June 2006 • VOL. 1 NO.

A REVIEW OF MOBILE MARKETING RESEARCH

Matti Leppäniemi, Jaakko Sinisalo and Heikki Karjaluoto

Leppaniemi, Sinisalo, and Karjaluoto in their paper identify

and evaluate research conducted in the field of mobile
marketing between January 2000 and February 2006.
They investigated academic as well as industry sources,
uncovering many sources, they decided to evaluate
only those studies that focus on mobile (or wireless)
applications aimed at marketing and those that fall within
the marketing, business and management or information
systems domains. Fifty publications were selected from
conference paper and journal article sources for detailed
analysis and were categorized as conceptual or empirical
(quantitative or qualitative). They found that a substantial
number of studies have focused on user behavior and
attitudes towards mobile marketing and that mobile
marketing effectiveness is gaining more research interest.
They found fewer studies focusing on the role of mobile
marketing in branding, the mobile marketing value chain,
and mobile marketing business models. Their study
also evaluated various definitions of “mobile marketing”
presented through research with a common theme being
that the definition itself is often embedded in technology.
They recommend a more technology agnostic definition:
“Mobile marketing is the use of the mobile medium as
a means of marketing communication. Their study in
the area of mobile marketing research is important as
both a reference guide as well as an assessment of areas
meriting further study as discussed in their conclusions and
recommendations. Their study is also very important as

1 INTRODUCTION

The last three years have witnessed a steady increase in the number
of publications in the area of mobile marketing in existing journals and
conferences. Although no special issues of journals focusing on mobile
marketing have appeared, many of these articles have been published in
high quality journals (Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Advertising,
International Journal of Advertising, Operations Research, and MIT Sloan
Management Review). However, despite the increasing number of
publications, the growing body of literature on mobile marketing is somewhat
inconsistent and highly fragmented. This is due, in large part, to the fact that
a common conceptualization of the phenomenon is still lacking.

 International Journal of Mobile Marketing

A
gainst this backdrop, it is of decisive importance
to develop a conceptualization and description
of mobile marketing that adequately captures the
true nature of the phenomenon. Thus, the purpose
of this study is to propose a conceptualization of mobile
marketing outlining the key characteristics of this nascent
phenomenon. To accomplish the purpose, a comprehensive
review of mobile marketing research published in academic
publications is made to assess the state of mobile marketing
research. The following research questions were posed in
order to do this:
• What is the main focus of research on mobile marketing?
• What were the key contributions of the studies?
• What is the methodology of the studies?
Built on the review and analysis of extant publications of
mobile marketing; this paper proposes the most appropriate
way to conceptualize marketing through the mobile
channel.
The remainder of the article is organized as follows. We
first describe the research methodology used in the study.
Then, as a first step towards delineating the mobile marketing
domain, this paper begins with a comprehensive review and
TABLE 1 - Part 1
Studies on mobile marketing 2000-2006
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Authors Research Focus
Gopal and Tripathi 2006 Advertising via wireless networks
analysis of mobile marketing literature. Consequently, the
mobile marketing studies are classified into three categories
and assessed in more detail. After discussing the numerous
definitions that characterize popular and academic mobile
marketing literature, we develop a conceptualization and
description of mobile marketing. Finally, on the basis of
analyses and discussions, we present an agenda for future
research into mobile marketing.
2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
There is a strong tradition in marketing research of
reviewing existing research literature in order to better
understand the state of the research in the field, and to
discern patterns in the development of the field itself (see
e.g. Leonard 2000, 2003; Ngai 2003, 2005). Since research
in this area is relatively recent in nature, the scope of this
examination was limited to the time frame January 2000 to
February 2006.
As the nature of research on mobile marketing is difficult
to confine to specific disciplines, the relevant materials are
scattered across various journals. Marketing, Business and
Management and Information systems are some common
academic disciplines for mobile marketing research.
Consequently, the following
online journal databases were
keyword searched to provide
a comprehensive bibliography
of the academic literature on
Methodology
mobile marketing:
Quantitative

Merisavo et al 2006 The effectiveness of mobile advertising Quantitative • ABI/INFORM database

Bauer et. al 2005
Facchetti et al. 2005
Komulainen et al. 2005
Leppäniemi and Karjaluoto 2005
Nysveen et al. 2005
Consumer acceptance of mobile marketing Quantitative • EBSCOhost Academic Search
Key success factors and the value chain of mobile marketing Qualitative Premier
Business models of mobile advertising Qualitative • Elsevier Science Direct
Willingness to accept mobile advertising Conceptual
• Emerald Library
The effects of mobile services on brand relationships Quantitative

