A REVIEW OF MOBILE MARKETING RESEARCH

Transcription

1 A REVIEW OF MOBILE MARKETING RESEARCH Matti Leppäniemi, Jaakko Sinisalo and Heikki Karjaluoto Leppaniemi, Sinisalo, and Karjaluoto in their paper identify and evaluate research conducted in the field of mobile marketing between January 2000 and February They investigated academic as well as industry sources, uncovering many sources, they decided to evaluate only those studies that focus on mobile (or wireless) applications aimed at marketing and those that fall within the marketing, business and management or information systems domains. Fifty publications were selected from conference paper and journal article sources for detailed analysis and were categorized as conceptual or empirical (quantitative or qualitative). They found that a substantial number of studies have focused on user behavior and attitudes towards mobile marketing and that mobile marketing effectiveness is gaining more research interest. They found fewer studies focusing on the role of mobile marketing in branding, the mobile marketing value chain, and mobile marketing business models. Their study also evaluated various definitions of mobile marketing presented through research with a common theme being that the definition itself is often embedded in technology. They recommend a more technology agnostic definition: is the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communication. Their study in the area of mobile marketing research is important as both a reference guide as well as an assessment of areas meriting further study as discussed in their conclusions and recommendations. Their study is also very important as 1 INTRODUCTION The last three years have witnessed a steady increase in the number of publications in the area of mobile marketing in existing journals and conferences. Although no special issues of journals focusing on mobile marketing have appeared, many of these articles have been published in high quality journals (Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Advertising, International Journal of Advertising, Operations Research, and MIT Sloan Management Review). However, despite the increasing number of publications, the growing body of literature on mobile marketing is somewhat inconsistent and highly fragmented. This is due, in large part, to the fact that a common conceptualization of the phenomenon is still lacking.

2 Against this backdrop, it is of decisive importance to develop a conceptualization and description of mobile marketing that adequately captures the true nature of the phenomenon. Thus, the purpose of this study is to propose a conceptualization of mobile marketing outlining the key characteristics of this nascent phenomenon. To accomplish the purpose, a comprehensive review of mobile marketing research published in academic publications is made to assess the state of mobile marketing research. The following research questions were posed in order to do this: What is the main focus of research on mobile marketing? What were the key contributions of the studies? What is the methodology of the studies? Built on the review and analysis of extant publications of mobile marketing; this paper proposes the most appropriate way to conceptualize marketing through the mobile channel. The remainder of the article is organized as follows. We first describe the research methodology used in the study. Then, as a first step towards delineating the mobile marketing domain, this paper begins with a comprehensive review and JOURNAL ARTICLES TABLE 1 - Part 1 Studies on mobile marketing Authors Research Focus Methodology Gopal and Tripathi 2006 Advertising via wireless networks Quantitative Merisavo et al 2006 The effectiveness of mobile advertising Quantitative Bauer et. al 2005 Consumer acceptance of mobile marketing Quantitative Facchetti et al Key success factors and the value chain of mobile marketing Qualitative Komulainen et al Business models of mobile advertising Qualitative Leppäniemi and Karjaluoto 2005 Willingness to accept mobile advertising Conceptual Nysveen et al The effects of mobile services on brand relationships Quantitative Okazaki 2005 Mobile advertising adoption by multinationals Quantitative analysis of mobile marketing literature. Consequently, the mobile marketing studies are classified into three categories and assessed in more detail. After discussing the numerous definitions that characterize popular and academic mobile marketing literature, we develop a conceptualization and description of mobile marketing. Finally, on the basis of analyses and discussions, we present an agenda for future research into mobile marketing. 