Does mobile advertising work without mobile marketing?

Since the start of the year I’ve been putting some thought into what is going to happen to mobile advertising and marketing during 2009. By all accounts this year is going to be tough for anybody involved in the advertising and marketing sector, and I decided to spend some time taking stock of 2008 and trying to reach some mental higher ground and perspective on the industry.

A recent piece in Mobile Entertainment on the ‘Future of Mobile Advertising’ got me thinking about the very definition of mobile advertising and how it relates to mobile marketing. I began by reminding myself what the difference is between the two.

The differentiation is not clear-cut, however the consensus seems to be that advertising, in its purest form, is just one type of marketing. The dictionary definition describes it as;

‘The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast, or electronic media.’

Marketing, however, covers all sorts of activities (including advertising) around selling products and services, and is;

‘All business activity involved in the moving of goods from the producer to the consumer, including selling, advertising, packaging, etc.’

The Mobile Entertainment piece is concerned with mobile advertising and, in particular, mobile display advertising, by which I mean banner ads inserted into mobile internet pages, and extends to ads inserted into mobile video and games. The main crux of the debate is whether mobile ads offer advertisers enough value. Most of the experts involved agree that mobile ads are still a poor relation to PC internet ads, mainly because they don’t yet offer the same level of targeting or measurement. Whatever the reasons, traditional brands, it seems, are not coming to mobile advertising in droves.

That said, some types of mobile display ad are doing very well. As Ben Tatton-Brown from RingRing Media (the mobile media specialists, and friends to We Love Mobile) points out, mobile commerce on the mobile internet is alive and well. RingRing sold almost $1 million of mobile display advertising in four months, mostly to companies who do their business within the mobile internet.

Impressive stuff. But the reason why mobile commerce is driving mobile display ad sales is not a mystery, it’s a case of simple economics. Buying mobile ad space for mobile products has clear ROI. You pay for ad space, measure your clicks and cross-reference them with your customer acquisition and sales. If your cash poured into mobile media one end gets you enough sales out the back, then job done. Even the most basic campaigns with the crudest calls to action can work out (and if you surf the mobile internet off-portal you’ll know what I mean).

In this mobile commerce model the relationship between the mobile ad and the mobile marketing is clear and immediate. One click takes the process from advertising to marketing, and if the landing pages are designed correctly, then another couple of clicks leads to a sale. Case closed.

The commercial rationale for mobile display ads tends to be less transparent, however, when the advertiser doesn’t conclude their business within the mobile eco-system.

Traditionally advertisers selling products and services have been willing to spend millions on TV, newspaper and billboard ads just to promote a brand – in the belief that those seeing those ads will then go out and buy that brand.  They are also increasingly willing to spend millions on PC internet display advertising (and variations thereof) if that advertising works a little harder and leads to directly measurable consumer interaction and sales. In that sense display advertising on the PC web blurs the lines between advertising and marketing, as should mobile display advertising.

For a non-mobile commerce brand, most mobile display ads are currently failing on two fronts. They don’t ad enough brand value and they don’t lead to satisfactory interaction or direct sales. They don’t act in the integrated way that PC based ads do, as they are not as well tied into marketing and sales activities.

Let me explain why. Firstly, buying mobile ads to help build a non-mobile brand is unproven and a very hard sell. Does a tiny banner deliver brand value in its own right? Instinctively, I think not. Yes, there have been some studies showing that purchase intent is increased by seeing mobile display ads alone, but they are few and far between, and in my opinion, not terribly convincing.

As to whether mobile display ads lead to sales and interaction in the real world, well, yes, some ad campaigns have led to significant numbers of consumer interactions beyond the initial click, but again data on these is not readily available. In many cases, display ad campaigns will simply lead to a landing page containing some product info and a click to call or some form of data capture. Compared to the PC web, where many brands can drive online purchase and seal the deal off the back of a banner ad, the prospect of maybe getting a call or grabbing a sliver of personal data is hardly very exciting.

The solution? Well, in my opinion non-mobile advertisers and their agencies need to think beyond the display ad itself and get creative with what happens after the click. Display ads in a digital interactive setting should really only be a point of departure for the consumer. We must put an end to mobile based brand experiences that terminate in a click to call or arduous two finger form filling. Truly successful mobile display ads should lead seamlessly to more sophisticated marketing and offer a brand experience that keeps the consumer within the mobile ecosystem.

Easier said than done, perhaps, but I think brands need to look at more subtle and immersive mobile experiences that don’t force the consumer to jump from one channel to another. There is not the time or space to define ‘immersive experiences’ here, but lets just say that the creative possibilities of even simple WAP pages have hardly been exhausted.

Whatever the creative solution is, asking someone to come out of their mobile internet surfing session to interact is not user experience driven activity – and, when prompted by a mobile display ad, it’s an attempt to reach a non-mobile conclusion to a mobile call to action.

All those involved in planning and buying mobile ads for non-mobile brands need to think carefully about campaign objectives. When outcomes are distinctly non-mobile, like directly driving offline sales or getting people to request a printed brochure, then I think in most cases there is a clear disconnect and the strategy could probably do with a re-think.

If mobile display advertising is going to work for brands in 2009 and beyond it needs to get more sophisticated and ad networks will need to work closer with agencies like mine to create a more holistic approach – one that keeps users within the mobile channel, while also achieving wider brand objectives. Not easy when many marketing managers have never used the mobile internet, but mobile content sponsorship and branded mobile services and products are a good place to start.

Mobile display advertising for mobile brands will continue to thrive, but even then, these companies will ultimately need to up their game in terms of ad creativity and user experience to continue to get ROI, even with expanding inventory.