Mobile Advertising is creating “a lot of interest”
Mobile advertising may be an emerging market but it is certainly generating a lot of interest, according to Matthew Hester, research director at Ipsos MediaCT.
In a presentation before the Mobile seminar at Thursday’s Media Playground conference, Hester said the potential of mobile advertising is gathering pace.
Incentivated’s Robert Thurner, who also presented at the Media Playground event in London, added: “It’s still a young industry and it’s about experimenting but mobile is developing. Companies are producing optimised content for various handsets and they need to continue to create ‘made for mobile’ content.”
Andy Smith, sales director at Admob, was just as positive: “Mobile advertising has had an outstanding start. This really is the time for mobile.”
However, a number of panellists said advertisers need to tread carefully because mobile phones are a personal medium.
“The issue is, people feel that their mobile is an extension of themselves,” said Steve Atkinson, group sales director at Clear Channel Outdoor.
“Mobile advertising could easily be an intrusion and we need to think about whether that will create a negative view of brands,” he added.
Tim Hussain, fellow panellist and head of mobile at Sky, agreed: “We have to be careful – mobile is the most private medium.”
However, another panellist believes that different age groups engage with mobile ads very differently and therefore thinks advertisers need to focus on their target audience and how they can communicate with them.
“It’s about creating various forms of communication because different age groups will naturally engage with mobile ads in a different way,” Shaun Gregory, managing director of the media sales division at 02, said.
“Advertisers need to add value to the core strategy and know their audience. Alot can be achieved through a mobile device, you only have to look at successful campaigns like Orange Wednesdays.
“Operators have a great opportunity and they need to drive mobile advertising campaigns. They need to focus on making the process easier and adding value for agencies.
“At the moment, it’s time consuming but cross-network solutions is the key and we’re not a long way off. Good things are coming.”
All the panellist agreed that last year was quite possibly the much-talked about ‘year of mobile’ with the launch of Apple’s iPhone, however, they all felt that while the iPhone revolutionised the mobile handset and focused the industry for the better, there is still more to come.
“We are now talking about the mobile computer, not the mobile phone, there is a fundamental difference” Todd Tran, managing director of Joule, said. “The iPhone has changed the industry, things are developing very quickly,”
However, Smith feels that 2008 was “the end of the beginning” and said the industry needs to raise awareness about the power of mobile so that by 2010 the medium is part of every media plan.
Hussain thinks this has already started – “There has been a big change and we are seeing more briefs on mobile. Agencies are starting to have an integrated approach.”
Gregory added: “We are trialing mobile in wider campaigns alot at the moment but we need to understand formats and what they are used for to make sure mobile is part of the mix.
“The challenge is to keep customer insight at the heart of each strategy, but do it in a speedily way to support advertisers. It’s all about relevant, targeted and valued adverts,” he added.
Atkinson concluded: “Mobile has a magnificent future.”