An interesting article by Time (Mar. 29th, 2007) says By 2010, 70 million Asians are expected to be watching videos and TV programs on handsets. Advertisers are looking for new ways to reach audiences. According to eMarketer, corporate spending on handset advertising is expected to soar to $13.9 billion by 2011.
In China, an merging middle class with a real purchasing power is the target of mobile advertisements. When BMW launched new models last year, it tried mobile-video ads, downloadable screen wall paper and ringtones. “The click-through rates were unbelievable,” says the BMW marketing manager. Other multinationals that are pioneering in mobile phone marketing are McDonald’s, Proctor & Gamble, etc.
Chinese consumers seem to be receptive to mobile marketing. According to a Shanghai-based mobile marketing firm, 9 out of 10 people open and read unsolicited text messages: “When Johnson & Johnson recently introduced a new contact-lens line in China, it sent an “m-coupon,” good for free samples, to tens of thousands of young, urban women via text messages. Nearly 10% of recipients redeemed their coupons by showing the message to store clerks. That’s a far higher response rate than the average 0.2% rate for e-mail ads.”