Mobile marketing execs push for simplicity

NEW YORK – The key to moving the needle in mobile advertising? Make it easier for would-be advertisers to spend money on the stuff.
That was the takeaway from the roundtable discussion that kicked off day two of the Mobile Marketing Forum this morning. While big brands and ad agencies may be willing to invest in the nascent marketing medium, speakers said, the value chain is too complex and the space too confusing for outsiders looking in.
“It’s got to be simple for that 22-year-old junior planner” to buy inventory and other mobile advertising vehicles, said Vlademir Edelman, CEO of Ansible. “People are looking for excuses not to buy mobile and we’re giving them a lot of excuses.”
Some of those other “excuses,” as other speakers pointed out, include a lack of ad metrics – leaving advertisers in the dark as to how effectively their mobile marketing dollars are being spent – and an inability to target users based on demographic data. But for mobile to finally expand from a novelty marketing avenue into the broader world of interactive advertising it must be sold as part of over-arching ad campaigns – not as a siloed channel.
And while there’s plenty of interest in mobile as an advertising vehicle among C-level executives, it’s the rank-and-file staffers and creative types who must consider wireless as they begin mapping out advertising strategies.
“To start getting people on the front lines to think mobile at the creative stage, at the planning stage, that has been a huge process,” said Michael Collins, CEO of Kinetic. “But I think we are making progress.”