Why not push beyond the parochial views of “traditional” media and create something better? Something fresh, something fun, something valuable for consumers, brands and media purveyors alike.

So what’s the relevance to Pongr you say?  Easy.  Pictures and video originated from mobile are one of the new major sources of consumer and brand intelligence; intelligence for the user who’s looking for something valuable and relevant, and intelligence for the brands looking to maximize the value experience for their customer and themselves.  Sharing pictures, and soon enough video, is a quick and painless way to get information about your thoughts, and possible intentions, to trusted purchasing advisers like friends or product experts.

Sharing pictures into social networks while simultaneously running Pongr’s visual search recognition system is a way to exponentially increase the value of that experience.  Mobile users get to engage in a one-to-one relationship with the brand they desire, yet that 100% opt-in “search” or “connection” can easily be transformed to a one-to-many when the mobile user “shares” their mobile picture or video and any relevant Pongr provided search results, user generated tags, or comments.  The “share” takes the form of a link that fits nicely within the confines of the 140 character limitations on Twitter and similar constraints for Facebook, and points to the actual user generated photo (plus the branded response if one was created by the user’s target).  The richness of the experience and the information sent to and from the mobile user searching for a connection with a possible purchase is unprecedented when brands, or the people responsible for their interactive marketing campaigns, customize the Pongr response.

Now back to the economics of all this mobile picture taking, sharing into social networks and Pongr’s automated visual recognition system…  According to data gathered from leading consumer marketing research organizations, including the Nielson Company, the importance of socially guided influences on consumer purchasing decisions cannot be overstated.  Jonathan Carson, President of Online, International for the Nielson Company recently said, in reference to the trustedness of “social” when it comes to advertisements, “The explosion in Consumer Generated Media over the last couple of years means consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don’t, has increased significantly.” You can find additional stats on the social phenomenon on trust in advertisements on Nielson’s advertising blog.

In today’s world of economic challenges and fundamental shifts in consumer purchasing patterns, it is absolutely critical that marketers find effective ways to leverage the mobile-to-social phenomenon that is occurring around the world. Consumers rightly demand an experience that tightly integrates all aspects of marketing.  So, to those reading this that want to actually sell anything to the new world order of consumers who will be more careful with their spending money, but in turn more “social” about what they buy and how they make their choices, you, our marketing friend, must find creative and effective ways for tying your distributed media efforts together.