A Q&A with the new leader at P&G’s mobile agency
February 5, 2008
Eric Bader is president and managing director of Brand in Hand
MediaVest Digital Connections executive Eric Bader was recently named president and managing director of Brand in Hand Inc., a mobile marketing agency that counts Procter & Gamble Co. as a key client.
Mr. Bader leads Brand in Hand’s New York office, partnering with agency founder and CEO John Hadl. At MediaVest Mr. Bader was responsible for $300 million of annual media buys on behalf of clients such as Coca-Cola Co., P&G, Mattel, Wal-Mart and Continental Airlines. Prior to MediaVest he worked for College Sports Television and Ogilvy Interactive.
Now, at Brand in Hand, he will help develop mobile marketing campaigns for Lions Gate Films, American Express and P&G, the world’s largest advertiser which has identified interactive and mobile marketing as key areas of ad spending for this year and the period ahead.
Mr. Bader has his work cut out: Brand in Hand claims to currently place 15 percent of all brand marketers’ mobile ad dollars in the United States. He has to up that. Mobile Marketer’s Mickey Alam Khan interviewed Mr. Bader on his plans and vision for the agency. Excerpts from the conversation:
What's your mandate at Brand in Hand?
We work for brands. We help them reach mobile consumers, build value with their existing customers and help consumers make purchase decisions on the way to and at retail. We’re focused on making mobile an effective and efficient activation channel for brand marketers who are investing in integrated marketing campaigns.
Why join this agency?
Brand In Hand is already the leading mobile media buyer in the U.S., which means we have great clout and leverage in the marketplace that translates into great opportunities and advantages for our clients.
Joining my partner, John Hadl, in a business that has such a strong market position means that we can do very impactful things for major brand marketers and that's exciting to me. We share a vision for how to make mobile every bit as productive, significant and useful as the Internet has been for consumers and brand marketers.
What distinguishes this agency from other mobile shops?
We’re brand marketers who know mobile. We have been brand managers who spent budgets on media and chased ROI and we’ve run digital agencies, which means we’ve had the responsibility for leading clients to make the best investment decisions.
Some other mobile shops are lead by technologists and they see mobile marketing from a different perspective. As a brand advertiser, I'd like to have people who've built and managed brands in my corner.
What services does the agency offer?
Strategy consulting, mobile content development, media planning and buying, and building and deployment of mobile Web sites.
What are some trends you’re seeing?
First, integrating mobile into multichannel campaigns. Using mobile to serve as an activation channel for TV, print, online and out-of-home advertising.
Specifically, giving consumers a way to participate in a campaign message delivered through a mass medium whether it’s voting, polling, interacting withthe ad, or even ordering direct from the brand or a retailer. Mobile can make all of these media work harder and the combinations provide a lot of value for marketers and consumers.
Second, mobile-assisted shopping. Since the mobile device is essentially a computer that we all take with us when we’re in the store or out-and-about making decisions about products and services, it is becoming an increasingly important part of the retail experience.
We see great opportunities to deliver promotions, coupons, sampling, maps and live event interactions directly to consumers in real time, and that’s a very exciting advancement in retail marketing.
Which industries have been enthusiastic toward mobile?
Financial services, automotive, travel, consumer electronics and consumer goods have all been heavily involved to date.
Which industries need to make more use of mobile?
There are great emerging opportunities for business-to-business brands like technology and retailers. They will grow into mobile as the types of mobile audiences and capabilities of handsets grow, and those advances are happening already.
Where is mobile marketing today?
It’s in great shape and there are probably more advertisers participating in it than many people think. By comparison, the industry is where Internet marketing was in 1999 and where search engine marketing was in 2005, meaning it’s clearly a viable industry, there are critical masses of audiences and the media economics are very competitive against other available channels.
The really great thing is that there is a lot of research that shows that adding mobile to a TV campaign or another mass media can exponentially increase the reach, interaction rates and engagement metrics. That’s a valuable weapon for marketers.
What are some of the challenges marketers are currently facing with mobile?
Advertising on carrier decks can create a lot of value for marketers, but it’s hard for marketers to create individual campaigns with individual standards in order to run on each of the carriers.
In many cases it requires production investments that are almost bigger than the ad buy itself and can produce proprietary streams of campaign data which is hard to analyze. It’s getting better but it can be a barrier to the flow of brand dollars into the display advertising part of the mobile market.
So where does Brand in Hand fit within the mobile ecosystem?
Brand In Hand works in the strategic brand marketing space, between those who specialize in creative and those who primarily provide technology. We advise brands on what works, what doesn’t and how mobile can help them achieve their marketing objectives.
Reach Eric Bader at .