Tight economy driving brands and agencies to hyper-targeting

December 31, 2008

Roger Pavane is executive vice president of interactive advertising sales at Myxer

By Roger Pavane

So as we slip further into an economic slump, what is the real state of mobile advertising?

Well, first let's take a look at where we are when it comes to mobile advertising, in general.

The promise of real-world location-based capabilities -- and I am not talking about driving directions, but coupons, 2D bar codes, WAP, SMS, online and offline one-to-one engagement -- still to this day is not a simplified reality. So let's take the BS out of LBS.

The technologies and methodologies are all bifurcated and agencies and brands are all nauseated over the lack of consistency across the board. Real-world effective engagement is still not a reality.

Paying to advertise short codes just to get people to opt in is not the solution. Brands and marketers want eyeballs and users. Basically they want an audience and don't want to have to build one.

As the technology gets more complicated, our industry must take a more proactive approach to simplifying the process. The C-level folks on both the brand and agency sides of the house really don't have time for complex systems and metrics. What they want is results.

So, how do we accomplish this?

Well, we must provide simple yet effective multi-platform mobile and online solutions that reach the publishers' eyeballs of already opted-in users willing to be engaged.

One cannot just engage folks on their mobile devices. Having a strategy that covers publishers who have both an online and mobile play under one umbrella is key to the success of targeting consumers both when they are online and when the "mouse leaves the house."

Traditional media spends are shifting more to interactive, which is great for the mobile advertising space. The engagement level for many traditional media advertising channels are weak and hence the shift in spends.

Every $1,000 spend feels like $100,000 in these tight economic times. Not surprisingly, brands and agencies alike are all going after the hyper-targeting capabilities our space offers.

The more profile information publishers can offer up on both mobile and online, the more valuable it is to a campaign and the more bottom-line revenue it will generate.

Mobile as a standalone marketing tool works well but a solution that covers both online and mobile that already has an audience is much more effective. We see a rise in cross-platform advertising campaigns because they are much more engaging, thus making them more effective.

We also need to do a much better job simplifying the technology we provide to our clients. Metrics are important but we must take a look at the value of too much granular information and what impact it can have on the success of mobile marketing, in general.

Just returning back from the iMedia Agency conference in Palm Springs, CA, it is clear that the industry is a bit more optimistic than the economy.

A survey that Myxer sponsored found that 56 percent of agencies expect a growth in digital media advertising by over 10 percent. Now this is a good sign as long as the overall budgets in general are not diluted.

I expect this to hold true for 2009 but if things don't change by the third quarter of 2009, then we can expect to see budgets cut dramatically for 2010.

From a mobile marketing perspective, this could be doom and gloom for many small companies in our space. But for now I expect to see things on the positive side for our industry in 2009.

Roger Pavane is executive vice president of interactive advertising sales at Myxer Inc., an ad-supported mobile entertainment content provider in Deerfield Beach, FL. Reach him at