It seems mobile advertising is back in the zeitgeist—maybe something to do with the Mobile Advertising USA conference on in New York this week, as noted in this ClickZ article on getting started in mobile marketing. It was driven home when in the taxi today I heard it being discussed on the radio, although there was concern voiced about operators selling customer numbers, which gives me the impression the people weren’t too up to date with what is going on in mobiles. I missed the beginning, but it may have been the result of this article in AustralianIT, which goes through some different plans for mobile advertising before getting to a survey by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) which found that “nine out of 10 people would access more mobile phone content, such as weather or news headlines and music videos, if it were free...A total of 77 per cent of respondents would accept advertising if it meant content was free, or if they could opt out or if it did not affect the performance of their phone.”
The organization has set up a mobile advertising board to establish standards for mobile banner ads, full-screen images and video formats. It thinks that the industry will continue to be in a trial phase for three months but from mid-year there will be commercial mobile advertising initiatives.
Meanwhile, Behavioural Insider has an interview with GoTo CEO Lee Hancock about targeted mobile advertising: “The targeting we do will always need to be integrated seamlessly into a positive end-user experience. If it detracts from the user experience, if it’s even something the user is aware of in the sense that it’s extraneous to how they enjoy their experience, then it’s counter-productive.” He shows a concern not to annoy the end user which I think is common in the industry, although it only takes a few unscrupulous players to raise a backlash against everyone.
eMarketer has a short note about IDC research which shows that “brand spend for US mobile marketing in 2006 will be double what it was in 2005”, although it warns that there is limited tolerance for preroll video ads lasting more than 8-10 seconds. “We believe that mobile marketing is one of the few instances in which the current hype actually underestimates the full potential of the market opportunity,” says Scott Ellison of IDC. “The winners will be those players who fully leverage the mobile ecosystem rather than try to simply translate other marketing and advertising business models to mobile.”
Mobile advertising stories from this week include:
--Bluetooth Advertising Scheme In Paris
--Viral Mobile Network Zannel Launched
--3 UK Launches On-Portal Ad-Funded Content Offer
--Mobile Advertising Experiments Continue, Sharpen Focus On User Context
--Nokia Combines Content And Context In New Mobile Ad Services
--Local Shopping Via SMS
--Mobile Ad Round-Up: Vodafone; More Car Campaign; U.K. Off-Portal sites Take Ads
--Asians Keen On Ad-Supported Content, Mobile Music