Marketers drool over the opportunities presented by mobiles

Well this is only one of the many articles that we've seen in the press over the last few days trumpeting mobile as the next best thing. I agree. I think as a medium it is one of the most powerful there is given it truly offers a 1 to 1 relationship between marketers and their customers.

I'm not sure I'm sold on the $11 billion by 2011 but here's hoping! However I am sold on the need for carriers and industry bodies to develop standard mobile advertising formats and guidelines for advertisers and agencies alike - hats off to AIMIA for their guidelines released last Tuesday. Its the old adage of 'if it's too hard...bin it'. We, the agencies and companies involved in this industry have to make it easy for the brands out there. We have to give them metrics that they understand in terms of measuring the success of a campaign - measurements like reach and frequency.

Where the web has not reached its potential in terms of targeted advertising, the mobile channel really can. Carriers can accurately define a particular audience and advertisers will pay good money to ensure their message gets out to that user group. Well, as with the web, there's a lot of hype out there about the potential of this channel. Lets hope this time around we won't need several cracks at the whip to get there.