2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY There is a strong tradition in marketing research of reviewing existing research literature in order to better understand the state of the research in the field, and to discern patterns in the development of the field itself (see e.g. Leonard 2000, 2003; Ngai 2003, 2005). Since research in this area is relatively recent in nature, the scope of this examination was limited to the time frame January 2000 to February As the nature of research on mobile marketing is difficult to confine to specific disciplines, the relevant materials are scattered across various journals. Marketing, Business and Management and Information systems are some common academic disciplines for mobile marketing research. Consequently, the following online journal databases were keyword searched to provide a comprehensive bibliography of the academic literature on mobile marketing: ABI/INFORM database EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier Elsevier Science Direct Emerald Library IEEE Xplore Rettie et al Response rates and branding effects Quantitative Scharl et al Diffusion and success factors of mobile marketing Quantitative / Qualitative Sultan and Rohm 2005 The role of mobile marketing in branding Qualitative Trappey III and Woodside 2005 Consumer responses to interactive advertising Quantitative Barnes and Scornavacca 2004 The role of permission and acceptance Conceptual Leppäniemi et al Success factors in the mobile advertising value chain Conceptual Okazaki 2004 Consumer perceptions of wireless ads Quantitative Petty 2003 Legal and policy issues raised by mobile advertising Conceptual Tsang et al Attitudes toward mobile advertising Quantitative De Reyck and Degraeve 2003 Broadcast scheduling for mobile advertising Quantitative Kavassalis et al Market inquiry on the perspectives of the mobile marketing Conceptual Yunos et. al 2003 Wireless advertising s challenges and opportunities Conceptual Barnes 2002 The nature and implications of wireless digital advertising Conceptual Barwise and Strong 2002 Effectiveness of SMS text messaging Quantitative Sullivan Mort and Brennan 2002 Emerging issues for marketing in mobile digital technology Conceptual Wiley InterScience Given the dynamic nature of the topic, we also wanted to include key articles published in other available sources. To this end, a keyword search was executed on Google Scholar ( and on M-lit the mobile business literature website ( m-lit.org). The keywords used were mobile marketing, mobile advertising, wireless marketing, wireless advertising, text message marketing, and SMS marketing. A Review of Mobile Marketing Research

3 In total, 109 publications were selected for further analysis. The full text of every publication was reviewed to eliminate those articles that were not actually related to mobile marketing. Papers with a primarily technical focus were not considered relevant to this study and were therefore excluded. The general guideline for selection was as follows: The central focus of the publication should be on mobile (or wireless) applications aimed at marketing, and Publications should be in a marketing, business and management or information systems domain. After precise reviewing, 50 publications were selected for detailed analysis: 23 (46%) from journals and 27 (53%) from conferences. These articles were read in their entirely, categorized and subsequently analyzed. Table 1 provides detailed information about the selected journal publications. The table provides the author names, scope of the content, and the methodology used. TABLE 1 - Part 2 Studies on mobile marketing CONFERENCE PAPERS Authors Research Focus Methodology Bragge et al Developing a road map for mobile marketing Qualitative / Quantitative Carroll et al Perceptions and attitudes towards SMS Mobile marketing Qualitative / Quantitative Haghirian and Madlberger 2005 Attitude toward advertising via mobile devices Quantitative Haghirian et al Perceived advertising value of mobile marketing Quantitative Han et al A framework for interactive marketing in location-based gaming environment Conceptual Leppäniemi et al Willingness to receive mobile marketing Quantitative / Qualitative Mcmanus and Scornavacca 2005 Potential and effectiveness of mobile marketing Qualitative Nikos and Iosif 2005 Perspectives on mobile advertising Quantitative Schierholtz et al Tähtinen 2005 Wehmeyer and Muller-Lankenau 2005 Virtanen et al Camponovo and Cerrutti 2004 Dickinger et al 2004 Drossos and Giaglis 2004 Performance measurement of mobile marketing in multichannel environments Conceptual analysis mobile advertising and mobile marketing Measuring consumers acceptance and preferences of mobile couponing Barriers for mobile marketing and how to overcome them A comparative regulatory overview on spam issue in mobile business An investigation and conceptual model of SMS marketing Factors influencing mobile messaging advertising effectiveness Qualitative Qualitative Quantitative Qualitative Conceptual Qualitative Conceptual Heitmann et al 2004 Mobile brand communities Conceptual Jelassi and Enders 2004 Leveraging wireless technology