“Engagement Is Conversation” AdMob » mobilegroove

“Brand engagement is conversation with the customer” according to AdMob’s European Managing Director, Russell Buckley. For AdMob – who serve 4.5 billion text and banner ads per month worldwide – to be talking about ‘conversation’ marks the beginning of a big shift within the mobile advertising industry. Speaking at Mobile Monday London’s 3rd birthday bash last night, Russell used a recent example of where his credit card was automatically cancelled after being used in different continents in a short period of time during a business trip – the assumption being that it had been stolen and and was being used fraudulently. This was not the case and led to considerable inconvenience for Russell, so much so that AdMob are now changing credit card providers.

Had the credit card company entered into a simple SMS based dialogue with Russell, the onus would be on him – the customer – to highlight any unusual activity. Russell gets a good user experience, the credit card brand is enhanced through a service, not advertising, and everyone is happy.

And this is the real point – one which brands, operators and anyone involved in the mobile marketing and advertising industry should take note. The mobile device is first and foremost a communication tool, not a broadcast channel. If you enable communication and dialogue, then users will tell brands what they want, when they want it and also when they don’t, which in turn creates a scenario where marketing becomes a user controlled service.

Our needs, interests and moods today – as users, consumers and people – will be different tomorrow and different from yesterday. Broadcast advertising by its very nature cannot deliver a message that changes with us, but it can form part of an integrated campaign that invites dialogue and communication.

Other key contributions at what was an exceptionally enjoyable MoMo included Mike Short, VP of R&D at O2, Madhuban Kumar who consults start-ups on growth strategies and funding routes, the omni-disruptive and straight talking Bill Thompson from the BBC and a live recording from the Mobile Industry Review crew.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Mobile Marketing, Usability. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.