It’s 1997 all over again,” assessed Maria Mandel, partner/executive director of digital innovation at Ogilvy Interactive. Mandel drew a parallel to today by hearkening back to the late ’90s when ad agencies were acquiring interactive shops to build new media acumen and resources. Now she again sees deja vu on the horizon, with more agencies seriously looking to acquire mobile ad firms and expertise.
Mandel’s comments came as a panelist during a roundtable session at the Mobile Marketing Forum on Nov. 14 in Los Angeles. The day-long event of panel discussions and case studies was sponsored by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), a non-profit group established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA has more than 500 member companies spanning agencies, advertisers, handheld device manufacturers, wireless operators, aggregators, technology enablers, market research firms and other shops focused on the mobile space.
While Mandel and her agency panelist colleagues are enthused over mobile marketing and advertising prospects, they acknowledged that there are still obstacles to overcome in order for that potential to be realized.
Eric Bader, senior VP of digital connections at MediaVest Worldwide, noted that a relatively small buy for a mobile campaign entails logistical complexities that require extensive man hours, often making the initiative far more expensive than it should be. He explained that campaigns frequently have to go across different mobile phone and digital device carriers, all with different standards and no agreed upon serving technology. This, he said, can make it “exponentially harder” to handle the mobile aspect of an advertising/marketing campaign.
And there’s still a considerable learning curve to be mastered by the clients themselves, related Renee Borkowski, senior VP, digital & database marketing, at Arc Worldwide (an affiliate of Leo Burnett Worldwide). “Brands are challenged by the medium…they’re even struggling with their own cellphones” when it comes to more sophisticated uses such as tapping into richer experiences offered by broader band content, she observed.
Borkowski said that clients generally are doing well in areas where marketplace adoption and penetration are most established like text messaging and mobile Internet, but agencies need “to teach [clients] as we go” for emerging, more ambitious, less exploited mobile forms of communication, including rich content.
MediaVest’s Bader related that there are different means whereby mobile campaigns are being funded, the first jumping-on point being “the maverick stage” in which a client or brand with a maverick spirit finds money in the “couch cushion” portion of budgets to invest in experimental mobile initiatives. “Almost nothing is integrated at this stage,” he said.
The next, more advanced stage that’s aspired to, he continued, is indeed when mobile is part of not only an integrated campaign but an overall allocation of dollars. In this scenario, mobile serves a role in communicating with consumers–in concert with and complementary to other platforms–and is measured and valued as such.
As for the impact of Apple’s iPhone on the mobile landscape, Bader observed that consumers access mobile media because they want to participate in something or want to get answers. Thus the direct WiFi line for iPhone users, he said, “can only be good for consumers and everyone,” including its implications for the mobile marketing community.
DGA Award Nominees Set For TV, Documentaries and Commercials
The Directors Guild of America has unveiled the nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Television, Commercials and Documentary for 2024. The winners will be announced at the 77th Annual DGA Awards on Saturday, February 8, at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Garnering multiple nods in their respective categories of Dramatic Series, Comedy Series and Movies for TV/Limited Series were, respectively, Shogun, The Bear and The Penguin. Three of the five nominations in Dramatic Series went to Shogun--Hiromi Kamata for the “Ladies of the Willow World Episode,” Frederick E.O. Toye for “Crimson Sky” and Jonathan van Tulleken for “Anjin.” The other two nods were garnered by Alex Graves for The Diplomat episode “Dreadnought” and Issa Lopez for the “Part 6” installment of True Detective, Night Country. The Bear also took three out of five nominations, in the Comedy Series category: Directors Ayo Edebiri for the “Napkins” episode, Duccio Fabbri for “Doors,” and Christopher Storer for “Tomorrow.” The other two Comedy Series nods went to Lucia Aniello for the Hacks episode “Bulletproof” and Jeff Schaffer for the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode “No Lessons Learned.” And garnering three of the five nods in Movies For Television and Limited Series was The Penguin: Directors Kevin Bray for “Top Hat,” Jennifer Getzinger for “A Great or Little Thing” and Helen Shaver for “Cent’anni.” Rounding out the category were nominationns for Alfonso Curaon on the strength of Disclaimer, and Steven Zaillian for Ripley. Nominated in the Documentary category were Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev for... Read More