Today Retailwire.com highlighted a March 12, 2010 post by a firm called Compete about its research into consumer acceptance of various mobile advertising tactics. I thought this was worth mentioning for a number of reasons, but mainly to highlight the distinction between mobile advertising and mobile engagement – which are really two separate ideas that get co-mingled in this case.
For retailers in particular, it’s important to separate engagement from advertising; the former is interactive by definition, the latter more static/one way communication, even when targeting a particular demographic.
With respect to mobile ad acceptance by consumers, the research found:
“…we saw consumers were most interested in receiving grocery coupons (36 percent), scanable barcodes (29 percent), offers to save and pursue at leisure (26 percent), movie theater offers (26 percent), and ads via SMS when going by a retailer with a promotion / coupon (21 percent).”
The means by which these “advertisements” are delivered to mobile consumers is typically via SMS text message interactions initiated as part of customer engagement strategies. Engagement itself is the real opportunity presented 
by mobile channel marketing, which the research also highlights as shown in the chart included earlier in this post. The research dovetails with a diagram we have been using (at right) to illustrate the personal nature of the mobile channel relative to other advertising and marketing methods that also present fewer opportunities for engagement.
Be it coupons or special offers, these calls to action should be viewed not as advertisements, but rather part of engagement strategies targeting consumers receptive and available to receive them in ways not possible in other media.
