James Cameron takes a regular look at the ideas and insights discussed on leading mobile advertising, search, content and social media blogs. If you want your blog/post to be considered, then please email a link to peggy@msearchgroove.com .

A novel idea with startling repercussions for the mobile content value chain comes from David Cushman. In his view, we, the users of technology, will become the 8^th mass media following print, recordings, radio, cinema, TV, internet and mobile. And it’s not just that we create content; we are the distribution channel, the medium and the media transmitted within it.

A post on ReadWriteWeb that questions whether companies can piggyback our incoming calls to deliver mobile advertising is still sending shockwaves through the blogosphere this week.

The technique, used by Gigaphone, shows users a full-screen ad on their mobile phones when they receive a call or SMS. It’s not hard to imagine this method of advertising pissing off certain market segments. But if they are annoyed, it’s their fault because it is permission-based and no one is forced to download this app.

And while we’re on the topic of this novel and somewhat controversial approach to advertising, let’s keep in mind Gigaphone isn’t the only one using our personal communications as a vehicle for their delivery. Messaging specialists Anam, for example, offer a service that tags text or multimedia ads onto P2P, SMS, or MMS messaging. At the other end of the spectrum, Vodacom’s Please Call Me service is widely regarded by the industry as a stand out success story.

But do we have to hard sell ads in the first place?

The youth-focussed MVNO Blyk has shown users will opt-in for mobile advertising if we’re up front about it. (Peggy tells me that her podcast with Blyk’s Leif Fagelstedt is set for this week, so check back regularly. Knowing her she’ll have a few scoops…) The results from recent Blyk campaigns tell us that mobile advertising can work if we ask first. I encourage you to check out stats on their latest mobile advertising campaigns here. Enjoy the debate after the post, and please share your comments with me on MSG!

But I’m not the only one convinced that mobile advertising is in need of a re-think. Tomi Ahonen’s post from March is still acutely relevant. He points out that mobile advertising that is significantly contagious, thoroughly engaging and effectively targeted will blur the boundaries between advertising and content by delivering context and relevancy (yes, the MSG strapline “at the intersection of content and context is certainly on the mark!) As Tomi puts it: “When our target audiences like our ads so much, they want MORE of it, then we have succeeded.”

David and Tomi are on board to present at the upcoming Mobile Content 2008 event in London, organized by IIR Ltd. Check out the details here.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 3:39 pm and is filed under Mobile Advertising, Mobile Content, Mobile Social Networking, Web 2.0. 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.