Mobile - the opportunity of the century

More consumers are prepared to access mobile internet content because of the faster download and streaming speeds and falling data costs, and I believe that this is what is truly driving its amazing growth.  As smart-phones reduce in price and the telecoms companies' data plans become more affordable to the general public over the following year, these high end mobile devices will really go mainstream and the mobile internet will be accessible to an increased share of those four billion people on their mobiles.

I'm getting fed up of hearing about the impact the GFC is having on ad revenues - but for the mobile web, it's all about growth, not decline.  A sign of the economy maybe, but consumers are now short on time and tight with their cash, so they seem more likely to view advertising on their mobile device in return for free content, which is good news for marketers and online publishers.

The mobile internet provides a cost effective way to connect to a large number of people, so more organisations are developing mobile versions of their websites and are pushing their products and services via the mobile.  Specifically we are seeing a trend that the automotive, entertainment and alcohol industries that have adopted mobile internet in the biggest way.  Some of the major names in these industries are Toyota, Lion Nathan and Village Roadshow, which have all used mobile in their marketing strategies in the twelve months; all with great success. 

An awesome success story as to the potential for creating an engaged community via the mobile is the award winning Six Beers of Separation advertising campaign for alcohol company Lion Nathan, which wanted to promote the Tooheys Extra Dry brand of beer nationwide. The company's highly successful competition ran across various channels including mobile.  It offered young people the chance to meet the person that they most admired, which also demonstrated the concept of ‘six degrees of separation'. Entrants submitted a video entry via a mobile website and now with the Australian finalists selected, its microsite is streaming their progress.  With $12,000 and a couple of weeks available to them, the finalists had to meet five people, each person intended to move them one step closer to the person they really wanted to meet.  This ongoing engagement with the Tooheys Extra Dry brand, in a cool way via their mobile phone, has worked fabulously within its Gen Y target audience.

The question is, why are so many advertisers still missing out on the opportunity of the century with mobile? Right now they have the potential to reach a captive audience of up to four billion people with cost effective, highly targeted, location specific products and services via their mobile; however they are unwilling to move away from traditional channels.  Over the following couple of years an increasing number of those four billion people will swap over to a smart-phone which includes a great browser and web apps.  Then I believe use of mobile internet will explode and they will have missed the mobile internet opportunity.

 *According to the GSM Association (GSMA) the mobile industry has celebrated four billion connections, according to Wireless Intelligence, the GSMA's market intelligence unit in February 2009.