In-Brief: A roundup of news and key data points.

AD AGENCIES NOT USING MOBILE: A fall 2007 study by Advertiser Perceptions of 2,047 ad executives finds that more than half of ad agencies and media execs do not currently use – and have no plans to use – mobile advertising.

The poll found that only 26 percent currently use mobile advertising, and only 20 percent plan to use it in the next six months.

That is about the same level of usage indicated among ad executives when Advertiser Perceptions conducted its last semi-annual survey in the Spring of 2007, and is not a strong indicator for the burgeoning mobile marketing industry, Ken Pearl, a partner at Advertiser Perceptions, said in a statement.

EUROPEANS AWARENESS: Mobile advertising may not delivering results, but it is at least gaining consumer acceptance, according to a study of 1,535 consumers spread across the U.K., Germany, Italy, France and Spain by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). It found that 15 percent of all consumers surveyed have had some experience with mobile marketing. A tenth of mobile users in these counties are interested in receiving mobile marketing, while another three in ten are moderately interested in the offer. Italy and Spain lead the way, with over 50 percent of users reporting they are at least moderately interested in mobile marketing.

The report also sheds light on the usage of mobile phone features, services and applications. Overall, mobile coupons, status alerts about accounts/purchases and special sales have greatest appeal. Interactive interactive voting, receiving ads and product/service information via SMS are the most common mobile applications. And forget a few steroetypes. The 18 to 34 year old age group has the highest rate of participation in mobile marketing efforts. However, interest levels are also similar across ages 13 to 54.

AMERICANS MORE INTERESTED: U.S. Mobile entertainment community Limbo reports that 78 million consumers recall seeing or hearing advertising on their mobile phones in 4Q2007.The results were published in Limbo’s Mobile Advertising Report, produced in conjunction with GFK/NOP Research.

Among the findings, SMS seems to be the channel to the customer. Some 56 percent use SMS and a majority recall SMS advertising they receive. The report, which highlights the brands and sectors that consumers remember from mobile ad campaigns, points out these are the brands that stick:

• Mobile carriers (notably Verizon and AT&T)

• Handset manufactures (Motorola, Blackberry)

• Entertainment brands (BET, Fox, MTV, various movies, music artists)

• CPG (Coke, Pepsi) Sports brands (NFL, Nike)

• Mobile services (Limbo, ringtones)

• Electronics (HP, Yahoo, SBC)

• Automotive (Chevrolet)

• QSR (McDonalds)

JAPAN BOOMS: Japan’s Dentsu Group, which tracks online and mobile advertising, estimates that the country’s mobile ad market grew by 42 percent in 2007 and is on track to remain the fastest-growing segment through 2010. Dentsu predicts double-digit growth for the whole Japanese online ad industry to 2011, when growth is estimated to slow to 9.6 percent.

SINGTEL TRIAL: Singapore’s incumbent operator SingTel, determined to dominate the mobile and web advertising space within the next five years, is developing a strategy of delivering an end-to-end advertising solution across inventory creation and control of customer information, media planning, advertisement delivery and advertising campaign performance tracking. To test the waters for this offer the operator is currently conducting a service trial involving 20,000 SingTel mobile and Internet customers. SingTel aims for a commercial launch of the service early next year. The mobile advertising market in Singapore is estimated to be worth some $200 million by 2012.

INDIA TAPS FACEBOOK: Indian mobile ads broker ZestADZ is set to sell ads on Facebook’s mobile platform. This will allow Facebook developers to integrate mobile ads with their Facebook mobile apps and, in theory, get mobile advertising in front of the country’s 200 million-plus mobile subscribers. At the very least it will target the hundreds of thousands of Facebook members across India.

$5 BILLION BY 2012: A study by Local Mobile Search believes that U.S. and Western European mobile advertising revenues combined will reach a total of $5.08 billion by 2012, up from an estimated $106.8 million at end-2007. The study suggests that the U.S. would account for about $2.3 billion of the total, with $2.8 billion coming from Western Europe.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm and is filed under Mobile Advertising, Mobile Research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.