The mobile advertising market is expected to grow exponentially over the next several years and is forecast to, be worth more than US$16 billion globally by 2011.

In New Zealand, the mobile channel has grown by more than 300% per annum since 2000 and has become an integral part of many brands’ marketing mix.

Snakk Media is a sister company of New Zealand-founded mobile marketing consultancy The Hyperfactory.

Darnell Dixon, Snakk Media’s director of sales, said the launch of mobile advertising is a huge development for New Zealand.

“Traditionally New Zealand has led the way in interactive mobile advertising and marketing with SMS, MMS, Bluetooth and the like. However, advertising on Vodafone Live! offers a whole new opportunity for brands to connect with audiences via the most personalised digital media,” she said.

Vodafone’s general manager of products and services, Kursten Shalfoon said that mobile advertising was challenging traditional media, creating an innovative way for brands to reach their audience.

“The model for mobile advertising is all about targeting customers on a very individual and personal basis. It’s similar to online advertising in that companies can target marketing campaigns based on which sites consumers access,” he said.

“There are more mobiles than PCs worldwide and locally some 10 million page impressions are made on the Vodafone live! portal every month.” Shalfoon said.

“Vodafone live! already targets a widereaching audience, and is becoming a richer tool in terms of content offerings. Customers can watch TV with Sky Mobile TV, watch You Tube and access Wikipedia and advertising on these pages will further enhance the value of reaching a selected audience.”

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