In looking back at some of the most inspired mobile campaigns of 2007, one naturally wonders where the industry is going in 2008 and beyond. The analysts are certainly calling for another exciting year, and industry predictions are still on the rise. The Kelsey Group predicts a 112 percent annual growth rate for wireless advertising in the U.S. market, from $33.2 million in 2007 to $1.4 billion by 2012. Likewise, ABI Research recently issued its own predictions -- expecting worldwide mobile marketing revenue to grow from $1.8 billion in 2007 to more than $24 billion in 2013.

Although the road is long to reach the post-2010 multibillion-dollar predictions, are we heading in the right direction? Can the industry live up to the hype? Ad Infuse says absolutely and here's how:

Small screen, big media
In 2008, with bigger brands entering the market, richer mobile media experiences will become increasingly important. Much of the market development to date has consisted of long-tail content publishers and advertisers running campaigns via SMS, text or WAP. These simply won't meet the needs of premium brands that want to establish visually engaging, innovative and overall great consumer experiences consistent with their brand image. While dipping a toe in safe waters is a standard entry strategy, the industry is consistently seeing advertisers return after "testing" with requests for much larger and more diverse mobile media campaigns. According to the Wave Eight Advertiser Perceptions Survey, which polled more than 2,000 advertisers on where their ad dollars would be focused, the area of highest-forecasted growth for mobile is video, whereas text and SMS show a declining growth rate.

A market in transition
Ad Infuse also predicts a significant shift in 2008 from the experimentation phase of mobile to higher spending levels, richer executions and dedicated lines of business. With the big brands going mobile and deploying larger and more integrated marketing campaigns both on- and off-deck, the operators too are rapidly moving beyond the tentative testing phase. Operators in several markets have been conducting trials for some time, and we are now seeing a growing interest in formal installation of ad delivery platforms and ad sales strategies. While the precise formula for paid, subscription and ad-supported models will continue to evolve, operators are developing, for the first time, internal revenue targets for mobile advertising, thus indicating the opportunity for on-deck inventory to really open up in 2008.