Suddenly, both advertising agencies and mobile operators agree that mobile advertising is HOT.
Agencies want to be part of the new, new thing and see the mobile as a possible replacement for the declining power and revenues of the TV commercial – so long the bread and butter, as well as the jam, of agency income.
Mobile operators have also realised that they have the potential to become very powerful media owners. Move over Rupert Murdoch, they have a combined (and growing) circulation of 2 billion. They can smell money that might just help replace their declining revenues. While only 3 have publicly declared themselves to be a media company, you can see the others are starting to think on those lines.
This was the flavour at the recent Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit attended by the likes of the big boys from WPP and Viacom on the one hand and Sprint Nextel on the other.
But, it’s pretty clear to me that they don’t really know how make it work. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but they’re like cavemen who know that a couple of sticks can create fire. They just haven’t figured out the rubbing together part yet.
Mobile is a new marketing channel and new thinking is needed. Just as the internet needed new and different thinking to TV, Print and Radio advertising, so mobile needs a new approach. It’s even foolhardy to view mobile as the same as the internet. Sure, there are some superficial similarities, just as there are between the UK and the US – but it would be stupid to think that they’re the same country.
Here’s a few thoughts:
Mobile “advertising” gives a too narrow focus. Reframe it. It’s mobile marketing.
Don’t just focus on video, unless it enhances your message. The right SMS/MMS/Game/Content can be many times more powerful that the best video footage. Not always, but often.
Stop restricting thinking to sponsored content – it’s only a small part of the solution. If you look at the marketing message as something you “make” the user consume, you’re missing the point. How can you engage the user to want to experience your communication?
As I’ve written before, mobile marketing is about giving the user an IDEA:
Information
Deals
Engagement
Advertainment
That’s the missing rubbing part that will set the medium on fire.
A final thought. Why do so many people assume that other people’s professions are just common sense and that they could do just as good a job? This may be true – maybe you could be a great brain surgeon, CEO of a global Ad Agency Network or CFO of Sprint. But not without years of experience and practice first. So why wouldn’t this hold true about mobile marketing?
If you’re an operator trying to play the media game, hire someone who knows how to do it. If you’re an agency wanting to get into mobile marketing, hire someone who knows what they’re doing. If you try to apply common sense without the experience you’ll just end up losing a lot of time, money and peace of mind.
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