Okazaki 2005 Mobile advertising adoption by multinationals Quantitative • IEEE Xplore

Rettie et al. 2005 Response rates and branding effects Quantitative
• Wiley InterScience
Scharl et al. 2005 Diffusion and success factors of mobile marketing Quantitative / Qualitative

Sultan and Rohm 2005
Trappey III and Woodside 2005
Barnes and Scornavacca 2004
Leppäniemi et al. 2004
Okazaki 2004
Petty 2003
Tsang et al. 2004
De Reyck and Degraeve 2003
Kavassalis et al. 2003
Yunos et. al 2003
Barnes 2002
Barwise and Strong 2002
Sullivan Mort and Brennan 2002
The role of mobile marketing in branding Qualitative Given the dynamic nature
Consumer responses to interactive advertising Quantitative of the topic, we also wanted to
The role of permission and acceptance Conceptual
include key articles published
in other available sources. To
Success factors in the mobile advertising value chain Conceptual
this end, a keyword search was
Consumer perceptions of wireless ads Quantitative
executed on Google Scholar
Legal and policy issues raised by mobile advertising Conceptual
(http://scholar.google.com) and
Attitudes toward mobile advertising Quantitative on M-lit – the mobile business
Broadcast scheduling for mobile advertising Quantitative literature website (http://www.
Market inquiry on the perspectives of the mobile marketing Conceptual m-lit.org). The keywords used
Wireless advertising’s challenges and opportunities Conceptual
were ‘mobile marketing’, ‘mobile
advertising’, ‘wireless marketing’,
The nature and implications of wireless digital advertising Conceptual
‘wireless advertising’, ‘text
Effectiveness of SMS text messaging Quantitative
message marketing’, and ‘SMS
Emerging issues for marketing in mobile digital technology Conceptual marketing’.

A Review of Mobile Marketing Research 

June 2006 • VOL. 1 NO. 1
I
n total, 109 publications were selected for further
analysis. The full text of every publication was reviewed
to eliminate those articles that were not actually related
to mobile marketing. Papers with a primarily technical
focus were not considered relevant to this study and were
therefore excluded. The general guideline for selection was
as follows:
• The central focus of the publication should be on mobile
(or wireless) applications aimed at marketing, and
CONFERENCE PAPERS
Authors
Bragge et al. 2005
Carroll et al. 2005
Haghirian and Madlberger 2005
Haghirian et al. 2005
Han et al. 2005
Leppäniemi et al. 2005
Mcmanus and Scornavacca 2005
Nikos and Iosif 2005
Schierholtz et al. 2005
Tähtinen 2005
Wehmeyer and Muller-Lankenau 2005
Virtanen et al. 2005
Camponovo and Cerrutti 2004
Dickinger et al 2004
Drossos and Giaglis 2004
Heitmann et al 2004
Jelassi and Enders 2004
Karjaluoto et al. 2004
Komulainen et al. 2004
Leung and Cheung 2004
Tähtinen and Salo 2004
Heinonen and Strandvik 2003
Kölmel and Alexakis 2002
Kavassalis et al. 2002
Kannan et al. 2001
Sullivan Mort and Brennan 2001
Rettie and Brum 2001
 International Journal of Mobile Marketing
• Publications should be in a marketing, business and
management or information systems domain.
After precise reviewing, 50 publications were selected
for detailed analysis: 23 (46%) from journals and 27 (53%)
from conferences. These articles were read in their entirely,
categorized and subsequently analyzed. Table 1 provides
detailed information about the selected journal publications.
The table provides the author names, scope of the content,
and the methodology used.
TABLE 1 - Part 2
Studies on mobile marketing 2000-2006
Research Focus Methodology
Developing a road map for mobile marketing Qualitative / Quantitative
Perceptions and attitudes towards SMS Mobile
Qualitative / Quantitative
marketing
Attitude toward advertising via mobile devices Quantitative
Perceived advertising value of mobile marketing Quantitative
A framework for interactive marketing in location-based
Conceptual
gaming environment
Willingness to receive mobile marketing Quantitative / Qualitative
Potential and effectiveness of mobile marketing Qualitative
Perspectives on mobile advertising Quantitative
Performance measurement of mobile marketing in
Qualitative
multichannel environments
Conceptual analysis mobile advertising and mobile
Qualitative
marketing
Measuring consumers acceptance and preferences of
Quantitative
mobile couponing
Barriers for mobile marketing and how to overcome
Qualitative
them
A comparative regulatory overview on spam issue in
Conceptual
mobile business
An investigation and conceptual model of SMS
Qualitative
marketing
Factors influencing mobile messaging advertising
Conceptual
effectiveness
Mobile brand communities Conceptual
Leveraging wireless technology for mobile advertising Qualitative
The role of mobile marketing in companies’ promotion
Qualitative / Quantitative
mix
Business models of mobile advertising Qualitative
Attitude toward mobile advertising Conceptual
Special features of mobile advertising Quantitative
Consumer responsiveness to mobile marketing Quantitative
Location-based advertising Conceptual
Market inquiry on the perspectives of the mobile
Conceptual
marketing
Marketing issues and possibilities in wireless commerce Conceptual
New directions in B2C e-business Conceptual
Attitudes to SMS marketing Quantitative
3 MOBILE MARKETING RESEARCH (2000-2006) 3.1 Consumer

