A Comprehensive Guide To All Mobile Ad Networks. Location-Based Ads a Goldmine, Says Survey - 50% of Users Take Action. Although the privacy issues surrounding Facebook's new, opt-out only data sharing policies are making people uncomfortable, one area where folks are apparently happy to have their private data shared is on their mobile phones. And by private data, we mean exact GPS coordinates. Coordinates that are shared with software developers, ad networks and location-based service providers in return for free location-based mobile applications and geo-targeted ads. In fact, one in four U.S. adults use mobile location-based services, according to a survey put out by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) last week. And nearly half of those users are responding to the included location-based ads. Location-Based Ads See Nearly 50% Engagement Rates, Says MMA Perhaps more surprising is the level of engagement between these location-based service users and the geo-targeted ads.
Think about that for a minute and let it sink in. That may not be a true apples-to-apples comparison, though. Image by chokola. The iAd: Steve Jobs Regifts The Mobile Marketing Experience. (image) We’re used to buzz around Apple, and in particular, we’re quite used to buzz about how Apple goes to market. CEO Steve Jobs is widely considered the greatest marketer alive, and nearly every marketer I’ve worked with has expressed sincere admiration for the magic the man is capable of weaving.
His products are brilliant, and the cult around Jobs and his work are extraordinary. But with iAds, Apple has moved from the business of making ads to the business of selling them. And in the past month or so, Apple’s new team – folks formerly known as Quattro Wireless but now sporting brand new Apple business cards – have started making sales calls at a handful of major brands and their agencies.
These freshly minted Apple folk must feel like the won the lottery – just a few months ago, they were duking it out with ten other mobile networks, competing on price, ROI, network quality and scale, ad format, and Lord knows how many other factors. Well, yes and no. Ahh…there it is: The gift. Google launches mobile banner ads which know where you are. Google today announced on its Mobile Ads blog that it has launched location-aware display advertisements for mobile phones.
Through Google’s “location extension” feature, advertisers can now include their location and phone numbers to appear in display ads on iPhone and Android mobile websites. The feature, previously available only on search ads, will appear as banner text advertising and will pinpoint business locations on a small map as well as a “click-to-call” phone number.
Consumers will also have the option for generate directions if needed. Giving consumers the option of viewing businesses in their area increases Google’s chance that the consumer will call the business or click to its website, which are the two ways Google makes money on the service. The move shows Google’s increased investment in mobile and display advertising, two areas that have traditionally played second-fiddle to regular search advertising. Location-based services on mobile phones: Follow me. Google and Apple prepare for mobile advertising battle | Media. British mobile users will soon find themselves embroiled in the epic confrontation taking shape between Apple and Google. iAds, Apple's bid to run advertisements inside apps, is expected to make its UK debut in September.
Separately, Google has adopted what its chief executive, Eric Schmidt, calls a "mobile first" approach, prioritising investment in a medium that has become "fundamental to everything we do". With the iPhone moving into mass market territory and the iPad selling 200,000 units a week, Apple's decision to start selling mobile advertising seems likely to concentrate a few media minds. In early June, Steve Jobs demonstrated iAds in front of Apple developers in San Francisco. The ad he showed off was a work-in-progress by Nissan. There are early signs that mobile advertising, like everything else touched by Cupertino's genius, will turn to gold. First, Apple's approach threatens to reduce media owners to the status of "developers" alongside tens of thousands of competitors.