Hi there! If you're new to the site, you may want to subscribe to the the feed.

What if I told you that you could get paid just to view advertisements on your phone? Is that something you might be interested in? In late 2006, 26 percent of respondents said that they’d be willing to view mobile advertising in exchange for free phone applications. I can only imagine that a greater number would say yes if instead of applications, the incentive was money towards their monthly bill. This is especially so for economic-minded prepaid users, who understand the value of cell minutes. After all, who couldn’t use a few dollars to help subsidize their calling habits?

Posted in Mobile Advertising on May 1st, 2008
No Comments

There’s little more to say about the mobile advertising field than it’s growing. We’ve seen some outlandish predictions, and we’ve seen some more conservative ones — that is, if you consider $11 to $20 billion in three years’ time to be conservative. In any event, Boost Mobile is taking steps to move mobile advertising forward. They’ve partnered with Amobee, “a world leader in mobile advertising solution for wireless service providers,” to serve their customers ads. So if you’re a Boost Subscriber, you’re going to start receiving advertisement on your phone.

Posted in Mobile Advertising on March 19th, 2008
No Comments

We can’t imagine how much time is wated spent every day by people in board rooms dreaming up new ways to advertise on mobile phones. After all, it’s a hot new medium, ripe for polluting. The earliest model was paying customers to view ads, but we saw and continue to see this as an entry ground, not something that will last for a long time. The new thing in mobile advertising has been coupons, which are sent via text message to willing customers. So while they don’t get free cell minutes, they do get discounts at various restaurants and retailers. It’s a decent step forward, we suppose, but it still has a long way before it catches on.

Posted in Mobile Advertising on September 12th, 2007
No Comments

Honestly, there are few things more annoying than receiving a spam text message. Oh, I can get the hottest new ringtones? Gee, thanks for the breaking news. I’m glad you used up one of my valuable text messages for the month — or even wasted my 10 cents. But if you think about it, this is almost exactly how Internet advertising was in its infancy. You’d navigate to a web page, only to be bombarded with pop-up ads — which are just as annoying as text message spam. Well, Internet advertising evolved into something less annoying, though it’s not exactly perfect now. Will mobile advertising undergo similar changes?

Posted in Mobile Advertising on August 20th, 2007
No Comments

Facebook. It’s the new shiz, right? Ever since they opened their service to all users — not just those in college — they’ve skyrocketed in membership, up to around 30 million now. Because of this spike — well, because of the general social networking spike — advertisers have been trying to get their grubby hands on this market. Virgin Mobile entered the fray about two months ago; now, AT&T wants a piece. However, they’re doing things a bit differently, and we’re not sure we understand.

Posted in AT&T, Mobile Advertising on August 6th, 2007
No Comments

About two weeks ago, we found some news on mobile advertising. This is an idea we had previously opposed, but once we read this business model, we couldn’t help but get excited. Imagine looking at an ad…and knowing you’re getting paid for your time. It’s the best idea to come to interruption marketing since, well, ever. We had reported earlier on MyScreen Mobile, but this is a different program run exclusively through Virgin Mobile.

Posted in Mobile Advertising, Virgin Mobile on July 9th, 2007
2 Comments

We’ve made it well known that we are not fan of interruption marketing. Whether it’s a TV commercial or an advertisement preceding an online video, we think that forcing people to watch ads is just a silly and outdated method of spreading your message. Most of the junk advertised doesn’t even appeal to us, meaning that the companies are effectively wasting a portion of their dollar. And most of them don’t even have a call to action, so they try to get by merely with the power of suggestion. None of this is appealing to us. And we really dread the day it becomes common on our cell phone.

Posted in Mobile Advertising on June 22nd, 2007
2 Comments

We covered the Virgin Mobile“You Rule” ads last week, noting that they offended quite a few people, most notably on Staten Island. Then we heard rumblings that they misplaced a few ads. A billboard poking fun at Upper East Siders, intended for the Upper West Side, was mistakenly placed in the UES. So yeah, things didn’t start off so well for the new Virgin Mobile ad campaign.

Posted in Mobile Advertising, Virgin Mobile on June 20th, 2007
1 Comment

As we said yesterday, we’re completely in favor of marketing and advertising that doesn’t involve us sitting through a 30-second commercial (actually, we watched Talladega Nights last night, and were massively peeved when they ran that cheap-o Applebee’s commercial in the middle of it). So we praised Virgin Mobile for its Facebook marketing plan.

Then we get an e-mail last night about, yes, another Virgin advertising campaign. In an attempt to expand their service in New York City, they’ve begun to place enormous ad posters and billboards all around the city. They feature the slogan “You Rule,” followed by, well, something that rules. For instance, they’ve used “Car-Service Drivers, You Rule.”

Posted in Mobile Advertising, Virgin Mobile on June 12th, 2007
No Comments

We love the idea of viral marketing, so we have little bad to say about the recent partnership between Facebook and Virgin Mobile. The idea is called “My Mobile,” and it’s one of the most effective forms of advertising we’ve yet seen.

Once Virgin Mobile customers activate the “My Mobile” feature on Facebook, everything they download — games, wallpapers, ringtones — will be listed in their profile. This goes hand-in-hand with their once-controversial News Feed feature. Now everyone can see what mobile content you’re using.

Posted in Mobile Advertising, Virgin Mobile on June 11th, 2007
3 Comments