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This exploratory online questionnaire-based study confirms the findings from earlier studies in the pre-smart phone era regarding consumers’ negative attitudes towards mobile marketing communications. This study shows that these attitudes persist despite increasing frequency of use and increased functionality of mobile phones in the smart phone era. Consumers perceive their mobile device to be for personal communication, and prefer to be able to exercise control over their interaction with organisations. Findings suggest that acceptance can be enhanced by permission marketing, trust-building, creating a sense of being in control, and useful and entertaining website content. Accordingly, pull technologies seem to hold particular promise for mobile marketing communications. This study, therefore, proceeds to explore use of and attitudes towards an important pull technology, QR codes. QR codes, two-dimensional bar codes, can be scanned to provide access to websites, information and applications. Despite their potential, uptake is low. Users in this study who had scanned a QR code had used them to access a variety of different content on different types of items and in different locations. The most frequently accessed type of content was information on a web site, the two most common locations for a scanned QR code were a newspaper or magazine advert, or outdoor advert or poster, and the two most common locations at which scanning was performed were in the street and at home. Ease of use, utility and incentives are drivers to continued use whilst lack of knowledge about how-to scan or of the benefits of QR codes may hinder adoption. Recommendations are offered for practice and for further research.

Mobile media are compelling channels for digital marketers and advertisers due to their potential to support one-to-one, one-to-many and mass communication both cheaply and effectively. In addition, the reach of mobile marketing is large and growing. Access to mobile networks is available to 90% of the world's population (ITU, 2010) and web-enabled mobile handsets now make up 20% of the 3bn mobile devices worldwide, with market share heading towards 50% over the next three to five years (ComScore, 2010). Global Industry Analysts Inc. has predicted that the worldwide mobile advertising market will reach $18.5 billion by 2015 while the total global mobile applications market will be worth $25 billion (Marketandmarkets, 2010). Varnali and Toker (2010) suggest that ‘the mobile channel has morphed into an ultimate marketing vehicle’ (p.144), but they also acknowledge that research in mobile marketing is still in its early stages. Mobile marketing can be used to build customer engagement with a brand, through text messages, mobile advertising, permission based marketing, the delivery of mobile content, user-generated content, and mobile commerce. However, mobile technology presents companies with challenges as well as opportunities. In particular, earlier studies in the pre-smart phone era, where the main means of marketing communication was via text or SMS messages have shown that consumers perceive mobile marketing communications to be variously irritating (Muk, 2007), an invasion of privacy (Windham and Orton, 2002) and intrusive (Monk, Carroll, Parker, & Blythe, 2004). This, in turn, calls into question their effectiveness as a marketing channel (Grant & O’Donohoe, 2007). This has led some commentators to suggest that the way forward is through the adoption of permission based marketing, in which, for example, customers have control over the number and type of messages (Blomqvist, Hurmelinna, & Seppanen, 2005) or over the timing, location, and information content of messages (Stewart and Pavlou, 2002 and Watson et al., 2002). The increasing adoption of smartphone technology opens up even more possibilities for mobile marketing. As Persaud and Azhar point out ‘the increased capabilities of smartphones have presented marketers with a substantially expanded set of possibilities to research and service consumers’ (p.1). Accordingly, it is important to understand whether negative attitudes towards marketing communication persist in the smart phone era, or whether more frequent engagement with a technology that offers a wider range of options for communication have impacted on consumer attitudes to mobile marketing communications. In addition, one new smart phone related technology that might be of considerable potential interest, because it is the basis for pull marketing communication in which consumers can exercise control over the messages and content that they receive, is QR codes. QR codes are two dimensional bar codes that are placed on books, leaflets, posters, billboards, and other public objects. Scanning a QR code, for example, provides a consumer with a link to a mobile website, reveals text or connects to a customer services centre. On the other hand, QR code market penetration in the UK and elsewhere is still relatively low with, for example, only 10% of smartphone users in the UK engaging with them, in contrast to the 78.5% accessing the mobile internet ( ComScore, 2011). Accordingly, understanding consumers’ use of and attitudes towards QR codes may contribute to a paradigm shift in mobile marketing. Despite the importance of understanding consumer preferences, there has been little prior research on consumer attitudes towards mobile marketing communication in the smart phone era or on the use of and the factors that might influence the adoption of QR codes. In addition, it is evident that marketers are still struggling to harness the mobile channel and QR codes for optimum engagement. Accordingly, the aim of this research is contribute to understanding of consumer attitudes to mobile communications marketing, by undertaking an exploratory study to characterise the situation. More specifically, the objectives of this study are to: 1. Explore whether consumers’ attitudes to mobile marketing communication have changed with the advent of smart-phone technology, particularly in respect of: a. Attitudes regarding different types of text messages. b. Attitudes towards permission and SMS-marketing. c. Attitudes towards mobile website content. 2. Explore consumer use of and attitudes to QR codes, as a form of pull marketing, particularly in respect of: a. The characteristics of QR code use. b. Factors influencing use and adoption of QR codes. The next section briefly summarises previous research into mobile marketing, including the limited research on QR codes. Next, the methodology for the research is outlined. This is based on a questionnaire-based survey using a convenience sample. The following section reports and offers a critical discussion of the findings. Finally, the conclusions section summarises the contribution of the study, and offers recommendations for practitioners and for further research.

