Mobile Marketing offers an unique opportunity for advertisers to engage consumers in a very personal and targeted way with relevant and timely messages that translate into high conversion rates. Global adoption for this emerging media is experiencing exceptional growth rates. Spain leads Europe with 48% penetration, followed by Italy at 42%, France at 39%, Germany at 27% and the UK at 25%. North America who has been a little behind the curve in December of 2008 announced it had reached penetration rates of 30%.

Whether or not 30% is the Tipping Point, one thing is for certain, and that is that there is a new shift in brand thinking towards mobile marketing. What was once experimental is now essential to the marketing mix. According to Insight Media when integrated into the marketing mix Mobile has demonstrated a campaign lift of anywhere from 3 to 10x (CPMs) and a (CPC) performance of 5x compared to online.

The top categories for mobile spend are: entertainment, mobile downloads, auto, portals, retail and travel. Generally the industry is still young and there is room for many more opportunities – including even Mobile Giving Campaigns.

At a gathering of global thought leaders at the Mobile Conference in New York June 1-4, there was a general consensus that smart phones, and in particular the IPhone, are the devices driving impressions. They have also given rise to another area in mobile, being the area of application branding. According to Juniper Research by 2014 sales of mobile applications will exceed 25 million.

There is no questions that Mobile applications make our lives easier because direct access to our personal content means no WAP browsing which we all have experienced to be a pain from time to time. Application marketers have gotten more marketing savy too. A recent social networking application demonstration for the IPhone showed the application came with a tutorial. (A huge step forward).

The Mobile Channel is where the internet was 10 years ago and this makes it an exciting space to explore. SMS and mobile web are hitting the mainstream in a whole host of creative and technological ways including advances in: IVR, photo recognition, video downloading, and location based coupons. A myriad of innovative mobile technologies can be combined with perfect creative that can be updated, time sensitive, targeted geographically and demographically. Results can be measured through robust analytical tools that report ROI and engagement insights. Today the Mobile Channel can no longer be ignored.