We have heard talks from various startups and mobile service providers about cell phone marketing becoming the next big medium in India. When ?
Lets have a look at what’s in-play and what’s holding them back ? The only successful mobile campaign is by Hutch in Mumbai. Hutch runs and manages a campaign on behalf of restaurants and cinema halls offering discounts on Tuesdays when the demand is the poorest. Another similar service is offered by burrp! – when you download business card of an establishment, you may also get a gift cupon.
What’s Holding them back ?
“Advertisers want to bulk message the subscriber base of a telecom company, which amounts to spam. Telcos are very rightfully opposed to this,” he says. Kejriwal has a slightly different perspective“ said Arvind Rao, CEO, OnMobile
“No responsible telco will reveal details about their users. The telco will not be willing to participate until it has a business proposition and the necessary permission from the subscribers” said Naveen Chopra, Chief Marketing Officer, Hutch
“Mobile advertising is only a supplementary medium. We will need to have more traditional agencies spreading it as a part of the media mix. But there is need for intervention from specialist agencies to support the mainline agencies too” said R Lakshminarayanan, CEO, Mudra Marketing Services
Adding to their woes is low penetration of higher-end handsets which means advertisers have no choice but to test SMS based ads only. OR They can go for a model where mobile calling can be free.
