NEW YORK ? A trio of CEOs representing heavy-hitting ad agencies agreed that increased smartphone adoption is making mobile a more desirable platform for brand advertisers.

These high-powered advertising executives weighed in on the state of the mobile industry during a panel at the Mobile Ad Summit during advertising week in New York. While the panelists admitted that the recession has taken its toll on marketing spend, they were bullish about the prospects for mobile going forward.

?I think that there has been some fantastic progress in the mobile space this year,? said Rob Norman, CEO of GroupM Interaction, London. ?Many brand owners have decided to use mobile platforms to provide services to consumers.?

As an example, he cited brands like Dell that have driven real dollars and real transactions using mobile.

?Mobile has become super-valuable, and in fact this is the first year that brands are really using the mobile Internet in a valuable way that is more than just curiosity and experimentation,? Mr. Norman said. ?This is driven by smartphones.

?Among our clients there is not a single marketing plan that doesn?t at least have a mobile extension on it,? he said. ?Value-added services driven through mobile have seen a lot of success.?

Ad agency GroupM Interaction is a subsidiary of WPP Group plc, the world's second-largest communications services group in terms of revenue and one of the big six advertising holding companies.

So what does the future hold for mobile, and what is need to drive the industry forward?

?The mobile content experience is legitimate for the first time, which is brining advertisers to the experience, but we still need better metrics, and the next stage is a real explosion of that in this country,? Mr. Norman said. ?What happens with mobile couponing?

?What we all want is that final seamless link between the device and the point of sale?scanners in store have huge potential, and once that is solved the market will go absolutely through the roof,? he said.

While SMS does have its place as far as targeting feature phones and linking print and out-of-home advertising to the digital world, it?s all about smartphones, according to Mr. Norman.

?Mobile advertising is entirely restricted to the smartphone environment and always will be,? Mr. Norman said. ?If mobile advertising is going to grow, it?s going to grow on the back of smartphones and 3G and 4G network connections.

?The market changes fundamentally when the old generation of feature phones is phased out in favor of smartphones,? he said.

Another panelist believes that mobile coupons could eventually replace free-standing inserts (FSIs), which have been a staple of the newspaper industry for decades.

?We?re focused on innovation to use mobile to extend a product or service,? said Paul Gunning, CEO of Tribal DDB, New York. ?We?re looking at using mobile devices to start replacing what had been traditional outlets, to replace or augment the declining circulation for FSIs.

?By offering mobile coupons, you can potentially reach a younger audience and in a more efficient way that reduces costs,? he said. ?It?s also more measurable in a speed capacity, because you?re able to see it happening within moments of the transaction.

?There?s no doubt things were much more difficult this year, so we need to do a more efficient job using mobile channel.?

Tribal DDB is a network of interactive ad agencies that is part of Omnicom Group's DDB Worldwide.

One area that has suffered during the recession is attracting paid advertising dollars to mobile, although it has not impacted innovation in terms of mobile product and services.

?When you look at mobile, it goes beyond an advertising platform?brands are trying to use it to solve real business problems,? Mr. Gunning said. ?It may be ad-driven in beginning, but actually mobile is valuable as an interface with consumers due to its ability to affect their retail behavior at the point of sale is really powerful.

?After they go in the store they send an SMS or go on the mobile Web for product information and a brand delivers back a video or customer reviews of that product,? he said. ?Mobile goes far beyond simple ads, which is why it?s one of the most exciting platforms out there.

?It won?t be selling just selling eyeballs and impressions, there are real problems that mobile can solve.?

Ad agency Carat, a subsidiary of Aegis Group plc, was instrumental in powering Procter & Gamble?s now legendary SitOrSquat campaign that featured a viral iPhone application (see story).

?Only about 10 percent of the hundreds of thousands of apps created for the iPhone have stuck,? said Martin Cass, president of Carat, London. ?It?s about extending the brand by providing a utility, and if you do so, they stay.

?The trick is finding utility in a brand beyond what the product does, and SitOrSquat is a great example of that,? he said. ?When you get traction, suddenly the scalability takes off and spreads virally.

?Don?t fall into the trap of thinking creative is just a big screen with pretty pictures on it?many of the things going on in mobile are as creative as what?s been going on in mainstream media.?