Cell phone advertisers target teens

What to wear for the prom? What’s hot and what’s not this season? How to say no to alcohol on the prom night? Well; teens can get all this info and more right on their cell phone.

Since teenagers are the ones who spend a lot of time on their cell phone, cell phone advertisers have started target them by offering lots of cool stuff through text messages, WAP links, and more. Now, they can subscribe to ad campaigns and have lots of cool tips, offers, and other things delivered right on their cell phone. They could get fashion tips, news about the latest model jewelry, WAP links to cool mobile sites, discount coupons on famous beauty products, and more. Cell phone advertisers say that teenagers don’t mind getting relevant ads that they find useful and respond to them pretty regularly.

Advertisers find it easier to create a following for their products through cell phone advertising. As these text alerts and ads are delivered only to people who are interested, they are most likely to respond to them. So, the response rate is pretty high in this kind of interactive advertising.

I think it’s a nice arrangement. Teens get what they want and the advertisers get what they want. However, I think advertisers should not send a gazillion ads to their teenage subscribers just because they’re open to it. They could easily get fed up. Also, a lot of teenagers don’t have a regular disposable income and depend on their parents for their cell phone bill. As an advertiser, you sure don’t want to make these parents see red when they come to know how much their son or daughter is spending on text messages. So, a small number of relevant, useful ads at regular intervals could be the perfect recipe to attract a lot of teens.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Google phone in India?

Google plans to release its much hyped Google phone next year, but ever since the news broke out, speculations have been running wild in the market. As we all know, Google has approached all the major carriers in the US and Europe to partner in its Google phone venture and now it has taken one step further and gone out to India, which is considered the most lucrative cell phone market in the world.

According to sources, Google has been negotiating with Airtel and Vodafone Essar, India’s first and third largest carriers. Indian cell phone market is still unexplored to a large extent and add it to the fact that India right now has the largest teenage population in the world, you get the perfect recipe for a potential customer base. Actually, this news is significantly important due to a reason. Apple IPhone has not entered the fastest growing cell phone market in the world, (that is India, for those of you who don’t know) and this could be a tremendous advantage for Google. If it can release its phone simultaneously in the US, Europe, and Asia, then it can very well compete with the IPhone in India. Apple IPhone is expected to hit the Indian market next year and if Google can release its phone just about the same time, we can sure as hell expect both of them to lock horns. Also, unlike in the US or Europe, Apple is not that big a brand in India and Google can easily grab a huge market share if it can come up with a good marketing strategy.

If you have not got an IPhone yet, would you wait for the Google phone to hit the market? Would you prefer Google phone with lots of ads as opposed to Apple IPhone?

Categories: Google.

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Cell phone advertisers target premium services

If you are paying for using premium services in your cell phone, you could very well be a “target customer” for mobile phone advertisers. According to a statistics report by In-Stat, over 40% of cell phone users pay to use services like text messaging, directory assistance, picture messaging, and ring tones. More importantly, one third of the people who took the survey responded that they hesitate to use premium services like ring tones, directory assistance, and MMS due to their high rates. 

This has rung a bell for cell phone advertisers as they are preparing to target this large segment of people that does not use premium services due to high costs. Their plan is very simple. They will cut down the costs of premium services for customers who opt in for targeted, location based advertisements in their mobile phone. This could very well lure a lot of people and would prove beneficial for both subscribers and advertisers. I am a fairly regular user of these premium services (mostly ring tones) and I pay a ton of money every month. Mobile advertisers; are you listening?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Target segments for cell phone advertising

Alright; here’s the newsflash for today

It’s assumed that mobile advertisers will be concentrating on two of the most potential segments in the subscriber base of mobile phones. This does not mean that the other segments will not be targeted, but the emphasis will be on these two segments.

The first segment is the one with 13-25 year old people. This segment constitutes for the most number of text messages sent and received, which makes it the advertisers’ best bet. Moreover, youngsters seem to have lots of preferences – be it sport, music, movies, or video games. So, it becomes easier for the advertiser to reach his target customers. For example, an advertiser can find tens of thousands of youngsters in this segment who are diehard fans of Depeche Mode. Now reaching out to them with downloadable clips of the band’s songs and other items will not be a tough job for the advertisers, provided they serve it as an ad-wrapped content.

The second segment is the one with 25-45 year old people. This segment is often called the “Blackberry Tribe.” It usually consists of top level executives, entrepreneurs, and business owners among others. While they don’t use services such as SMS or MMS as often as youngsters, they certainly have an advantage over them. Youngsters mentioned in the first segment usually have no or very less income to spend on mobile phones, whereas these people can be easily considered the most lucrative segment in the subscriber base.  

So, if you fall in any of these segments, you know what you are going to get. If you don’t, keep guessing. Who knows, they might soon target the “Desperate Housewives” segment. 

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Cell phone advertising - the other end of the spectrum

As you know, I’ve been discussing a lot about how cell phone advertising can make a huge impact, things that could be brought to your mobile phone screen, and so on and so forth. Last night, I got a couple of emails which insisted on me explaining something about the other end of the spectrum – people who don’t like advertisers creeping into their mobile phones. Well; as I always consider myself impartial, here’s something for them. 

According to statistics, only one-third of mobile subscribers are willing to allow ads in their mobile phones. It means that a majority of subscriber base doesn’t like getting ads in their mobile phones. Or so does it seem. While I do agree that there is a section of public that doesn’t like being intruded, especially through their mobile phones, it also has to be noted that a fair amount of them actually don’t know what it means to get ads on their cell phones.

Imagine this – you have an option for ads in your mobile phone, which appears right in your menu. Those who want can get inside the menu, check out the ads section, and do whatever they want. Those who don’t want can simply skip that option. Sounds pretty simple; doesn’t it? This is probably what the marketers are trying to do and hopefully they will succeed in doing so. So, in this case, if you are averse to ads, you can simply keep your fingers off that option in the menu. If you do like to check out the ads, go ahead by all means. This seems like the perfect option for people on both ends of the spectrum. And how do the marketers make anyone check out that option? Simple. They offer discounts and prizes for people who visit those options and check out their ads. Honestly; life can’t get better than this.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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