for mobile advertising Qualitative Karjaluoto et al The role of mobile marketing in companies promotion mix Qualitative / Quantitative Komulainen et al Business models of mobile advertising Qualitative Leung and Cheung 2004 Attitude toward mobile advertising Conceptual Tähtinen and Salo 2004 Special features of mobile advertising Quantitative Heinonen and Strandvik 2003 Consumer responsiveness to mobile marketing Quantitative Kölmel and Alexakis 2002 Location-based advertising Conceptual Kavassalis et al Market inquiry on the perspectives of the mobile marketing Conceptual Kannan et al Marketing issues and possibilities in wireless commerce Conceptual Sullivan Mort and Brennan 2001 New directions in B2C e-business Conceptual Rettie and Brum 2001 Attitudes to SMS marketing Quantitative

4 3 MOBILE MARKETING RESEARCH ( ) research is relatively recent in nature. The first published academic paper can be traced to the year However, as illustrated in Figure 1, the research on mobile marketing is gradually evolving. Thus, it is valuable to describe the current situation and outline the research agenda for future research Consumer A substantial number of the publications that have appeared on mobile marketing have dealt with different facets of consumer behavior. Several studies have examined consumers attitudes toward mobile marketing (Haghirian and Madlberger 2004, Rettie and Brum 2001, Leung and Cheung 2004, Tsang et al. 2004), acceptance of mobile marketing (Bauer et al. 2005, Leppäniemi and Karjaluoto 2005, Barnes and Scornavacca 2004, Leppäniemi et al. 2005), and how consumers perceive mobile advertising (Okazaki 2004, Haghirian et al. 2005). Emerging areas such as the effectiveness of mobile advertising and/or marketing (Barwise and Strong 2002, Rettie et al. 2005, McManus and Scornavacca 2005, Empirical Drossos and Giaglis 2004) and consumers Conceptual responsiveness to mobile marketing (Heinonen and Strandvik 2003) are receiving more and more attention in the literature Figure 1 The number of mobile marketing publications per year. There is no commonly accepted classification for mobile marketing studies. However, in order to identify the research focus of studies, each publication was carefully reviewed and classified into one of the following three categories: consumer, business and management, and general. Table 2 provides a characterization of each category and the distribution of articles across the three categories. The remainder of this section will be devoted to discussing mobile marketing research in more detail. TABLE 2 Focus of mobile marketing research Category Characterization N Percentage Consumer Business and Management General Acceptance, perception, attitude, responsiveness, and effectiveness of mobile marketing Value chain, performance measurement, business models, branding and operations Antecedents and consequences, legal and political issues, adoption and diffusion of mobile marketing 19 38% 12 24% 19 38% Total % In general, consumers have a negative attitude towards advertising (see e.g. Zanot 1984, Beale 1997). Tsang et al. (2004) explored consumer attitudes toward mobile advertising and the relationship between attitude and behavior. The results of the study indicated that consumers generally have negative attitudes toward mobile advertising unless they specifically consent to it. Furthermore, they found that there is a direct relationship between consumer attitudes and consumer behavior. Rettie and Brum (2001) also found that initial attitudes toward mobile advertising were negative, but many were prepared to accept advertising in exchange for discounts or promotional offers. Haghirian and Madlberger (2005) reported that advertising value and advertising message content have the largest impact on attitude toward advertising via mobile devices. Exploring the formation of Japanese mobile users attitudes to pull-type wireless advertising and their willingness to click such ads, Okazaki (2004) suggests that external search, content credibility and attitude towards ads are considered as antecedents of willingness to access. Further, he argued that attitude towards ads is conceptualized as a consequence of two psychological motives in wireless internet adoption: perceived infotainment and perceived irritation. Since the mid 1990s, acceptance has gained considerable importance as a field of research (Bauer et al. 2005). Consumer acceptance is one the core issues in mobile marketing. According to Bauer et al. (2005), entertainment value and A Review of Mobile Marketing Research

