Mobile Marketing and Advertising is the new “it” in the industry. All three recent industry shows (MES, MECCA, and CTIA) in L.A. last month were buzzing with the potential of mobile advertising. Carriers, who until now had not paid attention to this evolving sub-segment, have started to organize internally to be the clearinghouse and magnet for agencies and advertisers. The advertising agencies and big brands have started to throw MDF dollars at experimenting with this new medium called mobile. Analysts have started predicting billion dollar markets by 2010. The ecosystem has also started shifting and new alliances are being probed and tested for positioning. Is mobile marketing going to be another over-hyped industry segment or will it actually help generate revenue, drive exits for VC investments, enhance content value-proposition, and most importantly, deliver value to the consumers? This article discusses the elements critical for the long-term viability of the mobile advertising and marketing industry.

To get a grip on the potential market in the U.S. or Western Europe, we take a look at Japan as the harbinger of what’s to come in this space. According to Dentsu, mobile advertising revenues for 2006 will be approximately $373M or close to $3.8 per subscriber (for the year). By 2009, this number is likely to scale to $5.5/sub/year. According to InfoPlant, almost 60% of the Japanese consumers use mobile coupons and discounts more than once a month. The U.S. market is just starting to get organized and move from SMS marketing to mobile/local search marketing, interstitials, in-content ads, banner ads, etc. In 2006, US will do less than $1/sub (for the year) in mobile advertising revenues, the bulk of which will be SMS marketing. Europe is also slowly waking up to the possibilities around mobile ads and has been experimenting with some clever business models such as Operator “3″ subsidizing usage and phones in lieu of advertising on the phone. These models are also being offered in the microenvironments of downloadables, subscriptions, video streams, etc. It is apparent that due to the availability of context, immediacy, and personalization, mobile has significant advantages over the other channels as an advertising medium.

The potential is clearly there, but how long will it take to reach a critical mass? How many years before the industry cracks $1B? $10B? Instead of being a blip in the advertising revenue stream, when will the mobile segment start rivaling revenues generated from advertising on Internet, radio, newspaper, and TV? Can it? If yes, what does it take to get there? What technical, business, and legal issues need to be addressed before agencies have dedicated staff to tackle mobile advertising and real dollars instead of MDFs as part of the budgeting exercise? Finally, who will be the dominant players controlling the ecosystem five years from now?

First, let’s discuss the technology piece. As we have seen in Japan and Korea, higher processing power handsets and 3G pipes play a significant role in the adoption of rich advertising content. If an ad is non-intrusive, delivers value, and is relevant to the consumer, there will be a higher propensity of adoption vs. when after 45 seconds of “connecting to server” screen, an ad rears its ugly head to slam in the face of an already frustrated consumer. In the U.S., 3G is being adopted fairly aggressively, and when Cingular picks up pace with its WCDMA/HSDPA deployment, growth is going to accelerate into 2007. By 2008, 3G penetration will reach over 25 percent. Adoption of Smartphones is also increasing. With Motorola’s Q and RIM’s Pearl, price point is getting near mass-market consumption levels. By next year, we will start seeing $100 smartphones. In the U.S., 25 percent of the converged devices sold during the first half of 2006 were 3G devices. This is up from just 3 percent in 2005. User interfaces are also getting better. UIOne, MYDAS, Flash, Screen 3, 1mm and other proprietary solutions are extending the possibilities.

Most of the effective mobile advertising and marketing will be search driven - whether it is based on declared intent from the user or passive impressions based on user’s context, history, and preferences. Local search and advertisements will be a significant part of the equation. Service providers with good “mobile” search engine technology will be at competitive advantage as they build a strategic framework to address the bigger opportunity.

For mobile advertising to be successful, one needs “reach”, “purity” and “analytics.” Reach is how many “real” customers you have. Purity is the “quality” of information on the customers. Name and address just don’t cut it. Analytics is matching users interests - implicit and explicit, context, preferences, network and handset conditions to ads and promotions in real-time. Not just bucketing a user in a group and giving them a number, but understanding the user in every way possible and customizing every single interaction, every single push, every single imprint and every single promotion to the finest degree possible.

