Yahoo! going graphical with mobile phone ads

Text ads just aren’t interesting enough, it seems. You’ve got to wonder if Yahoo! is suffering a little too much from Google’s exponential growth because now the giant corporation has turned to graphical ads for mobile phones. They’re going to start blasting out pretty pictures to cell phones in an effort to “extend corporate brand marketing.” The initial test calls for “slimmed-down banner ads” that will hopefully not take up too much on your tiny cell phone screen: “The challenge is that because cellphone screens have limited real estate,” said JupiterResearch analyst Julie Ask, “ads have to be more relevant… There is an extra burden.”

Don’t worry. You shouldn’t be expecting random MMS messages from Yahoo!, but the next time you jump onto their Mobile Web service, you just might see a few “click here to win an iPod” type deals.