eMarketer estimates the US mobile advertising market will reach $593 billion this year, driven in part by evidence of high response rates and branding effectiveness.
According to market research firm InsightExpress, mobile ads are significantly more effective than online ads across several branding metrics. In a study of US mobile and online campaigns, exposure to mobile advertisements provided two and a half times the lift of online ads for ad awareness, for example, and a striking six times the lift in purchase intent.
Not all mobile ads are created equal, and format plays a role in branding effectiveness. Mobile Internet ads gave the biggest boost to several metrics, including ad awareness and purchase intent. But mobile video ads provided the greatest nudge to brand favorability.
The audience of the ad also mattered. InsightExpress, in its “Digital Consumer Portrait,” divided the mobile user world into three segments: “mobile intensives,” “mobile casuals” and “mobile restraineds.”
The first group, which is affluent and likely to own a smartphone and say they are influenced by ads, were most likely to click on mobile Internet banners, which they generally did not find annoying. Full-page ads were most noticeable but had lower click rates and were seen less favorably. Mobile intensives make up about 15% of mobile users.
Mobile casuals and restraineds were less likely to click or notice any type of ad. Sponsored apps, which had low click potential among intensives, had the highest among the less-intense majority of mobile users. The apps were also the most noticeable format for these groups.
Mobile Retail Market To Be Worth US$12 Billion By 2015
Juniper Research has predicted that the mobile retail market will be worth US$12 billion by 2015 in its “Mobile Marketing & Retail Strategies” report covering 2009-2014.
The report states that the mobile retail market is currently worth US$4.1 billion, but it predicts that it will grow by an amazing 24% a year on average over the next 5 years.
Juniper believes that there is a 4-stage cycle that various markets go through in the mobile retail as shown in the diagram below. The four stages are:
First - the majority of products sold over mobile are related to mobile content, e.g. ringtones, games, etc.
Second - external brands from outside the mobile eco-system try out the media in ad-hoc campaigns.
Third - Brands come back for repeat advertising campaigns, and enable direct purchase of products.
Fourth - brands make mobile an integral part of their multi- platform strategy, both for marketing and for direct sales.
In terms of what makes up this mobile retail forecast, there are three components that Juniper has included: mobile coupons, mobile advertising, and mobile smart posters.
“At the present time the market is dominated by revenues from mobile coupons, which accounted for two-thirds of the market in 2009,” says report author and senior analyst, Howard Wilcox. “However, as digital ad spend is increasingly transferred into the mobile space, then mobile advertising will gradually reel in and overhaul coupons, and will comprise the bulk of revenues by 2013.”
Paul Berney, MMA Managing Director for EMEA says, “There is no doubt that mobile will become a fundamental part of retailers’ communication strategies; providing a key channel for not only the promotion of products and offers to consumers to drive footfall and sales but also to establish a relationship of engagement and interaction with customers both in store and beyond.”
Multichannel Retailers Upgrade, but Not to Mobile YET!
APRIL 15, 2010
Four in five have no mobile presence
Website redesigns are in the cards for about two-thirds of multichannel retailers, according to the “Outlook 2010: E-Commerce” survey from Multichanel Merchant. Online retailers are looking to refresh their look and improve search engine optimization, navigation and conversion rates.
They are also looking to add more advanced features, such as social media tools, video, forums and personalized recommendations. Mobile, though, is barely on the horizon for most survey respondents.
Four in five US multichannel retailers polled said they were not using any mobile commerce functionality in February 2010. The most common m-commerce application in use was mobile advertising, and just 6.5% of respondents had a mobile site. Slightly fewer had an iPhone app.
According to Forrester Research, 25% of US online retailers are planning at least some mobile features for 2010, compared with just 4% in 2009. North American retail executives told RIS in January 2010 that they hoped to increase customer engagement through m-commerce by serving consumers the way they want to be served.
Kedar Sohoni of Informate about some mobile consumption trends in India.
According to Sohoni, “Mobile Internet will be bigger than what most think. Globally, more users are likely to connect to the Internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs. The ramp up of mobile Internet will be a lot faster than desktop Internet.”
Citing an example, Sohoni said, “It took iPhone and iTouch just nine quarters to reach a base of 57 million users.”
