Now, before you get too excited about this post based on that title, I suppose I should tell you it’s about mobile technology.

I garnered inspiration for this post from a recent presentation I attended at Mesh Marketing. While I was unable to attend the opening keynotes of the day, I did manage to participate several amazing workshops in the afternoon. And that is where a line from early in the Mobile Marketing workshop caught me off guard – and inspired the title of this post. The presenter, Amielle Lake asked “How many of you sleep with your phone?”

She went on to explain how, although you are exposed to computers, newspapers, book, magazines, and public billboards throughout your day, you’re in the presence of your phone pretty much constantly. This revelation opened my mind to some very unique opportunities that clients could use to convey a message and interact with potential customers.

These days, cell phone and mobile applications can be – and frequently are – incorporated into any aspect of a traditional or digital campaign. The campaign premise should be consistent if you ensure that relevant components are optimized for mobile device. Plan ahead, have interesting mobile-friendly creative, and include a call to action. Text to win contests, mobile web sites and applications as well as 2D bar codes can add all sorts of mobile interactivity to a specific product or campaign.

Secondly, cell phones are not simply becoming ubiquitous – they’re already there. I could throw all sorts of numbers at you about the current number of cell phone in the market, the growing number of smart phones, mobile data usage increases, etc. But the stat I think really tells the tale is that the world will have a billion “heavy mobile data users” by 2013. Why do I think this is so important? Because it supports my third point, friends!

Advertising has evolved from an interruptive, ill-timed yelling contest into a engaging, right time/right place personalized experience. The concept of inclusive marketing based on permission is becoming more acceptable within communities who share interests (in real life or digitally), and who consent to receiving messages from either other community members or community sponsors. This evolution is facilitated by digital social networks and the myriad digital community tools – many of which are data intensive.

Do you remember the scene from the film Minority Report where the ads come to life and give personalized messages based on optical recognition? Well, this sort of personalized message is possible – and coming soon to a street corner near you. It could prove even more effective if, instead of simply focusing on personal ads, one received personalized recommendations from members of his or her various communities. Imagine being notified of the best place to go for lunch or buy a hilarious Tshirt while you’re in a specific neighbourhood! It’s the equivalent of someone yelling at you from the door of their coffee shop versus a friend recommending  you stop in and sample the delicious lattes. To which enticement are you more likely to listen?

Leaving the community aspects behind for a moment, let’s not forget how, as increasingly smart devices are able to tap into information through full HTML browsers and high speed connections, your customers will have quick and immediate access to reviews and opinions on your product.

Mobile is becoming a bigger player in communicating with consumers, and is poised to be the biggest communication vehicle worldwide. Have you seen any crazy or cool campaigns recently that leveraged mobile technology in a unique way? And if you aren’t already beginning to incorporate mobile marketing into your campaigns, why not