NEW YORK ? A Google executive at the Mobile Marketing Association?s SM2 conference debunked four myths regarding multiscreen campaigns and explained that every marketer should be engaging across devices, browsers and channels.

During the ?Business transformational: every moment is mobile? session, the exec showed how multiscreen campaigns can be both easy and simple to create and at the same time beautiful and engaging for consumers. Advertiser interest in multiscreen campaigns is growing as marketers recognize the importance that smartphones and tablets play in the day-to-day lives of consumers.

?One of the most prominent myths I hear is this notion that you can?t build beautiful marketing campaigns in a multiscreen world,? said Neal Mohan, vice president of display advertising at Google, Mountain View, CA.

?Today creating that beautiful multiscreen experience is an art," he said. "You need to build to the unique context your consumers are in when they?re consuming content.?

Multiscreen consumer
According to Mr. Mohan, mobile media consumption is up 500 percent. More than that, however, 90 percent of consumers move sequentially between one device to another to complete task.

Marketers cannot deny the fact that consumers are switching between multiple devices and screens throughout the day. They need to acknowledge that fact and address it with creative multiscreen campaigns.

Mr. Mohan cited a campaign that Google carried out with Burberry as an example of a successful multiscreen campaign. It let consumers send messages to loved ones and seal them with a virtual kiss.

On a desktop, consumers used the device?s camera to take a picture of them making a kiss. On mobile and tablet, consumers could kiss the screen itself.

By understanding the different devices and their capabilities, Burberry?s campaign adapted a concept in subtle ways to truly engage with a consumer on his or her specific device.

According to Mr. Mohan, millions of users have already engaged with this campaign.

What was important was that Burberry did not simply build an experience for desktop and then crush it into a smaller experience for tablets and smartphones. The team created a unique experience for each device.

One of the myths that Mr. Mohan challenged was that building a multiscreen campaign is cumbersome and complex.

He responded to this myth by saying that companies can easily create a campaign with Google?s upcoming Web Designer product. Mr. Mohan sees this program as breaking down any barriers to creating a multiscreen campaign. 

All about choice
One of the things that make multiscreen campaigns so important is the idea of choice. Consumers want to be able to choose how they interact with advertising.

Companies need to respond to this culture by providing as many options as consumers request.

For Coachella, T-Mobile ran an ad in the New York Times Web site that allowed users to choose whether or not to engage at all. If they scrolled over the ad for two seconds, a live video of Coachella would stream.

The campaign also ran across mobile and tablet devices and replaced the scrolling over function with touching the ad.

?In this multiscreen environment we all as consumers live in this notion of a choice economy,? Mr. Mohan said. ?Increasingly consumers not only have a choice in the content they consume but the advertising that they see.

?We think that 100 percent of all digital advertising is going to be ads that users choose to engage in,? he said. ?Users consume 50 percent more video if you give them the choice to skip the ad than if you don?t.?

Final Take
Rebecca Borison is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York