Idle screen mobile ad platform Mobile Posse put out a press release that touted an 18% click-through rate on a holiday promotional campaign for Ace Hardware. According to the release:

A national campaign launched around Ace’s Memorial Day Sale invited consumers to visit their local Ace Hardware to take advantage of great deals. The campaign was executed by Horizon Media and generated an average CTR of 18%. In addition, consumers that viewed the campaign were nearly 30% more likely to visit an Ace Hardware retail store . . .

The Memorial Day campaign, consisting of two ads and a seven-day sponsorship of weather forecasts, delivered strong overall results. Ace Hardware ads generated an average CTR of 18%, while the weather sponsorship generated an average CTR of 17%. Nearly 65% of Mobile Posse customers viewed at least one component of the Ace Hardware campaign during the promotion . . .

In follow-up to the Ace campaign, users were asked whether they had visited an Ace Hardware store within the past seven-to-ten days. Users that viewed the campaign were 29% more likely to have visited an Ace Hardware retail store than users that did not view the campaign.

These are impressive response rates, especially when one considers it's entirely a "push" display campaign. Compare online display CTRs of .06% to .17% (per DoubleClick), although clicks are not the right metric for display measurement. There was also a local component of the campaign, likely a store locator, based on the language in from the release.

The idle screen ads are targeted to feature phone users, who must "opt-in to Mobile Posse’s free application to receive informative and fun content, along with valued offers from local and national retailers."

We've seen varying levels of interest, generally, in mobile advertising. It depends to some degree on how the advertising "value proposition" is presented.

If consumers understand clearly the benefits they'll receive, they're more favorably disposed toward mobile ads. Offers and coupons are categories of greater interest than generic mobile advertising. More sophisticated mobile phone users (e.g., smartphone owners) and those that are more engaged in the mobile Internet are also more favorably inclined toward mobile ads as a rule.