U.S. mobile advertising spending is projected to increase 406% from $790 million in 2010 to $4 billion in 2015 according to a forecast released on June 23rd from BIA/Kelsey. The vast majority of that increase will be in local mobile advertising spending, which was predicted to increase 600% from $404 million in 2010 to $2.8 billion in 2015. This represents 75% of the projected total mobile media growth.

The explosion of mobile ad spending will represent a significant change on the part of marketers. Today, most mobile ad spending is brand promotion by agencies driving large format media down to smaller screens. In the future, marketers will use mobile media more for local market and even location-specific marketing. Think Groupon on steroids.

Much of the anticipated growth in mobile media will be driven by local merchants trying to reach customers in the neighborhood with relevant offers. Consumer product companies will also use mobile media to reach buyers while they are in a particular aisle of a specific store. While new and exciting, these channels have limited application for most medical marketers.

For medical marketers, the changing dynamics of mobile media cause us to ask some key questions:

• Do I really need my message to go mobile?
• What is the purpose of my mobile message?
• Can I connect customers quickly to a local opportunity (think conventions)?
• Can I reach consumers in an area where I have providers who use my technology (DTC media efficiency, clinical trial recruitment, or rep lead generation)?
• Do I have a need to engage the customer in a continuing relationship that is enabled by mobile media?

Even at a $4-billion-dollar level, the mobile media advertising market will be a relatively modest media channel when compared to television, at $69 billion today. And by comparison, the entire mobile media market in 2015 will then be about equal to pharmaceutical DTC spending ($4.5 B) today.

Mobile media has a place in the medical marketer’s mix. However, it will be very important to understand the metrics behind the medium and not to fall in love with the “cool factor” of mobile media.

Clay Wilemon is the CEO and Chief Strategy Officer at DevicePharm, a marketing strategy and integrated marketing communications firm based in Irvine, CA. You can email Clay at clayw@DevicePharm.com.