In January 2011 industry experts predicted that mobile would have a seat at the table during Super Bowl XLV and they were wrong. Will history repeat itself?

Super Bowl XLVI is projected to rake in 100 million viewers. It is very likely that the vast majority will be armed with a mobile phone during the big game. 

?Will users who have access to a television tune into the Super Bowl with a mobile device? Probably not. However, anyone traveling by train, bus or car, who does not have access to a TV during the game may tune in,? said Martin Hayward, director of marketing, Mirror Image Internet, Boston. 

?Something we may be more likely to see is advertisers leveraging traditional television advertising during the Super Bowl to drive users to their mobile apps and Web sites,? he said. ?We?ve seen success with this tactic in the past with GoDaddy.com asking users to visit their Web site.?

Super Bowl XLVI will be the 46th annual edition of the Super Bowl in American football. It will be Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN. This will be the first Super Bowl to be played in Indianapolis.

?Super Bowl will be a test not only for the NFL and NBC, but also for mobile marketers to deliver appealing and relevant advertisements to possibly hundreds of thousands of mobile users,? Mr. Hayward said.  

?This year more than ever, audiences will be driven to mobile Web sites,? he said. ?That?s why advertisers need to produce and deliver targeted ads, based on device type and geo location to keep the mobile user engaged and get them to respond.? 

SMS calls to action and on-screen QR codes may also be an option for brands during their Super Bowl ads. But there is no way of telling whether or not marketers will use these mobile channels to build relationships with viewers. 

Another good idea for brands with Super Bowl advertisements is to have complementary mobile versions of the ads running on relevant mobile sites. For example, Yahoo Sports and other similar destinations.

Many companies will be launching specific apps to complement their Super Bowl marketing strategies. 

The bottom-line is mobile must be incorporated into the marketing mix, whether during the Super Bowl or any other event. 

?The Super Bowl has always been the ultimate platform for Brands to engage with consumers, but the rapid adoption of mobile devices has empowered advertisers to deliver personalized, impactful experiences in a whole new way,? said Jessica Legg, product marketing manager at Digimarc Corp., Beaverton, OR.

?Digimarc is seeing more and more brands building out second screen experiences that interact directly with TV advertisements to provide a deeper level of brand engagement,? she said. ?This year consumers will be using their mobile devices to check-in to earn points, enter to win, and share their favorite ads?using screen-to-screen technologies.?

Last year was the first time that NBC streamed the Super Bowl live on mobile devices. The same will happen this year. 

This makes the need for mobile calls to action even more important. 

"Because of mobile, media consumption is now happening around the clock,? said Lisa Abramson, director of marketing at Rhythm NewMedia, Mountain View, CA. ?What this means for big events like the Super Bowl is that brands can now reach consumers beyond the traditional commercial breaks. 

?We anticipate seeing a spike in traffic on many of our premier publishing partners before, during and after the game again this year as we did last year," she said. 

Super Bowl is an excellent conduit for brands as marketers ask users to text to enter, call or visit, according to Viki Zabala, director of marketing at Fiksu, San Francisco. 

?Game time will bring on a seasonal peak for mobile app downloads like Thanksgiving and Christmas, with app marketers vying for rank during game time in order to capture organic downloads from visibility,? Ms. Zabala said. 

?However, perhaps we'll also see a Super Bowl TV ad featuring tie-in with a mobile app like ?Download our app & get $10 off your first purchase,?? she said. ?Wouldn't that be a clever way to track ongoing engagement from your big ticket TV ad placement??