Close-Up: Live issue - Is mobile the new creative challenge?

As well as developing viable models and formats for sending and funding
this advertising, the joint venture will need to spend time and money
actually persuading customers to receive the advertising.

One option is to offer users a reduction on their monthly tariffs or the
cost of their handsets in exchange for receiving the ads. Another is to
offer free content, such as music videos, but with the caveat viewers
must watch ads first.

Blake Chandlee, the director of UK media sales at Yahoo! UK and Ireland,
says its plans are well developed: "After six months of research, we've
established five or six viable business models we can use to draw
consumers in."

Quite which method will grab the most customers is unclear, the medium
is still in its infancy and there are no official take-up numbers.

Charlie Dobres, the deputy chairman and executive planning director at
i-level, says: "Who knows where this will go? The end point could be
people getting their phone and calls for free in return for advertising,
paid for by the advertiser. That is where it is going, but this could
change tomorrow."

So what and, crucially, who, will be advertising on mobiles if Vodafone
and Yahoo! get their way?

Yahoo! has identified several possible revenue models from search and
message alerts, through to sponsorship and traditional web advertising
on a phone. Yahoo! is already working with a number of agencies, and
even directly with some advertisers.

And Yahoo! is extremely keen to take collaboration seriously, arguing
that a disciplined approach here will move the medium beyond text-based
messages.

Mobile's personal nature is both a plus and a minus for advertising.
While those involved in creating the ads are excited about the chance to
talk to customers with highly tailored messages, they're aware anything
intrusive can be ignored, or end up alienating the customer.

"More than any other medium, the customer is in control with mobile.
This means it's going to be extremely easy to piss them off," Robert
Campbell, the managing director at the production company Outsider, and
a producer of mobile and viral content, warns

Mark Slade, the managing director of 4th Screen Advertising, a company
that buys and sells media space on mobiles, believes that for the
advertising to be successful, it has to be driven by original content,
such as MTV's "mobisodes" - episodes of its programming developed
especially for mobiles.

He says: "Enough people are using 3G now to get a critical mass of
penetration."

So far, advertisers willing to invest in putting their brands on mobiles
are small in number.

Sainsbury's offers branded recipes via SMS, while Leo Burnett shot a
road safety campaign for the Department for Transport with mobile phone
cameras, which was distributed on mobiles, as well as running on TV and
cinema.

Such ads are just the start. As understanding of the medium grows, it
will be a much bigger creative opportunity for agencies and advertisers
- as long as they can avoid annoying their users in the process.

- Got a view? E-mail us at campaign@haynet.com

DIGITAL MEDIA PLANNER - Charlie Dobres, deputy chairman, executive
planning director, i-level

"Ads on mobile are already happening. Seventy-five per cent of texts
sent are commercial - things like goal alerts. But how many of these get
noticed, or even looked at? Advertisers are limited by what people will
accept.

"For mobile advertising to be effective, someone needs to come in and do
something original that will make people watch. The creative agencies
may struggle with this, but digital agencies are well placed. They
already know how to engage with an audience on their terms, which is
vital.

"However, there is a lot of hype around this at the moment, and it's
still very early days."

DIRECT MARKETING CHIEF - Simon Hall, founding partner, Hall Moore
CHI

"Mobile's advantage is that the channel is something people already
carry around with them - we just have to wait for them to start using it
in a deeper way.

"The challenge is that it is such a personal medium, if it's handled
clumsily it will alienate the audience. The creative opportunity is
going to come from users creating their own content.

"A lot of clients are talking about it, but it's still at the bottom of
the pile when it comes to budgeting at the moment. It's definitely one
of tomorrow's problems, but it will start to gain significance in the
next 12 to 18 months."

CREATIVE DIRECTOR - Graham Fink, creative director, M&C Saatchi

"This offers good creative agencies a real opportunity to make a massive
impact on the consumer. It will also change the way we think because the
medium is now the clever bit - it's not just about coming up with the
creative idea, it's about finding and exploiting the right medium in the
right way.

"Consumers are ready to pay attention if they are suitably reimbursed or
paid - as long as the advertising is based on a good idea. Similarly,
this applies to the client as well; many are interested, but it needs
presenting in the right way if they are going to take it up."

CLIENT - Fiona Seymour, head of publicity and marketing, DfT

"While potentially powerful, mobile phone advertising's intimacy with
the individual could be its undoing, since messages that are
inappropriate will only serve to damage consumers' trust.

"Its effectiveness is dependent on a clear understanding of the audience
and how it interacts with their phone. Our teenage road safety ad worked
well.

"For the Government, using mobile phones as part of our campaigns needs
to be carefully considered, not least since we can't be seen to be
encouraging further mobile phone use among children. From a road safety
perspective, we need to ensure the timing of the delivery is controlled
in order to avoid dangerous distractions."