“3G will drive the reach and popularisation of Mobile Internet. We seem to be at an inflection point as 3G will soon cross 20 per cent penetration worldwide,” he added.
Speaking about mobile Internet in India, Sohoni said that it was already at a significant level in the country. He supported his statement with some interesting data. “India is in the forefront in the global mobile Internet marketplace. India ranks No. 2 (second only to the US) in the global ad requests served by AdMob, one of the largest mobile ad networks in the world. India ranks third among the top markets for Opera Mini, which reported that page views and unique users in India have gone up by 202 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively, in the last 15 months. Informate’s own analysis based on actual usage of SmartPhone handsets shows that mobile Internet pageviews have more than doubled in the last six months,” he pointed out.
Commenting on smartphone usage, he said, “Only a quarter of the time spent on smartphones in India is for voice/ SMS communication. Entertainment, browsing and applications dominate overall time spends.”
Looking into the future, Sohoni said, “More music will be consumed in India through mobile phones than through any other medium within the next few years. The mobile phone will be the No. 1 gaming device in India when it comes to share of time spent. Six out of every 10 users players have played a game in a last one month. The mobile phone will be the No. 1 medium for delivering ‘Breaking News’ in the future even as news on the mobile is on rise. One out of every seven users accesses news on their mobile phones through their phone browser. Eleven per cent of the users have used a downloadable news application on their phone in the previous month. Eventually, more people will access social networking sites through their mobile phones than through desktop PCs.”
He further said, “More searches will happen on mobile phones than desktop PCs. Search is the most popular genre on mobile Internet. With more than 70 per cent penetration and a close to 7 per cent share of pageviews, search dominates the mobile web in India. Our smart meter tracker reveals that telecom websites have high reach, but are clicked significantly lesser number of times than other web categories. New mantras on the web like content sharing, entertainment, Web communication and specific interest areas like BFSI and sports have low reach and pageviews, but they are expected to catch up fast.”
As for mobile advertising, according to Sohoni, “The advertising dollar will eventually follow eyeballs and there are already a lot of eyeballs glued to the mobile in India. Advertising dominates global desktop Internet revenue. That’s not the case for mobile Internet today, where advertising accounts for a small share. But there is large scope for disruptive innovation for monetising the opportunities that the medium has made available. At the same time, strong reliable metrics will act as a catalyst to the growth of mobile advertising.”
According to a report published yesterday by comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world should be of particular concern for marketing and advertising professionals, as well as businesses using or looking to use either service to increase brand awareness and increase sales.
Of particular note, the report discovered that 30.8 percent of smartphone users accessed social media or social networking sites via their mobile browser in January 2010, a rise of 8.3 percentage points from the same period last year. Even more staggering? Facebook mobile experienced a 112 percent rise in use, bettered three fold by Twitter, which saw a 347 percent spike in use via mobile devices.
According to Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile, “Social networking remains one of the most popular and fastest-growing behaviours on both the PC-based Internet and the mobile Web, and social media is a natural sweet spot for mobile since mobile devices are at the centre of how people communicate with their circle of friends, whether by phone, text, email, or, increasingly, accessing social networking sites via a mobile browser.”
In 2009, the media buying community discovered mobile media works. Advertisers in a broad range of verticals shared results proving mobile is an effective medium for driving awareness, acquisition and purchase. "Is this the Year of Mobile?" can be retired. Media buyers are being asked -- 'What's your mobile strategy for 2010?'
Many factors contributed to the development of the mobile ecosystem and the excitement we see. Dozens of companies, including the MMA and the IAB, worked to build the foundation of mobile media. It all came together in 2009 as mobile web usage exploded, with more than 61 million people in the US accessing it in December 2009, according to Nielsen. In 2010, agencies, advertisers and publishers will need a plan for mobile.
The top five things you need to know about buying mobile media in 2010:
1) Ask for case studies
Mobile advertising is 3-4 years old and evolving rapidly. Ask sellers for case studies on mobile campaigns
2) Check out what mobile can and can't do.
Focus on your needs and let your mobile seller explain the options available.
