There were approximately 111 million people that watched the Super Bowl this year, setting the record for most watched telecast. Most likely out of that 111 million people 95% percent were using their cell phones for checking scores, updating Facebook, texting friends to bring more pizza, downloading apps, and staying up to date on the latest news. I can tell you the one thing they were not doing, interacting with any of the brands that paid 3 million dollars for a spot. This was a huge missed opportunity for organizations to launch their mobile marketing efforts, especially when it’s the one time of year when commercials are as popular as the game.
I have been writing a lot lately about how organizations need to start pursuing mobile marketing in 2011. The majority of the population is within inches from their cell phones 90% of the time. The younger crowd uses cell phones as the center of their social lives. Business professionals are constantly updating calendars, downloading office apps, and trying their best to always be connected to their customers. So, with such a wide range of demographics and opportunities to market, why was there not a single super bowl commercial with some sort of mobile marketing campaign?
It seems to me if the world is telling organizations that mobile marketing is the hottest trend right now, organizations would be putting a lot of their efforts into mobile marketing. It would only make sense.
Maybe it doesn’t make sense to organizations. The past shows us that it takes awhile for organizations to finally step out of their comfort zone and pursue opportunities that were never there before. When Social Media first took off, organizations did not see how it would benefit them. Over the past few years, organizations have been playing catch up because there competition took action first. I believe most organizations are not willing to be the first to jump off the mobile marketing bridge. They are waiting for someone else to go first to see how deep the results go. The major problem: if their competition leaps first they will always be behind.
The bottom line is there was a massive opportunity and all the organizations hesitated. In business there is no such thing as better late then never. If you’re late, then you’re never going to be number one.
