GOOGLE’S acquisition of AdMob is being hailed as ‘great news for the mobile advertising industry’, mainly as far as I can see by ‘mobile specialist’ analysts who have a vested interest in puffing out the feathers of their sphere of influence, and independent AdMob competitors who you know are speaking through gritted teeth as they see another of their exit strategies roadblocked off.
‘It’s great news, as it validates our business model’ they go on to cry, with the same pleading tones that football managers achieve after a cup defeat allows them to ‘concentrate on the league’.
Yes it’s great news. Great news for the AdMob employees and investors. But is it really great news for the mobile advertising industry.
The 800lb internet gorilla has snaffled up the leader in mobile advertising; a move which didn’t convey any feelings of stupefication but rather more of fait accompli. A good move, a smart move. An obvious move.
But is it really good news for the mobile advertising industry? Really? One of the biggest problems faced by all of the other gorillas on the internet advertising block, and all of the chimpanzees and marmosets for that matter, is their ability to influence the media planners as they cogitate where to spend their brand customer’s money.
The easy route, the safe route is to overload their media plans toward the 800lb gorillas, knowing that regardless of the campaigns’ actual outcomes, nobody will ever question a spend on a must have. This can lead to complacency, underperformance and can stifle the development of the overall market.
If this then transfers into the fledgling mobile media plans, then it will become even harder for the industry as a whole to develop.
Yes this acquisition does validate the future of mobile marketing, but for most of us in the business that has never needed validation. If this monopolises the mobile advertising market, then it’s definitely not good news for the industry.
We have all – including AdMob – had to work very hard to make this industry work. We will all have to work a hell of a lot harder now.
Mitch Paletz of Nokia Interactive explained what Nokia is doing in mobile advertising to the crowd, and then shared some thoughts on where we might head next in this interview http://imediaconnection.com/summits/coverage/24966.asp
Also check out Navteq's views on location based advertising http://www.imediaconnection.com/summits/coverage/24963.asp
Huey
We were reviewing some research on consumer acceptance of behaviorial targeting. And for anyone who has experienced ad targeting on Facebook or web email, it should not come as a surprise that people get a bit honked off at the intrusion of an ad that is behaviorally or demographically targeted. The fact is, I might find an ad for anti-wrinkle cream irritation, maybe even insulting. But I also just very well might click on it.
Shout out to everyone that attended the massive Ad Week party that we hosted at the Hudson Hotel last week.
For those of you that didn’t attend, the party was thrown with Navteq to celebrate the future of advertising – and if you haven’t guessed already we think that location will play a huge part in forming that future.
Not that too much business was discussed. ‘Raven the roving gyspy’ was working the room, reading palms and getting to grips with what your future might hold, while the rest of us got on with the serious business of cocktails.
Thanks to Mediapost for attending too, who did a great write up of the party at http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=114107
See you all at next year’s Ad Week party we throw.
Huey
So our first blog post, how exciting. Well, what's Mobile waves going to be all about you might ask? Well it's not about spurting out the same old, same old. It's about getting underneath the skin of what we see as the biggest (in effect) and smallest (in size) media channel ever. It's about having some fun, and unearthing new things that make our jobs more interesting.
And what is mobile advertising all about for a brand? Well it's not just about throwing up as many banners and driving as much traffic as you can. Increasingly it's about the quality of the customer you can reach, and how best to engage them.
There's so much traffic on online channels, and now on mobile channels that anyone can make some noise. But who are you shouting at? Most brands want to know.
Context is going to be a term you hear a lot about on this blog. Already mobile advertising enables fairly tight targeting: time relevant, targeted to a specific demographic etc. But soon we are going to see new waves and layers of context (such as location, social data) added to this, to make the services we use, and the advertising that funds them much more relevant.
And as for engagement, this is still the holy grail. Inventive solutions will continue to blur the lines between advertising and useful services, and brands need to be at the heart of this revolution.
Huey
