Click-through rates of 43% and other morsels

The simple banner ad: Those tiny little slivers of real estate on tiny little cellphone screens produce the same level of brand recall as a 30-second television commercial, a Verizon Wireless ad exec said last week. Speaking at a wireless ad conference in Los Angeles, Stephanie Bauer Marshall cited Nielsen IAG figures that indicate mobile banners also generate click-through rates of 2% or higher. Those numbers dwarf desktop Internet click-through rates, which have plummeted to roughly one-tenth that figure as surfers have learned to accept – and ignore – the pitches.
But while Marshall’s claims may seem outrageous, they’re positively sobering compared with some other recent exhortations. Wireless executives are tripping over themselves to paint the rosiest possible picture of advertising on the wireless Web. Vodafone Group’s Ray de Silva has bragged that the carrier’s 25% click-through rate is higher than it’s ever been, and the CEO of U.K. MVNO Blyk has trumpeted rates across its advertising efforts (WAP banners, text come-ons and others) as high as 43%.
A few of these reports seem legit, of course. Nielsen IAG is a respected firm, and while it may seem a stretch to compare a mobile banner with TV spot, a 2% click-though doesn’t seem unfathomable in these early days.
Regardless of how effective wireless pitches may be now, though, those rates are sure to fall as consumers become accustomed to seeing the banners as they surf. So boasting of sky-high conversion rates in these early days may only ensure advertisers are disappointed when they finally decide to gamble on mobile.
From the “Remember Rockwell?” file: Customers in two U.K. shopping centers are having their moves tracked by technology that monitors mobile phones, , according to the Times Online. The system uses triangulation to allow retailers to determine when people enter the center, which stores they visit and how long they lingered.
That kind of surveillance may not be disconcerting at first glance – the system gleans no personal information, after all, and it identified devices with a temporary number instead of a true phone number. But the receivers can also determine which country each phone is registered in, giving retailers a slight peak at their potential customers.
While the technology has only recently been deployed, there seems to be little pushback (so far) from consumers or watchdog groups. But this is sure to be a case study for brick-and-mortar marketers eager to learn more about the behavior of would-be shoppers as they stroll through the mall. If the U.K. project is deemed successful, more aggressive efforts – and substantial consumer backlash – are sure to follow.
Marketing mobile: While the carriers continue to tout their networks and boast of the fewest dropped calls, a couple of other players are pushing mobile data with interesting new commercials. Research In Motion debuted a splashy new BlackBerry spot that subtly touts a host of consumer-focused applications, pushing everything from text messaging to the Facebook application to mobile video. And Best Buy is airing its own BlackBerry-focused commercial, offering up its employees as tutors for the sophisticated devices. “We can help you download music, check the weather, plan your day, show you how to look stuff up on the Web or take a photo and share it,” the commercial boasts.
What a novel idea: pushing mobile data services at the sales counter. You know, it’s so crazy that it just might work.