With budgets in the hundreds of thousands and now in the millions, mobile advertising is proving to be the fastest-growing ad vehicle across all channels – that much is obvious in our first State of Mobile Advertising 2011 Classic Guide.

A Sears Holdings Corp. executive said that mobile is key to the Sears and Kmart brands’ overall marketing, commerce and customer service strategy.

The past couple of years have been dominated by one-upmanship within the mobile advertising and marketing ecosystem. It seems the only way one mobile channel can succeed is by demeaning another. This must stop.

NEW YORK – Top brass at HSN have decided that a dedicated mobile team is necessary to differentiate the television retailer from competitors and ramp up its mobile commerce initiatives.

BALTIMORE – Retailers should prominently feature major promotions of the moment on their mobile commerce site’s homepage, per a QVC executive.

BALTIMORE – Having shepherded Toys ‘R’ Us and Godiva on mobile, Digby CEO Dave Sikora is confident that mobile commerce has entered a new stage.

With the economy on the mend – gullible enough to believe the data – it’s time for luxury brands to get out of hibernation and seriously launch mobile marketing and commerce efforts.

NEW YORK – Brands are using mobile to convert prospects to customers and processing transactions via handsets, making 2010 the year of mobile commerce.

Having organized two events last week focused on mobile marketing and commerce, it was clear that attending marketers and retailers got the message: the time to pull the trigger is now.

As retailers settle into their routine this year, one thing must change from 2009: mobile must no longer suffer benign neglect. At risk are dashed consumer expectations for consistent experience across store, catalog, online and mobile.