Mobile Entertainment

Participants

Jim Brooks, Principle Associate Consultant, CapGemini
Simon Liss, MD, welovemobile
Neil Holroyd, Head of Games & Gambling, Orange UK
Ray De Silvia, Principal Product Manager, Consumer Internet Services & Platforms, Vodafone Group
Ana Tavares, Strategy Director, GSMA
Tom Knapp, Mobile Product Manager, Europe, Advertising.com
Jon Smith, Director Product & Services, Sharpcards
Julien Thys, Analyst, Screen Digest
Pascal Lorne, CEO, Miyowa

ME: Mobile advertising is certainly here. But is it over-hyped?

Neil Holroyd: We’ve got research which shows that of 1,000 users that clicked through 23 per cent either bought or were likely to purchase – and 50 per cent recalled. That’s pretty encouraging.

Jim Brooks: Coca Cola says 50 per cent of its spend will go on mobile – that’s $11bn at current rates. That’s great, but we know they won’t do it without ethics and metrics.

Simon Liss: The agencies still don’t get it. They don’t see the results.

Jim Brooks: I think they are looking at mobile, but discreetly. Brands are already using mobile in their coordinated campaigns effectively, putting shortcodes on posters etc. But I accept this is limited as ‘text back’ is hardly immediate, which is the whole point of mobile. The issue is how to make mobile a proper media channel. There is data you can retrieve such as handset type, time of day, operator. You can itemise them and take them to an agency and make a good case.

Pascal Lorne: But look at Japan, probably the world’s most advanced mobile market. Its ad space is worth $200m and most of it comes from two social networking sites. That’s nothing. Even the people clicking on banners are doing it because it gets them more points for their community apps. Advertisers aren’t stupid. They know what’s going on.

ME: So what’s going to bring the brands in?

Ana Tavares: Brands want to specify the target group, which is why the GSM launched its initiative earlier this year. The aim is to standardise measurement, targeting, code of conduct and so on. The industry really does want to take this on.

Jim Brooks: If we can’t yet give advertisers ‘who’, we can at least given them ‘where’ by creating communities around products and serve banners there.

Tom Knapp: So why aren’t brands creating WAP sites? Let’s face it, the destinations aren’t there.

ME: Does it all come back to data tariffs and walled gardens?

Ray de Silva: We have to move on from talking about flat rate data. Most consumers still don’t know why they need it. Also, we operate in markets like Italy, where 80 per cent of users are pre-pay so flat rate is irrelevant. Overall, the mobile business has to move at internet speed, not telco speed. We need to go to brands as service enablers offering sponsorship of texts, tickers, banners – every angle needs to be covered.

Jim Brooks: The mobile internet still suffers because there’s nowhere to go to find BMW’s mobile site. That’s why BMW would rather just put a shortcode on a poster.

Simon Liss: What about Google?

Jim Brooks: The screen’s too small for the online approach. Mobile needs something different. There are geniuses at Google HQ but I’d argue they haven’t come close to solving mobile yet.

Julien Thys: Handset fragmentation doesn’t help does it? You know – Sony Ericsson has a back button, Nokia doesn’t. It’s hard to make a great mobile search experience if every phone is different.

NOTE: To read Part One of our mobile advertising special feature, click here.