Weekend news from the world of mobile advertising

Hello folks. It’s weekend time again and I’m again digging deep into the RSS feeds I’ve subscribed to. To begin with, here’s a couple of interesting tidbits.

1. Email giant Critical Path has published a report which says that around 79% of mobile users in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Italy, and Spain are ready to accept ads in their emails if their mobile email service was free. I’ve discussed the concept of mobile web in this blog quite often and to be honest, this news doesn’t surprise me at all.

Just think about it. How much do you pay for your Blackberry email service? What if it was available free of cost? You’ll be able to check emails on the go, right on your mobile phone, for free. So what if the emails had ads attached to them? It’s just a small compromise to be able to use the mobile email service for free, right? At least that’s what a majority of mobile users seem to think. And it’s not just in the U.S. Check out the list of countries – Spain, Germany, UK, US, and Italy. And I’ve not even taken China and India into consideration where mobile web is thriving. So, if you’re a mobile user, be prepared to get a free, ad-funded mobile email service from your operator soon. And if you’re a mobile advertiser, you know where the money is.

2. We already know Google’s penchant for free mobile phones, and it’s been confirmed once again. In a recent interview, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said that mobile phones have become so important in people’s lives that a lot of people spend as much as 8-10 hours talking on their phone. With this being the case, advertising on mobile phones looks like a no-brainer. So, he said that the mobile phone should be free. A free mobile phone funded with advertisements is the future, said Eric.

Well; it sounds enticing. A free mobile phone up for the grabs. But the problem is, you need to advertise sensibly. Customers, at least a majority of them, will not be interested in buying a mobile phone if they get bombarded with random ads round the clock. Like I’ve said a million times before, mobile ads should be targeted, relevant, and most importantly, should provide some value to the user. Let’s see.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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AT&T to support QR code based advertising

I’ve talked about the impact QR codes can have on mobile advertising already in this blog. Now, it seems Americans will have an opportunity to try it out. AT&T recently decided to support one such technology developed by Mobot, a Massachusetts based company.

With this technology, you can use your mobile phone camera to scan a barcode, logo, or picture and get something cool in return. It might be a discount coupon, some cool stuff to download, or a gift voucher. It is also said that depending on the response that AT&T gets, Verizon and T-Mobile might also follow suit.

Google is also very excited about this technology as it might help Google set its foot in print advertising. Google plans to place print ads with barcodes that can be scanned by mobile phone cameras. Google analytics tools will take note of things like how many people scanned the ad and what type of ads got noticed so that you, as a mobile advertiser, can get an idea of how well your ad campaign has performed.

I think this could be a terrific idea if executed well. As a mobile user, I’d always find it easier to scan an ad with my mobile camera and get the info I want as opposed to responding to a text message. What do you guys say?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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On why experts shouldn’t talk for people

When I read this post, I almost had an impulsive urge to ask the writer to read this post of mine. But, I decided against that. After all, if I did that, I would be considered “yet another desperate mobile advertiser”, which I’m not by any stretch of imagination.

One of the problems of being an expert is that you start thinking on behalf of people. Like the writer, who has already decided that cell phone advertising is going to be a big turn-off for consumers and has warned them against it. It’s like telling people, “Listen up people; you don’t have to think about anything. You don’t have to analyze anything. After all, we’re here to tell you what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s good, what’s bad, what amounts to intrusion of privacy and what doesn’t, and everything else you need to know. So, let’s do all the thinking. You just read what we write and make a decision.” Nice work fellas.

Categories: Rant.

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