So, who has the reach? Clearly, carriers with millions of billing relationships currently have the tightest relationship with the end-customer in this ecosystem. On the other end are the Internet brands like Yahoo, Google and MSN, with over half a billion unique visitors each. Other important players include giants like Amazon, EBay, Myspace, Youtube, Skype, AOL and Paypal.

The internet brands have good reach but limited purity. Purity is about good profile data. The customer profile information that Internet players have assimilated doesn’t really always translate well into view of a customer’s interests and preferences. They can and will build a direct relationship with consumer, but it will take time and has to overcome some technical and business hurdles.

Finally, one needs the analytical framework. The goal of the framework is to capture the behavior and interests of the user while they are browsing, shopping, interacting with a variety of applications and content and even simply calling 1-800-Flowers. This knowledge mixed with the explicit profile helps enable build characteristics and traits of users on a mass scale. Once the segmentation and understanding of the user is fine-tuned, the gathered knowledge can be continuously applied to enhance the user experience while they are interacting with their mobile phone by targeted promotions and offers sent to the user, and mobile advertising can be enabled such that it adds value to the user experience.

In terms of platforms, there has been a lot of activity on building backends, but little progress on the front-end where it matters the most. What is absolutely needed is an easily accessible control framework for “permission advertising/marketing” so the user can selectively or globally switch-on or off the types of ads/promotions they would like to entertain and when. We need a SIP/Presence-like capability that works across all apps and services and is as universally accessible through open APIs. Mobile advertising is not just all visual, either. It can interact with the customer while they are on hold or support free 411 or premium services, or can be integrated with podcasts, essentially finding clever ways to provide ad/promotion content in exchange for something that provides value to the end-user. The context engine combines various inputs and uses location and other contextual information to package information before it is pulled or pushed to the consumer. This is true for all the application areas such as portals, storefronts, local search, mobile search, off-net access and other applications.

For the carrier, it is an excellent way to build loyalty and “stickiness.” It is also a way to take the saturated levels of data users to another level by subsidizing premium content and even transport costs by advertising thus lowering the barrier-to-usage. However, the carriers need to balance the influx of users and data traffic with the potential for additional revenues. Spectrum is still limited and it needs to be used wisely in any strategic scenario.

For the user, relevant (opt-in) and targeted advertising and promotions deliver value. In all recent surveys, the number of users willing to pay for the Mobile TV service is a very small fraction of the number of users who want to use the service. With advertising, they can afford more and start enjoying the full capabilities of their handsets.

From an advertiser’s point of view, mobile provides unparalleled reach and a reliable and accurate measurement tool. The ad/promotion system should have the capability to create promotions at national and local level (city, zip code, location) and everything in between. The system needs to support extensive querying and segmentation capability to design sophisticated campaigns for e.g.

- Give me users who are most likely to purchase a new ringtone from Usher.
- Give me users who are Pop aficionados, have coke as their favorite cola, wear Nike shoes, single, living in large metro areas on the east coast, income level above $120K, have ARM11 or higher devices and have responded to at least 50% of ads in the past 2 months.

While the potential is immense, there are also significant risks and potential challenges before the industry evolves into a vibrant advertising medium. The prominent amongst them are privacy and data security. Once you start mining user data, significant profile information can be developed. Then how that information is used and by whom becomes an issue and a significant legal minefield. In addition, the security policies and procedures need to be in place to protect the data from theft or misuse if the industry doesn’t want regulators to get involved.

It is clear that mobile advertising and marketing has big potential if certain technical and business requirements are met and industry strives to take into account the user considerations that matter the most. But which players will dominate and control the ecosystem? Without a doubt, carriers have the purest profile information available, but can they execute their strategies? Well, they have approximately a 3-4 year window. Once 3G and Smartphone penetration curves collide and pass 20-30%, if the carriers haven’t built a good mousetrap (value proposition) by then, all bets are off. Different dominant players will start to emerge, as it will get easier for Internet and traditional brands to build direct relationships with a good proportion of the subscriber base. It is also possible that in some geographies, carriers and brands will work closely to establish a tight service offering and equitable revenue split. The role of savvy brands like P&G who are generally ahead of the curve on most technology trends is going to be important. Brands and service providers who are able to integrate user experience across channels will benefit the most (Microsoft will be a strong player in cross-channel advertising.) There is real value in understanding user behavior on the Internet and mobile and cross-leverage in a) building a solid profile fingerprint and b) using it to push content.

