NEW YORK ? A Neo@Ogilvy executive at the Mobile Media Summit Upfront at Internet Week 2015 conference said that marketers seeking a place in the wearables space must view the devices in terms of experience rather than content, and realize that wearables may in fact pull consumers? attention away from their smartphones if the experiences fuel their passions and favorite activities.

During the ?Wearables and Location Based Advertising? session, the executive cautioned that it may be too soon for all brands to throw full-fledged marketing efforts into wearables. More importantly, marketers must be aware that wearables include a plethora of personal devices, in addition to smartwatches, that are poised to offer consumers a myriad of potentially relevant experiences, from fitness tracking to message checking to calorie counting, which may snatch attention away from smartphones.

?It?s the first inning for wearable technologies and we?re still learning,? said Sean Muzzy, CEO of Neo@Oglivy, New York. ?There are marketing opportunities that are already there, but the big thing that people are trying to understand now is what the experience looks like from a systems standpoint.?

Leveraging location
Many wearable devices have the ability to provide additional contextualized experiences thanks to the prevalence of location-based data. For example, if a consumer is wearing a smartwatch and is looking for a bite to eat, he or she could receive a restaurant recommendation on the device based on proximity and previously collected information about preferences.

Marketers must also be careful about how they classify wearables, and refrain from simply honing in on smartwatches, as a slew of other devices are also available for consumers.

?They?re devices that are enhancing the performance,? Mr. Muzzy said. ?The actual expression of that is going to continue to evolve over time.?

The space will likely continue to become more cluttered, although Apple remains a clear leader in the industry, in part due to the fashion-focus of some of its products.

?When you think back to when they created the iPod, it was the first mp3 player that was out there, but they made it into a style that was a fashion statement,? Mr. Muzzy said.

In turn, this likely fueled Apple?s decision to make the Apple Watch customizable to consumers? preferences and more fashion-friendly.

A Mindshare executive at the 2015 Mobile: IAB Marketplace suggested that a third wave of digital advertising known as adaptive mobility has begun, meaning that brands and marketers must leverage wearables and location-based targeting for their efforts to be effective and provide relevant content to consumers (see story).

?Other companies are taking notice of the space, so they have to answer to a lot of audiences, not just the traditional Apple enthusiasts,? Mr. Muzzy said.

Promoting fragmentation
A potential beneficial and detrimental feature to wearables may be the increased fragmentation across personal devices, and the fact that the smart devices may lure consumers away from their smartwatches, a notion that may not please many mobile advertisers.

If the wearable technology is able to help a consumer further their goals or passions, such as a smart tennis racket that helps count calories and track learning progress, the user may end up spending less time on their smartphone. For others, the technology will not change anything.

?If the wearable technology is enhancing what I?m doing and helping me do my passion better, I will probably be doing more of that, which in theory would take me away from looking at my phone for five hours straight because I?m bored,? Mr. Muzzy said.

The different types of wearables also will affect the types of content that brands roll out.

?The definition of content is changing dramatically and a lot of that is driven by the evolution of smartphones,? Mr. Muzzy said. ?There are the traditional forms of content that we all know, that people have made tons of money off of, but now, the experience itself could be the content.

?We have to challenge ourselves to creating an experience that is mutually beneficial.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York