While publishers, media agencies, and Internet companies are already working feverishly on advertising concepts for mobile end devices, most of the mobile network operators continue to hesitate. The management and technology consulting company Detecon recommends that telecommunications companies immediately exploit the advantages they enjoy as network holders to put their own advertising business strategies into place so that they do not miss out on the opportunities offered by the mobile advertising business.
In addition to the advertising films embedded in mobile television formats and advertisements in cell phone games, advertising on the mobile Internet and in search engines is up and coming. "When viewed against this background, mobile network providers occupy a key position on the cell phone advertising market," declares Falk Wöhler-Moorhoff, managing consultant at Detecon International. "As a rule, their portal represents the entry to the Internet, and this position can be exploited wonderfully and marketed accordingly, e.g., for banner advertising or sponsored links." Wöhler-Moorhoff's advice: network operators should acquire the relevant know-how or cooperate with advertising specialists to draw up concepts for these or even more extensive forms of advertising as soon as possible.
Moreover, they should consider the possibilities arising from cooperative efforts with prominent Internet companies such as Yahoo or Google. Both would benefit - telecommunications providers would profit from the popularity of the strong brand names while the Web companies could achieve even greater reach for the distribution of their services. Synergy effects can be achieved above all from personalized advertising: mobile network companies contribute their knowledge about their customers and the latter's usage behavior, while the Internet companies contribute their advertising customer network to the partnership. Advertising customized to the individual user groups makes it possible to reduce dispersion losses significantly - an aspect for which the advertising customers also pay correspondingly higher prices.
Wöhler-Moorhoff warns companies not to put off these activities: "The network operators are not the only ones who have large quantities of customer information at their disposal. In the meantime, companies such as Jamba or platform providers also have available large data volumes and the necessary analysis tools." Moreover, service providers such as Google have developed their own operating systems for mobile end devices so that they can operate more independently of other market players. "In view of these developments, the mobile network companies should exploit their competitive advantages as long as they still have them," advises Wöhler-Moorhoff.
Posted to the site on 17th January 2008
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