Mobile marketing opportunities

Although mobile marketing currently only shares a minor sector of the wider advertising industry, the userability, interaction and personal nature of mobile phones make it the medium of the future, says 2Degrees CEO Eric Hertz.Addressing more than 90 delegates at last night’s Mobile Marketing Forum, Hertz says that the staggering worldwide growth in mobile meant it was fast becoming the most important developing market for advertisers.The development and popularity of Smartphones had help “Apps become the new Music”, he says, highlighting the App Store has reached 1.5 billion unique downloads in less than half the time that iTunes music downloads took.With the rising popularity of Apps, advertisers are presented with a huge opportunity – but one that requires innovation to successfully take advantage of.But dealing with a medium as personal as mobile, HooHaa CEO Brian Hawker says marketers must follow the rules of mobile marketing - :”choice, control and consideration”.But the benefits of mobile marketing when compared to more traditional modes of advertising were clear, he says.Mobile marketing helped to get “your brand” into consumers hands, and also offered a greater level of measurability, he says.Hawker says these were some of the reasons that helped his company, HooHaa, secure a promising partnership with FlyBuys.This partnership, which is set to begin in two weeks, would see HooHaa market to FlyBuys 2.2 million mobile users.Ghanum Taylor, mobile media director at Hyper Factory, says latest mobile technology is helping to drive audience engagement.Taylor took the crowd through a number of personal case studies to highlight the creative potential of mobile marketing.The first, a domestic 42 Below campaign involving a giant interactive projector billboard in Ponsonby featuring a man dressed all in white performing dance moves directed by a texting audience of passersby.Next, Guinness’ passport to the Hong Kong Sevens – a downloadable App that provided the user with all the information required to make the most of their time in Hong Kong; from maps to schedules, team news and even an English-to-Cantonese translator.Others also included Fanta and The United Nations, with each highlighting the interaction of the medium.Taylor says the success of these campaigns was in the “brand experience” they provided users, who “didn’t consider them advertising – just fun”.The event was organised by The American Chamber of Commerce.PICTURED: Dennis Viehland, Massey University, and Eric Hertz, 2Degrees.