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50pc of tablet owners use device for commerce: Ogilvy exec

NEW YORK ? An Ogilvy executive at ad:tech said that consumers no longer use their tablet just for recreation, claiming 50 percent use the device for commerce-enabled actions.

During the ?Tablet marketing: Innovations beyond the screen? panel, executives spoke about the changing role of tablets and how agencies, brands and publishers are adopting their strategies to fit users? new habits. The panel also offered tips and case studies for companies looking to integrate tablets into their marketing mixes.

?How we look at mobile from the marketing and agency point of view is that we are always thinking about the role of tablets,? said Brandon Berger, chief digital officer at Ogilvy & Mather, New York.

?Tablets are powerful when you think about what goes on in the world and what they can do with the way we interact with the world,? he said.

Global trend
According to Mr. Berger, 41 percent of Chinese consumers will purchase a tablet in the next year.

When it comes to content, games reign the market place with two-thirds of users accessing them on tablets, per Mr. Berger.

Mr. Berger also said that three-fifths of tablet owners are consuming news and entertainment on their mobile devices.

Despite the increase in news and games content, commerce will be the next major push on tablets for marketers and retailers.

Tablets make a natural platform for commerce because they are more suited for more laid-back experiences than a smartphone.

Tablets are also often shared between family members and are used for shorter periods of time than desktops.

However, retailers have still not caught up with how to monetize content on tablets yet.

?Tablets will drive ecommerce moving forward, but retailers have not figured out how to monetize shelf space and the point that connects the brand or retailer to commerce,? Mr. Berger said.

According to Mr. Berger, the peak time of tablet usage is 9 a.m. when consumers are casually interacting with them.

Sell on mobile
Brad Locke, marketing director at The Nutro Co., Franklin, TN, also spoke on the panel.

According to Mr. Locke, tablets have the opportunity to give companies the resources to improve company efficiency.

?As we evolve, The Nutro Co., has become an in-store related company because times have changed from a retail standpoint,? Mr. Locke said. 

The Nutro Co. is a natural pet food manufacturer.

The Nutro Co. first began implementing more mobile initiatives 18 months ago.

The company began equipping its in-store representatives with iPads 30 days ago to educate and familiarize its consumers with the products.

In particular, the pet food industry can be overwhelming for consumers with so many products on the market.

According to Mr. Locke, in an average PetSmart, there are an average of 62 types of pet food, which equals up to a half-mile of skus.

?Know your consumers? needs, wants and desires with clear-cut answers and why the brand exists for them,? Mr. Locke said.

Read all about it
The panel also presented a case study from broadcast network BBC and a survey it conducted with Starcom MediaVest Group.

?The purpose of the study was to look at what do tablets mean for the future of news, and how can advertisers get in,? said Joy Robins, vice president of digital ad sales at BBC Worldwide Americas, New York.

In particular, the study looked at how responsive users were to in-app advertising.

?Users welcomed tablet ads only when good and they could control them at their own pace,? said Kate Sirkin, executive vice president and global research director at Starcom MediaVest Group, Chicago.

?As people used their tablets more, they get more excited for insight, entertainment or utility tasks,? she said.

The study surveyed 1,110 tablet owners in the United States aged 18 to 53.

In the study, 69 percent of consumers who had owned tablets for more than one year said they had become a seamless part of their daily life and routine.

Similarly, 44 percent of consumers surveyed who had owned a tablet for six months or less said that it also had become part of everyday life.

Sixty-six percent of tablet owners who have owned their device for more than one year said they use their tablets at home more than they expected.

Of all tablet owners surveyed, 78 percent of consumers said they follow more news stories and a wider variety of articles on their tablets than expected.

The majority of tablet users who read news content on their devices only used one news app.

?It?s important that people trust the news and what they are reading, and tablets are making news readers more important,? BBC?s Ms. Robins said.

Final Take

Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York