Dell turned to mobile to promote its Vostro models, targeting the entry-level laptop market in India to generate qualified sales leads.

Dell tapped BuzzCity for the campaign, using WAP as a channel to generate sales leads as a complement to print and outdoor media, which promoted brand awareness. The three-week WAP-interaction-based text banner campaign achieved daily exposure to an average of 71,308 consumers, while the average CTR was 0.55 percent, which prompted Dell to quadruple its initial mobile spend.

"Dell's print and outdoor campaign was running parallel to this WAP campaign throughout India," said KF Lai, CEO of BuzzCity, Singapore. "The print and outdoor was not restricted to the largest cities as such but was also taken to smaller cities -- a key target for the company in India.

"While the print and outdoor part of the campaign performed the branding and top-of-mind recall function with the ?Best Price Offer' for Dell, the WAP campaign supplemented it to capture leads," he said. "The WAP component supported the print and outdoor campaign by allowing them to close the campaign loop by converting the awareness generated into sales."

BuzzCity is a developer of global wireless communities and consumer services.

Established in 1999, BuzzCity operates the MyGamma.com wireless community for two distinct audiences: the newly connected emerging middle class in developing markets and the blue-collar sector in developed regions.

These "unwired" consumers are accessing the mobile Internet on their phones due to widespread and affordable wireless access.

For this campaign, Dell used text and banners promoting Dell business machines and laptops with the ?Best Price Offer.'

Consumers could click on the banner ad, which led to a landing page that contained a brief product description and price with a request to register the respondent's name, sex, city and contact number. The respondent was then contacted by the nearest Dell dealer.

Dell's target demographic for the campaign was SMEs, new and growing enterprises, especially in non-metro areas and smaller towns in India.

Mobile advertising figures defy economic slide
BuzzCity has announced the results of its quarterly Global Mobile Advertising Index, which shows the global recession is having little to no effect on mobile advertisers or consumer habits.

The index documents the growth of mobile Internet advertising and represents inventory sold across the BuzzCity Mobile Advertising Network on more than 2,000 publisher sites in more than 200 countries worldwide.

It indicates growth in the number of consumers accessing the mobile Internet, in spite of declining public confidence in the economy and security in the job market.

In the first three months of 2009, the BuzzCity Advertising Network delivered 8.5 billion paid advertising banners, an increase of 11 percent over the previous quarter.

The following are the top 10 countries by the number of paid advertising banners delivered in each:
Indonesia: 4.4 billion (23 percent growth)
India: 842 million (16 percent)
United States: 527 million (38 percent)
South Africa: 428 million (-8 percent)
Egypt: 162 million (8 percent)
Romania: 161 million (9 percent)
China: 130 million (67 percent)
Philippines: 125 million (8 percent)
Britain: 113 million (54 percent)
Bangladesh: 112 million (-16 percent)

Growth and usage of the mobile internet in the first quarter was particularly strong in China (67 percent), Britain (54 percent), the U.S. (38 percent) and Indonesia (23 percent).

The advertising industry has more reasons for optimism, according to BuzzCity.

Britain is in the Top 10 for the first time and joins Romania in representing Europe, suggesting an increase in off-portal activity and the prospect of more advertiser interest.

Italy, Spain, Sweden and France all recorded double-digit growth in the fourth quarter 2008 figures.

Similarly, Egypt's rise to fifth place is the result of steady growth in usage and advertiser interest since it first appeared on the index in April 2008.

"Despite a very challenging economic environment advertisers are clearly moving more of their advertising budgets to the mobile Internet," Mr Lai said. "Competition for advertising dollars has never been more intense, but the mobile Internet's superior ROI has made this medium a part of many marketers' plans.

"Advertisers are showing greater emphasis on measurability and return on investment," he said. "To make sure the network delivers its value proposition, we will continue to study mobile consumers and their changing behavior."