Mobile Media Simplified. Accessible. Relevant.

The best way to responsibly understand and share with others what mobile advertising is, read the wikipedia article now.

This post will be just restating the obvious for the new media readers among us, but even then, you have to keep up daily to maintain a clear head about what is relevant vs what is mere intrigue.

The bottom line in case anyone asks you, mobile advertising, the little $600 million step-child to internet advertising altogether, consists of two main things:
1) Little banner on on little screens on phone browsers.
2) Sponsored text messages, or some other way to use text messaging without crossing the line into spam.

Although mobile marketers only talk openly about a steady increase in this existing paradigm, as no one apart from visionary entrepreneurs wants to be pinned to specific predictions, the real gut about the exciting future of mobile advertising lies in emerging disruptive mobile media ideas and innovations. We’ll see quite a few things fail, and a few things rise to redefine the mobile landscape. Of course as an self-promoting entrepreneur myself I believe our audio advertising model will be one of the disruptors.

Take a look at this chart I found from a post last summer…

I bet if we got a focus group of 20 mobile executives together now, most would say this revenue breakdown is already outdated. I would be one of them, and would argue purely from changes in pricing and consumer trends since last year, that the pie will be cut in a whole different way.

After some early announcements at the Talkers Conference and some early successful tests, we are about to make a larger announcement about out newest product feature in the Cellecasting experience — CelleGrams.

CelleGrams allow avid radio listeners to “capture and share the best moments in radio” with their friends.

Try it now by simply pressing 3 while listening to any cellecast, and let us know what you think, as we refine it further before our major announcement.

MocoNews reports this conclusion as to why Cliq failed as a music to mobile provider…

“Grierson said the mobile platform failed through no fault of our own. He said, Launching anything Internet-connected on mobile networks can be a problem. Mobile operators can’t unite on the protocol required so that handsets can use the same (internet) connectivity.”

Look for more of these statements to be made over and over again in the next 18 months before some kind of standard arises. The problem is these companies knew about this protocol compatibility challenge from the beginning, but pitching mobile to investors in the last few months has been easy money until this marketplace reality has been understood. The irony is that it hurts companies like ours from the valuation we deserve even though our model is free from this complication, but we’ll keep plugging 100% universality of access until more savvy partners arise out of the ashes of the current wave of mobile deals.

There are new waves of people getting clear on what Twitter is capable of.

Although it is very easy just to see it as a way to be constantly irritated, distracted and annoyed, it is also quite valuable if used carefully to have real updates from real friends, companies, services and networkers.

We, being all about mobile media, see some great tie-ins. Announcements coming soon.

This video outlines it for those new to Twittering, straight from the founder…

Jack Dorsey Presents Twitter from biz stone on Vimeo.

Feel free to track my status anytime by just going to Twitter

This article in BtoB speaks a loud message that companies of all sizes need to heed. Just as in 1999 the strategy shifted from “get a website to be ahead of the pack” to “get a website to avoid being irrelevant”, we are coming into a time where a marketing strategy without content is incomplete.

We are not just talking about more lengthy product pitches, but content that aids business partners of various types. Tips for consumers. Timely updates for strategic partners. Industry news for PR. Internal communications for team members in the field. Whatever you can do to become a great source for good information is good for business.

Enjoy the article and consider two things while you read. 1) How does your budget break down in comparison to the finding of the survey, and 2) Can you see how an audio component available fully on-demand over the phone can help in this regard? This is a new area of research for us, and we see cellecasting as an advantageous way to create and distribute customized content on the enterprise level through our messaging and audio-on-demand tools.

I found this today on RAIN which flies in the face of the narrative that Talk Radio listeners are not able to keep up with technology. It is encouraging to say the least, to us and our content partners.

