Will 2009 be the year of mobile advertising? In Germany the question isn’t associated with market hype; it’s linked to the realization that the climate and conditions are right in Germany for mobile marketing to finally and formally take-off. Gone are many of the legal and business hurdles that have stifled ideas and innovation, paving the way for home-grown mobile marketing companies – such as MindMatics AG, Netbiscuits GmbH, Smaato Inc., and YOC AG – to take their place among international giants. This overview names companies and some interesting stats – thanks again to Mark (“Mr. Mobile”) Waechter, independent media consultant and head of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) in Germany.

Mobile World Congress (MWC) introduced me to some exciting German companies sure to leave their mark on mobile. Some (such as the amazing aki-aki) I met during my day judging the Mobile Peer Awards (the winner in the Emerging Startups category was Popcatcher, a Swedish company set to do for radio what TiVo did for TV). Others I connected with at the reception held by Smaato to announce the winner of the Smaato Mobile Advertising Award 2008 (which was DialPlus, by the way) and finalist companies: aka-aki, buzzd, Fishlabs, fring, FunkySexyCool, Peperoni, Qeep, Skout, TourSpot and Vayyoo.

I also had a deliciously disruptive discussion with Harald Neidhardt, Smaato CMO & Co-Founder, during which I also learned more about m.LOVE, a path-breaking group of “mobile passionistas” Harald has brought together to discuss the future of mobile and ways how “mobile advertising, mobile social communities and the society find solutions to be more engaging in the mobile media of the future.”

This dovetails quite well with the aims of Every Single One Of Us, so it’s no wonder that its founder, Jonathan MacDonald, has  joined their ranks. Likewise, MSG is also a passionate m.LOVE supporter, and I will use this platform to showcase the individuals and ideas driving this forward. Watch for the upcoming m.LOVE tour, a series of workshops bringing together people from all parts of the ecosystem spanning London, New York, Singapore, Barcelona, San Francisco, Hamburg, Milan, and Tokyo.

I was also pleased to meet Carsten Szameitat, managing director of 11 Prozent Communication, a company that organizes a number of cutting-edge industry events in Germany (such as M-Days, one speaking engagement I regrettably had to cancel). Carsten’s team also produces a comprehensive German-language industry newsletter. We share a vision to bring his publication to a larger audience, highlighting the companies and executives that rate a top-notch spot on your radar. I’m eager to connect with German companies for this and other projects, so please keep the pitches coming!

In the meantime, I have been commissioned by New Media Age (NMA) to provide readers news on industry trends and my pick of cool German companies. You can download the debut issue on the New Media Age website. I kicked off my string of contributions with a look at the German mobile advertising market, and an interview Mark (“Mr. Mobile”) Waechter, independent media consultant and head of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) in Germany. NMA printed a version quite different from the one I submitted, so allow me to share the complete Q&A here:

Q: Until now Germany has been the sleeping giant when it comes to mobile marketing. What has happened to wake the country and shake the market up?

A: We have made important progress in areas such as standards, guidelines, and definitions to make sure we are all on the same page and that we can all move the market forward.  For example, because of strict legislation that requires companies to mark advertising in a way that consumers can recognize it as advertising, we have agreed to recommend that advertising on a small mobile screen is simply marked with a “w”, standing for Werbung [German for advertisement]. There is very little space on a mobile screen and this is a solution that works. The next step is to quantify mobile marketing spending in Germany, numbers that are important to educate media buyers and the marketplace. It’s an on-going project because you need to have details on pricing, the total universe of inventory, and other statistics, but we are hoping to release figures in September.

Q: Can you offer a ball-park figure to give us a better idea of the size and potential of the German market?

A: The rough estimate for the market revenue is 400 million euros. Classical mobile direct response marketing, marketing that asks consumers to send an SMS to a short code or take a picture with their cameraphone to get more information or offers, accounts for the vast majority – some 80 percent -  of revenues. Mobile permission advertising campaigns – which are like the ones I just described except the brand proactively contacts consumers using their own database of contacts which they have bought or created – account for 15 percent. Finally, 5 percent of the total is mobile advertising, which we define as typical display and paid search advertising. The user receives and consumes content and somewhere they see advertising. In five years from now,  I expect that these numbers will have turned on their head, with mobile advertising accounting for the majority of revenues. In five years, I expect mobile marketing revenues in Germany will exceed 1.5 billion euros.

Q: What role will mobile operators play in helping brands achieve reach?

A: The next biggest project on our list is establishing metrics in what we call a gateway measurement approach – quite similar to what the major operators in the U.K. have formed. In Germany, we need a trust center, a neutral entity that will take data from all the operators, anonomize the data, and provide a view to what is going on with regards to the mobile Internet and mobile advertising. The GSMA endorses the plans to set this up in Germany – bringing together the four operators: T-Mobile, Vodafone, E-Plus and O2 — and it’s planned for September.

Disclaimer:  Smaato is an MSG supporter. MSG has partnered with Every Single One Of Us to conduct mobile advertising research in the U.K. and Gemany.