• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, December 19, 2012

Internet and mobile data will drive ad targeting for Verizon Wireless, though many brand marketers aren't ready to tackle the mounds of data generated from mobile campaigns. The wireless company began earlier this month reaching out to consumers to participate in an initiative called Verizon Selects, an opt-in program that's part of the company's Precision Marketing portfolio collecting data from a variety of tasks, including search. Those who opt in get a coupon or some other type of reward.

Verizon will use location, Web-browsing history, mobile apps, data use and other demographics to target ads and marketing messages, such as postal mail, email, text, and online or mobile advertising.

Most CMOs aren't ready for mobile data. Some 70% of CMOs participating in a TrueEffect study on big data are not prepared for the amount of data online and mobile advertising technology collects, according to Martin Smith. The VP and GM at TruEffect told MediaPost Search Insider Summit attendees earlier this month the industry needs to find a better mobile measurement. He likened the challenges to those in 1995, a time when the industry tried to count conversions in the desktop space.

Marketers haven't gotten serious about mobile measurement. Many think it's still an experimental channel. Even in mobile, data lives in its own silos, from QR codes to text and app data. Bringing them together is difficult.

Siddharth Shah, director of business analytics at Adobe, said mobile caught marketers off-guard because consumers led the way for adoption. Last year, mobile search traffic came in between 2% and 3%, and today the average remains about 25%. In some categories it's between 35% and 40%, he said.

In the update from Kleiner Perkins Partner, Mary Meeker suggests mobile traffic has grown to 13% of Web traffic, up from 10% mid-year. She said 43% of kids ages 6 to 12 want an iPad and 36% want an iPad Mini.