5.1. Contribution The objective of this research was to gain a deeper understanding of the drivers and barriers to consumer acceptance of mobile marketing and thus determine the critical success factors for marketers adopting mobile and QR Code marketing approaches. It also aimed to discover how smartphone technology has changed the way people use their mobile handsets and the implications this has for how marketers should harness the evolving potential of this channel. Overall, the findings indicate that as smartphone usage in the UK rises, increasing numbers of consumers are relying heavily on their handsets for communication and internet access, and that in areas such as mobile website design and content (including apps) consumer expectations are increasing dramatically. There has been limited previous research on consumer attitudes towards mobile marketing in the smartphone era, and hence this exploratory study offers some useful insights which could inform both practice and research. In relation to mobile marketing, the findings of this study both confirm and extend previous research. The negative attitudes towards mobile marketing identified in earlier studies based on earlier technologies, persist in the smartphone era. Users continue to view their mobile device as personal, and view text messages from companies as intrusive, and often delete them. The exceptions are text messages concerning mobile ticketing and alert/reminder services, which they presumably regard as useful. Even text messages regarding incentives that were found to be acceptable in earlier studies such as discounts, competitions and gifts are unwelcome. Respondents were concerned about trusting a company with their mobile phone number, but would be happier to receive mobile marketing if they felt they had more control, through, for example, opt-out options. Trust in a company is significantly impacted by the appearance, entertainment, value and functionality of a mobile website. Smartphone users felt more strongly about delivery in these areas than users of older technologies; expectations are increasing. As pull technologies, QR codes have considerable potential to supplant text-based mobile marketing communications and help organisations to overcome consumers’ negative attitudes towards mobile marketing communications. The findings from the research into QR code awareness and acceptance drivers suggest that consumers respond more positively towards QR code marketing than they do towards SMS marketing approaches, because they feel more in control. The primary use of QR codes is to access information on mobile websites, but there is some evidence that consumers are also using QR codes to access games, discount vouchers, competitions and other advertising. Most QR code accesses are in the street or at home, and consistent with this the two most scanned media are magazines, and outdoor adverts or posters. QR code users are relatively positive about continued use, but value ease of use, information/content and discounts; certainly users are motivated by the benefits that they perceive scanning a QR code to deliver. Non-users agreed on the value of information, content and incentives, but faced barriers arising from older technology, and lack of familiarity with QR codes and their potential benefits. 5.2. Recommendations This exploratory study has offered a range of insights into a variety of aspects of consumers’ attitudes towards mobile marketing in the smart phone era. However, further research is necessary to develop a more extensive evidence base before it will be possible to generalise regarding consumer attitudes towards mobile marketing in the smartphone era, and the most effective mobile marketing strategies in general, and the role and value of QR codes, more specifically. However, in the meantime, the findings from this study provide some useful indicators as to the nature of successful mobile marketing communications. The evidence from this study, supported by previous studies, is that consumers persist in viewing their mobile phones as being for their personal and social use, and marketing communication from companies is even less welcome through this channel, than through other channels. Accordingly, practitioners need to: 1. Develop an understanding of what motivates their customers to accept mobile marketing communications, including what consumers perceive as benefits in this context. Optimal strategies will vary between sectors and brands, and is likely to be impacted by the organisation's potential for engagement in those applications that consumers regard as valuable such as ticketing and appointment and travel alerts. 2. Hone their competence in marketing communications approaches that respond to consumers’ desire for control over the marketing communications that they recieve, and give consumers the confidence to trust them. 3. Develop a repertoire of pull marketing communications approaches, including website content and applications that customers value, and provide access to these and other content through QR codes. It is also clear that further research into marketing in the smartphone era, including QR code marketing is needed in order to find out more about what drives success in this area. Key foci for such research might include: 1. Further exploration of the marketing communications approaches that make consumers willing to engage with companies through the mobile channel, including a deeper understanding of the outcome of such engagement in terms of sales, brand awareness and other marketing objectives. 2. Investigation into the effect of demographic factors, such as age, gender, extent of mobile phone use, income level, and culture, on issues such as trust formation and benefit perception with mobile marketing communication, and identification with mobile phone handsets. 3. Further exploration of the value of QR codes and other pull technologies both to consumers and organisations, including the factors that drive their adoption and continued use, and the effect scanning a code may have on acquisition, retention or conversion rates.