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Mobile Marketing Poses New Challenges

The temptation of using wireless, handheld devices like cell phones and BlackBerries as advertising vehicles is growing, but it can also be fraught with problems. For example, marketers who send unsolicited messages to users run the risk of alienating potential customers in much the same way as if they send spam e-mails. It can be even worse than sending unwanted e-mails because users tend to view their cell phones as more personal devices than their computers. These and other points are discussed in a Q&A interview with Fareena Sultan, Ph.D., an associate professor at the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University. "As wireless infrastructures and mobile devices such as cell phones evolve, so will branding strategies," Dr. Sultan says in a paper she co-wrote with Andrew J. Rohm, Ph.D., called "Brand in the Hand: An Exploratory Study of Mobile Marketing Communications." Dr. Sultan teaches marketing management and electronic marketing and was previously an assistant professor of marketing at the Harvard Business School. She fears there may come a day when users could receive as much spam on their cell phones as in their e-mail inbox.

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