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By 2011, the global advertising industry is slated to touch $600 bn. Various studies peg the mobile marketing industry to touch anywhere between $4 bn to $11 bn. And, in the process take up its share from the current 0.2% to somewhere between 1.25% and 1.7%. A huge increase-if the customer objections can be overcome.

India is home to more than 200 million mobile subscribers. There are more mobiles than PC and cable connections. The mobile is also the gadget which is really "close to the customer." And that too 24x7x365. And when it rings or beeps it is imperative that the owner responds and checks the message. These statistics and features make the mobile a brilliant vehicle for advertising. Yet, the action has been pretty lukewarm. Beyond SMS-based response generation, and text messages, advertising has not seen much so far.

Thank God for that, many would say. One reason could be that it is also very private. We share newspapers, televisions and radio. We do not share mobile phones. And people value their privacy. A recent study by Forrester Research, "Is the US ready for mobile marketing?" has found that 79% of consumers perceive mobile ads to be annoying.

But the behavior changes when the advertising is specific and relevant, because then it becomes useful information. And the consumers are game, the study says. For instance, Broadway Marketplace, a small grocer in Massachusetts, has replaced their card-based loyalty programs with a way to identify shoppers through their mobile phones. The grocer sends customers targeted messages based on their purchase history, and now it turns out that 64% of customers participate on a regular basis. One size does not fit all. And people want their own size and fitments.

Efforts are on to break in the mobile customers. Marketers are not likely to avert their eyes from such a powerful media vehicle just because users find ads intrusive! Europe has service providers giving free SMS service, or free or heavily subsidized calls-in lieu of the user consenting to receive ads. Mobile virtual network operators have had their show running for a while with many offering free minutes in exchange of ads, or the user participating in a survey, and so on. Mobile communities are also being created to whom specific ads can be served.

Nor is the activity limited to the sms or voice routes. Google, Yahoo .... are all trying to deliver more web content to mobile users. They have search engines for the mobile as well. And the mobile web has the potential of becoming a money-spinner.

Yahoo has also gone ahead and launched a Mobile Ad Network, Mobile Content Engine, Mobile Media Directory and Site Submit. This is a suite of tools which helps content creators or publishers, advertisers and network operators to find it easy to create and submit content to mobiles. Google is working on creating an ad-linked search service for Vodafone. The operator, on the other hand is working with Yahoo to create mobile ads in various formats. To entice the customer to view the ads, discounts are expected to be bundled in.

India with its spiraling numbers of mobiles, lower levels of literacy and lower penetration of conventional media vehicles is a gold mine. Interactive ads, content-driven ads (games, music, videos, etc) and even community specific ads are a huge possibility for marketers.

But the customer has to accept the advertising. Regular phone calls from poorly trained call centers is all that he has experienced so far. If anything, they have made the marketer's job more difficult. And that is why mobile marketing is taking its time shaping up.

Shyam Malhotra
editor-in-chief VOICE&DATA
shyamm@cybermedia.co.in