Which brands have the highest mobile ad recall?

By Giselle Tsirulnik - January 19, 2011

A study that surveyed more than 12,000 consumers found that mobile advertisers such as Macy's, JCPenney, Sears, Walmart, Colgate, Nike and Target are successfully sticking in consumers' minds.
When asked "Can you recall any advertisers you have seen on your phone?" an average of 37 percent of consumers responded "Yes." African-Americans outpaced other demographics, with 41 remembering seeing advertising on their mobiles. Also, 36 percent of Asian-Americans and Caucasians recalled mobile ads, with Hispanics at 34 percent.
"The key finding of the study is that brand recall categories do not appear to correlate directly to advertising spend categories, as recently reported by Millennial Media, which showed entertainment was the biggest mobile spender in the third quarter last year," said Casey Jones, vice president of marketing and music at MocoSpace, Boston.
"This tells us that targeting and creative play key roles in mobile advertising, and brands that create integrated, engaging experiences on mobile can achieve high recall," he said.
The study asked consumers to name specific brands they recalled seeing on their mobile phone. The top 20 answers fell into the categories of:

Mobile carriers/telecom
Twenty-three percent of respondents named AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, Boost Mobile, Metro PCS and Cricket as the carrier brands that stand out to them.
 
Major retailers and consumer brands
Seventeen percent of respondents named Macy's, JCPenney, Sears, Walmart, Colgate, Nike and Target as the retailers that they recall seeing mobile ads from.
 
Handset manufacturers
BlackBerry, Nokia and Samsung had the highest mobile brand recall in the manufacturers category, with 5 percent of respondents. 
 
Television/technology
Five percent of respondents named Direct TV, Dish and Sony as the television/technology companies that they recall seeing mobile ads for.
 
Other categories that garnered responses but did not make the top 20 were travel, auto, insurance, education, dating, music and restaurants.
 
The study asked consumers how often they see mobile ads. Fifty-six percent of respondents replied either often or very often.
"The rapid increase in iPhone and Android handsets will be the key factor in the growth of mobile advertising, as brands can deliver more engaging experiences on the mobile Web," said James Briggs, CEO of Briabe Media, Venice, CA. "The ability to replicate online creative through better mobile browser experiences will simplify the creative and buying processes and facilitate the flow of dollars shifting to mobile campaigns from more traditional channels.
"Most surprising was the difference between African Americans and other ethnic groups in their ability to recall specific mobile advertisements," he said. "All other ethnic groups fall in the mid 30 percent while African Americans stand alone at 41 percent.
"It remains paramount that the advertiser or agency understands their target customer and how they incorporate their mobile devices into their lives. The ad needs to be creative and resonate with the intended audience. Last, they should consider the variety of mobile ad units that can foster a sense of engagement with the audience."
Dan Butcher reported for this story.

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/8820.html