Increasing use of mobile phones means advertising can be targetted directly to people via their personal devices.
Mobile phone marketing is gaining ground on more traditional advertising methods such as radio, television and billboards.
Research commissioned by the Mobile Marketing Forum suggests that sending text messages is a cheap and effective way to target customers. Industry analysts warn that this new form of marketing could be spoiled by spam.
On average in Ireland, each person sends three text messages per day. While most messages are personal, an increasing number are marketing messages sent by companies trying to promote and sell products to mobile phone users.
Over nine million text messages are sent every day in Ireland.
While the public is critical of such marketing techniques, the experts say mobile advertising is gaining ground. Tommy McCabe, Mobile Marketing Forum, says that research found that 66 per cent of respondents to their survey felt mobile advertising was more effective than advertising on the web.
Using text messages to advertise products is cheap and targeted.
Even when a company is sending thousands of texts to its target audience, it doesn't cost much.
The increase in the use of mobile advertising may result in consumers becoming tired of receiving texts. Patrick Kenny, marketing lecturer at Dublin Institute of Technology, says that marketers need to be careful not to saturate consumers with text messages in the same way they did with email marketing.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 5 October 2004. The reporter is Anna Murphy.
