Japanese research into mobile marketing

A friend of mine, Jan from W2forum, has just pointed out some research into mobile marketing from Japan. 299 companies were surveyed by Nikkei and DC Communications. He rather handily speaks fluent Japanese and has translated the key stats for me:

What are the benefits of mobile marketing?
(base is 28 companies who used mobile marketing in 2005)

1. You can immediately see results - 46.4%
2. It can easily be adapted to suit objectives - 42.9%
= It can help narrow consumers down into target profiles - 42.9%
4. Cost to create mobile marketing is low - 39.3%
5. Cost to distribute mobile marketing is low - 28.6%
= Return on investment is high - 28.6%
7. There aren't many restrictions, so it is possible to experiment with new ideas - 21.4%
8. It is effective at driving sales - 17.9%
9. It is effective at raising product awareness - 10.7%

Will you use mobile marketing in the future?

Yes - 32.6% of companies who didn't use mobile marketing in 2005
Yes - 89.3% of companies who did use mobile marketing in 2005.

So despite the Japanese not taking to SMS, it seems they are taking on this whole mobile marketing game although there is some way to go before it becomes ubiquitous. I'm guessing that this is a mix of mobile email, i-mode/wap sites and QR codes (barcodes your phone camera can read) as a call to action.

I also found a good link to some Japanese case studies and mobile usage here which I'm sure you'll find interesting and it's also written in English.

Picture found on flickr