• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 6, 2006

Preparing for the expected influx of mobile marketing, iCrossing today will debut a mobile advertising and search unit, mCrossing. The business unit was devised to both add to and reconfigure clients' existing offerings for mobile search optimization and short message services for text message ads.

"We have to start considering new factors for the mobile world, from configuring creative for smaller screens and bandwidth that's available," explained Noah Elkin, director of industry relations at iCrossing. "Strictly giving users the option to opt-in is another important factor, which you can easily do with SMS."

mCrossing is focusing heavily on short message services, or SMS, because they allow clients to serve up a variety of marketing information to consumers--even if they use relatively low-tech cell phones. And beyond rudimentary text messages, marketers can use the services to direct consumers online--technology permitting--where a richer campaign might await them.

One possible application of SMS is an integrated marketing campaign that allows users to receive coupons or movie tickets with barcodes over their mobile phone, which can then be redeemed at the point of purchase.

MCrossing is employing proprietary tracking and reporting technology, Interest2Action, which uses some 50 key performance indicators.

mCrossing will also provide clients with location-aware services--using GPS and other positioning data to alert customers to nearby retailers' e-commerce and billing capabilities, with which users can browse catalogs, redeem gift certificates, and track orders from their phones.

The mobile market is indeed ripe for change. Ninety-five percent of new cell phones sold in July, August, and September of 2005 were Web-enabled, according to the research firm NPD Group, and the percentage of U.S. wireless subscribers using their phones to Web surf has doubled to 12 percent since the end of 2004.