SA ads to mobile

Advertisers have targeted mxit to reach South Africans 

The mobile phone has now become the answer to advertising. Mobile advertising is reaching far greater audiences, as the number of mobile phone subscriptions has predicted to reach 5 billion this year. Advertising companies are turning to the mobile phones for a better chance of consumers clicking on their advertisement. In Japan, already 44% of mobile phone owners click on advertisements they receive via their mobile phone.

It is no surprise then, that there is competition between Apple and Google to buy into advertising companies. Contributing Editor at the Search Engine Land, Greg Sterling said, “Apple tries to buy AdMob but Google ‘snatched’ it away”. Apple, however, manages to buy AdMob competitor Quattro Wireless while Google still battles with the US Federal Trade Commission to allow them to merge with AdMob. This competition is just 
an example of how successful mobile advertising has become.

South Africa’s involvement
But while I was thinking about the great influx of advertisement targeted at the mobile phone and the ongoing battle between Google and Apple, I started to think about South African's and their involvement in mobile advertising.

Mxit instantly came to mind. Mxit is an application used mostly by the South African youth. Advertisers have targeted this application to reach South Africans. Competitions are advertised daily on Mxit. It also has a viral effect in that people see these advertisements right before they chat to their contacts, it is an advertiser’s fantasy platform.

SMS advertising has also become popular in South Africa. For example, those infamous 'please call me' services are constantly advertising products. MMS is also used often. MMS campaigns are well received. The viral impact is also high with MMS and SMS services as users share their experience with friends and family. Audio advertising is also taking place in that an audio recording plays while interacting with a telephone-based service such as DSTV.

With some South African’s having internet access on their mobile phone, it is possible to download games and video’s on your mobile phone. These applications often have advertisements attached to them, receiving advertisements on a global level.

Brett St Clair, South Africa's country manager of mobile advertising platform AdMob says, “South Africa is making up to a quarter of a billion adverts requested in Africa last month”. There is no doubt that mobile advertising has become successful in South Africa. Many South African advertising companies are using these mobile services to advertise their product.



Getting started
Consuming of advertisements is just as easy as setting up your very own mobile advertising campaign in South Africa. Firstly, AdAd.co.za would be a smart place to start and it is free and linked into many mobile technologies. Bulk SMSs are often an easy way to advertise by either using Bulksms or Clickatell which are both simple to use interfaces. Often company use shortcodes (5 digit phone numbers) advertised together with the option to send a word to that number.

AdMob is one of the leading mobile web advertising firms currently operating in South Africa, another option, which allows you to place advertisements with their publisher and take a commission on each advertisement clicked, however, you would need mobile content such as an AdAd mobile web or your own mobi site to link to. Of course, there is Mxit which delivers straight to the community.

Ad Dynamo currently supports Splash advertising on Mxit and it can be easily accessed on the internet to start your own campaign. Starting mobile advertisers can also turn to mobile operators who will advertise your product for you. With all these options what South African advertiser would not want to join the mobile advertising success?

Advertising is now easily accessed via your mobile phone even in South Africa. With so many options it has never been this easy. The rise and success of mobile advertising will only multiply with the prediction of mobile phones users to further increase.

Thanks to AdMob for the video. Video supplied by blip.tv/Creative Commons Search

Thanks to Rafiq Phillips for the photogaph. Follow Rafiq's photostream to view more images.