• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, September 13, 2011

Is mobile becoming a misnomer? A new study by MediaVest USA suggests that mobile devices are used as much -- if not more -- at home as on the go, and throughout the day. And because devices are increasingly tied into every aspect of our lives -- from connecting with friends to emailing co-workers to finding a local mechanic or shopping -- they have become the "new remote control."

"The centrality these devices now have in people's lives is really staggering," said David Shiffman, SVP, director of research and analytics, at MediaVest. He is presenting the findings today at the ANA's 2011 Mobile Marketing conference in New York.

Even so, the MediaVest research, based on a survey of 1,000 people aged 13 to 54 with Internet-enabled phones or tablets this summer, identifies two key periods for advertisers to reach mobile consumers: during midday breaks and in the evening. Although overall mobile data use peaks by noon, people tend to be most aware of ads at times when they are not focused on other tasks.

Ad recall hits its highest point -- at 55% -- during lunch time, and again spikes to 45% in the evening, when users are winding down. The study breaks overall mobile usage into three categories: connection, convergence and navigation. The first refers to services like voice, email and social networking; convergence covers listening to music, watching video and other types of media consumption; and navigation includes browsing, product research, and location-based services.

MediaVest maintains that convergence and navigation are becoming increasingly important areas for marketers to focus on -- with 74% and 62% of mobile users, respectively, engaging in activities under those two heading. Still, the study showed that more traditional mobile activities remain among the most popular. Favorites include texting/IM (76%) talking (62%), social networking (54%), and using email (41%).

The survey found that the vast majority of mobile users (71%) had positive interactions with brands on devices, with 20% reporting no reaction, and 9% annoyed. Facebook is a key gateway for brands on mobile devices. The main ways that people connected with brands were through "liking" on Facebook (79%), becoming a Facebook fan (34%), visiting a Facebook fan page (32%), following on Twitter (27%), and redeeming a coupon (19%).

That doesn't mean there aren't hurdles for marketers and others going mobile. Most survey participants said they found the online shopping experience easier and more enjoyable than in mobile. They also prefer to do banking and investing on the desktop Web because of security concerns about mobile transactions.

The small size of the screen and slow wireless network were among other reasons that users said they might bypass mobile more generally for shopping or other tasks. Because of the personal nature of mobile devices, Shiffman emphasized the importance for advertisers to give users control and tailor marketing efforts as much as possible into existing usage patterns.

"We need to keep in mind the utility nature of the device and how people want to use it," he said. "One of the primary appeals is convenience, so if the experience doesn't deliver convenience, that creates a barrier."

One way businesses can harness the benefits of mobile, according to the study, is through popular shopping and location-based apps including shopkick, ShopSavvy, and Groupon. These apps already provide users a measure of control for navigating mobile that marketers can leverage to promote their own products and services.

"How to do mobile marketing right is the big question that we're trying to address with this as well as other work," said Shiffman. Clearly, people don't want to be separated from their phones. One part of the MediaVest study involved taking away mobile devices from participants for a day to see how they would react to the loss of their 21st-century lifeline.

The agency concluded users are "deeply, emotionally attached to their mobile devices, with 38% saying they wouldn't give them up for any amount of money. "When they didn't have access to devices it had almost a crippling effect, like they lost their connection to everything," explained Shiffman. That underscores that marketers should tread carefully when expanding into a technology that users consider so vital to daily life.