Rich media will grow significantly in 2010, but the solutions are limited compared to online. Web-based Flash is still not available on most phones. There are different rich media solutions for different platforms; some work on webkit browsers (Android, Research In Motion, Windows, Palm Pre) and some are vendor-specific solutions for iPhone apps.
3) Drive traffic, track user interactions, repeat.
Jump in. Start with a basic call-to-action and drive users to a simple landing page with a few relevant means of engagement. Track what happens. Mobile user behavior may surprise you -- you won't believe their insatiable appetite for video content, for example -- and use the learnings from one campaign to inform future mobile campaign strategies. (In Ireland Text KIA to 51444 standard rate text to see an example)
By Webster Lewin , senior VP-director of digital innovation and strategy at MS&L
October 2009
Recently, Advertising Age reported on the 400% surge in mobile video uploads to YouTube, attributed to the new iPhone 3GS. Beyond the implications of what that may mean for the value of ad inventory on YouTube, one thing is clear: There is an inseparable link between social media and mobile devices.
As the capabilities of these devices expand, we can expect that updating social-network sites via mobile will continue to increase and may eventually even surpass the wired web. Social networks like Twitter and Facebook are remarkably dependent on mobile access for the value they provide to their users. I would also argue that mobile status updates are, by their very nature, timelier, more relevant and potentially more interesting to their readers.
The mobile web version of YouTube is outstanding, and has well over 4.6 million users that log in many times a month.
Today, every major social network offers its users a range of mobile services, from mobile web access to downloadable mobile applications. Although consumers with high-end devices may be the primary users of these mobile services, some social networks also offer a number of SMS-driven features that allow consumers to stay engaged by text, even on low-end mobile phones. This represents a big opportunity for brands to maximize their efforts and move consumers easily between their mobile and social media experiences.
While social media campaigns are becoming more common, we often see that when agencies and brands begin their engagement with social networks, they act as if their entire audience is on a computer -- the mobile aspects of social media are frequently neglected. And the reverse can also be said about many brands' initial mobile marketing efforts: They often neglect to effectively integrate the power of mobile social-media elements (even when these elements already exist) to further engage consumers and fans of the brand.
Twitter
Twitter is a great example of the power of mobile and social media working together. According to Nielsen, more than 3 million Twitter users in the U.S. alone regularly access the service via the mobile web. Additionally, many consumers are frequently using Twitter through SMS and a range of downloadable mobile applications for iPhone, BlackBerry and other mobile devices. This makes Twitter an easy and seamless way to drive consumers to mobile content.
If you're already actively using Twitter for a brand, consider how mobile-friendly your tweets are. If you're including links to content on YouTube, Flickr and many other social-networking sites that automatically redirect users to their mobile versions of pages, you're doing great. But if you are sending Twitter users to a page on your all-Flash website or content that could potentially crash a phone's browser, you should consider posting both mobile-friendly and non-mobile links to important content that you want to share.
Some social networks offer a number of SMS-driven features that allow consumers to stay engaged by text, even on low-end mobile phones.
Also, if your brand has a mobile site and a Twitter account, then why not invite your mobile users to click over and follow your tweets right then and there? I've only seen a handful of brands take advantage of this easy integration point.
Facebook
According to Nielsen, Facebook is the No. 7 mobile website in terms of reach. About 15% of Facebook users (11 million) in the U.S. regularly access the social network's mobile web version (not to mention various downloadable versions and the roughly three million users who use SMS). Users visit the mobile web version an average of over 18 times per month and each visit lasts about 10 minutes.
At the time of this writing, Facebook fan pages are just beginning to be supported on the mobile web, and hopefully soon on mobile applications as well. Once they are fully supported, that will open up mobile social-media integration opportunities. Already, the Facebook Connect service is allowing brands to link their iPhone apps to users' profiles, and Facebook Connect has potential for mobile websites as well.
Facebook recently launched a new feature for fan pages that allows users to subscribe via SMS. This is a free service that essentially gives any brand with a Fan Page the ability to send targeted SMS updates to their fan's mobile phones if they have opted into the service. However, only a few brands have effectively used this new feature, and more work needs to be done to actively engage fans with it by including content that is relevant to mobile users.
