A Spike Lee Joint (via Nokia!)

News today that Spike Lee is turning his movie-making attention to the (very) small screen. He's teaming up with Nokia to produce programming based user-generated mobile content.

Here's the clip from Reuters, via The New York Times.

It's part of what Spike calls the "democratization" of film. It's part of what I call a very cool step forward for genuine mobile content.

Encouraging New Numbers on Mobile Marketing

Part of the fun (and challenge) of being in the world of mobile marketing is sorting through all the research data for this emerging channel.

Every day, we see new numbers on how mobile marketing and advertising is growing. But for every growth metric, there are also some asterisks that smart marketers need to be aware of.

Take this new study from Juniper Research, picked up by Fierce Mobile Content

Mobile advertising spending will for the first time exceed $1 billion in 2008 and reach nearly $7.6 billion by 2013 according to a new forecast released by market analysis firm Juniper Research, which credits the growth to lucrative channels like mobile streamed and broadcast TV services. According to Juniper, SMS campaigns presently dominate mobile adspend, but mobile TV spending will rise from $335 million in 2008 to more than $2.5 billion in 2013--Juniper also cites idle-screen ads as a significant contributor to spending, with revenues growing from $7 million in 2008 to more than $500 million five years from now.
Other findings from the Juniper report:

• Nearly 1.5 billion mobile users will receive SMS ads in 2008.
• China and the Far East will remain the largest regional market for mobile adspend, with revenues rising from $414 million in 2008 to more than $2.1 billion by 2012.
• Advertisers will not commit to significant mobile budgeting until operators and content providers solve questions like lack of inventory, reach and common metrics.

All encouraging. But let's parse a little...

-- $1 billion -- is that global or US? How much is US?
-- $414 million from China and Far East - presumably leaving $586 for the rest of the world, including hyper-mobile Western Europe
-- $1 billion in mobile advertising -- mobile advertising vs. messaging vs. video etc
-- Mobile TV is $335 million - does that overlap with the $1 billion? Where is all this mobile TV spending going on?

Again, these are all encouraging...but marketers here in the US are hungry for specific data about usage, inventory, and penetration here in our home market.

There is starting to be some good research out there on this...let's have some nominations in the comments!

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Here, you will discover the mobile industry trends, news, and campaigns that both excite us and turn us off. Based on the hype surrounding the mobile platform, we will share how the creative content and marketing behind launching a mobile campaign are the most important, and yet often the most overlooked components of a successful program. We will bring together news from a variety of sources to avoid the overabundance of mobile information which can often make a person dizzy. So if you want the scoop on mobile without the mobile motion sickness, this is the place to be. We hope that our industry insights will give you a picture of the exciting mobile landscape that currently exists today, with a look into the future of the excitement that lies ahead.