The platform has a unique “call-to-action” feature that allows users to respond to the advertisement instantly by pressing one key, says mobile marketing head Debraj Tripathy.
Why it chose to operate in this segment: The mobile phone allows one-to-one, direct-to-consumer, personal contact with customers. Tripathy says the customer base available for mobile marketing makes it a viable business idea for them and is also a natural extension for OnMobile, a value-added services provider.
Clients:ITC Ltd,Cadbury India Ltd.
Growth strategy:OnMobile has completed the deployment of RBT on Airtel — covering five states, 20 million subscribers and three million active users—and will now look at acquiring more customers.
“It is difficult to gauge which mode of mobile advertising will take up in the country. For the time being, it will be more of a hit and trial for companies,” says CEO Arvind Rao. “It will take 18 to 24 months for mobile advertisements to really take off in India. It needs support from both advertisers and brands.”
OnMobile plans to target local advertisers such as shopkeepers and restaurants across the country. It estimates that the Ad RBT market could be as much as 20-25% of the advertising market. In the next few months, OnMobile will roll out the platform across Asia and the Asia-Pacific. It is in an advanced stage of discussions with two large operators in Africa.
deepti.c@livemint.com