Study: Mobile Advertising Recall Up 20% In First Quarter of 2008

A new study from mobile entertainment company Limbo finds that brand recall's not in limo when it comes to mobile advertising.

According to the new Mobile Advertising Report Q1 2008 edition from Limbo and GKK/NOP Research , 41% of cell phone users who remembered seeing mobile advertising could remember at least one brand, which is up from 34 percent just three months earlier.

“The mobile advertising opportunity continues to grow for marketers as brand recall is at an all-time high in the mobile channel,” said Rob Lawson, chief marketing officer and co-founder of Limbo.

Key findings include:

•    Mobile Penetration: There are more than 255 million cell phone users in the U.S., up from 251 million in fourth quarter 2007

•    Mobile Usage: SMS continues to dominate, with more than 50% of cell phone users making use of the service. But WAP – with still only 50% of the reach of SMS – is the fastest-growing medium, with 69 million users

•    Mobile Advertising Recall: The number of people who recalled seeing advertising on their cell phones in the last three months has risen significantly, from 78 million to 82 million

•    Males Engaged: Men are 10 percent more likely than women to recall a brand they had seen advertised. Meanwhile, those aged 25 to 34 were the highest-performing age group (not sure what that relates to, though you can insert your own joke here...I think they mean this age group had the highest brand recall)

•    Income and Recall: There is a reverse correlation regarding income, with those earning the least much more likely to recall brands than those earning the most (seems like that's always the case, doesn't it?)

•    Brands Making Waves: The most commonly recalled brands were the mobile operators themselves,  most notably Verizon and AT&T, followed by mobile service providers (ringtones, games, music, dating) and handset manufacturers

Obviously Limbo has a vested interest in pitching the power of mobile advertising. And obviously we're in an early stage when it's the mobile operators/manufacturers who make up that brand recall, as they're the ones most actively advertising via mobile, in part, to sell others on how effective it is.

Still, these stats jive with others out there, and it indicates that mobile may have a place at the branding table.

Or is it that mobile branding has a place at the marketing table?

I don't recall.

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Rick Mathieson.com