Mobile marketing research is relatively recent in nature.
The first published academic paper can be traced to the year
2001. However, as illustrated in Figure 1, the research on
mobile marketing is gradually evolving. Thus, it is valuable
to describe the current situation and outline the research
agenda for future research.
25
20
15
10
5 literature.
A substantial number of the publications that have
appeared on mobile marketing have dealt with different
facets of consumer behavior. Several studies have examined
consumers’ attitudes toward mobile marketing (Haghirian and
Madlberger 2004, Rettie and Brum 2001, Leung and Cheung
2004, Tsang et al. 2004), acceptance of mobile marketing
(Bauer et al. 2005, Leppäniemi and
Karjaluoto 2005, Barnes and Scornavacca
2004, Leppäniemi et al. 2005), and how
consumers perceive mobile advertising
(Okazaki 2004, Haghirian et al. 2005).
Emerging areas such as the effectiveness
of mobile advertising and/or marketing
(Barwise and Strong 2002, Rettie et al.
2005, McManus and Scornavacca 2005,
Empirical
Drossos and Giaglis 2004) and consumers’
Conceptual responsiveness to mobile marketing
(Heinonen and Strandvik 2003) are
receiving more and more attention in the

In general, consumers have a negative

0 attitude towards advertising (see e.g. Zanot
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Figure 1 The number of mobile marketing publications per year.
There is no commonly accepted classification for mobile
marketing studies. However, in order to identify the research
focus of studies, each publication was carefully reviewed
and classified into one of the following three categories:
consumer, business and management, and general. Table
2 provides a characterization of each category and the
distribution of articles across the three categories. The
remainder of this section will be devoted to discussing
mobile marketing research in more detail.
TABLE 2
Focus of mobile marketing research
Category Characterization
Consumer Acceptance, perception, attitude, responsiveness, and
effectiveness of mobile marketing
Business and Value chain, performance measurement, business
Management models, branding and operations
General Antecedents and consequences, legal and political
issues, adoption and diffusion of mobile marketing
Total
1984, Beale 1997). Tsang et al. (2004)
explored consumer attitudes toward
mobile advertising and the relationship
between attitude and behavior. The
results of the study indicated that consumers generally have
negative attitudes toward mobile advertising unless they
specifically consent to it. Furthermore, they found that there
is a direct relationship between consumer attitudes and
consumer behavior. Rettie and Brum (2001) also found that
initial attitudes toward mobile advertising were negative, but
many were prepared to accept advertising in exchange for
discounts or promotional offers. Haghirian and Madlberger
(2005) reported that advertising value and advertising
message content have the largest impact on attitude toward
advertising via mobile devices. Exploring
the formation of Japanese mobile users’
attitudes to pull-type wireless advertising
N Percentage and their willingness to ‘click’ such ads,
19 38%
Okazaki (2004) suggests that external
search, content credibility and attitude
12 24%
towards ads are considered as antecedents
of willingness to access. Further, he argued
that attitude towards ads is conceptualized
19 38%
as a consequence of two psychological
motives in wireless internet adoption:
50 100%
perceived infotainment and perceived
irritation.