YouTube
YouTube is a powerful social network and content site, and by far the most ubiquitous in terms of the number of platforms and devices that it can be accessed from. Even on mobile, there are a number of distinct ways that users can access the full range of mobile content. The native versions of YouTube that come pre-installed on iPhones, Android phones like the G1, and the Palm Pre offer the best mobile user experience. However, the mobile web version is also outstanding, and has well over 4.6 million users that log in many times a month.
Any brands that are on YouTube and are also doing mobile, but are not integrating the two, are missing an important opportunity. Your mobile site is just a click away from lots of video, and you can add links to video descriptions that can be used to drive users back to your brand's mobile site for more. Also, consider the power of video to influence consumers at the point of sale. Virtually everyone who walks down a store aisle these days has a device in their pocket that gives them the ability to get to your brand's video content. You just need to take a few simple steps to connect the dots.
Quality vs. Quantity
Both mobile and social media are more about reaching niche audiences and getting them actively engaged than they are about massive reach. They are about getting personal with the consumer, which makes both social media and mobile impressions more valuable. These consumers are fully engaged. They have raised their hands and want to know more. And once they've told you they're interested in more, they will be disappointed if they don't get it.
Some who look at social media and mobile through marketing goggles question reach and how these channels can be used to sell consumers more stuff. But in the era of Web 2.0, part of the selling process is increasingly becoming about the art of being there for the consumer in the always-on environment of mobility- charged social media. It's about offering something of value, creating movements that build over time, engaging with passionate fans and giving them the tools to influence others.
By using a multichannel approach to social media that fully leverages mobile communications, you will have a much greater likelihood of gaining critical mass for your social media initiatives. You'll gain even more valuable social media impressions, and most importantly a growing list of brand fans that you can continue to communicate with. It will allow consumers to digitally participate in this brand movement anywhere -- and anytime.
Rachel Pasqua
Director, Mobile Advertising
iCrossing
Rachel Pasqua joined digital marketing agency iCrossing in 2005 to build the agency’s mobile division. As a digital strategist, Ms. Pasqua is interested in ambient media—the rapidly evolving interactive ecosystem that exists beyond the traditional desktop. She is a proponent of using emerging channels such as mobile, near-field communications, social media, GPS and image recognition to build strong relationships between brands and consumers.
Ms. Pasqua spoke with eMarketer about what makes for effective mobile marketing.
eMarketer: At what point in the process do marketers meet with you to discuss their needs for strategizing, building and implementing mobile campaigns?
Rachel Pasqua: At what point in the process do they or at what point in the process should they? I think almost all of them come to us sort of postfact. They’ll have everything else set up. Their site will be built or they’ll have already planned out their display campaign. They’ll have sorted everything out and then they end up tacking mobile on at the end.
eMarketer: So, somewhat like search was a couple of years ago?
“Mobile is an afterthought in campaigns, and hence it becomes more confusing, more expensive and less effective.”
Ms. Pasqua: Mobile is an afterthought in campaigns, and hence it becomes more confusing, more expensive and less effective.
In a perfect world, every brand would be addressing the mobile opportunity for every media touchpoint from the very beginning of the strategic discovery phase. Planning a Website redesign today without thinking about mobile users is a recipe for failure, or at least a recipe for a less successful site than you could have.
Most major brands, if they take a good, hard look at their site analytics, will see a significant amount of traffic coming from mobile devices—mobile devices that won’t be able to handle their desktop site to the best advantage. I think failing to take those users into account will have serious repercussions.
eMarketer: What is the process for developing a campaign? To what extent is it common across categories?
Ms. Pasqua: To a large extent, it depends on your goals and the audience you’re trying to reach. Shaping an accurate portrait of your target users is an important first step regardless of what you hope to achieve.
An essential question you need to answer is whether your audience is made up of feature phone or smartphone users. The more sophisticated your users, the more sophisticated you can get with your solutions.
I think developing a persona-based approach is the way to go—developing solid personas for your core demographics and then coming up with user journeys and figuring out which technologies to plug in based on who those users are, what types of devices they’re using, what types of media you know that they respond to.
If you are mainly addressing an audience of feature phone users, you should focus your efforts on SMS and basic WAP sites. If you have a lot of smartphone users, you can think higher-level and expand your repertoire to include apps, Bluetooth, augmented reality and image recognition.
