In our latest installation in a series focusing on influential women in digital, Melina Jacovou, CEO, Propel London, speaks to Somo marketing director Jocelyn Bull.
Earlier this year Somo was named ‘One to Watch’ in both The Drum’s UK Digital 100 and New Media Age’s poll of the top 100 interactive agencies, as well as being lauded as the fastest growing mobile company in Europe in the Media Momentum Awards.
Established in 2009, the mobile specialist has already expanded its operations from London to the US and Asia, and works with massive clients – Audi, Paddy Power, Disney and The Times, to name just a few. Based on headcount, it is unequivocally the largest independent full-service mobile marketing agency around.
The person responsible for the safekeeping of such a valuable brand is Somo’s marketing director Jocelyn Bull. Such a brief might intimidate many, but when we meet she is relaxed and full of enthusiasm for her task.
Perhaps part of the reason for her bright outlook is that she’s amongst friends at Somo – some of whom she’s known for more than eight years of her career. For Jocelyn, it’s the second time she’s worked alongside Nick Hynes, Somo’s co-founder and CEO.
“Nick is from The Search Works [where Jocelyn worked between 2005 and 2008] and there’s a big ex-Search Works contingent here.
“Working at The Search Works taught me a lot about the kind of business and the kind of people I want to work for. I knew that any business Nick was part of would have the same qualities and that I would leap at the chance to work with him again.”
Where The Search Works’ mission was to build Europe’s largest paid search marketing agency, Somo is much broader in scope. As a full service agency, its team covers mobile strategy, innovation, advertising campaigns and creative design and production from conception to delivery.
“The challenge of mobile, and the beauty of it, is that it changes phenomenally quickly. From 2005 to 2007, search was changing a lot. But that’s nothing compared to mobile right now.
“When I joined, I was quite guilty of thinking ‘mobile is going to be just like digital, isn’t it? Same stuff on a smaller screen.’ I quickly realised how wrong I was.” Mobile is growing incredibly quickly and represents the current zeitgeist of digital, and marketing in general. Somo appears, from the outside at least, perfectly placed to ride that wave into a position of market dominance. Does Jocelyn agree?
“We adopt a ‘mobile-first’ philosophy. When your starting point is a bit of kit which sits in someone’s hand 24 hours a day and that can play a part in almost every interaction with a company or a brand all through the life-cycle, that’s extremely powerful.
“I think we’ll see more of a shift of clients who will start to think in that way – mobile first. And yes, that’s going to be great for Somo.”
Not that it will be an uncontested fight: “There are lots of people doing mobile, so it’s very competitive in that sense. You can barely find a digital agency these days that doesn’t also say that it’s doing mobile as well.”
When Jocelyn talks about mobile, it’s apparent how much belief she has in the future of the channel. This confidence is widespread in the industry, and with good reason – mobile advertising and technology is poised to dominate the landscape as mobile internet adoption reaches saturation point.
The potential of mobile lies in the fact that it remains largely untapped as a brand opportunity. Jocelyn sees the inherent linking ability of mobile as crucial for reaching audiences in new ways.
“When you look at the stats around media spend by advertisers versus consumption, 10 per cent of users’ time is spent on mobile but only around one per cent of ad budget is spent on the channel.”
“From a consumer perspective, no one sits there and really dissects the media they’re consuming – they don’t see the dividing lines. What we try to do is create better experiences joining channels together. So, social media and mobile go perfectly together, for example. And the things we can do to enhance print media through mobile really make sense.”
How much are clients willing to adopt that ‘mobile first’ perspective that Somo advocates?
“Of course it varies a lot,” says Jocelyn. “Many clients will start talking about mobile in a niche sense – getting more app downloads, or improving their mobile site. But when they start to consider the broader changes in behaviour that mobile is creating, they start to get very excited about the broader opportunities.”
In a discipline regarded as ‘of the future’, how much does Somo have to be focused on the long-term evolution of mobile?
“We’re always looking ahead, but frankly,” – she says with a laugh – “you can’t see very far into the future of mobile. When clients ask for three or five year plans it’s just not possible. If you can even look a year ahead you’re doing well.
“We’ve got a dedicated innovation team whose job it is to know what’s coming up and how it can be harnessed for clients. Right now they’re looking at things like audio triggers in TV advertising and how they can be linked up with the mobile experience, or the next generation of augmented reality.”
At 33, Jocelyn has already achieved a lot in her career; sitting pretty in a senior marketing position at an agency that’s positioned to take advantage of the mobile revolution. Not that she’s taking it for granted: “Particularly with the state of the economy in the last few years, it’s been a pleasure and a privilege to be a part of an industry that is not only doing well, but is booming.”