Jaguar, Land Rover to invest in mobile advertising

Luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover have committed to buying mobile tome worth a collective $1.6 million for 2009. Ad network AdMob will handle the automakers' mobile campaigns. The luxury auto brands will split the budget to run mobile campaigns on AdMob's US network.

The amount is huge considering the recession in the US and also since the mobile is still considered an emerging medium in some quarters and experimental in others.

Joao Machado, digital group director at Mindshare, the agency of record for Jaguar and Land Rover believes that consumers will increasingly access the web from mobile handsets. Weather, movie and news channels have devloped content for Jaguar and Land Rover, he said, because the affluent are using their smartphones to dial into content they're used to getting from the internet.

AdMob says it can also target ads to smartphones, with the logic that iPhone and Blackberry users tend to be more affluent and use their handsets to stay connected as they travel and play.

Jaguar and Land Rover, acquired from Ford Motor Co, by Tata Motors last year, first advertised in the channel in 2007. Last year, Land Rover's primary goal for its mobile campaign was to build purchase consideration; this year, Jaguar and Land Rover are looking to mobile advertising to generate awareness and drive.