MEC Manchester was very excited to attend the 5th Mobile Engage Conference by the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) earlier this month. It was held at the Mermaid Theatre, London and involved a range of expert speakers discussing key trends in the mobile marketing space.
Mobile advertising reached £1 billion in 2013, accounting for 16 per cent of all digital spend in the UK. The growing investment in the market shows how important this technology has become and how quickly it has got there. It’s not hard to see why this is the case, as with ever growing functionality in mobile phones they’ve become the hub to our lives while also being incredibly personal. During the conference the room was challenged to unlock their mobile phone and pass it to the stranger next to them, you could feel the whole room hesitate at this thought.
Mobile strategy has to be part of a brands consideration. In a study performed by looking at the top 50 FMCG brands by the IAB it found that only 54 per cent had a mobile optimised site and only 22 per cent had a responsive web design (enabling content to format based on what device you’re running). Thirty per cent of the brand investigated had no mobile presence at all, this is worrying when nearly 46 per cent of users will use a mobile device when researching.
There is an incredible amount of research into our relationship with mobile devices and where brands/advertising fits into this. A user’s relationship with mobile is unique and different to their relationship with other screens. This demands a different marketing mind set.
In a piece of research conducted by the IAB called real view there were a number of key insights that set the tone for users behaviour on each device. The below chart shows this clearly with the mobile phone being the time killing device, the tablet for entertainment and the laptop and desktop being for clear and decisive actions.
Advertising has a tough task to perform to this audience, they’re very protective about their device and they are looking to fill time on their mobile device. Think of mobile advertising as ‘Imagine that you had access to a persons diary – both the back copies and as it was being written: how would you advertise yourself in the diary?’
This question leads to a great formula ‘Smart Phones + Dumb Adverts = A Problem’. For a user its easy to get annoyed at mobile advertising. If done wrong it can lead to feedback such as
- Don’t waste my time – Mobile users expect instant information, a video which takes 2 minutes to load will not be a good experience
- Don’t invade my space – Personalising adverts is a good thing, but can go too far!
- Don’t tell me what to do, when to do it or who to do it with!
In an always on world context is the key to success, being part of this world is the most important thing. Mobile is only going to get bigger, with increasingly powerful handsets and faster networks users expect more and not being part of this is no longer viable.