Talking about mobile marketing
[Posted by Peter Kim]
As you may know, my research coverage at Forrester has shifted into
mobile marketing. Last night, I moderated a panel discussion last
night for MITX and we talked about
the industry for a couple hours with The Weather Channel, ESPN, Carat,
g8wave, and Ringleader Digital. The three biggest points that came up
in discussion:
- Measurement. It just isn’t there today. There wasn’t a lot of
discussion of platforms, but it seems like marketers must broker deals
with all kinds of players that operate many different systems. - Standards. Like the rise of online ads – lack of formats and
standards. IAB? MMA? Marketers, agencies, publishers, platforms,
manufacturers, and carriers need to put their heads together to make
mobile ad formats work. - Education. Do you want to learn something new today? Figure out
the difference between on- and off-deck, what is WAP, or why does 3G
matter. Learning about this environment sounds strangely like learning
about how the web works a decade ago.
Good crowd and good panel. Lots of iPhone fans. Lots of Blackberry
users. And lots of great services, products, and ideas out there – but
I think some of the technical complexity and immaturity of the current
business opportunity keep mainstream media attention away from the
space.
I’ll be thinking more about this in the future – next month I’ll
publish a document outlining how interactive marketers can take what
they already know and apply to mobile.