I say cell phone companies should adopt a business model similar to that used by television and radio.
They should sell cell phone ad space to advertising media buyers and send the ads to consumers who agree to receiving them in exchange for lower cell phone fees.
It's just a question of getting the phone companies to take the risk...
That's an excellent approach, Angelo, and I don't think there's too much risk given the huge potential of the cell phone market.
Wow there Barry,
You're getting a bit ahead of yourself in declaring us (Sid Lee) against mobile marketing. The post you read was part 1 of 2. If you noted, the conclusion of part 1 declares us in favor of 'contextual marketing' on mobile networks. Incidentally, part 2 is online and it explains exactly what we mean by contextual marketing.
The premise for our argument against mobile advertising vis a vis contextual marketing is not about infrastructure ("networks consumers are paying to build and maintain"). Rather, it's about the negative attribution that uninvited, invasive messaging can generate for the marketers behind it.
Permission marketing with all do respect seems irrelevant in this case. With permission marketing, consumers still expect a quid pro quo for accepting ads on their phones. But all this does is removes the cognitive barrier to harrassment. Of course permission marketing makes the network happy because it can sell space to marketers at a premium, claiming that consumers won't get annoyed by exposure to advertising content. But that doesn't guarantee performance for the marketer.
Permission marketing in the context of mobile advertising does no better at engaging the consumer than simply exposing a consumer to a television ad. Inherent in this argument is the fact that such techniques are decidedly imprecise — analagous to shooting a dart versus sharp-shooting.
Contextual marketing is precise — it speaks to consumer in relevant venues at relevant times and in relevant terms. More so, contextual marketing is frequently consumer-iniated. It's about engagement and exchange over invasion and impression.
Ultimately, I think that the 'advertising model' is constrained by the thinking of the 30-second spot. We've got to move beyond this paradigm to create actionable communications and exchanges that are resonant with both consumers and marketers.
Thanks for providing more explanation, Eric. As it happened I had just finished reading the next installment from Sid Lee when I popped over here and saw your comment. I think we're almost singing from the same hymn sheet. We've got to make sure that the words don't get in the way.
I must admit that I like the distinction between Push Marketing and Pull Marketing. By using contextual marketing, you're trying to get the consumer at a time when they're more receptive to whatever contact you want to make with them. However it's a question of who is in control. Will you as the advertiser push something at me, that I might prefer not to see? Or will I as the consumer put a little effort into opening up something if I happen to be in the mood to see it? Unfortunately the cell phone real estate doesn't give you much room to fine-tune all this. Anyway I'm enjoying what I'm seeing from Sid Lee. Keep it coming. 
Thanks Barry. We appreciate your commentary and will try to keep it coming.
It seems to me that the cell phone companies have found another way to make money by agreeing to allow ads on cell phones. When I contracted for their service, there was no agreement made to allow them to "Push" advertisements to my phone. Television companies tell us that they furnish us free television because the cost of them doing business is paid for by the advertisements. Not so for cell phones. We pay for their services and we should not have any type of advertisements pushed to us on this service.
If cell phone companies want to recontract with the users and clearly indicate how the momey they are making from their "advertising" business is being used to lower the cost they are charging the consumers, then some consumers or users of cell phones might agree to allow this advertising to be displayed on their phones. However, since the ad business the cell phone companies do would be constantly changing, how can they possibly come up with a discount that would correctly reflect their ad income?
No, all in all, I think that this is a bad deal for the consumers. Lets just let the cell phone companies be competitive, doing what they have been doing, and the consumers can select the best deal offered for the money.
I think, Vern, they'll do it anyway and we must then make our choice based on how we feel about all this.
Greetings:
The mobile landscape will be changing very quickly in Montreal.
Mobile Internet Devices, small pocketable computers that can surf the net will be in demand soon.
If you want to read more about these little wonders look at my blog site:http://midees.blogspot.com/.
Feel free to leave your comments.
Regards Robert
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