A survey has disclosed that up to 90% of marketers in the Asia Pacific are predicting a substantial rise in budgets for mobile marketing in the next 12 months.
And over a third (34%) of the 90% said they foresee a budget increase of up to 75% for mobile marketing.
The survey, conducted by Warc for the Mobile Marketing Association, consulted 336 client-side advertisers and marketing services agencies across 13 markets in Asia-Pacific.
(Warc is considered an independent and authoritative source for marketing professionals worldwide and is the strategic knowledge partner of the World Federation of Advertisers.)
The snapshot survey, conducted from July to August 2013, was held to gauge attitudes and adoption of Asia-Pacific brands on mobile marketing. The findings also however showed that brands in the Asia Pacific were still struggling to develop formal mobile strategies, with only 10% or less of marketing budgets currently being allocated to mobile.
“While brands today say they do not have a mobile strategy in play, there is a clear role that mobile plays at the centre of a well-integrated campaign," said Edward Pank, managing director at Warc Asia Pacific.
"Marketers are therefore clear that more budgets need to be allocated to mobile as they experiment and figure out the most effective use for their customer engagement requirements,” he added.
The survey also showed that 42% of marketers’ believed that consumer concern over privacy and security was the biggest barrier holding the industry back, followed closely by the lack of required skill-sets (38%), and insufficient budgets (30%).
“The concerns of privacy and security highlighted by the survey should not be overlooked. It’s imperative that the ecosystem help educate consumers on how their information is being collected and used. With this, consumers will be more open to mobile advertising that is targeted and relevant." said Rohit Dadwal, managing director of Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Asia Pacific.
Rohit added that the MMA had established guidelines on privacy for its members, also acting as an advocacy group to lobby for consumer protection practices to be put in place.”
Among the study’s other findings were:
- The most innovative markets for mobile are Japan (39%), Singapore (38%), and China (37%). Taiwan (3%), Thailand (3%), and Vietnam (2%) were believed to be the least innovative markets.
- 30% of survey respondents consider Samsung the most innovative brand using mobile, followed by Coca-Cola (16%), Nike (10%), and Unilever (8%).
- 40% of mobile marketers believe retail is the most innovative industry with regards to mobile.
- Marketers said that in 2013/14 their most used channels would be app development and mobile display ads, but they predicted that in five years’ time mobile based social marketing, app development and mobile based content would be their most used channels.
- The top three consumer behaviour trends fuelled by mobile were mobile payments (74%), multi-screening (67%), and show rooming (51%).
- While 33% intend to use SMS marketing in 2013/14, only 11% said they plan to use it in five years.
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