In a Land Where There is No Mobile Marketing

Julie Ask | March 13, 2008, 05:00 PM

I just returned from 10 days in Morocco including a trip to the Sahara desert. I've got a series of posts that I'll put up today.

My first Mobile Marketing encounter (or lack thereof) was in JFK when I landed from San Francisco enroute to catch my flight on Air Maroc. There was a billboard in JFK airport suggesting that you text a code word to a short code to find out where their services are/will be. It was a Fortune 500 or 1000 company.

The reply came back "" - and twice none the less. Seriously - thanks for letting me pay for no information twice. This is the first time this has happened to me. Totally lame - how do you not execute on the backend after paying for an expensive ad(s) on the walls of the gate lounges at JFK?

Then in Morocco - I saw no mobile marketing promotions and relatively little telecom advertising. There was the normal "Maroc Telecom welcomes you to Morocco. For more information ...." However, that was it - I didn't see anything else. I'm not sure if it's an issue with the Arabic language, literacy (my guide from the desert had only been in school two years). It was an interesting contrast to so many other places I've been recently.