As for business goals, a mobile Website is the first order of business no matter what your goals. Branding, direct marketing and search visibility are all enhanced by providing an optimal mobile user experience.
Think about it: If you don’t have a place to drive traffic, or if you do have a place to drive traffic that no one is going to be able to use, you’re going to lose a lot of potential customers. If your concerns are CRM, direct marketing and advertising, then SMS is your go-to solution. Apps are pretty flexible and can serve many purposes, but done right they are the best tool there is for branding.
eMarketer: From your experience, does mobile work better for certain kinds of brands or verticals than others?
“Automotive, publishing and entertainment brands have all been very successful early adopters.”
Ms. Pasqua: Brands with the most avid mobile users will have the most success with mobile. Automotive, publishing and entertainment brands have all been very successful early adopters, but remember you’re looking at companies that are using mobile for very different things.
Steve Jobs and company will more than double iPhone sales by 2011, says Bernstein Research's Toni Sacconaghi
There are two kinds of investment analysts: the kind no one listens to--who say crazy things just to get noticed--and the kind who say smart things that everybody ought to hear.
Bernstein Research's Toni Sacconaghi is definitely in the latter category. So when Sacconaghi wrote something pretty startling that Apple could sell 50 million iPhones in 2011--up from precisely squat in 2006 --it means that Steve Jobs and company are going to sell 50 million iPhones sometime real soon.
Here's how:
--The smart phone market is growing fast, and Apple can keep up.
The market has grown 35% a year over the past three years, making projections it will grow 27% in both 2010 and 2011 seem reasonable. "If Apple simply grows with the market, it would ship an incremental 10.3 million units in FY 2011 vs. FY 2009 levels," Sacconaghi wrote.
In the United States and many other countries, the iPhone is only available from one carrier. In the U.S., that carrier is AT&T, but Sacconaghi figures a deal with Verizon could add another 11 million iPhone sales in 2011. Broadening distribution in Europe and Asia could add another 3.5 million and 4 million units, respectively.
--China.
China is the elephant in the room. Apple has not yet struck a deal with a carrier in China, but when it does, it will unlock 3 million iPhones by 2011, Sacconaghi figures. "We continue to believe that Apple is likely to announce availability of the iPhone in China by the end of this calendar year, and most likely with China Unicom," Sacconaghi writes.
Now for the caveat, and it's a big one: All of this assumes that Apple doesn't steal market share from other handset makers. "Our analysis does not include the fact that iPhone is likely to be a share gainer among existing carriers going forward, largely because of the increasing returns nature of its software ecosystem," Sacconaghi writes. Translation: Apple could sell a whole lot more than 50 million phones.
With recession and cut-backs on everyone’s mind, how does Mike Wehrs, president of the Mobile Marketing Association, convince brands to invest in mobile? What technologies and trends will map the future of mobile Web marketing? Find out what makes the MMA boss tick in this in-depth interview.
With more than 700 members in 40 countries, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has ridden the wave of enthusiasm for all things mobile. Now as the world economy teeters on the brink of global depression, the business now looks to the president and CEO – new to the job this year – to keep mobile marketing on every brand’s agenda.
Q1. How would you dissuade brands from axing their mobile-marketing budgets in the face of recession?
I’d explain how mobile offers marketers the best return on investment when compared to other marketing communication channels. Mobile has greater targeting capabilities and enables a higher degree of personalization. Sending relevant, tailored and timely messages to a consumer’s mobile phone delivers far higher conversion rates from communication to sales. The always-on, always-available nature of the mobile device presents a unique opportunity for marketers to engage directly with consumers, building a meaningful dialogue, while respecting consumer privacy.
Q2. A household brand doesn’t have a mobile website. How do you convince the chief marketing officer he's missing out?
At least 50 percent of the world’s population owns a mobile phone and penetration in many developed countries already exceeds 100 percent. By not integrating mobile into your marketing campaigns you miss out on conveying your message to a huge portion of consumers. Mobile is the only channel that allows a brand to reach target customers for the 18 hours a day it is in their pocket or purse. People stop what they are doing to deal with incoming messages and alerts – what other channels can you say that about? Their phone is top of the list of things they will go back and get when forgotten. The brand can talk with the customer with the absolute knowledge that the message has been delivered and seen. These features are compelling to any CMO. Back this up with hundreds of case studies with proven results from MMA members and you have a convincing case for mobile.
