By Chris Lennartz

We are in the midst of the Beijing Olympic Games and you will be hard-pressed to find media companies, brand marketers and mobile technology providers who aren't capitalizing on the games through the mobile channel.

Mobile content from the games is available through virtually every major media channel and portal including Google News, Yahoo, NBC and Reuters. Everything from medal updates to video highlights is being packaged, delivered and consumed for the world's mobile audience.

While it seems like a given that mobile marketing plays such an important role in the international event, consider that during the last Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia in 2004, worldwide mobile subscriber numbers were only around 1.5 billion.

In four years that number has more than doubled to an estimated 3.9 billion and the penetration of mobile applications such as SMS, MMS and mobile advertising has continued to increase.

What plays out during this month's games will be a valuable indicator of the state of mobile marketing worldwide.

NBC has called the Olympics a "billion-dollar research lab," and it along with other global brands will be looking to analyze subscriber behavior closely during the games.

Here are my predictions for what will be greatest mobile lessons learned during this Olympic Games:

SMS is here to stay and will remain a staple of mobile marketing and brand campaigns worldwide
The flood of devices such as the iPhone, BlackBerry and other smartphones in the global market place has certainly garnered a lot of buzz over the last year.

And while more advanced handsets open the door for video advertisements, streaming media to the mobile device and mobile television both during the Olympics and moving forward, marketers aren't abandoning SMS anytime soon.

The SMS message remains far and away the most dominant, pervasive, cost-effective and personal method of reaching out to global consumers, and we definitely see its potential during the games.

Using SMS as a marketing method thus becomes vital to creating a successful campaign, especially when reaching those who have travelled overseas to experience the games.

Sports fans, Olympians, coaches, families and friends will all be on different kinds of handsets in different countries with different needs. They will want personalized updates and targeted information, and SMS proves to be the best method to reach this wide-reaching audience.

Another great moment for MMS to shine
While receiving results in 160 characters of ASCII code is brilliant in its simplicity and effectiveness, the real opportunity for creating the mobolympic user experience is using the actual moment, either in action through video or as a picture to share that instant of glory of the Olympic hero with his or her fan.

So, MMS provides mobile marketers, content providers and advertisers with a promising multimedia channel to offer the actual emotion of the Olympic moment with the same community as described above, but with even more possibilities for multimedia branding and advertising.

3G makes a difference
3G networks, especially HSDPA ones, are absolutely essential to provide a good multimedia experience to huge masses of people within an acceptable time frame.

For example, a goal alert service can update thousands of people on a soccer match within a couple of minutes, creating an enormous peak in traffic.

However, when all these people are in one cell, the radio network and messaging servers must be able to handle bandwidth. If not, a branding campaign can not only fall flat, but it may even have negative effects on the brand itself.

The Olympics will certainly shine a spotlight on the need for exceptional networks and messaging infrastructure if brands are really to take advantage of global campaigns.

Don't underestimate the impact of "spamaphobia"
Most mobile consumers are very wary about receiving fraudulent or spam messages to their mobile device, so the marketing opportunities around the Olympics are also open to major pitfalls if marketers are not careful about targeting, opt-in procedures and delivering relevant content.

Brands will also need to be wary of copycat spam entities, especially on networks abroad, and will need to maintain close monitoring of campaigns, as the success or failure of one campaign will have a huge impact on how willing consumers will be to continue to participate in mobile marketing endeavors in the future.

We do know, however, that consumer openness to mobile marketing is strong. The Olympic Games are a great opportunity to extend that openness with a wholly positive experience, ultimately breaking down fears associated with spam.

Taking advantage of consumer demographics
Getting as granular and specific with targeted ads will prove to be a vital aspect of successful marketing campaigns, even when everyone is watching the same event.

For example, as certain sports are more widely watched in some countries, targeting the intersection of regional interest and specific events is key to personalizing a campaign. But that is only the beginning.

The granularity should be even smaller, allowing marketers to identify communities that are really passionate about something specific (i.e. a local athlete), so the relevance of whatever is advertised will be near 100 percent ensured.

This kind of targeting will be tested over a large international audience at this year's Olympics and will be a phenomenal opportunity to determine how specific targeting can be executed over a large audience.

This year's Olympic Games in Beijing will certainly break new ground on the mobile marketing front.
Many factors play into the success of these campaigns: relevance, targeting, spam protection, network capability, format of the ad and speed of delivery.

One thing is certain. This year's Olympics is the first to really capitalize on the possibility of mobile communication, and that in and of itself is extremely exciting.

Chris Lennartz is vice president of product marketing at Airwide Solutions, Burlington, MA. Reach him at .