5 information value are the strongest drivers of the acceptance of the mobile phone as an innovative medium for advertising content communication. Leppäniemi and Karjaluoto (2005) also discussed the important drivers of mobile advertising and provided a framework within which the critical elements affecting consumers willingness to accept mobile advertising can be assessed. Barnes and Scornavacca (2004) examined the variables that influence customer acceptance of mobile marketing. They explored several studies conducted on mobile marketing acceptance and identified three main factors that influence a consumer s acceptance of mobile marketing: user s permission, wireless service provider control and brand trust. Building on this research, Carroll et al. (2005) developed a revised and empirically tested model of mobile marketing consumer acceptance. They concluded that four factors have a significant impact on mobile marketing acceptance: permission, content, wireless service provider control and the delivery of the messages. Furthermore, they argued that marketers should be optimistic about choosing to deploy mobile marketing, but exercise caution around the factors that will determine consumer acceptance. Effectiveness of and responsiveness to mobile marketing is also gaining more and more interest in literature. Early empirical evidence on mobile marketing effectiveness is provided by Barwise and Strong (2002), who reported the results of a study of permission-based advertising via mobile phones. The results suggested that, with the right execution, the mobile channel has the potential to benefit both advertisers and consumers. Rettie et al. (2005) found that SMS advertising is effective both as a branding vehicle and in stimulating response. This was demonstrated by significant improvements in brand attitude and purchase intentions. In line with this conclusion, Trappey III and Woodside (2005) examined the use of SMS advertising in conjunction with television commercials. They found that the overall response to the SMS campaign, specifically actions taken by respondents upon receipt of the SMS message, is quite high nearly 9 percent. Their conclusions are supported by Merisavo et al. (2006), who found that permissionbased mobile advertising increases sales of mobile services. This paper presented evidence that there a significant difference in average daily expenditure among customers who were not exposed to mobile advertising versus those non-exposed. Heinonen and Strandvik (2003) explored consumers responsiveness to mobile marketing communications. They conducted an empirical study, where responsiveness to mobile marketing was benchmarked against communication. Findings from this study indicated that compared to traditional direct mail and commercial communication, the responsiveness to mobile marketing was considerably lower. McManus and Scornavacca (2005) discussed the emerging issues related to mobile marketing. They concluded that the factors contributing to mobile marketing effectiveness can be consolidated in four main dimensions: permission, reach, richness and customization. These elements constitute a simple framework for understanding the potential and effectiveness of the usage of mobile phones as a promotional media. 3.2 Business and Management Some researchers have examined the role of mobile marketing in branding. Nysveen et al. (2005) suggested that mobile channel addition (SMS/MMS) usage has positive effects on brand satisfaction, direct relationship investments, and main channel usage. In addition, based on surveys of three different brands they suggested that a promising strategy for increasing consumption of the brand s main channel is facilitation of the consumers direct relationship investment in the mobile services. Furthermore, according to Sultan and Rohm (2005), mobile marketing creates new opportunities for companies to form or shift consumer attitudes toward a brand through the use of value added content that can be personalized through context and location specificity. They suggest that, like Web communications, mobile marketing can be interactive, but offers the possibility of a closer brand connection because of the personal nature of hand-held electronic devices. However, research on mobile brand communities, like much mobile-related research, is still somewhat atheoretical. Heitmann et al. (2004) employed community research to identify four constitutional elements of a community and developed a structured and theoretically founded method to analyze the potential of mobile services for specific community building purposes. mobile marketing creates new opportunities for companies to form or shift consumer attitudes toward a brand The mobile marketing value chain has also gained some attention among researchers. Facchetti et al. (2005) and Leppäniemi et al. (2004) have analyzed the landscape of mobile marketing activities, identifying the extended structure of the value chain, and defining critical success factors in order to lead the value chain. Bragge et al. examined the mobile marketing value system. They outlined an extensive road map including action proposals for various stakeholders in mobile marketing value system and research that should be carried out.