RADIO USAGE HIGHEST AMONG “TECHIES”: Scarborough Research recently released a study on society’s “digital saviness.” Among their finds, Scarborough found that digitally savvy consumers are more likely to use radio both in its traditional and online forms. 1/3 “tech savvy” users listened to internet radio in the past month. The study also found that 59% of the “Digital Savvy” use their mobile phones for email usage and are “25 percent more likely to be ‘Independent’ voters.”

There is something very sweet about being in the right place just ahead of the right time.

Informa Telecoms and Media report, entitled “Mobile Advertising Services: Generating revenue through subsidised content” points to great trends coming into being, but even they can’t predict newer types of mobile advertising that is not even on the radar yet.

We are in that spot, with interactive spots available now, highly measurable and profitable.

We’re set to soft launch the social media side of CelleCast on Friday, April 18th. We could use your help in generating buzz. This is what we’d like for you to do, for the chance to win a pair of free movie tickets!

Go to http://cellecast.com. If you haven’t already registered, please do so and create a profile.

1. Make your profile complete, giving the CelleCast community a good taste of who you are with poll questions, an updated playlist and a photo. Please be sure to make it public.
2. Call the number 360-335-6000. Hit #, 1 for general program seek. Listen to a minimum of 5 shows for a minute or so each. Leave a talkback for one of the shows. Your talkback should be relevant to the show and topic, so it can be published on the program’s home page.
3. Give us some feedback! Complete the special poll questions starting with the word “SURVEY” (required), and post any comments about the experience, whether philosophical or technical, complimentary or critical(optional). Just post your comments here on the blog.

To qualify for the movie ticket drawing, each step above must be complete. Qualified entries will be in the running for a pair of Regal Cinema passes. 20 pairs are available. Winners will be notified via telephone or email on or around Friday, May 2nd.

When we announce the launch of our social media community to the world in early May, our goal is to have you in our system as an early adopter of the bridge we’re building between talk radio lovers and the social media world.

To be entered in the movie ticket drawing without going through the steps above, you may send a send us a postcard with your full name, mailing address, email and daytime phone number. Address your correspondence to: CelleCast Movie Ticket Drawing - 4209 NE 66th Ave - Vancouver, WA 98661

Ten years ago, mobile advertising was in its infancy, something that most cellular users had not encountered. In 2008, an eMarketer study finds that 58 million US mobile subscribers have seen a mobile advertisement on their phones in the past 30 days. That accounts for 23% of U.S. mobile subscribers.

While far from market saturation, it does represent a substantial increase, one that will continue in its upward trend.

But just how lucrative is the mobile advertising market? Ask 10 people and you’ll get 10 different answers. MocoNews this week summed it up by showing that mobile advertising forecasts range anywhere from $11 billion to $250 billion in the next several years.

Compared to the $871 million spent on mobile ads worldwide in 2006 (according to Informa Telecoms & Media), even the most modest projection represents an 1100% increase.

But will mobile users tolerate ads served over their most personal media device? eMarketer goes on to say that for some, the answer is yes.

In addition, 32% of mobile data users said they were open to receiving mobile advertising if it lowers their overall bill and 13% were open to mobile ads if it improved the media and content currently available.

This stat overlooks the more subtle and natural form of mobile advertising, the audio ad. When served in the midst of audio and radio content that consumers deliberately seek out, those numbers may increase. After all, the audio ad overcomes barriers inherent in data based ads, because it is accessible to every phone. It is universally accessible, just like the audio content that is attached to it with cellecasting.

The next few years will see enormous increases in mobile ads. We predict a big portion of that will be in ubiquitous, short, interactive audio ads placed amidst premium talk radio content that is more and more moving to on-demand mobile delivery.

Today marks the day when The Dr. Laura Program can be heard on any phone, any time, anywhere.

The Dr. Laura cellecast, empowering listeners to pause, rewind, fast forward and interact while listening, is available only minutes behind the live broadcast.

Call 253-269-7000 to listen. Let us know what you think.

Look for other big names in talk radio getting on the CelleCast bandwagon - soon.