Two articles, mobile advertising, expert opinion, and a little rant

First, I read this article a few days back. I thought of coming up with a rebuttal immediately, but then I was too tired to do that. Thankfully, a few days later, Allen Wastler has come up with another article which makes a little sense.

Now, if you notice, in the first article, he had assumed that mobile phone ads, especially location based advertising, will be annoying for everyone. He mentioned that there is an opt-in facility available for mobile advertising – meaning you get ads only if you want to. But immediately he went on to add that he was not sure whether it would stay that way or people would be compelled to get ads on their mobile phone, even against their choice. Now – THAT – got my goat and other domesticated animals.

In this latest article, he has expressed his surprise for the fact that he didn’t get as many voices against mobile advertising as he expected. While a few of them have expressed their opinion against mobile advertising, an equal number of them have also said that they don’t mind getting ads if they were to get something in return – like subsidized mobile bill or some kind of value added service from the carriers.

This is precisely what I’ve been trying to tell people around the world ever since I started this blog. I’ll say it once again. Repeat it with me.

1. There is an opt-in facility available as far as mobile advertising is concerned. In other words, you get ads on your mobile phone only when you want to.

2. You get lots in return for getting advertisements on your mobile phone. Ever heard of Sugar Mama? Virgin gives free talk time to people who get ads on their mobile phone. Blyk offers free talk time and free text messages for people who get mobile ads. Talkster allows you to make international calls free of cost, thanks to ads. The list is just endless.

3. If you feel that you can manage your mobile bill all by yourself and don’t need any sort of freebies from the advertiser or the carrier, fair enough. You just don’t have to get ads on your mobile phone. It’s as simple. Nobody is pointing a gun at your head. So, stop screaming.

When I thought of starting a Rant section in this blog, I was wondering what to write in this section. But there are people who help me keep this section alive. Thanks guys.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Rant.

2 comments.

Virgin Mobile’s Sugar Mama gives hope for mobile advertising

A few days back, Virgin Mobile USA, one of the pioneers in mobile phone advertising and marketing, gave out some details about the performance of its famous program Sugar Mama. The figures released were encouraging. For those of you who have no idea of who or what Sugar Mama is, here are the details.

Sugar Mama is a service offered by Virgin Mobile which allows you to take small survey questions via your mobile and earn free airtime in return. This is an opt-in service and you can opt out any time you want. They also have an online version of the service where you can check out short online spots and give your feedback and rate them accordingly. In return, you will be given a free minute of airtime. You can collect up to 75 minutes of airtime every month.

Now that you have a grasp of the scenario, let’s get back to the main news.

Virgin Mobile has added around 1000 new customers every day, ever since the inception of Sugar Mama. It has rewarded them with millions of minutes of free airtime. The click-through rate of the program has been around 5.5%, which is truly encouraging for mobile advertisers. If it goes on to produce great results, we can see a lot of other mobile operators and carriers coming out with new plans like this. By the way, have you used Sugar Mama? What’s your take on it?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

2 comments.