Building BRIC creates strong foundation

Brazil, Russia, India and China – collectively known as BRIC – represent the next big growth curve for both the mobile and interactive marketing industries, a new report from Internet marketing research firm eMarketer indicates.

Home to more than 40 per cent of the world’s population, the BRIC countries form the core of an emergent global middle class of more than one billion people by 2015.

eMarketer forecasts that the BRIC countries will account for more than 1.7 billion mobile phone subscribers by 2012 and expects 680 million subscribers to access mobile Internet.

The report asserts that mobile will be the primary interactive screen for this new generation of consumers and that no major advertising agency can ignore the BRIC countries in pitching a global brand, especially China and India.

Likewise, the largest global telecommunications companies have bet a large amount of their future growth on sales to BRIC-based mobile operators.

John du Pre Gauntt, senior analyst and author of the report, Mobile BRIC: Extreme Growth Ahead, stated that marketers need to keep in mind that “mobile is the Internet” for an increasingly large and attractive consumer segment.

As these huge populations within BRIC accumulate disposable income, they are poised to form interactive relationships with local and global brands primarily through the mobile phone,” Pre Gauntt said.

“With PC and broadband penetration far below that of mobile, marketers and mobile operators find themselves in uncharted territory.”

Five of the world’s 10 largest cities are located in BRIC, along with four of the five top markets for new mobile subscribers.