Posts tagged mobile advertising

Everybody’s musing about mobile advertising – is it really going to take off? is it where the money’s at? how can we avoid annoying the consumers? who is going to come up with the best model and what the hell is that going to be?!

Personally I’m sure that there are already some very bright start-ups that have come up with some pretty cracking ideas, but before they’re ready to unleash them, here’s a few things we can be sure of:

1. It’s not going to be advertising as we know it…or at least as we knew it yonks ago – marketing ‘messages’. Web 2.0 has given a voice to the masses – a way to communicate and share real opinions about products and services (Yelp, Trip Advisor, Alikelist) and nobody pays attention to the marketers message anymore. The best way to deliver ads to consumers is through the voices of their friends. If you can get my friends to tell me about your product/business, I’ll probably listen. (Way-to-go Blippy & Foursquare).

2. There’s going to have to be something in it for the consumer. Consumers want rewards. Thousands have signed up for advertisements dressed up as promotions on the likes of Groupon.com. They’re happy to receive news of products & services because there’s a prize, a discount in it for them. Everyone gets something – which is why these services have so far proved golden.

3. It’s got to be interactive. Consumers are pretty good at ignoring ads these days – if you want them to pay attention, you’re going to have to encourage them to engage with your ad. Twitter for example, is trying to implement this by only showing ads that Tweeter-folk favorite, retweet, or somehow mark as useful.

4. We’re all sick of paper, we’re green now. If you can send consumers tickets and vouchers that aren’t printed on chopped down trees, won’t get misplaced somewhere, accidentally washed or whatever else – they’ll happily receive them inside their telephone.
Check out these results from a recent test by Sony.

5. Obviously the most profitable and least annoying ads are going to be targeted to consumers likes, dislikes and demographic profiles (Google). But in order to use that information – which will be easy to harvest from consumer’s online mobile behavior – companies are (at first anyway) going to have to be open, and ask permission before doing so. Otherwise, they’ll have some freaked out consumers and privacy issues to deal with.

6. Compared to the PC, the mobile screen real-estate is rather little. We can’t go stuffing it with information. There’s going to be a strong link, between mobile ads and the internet. An online call to action, or a PC base to manage what flows through the mobile.  I think, to begin with, advertisers are going to start incorporating mobile in to their web based communications. Perhaps sending vouchers to your mobile, from online actions. Take a look at this from Groslch to see a clever example of using both mediums (& the 70.6% success rate it generated in peer to peer recommendation).

7. A large proportion of big brand communication is, in the next few years, going to be done with branded utility apps from the companies themselves. Fanta’s very clever app for teens – the Fanta Stealth Sound System – is one great example. We’re also going to be getting sponsored Augmented reality apps to help us navigate around events – like the World Cup, for certain – or stores (pointing us to recommended products and promotions, allowing us to plan out a shopping list online and carry it around on our mobile).

8. It’s going to be great. As someone passionate about advertising I’m no doubt biased. But the truth is, it really has to be. There is so much choice for consumers between apps and service providers, that in order to keep their subscribers loyal and their businesses alive, the ads these players incorporate will have to successfully pander to consumer demands: rewards, interaction and entertainment.
And, the money at stake here means that there are so many smart people out there working on cracking the golden ad model that we’re bound to see some truly brilliant, creative solutions.

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