Mobile Advertising Brand Recall Up 20 Percent in Q1

Some 41 percent of cell phone users who remembered seeing mobile advertising could remember at least one brand - that’s up 20 percent from three months earlier, when 34 percent recalled at least one brand, according to Limbo’s “Mobile Advertising Report Q1 2008.” - via MarketingCharts.

(See chart of demographic variances in mobile ad recall.)

“[B]rand recall is at an all-time high in the mobile channel,” said Rob Lawson, chief marketing officer and cofounder of Limbo.

SMS (text) is the dominant cell phone service (see chart) with usage highest among the 24-and-under age group, with 82 percent penetration, according to Lawson.

Nevertheless, “SMS continues to transcend the generational divide, with 50 percent of SMS users age 35 or over and 75 percent age 25 or over. Therefore, SMS should not be pigeonholed exclusively as a youth medium,” he said.

Key findings of the Q1 report:

• Mobile penetration: There are more than 255 million cell phone users in the U.S., up from 251 million in fourth quarter 2007.
• Mobile usage: More than 50 percent of cell phone users make use of SMS, but WAP (mobile web) - with still only 50 percent of the reach of SMS - is the fastest-growing medium, with 69 million users.
• Mobile advertising recall: The number of people who recalled seeing advertising on their cell phones in the last three months has risen significantly, from 78 million to 82 million.
• Males engaged: Men are 10 percent more likely than women to recall a brand they had seen advertised. Those age 25-34 are the highest-performing age group.
• Income and recall: There is a reverse correlation regarding income, with those earning the least much more likely to recall brands than those earning the most.
• Brands making waves: The most commonly recalled brands were the mobile operators themselves, most notably Verizon and AT&T, followed by mobile service providers (ringtones, games, music, dating) and handset manufacturers.

About the data: Limbo’s Mobile Advertising Report, produced in conjunction with Gfk/NOP Research, is produced quarterly and is distributed to marketers. The Q1 2008 report is based on a survey of 1,000 representative American adults interviewed by telephone.