Europe - A report from Frost and Sullivan has found that mobile advertising could become a strong source of revenues for the mobile industry. Mobile advertising market revenues are estimated to reach 2.18 billion euro in 2012 in Europe.
Andrew Grill ( inset ), Head of Business Development at Gigafone, the mobile marketing company, thinks this report is spot on and finds it encouraging to see analysts taking mobile advertising seriously. However, he urges people to forget the numbers and concentrate on getting things right from inception, or else face the consequences of failure.
"The Frost and Sullivan report is correct to advise marketing professionals to confront three main challenges in order for revenue potential to be fulfilled. Unless some basic rules are followed it could all go horribly wrong. Careful planning and consideration is needed to take us into an era where mobile advertising is a convenient part of everyday life and a great revenue generator for the mobile industry.
"The three Ps of mobile advertising must be applied: permission, preference and privacy. Consumers must have control over the marketing they receive; it must not be invasive. People will decide what they see, receive, and engage with, so we need to ask their permission. People will decide what content they find relevant, so inference and assumption have a limited lifespan, hence consumer preference is fundamental. And finally, people will decide where their data is stored and how it is used, so we need to respect their privacy.
We must not bombard consumers with unsolicited advertising. The technology is there but those in the industry need to be sensible with its roll-out. Testing and receiving informed consumer feedback is of vital importance in the early stages of mobile advertising.
"Mobile presents enormous opportunities for advertising. The mobile is now elevating itself as a medium that has the potential to overtake TV. Let's get it right"
Gigafone is set to launch an Early Adopter panel to gain consumer feedback this month.
