Whole New Industry Expanding With Mobile PhoneAdvertising, UC marketing ResearcherSays
December 13,2012
Gone are the dayswhen a mobile phone is a voice only communication device.
These days technology that goes into most mobilephones is more advanced than some desktop computers, aUniversity of Canterbury (UC) marketing researcher Dr AllenLim said today.
Smartphones can now be used asalternatives to camcorders, cameras, GPS devices, gamingconsoles, movie players, music players, storage devices,encyclopaedias, wallets and much more.
``It is nosurprise that the mobile phone comes up as one of the mostimportant things that people cannot do without. The mobilephone has now become a very affordable device with more thansix billion mobile phones in use worldwide.
``Thewide use of mobile phones and the attachment of users totheir mobile phones make it a very attractive advertisingmedium. From the advertiser’s perspective, advertisementscan be personalised and delivered directly to relevantusers. While, from a consumer’s perspective,advertisements and promotional materials that are ofinterest to them can be delivered as soon as they becomeavailable.’’
The first advertisement on a mobilephone was released by a Finnish news provider six yearsafter the launch of SMS in 2000. The Finnish company offeredfree news headlines via SMS, sponsored by advertising.
Mobile phone technology has advanced. So has the abilityto deliver more sophisticated advertisements in order togain consumers attention and provide better value andexperience to consumers. Dr Lim spent three yearsresearching mobile phone advertising for his PhD.
``The big question is `can gaining consumers attentionand providing users with value and experience be moreachievable by using more sophisticated technology?’ Thisis what my research was all about – to identify values ofinterest that both advertisers and consumers would like togain from the delivering and consuming of the advertisementand then determine if technology can be used to improvethese values for both advertisers and consumers.
``Results have shown that advances in the technologyused in an advertisement do provide better experiences toconsumers. However, the effectiveness of an advert in termsof consumer recall of the advert information suffered as aconsequence.
``This means that advancing thetechnology used may gain a greater audience for theadvertisers, but significantly less of them will rememberwhat is advertised in the advertisement. Results have alsofound that the type of product advertised plays an importantrole in determining the effectiveness of the advertisementswhen delivered in different levels of technology.
``It is hoped that the advertising industry may benefitfrom using the findings from my thesis where advertisingagencies may improve the effectiveness of their proposedmobile campaigns to their clients. I am determined tocontribute my knowledge, skills and expertise to the rebuildof the economy of Christchurch.’’
Dr Limgraduated with a UC doctorate yesterday. He is among 4500graduates this week. New Zealand’s first chief coronerJudge Neil MacLean received an Honorary Doctorate atyesterday’s event while former All Blacks rugby coach SirGraham Henry will be made an Honorary Doctorate attomorrow’s (Friday) graduation ceremony.
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