10 Things We Learned from the AdAge Mobile Marketing Panel

29 Sep 10 Things We Learned from the AdAge Mobile Marketing Panel

Posted at 02:25h in Uncategorized by

On Thursday morning a few of us attended the Digital Bytes Breakfast at the Time-Life building in Manhattan, hosted by AdAge. There’s a good recap on the AdAge site, so I won’t post it verbatim, but here are some key points worth noting — in particularly the comparisons to the early issues with the growth of the internet:

    1. Mobile marketing has huge potential, especially when you consider in the low cost per acquisition. Yes, that’s a direct marketing term, because that’s the potential for measurement and actual purchase.

 

    1. It’s all about the network. Reminiscent of dial up internet access, it’s up to the carriers to up their networks/coverage in order for it to provide a positive brand experience.

 

    1. Plan ahead. Because the various carriers require It takes a long time for a mobile campaigns to actually play out for various reasons: coding for various platforms, short code approval/lead time, etc.

 

    1. The need for standards. Designing and programming for various platforms and screen sizes can present obvious challenges.

 

    1. The slice of the marketing pie just got sliced thinner. Brands are experimenting with mobile and it’s coming from someone else’s budget.

 

    1. None of the panelists have iPhones (4 Blackberrys, 1 Nokia). In fact, the iPhone never came up as a target for mobile campaigns, even with an AT&T Mobile rep in the room.

 

    1. Old school measurement still rules. When asked what was deemed a successful campaign, the response was “reach” and “brand awareness”. Forget what I said earlier about direct marketing terminology, no one would disclose that sales went up after their campaigns ran. I guess that’s why this was hosted as part of AdWeek and not a DMA-hosted gig.

 

    1. Resumes from all backgrounds are being accepted. Much like the tech boom, there’s a talent shortage (shout out to Colin) in this space.

 

    1. Give me my money back. No, I’m not talking about the conference fee. 😛 The aforementioned network issues have started a debate on price per click refunds. In particular, if a potential customer clicks but the network drops the connection, shouldn’t the brand receive a refund?

 

    1. Youth rules. The panel felt that 13-26 year olds will really drive this medium.

 

I had one major exception to a point that was made. The gentleman from Yahoo said “People love ads”. Nope, they don’t. They tolerate advertisements to get to what they really want, which is the actual product. Which, consequently, is what people really love – great products