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Last Night Jonathan and I were delighted to attend Chinwag, it was an interesting event where we had the chance to meet people with differing and interesting views on mobile advertising and the mobile market in general. A stimulating debate, we look forward to the next one. Thanks to all who offered their encouragement and for all those questions, we look forward to being able to tell everyone more information soon and seeing you at the next event.

Jonathan will be speaking at the Chinwag Live event, today Monday 26th February.

The organisers say “Chinwag Live events seek to lift the lid and cast a quizzical eye on the latest trends in the web and mobile sectors in the full spirit of community participation. The series brings together leading experts and practitioners in the digital industries to share their perspectives and experience. Chinwag’s audience is a broad cross-section of senior decision-makers, creatives, marketers, technologists, business professionals and industry commentators working across web, mobile and other interactive media.”

Other speakers include representatives from O2, AdMob, Fathom Partners and the Mobile Entertainment Magazine. The evening is likely to produce some interesting feedback.

I’ll be speaking at 3GSM on a panel on mobile advertising on the morning of Thursday, February 15th. It is personally very exciting to attend 3GSM from a new perspective.

The answer to the question of our panel – Can mobile advertising fund new content businesses? – is a resounding yes! I will approach the subject from the standpoint of how we started Blyk. At Blyk we came to the conclusion that it is absolutely essential to have the capability of an operator and the ethos of a media. Being an operator Blyk can truly simplify the user experience for both young people and advertisers. Having the ethos of a media Blyk can address the needs of young people and advertisers in a very distinct way.

We believe that the Blyk model gives relevance and value to both young people and advertisers.The cost of service is extremely relevant to the 16-24 year old audience, as is the fact that advertisers can interact with them based on their preferences. In the trials we have run we’ve found that young people really enjoy and engage with the conversational advertising on Blyk. As for the advertisers, we offer them an opportunity for direct engagement with a hard-to-reach young audience with relevant real-time feedback.

What do I expect from 3GSM? I expect to see a lot of momentum around mobile advertising at 3GSM. There are many companies here with important initiatives bringing new revenue streams from advertising to the mobile system. I view this as a very positive development. As advertisers begin to see more opportunities in mobile media, we will see the mobile channel becoming a natural part of the media mix alongside TV, print, radio and online media.