(Photo: DonkeyHotey)

Candidates aren’t the only ones using mobile for the primaries. Mobile users in South Carolina took to their phones in droves last Saturday – many to check the standing and results of the state’s primary election. We took a look at the Jumptap network traffic for the day, and saw significant spikes within the ‘News’ channel. As you can see in the graph below, there was a 40% increase in traffic between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. as compared to an average day during that same timeframe. Closing in on the midnight hour, there was a 66% increase in traffic as compared to an average day. With the late evening announcement of the primary results, we can assume users were anxiously checking their smartphones for the news.

With the Florida primary just a few days away (January 31^st), we’ll be keeping our eyes on the traffic. Do you use your smartphone to check out candidate views and websites or the latest primary results? Let us know in the comments.

Want to hear more about how the 2012 presidential candidates are using mobile? Check out the links below:

Advertising Age: “GOP Presidential Hopefuls Experiment With Mobile Ads in Early Contests,” 1/23/12

Mobile Marketer: “Romney Campaign Elects Mobile to Drive Voter Turnout,” 1/11/12

BostInno: “Romney Goes Mobile, Uses Jumptap to Target Voters in Iowa & New Hampshire,” 1/10/12

As we embark on the first week of 2012, we also reflect back on the past year of innovation, drive, sweat and tears that brought mobile advertising to what it is today. From surpassing $1B in mobile ad spend, to new tools and technologies, it’s been a busy but productive year. Most importantly, mobile has made it to the ad budgets of the world’s largest agencies and brands for 2012. No longer an experiment, mobile is now considered a smart investment.

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We did a large study with Digiday this fall that asked advertisers and agencies which attributes are most important when looking for a mobile ad partner. No one was surprised that ‘Targeting’ came out on top.

Jumptap/Digiday Mobile State of the Industry Survey, 9/11 (Advertisers/Agencies N=243)

While reach will always be key for mobile advertising, like in any kind of advertising, reach without targeting is a waste. It’s like people who send mass emails when really only a few people need to see the message…don’t we all hate that?

At the Mobile Media Summit this year, we got a chance to chat with some of mobile’s top industry leaders about the importance of targeting. While they each approach the topic from a different angle, there was resounding agreement that targeting is the key driver of success in our industry.

Is targeting a prominent aspect of your mobile advertising strategy?

From Adam Towvim, Senior Director, Business Development

All too often, we debate whether the current year should be crowned The Year of Mobile. The year 2007, with the iPhone’s ability to shift mobile’s tectonic plates, certainly seemed like The Year of Mobile. Fast forward four years and in 2011 we’re highlighting $1B in mobile ad spend as another marker for The Year of Mobile. The fact is, we’ve already passed that milestone. Mobile already appears on budget line items for top agencies and brands all over the world. Let’s get beyond The Year of Mobile. With all of the media buying that is occurring against mobile data (think offline/3^rd party data), what we need to really be preparing for is The Year of Mobile Data.

After speaking at Digiday:Target in LA last week, I was struck by how much progress we, in the industry, have made around adding data to mobile ad targeting. It was also clear, however, that we have a lot more to do in preparation for 2012.

Let’s take a look at where we stand and where we’re headed:

• Earlier this month, eMarketer reported that US adults are spending 10% of their media time on mobile, yet only 1% of ad spend is going to the medium. Mobile ad buys using data-fed targeting is one of the best ways to close the gap, since PC media buyers already know the segments and clusters that perform best for them.

• Mobile data buys are increasing across our own network. In 2011, 80% of our programs/campaigns are running with offline or 3rd party data to enhance targeting and better identify classes of consumers; a significant increase from 2010. In comparison to PCs, there is far more mobile data to gain access to: real purchase information, location targeting, etc. Jumptap leverages 3^rd party and offline data from partners Acxiom, TARGUSinfo, Datalogix and Polk.

• With data, comes privacy; an area where the industry needs to improve. A recent Future of Privacy Forum study showed 75% of leading mobile apps lacked a dedicated privacy policy. If we are to accomplish great data targeting in mobile, we need to show the industry how to do this responsibly with proper notice and choice for users. To date, we have all been scared of our own shadow every time some small pebble ripples through the mobile privacy waters. Hey, it’s understandable; there are new bills in Congress, publications vying for headlines with mobile investigations, and a lack of clarity with regulators. Having just been to a conference on the Benefits and Risks of De-identification, I can plainly see how other industries take the approach to anonymize data responsibly and at scale. If we can use large data sets to identify under-served communities’ limited access to public health services, then we can certainly provide users with more targeted advertising. At Jumptap, we take privacy very seriously and provide our publisher and advertiser partners with information on how to comply with our guidelines.

So what do we need to do to keep up with 2012 as The Year of Mobile Data?

• Give consumers notice and choice; a great resource is Jim Brock’s PrivacyChoice.org for developing a privacy policy.  If mobile players are looking to obtain data, give consumers the ability to opt-out. We also need to ensure there are persistent opt-outs between mobile apps and mobile web.

• Tread lightly with location-targeting.

• Create better communication between all parties in the mobile ecosystem: networks, advertisers, publishers, offline data providers, and 1^st and 3^rd party data providers. Let’s work together to move the industry forward.

What steps do you think the industry needs to take in order to call 2012 The Year of Mobile Data?

As a Boston-based company, most of us in the Jumptap HQ are pulling for an 18^th Celtics championship; and with a shortened NBA season this year, it won’t be an easy feat. However, another championship will set them apart from other teams and help bring back the ‘glory days’ of the 60’s. Oh, and keep our city of champions going strong…

In the spirit of competitive differentiators, we’re adding an 18^th patent to our already stacked portfolio roster!  The United States Patent and Trademark Office has officially issued Jumptap the patent, Managing Sponsored Content Based on Usage History; # 8,050,675.

The 18^th patent offers improved search capabilities, which are disclosed for mobile communications devices such as cell phones, as well as improved techniques for delivering sponsored content in a mobile communication environment. Shout out to Jumptap star players Jorey Ramer, Adam Soroca, and Dennis Doughty for their assist on the 18^th patent, and to our crack Intellectual Property lawyers, Alex Detschelt and Megan McCarthy.

Our extensive technology patent portfolio covers targeted advertising on mobile devices powered by data such as demographic, geographic, behavioral, contextual, and transactional information. As such, this portfolio is fundamental to the operations of any mobile advertising business that seeks to use data for targeting. The complete list of Jumptap’s patents is available on the website at http://www.jumptap.com/intellectual-property .