Mobile Musings, Part 1: Sports Get It Right

(Welcome to the first in a series on one of our favorite topics here at Yaybia: mobile convergence.)

This week, AdAge has five compelling arguments why 2008 won't be the year of mobile. I argue they should amend their headline to say that 2008 won't be the year of mobile marketing, but some mobile content is getting pretty damn close.

With yesterday being the Twins home opener, I checked twinsbaseball.com in the morning. While the site redirected me to a text-heavy page clearly not designed for an iPhone or Blackberry, the mobile version is pleasantly easy to navigate, with the headlines and scores I want right at the top. Better yet, the alert package I signed up for is phenomenal. I get scores, lead changes after the 7th inning, and videos of home runs texted to me every game. All I had to do was enter my phone number and agree to tack $4 a month onto my bill, well worth it for the customized, instant content I want to get on the go.

That's what a mobile application should be: easy to use, to-the-point, and full of content. The MLB isn't the only one that understands consumers' mobile cravings, either. In early January, ESPN actually received more mobile hits than PC-based hits in a 24-hour period for the same section of one of its NFL pages. An article in today's MediaPost says, "Mobile is about a 'right now' experience. Just as TiVo shifts time to change the way people watch television, mobile changes the way people can consume content."

Companies that understand the need for local emphasis in mobile content will also succeed. What if Starbucks worked with carriers or manufacturers to develop an application that always shows the closest coffeeshop based on a user's GPS data? Or what if search got more specific than zip codes, and Google became intuitive enough to understand exactly what I want when I text "pizza hut washington ave & university ave minneapolis" to GOOG411?

I agree with AdAge that the ad industry doesn't have it yet. But it's always played catch-up with new technologies. We all remember watching 1950s TV spots in history of ad classes and seeing basically a print ad with sound. And it's only been the past few years that truly interactive and creatively compelling web advertising has become the norm, rather than flashing banners demanding we CLICK HERE! I see great potential for advertisers to sponsor instant alerts like the Twins baseball ones I mentioned before. I'd gladly take a five-second Jimmy John's spot before my home run video highlight if it offset the $4/month the Twins are currently charging me. Right now, it could be key to partner with a content provider who gives mobile consumers that instant information they demand--especially the weather, news, and sports networks that are getting better and better at understanding mobile needs.

(One last note: One of the reasons AdAge has no faith in 2008 for the year of mobile is poor penetration. But as young adults who have grown up with technology get off their parents' family plans and wireless carriers follow the lead of Sprint and its unlimited everything plan, the number of people with data plans is going to be insane before we know it. I, for one, can't wait.)