Smart Marketers Are Thinking About Smartphones

Dennis Kneale has shed tears over his Blackberry–not having it, that is. Granted, those tears were shed well over two and a half years ago for the Today Show crew, but due to the lovely archival nature of the internet, it has a become a meme that will forever make the rounds of the blogs.

The former Forbes editor and current CNBC anchor’s intense attachment to his smartphone is not a laughing manner for at least 19 million people in the States today. UM and AOL’s “Smartphone, Smart Marketing” report–researched jointly with Questus–placed roughly 10% of all of the US’s mobile subscribers in the “lead users” category that could also be used to describe Kneale. And with the amount of technology–from e-books to site-specific applications–taking mobile phone functionality to new limits, that number is growing every day.

If one out of every seven minutes of media consumption today is done via a mobile device, any marketer not attempting to engage with the growing number of consumers in the mobile arena could be missing out, big time. The “Smartphone” report found that more than one-quarter of smartphone users describe themselves as “completely focused” when using their mobile devices, as opposed to 13% who would describe themselves that way when watching TV and the 19% and 17% who would describe themselves that way while reading a magazine or newspaper, respectively.  AND, almost 40% of the 1800 we surveyed have taken action from a mobile ad, suggesting that mobile advertising is at the cusp of driving new consumer behaviors.

Users know a seismic shift in advertising is coming — c’mon, how long would you last without your iPhone–and they are excited about it.

Want to know more about how consumers are using their smartphones and how marketers and reach them in a relevant and engaging way? You should reach out to UM for the “Smartphone, Smart Marketing” report.