Then, there is the whole world of off-net advertising and marketing. Carriers are increasingly playing a lesser role in that segment. But the market is very fragmented amongst hundreds of content providers and mini-aggregators. They only have a piece of the (reach and purity) puzzle and hence the analytics they apply will be limited in scope. Could they collaborate to work to leverage each others strength? Certainly. Can the user profile information be available as a web service (with user’s permission, of course)? Sure. Can carriers start to offer that to trusted providers in exchange for revenue-share? Possibly. There is clearly enough room for experimentation in both technology and business models arena of this nascent industry segment. Finally, ads and promotions should be “super-distribution-friendly” (across carriers and devices) meaning–treat ads and promotions like content that can be passed around “easily.”

It is quite clear from the industry trends the mobile industry (especially in the U.S.) is moving from an emerging state to a more interactive and immersive application and services environment. By 2011, global advertising industry will be close to $600B. Can mobile start to increase its revenue share from its current levels of less than 0.2% to 2-5% by then? Since this medium can provide context, immediacy, and personalization, the answer is yes. However, there are technical, business, and legal hurdles to be crossed before the industry becomes a thriving institution. Until then, stay tuned to our commentary on the shifts and turns in the ecosystem.

Acknowledgements: My thanks to Sunil Jain, Victor Melfi, Amar Patel, Anne Baker, Sarla Sharma, and Shawn Conahan for their valuable assistance with the article.

Source:Fierce Mobile Content

Blyk, the pan-European free mobile network for young people, funded by advertising, has chosen Nokia Siemens Networks to supply, build and host its core network. In its first-ever full mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) hosting arrangement, Nokia Siemens Networks will be hosting the entire operation of Blyk’s core network. The contract was initially signed by Nokia.

The Blyk service is based on an advertising-supported model. Blyk provides free calls and text messaging to 16-24 year-old subscribers funded by mobile advertisements delivered directly to their phones. Blyk will initially offer its mobile services in the United Kingdom, before expanding to other European countries. The service is scheduled for commercial launch in mid 2007.

“Blyk is bringing something completely different to the world of mobile communications, something that hasn’t been done before,” says Kai Friman, Head of Member Operations, Blyk. “That’s why getting it right is absolutely crucial. We have full confidence in Nokia Siemens Networks’ ability to provide a fully hosted solution for Blyk and its unique way of doing business.”

“As our first hosting deal with a full core network scope, this is an extremely exciting step for Nokia Siemens Networks,” says Olli Oittinen, Head of Solutions Sales Management, Nokia Siemens Networks. “Not only does it showcase the truly pioneering spirit of companies such as Blyk, but it also reinforces our own focus on the MVNO market and the opportunities of hosting in general. We are fully committed to providing a comprehensive range of hosting solutions and see hosting as a very attractive option for MVNOs and other operators, as demonstrated by this groundbreaking deal with Blyk.”

Under the hosting arrangement with Nokia Siemens Networks, the company provides the entire core network to Blyk, including mobile softswitching.

Source:Cellular-News

India has the highest telecom growth rates in the world and operator Bharti Airtel wants to capture as much of the market as possible. Via a managed services agreement with Ericsson, Bharti has been able to forgo the traditional telecom business model and focus instead on its core interests: acquiring customers and improving customer relations.

Jagbir Singh, chief of operations, Bharti Airtel Limited, says: “We have to ensure that our operational costs are the lowest in the world and that we have the fastest rollouts to gain market share and offer competitive tariffs to customers.

“For faster rollouts we need managed services and a partner like Ericsson. Ericsson is helping us maintain good quality of service, and we don’t need to focus on the day-to-day issues of the network. This lets us focus on acquiring, owning and serving customers.”

J. Sugumaran, senior vice president and CNO (Mobility), Bharti Airtel Limited, says: “We decided to find a new model that would help us differentiate ourselves in the market. Ericsson comes with immense technological capabilities. They design, implement and maintain networks, and they bring their best global practices here to work for us. We felt that they could manage the network in a better way and let us focus on our core values.”

India is signing up more than 7 million new customers each month, and the market as a whole is expected to reach 400-500 million by 2010. There are eight other players in the market and India has the lowest tariffs in the world, so competitive pressures are intense.

