February 15, 2007

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For now, about the only companies advertising on cell phones were mobile phone companies, ringtone vendors, mobile game makers and various other application developers for the growing mobile phone market.

Naturally, content creators for mobile phones would like being able to market to mobile-device manufacturers. However, the flip side of that obvious fact is who isn't advertising there yet. For the cell phone to become the next great marketing medium, a platform comparably similar to radio, TV or the Internet, it will need to attract large advertisers from outside the mobile industry.

Of course, large marketers certainly would seem interested in the opportunity. Car makers, movie studios and other big companies have already started testing the waters of mobile marketing, and research firms estimate mobile advertising could be a $1 billion-a-year market in just a few years.

That revenue is going to have to come from more than a few vendors selling ringtones.

Today, mobile marketing, a term that encompasses everything from ads to text-message voting campaigns seen on shows such as American Idol, remains both nascent and limited in its appeal to various advertisers.

AirG, a company that develops mobile communities for carriers such as Sprint and Canadian operators Rogers and Telus, says it generated more than 20 billion mobile advertising impressions in 2006, and sold less than 2 percent of that inventory.

Its biggest advertisers include Verizon, AT&T and Boost Mobile, a subsidiary of Sprint. That doesn't mean marketers can't learn from the experiences of the pioneers. While there are lots of start-ups pledging to become the Google of the mobile device, a specialized marketing firm called Frederick Ghahramani & Associates thinks a better model for mobile is more retro-- radio.

Ghahramani argues that in the world of radio advertising, 15 and 30-second spots aren't necessarily the most effective forms of messaging, but rather, the contests and the in-store appearances by disc jockeys, and on-air contests - activities that build relationships with customers and deliver something of value to them based on their interests and demographics.

In a similar fashion, AirG offers advertisers banner ads, but some of its most successful marketing campaigns involve contests and other loyalty-building initiatives.

In Oct. 2006, it helped create a national campaign to promote Boost's Hookt, a mobile social networking site published by AirG, and West Coast Customs, a custom car shop well known to viewers of MTV's "Pimp My Ride".

As part of the contest, Hookt users could apply to win a new Dodge Charger tricked out by West Coast Customs. Modifications included "Pimp My Ride" luxuries like Lexani Sterling Rims, Toyo Tires and a Rex Billet grill.

Mobile users could enter the contest via Boost or via mail or the Internet. More than 98 percent of the 1.6 million contest entries came via mobile.

"There's a lot of slots out there," Ghahramani says, referring to the advertising inventory in the mobile world, "but there's a lot more money to be made being creative."

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Source: CNN Money