I hate to rain on anyone's parade, especially when it comes to new technology, but lately it seems that wireless devices are generating more hype than they're worth.
For example, in today's
Media Buying section of ClickZ, a well-known industry pundit is touting the glory of PDAs, saying, "I think there are plenty of opportunities to use Palm devices to get your advertiser's name in
front of appropriate consumers." The writer lists branding opportunities and sponsored data files for existing applications as "ideas for leveraging the Palm computing platform to the benefit of
both consumers and advertisers."
But it's time to halt the hype. The inventors of these technologies may be bubbling over with excitement over the "branding and e-commerce opportunities," but
the advertising community is far from convinced that cell phones, PDAs and other "toys" are really worth advertising on.
The ad industry has only scratched the surface of simple online
advertising and I, for one, haven't been able to find anyone who ran a successful campaign on wireless.
Let's look at Europe for some guidance. Forrester says European retailers' hopes to sell
through mobile phones, interactive TVs, and PDAs – the ultimate goal of these devices - will fall short. "More than half of projects fail to meet expectations," explains Carsten Schmidt, Forrester
associate analyst. For example, she adds, mobile phones only favor transactions that are timely, simple, and location- based - low-cost items like flowers and movie tickets.
It's probably true
that mobile phones can "cultivate loyalty through personalized alerts, create opportunities for location-based services that advance consumers toward purchases, and build brand awareness through
opt-in ads," as Forrester suggests, but will advertisers buy it? And when?