So the next
final frontier for advertisers appears to be, at least according to the media of late, the mobile phone. As we speak, this week in Barcelona, Spain, the
3GSM World Conference is taking place where the constituents of the mobile world are coming together to talk shop. And because not all of us can be there, I
figured it would be worth our while to look at some of the comings and goings in the mobile advertising and content development market that you should be aware of -- if only to get the creative juices
flowing:
Faster network speeds and flashier handheld devices coupled with emerging broadcast mobile TV services are helping to spur interest worldwide. Questions to ask yourself: How far along
is the U.S. with 3G rollout? How quickly will cellular carriers adopt technology like MediaFLO from Qualcomm? How much of a threat, or opportunity, is the A-VSB technology developed by Samsung? In Europe, mobile phone operators are taking the lead with the likes of Vodafone partnering with Google (to pair Internet searches with link-based advertising) and Yahoo (to develop banner ads and
short videos). Yahoo is displaying ads on WAP sites accessible to subscribers with advanced mobile phones in 19 countries. The mobile customer will see the ads when they hit Yahoo's home page on their
phones. By clicking on the ad, the phone will dial the company directly or send more information. Companies that are working with Yahoo include P&G, Intel and Pepsi in countries like the U.S.,
Britain, France, Germany, Brazil and India. A company in the Netherlands, HotSMS , is currently delivering a free, ad-sponsored SMS offer. Questions to ask yourself: How can we get U.S
carriers to participate in this? What would this mean for technology adoption? What would this mean for technology penetration by desired demographic groups? Some carriers, like Blyk in the
U.K. and i-Wood in the Netherlands, are on the brink of leveraging the broadcasting model and will launch a free or heavily-subsidized voice and data service in exchange for mobile phone users'
consent to receive ads. Questions to ask yourself: How long will it take for consumers to tire of this kind of exchange? Or will they? In the U.S. Sugar Mama is offering prepaid customers
additional minutes as long as they watch online ads, answer questions by SMS or fill out surveys about products and services. Xero Mobile is targeting the college market (true gabbers, as we all know)
with subsidized talk time in exchange for viewing advertising. Questions to ask yourself: What is the impact on your brand if consumers see this as a barter of feedback for time? How honest will the
feedback be? How valuable will it be to you and your brand? The Bollywood Mobile Initiative was just launched, driven by Roamware, Hungama Mobile, Sanjay Gupta and the GSM Association. Two
shorts were premiered at the 3GSM World Conference that are part of a 10-part series being directed by Sanjay Gupta and featuring 20 leading Bollywood stars. Why does this matter? Because Indian
cinema is now dubbed in over 35 languages and accounts for close to 17% of theatrical business in countries like the U.K. Indian films have made it into the top 10 in markets including the U.S., U.K.,
Germany, and Australia. And with more than 3.6 billion (yes, that is with a "b") admission tickets sold each year and 2.5 billion mobile screens (yes, that is another "b"), even a take rate of .025%
is enough to make anyone pause and consider the possibilities. And finally, the Sundance Institute and the GSM Association have premiered five original "made for mobile" short films
commissioned as part of the Sundance Film Festival Global Short Film Project. The project, an initiative of the Sundance Institute (yes, the one founded by Robert Redford), was created to showcase and
extend the reach of the independent short film genre to mobile users worldwide. The films can be accessed at http://www.sundance.org/globalshortfilms and showcase the talents of creatives like Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who made "Little Miss
Sunshine." If BMW Films was heralded a success, why can't this work? Now, I am not usually the cheerleader in the group, but in this case the opportunities are overshadowing the difficulties.
Then again, this could all be for naught. You tell me.