The future of Marketing

Mobile Marketing Revenue to Hit $24 Billion in 2013, says ABI Research

Although mobile marketing revenue is at a mere $1.8 billion last year (2007), ABI projects a gigantic shift in marketing strategies in the next five years.

"The clear difference in this market over the past twelve months has been the embrace of mobile marketing as an integral part of cross-media brand campaigns," says ABI Research director Michael Wolf. "Mobile is no longer off-limits in the minds of advertisers, but is instead seen as a very personal way to reach consumers who can be incentivized through information services and compelling content, as well as through more directly relevant and targeted messaging."

While they point out that this is a largely unexplored idea to date ("Wild West" is their term), more and more people are switching to flat rate data plans with unlimited text and multimedia messaging, and spending more and more time on their phones conducting business.

What I wonder about, and find slightly scary, is will they will able to track individuals' online phone browsing history and market products specifically to their interests? A notion that is slightly hinted at but not really talked about in depth.

With Tivo fastforwarding through TV commercials, Satellite Radio having no commercials, Spam controls filtering our emails, it appears our cell phones are the next marketing and advertising target. What's next?