Between Mobile Advertising U.K and research and interviews I am conducting for MSG's own MobiAD World Focus project, I am sharply focused on finding answers to the "big questions" in mobile advertising. The obvious question (Where is the money?) came up during last week's European Mobile Media Conference in Prague. It's not an easy one to answer, but Jonathan MacDonald, an esteemed colleague who also has a long track record in advising companies on their mobile strategies, was up to the challenge.
He turned the question around and showed in his presentation that the money is where it always was: With people we are best advised to stop treating as consumers. (You can view Jonathan's slide deck along with a few others here, thanks to Jan Rezab from HungryMobile.)
So, how do we get our share of the money out there? Jonathan suggests companies position themselves closer to people and respect their requirement (particularly in the mobile space) for conversation - both with the brand and with their peers. In a nutshell: "Abandon control of communications and realize that advocacy is more powerful than you. Provide facilities and utilities for people to talk with each other and listen [to what they say].
The next step is about creating and co-creating experiences, products, and services that people value. Get that right and the way is clear to pursue a strategy that will ensure you get your share of the money. I won't give it all away here (and perhaps you'll have to attend Jonathan's upcoming mobile advertising workshop), but let's just say a big part of it is "creating things that are open, customizable, extensible, and share-able."
Before you dismiss this as a warm-and-fuzzy approach, I recommend you read The Future of Competition: Co-Creating Unique Value with Customers, a must-read business book co-authored by C. K. Prahalad that has had a profound impact on my work. In this recent interview he further outlines how the role of the consumer (the individual!) has changed. "Traditionally, companies create products based on their market research and exchange that for a value. But it has changed now, with customers equally involved in solving the problem. Co-creation is not customization, but it is personalized."
Prahalad doesn't specifically address mobile - an extremely personal device central to our lives - but it's easy to make a logical leap and conclude that people are likely to be more demanding of a say in personalizing a personal experience like receiving personalized content/advertising on a personal device.
My point: Mobile is personal and mobile advertising (actually all communications from all companies) will have to at least offer people a say in their experiences. If they choose to be passive "consumers" then we have to let them make that choice themselves (as opposed to us making it for them).
This brings me to the presentation from Mark Linder, Global Client Leader at WPP, a global advertising and communications agency. Mark focused on the other "big question" in the industry: What will have to happen for mobile advertising to really take off? He gave us a choice: 1) Mobile advertising will have to prove its effectiveness to the advertiser, and utility to the consumer or 2) Mobile advertising will have to prove its emotionality as an experience.
Which do YOU choose?
April 28, 2009