Mobile Marketing Goes Cross-Media!

Silo’d Media Mix? Learn how to effectively integrate Mobile into your Overall Digital Strategy

With ever-smarter portable devices, the line is blurring as to What is Mobile and What is Online. By 2013 more then 50% of web usage will occur via Mobile. This growth will require marketers and media companies to combine their approaches to mobile and online.

ADObjects and InternetMarketingConference (IMC) have joined forces to bring this first in a series of unique mobile cross-media events that will discuss how Brand Marketers, Agencies, and Publishers can efficiently enter a strategy of mobile and online convergence.

This must-attend event will answer critical questions that are key to your converged future.

Hear from 30+ experts from leading companies including  iCrossing, Insight Express, Google, Microsoft,  MTV, Strawberry Frog and Tweetdeck as they cover major issues such as:

• How can I leverage a mobile strategy efficiently with my existing online resources?
• Should I not just design my existing website to be accessed by Mobile?
• Who are the best online partners to consider?
• How can I evolve my online customer acquisition and retention strategies for mobile?
• How to I manage analytics and social media strategies to include mobile?
• What should I do about transferring my online rich media assets and video to mobile?
• How do I incorporate my existing ecommerce strategies with mobile?

With the recent announcements of Apple and the iAD release even thought the mobile networks such as Crisp, Millennial Media and a variety of others are launching services around iAD, I have been in discussion with many mobile ad networks that are a bit worried.

In the online advertising world there has been  the ad network business, the ad server business, the ad exchange business, the yeild management and analytics business and a variety of others. Even the buy and sell side have been separated to match the processes of the agency world.  In Apple’s endeavors to enter this space, they made a very interesting choice to be in the Ad Server, Ad Network, Ad Exchange and then manage the publisher relationships.  They went after the entire value chain!  At least is seems this way?

iAD could have been potentially an adserver strategy  like Doubleclick once was to the Ad Networks.  They had two products; one for Agencies and one for Publishers.   The only different would have been that  Apple integrated an Ad server like strategy into the platform, and then let the creativity come from the ad networks that surround around it.  The fact that Apple bought an ad network ( Quatto) to be part of iAD is like the analogy of  Google buying Doubleclick and integrating in an adnetwork.  Nothing is wrong with this when you are in a position to do so.   I think Apple might have been potentially wiser to stick with ad server like strategy over an ad network one for starters to be more neutral in the industry, as this is just my feeling as it would have been in alignment with the iphone platform strategy today…. just being sandwiched in the middle and taking a cut of the action.   To also become an  ad networks  would mean some level of competition to get brands to place ads via Apple versus the other ad networks for inventory…..time will certainly tell how Apple manages this, and even though being agnostic might had been a good first choice, they are in a great position build a great ad network for themselves and own everything since the world and users love the product.

Hard to be agnostic when you have the entire value chain and you want others to sit next to you, that is for sure.   It is like Apple becoming a record label trying to pull artists away from other record labels to join their network at the same time asking the record labels to link to their distribution…. I guess you can say they are doing this somewhat as well.   Apple has done a great job at being agnostic to a certain point even though it is a closed ecosystem.   There was a comfort in partnership and a long term trust from participants.

So I guess now that  they have the momentum, why not do it themselves? Google did this with Doubleclick.   Is this not like  it has been in the media world all the time? Companies do a lot of syndicating back and forth..  Disney definitely sells ads for its network, and so does most other media.   It is a clear indication that direct networks will stay  the predominate force for direct  network publishers.  I guess you could ask, how a company like Glam is any different?  They own a lot of publishers that are part of their focused verticals.  The difference I guess is that Apple now owns the entire thing ( the horizontal as well)  when content moves through the platform.

