Many brands may well be asking themselves this very question following the recent report by YouGov.  Mobile has been widely spoken of as the next big area to crack for advertisers, with over 75% of social media users doing so via a smartphone, it offers the chance to to reach out to hundreds of millions of prospective customers.

The new research uncovered a few unwanted truths, namely that over 4 in 5 people find adverts during the mobile browsing experience annoying.  All is however not lost, it was also found that many of those questioned would prefer a more interactive/rewarding experience in order to encourage interaction with advertisers – so here lies the challenge.

The most important thing when “invading” a consumers browsing time is engagement.  You want the customer to buy something from you, but going for the jugular just won’t cut it.  Many have tried games and activities, but how do you then convert what is a time filler into a paying customer? There is more cost associated with development when it comes to mobile games/apps, this must be taken into consideration too – increase the cost per acquisition too much and the sale loses a lot of the perceived value.  Incentives to interact have be used; whether it is discount or exclusive offering, people love a discount.  The risk you run is that those being targeted will then only purchase from the brand when a discount is offered, thus devaluing the brand.

Quite how to combine the need for custom and the need of a customer on an equal level is the eternal question, the conundrum will continue long into 2012!