With the current economic situation fragile, and seemingly every article making a tenuous link to the credit crunch, the mood of the population is not at its best; however, an O2 commissioned survey brings good news for the mobile marketing community. By 2013, company spending on this platform is likely to increase by 150%, according to the research carried out by Vanson Bourne earlier in the year.
Recent years have seen an increase in the use of mobile phones for marketing, with competitions requiring text entries increasing by around 20%. Of the marketing and IT directors asked, 60% praised mobile marketing for its benefits especially in close targeting.
During times of financial worry companies are often looking to save money and the marketing department is regularly one of the first to have its budget slashed. However, history shows that advertising during times of financial struggles can have huge benefits. Whilst not wanting to directly compare today's trouble with the Great Recession seen in America in the early part of the 20th Century, that era of history does perfectly highlight the statement made in the last sentence.
Prior to the 1930s, Post Cereals were the leading producer of breakfast cereal in the US. With the need to cut expenses, they stopped advertising their product and as they were the market leaders they thought it wouldn't make too much difference. Kellogg's, who were a small company at the time, took an alternative view to this and greatly increased their spending, creating Tony the Tiger whose optimistic trademark exclamation of "They're great!" proved hugely popular at the time. The positive image of the campaign and the company boosted sales and as the depression came to an end Kellogg's had asserted themselves as the country's favourite. As consumer spending picked up after the recession they remained loyal to the brand.
Although most of those questioned in the survey were positive about mobile marketing and its future, concerns were raised by around half of the marketers interviewed who said they were worried that advertising by text message would be seen as spam by the customer.
