Vibes, a mobile marketing company, today announced the release of WalletAds, a patent-pending mobile ad technology that enables consumers to "tap and save" branded content and offers to Apple's Passbook or Google Wallet directly from a mobile ad, according to a press release.

According to the latest mobile wallet report released by Forrester Research last week, mobile wallets will see tremendous growth in 2015. For consumers, loyalty and coupons are the highest requested benefits for mobile wallet (more than 50 percent in the U.S. requested both), and for the industry, 41 percent of marketers plan to use mobile wallets in the next year, up from 14 percent in 2014. BI Intelligence also says spending on mobile advertising is expected to increase to $42 billion by 2018, growing much faster than any other digital advertising category.

Despite this significant expenditure, Vibes said mobile advertising is fraught with many issues for advertisers and consumers alike. Most mobile banner ads take consumers to either a mobile commerce site, where 97 percent then abandon their shopping carts, or to download an app, which requires many extra steps for the consumer. As a result, purchases resulting directly from mobile ads are very low.
 
Vibes said WalletAds solves this problem by letting consumers click on mobile ads then save branded content, such as coupons and special offers, directly to their phones using Apple's Passbook (on iPhones) or Google Wallet (on Android devices). This can be done in just two taps and will enable the consumer to save the offer for when they next make a purchase, whether in-store or online. 
 
WalletAds also enables brands to send updates and push-like notifications directly to the consumer's saved mobile wallet content, reminding them of offers they have saved, at relevant times and influencing the consumer through the entire purchase process. 
 
"Mobile advertising is broken, but the rapid growth of mobile wallets is set to change that," said Jack Philbin, CEO and co-founder of Vibes. "By making the consumers' personal mobile wallet the post-click destination for any mobile ad they click on, we are giving them a far more effective way to respond to the ad, which will in turn bring greater ROI for advertisers."
 
Here are the main ways WalletAds intends to make mobile advertising more effective and easier for both advertisers and consumers:

• Persistence and Retargeting. Vibes' data from 400+ mobile wallet campaigns shows that 90 percent of mobile wallet content is never deleted once consumers save it to Passbook or Google Wallet. WalletAds retargeting presents the opportunity for marketers to leverage this living entity, engage with their consumers, collect redemption data and store it in their database for application in future advertising efforts.
• Prime placement. With the exceptional momentum Apple Pay is already showing, WalletAds gives brands access to arguably the most valuable real estate on the phone today: the mobile wallet. Advertisers using WalletAds can position their brands' content side-by-side with consumers' credit cards and on the device consumers use most.
• Device detection. Vibes' device detection technology automatically sends Passbook content to iPhones and Google Wallet content to Android devices. 
• Measureable ROI. WalletAds can be integrated into any mobile advertising campaign in seconds, giving businesses a seamless way to turn mobile ads into valuable mobile offers for their customers. Businesses will also have the ability to finally measure and analyze the results on their mobile advertising spend and attribute those results to a mobile ad the same way they would their other channels.

As an official Apple developer and one of only a handful of official Google Wallet partners, Vibes claims it sends more branded content (coupons, loyalty cards, etc.) to Passbook and Google Wallet than any other company. 

To capitalize on this opportunity, Vibes has hired Brian Bradtke to lead its newly formed Mobile Wallet Advertising division. Prior to joining Vibes, Bradtke played a key role in building the digital advertising services division for Experian, one of Experian's fastest growing business segments. With more than 25 years of expertise in direct marketing, database, agency and digital advertising, Bradtke is an expert in the application of data and new technology in the digital advertising ecosystem.

Vibes is actively building a network of partnerships across mobile advertising networks, ad tech companies, publishers and social media companies, according to the announcement.