With ABI Research stating the global mobile marketing and advertising sector will be worth US $19 billion by 2011 and the Internet Advertising Bureau ‘Engage for Mobile’ conference in November 2007 claiming Mobile Advertising is set to take up more than half of advertisers’ budgets by 2012; things are looking very positive for the key stakeholders in the

mobile marketing value chain.

Brands

Brands have realized it is no longer enough to ‘push’ marketing campaigns at consumers, they need to involve and engage with them to find new ways to create and retain loyalty. Mobile has given brands a unique opportunity to do this and create a two-way relationship, ultimately building product awareness, driving sales and retaining loyalty. By using mobile as part of a marketing campaign brands can reach a specific target audience, via a timesensitive, measureable medium.

Marketing / Digital Agencies

Mobile has transformed the media landscape over the past seven years, with many big agencies such as Ogilvy and Saatchi launching an interactive digital division that includes mobile services. The increasing sophistication of the handsets themselves, with integrated media players, high resolution imaging and cameras have in turn given agencies more scope to work with to create interactive, innovative campaigns that help drive consumer engagement.

Mobile Advertising Networks

Companies such as Admob and Enpocket partner with mobile web sites that enjoy high traffic and offer to run advertising [text-links and graphical banners] on a revenue share basis. They make this space available to advertisers via selfserve web platforms. This allows most campaigns to be set up and become operational in a matter of minutes. Advertisers can target their campaigns according to the characteristics of mobile handset that the ad appears on, such as location, make of handset and phone capability.

Search Engines

Many customers are accessing the mobile internet through established, web-based vendors such as Yahoo, Google and MSN, rather than use the network operator’s searching tools, putting the search engines in a strong position.

Mobile Marketing Service Providers

They provide a complete solution to technically enable mobile marketing and advertising campaigns, working in partnership with the other players in the mobile marketing value chain.

Network Operators

Network Operators are moving away from the walled garden approach to portals, opening up their network to third parties, to encourage competition and increase data usage through the provision of new and innovative content. They have traditionally charged consumers to buy digital content from their mobile portals, and are now beginning to share demographics and mobile media consumption insights with brands as they move to advertisers funded models.