Since the mid 1990s, acceptance has gained considerable

importance as a field of research (Bauer et al. 2005). Consumer
acceptance is one the core issues in mobile marketing.
According to Bauer et al. (2005), entertainment value and

A Review of Mobile Marketing Research 

June 2006 • VOL. 1 NO. 1

information value are the strongest drivers of the acceptance
of the mobile phone as an innovative medium for advertising
content communication. Leppäniemi and Karjaluoto (2005)
also discussed the important drivers of mobile advertising
and provided a framework within which the critical elements
affecting consumers’ willingness to accept mobile advertising
can be assessed. Barnes and Scornavacca (2004) examined
the variables that influence customer acceptance of mobile
marketing. They explored several studies conducted on
mobile marketing acceptance and identified three main
factors that influence a consumer’s acceptance of mobile
marketing: user’s permission, wireless service provider
control and brand trust. Building on this research, Carroll et
al. (2005) developed a revised and empirically tested model
of mobile marketing consumer acceptance. They concluded
that four factors have a significant impact on mobile marketing
acceptance: permission, content, wireless service provider
control and the delivery of the messages. Furthermore, they
argued that marketers should be optimistic about choosing
to deploy mobile marketing, but exercise caution around the
factors that will determine consumer acceptance.
issues related to mobile marketing. They concluded that the
factors contributing to mobile marketing effectiveness can
be consolidated in four main dimensions: permission, reach,
richness and customization. These elements constitute
a simple framework for understanding the potential and
effectiveness of the usage of mobile phones as a promotional
media.
3.2 Business and Management
Some researchers have examined the role of mobile
marketing in branding. Nysveen et al. (2005) suggested that
mobile channel addition (SMS/MMS) usage has positive
effects on brand satisfaction, direct relationship investments,
and main channel usage. In addition, based on surveys of
three different brands they suggested that a promising strategy
for increasing consumption of the brand’s main channel is
facilitation of the consumers’ direct relationship investment
in the mobile services. Furthermore, according to Sultan and
Rohm (2005), mobile marketing creates new opportunities
for companies to form or shift consumer attitudes toward a
brand through the use of value added content that can be

E
ffectiveness of and responsiveness to mobile personalized through context and location specificity. They
marketing is also gaining more and more interest suggest that, like Web communications, mobile marketing
in literature. Early empirical evidence on mobile can be interactive, but offers the possibility of a closer brand
marketing effectiveness is provided by Barwise connection because of the personal nature of hand-held
and Strong (2002), who reported the results of a study of electronic devices. However, research on mobile brand
permission-based advertising via mobile phones. The results communities, like much mobile-related research, is still
suggested that, with the right execution, the mobile channel somewhat atheoretical. Heitmann et al. (2004) employed
has the potential to benefit both advertisers and consumers. community research to identify four constitutional elements
Rettie et al. (2005) found that SMS advertising is effective of a community and developed a structured and theoretically
both as a branding vehicle and in stimulating response. This founded method to analyze the potential of mobile services
was demonstrated by significant improvements in brand for specific community building purposes.
attitude and purchase intentions. In line with
this conclusion, Trappey III and Woodside
(2005) examined the use of SMS advertising
in conjunction with television commercials.
They found that the overall response to the mobile marketing creates new opportunities
SMS campaign, specifically “actions taken”
by respondents upon receipt of the SMS for companies to form or shift consumer
message, is quite high – nearly 9 percent.
Their conclusions are supported by Merisavo
attitudes toward a brand
et al. (2006), who found that permission-
based mobile advertising increases sales
of mobile services. This paper presented
evidence that there a significant difference in average daily
The mobile marketing value chain has also gained some
expenditure among customers who were not exposed to
attention among researchers. Facchetti et al. (2005) and
mobile advertising versus those non-exposed. Heinonen
Leppäniemi et al. (2004) have analyzed the landscape of
and Strandvik (2003) explored consumers’ responsiveness
mobile marketing activities, identifying the extended structure
to mobile marketing communications. They conducted an
of the value chain, and defining critical success factors in
empirical study, where responsiveness to mobile marketing
order to lead the value chain. Bragge et al. examined the
was benchmarked against e-mail communication. Findings
mobile marketing value system. They outlined an extensive
from this study indicated that compared to traditional
road map including action proposals for various stakeholders
direct mail and commercial email communication, the
in mobile marketing value system and research that should
responsiveness to mobile marketing was considerably lower.
be carried out.
McManus and Scornavacca (2005) discussed the emerging

