Shake Gently - advertising technology blog

CTIA Wireless event series: from mobile music to search and beyond

I attended the CTIA Wireless event last fall and recently returned from the 2007 spring event with a bundle of notes and vendor literature.

Over the next few weeks I’m going to dig a bit deeper on mobile marketing. Below is the first of a series on mobile marketing. As part of the series, I will have posts on Mobile Standardization, Mobile Music, Mobile Video, Mobile Search, Handsets, WAP Banner Advertising, Location Based Services, Social Networking, Mobile Voice Services and Cool Gadgets from the event.

The CTIA Wireless event is held twice a year and features the who’s who in the wireless industry. I was one of 40,000 attendees representing over 100 countries and thousands of organizations.

Keynote presenters included the FCC Chairman, a Microsoft SVP, AT&T COO, Orange Group CEO, Visa USA President & CEO, Viacom President & CEO, EMI Group CEO, Former Presidents George H. W. Bush & Bill Clinton and others.

There were more than 1,000 companies showcasing the latest wireless products and services spanning across the 400,000 square feet of exhibit floor space. The event wasn’t as big as CES which had 1.8 million square feet of exhibit space and over 140,000 attendees, but this event was more focused specifically on mobile technology and services.

Barkley, the company I work for, has a mobile marketing group that I’m part of that was created to look at the emerging mobile market and examine opportunities for our clients. We have implemented a few mobile marketing projects with more in the works.

It was important to have a presence at events like this to understand where the mobile space is headed. Some things have taken off more than expected (Twitter), while others have yet to be widely accepted (mobile video).

Sure, there were some of the typical over-the-top booths and sales pitches, but overall, a good event.

My key take away from the event is that mobile business models are starting to gain traction with ring tone sales alone charting out around $600 million (not to mention other mobile offerings and mobile advertising), and we need to pay attention.

If we aren’t talking to our brands about mobile marketing, we can be sure that some other vendors are trying to contact them directly.

Now is the time to experiment and try to learn as much as we can with in the next 12-18 months as the startup shakeout occurs and the product offerings become more main stream and the phone carriers loosen the bricks in their protected wall around their consumers.

Will Google own the mobile search market or will other emerging companies like JumpTap come out on top? We just need to understand how to best utilize mobile in our client campaigns, regardless of the vendor.

Mobile banner ads, mobile search, location based services, social networking, mobile entertainment and mobile games are just a few of the key products that will become common on mobile devices over the next 24 months. I’m sure that other offerings are likely to emerge.

Now, if I can just work my connections to get an iPhone from one of our partners before it officially launches June 11th, all will be good.

Next on the topic list: Mobile Standardization.

Technorati Tags: CTIA, Wireless, 2007, event, mobile marketing, marketing, trends, cutting edge