Q3. Who are the best ambassadors for the mobile-marketing cause?
Consumers are the ideal ambassadors, which is why we as an industry need to ensure they only receive communications from brands that are interesting, relevant, valuable and, above all, requested. Brands are also important ambassadors – if they are prepared to share real-world results of mobile campaigns this will help to grow interest in mobile generally.
Q4. Which technologies do you think will revolutionize mobile marketing over the next year or so?
Many technologies are opening up new opportunities in mobile – location-based advertising, mobile couponing, 2D barcodes, augmented reality and image recognition are all key areas to watch. Touch-screen phones and full-featured browsers have helped to open up new real estate for mobile advertising, allowing users to customize their phones with applications and widgets, presenting yet another way to deliver marketing that’s relevant to the user.
Q5. Are mobile App stores competitors to the mobile web?
No. Apps are the most immersive way of delivering content to the user and make accessing Web functions a transparent operation in a way that’s effective on mobile. Using a browser for everything does not take advantage of all the features in a mobile device. Apps and widgets are an important and growing category that we see as a natural and welcome additional means to deliver compelling content to end consumers.
Q6. What business model for mobile content will prevail – free/advertising-funded, subscription or something other?
I think there is a real market for ad-funded content if it’s done in the right way. This is especially true of developing markets where discretionary budgets to spend on mobile content and services are smaller than in the developed world, providing a massive opportunity for advertisers to get involved by subsidizing content.
Q7. Who will be the biggest winners from mobile marketing?
With time brands will benefit the most. By using the mobile channel they will dramatically increase their return on investment (ROI) and reach. After all, if the brands dont see ROI then the whole thing will grind to a halt. Today, however, the biggest winners are the companies that run the messaging traffic, as messaging currently makes up the majority of mobile marketing.
It’s difficult to pick which industry sectors will benefit the most from mobile. All brands – whatever sector, whether global or local – want to reach as many customers as effectively as possible and the majority of their customers have mobile devices. Banking, insurance, consumer goods, local services, automotive etc, all have strong and proven reasons why marketing through the mobile channel is good for their business.
Q8. Who will be the power brokers of the mobile Web one/two years from now - operators, manufacturers, mobile search, advertising networks, publishers or something entirely new?
The power struggle at the moment centers on who can deliver mobile advertising in the most compelling way to the consumer – that’s a battle of methodology, technology, business model and ideas. As time goes on, there will be two power brokers: the brands, as they will essentially fund the whole system, and whoever controls the mobile inventory. The most important thing as far as the mobile channel is concerned is that the consumer is always in control. This is vital to ensure that we deliver an excellent and predictable engagement model that is valued by the end consumer.
Q9. With device diversity, multiple operating systems and numerous browsers – is too much competition holding up progress of the mobile web?
I don’t think so. To date the biggest barrier to the mobile Web has been the price of mobile data and slow downloads, but these problems should be resolved as “all-you-can-eat” data plans become the norm, with the widespread deployment of fast 3G services. Technology fragmentation is still a factor, too, but it’s a good thing that innovation is still very strong. Business practices and elimination of friction in the deployment process are also issues and ones the MMA is focused on improving.
Q10. How do you convince operators to reduce the cost consumers are charged for data?
Operators play a critical role in the value chain and have significant costs and liabilities they deal with every day. On the other hand, brands want the most efficient way to deliver their messages and to have the highest response rates to those messages. The MMA serves as a neutral body to bridge these concerns between the brands and the operators, so that both sides can see the benefits of a collaborative approach to balancing these various concerns. Both parties recognize that efficient delivery is an essential component that must be diligently addressed to accelerate adoption of mobile marketing.
Q11. If you could wave your magic wand and wish away any barriers to adoption of mobile Internet, what would it be?
There are a number of friction points the MMA plans to smooth over to ease the path to mass adoption. These range from helping agencies and brands to create scalable and reusable technologies to finding testing and certification processes to overcome device fragmentation and working on global industry standards on issues such as consumer privacy.
Q12. What are your projections for growth in brands’ mobile-marketing spend? What has to happen to ensure this happens?
