The practice of mobile phone advertising in Japan: A grounded theory approach to looking at consumer perceptions

Abstract

This research examines consumer perceptions towards the practice of mobile phone advertising in Japan. The research follows a grounded theory approach, guided by Strauss and Corbin (1998). The primary research was conducted in Tokyo. It was found that in Japan's technologically advanced society, advertisers desired to reach consumers on their 3B mobile phones. However, use of these devices differed among demographic segmentations and consumers held unfavourable views towards the overload of irrelevant incoming ads. As a result, the recommendations made for the Japanese mobile advertising industry were: (1) for advertisers to use Bayesian Networks to create highly targeted ads; (2) to improve communication between advertisers and mobile phone engineers, and (3) to discontinue lacklustre text only ads and create innovative multimedia ads. This research contributes to the literature on new media advertising by providing insight into an important component of the mobile phone advertising phenomenon: audience research.