• by November 8, 2000

A recent consumer trial conducted for Ericsson and Mediatude by independent research firm Netsurvey has demonstrated that not only are consumers receptive to advertising messages delivered to their mobile phones, they remember the brand messages and respond to them.

Ericsson and Mediatude recently completed trials with more than 5,000 users in Sweden receiving over 100,000 messages over a six-week period. Users were given the option of receiving free short message service (SMS) text messaging to their mobile phones if they were willing to accept short text advertising messages attached to subscribed content, and if they completed a profile based on demographic information and interests.

The trial matched advertisers with targeted profiles and, through content providers, delivered advertising that was relevant and targeted to individual user interests.

Netsurvey market research from the trial showed that not only did consumers accept the idea of receiving targeted advertising information along with wireless Internet content, but also they noticed and remembered advertising messages. They also responded to the ads by pursuing additional information or calling phone numbers delivered in the advertising messages.

More than 60% of the trial users said they liked receiving advertising messages targeted to their profile. Nearly 40% found the advertising delivered to their mobile phones to be compelling, while almost 20% sought more information after seeing the SMS advertisements.

Users who participated in the trial through IT Direkt said they found the advertising messages delivered to their mobile phones to be less intrusive and more practical than television or radio commercials. Independent research firm Bell Telemarketing conducted the user interviews.

"Advertisers are crying out for more targeted marketing to break through increasing marketing 'noise,' and this trial demonstrates that the wireless channel is a forum that people do respond to." said Christopher Dennis, CEO of Mediatude. "This is clearly the next big advertising medium. The proliferation of mobile phones ensures that more people than ever can be individually targeted based on their profiles so advertisers can establish a one-to-one relationship with their key customers."

The trial also involved Mediatude's partners for content delivery: IT Direkt provided IT news, MP3 news and communication news; Tjohoo provided stock prices and TV program alerts and Voxway provided e-mail notifications.