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It’s been coming for a long time in Australia, since the GSM network was first released organisations have been making use of SMS capabilities to send out messages regarding products, services and competitions that they are offering to their target consumers.
Nightclubs have made very large use of this technology, and with all technologies they evolve, a couple of years we saw the 3G network within the marketplace, but lack of churn from GSM to 3G made it difficult for marketers to decide to implement 3G technology in their IMC campaigns.

Being able to justify the use of such technology as a part of advertising campaigns is difficult in such an up and down industry, maybe the Next G will change the face of mobile advertising as we know it?

On a more negative side, will the Next G be the Next Flop for Telstra and advertisers?

What advertising content does the Next G provide?

Sensis as well as a number of leading advertising agencies have recently teamed up with Bigpond to begin advertising on Telstra’s whopping 850mhz network. Currently advertisers can choose from a variety of banners, links and even video content to send out to Next G customers. These capabilities were recently trialed by advertisers to display the full potential of the Next G in creating advertising campaigns.

Ms Claire Barwell the group manager of Sensis MediaSmart further believes that more market research needs to be put into this new network, as advertising wasn’t exactly the most feasible option with the 3G network due to a lack of knowledge surrounding usage of network capabilities of users.

She then went on to state that “Sensis is looking to develop our knowledge of the consumer response to mobile advertising, specifically testing usage rates, click throughs and the suitability of advertising messages to mobile delivery”.
“We aim to understand how and when advertisements are accessed and responded to and will track which types of users and devices are the most and least active.”
“We hope to further develop the model for how new media is monetised and delivered in Australia, capitalizing on the extraordinary opportunities afforded us by our inclusion in the Telstra family,” she commented.

Is 3G an attractive advertising option?

Even now not all mobile phones that are released have 3G, mobile phone manufacturers such as Samsung and Sony Ericsson have only recently joined the 3G battle arena for the struggle between the networks involving current 3G veterans, Nokia and Motorola.
Popular models such as the D600, and the k750i did not arrive with 3G capabilities, so network users were divided between 3G and GSM. Samsung has only just released their first 3G mobile in Australia, the Z400.

Recently however Nokia has pushed 3G adoptions with the release of the 6280, the N series mobiles as well as the 6233, but now that the Next G has been released, it may be too little, too late.

Late adopters may not be ready for the Next G and are more likely to get an older model phone and not bother with 3G at all. Usually people get new mobile phones in a much cheaper fashion – the re-contract or the non 3G supported network of prepaid.

Late adoption of these technologies due to re-contract dates also makes it difficult for consumers to keep up with technological advances; Optus offer various methods of early re-contracts such as contract rollback. This allows users to keep up with the latest mobile technology available to them.

Maybe it’s time Telstra pushed more people through the geek portal to join the Next Generation of mobile technology?

Check out the Telstra Next G’s awesome website @ http://www.nextg.com.au/

Also read up on G Whiz stories @ http://www.nowwearetalking.com.au/Home/GWhiz/Browse.aspx

Sensis on Next G technology

http://www.about.sensis.com.au/news/media_releases/mediaRelease.php?id=20061011