 International Journal of Mobile Marketing

B
usiness models in the emerging context of mobile
advertising are studied in some detail. By using
scenario planning method Komulainen et al.
(2004, 2005) suggests different business models
for mobile advertising. Furthermore, Gopal and Tripathi
(2006) showed key issues pertaining to mobile advertising
and analyzed a business model for an advertising firm that
delivers ads using a carrier’s wireless infrastructure. However,
further research focusing on issues relating to the functions
and roles of different stakeholders in mobile marketing is
undeniably needed in order to overcome the barriers to
mobile marketing.
Operations research is close to absent in mobile marketing.
De Reyck and Degraeve (2003) provided useful insights into
broadcast scheduling for mobile advertising. They described
a broadcast scheduling system developed for a precision
marketing firm specialized in location-sensitive permission
based mobile advertising using SMS text messaging. In
addition, less research has been conducted on performance
management in mobile marketing. Schierholz et al. (2005)
provides a model for performance measurement in multi-
channel environments, particularly taking into account the
mobile channel. The model was evaluated in a real-world
case study.
3.3 General
Academic efforts initially focused on identifying the
antecedents and consequences of mobile marketing. The
early studies provided by Barnes (2002), Kannan (2001),
Yunos et al. (2003), Sullivan Mort and Drennan (2001,
2002), and Kavassalis et al. (2002, 2003) were among the
pioneering efforts in mobile marketing research in general.
While those works were conceptual by nature, they
provided conceptualizations that laid a useful foundation
for researchers who subsequently undertook empirical
explorations. Following these studies, many authors have
consolidated this conceptual foundation by investigating the
nature of mobile marketing (Dickinger et al. 2004, Tähtinen
and Salo 2004, Tähtinen 2005) and the role of mobile
marketing in companies’ promotion mix (Karjaluoto et al.
2004).
Mobile marketing has recently gained widespread
popularity in many disciplines and industries. There
is, however, little empirical evidence of diffusion and
adoption of mobile marketing among large multinational
organizations. Okazaki (2005) gave his contributions to fill
this research gap by conducting an empirical survey of the
perceptions of multinational corporations (MNC) operating
in Europe regarding mobile advertising adoption. The study
revealed that branding strategy, facilitating conditions, and
security and costs are the strongest determinants of MNCs’
mobile advertising adoption. Furthermore, he suggested that
Japanese firms are the least willing to use mobile advertising,
while their American counterparts are the most motivated
in this regard. Scharl et al (2005) suggested that diffusion of
mobile marketing has geographic and industry differences.
They presented a perceptual map based on correspondence
analysis that visualized the importance of mobile technologies
by industry, identifying a strong presence not only among
technology providers such as telecommunications and
electronics companies, but also a strong interest in applying
mobile services within the automotive and financial services.
Virtanen et al. (2005) also shed light on mobile marketing
adoption by examining the perceived barriers to growth in
mobile marketing, as well as identifying ways to overcome
those barriers. They suggested that the main barriers for the
growth of mobile marketing as a marketing medium are: 1)
lack of research, 2) resistance to change among marketing
service providers and marketers, 3) lack of co-operation and
knowledge sharing, 4) fear of technology, 5) complexity of
implementation and 6) fear of spam stigma. They concluded
with a list of proposals for actions to overcome the barriers.
S
ending messages to a consumer’s phone needs
careful advance planning due to the intimate
nature of the mobile phone. Besides worries about
intrusion into one’s private space, mobile spam
raises privacy concerns related to the utilization of personal
and location data used to personalize mobile marketing
messages. Well aware of the significance of solving these
issues, regulatory bodies throughout the world have issued
laws to protect user privacy. Camponovo and Cerruti (2004)
provide valuable insights into regulatory issues concerning
mobile marketing. Their paper illustrates and compares the
regulatory frameworks of Switzerland, the European Union
and the United States, and analyzes the likely implications
for the mobile business industry in general. Petty (2003)
examined the legal and policy issues raised by mobile
marketing in the United States. He suggested that the right
to privacy should be balanced with the right to market by
establishing mechanisms of consumer choice.
In addition to the above mentioned publication there
have been some papers about different mobile marketing
applications. In a recent article about mobile couponing,
Wehmeyer and Muller-Lankenau (2005) provided the first
evidence regarding consumer acceptance and preferences
for mobile couponing service attributes. Of the four
service attributes included in the conjoint experiment,
the configuration channel was found to have the greatest
relative importance, followed by the type of coupons, the
