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How to develop an iPad content and advertising strategy

By Ernie Cormier

The iPad ? the hype, the hysteria, the jokes, the naysayers, the Fan Boys. If you have ever had the desire to be crushed under an avalanche of media speculation, commentary and general wonderment, the iPad has just guaranteed the fulfillment of your desire.

Has anyone in the mobile or digital media business gone a full 24 hours in the last two months without mentioning or hearing about the iPad? I would venture not, and for good reason.

This device is going to upend everything we have done with and thought about digital and mobile media.

What the iPad has introduced is mobile content consumption and connectivity without compromise.

Content access via the mobile Web and applications was first or perhaps second generation, at best ? a tremendously useful and popular generation, but a step along the way nonetheless.

The screen was small, the functionality limited, digestible for people on the move, tailored specifically to micro-moments and micro-screens.

The iPad has taken the mobility of the mobile phone and added the aesthetic of the PC screen, glossy magazine, beach read novel, newspaper and television screen, and bundled it all into a sleek, sexy package with Apple?s unique and characteristic touches.

It is the super-content delivery device and a game-changer for those in the mobile and digital media businesses.

Creative froth
Creative folks are frothing over the opportunities to open up content and advertisements for consumers in a three-dimensional and interactive manner and, no doubt, we will soon see tremendous examples of creative that was not imaginable ? or, at least, deliverable ? six months ago. It will be very exciting to see, and we in the industry anticipate and applaud these efforts.

What will not be so exciting are the integration and tactical challenges of adding a new device to your digital media mix ? for either publisher or advertiser.

We have felt the pains of fragmentation with mobile media before ? handset, wireless carrier, operating system application platform.

Each level of fragmentation has presented scalability and operational challenges for publishers and advertisers.

We have learned our lesson about what happens when you try to retro-fit content or advertising designed for one medium or device onto another. The result is stale-looking creative, apathetic users and lackluster performance.

Mike Dehm, vice president of business development at Reuters.com, is adamant that his team and other publishers approach the content development process for the iPad with the appropriate levels of effort and strategy that a ground-breaking device warrants.

?Publishers have to meet the technology half-way,? Mr. Dehm said.

?The iPad is a game-changer, but you can?t expect game-changing results if you treat it like last year?s device,? he said. ?Publishers need to push themselves to develop content and creative specific to the platform that is going to serve their audience best.?

No speculating on specs
In addition to pushing the creative boundaries, there are steps that have to be taken to ensure that the logistics of introducing new creative specs and units on the iPad are solidified.

Does the new content fit with all service providers and ad networks? Will the addition of the new ad units to reporting engines be seamless, and will it come under my mobile advertising or online advertising buy?

Also, are there new reporting metrics that will offer relevant indicators of user interaction suitable for the iPad that have not been introduced by either online or mobile advertising? Will the ads render properly?

Moreover, will my chosen ad networks have enough iPad inventory to meet my needs? And, finally, is there any way to make this integrative process easier?

The short answer is that many companies are working tirelessly to integrate iPad ad serving into their mobile advertising product offerings and make it as seamless as possible for their publisher and advertiser clients.

Look for companies that have introduced iPad SDKs or other development platforms designed specifically for the iPad.

Ask questions about how your reporting is going to be delivered and what the inventory picture looks like for iPad ad units.

Be involved in your iPad content or advertising strategy and differentiate it from your mobile and online strategy. The iPad is not a traditional mobile handset and it is not a traditional laptop ? it is something very different, and possibly, much, much better.

Ernie Cormier is CEO of Nexage, Waltham, MA. Reach him at .