Today is a very exciting day in the field of brand marketing and advertising!  It marks the day of the Advertising Revolution in my mind. Steve Job announced iAD at the iPhone 4.0 Dev conference.  It has been something we have all been anticipating for some time.  I myself have been looking at the ideas around emotional brand marketing and interactivity with mobile as a core part of our work here at ADObjects.   As the mobile device is so personal it is our emotional amplifier.  It is with us night and day and clearly something we just can not keep our eyes off of… it goes way beyond the SMS lead, but what experience surrounding the brand.

Our vision and motto: Digital Hand. Analog Touch is further realized….

Well Apple gets it and keeps revolutionizing upon the vision of all of us in the media space for what the true mobile device can be all about. Besides creating a massive ecosystem for publishers to bring unique new tantalizing experiences via applications, they have set a new bar in bringing out this exciting platform for brand marketers…

Here is some of the coverage……. not only is today the day of the Golf Masters where Tiger Woods is back with NIKE,  Steve obviously is bringing NIKE as an example at such a serendipitous time.   NIKE is attacking brand marketing from all different angles today!

1) iPhone Nike Ad Demo

Here is the coverage on Techcrunch

2) Apple Announces the iAD mobile advertising platform

And here is the comprehensive coverage of the day on gdgt.

3) Live iPhone 4.0 coverage

So now we have video, information, click-to-action and all different exciting formats blended together for brand marketers in a unique delivery system that came from the foundation of the mobile advertising company Quattro Wireless.  Regardless of what they paid for this company, Apple has been able to transform the vision of unique engagement marketing into there magical experience around the iPhone. Google has been about reach and performance via clicks-on-links.   Apple is about reach and performance based on clicks-on-emotions.   Our from this we will see new metrics emerge for the foundations of brand marketing as part of the conversion funnel such as CTE ( Click-to-Emotion).

How exciting is it going to be now to see how all the incumbents match this challenge.   Google is still in discussion with the FTC over Admob, Microsoft has been so focused on Search, and all the mobile advertising companies out there are trying to innovate in there own right with new mobile ad formats and concepts to bring differentiation.   This is big day as it will definitely get  media buyers to go deeper with their creative producers in the agencies to build that new from of brand-experience  for their clients with mobile.

Here is a recent chart published by Silicon Valley Insider on the relative Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)/ Year in 2009 for some of the leading Internet players.  Google leads the pack with an ARPU of >$18 USD, where as the social media players are still much lower.  I think it is going to be interesting year in 2010 as Facebook/Twitter and others really build on there social advertising strategies.   I think what would be interesting to model is the time it took Google to reach this value as opposed to now both Facebook and Twitter.

I was once  told that the advertising business is “a distribution constrained business”;  based on the quality of segmentation and reach.  As Social channels do offer that deep insight, as they move from a Social utility business structure to more Social entertainment, I am interested to see how high they will go over the next 5 years and the major brands gravitation toward them.

There have been many charts that show Google’s search growth has been relatively flat, so  I would expect their first priority is definitely to move toward innovative location-based local advertising with a focus on mobile.  Even if we were to add up $18 per person for year for 2 years= $36 does not completely buy a mobile device.  There is still a long way to go for a free phone powered by advertising only by Google.

In a recent article by Fiercewireless’s Jason Ankeny, he describes first and foremost the cool things that brands have been able to do with Applications and mobile.  Even though I am a true beleiver in the real experiences that can be generated with direct brand engagment and applications, I still feel that there is a long way to go with the potential here. iPhones are still limited in market penetration and with the explosion of new app stores there is clearly a problem for cross-platform and distribution simplicity for a brand manager.  Nokia recently in it’s Monaco developer forum (last month) made it very clear they are working on leveraging thier ” widget” framework off the browser for developers and really showcased some cool things to come.  Although it is still early, I am quite interested to see where developers will continue to migrate to get the bigged bang for the buck, but with “brands” starting to also drive this process, there may be ubiquitous targeting of multiple platforms from the get-go with this sponsor making it all happen.  As they say, “Apple” blew a hole in the window and now all the flys can come through……