Ads on your cell phone – if you are anything like me the thought makes you cringe. You can be sure the ads are on their way, though. The market has gone too long untapped for salivating sales pros to let it remain ad free for long.

Why has the advertising community waited this long? Because the public outcry over fiascos like FaceBook’s Beacon in recent years have made it abundantly clear how Joe Q Public feels about invasions of their privacy on and offline and infringements on their personal time. You can bet the product of the first product marketed on a cell phone will drop instead of rise as the public lashes out against it.

The advertising industry hasn’t been leaving cell users completely alone, however. They have been dipping their toes in the water, trying to get consumers used to the idea of their cell phones as an advertising channel gradually. By holding “contests” that encourage user participation like sending text messages or taking camera phone pictures of products, advertisers hope to gradually make the cell phone seem like a natural extension of the constant stream of ad chatter on television, radio and in print, while at the same time advertising the products hosting the “contests” in a subtle way.

One other factor has helped keep ads off your phone: cost to the user. With not everyone participating or planning to participate in a higher rate plan that handles unlimited text, calls or video, advertisers run a real risk of costing consumers money. Those texts and picture messages can really add up quickly on a recipient’s phone with an inadequate plan. When cost is coupled with how varied the users phone use is, with no two people using them in the same way (or planning to), advertisers are really going to have to think out of the box to get their message across without engendering anger.

Image courtesy of RedAce

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Entry was posted on Saturday, December 29th, 2007 at 6:25 pm under Advertising, Cell phones.

Read more entries by Leslie Poston.
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