Glu Mobile's Patrick Mork took one of the tricky afternoon slots at Develop Mobile today, covering key learnings from Transformers and other mobile games, in a marketing sense.

He kicked off with the reasons people are playing mobile games. They included simple time-killing, but also because they're easy to pick up and play. He also said mobile games should be fun for short bursts.

On average a Spanish gamer plays anywhere from 14 to 18 minutes per session, "and a UK gamer plays for less than that," he said.

Where are people playing? Mork said over 70 per cent of mobile gamers are playing when waiting for public transportation, or when they're on it. "For us as marketeers, this should present an opportunity to communicate with customers," he said.

More than 40 per cent of mobile gamers play at home. Glu ran some German focus groups, and found people would play mobile games for 15-20 minutes before going to bed, while sat in front of the TV.

Also popular was playing in school, between classes (or during classes). But waiting situations (bus stops again) are particularly good for marketing apparently, says Mork. Catch people while they're bored and swearing about the state of the nation's bus network...

Mork served up some UK-specific facts. Puzzle games are more than a fifth of the mobile games market. Quiz games are nearly 9 per cent of the market, thanks to the success of Deal or No Deal and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

Arcade action comes third apparently - this rather goes against M:Metrics's data presented earlier - but Mork says individual titles are short-lived.

Racing is fourth - again, contrary to what M:Metrics said - maybe the UK is a more hardcore market. The fifth most popular genre is 'god sims', which includes games like The Sims.

Then Mork presented some key criteria shared by the most successful mobile games. First was that they're evergreen - they sell a lot of copies over a long period, they're brands like Tetris and Pac-Man that provoke nostalgia, and they appeal across all demographics.

Mass Market was the second - games designed to be enjoyed by men, women, young people, older people, gamers with rubbish handsets and so on.

Successful games are easy to play and difficult to master, said Mork. And lastly, games have to be the best in their class, particularly when they're console conversions.

Can console games work on mobile? Mork says yes, even if they don't become top sellers or evergreens. He cites Pro Evolution Soccer as an example of a strong enough console brand.

However, they have to be believable on mobile. "Quake may sound cool and sexy for mobile, but how believable is it to have that on mobile?" he asked. "It has to be something that's achievable. Call of Duty 4 would be an example for us."

Mork also says console properties have to be adapted to mobile - not just crude ports, but games that leverage the unique properties of mobile.

He then went into more depth on Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 on mobile, which he says is one of Glu's top five sellers here in Europe. Glu is chuffed with the one-button control method that Konami developed for more casual players.

Next Mork turned his attention to Age Of Empires III, which he says has been "a success against the odds". Why? "When we first sat down with Microsoft, we wondered how we could take something this complex and make it work on mobile."

So, one-thumb controls, but gameplay depth with campaigns, skirmishes and decent artificial intelligence.

Next Mork gave some specifics on how Glu markets its mobile games. The first is licensor co-marketing - "you have to take advantage of all the resources they have at their disposal". So tagging on leaflets inside console games, running joint promotions, and bagging 'money can't buy' prizes.

Next is third-party marketing, with handset makers, consumer goods firms and even fast food chains. It obviously helps if you're making, say, a game based on the new Batman movie.

Third comes carrier marketing, running promos with the operators, getting demos embedded on handsets, and traditional above the line marketing.

Finally, Glu runs its own marketing campaigns.

He gave some examples for the first Transformers mobile game, which included advertising it on packet of crisps. People entered a competition, and could win the mobile game or game demos as prizes (with the idea being that some of the others would actually buy the game).

Glu also worked with Woolworths, together with Hasbro, which was "pushing the hell" out of the Transformers toys. Woolworths had a dedicated Transformers section on its website, and Glu built a mobile section for that, offering wallpapers, ringtones and the game.

What's more, there was a branded Transformers N93i handset from Nokia. In the Russian market, in case you're wondering why you didn't see it in the UK.

"This is the most effective marketing tool apart from premium deck placement," said Mork, who said Glu has found conversion rates of between eight and 30 per cent from preloading demos on handsets.

Still on Transformers, Mork explains that Glu advertised the game on mobile internet sites - "we have found click-through rates from two to three per cent, up to anywhere like 15 per cent, from a .mobi site in Germany," says Mork.

What about own-IP brands? Glu piggybacks on some of its brand-based relationships, inviting partners to market own-IP games. Glu has also worked with Brain Genius to get it embedded on handsets, which generated sales, which put it into the deck Top 10s, and so sales rose from there.

"You have less arrows in your quiver, but it is possible," he says. Glu is also looking at marketing with social media - having launched a Flash version of Brain Genius 2 recently, which is being used virally with partners and aggregators.