possibility of personalizing the offered coupons, and the
location-awareness of the couponing service. Among the
first mobile advertising studies, Kölmel and Alexakis (2002)
provided an overview of location based advertising. Han et
al. (2004) proposed, in a conceptual paper, a framework
which addressed many of the issues that are characteristic
of mobile gaming and advertising. The proposed framework
facilitates time and location-sensitive interactive marketing
by enabling users with the location-aware technology
capability to collect nearby items such as m-coupons and
A Review of Mobile Marketing Research 
June 2006 • VOL. 1 NO. 1
redeem those items in nearby participating stores. These
applications are just the tip of the iceberg, and the number
of practical implications and academic publications is likely
to mushroom in the near future.
In summary, mobile marketing and advertising is still an
emerging area within marketing communications, despite
the justifiable reaction against earlier overoptimistic
expectations. Marketers are still learning how to use it in
terms of brand strategy, creative execution and evaluation.
3.4 Methodology of publications
There is a general perception that due to the embryonic
stage of mobile marketing, most of the literature is qualitative
in nature (see e.g. Becker 2005). In order to examine whether
the mobile marketing literature is dominated by conceptual
analysis rather than empirical studies, a categorization was
needed to classify the selected articles. Publications based
on academic and public literature reviews were classified as
conceptual research. Empirical research was considered as all
research based on primary data collection. Empirical papers
were further classified into quantitative and qualitative
categories in order to identify the nature of applied research
methodology and research design. Following classification,
17 publications (34%) were found to be conceptual
papers and 33 (66%) empirical research (see figure 1). The
distribution of publications according to applied research
methodology is shown in figure 2. The majority of empirical
research was quantitative by nature (18 or 55% of the total),
while qualitative methodology was used in 10 papers (30%).
Of the 26 empirical publications, 5 papers (15%) applied
both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Overall,
empirical research in mobile marketing is growing very fast
and is dominating research efforts at present.
9
8 advertising (e.g. Leppäniemi et al. 2004,
7 Madlberger 2005, De Reyck and Degraeve
6
5 Qual i t at i ve or (4) wireless advertising (Petty 2003, Yunos
4 Concept ual
3
2
1 clarification because it seems that there has
0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Figure 2 The number of publications per year according to applied research
 International Journal of Mobile Marketing
4 DIVERGENT CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF MOBILE
MARKETING
A cursory review of the literature reveals that numerous
definitions on marketing through the mobile channel have
been proposed by marketing practitioners and scholars alike.
While some of these conceptualizations are similar, there is
evidently a deficiency of consensus as to the most appropriate
way in which this emerging phenomenon should be defined.
Conceptual agreement is necessary to promote a shared
understanding of mobile marketing, one that encourages
clarity of communication and convergence in thinking.
I
n an attempt to develop a conceptualization that
captures the true meaning of marketing through the
mobile channel, an extensive review of the literature
was conducted. Aside from published academic
papers, the review also included a vast amount of literature
from the popular domain. For example, articles provided by
Web portals (e.g. Mobile Marketing Association, Adverblog.
com, Marketingnewz.com and Clickz.com) and magazines
(e.g. New media age, Marketing week, Precision marketing,
Advertising age, and Adweek) were evaluated, as well as
conceptualizations provided by the top mobile marketing
companies and leading mobile technology solutions providers
(e.g. Enpocket, Flytext, Avantgo, 12Snap, Add2Phone, iLoop
Mobile). Overall, the literature review yielded 21 distinct
definitions or meanings of mobile marketing.
A detailed analysis of the identified conceptualizations
was conducted to identify common elements and repeating
themes among them. The analysis revealed that collectively,
the definitions represent four major approaches to marketing
through the mobile channel. More specifically, it was found
that marketing through the mobile channel has, implicitly
or explicitly, been conceptualized as a
(1) mobile marketing (e.g. Kalakota and
Robinson 2002, MMA 2005, Scharl et al.
2005, Facchetti et al. 2005, Dickinger et
al. 2004, Bauer et al. 2005); (2) mobile
Tähtinen and Salo 2004, Haghirian and
2003); (3) wireless marketing (e.g. Tsang et
Quant i t at i ve
al. 2004, Brassington and Pettitt 2003); and/
Quan/ Qual et al. 2003). Table 3 provides a description
and representative conceptualizations
of each of the four major viewpoints on
marketing through the mobile channel.
The aspect of ‘wireless vs. mobile’ needs
been some confusion around these concepts
recently. Wireless is not necessarily mobile
(see e.g. Balasubramanian et al. 2002;
Anckar and D’Incau 2002; Varshney and
 TABLE 3
Definitions of mobile marketing