6 Business models in the emerging context of mobile advertising are studied in some detail. By using scenario planning method Komulainen et al. (2004, 2005) suggests different business models for mobile advertising. Furthermore, Gopal and Tripathi (2006) showed key issues pertaining to mobile advertising and analyzed a business model for an advertising firm that delivers ads using a carrier s wireless infrastructure. However, further research focusing on issues relating to the functions and roles of different stakeholders in mobile marketing is undeniably needed in order to overcome the barriers to mobile marketing. Operations research is close to absent in mobile marketing. De Reyck and Degraeve (2003) provided useful insights into broadcast scheduling for mobile advertising. They described a broadcast scheduling system developed for a precision marketing firm specialized in location-sensitive permission based mobile advertising using SMS text messaging. In addition, less research has been conducted on performance management in mobile marketing. Schierholz et al. (2005) provides a model for performance measurement in multichannel environments, particularly taking into account the mobile channel. The model was evaluated in a real-world case study. 3.3 General Academic efforts initially focused on identifying the antecedents and consequences of mobile marketing. The early studies provided by Barnes (2002), Kannan (2001), Yunos et al. (2003), Sullivan Mort and Drennan (2001, 2002), and Kavassalis et al. (2002, 2003) were among the pioneering efforts in mobile marketing research in general. While those works were conceptual by nature, they provided conceptualizations that laid a useful foundation for researchers who subsequently undertook empirical explorations. Following these studies, many authors have consolidated this conceptual foundation by investigating the nature of mobile marketing (Dickinger et al. 2004, Tähtinen and Salo 2004, Tähtinen 2005) and the role of mobile marketing in companies promotion mix (Karjaluoto et al. 2004). has recently gained widespread popularity in many disciplines and industries. There is, however, little empirical evidence of diffusion and adoption of mobile marketing among large multinational organizations. Okazaki (2005) gave his contributions to fill this research gap by conducting an empirical survey of the perceptions of multinational corporations (MNC) operating in Europe regarding mobile advertising adoption. The study revealed that branding strategy, facilitating conditions, and security and costs are the strongest determinants of MNCs mobile advertising adoption. Furthermore, he suggested that Japanese firms are the least willing to use mobile advertising, while their American counterparts are the most motivated in this regard. Scharl et al (2005) suggested that diffusion of mobile marketing has geographic and industry differences. They presented a perceptual map based on correspondence analysis that visualized the importance of mobile technologies by industry, identifying a strong presence not only among technology providers such as telecommunications and electronics companies, but also a strong interest in applying mobile services within the automotive and financial services. Virtanen et al. (2005) also shed light on mobile marketing adoption by examining the perceived barriers to growth in mobile marketing, as well as identifying ways to overcome those barriers. They suggested that the main barriers for the growth of mobile marketing as a marketing medium are: 1) lack of research, 2) resistance to change among marketing service providers and marketers, 3) lack of co-operation and knowledge sharing, 4) fear of technology, 5) complexity of implementation and 6) fear of spam stigma. They concluded with a list of proposals for actions to overcome the barriers. Sending messages to a consumer s phone needs careful advance planning due to the intimate nature of the mobile phone. Besides worries about intrusion into one s private space, mobile spam raises privacy concerns related to the utilization of personal and location data used to personalize mobile marketing messages. Well aware of the significance of solving these issues, regulatory bodies throughout the world have issued laws to protect user privacy. Camponovo and Cerruti (2004) provide valuable insights into regulatory issues concerning mobile marketing. Their paper illustrates and compares the regulatory frameworks of Switzerland, the European Union and the United States, and analyzes the likely implications for the mobile business industry in general. Petty (2003) examined the legal and policy issues raised by mobile marketing in the United States. He suggested that the right to privacy should be balanced with the right to market by establishing mechanisms of consumer choice. In addition to the above mentioned publication there have been some papers about different mobile marketing applications. In a recent article about mobile couponing, Wehmeyer and Muller-Lankenau (2005) provided the first evidence regarding consumer acceptance and preferences for mobile couponing service attributes. Of the four service attributes included in the conjoint experiment, the configuration channel was found to have the greatest relative importance, followed by the type of coupons, the possibility of personalizing the offered coupons, and the location-awareness of the couponing service. Among the first mobile advertising studies, Kölmel and Alexakis (2002) provided an overview of location based advertising. Han et al. (2004) proposed, in a conceptual paper, a framework which addressed many of the issues that are characteristic of mobile gaming and advertising. The proposed framework facilitates time and location-sensitive interactive marketing by enabling users with the location-aware technology capability to collect nearby items such as m-coupons and A Review of Mobile Marketing Research

