Yesterday Millennial Media released its latest SMART report for May. It shows advertiser trends and marketing tactics on its network. There was a drill-down focus on automotive in the report (which I'm not going to focus on except in one respect). The data indicate the increasing nuance and sophistication of mobile marketing programs.

There are a wide range of goals/objectives that marketers are pursuing via mobile: local, social, demographic targeting and so on. These tactics and objectives defy easy assumptions about the trajectory of mobile advertising over the next several years.

Mobile is a branding and awareness medium, it's also a local ad medium and it will be used in tandem with other media. It's not going to be primarily one thing (e.g., LBS). There will be enormous diversity in the campaigns and tactics seen. Indeed, I've argued before that mobile is a better branding medium than online display. That assertion is supported by the data. 

Immediately below is the mix of targeting methodologies used by marketers on the Millennial network in May. The number of campaigns that were targeted in some way has remained relatively constant on Millennial's network for roughly the past year. But of that targeted advertising geo/local has grown and so has demographic targeting to some degree. 

Compare the data for Q3 2010 (below). Geo-targeting was the primary targeting method employed by marketers in 42% of all targeted campaigns on Millennial's network. In May, 2011 that was smaller percentage of targeted ads but a higher percentage of them used local targeting (which can be state, city or zip).

Automotive advertisers were much more local in their mobile marketing efforts (chart below), seeking to send people into dealerships or to generate phone calls. They were less interested than advertisers generally in getting people to Like them on Facebook ("mocial"). 

As a general matter Millennial said:

• Store Locator grew 48% month-over-month and represented 22% of the Post-Click Campaign Action Mix on our network in May (above). Retail and Automotive brands heavily drove mobile users into retail outlets and dealerships by creating unique and engaging Moms, Dads and Grads promotions for their target audiences.
• Mocial (Mobile Social Media) experienced growth of 36% month-over-month, with 23% of the Post-Click Campaign Action Mix in May (Chart C). Telecom, Entertainment and Retail advertisers increased their usage of Mocial as a Post-Click Campaign Action to acquire social media followers and gather feedback on movie releases and new product launches in May.

Below is the mix of advertiser goals and "landing pages" they sent clicks to.

Compare Jumptap's data showing some similar things around targeting or post-click activity. Jumptap also shows consumer click metrics and the improved lift of local + demo targeting.