3G technology gives telecom new kid a chance to impress.(Hutchison 3G)(Brief Article)

Hutchison needs to deliver on its promises of `honest' ads

Mobile phone advertising is, on the whole, dreadful. It typically comes in one of two forms: the supposedly meaningful but, in fact, vacuous and inane "lifestyle" ad or the over-excitable, technology-obsessed "future is here" spot.

This second approach, talking about what the product can actually do, seems the more sensible of the two. However, it's all too easy for a creative team to get carried away and try to convince the punter that they are not only buying a phone, but a device that will dematerialise them and transport them to another dimension.

According to Perdita Patterson, the editor of What Mobile magazine, this is where the industry has gone wrong. "WAP is regarded as a marketing disaster because it was heavily sold at the beginning, particularly by the BT Cellnet surfer ad which led people to believe that they would be able to surf the net on their phone in the same way as they would on a PC," she says.

"This led to a consumer backlash because when they saw that all they were getting was teletext on their mobile, they felt hard done by. This is a typical mistake that has happened again and again in the mobile industry."

This backlash has led to what is known in the industry as WAP-athy. People are jaded by claims of fantastic innovations on mobiles and now, with the coming of third-generation phones when we actually do have something to shout about, agencies and clients have already shot themselves in the foot. They have cried wolf, not delivered on the advertising promises and now it's very hard to get people to listen.

This is the main problem that TBWA\London will have to overcome now it has been appointed by Hutchison 3G to come up with its launch campaign next year.