Fear of Mobile Spam Crippling Mobile Marketing’s Growth?

With the Mobile Content World Conference taking place in London this week (MoCo News coverage), you’d think there would be tons of news on how "Mobile Content Will Change The World". (I think that’s what the cool kids are saying these days). Yet this hasn’t the case. So I wondered: "Could fear of Mobile Spam be crippling such a ripe advertising medium?

It seems User Experience" vs. "Spam" isn't just an internet issue. As Peter Fuller of mobile marketing consultancy firm i-jump.com, points out in: Why Spam Doesn’t Have to Happen on Mobile Devices, marketers often abuse “Partner Marketing”:

A consumer who buys a big-screen TV, for instance, may be excited to begin a relationship with the manufacturer and signs up for its newsletter. A month later, that person is receiving e-mail from marketers they’ve never heard of pawning DVDs for $1. That marketing is perceived as spam, even though legally it is not because it came from a "partner" of the big screen manufacturer.

But fear not my fellow Marketers, our message will get to consumers soon enough. The Mobile Marketing Association has been hard at work developing a Code of Conduct for Mobile Marketing (aka The Six C’s of Privacy) and mobile advertising software providers are working hard on ensuring that this is carried out.

[The] goal is to keep user experience high while introducing advertising as a benefit as opposed to a detriment. In other words…if there’s advertising the subscriber better get something for it. - Tom Burgess of Third Screen

So in the interim, what is the "model that will balance between additional revenue and subscriber experience"? I say it is: Advertiser Sponsored Free Phone Service.

Ad Network X covers the cost of my Mobile services. Clients of Network X send ads to my device on how their new Widget will make me better, stronger, faster. I send as many text messages and make as many calls as my friends will accept.

Everyone is happy. And if I eventually get tired of weight loss/Viagra/mortgage Ads, I can opt-out of the service and go back to paying for my Ad free phone.

I can’t be the only person who thinks this will be a hit can I?*

UPDATE: I'm not the only one... David Chamberlain, Senior Analyst with In-Stat had this to say in the recent report: Mobile Advertising, Brands and Affinity Marketing

"In addition, nearly a third of respondents cited high prices as a reason they did not use premium services, making them ripe targets for advertisers who wish to subsidize the cost of picture messaging, ringtones, directory assistance and other premium services."

Natasha "That Girl From Marketing" Robinson

*Then again I did think that Greg The Bunny and American Gothic would be hits....