Iconic advertising mag, Ad Age, launched its annual Agency Report today and you can download your free copy here.
The 81 page report is pretty comprehensive, with in-depth profiles of the top 50 agency groups and profiles of a further 1,348 agencies sketched out in top line terms.
Mobile phone marketing and advertising have clearly been hot topics in ad agency circles lately and we’ve been bringing you a lot of the coverage here at MobHappy. For instance, we had Verizon’s Marketing Boss telling adland’s gathered great and good that 30% of ad spending will be going on mobile marketing. Or WPP head honcho, Martin Sorrell telling a big media conference that mobile advertising is “going to happen quickly”.
Where ever you look, there seems to be a story every week talking up the market and I think they’re right to do so. I don’t think all these people necessarily understand the implications and certainly not the “how” of mobile marketing, but they certainly seem to understand that it’s happening.
So how many times would you expect to see mobile advertising referred to in a report like this huge and influential one from Ad Age? On every page? In every entry, as in “Agency head, Mr Big, also announced Tiny Fluffy Bunny Rabbit’s entry into mobile marketing with the launch of a major partnership/acquisition/start up/hire* (delete as applicable)”.
No, in the context of marketing via the mobile channel, mobile is mentioned just once in the whole report. This was that Omnicom (number one agency group) had acquired ipsh! in 2005.
Apart from finding this disappointing, I wonder what the implications are of this lack of focus on, and low profile of, the mobile marketing channel? Are agencies just paying lip service to it, while really sticking to business as usual? Is there just a time lag between the realisation that something is important and some real action? Or is the Ad Age report too mired in tradition to start to acknowledge something new is happening?
I’m not really sure, but would welcome your opinion, so please leave a comment. What I do know though is that this will be the last time such report can ignore mobile and that in 3 year’s time it’ll be like ignoring the Internet today, much as many in the industry would like to.
The times are changing.
Declaration: ipsh! are a client of AdMob for whom I’m doing some work currently.
[tags]ad age, Omnicom, admob, ipsh, mobile advertising, mobile marketing, WPP[/tags]
Hi Russell
5 years on trying to sell in mobile into agencies not much has changed massively. A typical meeting say with a media agency goes like this ; we go in kick off with our creds, killer stats,quotes & insights ( RATIONAL: 100% penetration/ EMOTIONAL: the kids are mobile, RU? etc etc.), then we go into case studies (50% as NON txt2win as posssible) all the while talking about 2 way always on interactivity, accountabilty, need for integration, consumer reward, game play, permission etc etc. Then, up comes the dreaded question.’ How much does it cost, what’s the commission and where do we get the databases?. We then shake our heads on the inside, ask to be briefed by the creative agency/client, chat to 1/2 eager graduates and leave.
Then comes the chat to the creative agency; again, lots of chat about all the penatration of TV and interactivity of the internet. Most of the sell is around media relevance. But again up comes the dreaded question of how many 3G phones etc and how to shoot TV for mobiles and again where to get the databases to carpet bomb the airwaves with WAP links ( no mention of gonzo data charges for prepaid users, of course). Then we retrence into talking about the need for 360 degree integration and how to take an idea ‘truely’ mobile then fall back position into SMSTV type direct response and accountability. We then all share a private joke about how the creatives will really love this new accountability and the chance to duck tape SMS Response onto their film. We plead for sharing of client plans and plead to be briefed for pitches pre-sign off of artwork/ shoot. Then we float out all warm and fuzzy.
The client meeting is same as above but clients are wayyyy out of touch.( hence need for agencies) and hair on fire busy. In fact stressed out and hair on fire busy is something that is very true of agencies aswell ; finding time to get to grips with new tech is a real problem for us as sellers; most simply dont want to learn and for those that do selling in a big mobile idea is something you cant see happening, even simple SMS response managing 3rd parties, loss of control.
Sales promotion and ‘experiential’ agencies are our best shot and here we get to do our best work. Working with this segment you at least get to pitch Nokia Game type ideas ..but here the dreaded question is HOW MUCH? and then at that point we realise that the reason Txt2Win has worked so well is because it saves the agency time and money and it works for the consumer ( no postcards, www etc.). These people get mobile but a mobile campaign seriously dents their margin and only some of their clients will go find more budget for more. In fairness for txt2win type stuff you get more for less with mobile and in the end theyr happy to pay because mobile does lots of good things here. In fact
5 years on I think that if clients and advertising agencies could see all the good work that we’ve done with Sales promo agencies they’d see that waht mobile marketing does is increase PARTICIPATION and for me having sold this hard , participation is the big button
to push; take out mobile from a promo and see participation take a real tumble. Then you get to see LESS interactivity, media relevance, minus points from kids, etc etc.
Again I think mobile advertising is something very different, (banners, free content?) but it will certainly learn from txt2win that if the offer (free stuff, fun, VAS etc) isnt good enough it wont click.
So, for now big agencies know theyre right to talk up mobile ( marketing/ advertising) but getting mobile up an dover the line and in the can is a very different challenge altogther.