Author(s) Concept Methodology

Kalakota and Robinson “The distribution of any kind of message or promotion that adds value to the customer while
Mobile marketing
(2002) enhancing revenue for the firm.”

Rettie et al. (2005) Mobile marketing “…marketing activities that deliver advertisements to mobile devices.”

MMA Code of Conduct “Mobile marketing is any form of marketing, advertising or sales promotion activity aimed at
Mobile marketing
(2005) consumers and conducted over a mobile channel.”

“Using a wireless medium to provide consumers with time- and location-sensitive,

Scharl et al. (2005) Mobile marketing personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas, thereby benefiting all
stakeholders”

Sullivan Mort and Brennan “The application of marketing to the mobile environment of smart phones, mobile phones,
Mobile marketing
(2002) personal digital assistants (PDA), and telematics.”

““any paid form of impersonal presentation and promotion of goods, services, ideas by well-
Facchetti et al. (2005) Mobile marketing
identified promoter” (Kotler et al. 2002) using ‘the wireless’ as delivery channel”

“Using interactive wireless media to provide customers with time and location sensitive,
Dickinger et al. (2004) Mobile marketing personalized information that promotes goods, services and ideas, thereby generating value
for all stakeholders.”

Heinonen and Strandvik

Mobile marketing “…use of SMS and MMS as marketing media in push campaigns.”
(2003)

“…something technologically simple that uses the mobile network as a complementary

Kavassalis et al. (2003) Mobile marketing distribution channel for delivering old-fashioned commercial information and interactive
promotional advertising.”

Bauer et al. (2005) Mobile marketing “…using the mobile phone as a means of conveying commercial content to customers.”

“Mobile marketing is the use of the mobile medium as a communications and entertainment
MMA UK (2005) Mobile marketing
channel between a brand and an end-user.”

“The use of wireless media as an integrated content delivery, marketing and communications
Glass (2005) Mobile marketing
channel.”

“Any paid message communicated by mobile media with the intent to influence the
Leppäniemi et al. (2004) Mobile advertising
attitudes, intentions and behavior of those addressed by the commercial messages.”

“…ads sent to and presented on mobile devices, i.e. cellular phones, PDA’s, and other
Tähtinen and Salo (2004) Mobile advertising
handheld devices.”

Komulainen et al. (2004) Mobile advertising “…advertising using mobile devices as a communication vehicle.”

“The usage of interactive wireless media (such as cellular phones and pagers, cordless
telephones, personal digital assistants, two-way radios, baby crib monitors, wireless
Haghirian and Madlberger
Mobile advertising networking systems, GPS-based locators and maps) to transmit advertising messages to
(2005)
consumers in form of time and location sensitive, personalized information with the overall
goal to promote goods and services.”

De Reyck and Degraeve

Mobile advertising “…advertising via mobile phones…”
(2003)

Wireless advertising “…form of advertising…that includes short text messages sent to telephones, personal digital
Petty (2003)
messaging assistants, and other wireless devices.”

“…advertising and marketing activities that deliver ads to mobile devices over a wireless
Yunos et al. (2003) Wireless advertising
network...”

“…sending advertising messages to mobile devices such as mobile phones or PDAs through
Tsang et al. (2004) Wireless marketing
the wireless network.”

Brassington and Pettitt “…the use of text messaging via a mobile telephone as a means of marketing
Wireless marketing
(2003) communication.”

