Future of Mobile Advertising - Notes from Cannes Lions Ad Festival 2009

Mobile advertising was one of the important topics which were discussed at the 56th International Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. A number of executives representing big advertising and marketing firms around the world discussed the future of mobile marketing.

A lot of people who discussed the future of mobile phone advertising were of the opinion that it could become really big in the next two or three years. There are two reasons why they believe so.

1. The large number of mobile applications designed exclusively for smart phones which allow users to access multimedia content right from their mobile phones.

2. The ever-growing popularity of social networks like MySpace and Facebook which can be accessed right from the mobile phone thanks to mobile social networking.

Statistics show that mobile advertising has grown at an average of 45% in the last five years, which is incredible to say the least. In other words, what used to be a $3 billion industry has now become a whopping $30 billion industry in just about five years.

Let us now take a look at some of the most important points discussed.

1. A lot of executives said that they have launched a lot of mobile advertising campaigns in the recent past and the response so far has been pretty good.

2. Almost everyone was of the opinion that advertisers need to be more creative to generate interest among users. They were very clear that run of the mill ads which interrupt users every two minutes will definitely not work.

3. It was predicted that in the next three to five years, mobile marketing will account for nearly 10% of global media ad spending.

4. Highly targeted local mobile advertising campaigns will generate enormous amount of interest among small retailers. (Incidentally, this is something that I have repeatedly said in this blog. You can take a look at it here, here, here, and here.)

5. Emerging markets like Africa and Latin America hold a lot of promise as the number of mobile users has increased steadily in the past few years.

6. One of the biggest hurdles for advertisers around the world is the lack of compatibility between 3G networks in Asia and Europe.

7. 4G – the fourth generation high speed mobile technology – is something that advertising firms around the world are waiting for with bated breath. It is expected to hit the market in another ten years or so.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Watch Ustream.tv’s Live Video Feeds On Your iPhone

Watching the live video feeds of Ustream.tv just got easier for iPhone users. Ustream.tv has come up with an exclusive iPhone application which will allow iPhone users to watch live video feeds anytime, anywhere and connect with people who do the same.

Since developing apps for the Apple iPhone seems to be the in-thing now, I was not surprised to hear this news at all. After all, Ustream.tv has made a name for itself by providing high quality streaming video service. So, it was really a matter of time before they came up with this application. So, from now on, iPhone users can watch every single broadcast of Ustream.tv right on their phone. Also, using this application, you will be able to chat with people who watch Ustream shows and connect with like-minded people.

This will make it easier for iPhone users around the world to watch the live feeds from Ustream.tv no matter where they are. Moreover, the ability to connect with people on the move adds a nice social networking touch to the application. So, the way I see it, this application could easily become massively popular with iPhone users.

As of now, the application is still in beta. Ustream.tv has asked iPhone users to send in their identifier number in order to be able to get a copy of this application. Ustream.tv will select a number of people among the applicants and send a copy of the customized application to them.

Categories: Apple iPhone, All things mobile phones.

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Expert from MMA Discusses the Future of Mobile Marketing

Chasing The Storm has a good interview of Rohit Dadwal from MMA (Mobile Marketing Association). To my surprise, most of the things Rohit mentioned in the interview are things that I am already familiar with. In fact, anyone who has been following the mobile marketing industry closely could easily relate to what Rohit says in his interview. Some of the most important points he made include

1. SMS (short messaging service) marketing or text message marketing will continue to grow steadily in 2009.

2. Bad economy will make businesses and brands think twice before spending their money on traditional advertising. So, they are more likely to spend their advertising dollars only in mediums like mobile phone marketing that guarantee quantifiable returns and successes.

3. Mobile social networking will continue to grow steadily.

4. Mobile search marketing will become big.

5. Location based services will be a huge success and it will continue to play a major role in mobile marketing.

6. Mobile coupons and mobile alerts will become a lot more popular with people.

7. In the next five years, a lot of brands around the world will have a strong mobile presence. In fact, it will become so common that it will be unusual for a big brand to not have a strong mobile presence.

8. Mobile marketing is meant for businesses of all sizes. No matter how small or how big a business empire you have, all you need is the ability to reach the end users. So, businesses can benefit from mobile marketing irrespective of their size and popularity.

As you can see, none of the points made above is new. If you have been following the industry closely, you can see that it is growing steadily and moving in a direction exactly as predicted by experts a few years back. If it continues to grow the same way, it will be a multibillion dollar industry just as predicted. Don’t you think?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile Marketing Association.

6 comments.

Indian Mobile Advertising Market on a Roll

We have seen a lot of reports about India being a very dominant player in the mobile advertising market, right? Here is one more report to add to that long list. Limbo, a California based mobile social networking company, and GfK Technology, a Germany based market research company, have come up with a joint report which brings up some important points about mobile advertising in India.

The report says that eight in ten mobile phone users in India get ads on their mobile phone which is unprecedented to say the least. The numbers we are talking are huge – there are 300 million mobile users in India now and, on an average, there are 100 million new mobile connections added every year. In this scenario, mobile ads could have a tremendous reach in both urban and rural areas.

The report also says that text messaging or SMS (short messaging service) is the most sought after format of mobile advertising. Around 75% of the ads delivered in India are text based.

Mobile internet or mobile web is not as popular as one would imagine in India as data plans are quite costly. But the report predicts that the rates will come down significantly due to three reasons.

1. A lot of youngsters are interested in mobile web. Considering the fact that more than 500 million people in India are yet to celebrate their 20th birthday, this is a huge market.

2. The quality of mobile web browsing has increased tremendously thanks to high end phones like Apple iPhone. So, the number of people who use the feature will go up steadily.

3. Most importantly, mobile web, as predicted by experts around the world, is the future of mobile advertising. So, mobile advertisers will find a way to reach their target customers through mobile web. What this means to the end user is that he could get a lot of free, ad sponsored multimedia content.

At the end of the day, all this data leaves us with a question – is the future of mobile phone advertising heading east?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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IBM Survey On Mobile Phone Based Entertainment

IBM’s recent global online survey of consumer digital media and entertainment habits has unearthed some interesting facts. Let me present to you the ones that caught my attention.

1. According to the survey, a lot of mobile users these days are willing to get ads on their mobile phones in return for free digital content. Well; if you’ve been following this blog, this news should not come as a surprise to you at all. But the interesting thing here is that mobile users from six countries – India, Australia, the U.S., Germany, Japan, and the U.K. – have said the same thing.

2. Quite a few mobile users have stated that they would be willing to share their personal information with mobile advertisers if they were to get targeted incentives through mobile ads. The most preferred incentives include free audio/video tracks, discount coupons to retail stores, and air travel and hotel reward points.

3. A lot of mobile users find the mobile search facility extremely useful. Moreover, with the advent of 3G networks, mobile web could become a lot more popular than what it is right now – something which I have stated again and again in this blog.

4. Mobile social networking is considered the next big thing. It is one of the most sought after services by mobile users around the world.

5. One thing that stands out in the survey is the notable decline of TV as the primary media device. Thanks to the wide range of multimedia content available on the internet and mobile phones, people do not tend to spend as much time on TV as they used to in the past.

6. Most people do not prefer TV type advertising - getting interrupted by ads in the middle of a program. Instead, they prefer to see ads before and after the show. This way, they get to enjoy the digital content without any interruption. Product placement is yet another option for mobile advertisers, but it could, if overdone, turn customers off. So, they should try not to go overboard with product placement in mobile video games and other such digital entertainment content.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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