Sharvanboskirk [Posted by Shar VanBoskirk]

I’m at an event in Europe.

Sponsored by Nokia.

And still only talk about the "eventual opportunity" of mobile marketing. 

A panel moderated by Tom Henriksson, Head of Nokia Interactive, starring Ethan Stock, CEO of Zvents — a local online promotions enabler, Mark Reed, Director of Strategy at WPP, and Prinz Pinkatt, Manager of interactive marketing at Coca Cola EU was happy to discuss the existing challenges with mobile marketing:

Handsets —  Their size, ability to facilitate interactivity limit marketer applications
Data — Ownership and structure of consumer data is still in flux
Operators — Operator cooperation with manufacturers, media firms and advertisers is still inconsistent
Standards — Definitions of ad formats, impressions, metrics, costs are all still under development

We’ve heard these challenges before.  (See also this post from my colleague Nate Elliott ).  But I’m still waiting for some real grit around progress made toward knocking off some of these issues.  The panel sentiment was that it would just "take time" to overcome these hurdles.  And that starting small with SMS or MMS based messaging programs can be a great place to start with mobile.  (Prinz said Coke EU has seen a strong 4% opt in to My Coke Rewards via text response to invites on product packaging).

I believe in the promise of mobile marketing.  In fact, some one on one conversations at this event have quickened my pulse around mobile applications that I think will transform consumer relationships with marketers and financial institutions (see upcoming blog post on NFC).  But I’m still waiting for mobile to become a primetime marketing tool.  Thirteen months after my 2009 IM Forecast, it feels like mobile marketing adoption is still two years out.

Prove me wrong!  What progress do you see toward tackling present challenges to mobile marketing adoption?  What mobile campaigns have you tried that have worked well for you?  What did you do that made mobile work?  When do you think mobile will matter as a mainstream marketing tool?