There were a couple of developments yesterday in the world of mobile marketing which could be seen as pretty significant. Firstly came the use that T-mobile had awarded its mobile search contract to Yahoo! following their heavy investment in mobile technology. This further adds to Yahoo!s weight in the mobile sector as they already power the search for 3 and have mobile advertising available through the Vodafone live network. Yahoo! have obviously bought in heavily to mobile marketing and are pushing hard to make it work. They possibly see it as one area where they can get one up on Google away from the search arena. 2008 could be a big year for mobile and as always, the early bird will catch the worm and if Yahoo! can become the front runner in this field they could reap the rewards.

On the same day it was announced that five of the big mobile operators are joining forces to create a measurement system for mobile advertising. Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile, Orange and 3 have formed a working group aimed at “helping ensure that mobile advertising realises its potential for the benefit of all the players involved”. What exactly this means I am not sure but Im guessing they are plannign at setting some industry standards for advertising models and options but more importantly the technology behind it. Obviously each will have their way of implementing the models and will keep some of their ideas and technologies to themselves but from an advertisers point of view it can only be a good thing as it should speed up the developments in mobile and help it actually become the viable advertising channel it has been threatening to become for the last couple of years.

There have been two new announcements in the world of mobile marketing in the last few days.

Google have announced that their Google maps tool will now be available on mobile handsets along with location pinpointing effectively making it a GPRS tool. The mobile version of maps will be able to pinpoint your location along with providing real time traffic reports, directions to a specified location, integrated search results (this is where the money is made!), and satellite imagery of a location. Depending on its usability this could be a big step forward for maps as it actually brings a bit more use and functionality to the product. It could be especially useful in central London when trying to navigate the capital on foot. It could also be the start of Google’s entry into the Sat Nav market with a little more advancement in the technology and the appropriate handset. Full details

Yahoo also announced today that the Panama platform (the latest incarnation of the advertising center) is to become integrated with mobile devices from January onwards, according to an article in NMA. This is another development in Yahoo’s aim to become a major player in the mobile advertising market and should allow them to pitch the integrated platform approach to advertisers. From an advertiser perspective if the platform truly does allow you to create and manage mobile campaigns it will significantly increase availability of this channel and enable more companies to begin trials.  I am predicting mobile to become more widespread in 2009 with more and more of the big brands embracing it as part of their digital strategy.  This means that publishers and agencies need to be preparing themselves so that they are in a position to make the most of it when it takes off.  This is exactly what Yahoo are doing with this launch.

I have been wondering recently about mobile internet and whether it will become the next big thing as it has been touted as for the past 2 years.  The thoughts have stemmed from various industry meetings with mobile suppliers to discuss their views on it, although they may have been slightly biased as they were trying to sell it to me at the time!

I was shown some interesting stats on the highest search volume terms on the web and on mobile, the main difference being the number of adult keywords showing in the list for mobile search.  Porn, sex and free porn all featured in the mobile list but not in the web list.  Also in the mobile list were ebay, msn, messenger, yahoo, facebook, myspace leading me to believe people were actually using the search function to save them typing the web address into the address bar and also making me question whether there is a market for any form of product searches in mobile at all.  The only ones which appeared in the list were those relating directly to mobile phones, ringtones, wallpapers, pictures.

According to articles I posted over 3 months ago 2007 was the year for adoption and 2008 the year for growth.  Its doesn’t appear to be working that way right now with the only real adopters being the adult sector and the mobile sector.  One person I spoke to about it referred to the current situation being like the early days of the internet, slow loading pages, little measurability and low reach.  With the rapid advances in mobile technology surely at least two of these problems will be resolved in the next 6 months but that still leaves advertisers the task of finding a suitable way of utilising mobile internet for their means.  At present they are pretty limited and with many sites not having a WAP portal and more often than not purchases will be impossible.  Will mobile marketing ever truly materialise? Ill reserve judgement on that for the time being as things move fast in this industry and the next big break through could be just around the corner, but for now, I remain skeptical.

Yahoo appear to be gearing themselves up to be at the forefront of mobile search marketing when the predicted “boom” occurs. The articel is right in its statements that this is one area Yahoo could steal a march on Google and this may be exactly what they are trying to do.


Yahoo Launches Mobile Advertising Network
Mar 27th
Yahoo is expected to announce today that it is creating a mobile advertising network geared to cell phones. The service will allow marketers to place ads both on Yahoo’s mobile services and on those of other publishers.
Yahoo’s network of publishers consists, for now, of three web services: MobiTV (a video service to be used with cell phones); Opera, a maker of web browsers; and Go2, a Yellow Pages site, the New York Times writes. But Yahoo plans to quickly expand its network over the next few months.
Yahoo’s mobile ad network will focus on publishers and advertisers, groups essential to the success of the mobile internet. By summer, Yahoo will begin delivering text, display and video advertising on third-party mobile websites, according to Steve Boom, Yahoo SVP for broadband and mobile.
Yahoo has been aggressively pursuing the mobile market and in January began promoting its new mobile search software called oneSearch, which allows users to find information such as sports scores and weather reports without having to scroll through a long list of sites.
Yahoo has fallen behind Google in internet search. But Kevin Heisler, an analyst at Jupiter Research, says “one area where Google has not outshined Yahoo is mobile search.”

I am still not convinced on the impact mobile internet will have on the online world as the take up of its services are still very low. I am however willing to be persuaded it is the next big thing. according to recent articels 2007 is the year for take up and 2008 is the year for the boom, hold on to your seats!

Mobile internet usage is on the up, and a new survey finds that around a third of users would be prepared to view mobile web ads in exchange for free content.

The Online Publishers Association (OPA) surevy, entitled “Going Mobile: An International Study of Content Use and Advertising on the Mobile Web” involved 6,000 consumers in the U.S. and Western Europe. Of those that responded, 76 percent possessed devices with access to mobile internet yet only 32 percent actually used the service.
The OPA results found that consumers seem far happier to receive online ads than other mobile marketing techniques, such as text message campaigns. The allure of free content in exchange for viewing ad content attracted 34 percent of all respondents, with Europeans slightly keener at 37 percent.
“Consumers in every country are watching mobile ads and large numbers are being compelled to act,” said Pam Horan, president of the OPA. “This is a clear indication that the mobile Web is an effective advertising delivery platform and potentially valuable source of revenue.”
In comparison, a December, 2006, Forrester Inc. report found that nearly 80 percent of internet mobile users were annoyed just by the mere thought of internet advertising on their devices.