Two representatives from TigerSpike, the Australian mobile specialist, have provided some interesting insights about the prospects of the mobile marketing industry within the country.In an interview published in mobiThinking, General Manager of Asian operations Alex Burke and Chief Operations Officer Alex Hall spoke widely about the mobile marketing potential that Australia has by providing data and forecasting the future of this growing sector.In the last few months, Australia’s mobile market has grown enormously. Right now, the country has mobile penetration of 11% and enjoys good 3G coverage overall. According to the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association, News Digital Media are seeing their mobile sites grow at 89% per year.For the mobile expert, the right development of the mobile web in Australia is narrowly linked to three requisites; 3G infrastructure, carrier pricing models and consumer propensity to adopt new technology.“Consumers are changing their lifestyle habits, consuming content in different ways. As it becomes habit for people to use their phones to get content, demand for mobile Web services increases. This makes sense as the heavy users of their news, sport, weather and mapping services online are likely to be technology-savvy, and will want to access them on the mobile phone as well,” said Hall and Burke.In the opinion of both Hall and Burke, although there’s a strong case to be made for almost every brand to use mobile marketing, those that solely target younger males are “missing out the most, by not getting involved.”Mobile marketing – A potential marketHall and Burke also suggest that companies such as Toyota, Nike, Coca-Cola and Fosters are examples of innovators within the industry. These firms hit the right target by utilising all the delivery methods at their disposal, such as SMS messaging, MMS, Bluetooth, WAP or QR codes.However, Hall and Burke also feel that there is a unique reason which makes Australia a location with so much potential when it comes to developing mobile marketing?“One key advantage is the adventurous nature of Australians – the willingness to give new things a go. This is critical for a new medium like mobile, as growth stems from both the brand’s willingness to innovate with mobile marketing and consumer acceptance of the new channel. Due to the size of the market, Australia is a great test bed to gauge likely success of mobile campaigns in other larger markets.”
