Mobile Marketing “fits for all”

Mobile fits for all marketing campaigns as long as advertisers pick the right target audience, according to Todd Tran, managing director of Joule.

Speaking at last week’s Media Playground conference in London, Tran said: “We can achieve lots of marketing objectives on mobile. Mobile fits for all but advertisers need to pick the right people and the right situation.

“Some campaigns have already proven this, just look at Orange Wednesdays and the Carling Pint. We’ve also seen huge success with Big Brother and American Idol direct response campaigns.

“However, mobile advertising is still in very early stages, as are agencies when it comes to mobile. Mobile hasn’t been integrated into overall campaigns, it tends to be an after thought, usually because of left-over money.

“We’re not there yet, everything takes time. It will take a few years for consumers to catch up, with things like new handsets, but the good news it that mobile is growing at a faster rate now.”

Tim Hussain, fellow panellist and head of mobile at Sky, added: “Mobile advertising will have mass reach in time, especially with the younger audience.

However, Clear Channel’s Steve Atkinson argued that mobile will not be able to achieve the same success as other forms of advertising, including television and outdoor.

“I don’t think mobile can achieve the same success as TV or outdoor advertising in terms of scale,” Atkinson said.

“The creative challenge is the issue with mobile, not the users. Building a brand through mobile advertising is very difficult,” he added.

Tran agreed to a certain extent: “The size of the screen is mobile’s weakness, even with new phones, but it’s about leveraging the strengths of each media. Locality is mobile’s strength compared to other mediums so we need to focus on that.”

Shaun Gregory, panellist and managing director of the media sales division at 02, added: “Mobile will play in all parts of above the line campaigns. Brands want to do it and they want to do it properly so they are taking their time but they will crack it.”