DMA tracks mobile marketing's progress

by Julia Buchanan, Direct Response 15-Nov-07
The Direct Marketing Association has made a move to put mobile marketing on the map with its Mobile Marketing Insight Study, a report with quarterly benchmarks that chart the medium's progress.
The report, put out by the DMA Mobile Marketing Council, showed that SMS was the dominant mobile marketing format in the first quarter of 2007.
The report said 87 million texts were sent in Q1, with 15 per cent of mobile service providers surveyed reporting a 100 per cent increase in text messages sent year on year. Fewer than five million messages with URLs were sent on behalf of brands during that period, and multimedia messages (MMS), which carry audio or video, were only used to a limited degree by marketers.
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Nick Fuller, chair of the DMA Mobile Marketing Council, which hopes to educate marketers on the channel's potential, said: "We find that many brands don't use mobile marketing because they don't know how to." DMA figures show that mobile marketing spend accounts for only 0.7 per cent of DM expenditure.
The report follows several developments. Motorola said it was working on software to scan customer's texts and phone calls for information to give to advertisers, which can then send targeted ads to their mobiles.
Mobile advertising firm Blyk launched a scheme in September offering 16-to 24-years-olds free call minutes and texts for giving lifestyle information and receiving six ads daily on their phone.
The DMA study found most texts sent by mobile service providers were direct marketing, with 60 per cent sent in response to a consumer request.
But the industry is aware of the dangers. Paul Berney, managing director of Response Mobile, warned: "If you apply the same mentality they use in email and direct mail, you'll kill the golden goose."

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