eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

Academic research in the field of mobile advertising has to date been fragmented and the results have been controversial. The purpose of this research is to study the consumer view of mobile advertising in order to discover how consumers in Finland perceive mobile advertisements. A thorough literature review of previous studies in the fields of social psychology, advertising psychology and mobile advertising was conducted to establish the theoretical foundations of this study. On the basis of the literature review a research framework of consumer attitudes in the mobile advertising context was constructed.

METHODOLOGY

Research data was collected in co-operation with a Finnish mobile solution provider as a part of mobile advertising campaigns implemented during the fall of 2009. The data consisted of two samples. The primary sample received a mobile advertisement where as the control group did not. The purpose was to examine the attitudinal differences between these two groups. Text message invitations to the survey were sent to both samples. The questionnaire could be directly accessed through a link in the text message or alternatively by typing in the address to the browser on a computer. The response rates were 5,45 % for the primary sample and 11,7 % for the control group. After the data collection phase the data was subjected to various statistical analyses to test the hypotheses presented in the research framework.

FINDINGS

The results of the study highlight the importance of utilizing customer data in the design of mobile advertising campaigns. When the mobile advertiser has the possibility to target actual needs of customers based on existing customer data, attitudes toward mobile advertisements are likely to be positive. This implies that mobile advertising should be based on service rather than selling.