September 13, 2007 - by Katie Chatfield
Mobile Messaging
I've been recently asked if mobile will ever be considered a serious channel by marketers...
Right this minute the mobile phone is bigger in its reach than the car, TV or internet.
Already in China, Japan and South Korea the majority of internet access is via mobile phone. In total over 750 million people access internet content via a mobile phone today
The Communities Dominate Brands post Putting 2.7 billion into context puts forward some great stats: There are 800 million cars, 850 million personal computers, 1.3 B fixed landline phones, 1.4 billion credit cards, 1.5 billion TV sets and at the beginning of 2007, 2.7 billion mobile phones. That's three times as many mobile phones as automobiles or personal computers. About twice as many mobile phone owners as those of fixed landline phones or credit cards. And almost twice as many mobile phones are in use as TV sets.
Australians love their mobile phones and there are more than 16.5 million mobile services in use in Australia, according to the Australian Communications Authority (ACA). We spend, on average, an hour on the mobile phone every day and 35 minutes of that is spent texting
It is inevitable that the mobile phone will become an important part of the communication mix. While the Australian telco's walled gardens and premium content focus have restricted advertising innovation, the times are changing.
It's important to keep reminding ourselvers that we are in the message delivery business. The ability for marketers to deliver timely and targeted messages to specific audiences is one reason that media planners still knock on the telco's doors. This, in addition to the mobile phone's ability to provide a procrastination destination and information a service for the 3.5 million people browsing the mobile internet in this country, means that there is a large and growing opportunity for brands to connect with their consumers by using this channel.
This article is posted in DIGITAL / TRENDS
From an implementation perspective, I find to go through the fact finding process that you ordinarily conduct with other mediums takes twice as long with mobile phone carriers. It is so new. I do believe that taking the time to go through the process with them and being clear in the manner and way in which they need to answer the brief that was given to them, hopefully has helped them in answering future proposals.
Posted: September 14, 2007 - Laura Tjia