Though there are many different mobile marketing techniques being used throughout Asia, from games to apps, it is SMS that is reaching virtually every person with a cell phone, regardless of the model.
Some experts are starting to think that brands in the west can learn from this lesson when they launch their Asian mobile marketing campaigns. For example, director of international media Gavin Mehrotra, from Coca Cola Company stated at the MMA Forum in Singapore,that the top priority for mobile at Coca Cola is SMS, as its reception from the Asian audience has been “shock and awe.”
As Mehrotra said, virtually anyone with a mobile phone is capable of receiving an SMS message. The mass penetration of that technology across Asian countries means that marketers have a tremendous opportunity with its use.
Among the mobile population around the globe, the Asia Pacific market represents a full half. There are 2.6 billion mobile subscribers in that region, and the number of mobile phones outnumber the traditional landlines by five to one. In some nations within that part of the world, the number of mobile devices outnumber the population.
In fact, in 2010, in China and India alone, there were 339 million new subscribers to mobile services; a number that is higher than all of the mobile subscribers in the United States. Currently, though, the only mobile marketing platform that can reach across the full Asia Pacific region is SMS, unlike smartphone apps, which have limited reach.
Western brands may feel as though they are moving backward by taking on an SMS strategy for marketing in Asia, but it is the one method that provides the most significant measurable results.
