Is Text Messaging a Direct Route to the Urban Market?
According to AdWeek’s Doug Melville, it very well may be.
Melville, who sits on the Leadership Council of the Cellular Telephone Industry of America, believes that “data is becoming the new voice.” In other words, more and more people—especially teens—are using mobile phones to communicate not only by voice, but by data—chiefly through texting. And for marketers and advertisers, Melville believes data offers a wealth of new opportunities, especially in the urban market.
To bear out his point, Melville points to a September 12, 2008 Harris Interactive report on teen cell phone use. According to the report, nine out of ten teens text regularly. Not only that, but some teen segments, including girls, prefer texting over talking for various reasons, including multi-tasking, speed, stealth, ease, and enjoyment.
So teens enjoy texting—so what? Melville points out that the Harris Interactive report also indicates that nearly half of those teens polled said they would be “interested” in mobile advertisements, especially if the advertisement pointed toward a new phone, music, or text, picture, or video messages. Temper these findings with the US Census Bureau’s prediction that more than half of American teens will be multi-cultural in fifteen years, and there you go—Melville believes that texting might offer a direct route to the young, hip, urban market.
Now, Melville’s prediction may bear out exactly the way he says it will, but if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on the contrary position. I think Melville’s looking at the Harris Interactive study with rose-colored glasses; yes, the study says that nearly half of the teens asked would be “interested” in mobile ads, but it also says that a definite plurality—52%—would not be interested in them at all. And of those who expressed any degree of interest at all—48%—only 12% expressed what could be considered any “actionable” interest: either “very” interested or “extremely” interested.
In other words, when push comes to shove, close to 90% of those who see a mobile ad are going to blow it off. And just what kind of mobile ad they see the study leaves somewhat nebulous: is it a text message, a branded application, or something else? Granted, I’m a Gen Xer, so I might be somewhat jaded, but I can’t help but think a text message ad would not be compelling. How would a text-based advertising message sent to me via a mobile phone motivate me to action, when hundreds of thousands of text-based advertising messages sent to me via email—spam—failed to do the same thing?
Rather than become a direct link to the young urban market, could text message-based advertising become the next form of spam?
By Robert Pothier
