South Africa ups Mobile Advertising

Rating: Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200711200313.html

Just a link to this interesting piece on Mobile Advertising in South Africa. This is a market we are currently studying for the Mobile 2.0 Analyst.

Two things that struck me as interesting in the article.
1. “the lucrative 19-29 year old market. This is different to the categorisation traditionally used in Europe that look at the 14-18 year old – 19 to 25 year old. This large ten year bundle apparently targets the student and GAP year market entrants.
2.

“The company said text adverts will be sold on Please Call Me, its free call-back service that generates up to 20 million messages a day and reaches both the lower and higher end of the market. Banner adverts will be sold on the company’s mobile Internet portals - Vodacom4me and Vodafone live! - that draw a total of 1.4 million users per month. The ads will offer consumers an optional click-through to a mobile website, allowing them to decide if they want to engage further with the brand.”

3. Two mobile portals is a very interesting marketing strategy. Especially because they are both operator managed portals (walled gardens - even if they have off-portal sections). The ability to leave the mobile portal via advertising is compelling and a definitive reason to click. In fact, it’s compelling enough to make even search engines want to advertise to try and manage the user or search experience off portal.

Related News:

1. Vodacom South Africa launches new mobile advertising initiative
2. South Africa: Mobile Social Networks are New Advertising Medium
3. Mobility World Congress: Vodafone South Africa (Vodacom) advertising success with please call me services
4. BuzzCity gets USD 10 million for growth in South Africa
5. Volantis, Accenture deliver 3G portal for MTN South Africa