7 redeem those items in nearby participating stores. These applications are just the tip of the iceberg, and the number of practical implications and academic publications is likely to mushroom in the near future. In summary, mobile marketing and advertising is still an emerging area within marketing communications, despite the justifiable reaction against earlier overoptimistic expectations. Marketers are still learning how to use it in terms of brand strategy, creative execution and evaluation. 3.4 Methodology of publications 4 DIVERGENT CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF MOBILE MARKETING A cursory review of the literature reveals that numerous definitions on marketing through the mobile channel have been proposed by marketing practitioners and scholars alike. While some of these conceptualizations are similar, there is evidently a deficiency of consensus as to the most appropriate way in which this emerging phenomenon should be defined. Conceptual agreement is necessary to promote a shared understanding of mobile marketing, one that encourages clarity of communication and convergence in thinking. There is a general perception that due to the embryonic stage of mobile marketing, most of the literature is qualitative in nature (see e.g. Becker 2005). In order to examine whether the mobile marketing literature is dominated by conceptual analysis rather than empirical studies, a categorization was needed to classify the selected articles. Publications based on academic and public literature reviews were classified as conceptual research. Empirical research was considered as all research based on primary data collection. Empirical papers were further classified into quantitative and qualitative categories in order to identify the nature of applied research methodology and research design. Following classification, 17 publications (34%) were found to be conceptual papers and 33 (66%) empirical research (see figure 1). The distribution of publications according to applied research methodology is shown in figure 2. The majority of empirical research was quantitative by nature (18 or 55% of the total), while qualitative methodology was used in 10 papers (30%). Of the 26 empirical publications, 5 papers (15%) applied both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Overall, empirical research in mobile marketing is growing very fast and is dominating research efforts at present Figure 2 The number of publications per year according to applied research In an attempt to develop a conceptualization that captures the true meaning of marketing through the mobile channel, an extensive review of the literature was conducted. Aside from published academic papers, the review also included a vast amount of literature from the popular domain. For example, articles provided by Web portals (e.g. Mobile Marketing Association, Adverblog. com, Marketingnewz.com and Clickz.com) and magazines (e.g. New media age, Marketing week, Precision marketing, Advertising age, and Adweek) were evaluated, as well as conceptualizations provided by the top mobile marketing companies and leading mobile technology solutions providers (e.g. Enpocket, Flytext, Avantgo, 12Snap, Add2Phone, iloop Mobile). Overall, the literature review yielded 21 distinct definitions or meanings of mobile marketing. A detailed analysis of the identified conceptualizations was conducted to identify common elements and repeating themes among them. The analysis revealed that collectively, the definitions represent four major approaches to marketing through the mobile channel. More specifically, it was found that marketing through the mobile channel has, implicitly or explicitly, been conceptualized as a (1) mobile marketing (e.g. Kalakota and Robinson 2002, MMA 2005, Scharl et al. 2005, Facchetti et al. 2005, Dickinger et al. 2004, Bauer et al. 2005); (2) mobile advertising (e.g. Leppäniemi et al. 2004, Tähtinen and Salo 2004, Haghirian and Madlberger 2005, De Reyck and Degraeve 2003); (3) wireless marketing (e.g. Tsang et al. 2004, Brassington and Pettitt 2003); and/ Quant i t at i ve Qual i t at i ve or (4) wireless advertising (Petty 2003, Yunos Quan / Qual et al. 2003). Table 3 provides a description Concept ual and representative conceptualizations of each of the four major viewpoints on marketing through the mobile channel. The aspect of wireless vs. mobile needs clarification because it seems that there has been some confusion around these concepts recently. Wireless is not necessarily mobile (see e.g. Balasubramanian et al. 2002; Anckar and D Incau 2002; Varshney and

