Page 270 - Foundations of Marketing

Digital Marketing and Social Networking | Chapter 9 237

Marketing Debate

Advertising to Children through Smartphones

ISSUE: Is it acceptable to market to children through Currently, there are no federal regulations monitoring
mobile games? how advertising is presented to children on smartphones.
With the emergence and popularity of apps, advertising
Advertisers are now going through new venues to market seems an inevitable means of revenue generation. It is
products. Companies have begun to embed advertising an effective way to generate interest by creating games
through the use of digital games played on smartphones. and using names that children will recognize at the gro-
These ads are targeting children 9 years old and younger. cery store. On the other hand, children are more easily
This new medium has proved to be successful and cost- persuaded, and the ethics of targeting children through
effective but leaves some people questioning whether advertising is questionable.
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marketers are going too far.

© iStockphoto.com/CRTd
Mobile Devices

Mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablet computers, PDAs, and other mobile computing
devices, allow customers to leave their desktops and access digital networks from anywhere.
Nearly 90 percent of Americans have a mobile device. Many of these mobile devices are
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smartphones, which have the ability to access the Internet, download apps, listen to music,
take photographs, and more. Figure 9.2 breaks down smartphone usage by age. Mobile mar-
keting is exploding—marketers spent $ 2.6 billion on mobile marketing in 2012, and this num-
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ber is expected to dramatically increase.
Mobile marketing has proven effective in grabbing consumers’ attention. In one study,
88 percent of smartphone users replied that they have noticed mobile advertisements. This
rate is unusually high in a world where consumers are often inundated with ads. Despite these
promising trends, many brands have yet to take advantage of mobile marketing opportunities.
Although most major businesses have websites, not all of these websites are easily viewable
on mobile devices.
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To avoid being left behind, brands must recognize the importance of mobile marketing.
Some of the more common mobile marketing tools include the following:
• SMS Messages: SMS messages are text messages of 160 words or less. SMS messages
have been an effective way to send coupons to prospective customers. Starbucks uses
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SMS messages to provide opt-in customers with discounts and other offers.
• Multimedia Messages: Multimedia messaging takes SMS messaging a step further by allow-
ing companies to send video, audio, photos, and other types of media over mobile devices.
For instance, Motorola’s House of Blues multimedia campaign allowed users to receive
access to discounts, tickets, music, and other digital content on their mobile phones.
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• Mobile advertisements: Mobile advertisements are visual advertisements that appear on
mobile devices. Companies might choose to advertise through search engines, websites, or
even games accessed on mobile devices. Comcast Corp. developed mobile advertising that
allows users to click on their ad and automatically send a call to the company.
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• Mobile websites: Mobile websites are websites designed for mobile devices. Mobile
devices constitute 13 percent of Web traffic.
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• Location-based networks: Location-based networks are built for mobile devices. One
of the most popular location-based networks is Foursquare, which lets users check in
and share their location with others. Businesses such as OpenTable have partnered with
Foursquare to enable users to search for restaurants and make reservations with just a click
of a button.
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