A Review of Mobile Marketing Research 

June 2006 • VOL. 1 NO. 1

Vetter 2000; Kumar 2004). For instance, a consumer’s during a substantial physical movement from one location
communications with a Web site from a desktop computer at to another.
home, with signals carried over a wireless local area network
(WLAN) or over a satellite network, would qualify as wireless • At least one seeks to benefit economically from the
but not mobile communications. A wireless access itself communication, either in the short or the long run.
can allow only very limited mobility within the range of this
It is important to recognize that this conceptualization of
access point. True mobility can, however, only be achieved
mobile marketing originates from marketing communications
by an underlying mobile network, which implements the
and is independent of any underlying technological platform.
mobility across the whole area covered. This is important to
Thus, it emphasizes the critical role of communication in
keep in mind when defining marketing through the mobile
establishing and maintaining profitable customer relationships
channel. Based on this distinction, we suggest that the mobile
(see e.g. Duncan and Moriarty 1998). In addition, it
as a concept provides the best conceptual foundation for
purposefully encompasses the particular characteristics of
the phenomenon, particularly because of its inclusive nature
mobile marketing while allowing for future technologies that
and representation of the space in which the value of mobile
might engender the same characteristics.
marketing communications evolves.
Thus, the concept mobile marketing and
its subset mobile advertising are the most
appropriate definitions for this evolving
phenomenon. Mobile marketing is the use of the
In addition, an examination revealed
that definitions are mostly embedded
mobile medium as a means of marketing
in technology, and therefore there is a communications
tendency to mistake the technologies for the
concept itself. Although the development
of mobile marketing technology is what
conveyed mobile marketing activities to
marketing practice and academic research, any marketer
5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
would now argue that mobile marketing is simply a
FUTURE RESEARCH
technological tool that enables firms to communicate with
their customers. Mobile marketing is much more than a The discussion in this review has covered a wide range
technology and a lack of understanding about its true nature of topics, but several key areas calling for further research
is, in part, responsible for the failure of numerous mobile have emerged in marketing discipline. We list these under
marketing initiatives. The mobile is, primarily, a medium five headings: Integrated marketing communications, mobile
for marketing communications. Therefore, it is necessary specific metrics, mobile marketing value system, trust in
to separate the concept from its underlying technologies to mobile marketing, and issues related to mobile marketing
accomplish a stable conceptualization that is not subject to technology.
technological changes. Thus, building on these insights, the
following conceptualization is proposed: • Integrated marketing communications (IMC). – For many
marketers and their advertising agencies, mobile marketing
Mobile marketing is the use of the mobile medium as a still represents a mysterious and challenging new component
means of marketing communications. of a company’s communications mix. However, companies
should not treat the mobile channel as a stand-alone medium
This definition involves all of the following characteristics
but rather as one component in an overall marketing strategy
that are inherent in marketing communications (see e.g. Fill
that must be integrated with other channels. In other words,
2002) and mobile commerce (see Balasubramanian et al.
it is just a new, different means of communication which
2002):
should be integrated into the marketing communications
• It involves communication, either one-way or interactive. mix. Thus, we need more research on the role of each of the
main tools of the promotional mix when used in a mobile
• At least one of the parties engaged in the communication context.
must be mobile, in the sense that the ability to communicate
is not contingent on being at a fixed physical location at a • Mobile-specific metrics – There is a general consensus that
particular point in time. there are no well-accepted measures for the effectiveness of
mobile marketing, such as those used to measure the more
• The ability to communicate must contain the potential to traditional forms of marketing communications. Thus, in
be continuously maintained for at least one of the parties order to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of mobile

10 International Journal of Mobile Marketing

marketing practices and determine the most effective formats
of mobile marketing campaigns, more empirically oriented
research is needed. In fact, as reported by Virtanen (2005),
industry practitioners and participants of Nokia Mobile
Marketing Summit ’04 workshop ranked mobile marketing
effectiveness and ROI research as one of the top challenges
facing industry practitioners today.
• Mobile marketing value system – The emerging mobile
marketing value system has received less attention in current
literature. More insights into the roles and aspirations of
different players are needed in order to fully exploit the
potential of mobile marketing.
• Trust – Privacy issues are particularly sensitive with
respect to mobile marketing due to the intimate nature of
mobile devices. Besides worries about intrusion into one’s
private space, mobile spam raises privacy concerns related
to the utilization of the personal and location data used to
personalize mobile marketing messages. Thus, empirical
investigations into the factors that affect consumers’
willingness to provide personal information and grant
permission to use it in mobile marketing are invited.
• Mobile marketing technology - A literature shows a
variety of technological platforms such as SMS, MMS, WAP
and Java that are available to support mobile marketing.
However, studies have so far mainly focused on SMS-based
mobile marketing. Therefore, further studies should be
conducted in relation to mobile marketing technologies,
especially on how different technologies and applications
are implemented in different campaigns.
O
verall, theory development is needed. Mobile
marketing is unlikely to become fully recognized
as a research area its own right until it has a
solid theoretical foundation. The marketing and
advertising discipline has a number of key theories that have
become a cornerstone of mobile marketing research. While
other theories have been applied to mobile marketing, it
does not yet have any theory to call its own.
Acknowledgments: The authors gratefully acknowledge
the financial support of the National Technology Agency of
Finland.
Matti Leppäniemi*, Jaakko Sinisalo and Heikki Karjaluoto
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Oulu
P.O.Box 4600, FIN-90014 University of Oulu, Finland
Matti.leppaniemi@oulu.fi, jaakko.sinisalo@oulu.fi,
heikki.karjaluoto@oulu.fi
* Please address correspondence to first author
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