• by Laurie Petersen , April 10, 2007

Digital marketing firm 24/7 Real Media has added mobile search campaign management to the enhanced Decide DNA search platform it unveiled today.

"Mobile devices are continuing the evolution of how information is accessed and shared," said Ian Leuchars, senior vice president of search, North America, for 24/7 Real Media. "With Decide DNA 6.1, we give advertisers the ability to seamlessly transition into mobile search marketing.

"We built it with an open design," Leuchars added. "We didn't stick to one [mobile] vendor's proprietary platform."

The capability, he said, is of particular importance in more highly developed mobile markets that 24/7 Real Media serves. These include Japan and Korea where mobile Internet access is a substantially developed activity.

"One of the challenges for marketers is to know what consumers are doing," Leuchars said. "This solves that. And we've made mobile a very simple addition."

Despite the amount of noise surrounding mobile marketing, clients are still hungry for data on how consumers interact with the platform. In other instances, such as highly local marketing, the new platform should help marketers build a mobile campaign.

Research firm eMarketer predicts that global mobile paid search spending will grow to $1.5 billion by 2011, much of it in Asia.