With all the talk of wireless advertising in the air, it seems like the right time to survey websites providing information on buying wireless ad space. Everything from sample WAP ads to wireless ad
statistics can be found on these sites. Some of the best of them are listed below.
Advertising.com (www.advertising.com), a leading media company that specializes in cross-platform marketing,
includes a thorough section on wireless advertising on its site. By clicking on the “technology” tab from the homepage, then the “wireless” link from that page, users are taken to a “Wireless
Overview” page, describing the wireless options available through the company. Those options include Short Messaging Service (SMS), the technology that allows the transmission of short text messages
to cell phones and pagers; Personal Digital Assistants advertising, which Advertising.com describes as a highly targeted type of advertising to a specific kind of consumer; and Wireless Internet
advertising, which the company argues is able to meet multiple advertiser objectives.
Airvertise (www.airvertise.com) is a company that focuses solely on wireless and emerging advertising,
including creative. The homepage allows you to choose either links for publishers, agencies, advertisers, or a link directly to information about wireless advertising. The “Wireless N.O.W.” link (the
N.O.W. is nation on wireless) provides quotes from a variety of companies and research groups on the importance of wireless and a graph displaying its growth.
Air2web (www.air2web.com) is a
wireless application service provider with clients such as UPS, Vertical One, and Total Sports. From the company’s homepage, you can click on “Wireless Solutions” in the left column to access
information on air2web’s offerings, including a black and white diagram explaining how the system works. The “Success Stories” link allows the user to read Air2web client case studies. The in-depth
explanation of what UPS set out to do, how it chose air2web, and UPS’ appraisal of air2web’s services is helpful to anyone thinking about using the air2web.
SkyGo (www.skygo.com) is a company
that claims to provide everything you need to get a wireless marketing program up and running. The most comprehensive part of the site is its sample Ad Studio, which allows you to view both phone and
PDA ads. Both of these provide examples of the different creative options that SkyGo wireless ads can contain, including coupons, interactive quizzes and trivia, interactive polls, and links, among
others. The phone examples show both ad-only and ad-in-content formats, and they are all shown on the device—cell phone or PDA—on which the ad would run.
Netmorf (www.netmorf.com) also focuses
solely on wireless advertising. Its homepage is visually interesting, with floating and fading links to “Mobile Considerations,” “Mobile Business Vs. Wireless Web,” and more. With a “Customer
Spotlight” also available from the homepage, users can view an article in PDF outlining a client’s needs—Barnes and Noble, for instance—and how Netmorf met them. In addition to the “Customer
Spotlight,” other success stories are also available for review on the site. While ample information is provided on the site, including product fact sheets and a list of wireless events, no sample ads
are offered.
WindWire (www.windwire.com) is an all-wireless marketing and advertising company that claims its technology enables one-to-one conversations between buyers and sellers. WindWire’s
website outlines WindCaster for Advertisers, the company’s advertising technology that enables advertisers to serve a variety of targeted ads over wireless devices. The site offers a “Sample Ads” page
with examples of both PDA and Phone. The company also offers an example of its Ad Creation Wizard. — Bridgitte Arnold