Amazon chooses Israeli firm for big India rollout
Israeli mobile monetization firm MobCo Media has been selected by Internet retail giant Amazon to spread the word about its new app for customers in India.
“The Internet is changing and large parts of it are moving to mobile,” said Tomer Hen, CEO of MobCo. “With the deployment of the Amazon app in India, one of the biggest countries and markets in the world, we are directing the campaign of one of the biggest media and book stores in the world. This is a significant accomplishment for our company, and will further strengthen our position in the world mobile advertising market.”
Under its contract with Amazon, MobCo will market the Amazon app, encouraging users to download it and use it to make purchases. According to company officials, India is Amazon’s number two target market, right behind the US, and the company has committed to investing over $2 billion there.
Launched in India two years ago, Amazon has steadily gained market share in the country, and is now second in online sales to homegrown Flipkart. Now Amazon is looking to MobCo to push it to the number one slot, especially via the marketing of its mobile app, which can reach hundreds of millions of cellphone users in India’s countryside who do not have access to a computer.
MobCo is one of the top three dozen mobile advertising firms in the world, according to industry metrics – hence Amazon’s decision to choose the the firm, said Hen – and Hen, at age 21, is Israel’s youngest millionaire, building his fortune since age 14 in Internet advertising and real estate (with property he bought from the proceeds of mony he made in mobile ads).
The firm has handled hundreds of campaigns for companies around the world, including GetTaxi, Hotels.com, Angry Birds, and Candy Crush. One reason for MobCo’s popularity, said the company, is its business model; MobCo takes no money upfront, but instead makes its money when users download or use an app or ad with the payment of a credit when downloaded or used.
With the new Amazon project, MobCo has found a sudden need to expand its staff of a dozen, and is actively looking for new workers – but not in the usual places. Applicants with strong experience in mobile ad sales are cordially invited not to apply; MobCo, said Hen, is looking for workers who actually have zero experience in the business.
“Inexperienced workers have a fresh outlook and fresh ideas,” said Hen. “They are willing to reinvent themselves and learn to do things the right way. Most of the people in the company came with no experience, and they are excellent workers. We have met numerous people with a long resume who had poor work habits, and were unable to break out of their preconceived notions of how business is conducted. We’d rather have people we can teach to do things right from the start.”
