Making the most of mobile

Johannesburg - Most cellphone users feel deeply attached to this technological gizmo. They're more worried about leaving home without their phone than without their underwear. So any intrusion on this private space is resented - providing a major obstacle to realising the advertising potential of this new medium.

The answer, believes John Warsop, may lie in information rather than technology.

Warsop is executive director of QKey, which he describes as a channel consolidating communication strategies via mobile. The trick, he says, is to keep it simple for the user.

Regardless of whether a campaign includes TV, radio, print, cinema, product packaging, point of sale and activation, you can tap into ads or any communication with a Q-number and gain further information, or access to services such as locating your nearest dealer, booking a test drive or participating in a promotion.

You gain access to an entire campaign through a single entry point using local technology in what Warsop says in a world first. And you don't have to have an iPhone - a basic handset will work too.

Instead of imposing on consumers, the medium becomes permission-based. "People are willing to follow instructions by and large and engage as long as it is not complicated," says Warsop.

- Fin24.com