Ericsson manages the day-to-day operations for more than 70 percent of Bharti’s network, serving roughly 25 million subscribers in India. As part of the managed services agreement, Ericsson is also expanding the network by rolling out more than 1000 base stations every month. This means a new site is integrated into the network every 40 minutes.

Bimal Dayal, vice president at Ericsson India and key account manager for Bharti, says: “Bharti has grown by leaps and bounds over the past three years and the fuel for this growth has been, in part, the managed services deal with Ericsson. As the largest operator in India and by giving us large repeat orders, Bharti shows its confidence in Ericsson as a vendor and a credible large services provider.”

Sarvdeep Garg, Ericsson Operations Director with the Bharti key account team, says: “Because of the high rollout, we have to be right the first time every time, which is why we have a series of checks and balances and rigorous tests to ensure quality at every stage. Basically, planning is the key to ensuring fast rollout with top quality service.”

Source:Ericsson

Employer confidence within Australia’s telecoms sector is at record high levels, according to the latest Hudson Report Employment Expectations survey. The survey of 7,426 employers nationally by Hudson showed that just over half of telecoms employers expect to increase permanent employment levels in the April - June 2007 quarter, while 5.4% expect to reduce staffing levels, translating to a net effect of +45.8%.
The result represents an increase of 23.8 percentage points (pp) compared to the employment expectation figures recorded for the sector in the corresponding period last year.

Martin Retschko, Director IT and T Sector at Hudson, said the record high employer confidence levels are a good indication of the current strength in the telecommunications sector. “The employer confidence is being driven by continued high adoption rates of technology at the consumer, corporate and government levels, as well as a number of major projects driving demand for both contract and permanent resources,” said Mr Retschko.

The results also showed temporary recruitment levels in the telecommunications industry increased rapidly during the January - March 2007 quarter with a net +33.3% of employers bringing on board more contractors.

“The increase in demand for temporary and contract employees shows employers are under pressure to get immediate results and fill positions not easily sourced through the permanent recruitment market,” said Retschko.

“With the current talent shortage we are seeing many employers filling short-term employment gaps with a temporary or contract employees while they spend time sourcing and attracting the most suitable person for the role.”

Overall, the Hudson Report Employment Expectations survey revealed employer confidence in Australia across all sectors has reached its highest level in five years with a net +34.3% of all employers indicating they expect to increase their permanent workforce over the next three months.

All Australian states and territories except Western Australia returned increased positive net effects compared to the employment expectations recorded for last quarter. The Australian Capital Territory recorded the largest increase in employer sentiment, rising 3.7pp - the highest net effect recorded in the ACT in five years (+48.5%).

Source:Cellular-news

EDGE Evolution is set to triple data speeds in existing GSM networks, helping to deliver mobile broadband to the low-income market segment.

Ericsson is set to launch EDGE Evolution as a software upgrade to existing infrastructure by 2009, a move that is expected to dramatically change how consumers, particularly in the developing world, access and use the internet.

John Gagnerud, product marketing manager at Ericsson, says: “What we’re talking about is providing broadband internet access to the masses in both rural and urban areas. Lots of people don’t have computers at home - because they can’t afford them. But a GSM/EDGE mobile (device) might give them access to e-mail, which will be revolutionary for many.”

EDGE Evolution will boost current EDGE data speeds by up to 300 percent and will significantly improve latency, coverage and spectrum efficiency. This improved data performance for GSM will serve as an important complement to high-speed WCDMA/HSPA networks, meeting the growing demand for data bandwidth and mobility.

The market potential is amazing, Gagnerud says: some cities in the developing world are already consuming twice as much mobile data as Sweden.

“In China, the city of Guangzhou has a population of 10 million-13 million people and the mobile telephony market penetration is hovering around 90 percent,” he says. “This city, with a population a bit larger than the country of Sweden, consumes about twice as much data as we do.”

A general desire for internet content is fueling much of the boom in this sector, as are tailored e-services. Many governments have ambitious ICT plans and mobile networks can deliver advanced access to everyone.

“Successful e-services are usually developed locally - as they should be - and they play a big role in the lives of some people,” Gagnerud says.

Electronic banking over mobile telephones is one example of applications with huge potential. “If people are able to do their banking over the telephone, this will revolutionize the entire banking industry, especially in countries that lack this type of infrastructure today,” he says.

