MMA: Western Europe primed for mobile marketing

Industry trade group the Mobile Marketing Association announced the results of its first Mobile Attitude and Usage Study, which surveyed 1,535 participants in the U.K., Germany, Italy, France and Spain in an effort to aid brands and marketers identify market trends, mobile subscriber usage pattern and success metrics for mobile marketing in Western Europe. According to the MMA, key findings of the study include:

• One in 10 Western European mobile users is highly interested in mobile marketing, and another three in 10 indicate moderate interest.  
• Italian and Spanish consumers are most interested in mobile marketing: Over half are at least moderately interested in mobile marketing, with a comparable percentage expressing potential to opt-in.
• Two-way text messaging is the most important mobile feature across all age groups except teens, who favor camera functionality. Over half of the survey sample uses SMS at least weekly and 37 percent are daily users, a behavior most common in the 13 to 24 demographic.
• Fifteen percent of all consumers surveyed have some experience with mobile marketing, with interactive voting, receiving ads and product/service information the most common applications. While 18- to 34-year-olds most commonly participate in mobile marketing efforts, interest levels are similar across ages 13 to 54.
• Mobile coupons, status alerts about accounts/purchases and special sales are most appealing to users.

"Western Europe represents a significant opportunity for mobile marketers," said MMA president Laura Marriott in a prepared statement. "One in three consumers surveyed indicated that their mobile phone is highly important to them and they are very dependent on it.  With consumers acknowledging their mobile is always on them, brands need to begin integrating mobile into their marketing campaigns ASAP."

For more on the MMA survey:
- read this release

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