Firms to hike mobile spend

The marketing spend through mobile phones is expected to double every 18 months as corporate India is increasing their spends on campaigns through this mode to reach out to more number of consumers in both rural and urban India.

Leading the way are companies from sectors such as e- commerce, FMCG, food and beverages, automobiles, real estate and airlines.

Industry experts pointed out that the economic slowdown witnessed during FY14 didn’t see any major impact on the way companies engaged with consumers through the mobile phones.

“The total advertisements through mobile phones was projected to touch ` 550 crore during FY14, a growth of 61.76 per cent over ` 340 crore spend during FY13.

When the actual figures come, we are quite confident that it would surpass all our previous forecasts.

Brands are now trying to engage with rural consumers due to sharp penetration of smart phones and increasing access to mobile internet services,” said Rohit Dadwal, managing director of Mobile Marketing Association ( MMA) Asia Pacific Ltd.

Currently, mobile marketing spend accounts for just 2 per cent of the overall marketing campaign of India Inc, whereas it is as high as 11 per cent in United Kingdom and the United States of America and 7- 10 per cent in China.

“By 2018, the total advertisement spends by India Inc through the medium of mobile phones would account for almost 10 per cent of their overall marketing expenses as it is one of the most cost effective medium yielding five times more results than other forms of marketing,” said Mr Dadwal.

According to him, companies are extensively campaigning through various social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln, pintrest and other channels like You- Tube and Google to reach out to their potential consumers.