8 Author(s) Concept Methodology TABLE 3 Definitions of mobile marketing Kalakota and Robinson (2002) The distribution of any kind of message or promotion that adds value to the customer while enhancing revenue for the firm. Rettie et al. (2005) marketing activities that deliver advertisements to mobile devices. MMA Code of Conduct (2005) Scharl et al. (2005) Sullivan Mort and Brennan (2002) Facchetti et al. (2005) Dickinger et al. (2004) Heinonen and Strandvik (2003) Kavassalis et al. (2003) is any form of marketing, advertising or sales promotion activity aimed at consumers and conducted over a mobile channel. Using a wireless medium to provide consumers with time- and location-sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas, thereby benefiting all stakeholders The application of marketing to the mobile environment of smart phones, mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), and telematics. any paid form of impersonal presentation and promotion of goods, services, ideas by wellidentified promoter (Kotler et al. 2002) using the wireless as delivery channel Using interactive wireless media to provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas, thereby generating value for all stakeholders. use of SMS and MMS as marketing media in push campaigns. something technologically simple that uses the mobile network as a complementary distribution channel for delivering old-fashioned commercial information and interactive promotional advertising. Bauer et al. (2005) using the mobile phone as a means of conveying commercial content to customers. MMA UK (2005) Glass (2005) Leppäniemi et al. (2004) Tähtinen and Salo (2004) Mobile advertising Mobile advertising is the use of the mobile medium as a communications and entertainment channel between a brand and an end-user. The use of wireless media as an integrated content delivery, marketing and communications channel. Any paid message communicated by mobile media with the intent to influence the attitudes, intentions and behavior of those addressed by the commercial messages. ads sent to and presented on mobile devices, i.e. cellular phones, PDA s, and other handheld devices. Komulainen et al. (2004) Mobile advertising advertising using mobile devices as a communication vehicle. Haghirian and Madlberger (2005) De Reyck and Degraeve (2003) Petty (2003) Yunos et al. (2003) Tsang et al. (2004) Brassington and Pettitt (2003) Mobile advertising Mobile advertising Wireless advertising messaging Wireless advertising Wireless marketing Wireless marketing The usage of interactive wireless media (such as cellular phones and pagers, cordless telephones, personal digital assistants, two-way radios, baby crib monitors, wireless networking systems, GPS-based locators and maps) to transmit advertising messages to consumers in form of time and location sensitive, personalized information with the overall goal to promote goods and services. advertising via mobile phones form of advertising that includes short text messages sent to telephones, personal digital assistants, and other wireless devices. advertising and marketing activities that deliver ads to mobile devices over a wireless network... sending advertising messages to mobile devices such as mobile phones or PDAs through the wireless network. the use of text messaging via a mobile telephone as a means of marketing communication. A Review of Mobile Marketing Research

9 Vetter 2000; Kumar 2004). For instance, a consumer s communications with a Web site from a desktop computer at home, with signals carried over a wireless local area network (WLAN) or over a satellite network, would qualify as wireless but not mobile communications. A wireless access itself can allow only very limited mobility within the range of this access point. True mobility can, however, only be achieved by an underlying mobile network, which implements the mobility across the whole area covered. This is important to keep in mind when defining marketing through the mobile channel. Based on this distinction, we suggest that the mobile as a concept provides the best conceptual foundation for the phenomenon, particularly because of its inclusive nature and representation of the space in which the value of mobile marketing communications evolves. Thus, the concept mobile marketing and its subset mobile advertising are the most appropriate definitions for this evolving phenomenon. In addition, an examination revealed that definitions are mostly embedded in technology, and therefore there is a tendency to mistake the technologies for the concept itself. Although the development of mobile marketing technology is what conveyed mobile marketing activities to marketing practice and academic research, any marketer would now argue that mobile marketing is simply a technological tool that enables firms to communicate with their customers. is much more than a technology and a lack of understanding about its true nature is, in part, responsible for the failure of numerous mobile marketing initiatives. The mobile is, primarily, a medium for marketing communications. Therefore, it is necessary to separate the concept from its underlying technologies to accomplish a stable conceptualization that is not subject to technological changes. Thus, building on these insights, the following conceptualization is proposed: is the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communications. This definition involves all of the following characteristics that are inherent in marketing communications (see e.g. Fill 2002) and mobile