• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, February 4, 2011

SMS text messaging may seem old hat as a marketing tool compared to newer technologies like QR codes or augmented reality, but it should still form the base of mobile marketing programs, according to Tom Daly, group manager of strategy and planning at The Coca-Cola Company.

"If you want to reach every consumer on the planet, texting is the way to do that," said Daly, speaking Friday at MediaPost's Mobile Summit conference in Miami. To underscore his point, he noted that 2.3 trillion text messages were sent worldwide last year. And as one of the world's most pervasive consumer brands, Coca-Cola is always interested in reaching as wide an audience as possible.

Texting has even helped the beverage giant sell more Cokes through vending machines equipped to handle mobile short codes and cashless payments. The unlikely combination of traditional and newer technologies has given vending sales a 14% lift where the specialized machines have been rolled out, said Daly.

After text, the mobile Web and mobile apps should be the next-biggest priorities for companies expanding into mobile. When it comes to the mobile Internet, Japan has historically been the leader, accounting for about 90% of the world's mobile Web traffic, per Daly.

For a given market, Coca-Cola looks at 20% mobile Web adoption before undertaking a marketing push on behalf of its brands. "That is the inflection point," he said. More than one-third (35%) of U.S. mobile users accessed a mobile browser as of November, according to comScore data.

And while Daly advised that apps should be part of a mobile strategy, he lamented the lack of compelling creative execution that has defined memorable Super Bowl commercials over the years. He suggested there has not been the equivalent of Coke's classic "Mean Joe Green" ad from 1979 for apps, or mobile more broadly. He also admitted that Coca-Cola itself hasn't spent much on mobile advertising to date.

Among the company's recent mobile app efforts was an iPhone app that allowed users to create a virtual snow globe that could be a Christmas wish shared via Facebook. Daly also sounded skeptical about much-hyped emerging mobile technologies like 2D barcodes and Augmented Reality. He noted that a big test campaign involving 2D codes that Coca-Cola did in France last year earned a "thumbs down" because of a lack of engagement.

Such setbacks wouldn't stop the company from experimenting with new mobile marketing approaches. Taking advantage of Coca-Cola's "owned media," in the form of labels and packaging to connect physical world products through SMS, UPC codes or 2D codes, is an ongoing strategy. "If we learn how to use those codes then we can help bridge the physical to the digital side," he said.