It is believed in some quarters that the mobile phone screen will rival those of television and computers as a major source of video- based entertainment, information, news, etc. hence its being vaunted as the ‘the third screen’ in consumers’ lives (where lies the cinema screen?). Most of my associates conclude that I am an “idle cell phone user” for the reason that my set is “perpetually on voicemail.” But how does this qualification compare with a new global study by Omnicom BBDO and its direct- marketing network, Proximity Worldwide, which posits that the emotional connection between individual consumers and their cell phones is an extraordinary one? The survey actually found that getting so many calls proves social success. According to Christine Hannis, head of communications for BBDO Europe, the more your cell phone rings, the more a fundamental insecurity is fulfilled. The study merely buttresses an earlier one by Enpocket, a London-based mobile marketing company, which stated that every time your phone rings, it shows you are popular (Stowe Bowd 2004). It is heartening to know that the number of telephone subscribers in Nigeria has risen to 10 million, a remarkable leap from about 400,000 lines deployed by all telecommunications operators including the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) in 1990 – NCC 2005. The country’s teledensity (the number of phones per 100 persons) has also increased from four phone lines per 1,000 persons, thereby indicating that more Nigerians now have access to telephones (mobilenigeria 2005). It is estimated that there are between 1.3 and 1.5 billion handsets in the world. Though market for smart mobile phones is in the embryonic stage, it is, however, growing rapidly. Smart phones, 23.5 million of which were sold in 2004, possess increasingly sophisticated media capabilities. According to consultant Yankee Group, the global market with 1.8 billion mobile devices by the end of 2005, will comprise 49 million smart phones. It expects the number of smart phones to double to 98 million in 2006, while the number of cell phones worldwide moves up to 1.85 billion (Business Week 2005). These statistics should, therefore, attract the attention of advertisers because the ‘the third screen’ offers marketers a potential direct link to consumers. The mobile phone has been described as the most personal and ubiquitous gadget ever devised, with 690 million sold worldwide last year (Erika Brown 2005). According to industry trade group, GSM Association, callers would have sent an estimated 548 billion text messages last year, i.e. about 100 for every man, woman and child on the planet, which also translated to $27 billion (Stephen Baker 2004). If figures released by the Mobile Marketing Association were anything to go by, U.S. cell phone users alone sent about 2.5 billion text messages per month in 2004 despite the fact that 80 per cent of users had not sent a text message (Sarah Lacy 2004). The U.S. actually accounted for $1 billion of text traffic last year, compared to the European market, which posted $16 billion. If five million Nigerians pick up an average of six calls today on their various telephone networks, by some media metrics, that is a potential 30 million impressions a day! Meanwhile telephone subscribers in the country make up about 6.7 per cent of its 150 million population. Yet we are regarded as one of the fastest-growing GSM markets in the world (China has 340 million mobile phone users, while the U.S. has about 170 million). One thing is, however, clear: the audience is too big to be ignored. Marketers are therefore beginning to connect to consumers in a variety of ways via their cell phones. Companies like Anheuser-Busch and Coca-Cola sponsor text messaging advertising as branding moves. Children’s television giant Nickelodeon recently teamed up with Verizon Wireless – one of world’s leading providers of wireline and wireless communications – to begin distributing mobile content as part of Verizon’s expanding V- Cast platform, best known for distributing mobile episodes of Fox’s 24. It delivers a wide range of short form video content to mobile phone users (Mike Shields 2005). EMIMusic has just struck a deal with Cingular – the largest wireless company in the U.S. with over 50 million subscribers - to debut songs on the cell phone before an album is released. It is noteworthy that Walt Disney Co. was one of the giant marketers to project themselves on the ‘third screen’. As far back as 2000, it started selling black-and-white Mickey Mouse screen savers in Japan. Today, Japan is Disney’s biggest mobile market, with annual revenue of $900 million (E.Brown 2005). The company now sells 6,000 items through 48 wireless carriers in 27 countries from ring tones and screen savers to games inspired by notable movies. Also through Disney’s ABC News, ESPN and SoapNet outlets on Verizon’s V-Cast, adults can access news, sports and soap operas. Nike fans, with their cell phones can now customize a pair of shoes displayed on a 22- storey digital screen in central Times Square (America’s signature of marketing and financial prowess, a world-famous tourist attraction and one of the country’s coveted marketing communications venues). After their 60-second interactive experience, they will either download their design as mobile phone wallpaper or proceed online to buy the product (Holly Sanders 2005). Enyimba F.C. could collaborate with MTN in a promotion to persuade fans to vote for their favourite player on an AIT telecast, for example. These three organizations would share the text revenues, which average between N12 and N15. However, by the time we have multimedia messages, complete with colour video and music, the revenue would move up. Proactive companies will then build up files of cell phone numbers whose owners opt-in for advertising. Shows like the Gulder Ultimate Search could actually generate votes from subscribers through SMS. With involvement of other big advertisers like Guinness Plc and Coca-Cola, short messaging could eventually become a more mainstream of interaction. In reality, American advertising agencies like Foote Cone and Belding (FCB) and BBDO recently announced partnerships to help clients develop marketing strategies for the mobile platform (Matthew Maier 2005). The successful launch of global fragrance developer Elizabeth Arden’s curious fragrance has been described by analysts as the most successful in the last five years in the fragrance category (Brand Strategy 2005). The company broke new ground in marketing scents to young women when it prompted young consumers via Internet ads to submit their mobile phone numbers and receive a voice message from pop diva Britney Spears. The promotion, which generated huge noise and excitement, shot Curious to the number one spot in U.S. department stores over the holiday season. I challenge our phone companies to build communications systems with more fibre-optic lines (and therefore more transmission capacity) than cable. If our networks are architected such that multicasts can be possible on the GSM networks; perhaps I might become ‘an active cell phone user.’ With my phone, I want to be able to send e-mail, surf the Internet, take still and motion pictures, download songs, play music, send photos, watch TV, listen to radio, play games, manage my appointment calendar and address book, pay bills, turn on my lights and air conditioning, check my blood- sugar level and participate in a video conference. Marketers and advertising agencies in Nigeria should look forward to a world that will inalterably change. Changes in media structure should result in advertising renaissance characterized by greater sophistication in beavioural interpretation and media use. Our ad agencies should explore more ways to bring greater visibility to brands through a choice of vehicles that have a clearer return-on-investment (Jeffrey Grill 2005). Reaching consumers through traditional media should have lost its potency by now. Reallocating naira from mass broadcast, for example, to other means should lead to more opportunities because marketing is never static. Marketers need not be risk- averse in media selection and creative development. Rather, they should break free of old beliefs and paradigms. Consumers cannot continue to be a captive audience because we are poised for diversification and ready to control how and when we get information. Stratification of media will allow advertisers to approach niche markets more effectively than ever before. An entire new marketing world is opening up and marketing and advertising companies who evolve with this change will be able to steer their clients through the current practice and into an era of even greater prosperity, brand equity and customer satisfaction (Daniel Garcia 2005). Mobile devices, for example, carry the promise of this new era – one where a marketer is not only guaranteed access to its message but one where it can usually control when the message will be read.