Taking Creativity to the Streets

What's the most notable mobile campaign you can think of from the last year or two?Hmm. It doesn't quite roll off your tongue as it would if you were asked the same question about a television or interactive campaign. For TV, I can quickly think of the Sony Bravia and Skittles commercials. For the Web, I can point to Get the Glass, Halo 3 and Nike+. Let's face it: There is a dearth of compelling and valuable experiences within the mobile marketing landscape. But let's also be fair with our comparisons. Mobile is still a nascent industry, and many brands are still taking baby steps into the space with miniscule budgets that would make most traditional agency and interactive producers look the other way for "real" work. As an industry, we've made some progress, but we still have a long way to go. It's time to stop experimenting and get serious about mobile. Consumer behavior is shifting rapidly. Consumers now have access to better devices with more intuitive interfaces, faster speeds and more content on the mobile Web. ESPN recently reported that more visitors went to the football section of its mobile site than ESPN.com. Also, a recent Wall Street Journal article reported that in November, 50 percent more Web pages were viewed by consumers using the iPhone browser than the Windows mobile platform. At that time, there were 1.4 million iPhones and countless devices installed with Windows browsers. These examples signal that a fundamental shift is happening in consumer uptake of mobile data services. The time to get serious about mobile is now: Brands need to embrace mobile or get left behind.Within the Web, many agencies and brands have intensified their focus on creating social-media experiences that provide community and recurring utility to the consumer. This same strategy holds true of mobile but, unfortunately, the mobile Web is littered with one-off, single-page campaign sites that offer minimal value to the consumer. When it comes to mobile creative work, we need to apply the same litmus test that we have for the Web. Is there compelling narrative? Is the campaign designed well? Does it provide real utility for the user? All these questions must be answered before a mobile marketing campaign can be executed.Let's not repeat our Web mistakes. If branded social networks aren't successful on the Web, we should think twice about creating them for mobile. As Wal-Mart learned when it quickly shut down its Web-based social network, trying to wrestle consumers away from their existing networks probably won't work without some real added value. Despite this, Coca-Cola launched the Sprite Yard, a mobile social network that provides no unique value to the consumer. Coca-Cola would probably have seen more consumer interest had it created programs integrated into mobile networks on MySpace or Facebook.Mobile is not the Web, and one must keep in mind physical-device limitations, screen resolutions, carrier network speeds and browser capabilities. Repurposing content from one medium to another usually doesn't work. Just as a TV commercial doesn't neatly become an online experience, a Web campaign can't migrate to mobile without first evolving. There are, however, some opportunities within mobile that agency creatives need to leverage. It provides location and time sensitivity. For instance, one of my current favorite mobile applications is Where.com's GPS widgets, which allow users to easily find local points of interest such as restaurants, bars and shops. It's a great example of an application that provides utility while leveraging what is unique to mobile.Agencies working in mobile must hold themselves to a creative standard as high as traditional advertising. The ideas and craft need to improve. I've seen my fair share of bad mobile marketing campaigns that try to lure consumers to their mobile sites with offers of free ringtones and wallpapers. I've also seen a lot of poorly designed, unusable, broken-link-infested mobile sites.We also need to put to death the cookie-cutter site-building tools that are so prevalent in our industry. These tools often produce mobile sites that all look and function the same. Brands may think they are improving ROI by saving money on production, but limited creative can potentially damage the brand's image. I can't imagine brands wanting to produce Web sites or TV ads in this manner, so why should this be acceptable within the mobile world?For mobile to reach its full potential and ensure consistent campaign messaging and experiences, it must be integrated into the cross-media mix. The personal nature of mobile media is well positioned to leverage cross-channel customer profile and CRM data, tailoring messaging and utility to build lasting engagement and loyalty. Likewise, the data-capture opportunities from mobile are largely untapped, providing the potential for daily behavioral insights with dimensions like location that cannot be obtained from other sources. Ultimately, mobile must be integrated with a brand's data analytic tools to help measure effectiveness and continuously improve campaigns.Mobile is the most ubiquitous medium out there and will revolutionize social interaction and marketing communications. Unfortunately, like the early Web, it is stuck in a catch-22. In 1999, Web budgets were slow to take off, and there was no quick payoff for brands launching into the space. As consumers spend more time on mobile devices, brands not established in the mobile space risk losing relevancy with their target audience.Likewise, agencies should already be investing in mobile capabilities, rather than waiting until clients start shifting budgets. Right now we are seeing traditional agencies that didn't invest in digital capabilities losing business to agencies that did. Is your business ready to work within the mobile landscape?Richard Ting serves as vp, ecd at R/GA.

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Taking Creativity to the Streets

Richard Ting

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Richard Ting