More thoughts on Mobile Advertising

Wow.  What an incredibly busy time since my departure from Aberdeen.  Three weeks ago, I was in Salt Lake City to spend time with the good folks over at Celio Corp.  Two weeks ago, I went to San Francisco for some work I am doing with the largest event marketing agency in the world.  This past week, I was in Cleveland for an event at Case Western Reserve University to talk about mobile advertising.  There, I had the pleasure to speak not only on an interesting panel regarding the future of mobile advertising, but also its impact on enterprise mobility.

The overall event was quite interesting. Anthony Williams, Co-Author of Wikinomics, was the keynote speaker and talked about the use of Wikis as a tool for increasing collaboration not just on campus but in corporate America. (I personally don't see what's so great about Wikis, but I digress) Cisco was also there touting their Unified Communications platform, which I do believe can be of value for enhancing collaboration.  My panel was a discussion on mobile advertising and how 2D codes will revolutionize the experience. Examples and use cases that illustrate this shift will be elaborated on in detail. Topics to be covered include the current state of advertising, the implications of code technology and the possibilities moving forward.

One of the most interesting parts of my time at the event was, in fact, the discussion I had the night before with David Miller, CEO of Mobile Discovery.  Not only was Mobile Discovery one of the primary sponsors of the event, they were also there to discuss the results of their trials with the use of 2D barcodes with mobile devices.  Is this the breakthrough for mobile advertising?

I still think there are a number of issues that remain unsolved with regards to mobile advertising - specifically the "opt-in" issues of receiving "intrusive" messages or pictures on my (corporate) mobile device, as well as the fact that I only have a 2" by 2" screen.  What the heck are advertisers going to be able to put on that size screen that I will be interested in?  However, after a spirited conversation with David, I came to the conclusion that there's an even more compelling use of his technology - mobile marketing.  Hunh?  Isn't that the same as advertising?

Not at all.  To me, marketing is a superset of advertising - or in other words, advertising is only one way (one channel) for getting an organization's marketing message out.  I see the use of 2D barcodes as part of an integrated marketing campaign.  Imagine going to an event and using your mobile device to scan a 2D barcode to either sign in or be registered for a sweepstakes, or as a way to sign-up for more information from the vendor.  This creates then an opportunity for savvy marketing organizations to keep customers/prospects engaged such that vendors and their wares can remain "top of mind."  We've already seen how short codes have become popular on shows such as "Dancing With the Stars."  In fact, I think 2D barcodes have far more potential, if only for all the data they can store, to have a greater impact on mobile marketing than do short codes.

Sure, every device can do short codes (it's SMS), but most mobile devices now come with a camera that can capture a barcode and then send off a short amount of data over the carrier network.   While I certainly think this is still an emerging technology, I certainly do see the value and its application as part of a multi-channel marketing strategy.  End-user organizations are certainly scratching their heads as how to better leverage enterprise mobility solutions, but so far, they have been focused on applications such as CRM, SFA, etc.  I think they should now begin scratching their heads in terms of how enterprise mobility solutions can also help their customers remain aware and interested in their products or services.