The next 12 months have been heralded a real turning point for mobile internet advertising, when the experience will match the technology and consumers will get over their hang-ups about using their mobile phones for something other than communication and surf to their hearts’ content on the move, occasionally interacting with advertising.

The IAB’s 'mobile advertising: the emerging UK market' report - written with the Mobile Marketing Association and available to download below is an ideal introduction to the increasingly important mobile market.

Introduction
By Guy Phillipson

I’m a big fan of Family Fortunes - a word association game show once hosted by Les Dennis that asked a panel of 100 people the answer to a question such as: “name something you could do in your sleep”, “name something you wear on your feet” or “name something you would use the internet for.” As a brief aside, I’ve never encountered anyone that actually took part in one of these panels, even though it’s been a lifelong ambition of mine.

So allow me to be Les Dennis for a second. What if I asked you to “name a type of year”?

There are many possible responses: light year, school year, financial year, leap year, the year of the cat - all common in our day-to-day vocabulary. If I were to ask 100 industry commentators on the other hand, the answers would probably be dominated with a different kind of year. The year of online, the year of the blog or the podcast, the year of user-generated-content and most recently it would seem, the ‘year of mobile’. As a medium we appear to be quite bold in our predictions of what characterises the coming year.

The next 12 months have been heralded as the real turning point for mobile internet advertising, when the experience will match the technology and consumers will get over their hang-ups about using their mobile phones for something other than communication and surf ‘til their hearts’ content on the move, occasionally interacting with advertising, of course.

It’s true that a growing number of people are already using mobile internet, as an ex-Vodafone man it’s an area I’m particularly excited about. They’re using it for news and entertainment, travel information and locations, price comparisons and email. Male 16 – 34 year olds have proven to be the early adopters but other groups are steadily increasing their usage as familiarity with the medium develops.

Transparency of mobile packages is improving, content is getting better and more relevant, and mobile usability is finally beginning to be addressed with the development of more and more tailor-made mobile sites and the next generation of mobile technology. ...

So it’s safe to say that the IAB is definitely ‘going mobile’, in fact it makes sense given that many of the same rules apply to both internet advertising and mobile internet advertising. But will 2008 be the year of mobile? To be honest I don’t know, but I do know that the technology is there, I know that your consumers are ready and waiting, and I know the possibilities are endless to engage with your audiences in new and exciting ways. As an industry we’re in a transition period and 2008 - 2010 will be significant years in the development of the medium.

But our advice is don’t wait until the official ‘year of mobile’ before you take that next step. Put your mobile plans into place now and you’ll be reaping the rewards indefinitely.

Guy Phillipson
CEO
Internet Advertising Bureau

Download IAB Mobile Advertising Report

PDF format, 2.6MB, 48Pages.

Contents
2 Introduction
4 What is mobile internet advertising?
9 The importance of mobile in our daily lives
12 Mobile internet advertising – what is available now?
22 Mobile advertising standards
24 Mobile marketing
26 Challenges and barriers
32 Case Study 1: Royal Navy - get the message
33 Case Study 2: Citroën
34 Our survey says: is mobile ready?
38 Conclusion
40 Jargon buster
44 Other mobile organisations
44 Acknowledgements

Visit IAB Mobile Advertising Report Website

CONCLUSION:

From our perspective at the IAB, looking into the emerging mobile market is like stepping back in time about five years or so. Around 2002, marketers were becoming aware that their audiences were flocking online, but they were largely at a loss when it comes to reaching them. A lack of case studies and insight into specific audience behaviour, coupled with technical limitations of the medium were identified as major impediments to the growth of online. The ever-increasing market share of internet advertising is testament to the fact that these challenges were in no way insurmountable and the online spend continues to buoy that of the entire advertising industry.

Mobile, arguably, has even more potential for marketers than online did in its infancy. The mobile phone is the media equivalent to a swiss army knife for the twenty-first century: it can do everything besides get a stone from a horse’s hoof and even that function may appear on fifth generation handsets! The mobile phone is personal, consumers engage with it everyday, wherever they are – and nearly everyone has one. It is both practical and entertaining. In short it is the essential media device for the majority of consumers.

The above benefits may also make mobile advertising a slightly tougher needle to thread than online. As we have seen throughout this report, issues of getting consistency of formats across a number of operators, a lack of quality content currently on mobile internet and the crucial problem of not being intrusive, mean that despite mobile being very much on the agenda of marketers, there is still a degree of caution.

This report has shown, however, how these issues are being addressed and how marketers are finding imaginative ways to reach their audience wherever they are, on their mobile. As with online, there is no rulebook for mobile advertising, it is uncharted territory for us all. Mistakes will be made and we will learn from them and it will be the brave marketers who get on board early who will benefit once mobile marketing reaches the levels of traditional internet advertising of today. The IAB will be there throughout the exciting journey, and to coin a rather apt phrase, we are sure that for mobile advertising; “the future’s bright…”

ABOUT THE IAB:

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is the trade association for online advertising. With over 380 members, it's run for the leading media owners and agencies in the UK internet industry. Online is an exciting and fast-growing medium and our job at the IAB is to work with members to ensure marketers can identify the best role for online, helping them engage their customers and build their brands.

Through the dissemination of research and the organisation of regular events, we aim to put online on the agenda of every marketer in the UK, acting as an authoritative and objective source for all internet advertising issues whilst promoting industry-wide best practice.

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