• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 28, 2007

Magazines and mobile-marketing services need to combine their strengths to succeed. The interactivity of mobile content brings magazines online-style accountability by measuring ad campaigns results more precisely, said experts at a Magazine Publishers of America conference. At the same time, mobile marketers desperately need more effective ways of segmenting their customers, including by interest and media consumption. Thus, in the next couple of years, an ad-supported model is inevitable.

That vision of publishing's future is according to a panel of executives at "Magazines 24/7," a conference hosted by the MPA at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York on Tuesday.

John Hadl, CEO of Brand In Hand and strategic advisor to Procter & Gamble's consumer-innovation group for mobile, reminded the audience that advertisers' expectations for media measurement are higher than ever, noting that mobile can "bring the metrics much needed by the industry."

His claims were supported by Heidi Lehmann, vice president of strategic development for Third Screen Media, who recalled a mobile campaign for Dunkin' Donuts that was distributed with USA Today content in the Boston area. The offer of coupon codes for free lattes at area franchises increased foot traffic in the Boston area by 10%, according to Lehmann.

Mobile marketers have their own reasons to partner with magazines and publishers generally, according to Boris Fridman, CEO of Crisp Wireless. While mobile service providers collect a great deal of information about their customers, they remain leery of turning over personal data to marketers due to privacy concerns. "Advertisers, particularly the carriers, really have not opened up to the point that you can really target," Fridman explained.

Since magazine publishers already own such data about their subscribers, and people consuming mobile magazine content are highly engaged by definition, "magazines are a really appetizing target for delivering those kind of customers," he noted. Fridman said that credit-card companies and automakers, for example, are "salivating" over these partnerships. Lehmann agreed that magazines possess targeting information that is "absolutely critical" for mobile marketers.

There's no question that mobile marketing via magazine content is booming. "Budgets are increasing substantially," she noted, recalling that a typical six-week campaign that cost $25,000-$30,000 just a few years ago now runs between $150,000 and $200,000 today.

The medium still faces big obstacles, including the growing expense to consumers paying basic mobile service fees, plus additional charges to receive certain kinds of mobile content. "Verizon, Sprint, and Cingular are all rolling out ad networks, but they're not offering subsidization" to consumers, said Lehmann. This will change, she predicted, once "consumers scream a little bit." Lehmann imagined a system combining a $5 monthly subscription with targeted, relevant ads to broaden mobile's appeal.