The GSM Association reports that only a billion of the world’s people have bank accounts - but three times as many have mobile phones.

“These are basic needs - not quite as basic as food and shelter, but access to the internet is growing in importance. If a government wants to lift its people out of misery, access to the internet is one of the ways to do that,” Gagnerud says.

Source:Ericsson

Mobility, mobile devices and system reliability will become increasingly important within e-government in the years to come, and telecom vendors and operators will play an important role in facilitating easy-to-use services and applications for citizens. These were the conclusions reached at this year’s e-Government National Awards.
Christopher Histed, CEO of PublicTechnoloy.net, the prime e-government news service for public ICT in the UK, says: “Mobile devices and mobile technology will become desperately important. Additionally, system reliability will be crucial. With past IT failures in mind - when failures in a small number of high-profile government IT systems caused significant problems - central and local government is extremely cautious when it comes to investing in ICT.”

In a nationwide survey of local government employees published in January 2007, 61 percent of CEOs and heads of service said they would be spending more of their ICT budget on mobile devices for remote working in 2007-8 versus the current year. Local government in the UK will spend GBP 2.7 billion on ICT in 2007-8.

The e-Government National Awards were founded in 2003 by PublicTechnology.net, in cooperation with central government organizations, and they represent the UK’s highest commendation for the best e-Government services. These are services which, through innovative online delivery or IT implementation, have positively transformed the lives of citizens, local communities, business, and stakeholder groups. The winners and finalists highlight the massive benefits to UK citizens of services such as online school admissions, online transport aid, help lines, and numerous council e-services that improve citizens’ lives across the UK.

Simplicity, vision, target group orientation and strong usage were the common key factors for this year’s award winners. All nominations delivered services designed for the target audience - UK citizens.

TransportDirect won the citizen-focused online services category. Its service offers users the ability to plan their journeys via all modes of transport, including car and public transport, across the whole of Britain via the internet, mobile phones or iDTV. The Department for Education and Skills won with its Connexions Direct national website and helpline, a service that offers engaging and accessible online information, advice and support for 13-19 year olds in England.

The winners of the 11 categories were chosen from 345 nominations from across the public sector. Judges included central government organizations, vendors and operators.

Commenting on the event, awards judge Nigel Dutton, of mobile network operator O2, said: “It’s inspiring to see the public sector seizing the golden opportunity presented by e-government and by mobile e-government in particular. Being mobile can enable public servants to deliver better outcomes and better fulfill local needs, increasing job satisfaction.”

Source:Ericsson

Mobile is not just another channel through which to push the same rehashed content. If the consumer is really going to be in focus, mobile content must be new, original and personalized.
The challenge for both media companies and service providers is not the mere availability of content for the mobile channel, but deciding which content is best for this medium.

Speaking during the CTIA Wireless mobile TV seminar, Tammy Franklin, vice president at Turner Broadcasting, says it is still too early to know what consumers will want to watch: “We are excited because we are all going to learn.”

Content already being produced and distributed to mobile users includes music downloads and streaming, mobile TV and mobile advertising. And while some see the mobile phone as just another way to get consumers to engage with their brands, others see it is as a fresh new medium for original and personalized content.

Technology providers, such as Ericsson, are playing a critical role in this by making it possible for companies to make their content mobile. Ericsson provides hosting and managed services to both service providers and media companies.

Dobson Communications, with 1.6 million subscribers, looked to Ericsson to help it enter into new distribution channels through a hosting solution. Ericsson has also formed a relationship with Turner Broadcasting, to help it mobilize content for its CNN Mobile channel.

Greg Clayman, senior vice president, MTV Networks, says: “A generation that has come to expect participation, personalization and customization is not getting enough of this yet in the wireless space.”

Many producers are looking at the mobile medium as a way to offer exclusive artist content, says Michael Nash, senior vice president, Warner Music Group: “People will buy content on their mobile phones if we make content available that they can’t get on another platform.”

Bill Stone, CEO of Amp’d Mobile, argues that this exclusive content is revolutionizing some of the existing models in the media world. “I think a lot of people are frustrated with the old-school media approach,” he says.

Amp’d recently launched a mobile TV show called Lil’ Bush that was so enormously popular it was picked up and syndicated by a major television channel, Comedy Central. This would be the first time a popular TV show originated in the mobile sphere.

