Lisa Kopp is regional vice president for the Midwest at Amobee
By Lisa Kopp For years we have been hearing about the promise of mobile, and it has never been truer than with today’s consumer. According to Cisco, more people will have mobile phones (5.4 billion) than electricity (5.3 billion), running water (3.5 billion) and cars (2.8 billion) by 2020. The rapid growth of mobile devices has caused accessibility to outpace the growth of what we consider basic necessities. Pair that with the fact that consumers are spending more time on mobile than any other device, accounting for 51 percent of their total digital media usage per day, and it is easy to see why mobile advertising is a channel of focus. However, mobile ad spend still lags behind consumer time spent engaging with mobile media. Advertisers know that the consumer attention span is fleeting. The advertising industry needs to continue to innovate ways to keep consumers engaged across screens, as over 60 percent of the United States population cannot remember the last ad that they saw. The old saying used to be “right time, right message, right consumer,” but today’s consumer demands more than that. Advertisers must now identify moments where they can build a lasting emotional connection between their brand and consumer, beyond the advertisement itself. To build a relationship that keeps consumers engaged and interacting with the brand, impact needs to be achieved when, and where it matters most. How can mobile advertising work smarter for brands to create a lasting impact? 1. Engage audiences with immersive high-impact ad formats To drive consumer engagement and break through the clutter, brands can deliver immersive mobile ad experiences with high-impact ad formats. High-impact ad formats are designed to be interactive and encourage brand engagement among consumers through multiple touch points and placements that consider the mobile and tablet behavior patterns of consuming content and overall user experience. By captivating audiences with a storytelling approach to advertising, brands can invite consumers to feel like they are a part of the creative while exploring content on their device. 2. Harness the power of technology to guide creative development, media strategy and activation Advertising has a right brain and a left brain. Marketers want to build meaningful relationships with their consumers, but must rely on the data and technology available to them to accurately and effectively reach those users on digital devices like mobile. Technology has evolved to the point where brands and marketers are able to gain a deep understanding of their target consumers, and use that insight to guide digital campaigns development to increase relevancy around real time or historical trends and audience behavior. Right fit The power of high-impact mobile advertising is clear for retail companies, who are often limited by standard ad formats such as static banners that do not act as the best vehicle to convey certain product experiences. In an industry where the feel and fit of the product can make the difference in convincing a consumer to make a purchase, communicating these features opens the door to sales. By creating a truly engaging and immersive experience, brands can entice mobile users with ad messages that actually resonate with them and make them excited to learn more about the product. In fact, according to an eMarketer study, style and fashion saw the second highest click-through rate for rich media display ads worldwide at 22.4 percent, just behind sports at 30.9 percent. Retailers can offer life-like experiences all through the consumer’s mobile device and draw them to a store and actually try the product in person. Savvy consumers are highly aware of advertisements that seem like, well, advertisements. By leveraging high-impact units and data for targeting, brands and marketers can create an immersive and responsive ad messages that fuels relevancy and encourages engagement. MOBILE ADVERTISING has evolved significantly over the last few years. If brands and advertisers want to attract and retain consumers in this fragmented media ecosystem, they need to look beyond expected tactical executions and adopt a mobile strategy that considers specific ad formats for specific objectives. The emotional involvement that consumers have with their mobile devices is bar none. We have learned that when consumers engage with an ad through touch, it increases spontaneous recall by 28 percent. Through rich media and high-impact mobile campaigns, brands can inspire greater interaction with their target audiences on an authentic, emotional level. In a world where consumer attention spans average eight seconds, brands need to create memorable experiences through mobile. Lisa Kopp is regional vice president for the Midwest at Amobee, Chicago. Reach her at lkopp@amobee.com.