commerce (see Balasubramanian et al. 2002): It involves communication, either one-way or interactive. At least one of the parties engaged in the communication must be mobile, in the sense that the ability to communicate is not contingent on being at a fixed physical location at a particular point in time. The ability to communicate must contain the potential to be continuously maintained for at least one of the parties during a substantial physical movement from one location to another. At least one seeks to benefit economically from the communication, either in the short or the long run. It is important to recognize that this conceptualization of mobile marketing originates from marketing communications and is independent of any underlying technological platform. Thus, it emphasizes the critical role of communication in establishing and maintaining profitable customer relationships (see e.g. Duncan and Moriarty 1998). In addition, it purposefully encompasses the particular characteristics of mobile marketing while allowing for future technologies that might engender the same characteristics. is the use of the mobile medium as a means of marketing communications 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH The discussion in this review has covered a wide range of topics, but several key areas calling for further research have emerged in marketing discipline. We list these under five headings: Integrated marketing communications, mobile specific metrics, mobile marketing value system, trust in mobile marketing, and issues related to mobile marketing technology. Integrated marketing communications (IMC). For many marketers and their advertising agencies, mobile marketing still represents a mysterious and challenging new component of a company s communications mix. However, companies should not treat the mobile channel as a stand-alone medium but rather as one component in an overall marketing strategy that must be integrated with other channels. In other words, it is just a new, different means of communication which should be integrated into the marketing communications mix. Thus, we need more research on the role of each of the main tools of the promotional mix when used in a mobile context. Mobile-specific metrics There is a general consensus that there are no well-accepted measures for the effectiveness of mobile marketing, such as those used to measure the more traditional forms of marketing communications. Thus, in order to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of mobile 10

10 marketing practices and determine the most effective formats of mobile marketing campaigns, more empirically oriented research is needed. In fact, as reported by Virtanen (2005), industry practitioners and participants of Nokia Mobile Marketing Summit 04 workshop ranked mobile marketing effectiveness and ROI research as one of the top challenges facing industry practitioners today. value system The emerging mobile marketing value system has received less attention in current literature. More insights into the roles and aspirations of different players are needed in order to fully exploit the potential of mobile marketing. Trust Privacy issues are particularly sensitive with respect to mobile marketing due to the intimate nature of mobile devices. Besides worries about intrusion into one s private space, mobile spam raises privacy concerns related to the utilization of the personal and location data used to personalize mobile marketing messages. Thus, empirical investigations into the factors that affect consumers willingness to provide personal information and grant permission to use it in mobile marketing are invited. technology - A literature shows a variety of technological platforms such as SMS, MMS, WAP and Java that are available to support mobile marketing. However, studies have so far mainly focused on SMS-based mobile marketing. Therefore, further studies should be conducted in relation to mobile marketing technologies, especially on how different technologies and applications are implemented in different campaigns. Overall, theory development is needed. Mobile marketing is unlikely to become fully recognized as a research area its own right until it has a solid theoretical foundation. The marketing and advertising discipline has a number of key theories that have become a cornerstone of mobile marketing research. While other theories have been applied to mobile marketing, it does not yet have any theory to call its own. Acknowledgments: The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Technology Agency of Finland. Matti Leppäniemi*, Jaakko Sinisalo and Heikki Karjaluoto Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Oulu P.O.Box 4600, FIN University of Oulu, Finland Matti.leppaniemi@oulu.fi, jaakko.sinisalo@oulu.fi, heikki.karjaluoto@oulu.fi * Please address correspondence to first author REFERENCES: Anckar, B. and D Incau, D. (2002): Value Creation in Mobile Commerce: Findings from a Consumer Survey. Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp Balasubramanian, S., Peterson, R. A. and Jarvenpaa, S. L. (2002): Exploring the Implications of M-Commerce for Markets and Marketing. Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 30, No. 4, pp Barnes, S. J. (2002): Wireless Digital Advertising: Nature and Implications. 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