Whether it’s TV, music or advertising, original mobile content is interesting to all players because it encourages consumer loyalty and increases demand for content that cannot be found on other devices or platforms.

So will mobile be another medium for the most popular content, or will it be an incubator for new and original material? It is still too early to make that judgment but consumers are expected most likely to reward service providers and media producers for new and refreshing mobile content.

Those returns can only be achieved if operators have the business models and support to offer customers what they want. Ericsson’s hosting and managed services create the opportunity for operators to reap these rewards.

Source:Ericsson

With most of the world’s telecommunications networks based on GSM technologies, HSPA and LTE will be the preferred building blocks in many operators’ mobile broadband strategies.
“Our greatest success as a company doesn’t come from technology but from placing the user at the center of everything we do,” AT and T CEO Randall Stephenson said in a keynote speech at CTIA Wireless 2007. However, since most of the world’s telecommunications networks are based on GSM, the evolution of these networks will continue to play a major role in meeting consumers’ needs.

“Moving to GSM was without a doubt the biggest technology decision we as a company have ever made,” Stephenson said. His company, AT and T (formerly Cingular), recently decided that High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) would be its technology of choice for providing mobile broadband.

The evolution to HSPA comes about through a software upgrade to WCDMA. This is important because operators can leverage their existing assets.

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is the next step for delivering an even more powerful mobile experience. At CTIA, Ericsson showed its LTE solution which included the advanced MIMO radio technology, capable of achieving speeds of more than 140Mbps.

Robert Jansen, portfolio market manager at Ericsson, was demonstrating LTE at CTIA. He says operators’ decisions to move towards HSPA and LTE are simplified by the favorable economies of scale.

By 2011, the overwhelming majority of mobile subscribers will be connected to GSM-based networks. This means that HSPA and LTE will be the most efficient means for delivering mobile broadband to a mass market.

As part of the LTE demonstration, visitors could see high-speed downloads of large, 70Mb files, streaming high-definition TV, and high-definition video-conferencing.

HSPA is being used today by operators such as AT and T and T-Mobile in the US while CDMA operators such as Vivo (Brazil), Pelephone (Israel) and Telstra (Australia) have also chosen to migrate to this technology because of the economies of scale. The next phase of development, known as HSPA+, will be available in the next couple of years followed soon after by LTE.

While HSPA and LTE each have a compelling technology proposition, the real value is the freedom they give to consumers to get the content they want, whenever and wherever they want it.

Source:Ericsson

STARHUB is handing out $20 worth of international calls to users who sign up for a free three-month trial of its mobile Internet service, which starts on Monday.

Unveiled last week, the service enables people to use their cellphones to make Internet calls, receive e-mail and chat online with friends.

Pfingo, which is open to any user worldwide and not just StarHub subscribers, is likely to be launched commercially for a flat monthly fee within the next three months.

StarHub’s head of advanced multimedia services, Mr Chan Kin Hung, said yesterday that the company hopes to sign up between 2,000 and 3,000 trial users, but declined to reveal how much the service will cost.

The company is hoping to offer an easy-to-use package of services to attract mobile users who want to stay connected on the move. These services are already available elsewhere, but not in one package.

Subscribers can sign up at the Pfingo website (www.pfingo.com) and download the necessary software for free.

They will then be given a phone number with which they can make and receive Internet calls on both their computers and cellphones.

The service supports more than 100 phone models now.

Pfingo will place StarHub squarely in competition with Internet giants like Google and Yahoo, which are expanding their market from computer users to mobile users.

StarHub is one of the first telecom operators to launch new mobile Internet services as shrinking revenues from airtime charges start putting a squeeze on telcos worldwide.

Source:Asia One

Tube passengers could start to make underground phone calls as soon as 2008 if a new system for broadcasting mobile signals across the network goes ahead.

Four underground tube stations are currently trialling the mobile transmitters, which could deliver a signal to trains and tunnels as well as the platforms themselves. The technology can also be used to broadcast TV and radio, and provide internet “hot spots” for laptops.

Mayor Ken Livingstone has acknowledged that a carriagefull of conversations at rush hour might be too much for commuters, but others have suggested that full mobile coverage would be a boost to safety – and at least you’ll have someone to talk to when you’re stuck on the train.

Source:Car Phone Warehouse