As the world gets more and more connected, there’s a sudden surge of advertisers that want to get to their target market through their mobile phones. All the marketing publications, website and workshops are pushing and promoting mobile marketing as the ‘next big thing’. And, of course, it’s understandable – Mobile marketing provides a unique opportunity to reach millions of consumers at a relatively low cost. It’s a platform that can combine witty copy (although it never does) with video as well as audio in a personal delivery package that is difficult to match. Which advertiser wouldn’t want a gigantic slice of the cell phone marketing pie?

The problem is that it’s friggin’ annoying. Advertising on a cellphone is the most intrusive form of advertising irritation invented thus far. It’s half a step short of wake-up marketing, where, at three in the morning, someone jumps on your bed, slaps you in the face, and then sings some awful jingle for an arbitrary toothpaste (which, in marketing terms would be brilliant, since that’s when your mouth is at it’s funkiest and toothpaste would be more than welcome). Just like mobile marketing, the message may be well-targeted or perfectly timed, but the delivery is a gigantic pain in the neck.

Any advertising that causes me to put in any form of effort in order to view it (or listen to it) is  not good advertising. It’s starting out on the wrong foot, even before I’ve seen (or heard) the ad. The fundamental problem is that my cellphone is in my pocket, in it’s own pouch. When a message comes through, I have to fish in my pocket, move my keys out the way, remove the pouch, extract my phone, and press a few buttons before I actually see the message. Now, for a SMS from a friend, family member or work colleague, I’m happy to go through that effort, since I know them message will be relevant to me, even if it’s just “get milk on the way home”.

However, if after going through the whole message retrieving rigmarole, it turns out to be an ad for a new personal loan or plumbing services, it’s annoys the crap out of me. I’m a busy guy and those 10 seconds of my time are valuable to me. My feeling towards the advertiser is immediately very negative. Furthermore, if you even have the option of choosing to no longer receive more messages from that company, you have to PAY to send a message back to stop receiving more messages. That’s insane: You irritate me, and I must pay to not have you irritate me again?

And that really is the problem of mobile marketing. It pretends to be something else. The advertisment pretends to be message from a friend or loved one. When you hear the ping or feel the vibration of the message alert, you get that “somebody’s thinking of me” feeling and you anticipate some sort of important snippet of communication that is directly aimed at you and nobody else. When you look at that message and see an advertisement instead, you’re left feeling cheated.

No more mobile marketing!