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Target iAd campaign indicative of mobile advertising?s course in 2011

Retailer Target?s iAd holiday campaign is a sign of where mobile advertising in going in 2011. Creative executions will be like nothing ever even imagined on the mobile platform.

In the iAd, which appears in applications such as The New York Times for iPhone, the actual ad becomes a live application of its own. It allows the user to stay within their application while engaging with the ad, even while watching a video, playing a game and engaging with other interactive media content. The ad is evidence of where mobile advertising is headed in 2011.

?What we will see in 2011 is the widgetization of mobile application functionality, where an entire app can be presented in an ad format,? said Scott Dunlap, vice president of mobile at JiWire, San Francisco. ?IAd is a good example of this ? rich functionality in an ad that can do anything a mobile application can, but instantly distributed to millions of people.

?We're going to see mini mobile applications appearing in ads, other apps, online ads and more,? he said. ?Why not an ad that pops up a mini-catalog of products currently available at a store down the street, with a location-triggered reminder when you get close? It's going to change the face of ads as we know it.?

Target iAd
The Target experience begins with a banner ad that reads, ?Find sleighloads of holiday cheer. Right here.?

Next, a full-page overlay comes up introducing the campaign. The text reads, ?The merrymaker. Gift ideas and random acts of jolliness.?

Next, the screen asks viewers, ?What makes you merry?" Consumers get choose from gift ideas, tips and recipes, and holiday cheer.

There is also an opportunity to download the Target branded iPhone application, which is commerce-enabled.

Here is a screen grab:

For consumers that click on gift ideas, Target recommends Keith Urban and Taylor Swift CDs, amongst other potential presents to give friends and loved ones.

In the Tips & Recipes section, consumers can get timely tips from Target?s fashion expert Nina Garcia, who is also a fashion director at Marie Claire magazine. She appears in a video that can be shared via email or on Twitter.

Here is the video:

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The Target holiday cheer section of the iAd gives viewers free downloadable wallpapers that feature Bullseye, the retailer?s mascot, in various Christmas and holiday-inspired scenes.

Here is a screen grab of that section of the iAd:

"At Target, we recognize our guests are connected, through a multitude of mobile and social networking technologies," said Molly Koenst, a spokeswoman at Target, Minneapolis. "By leveraging innovative technologies, we are delivering highly-relevant and differentiated shopping solutions that are personal, simple, and accessible anywhere and anytime.

"Target was among a select number of advertisers participating in the iAd launch, Apple's mobile advertising offered with the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and second generation iPod touch models," she said. "Enhancing our guests' experience is important to Target."

Ms. Koenst also said that Target's holiday iAd is performing well above Target and Apple's expectations.

"In 2011, Target sees mobile marketing serving an even more important role in our multichannel media mix based on reaching and connecting with our guests across channels and on the devices they use most," Ms. Koenst said.

Rich media
Borrell Associates forecasts that spending for ads delivered via mobile applications in the United States will explode from $305 million this year to $685 million next year and more than $8 billion by 2015.

Study data from research conducted by Yahoo Inc. provides evidence that it is time for marketers to shift their attention and their media dollars to mobile.

Audiences are spending greater amounts of time consuming content on their connected devices, often while multitasking with other media. And, those audiences are being influenced by mobile advertising.

There is an opportunity for marketers to engage and target audiences through sophisticated mobile advertising units such as rich media.

?The days of complaining about small banner ad units and the fact that not much can be done with them is so last year,? said Paul Cushman, senior director of mobile ad sales at Yahoo, Sunnyvale, CA.

?Rich media on mobile allows for just about every creative possibility that you have online,? he said.