NEW YORK ? For mobile to be really powerful, it needs to be integrated into the multichannel mix, complementing traditional marketing channels, according to a panelist at the Mobile Ad Summit.

Speakers during ?The top digital chiefs tell you how much time they are spending on mobile and why? panel agreed that consumers have a certain expectation of mobile. The panel was moderated by Suzanne Vranica, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, New York.

?There?s a lot of traction, hype and interest in the broad category of mobility because of what Apple has done,? said Quentin George, chief digital officer at Mediabrands, New York.

?Mobile is mature enough now, but like we?ve seen with digital in the last 15 years, for it to be really powerful, it needs to be integrated,? he said.

?Mobile changes not just the way that you do marketing, but you have to have some sort of organizational readiness ? how to integrate, respond and manage.?

iAd network
Apple?s iAd network was a big discussion during the panel, especially because of its closed network.

Although the panelists agreed that Apple opened the door, its iAd network is not very popular with advertising agencies.

?When Apple launched iAd and the iPad, there was a euphoria, but the smoke has cleared,? said Sean Finnegan, president and chief digital officer of Starcom MediaVest Group, Chicago. ?It is this closed environment.?

Alan Rambam, chief strategic officer of Mobile Behavior, New York, agreed with his fellow panelist.

?Apple hurt us as well as helped us,? Mr. Rambam said. ?It really changed the industry ? the applications.

?But now as we go back to WAP, it?s just a broader piece of that pie,? he said.

Mobile makes most media work harder.

According to Mr. Rambam, his company has been forced to create a versioning tool set ? but for the better.

More clients are coming to Mr. Rambam to roll out to other platforms, such as Android.

?We?ve had questions, like ?How else can we roll this out??? Mr. Rambam said. ?It goes beyond an app.

?It?s going to be interesting to see what happens with Android too,? he said.

Mobile money
Marketers who are looking at mobile budgets should dissect the figures a little bit, per Starcom?s Mr. Finnegan.

?Our clients are all very serious about it,? Mr. Finnegan said. ?They understand the volume and ubiquity and innovation of all devices.

?It?s very serious,? he said. ?But also there should be the same amount of time spent on investment as on the management, open sources and technologies.

And where are the budgets being sourced from?

?I think mobile budgets tend to be sourced from digital, such as display,? Mr. Finnegan said. ?Sometimes we can over-think the display elements of mobile and treat it as too much of a special case.

?It can complement the display source,? he said. ?In theory, there?s enough with display transition to cover it.?