A recent MMA survey found that average mobile-marketing budgets increased 26 percent in 2008, while overall marketing expenditures decline by 7 percent. We project that mobile ad spend will grow from $1.7 billion in 2009 to $2.16 billion in 2010.
We have to continue to collaborate and innovate as an industry, working to remove barriers to adoption, be they technology, business issues or perception based, and always ensure the consumer experience is a positive one. As the MMA represents the entire ecosystem of companies involved in mobile marketing, it serves as the best catalyst and provides the best forum for collectively addressing industry issues.
Jeffrey Cole is a media futurtist and has been the Director at the Center for the Digital Future for the past several years. He explains that “the primary purpose of the studies conducted by the Center for the Digital Future is exploring the profound changes in views and behavior that have occurred during the past 15 years of Internet use — as well as the changes yet to come.” (see below to download highlights from the latest study)
Jeffrey also acts as an advisor to some of the largest advertising and media agencies in the world, and is a frequent contributor at thought leadership conferences such as Google Zeitgeist. If you ever have the chance to hear him speak at a conference, I highly recommend it as he always provides interesting insight on the future of media.
10 important things to know about media habits
of teenagers
Clearly when looking at long term trends, it is very important understand youth, and Jeffrey has done a lot of work in this area. “We call the main group Generation Z, the 12- to 24-year-olds who will be driving media consumption in the future,” he says.
Jeffrey highlighted ten key media habits and trends of this Generation Z.
1 - No Newspapers
12 to 24 year olds do not read newspapers; they may read a few magazines, but most likely only specialist magazines not news magazines. Jeffrey believes we are just starting what will become a huge consolidation of print media, with probably only 3 to 4 major newspapers remaining in the US, 2 in UK, and just a handful of global news brands.
2 - Television on their own time
Generation Z will never watch TV on someone else’s schedule. With services such as Tivo, internet video, and media file sharing, the idea of being constrained to watch a certain program at a set time makes no sense to them.
3 - Mobile only
They don’t own a landline phone, and probably never will (they don’t own a watch either, it’s all in the mobile).
4 - Trust
Teens trust their peers - even unknown peers - more than they trust experts. “There is an inherent credibility to them, they believe people they meet on facebook,” Jeffrey commented.
5 - Pay for content
Today there is actually a willingness among teens to pay for content in some manner.
“Up until 2005, nobody wanted to pay for digital content – people thought that everything on the web ought to be free. Then in 2005 two things happened. First some of the enthusiasm for illegal sharing networks decreased due to concerns about spyware and viruses. And second, iTunes opened up.”
As a result of these events, people began to accept the idea of paying for content in some way. Attitudes have continued to evolve, and at the moment people do not really expect to get content for free, but they prefer to agree to watch advertising rather than actually paying money.
6 - Community
The social community is firmly at the center of the Generation Z internet experience. Communication with “friends” is a primary activity.
However, there isn’t huge loyalty to a particular social network. Jeffrey explains it this way, “For teens, a social network is sort of like a nightclub – you go their with your friends as long as its cool, but once too many other people start showing up (e.g. parents), you go off to find a new nightclub”
7 - Brands
Teens think they are not impacted by brands and advertising. However, studies from the Center for the Digital Future have shown that in fact teens are actually more aware of brands and pay more attention to brands than other age groups.
8 - Movable content
Teens expect to be able to move digital content from platform to platform, and won’t accept restrictions on this. They lead a multi-platform life, and believe they should be able to take their digital content with them.
This believe is so strong that sometimes teens will put a lot of effort into breaking any restrictions on content portability, more for philosophical reasons than actual desire to move content.
9 - Instant messaging
Teens use IM for communication, they think that email is for their parents.
“At their age, they have the time for “synchronous” communications with their friends. We think as they grow older we’ll see a move to email,” Jeffrey commented.
10 - Sharing
Finally, underlying much of this is the concept of sharing.
Jeffrey explains what he means by this, “I think I understand teenagers as well anyone that is well past their teen years. But the one thing I don’t get is their incredible interest in the minutiae of each other’s lives.”
“At first I thought it was simply vanity, but then I realized that they are as interested in what their friends do as they think their friends will be in them. And I realized this is simply a level of sharing that we have never seen before. It will be interesting to see if they hang on to this as they grow older.”
