Mobile advertising revenue in Japan will more than triple by 2011, according to the 2006 Advertising Expenditures in Japan report by leading advertiser Dentsu. Mobile ad spending grew by more than a third in 2006 alone. Although Dentsu has an interest in promoting a robust ad market, the country’s thriving keitai (multifunction phone) culture makes it worthwhile to examine what drives mobile marketing in Japan.

According to eMarketer, product research accounts for much of the industry’s activity. A Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications report titled Information and Communications in Japan 2006 found Japanese consumers check an average of four retailers each time they research a product.

That focus on product research has led to new forms of cooperation between traditional and mobile media. Japan has become a leader in developing quick response (QR) code technology for inputting product or service information into the phone. In short, there are barcodes nearly everywhere.

eMarketer senior analyst and Japanese mobile market veteran John Gauntt says the codes are part of the country’s mobile culture. “Visitors to Tokyo are often puzzled by the bizarre ink splotches that appear on the corners of posters, product packages or business cards,” says Mr. Gauntt. “These QR codes allow the user to swipe their phones or take pictures with the camera to capture embedded information.”

Barcode readers in mobile phones are becoming one of the most prevalent new applications embraced by consumers. An NPD Group report titled Japan Consumer Wireless Study found that that barcode readers had eclipsed location-based services and radio applications as the mobile features most commonly used by consumers in Japan.

The widely-used barcodes form the basis of some new businesses. Keitai Ad, a startup marketing firm, will build and operate a mobile Internet site on behalf of a print publisher at no charge. The publisher prints a QR code on the inside of a physical publication for the consumer to capture with a phone. Keitai Ad then captures text files and pictures to populate the new mobile site. Keitai Ad serves 280 print publications covering all sorts of consumer tastes, and is on track for some one million registered users by the summer of 2007.

Rapid revenue growth is sure to spur similar efforts as Japan’s mobile market continues to pave the way for the rest of the world. For more information on the most advanced mobile market in the world, check eMarketer’s Japan: Marketing to a Mobile Society report.

Source: “Shoppers Fuel Japanese Mobile Ads,”eMarketer 04/23/07.

Related Post: “Billion Asia-Pacific Mobiles,” EBT Blog 04/05/07.

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