Mobile Marketing: A whole new set of rules
Over the years there has always been some people who have said that mobile advertising would not be accepted by consumers.
Jeffrey said, “I think this is wrong. However there definitely is a whole new set of rules, and the advertising business is not good at figuring out new rules. Agencies typically adapt what they know from existing media and move it to the next media. And that just won’t work.”
He continued, “I actually believe that teenagers really like advertising in a lot of ways. However, they are sick of old techniques and being hit over the head. The advertising industry needs to get out of the television model. I’m not referring to specific formats like pre-roll, I mean the fundamental model of saturating the same message over and over again – hitting people 100 times. I don’t think you can do this on mobile.”
And where will these innovations come from?
“I really believe we are still waiting for ‘indigenous’ advertising techniques. I think the big breakthroughs will be digital advertising developed by those who grew up their entire life with digital media – hence the word indigenous.”
In the meantime, Jeffrey said that they have been trying really hard to understand what the new rules are. He singles out two major factors that will impact a brand’s relation with customers.
First, green issues will cut across everything – consumers will want to know about a company’s green position before they will accept them as a member of their community. Green will become a fundamental aspect of a brand.
Second, advertisers will have to truly commit to becoming a member of the community.
He expanded on this, “For example, if a brand wants to move onto Facebook, they will have to say ‘here’s why we’re here, here’s what we’re committed to, we care about you and want to interact with you - we’re not here just to sell to you’.”
Advise to Advertisers
Jeffrey has seen some strong reaction to these ideas from brands.
“Advertisers are terrified of this. In their hearts, many really don’t want to interact with customers because they are afraid that either there will be no conversation or someone will say something bad about their product.”
“My reply to brands with this approach is really quite simple – consumers will have these conversations anyway, with you or without you, you may as well be there and correct it when you can, and sometimes you’ll just have to step back and let them say what they want to say.”
Jeffrey also recommends that every brand should allocate some portion of their budget to experimentation and learning about new media and channels.
“I think brands should be experimenting with every technique they can find. Take a piece of your budget to experiment, learn what you can, be ahead of your customers.”
He gave as an example Twitter. “Am I absolutely sure that Twitter will be an important place for brands to be? No. But am I 100% certain that brands should be learning everything they can and experimenting with Twitter: Absolutely.”
The Future for Brands and Agencies
Given this rapidly changing environment and the need to experiment and learn, Jeffrey notes that unfortunately many major brands are really not very proactive. And at most of these companies, the main road block seems to be the people.
“At many brands, the senior people in charge of marketing are in their 40’s and 50’s. The problem I see is that these people often believe that there is enough life left in the ‘old advertising model’ so that they can continue successfully along that path a few more years and make it to retirement without having to change. Remember, its’ not fun for most people to have to relearn everything they know!”
“However, the executives in their 30’s, they know they will have to change eventually, so they are starting go in this direction.”
Regarding the future of advertising agencies, Jeffrey feels they have a big role to play. The structure of the industry will change, with perhaps less importance for large global agencies, but the agency function will be critical.
“The idea of ‘Brand’ is more important in a digital era than ever before. And agencies, if they are educated and understand this stuff, as navigators and media buyers, in a world of total confusion and uncertainty about what really works, can be much more important than they have ever been.”
He continued, “I actually believe that teenagers really like advertising in a lot of ways. However, they are sick of old techniques and being hit over the head. The advertising industry needs to get out of the television model. I’m not referring to specific formats like pre-roll, I mean the fundamental model of saturating the same message over and over again – hitting people 100 times. I don’t think you can do this on mobile.”
“My reply to brands with this approach is really quite simple – consumers will have these conversations anyway, with you or without you, you may as well be there and correct it when you can, and sometimes you’ll just have to step back and let them say what they want to say.”
Given this rapidly changing environment and the need to experiment and learn, Jeffrey notes that unfortunately many major brands are really not very proactive. And at most of these companies, the main road block seems to be the people.
Regarding the future of advertising agencies, Jeffrey feels they have a big role to play. The structure of the industry will change, with perhaps less importance for large global agencies, but the agency function will be critical.