During a recent interview with The Drum, commercial director of Medialets, EMEA, James O'Connor, warned marketers that "mobile users are increasingly expecting more from mobile advertising."
O'Connor explained that the proliferation of smartphones meant that users were now attuned to expected "smarter, more engaging, and more exciting ads," though marketers in Europe and the UK were falling behind their US counterparts in providing this.
"The US is off and running, we're [the UK] kind of walking behind them, and then the rest of Europe is behind again."
Traditional performance based marketing is still the choice 'de jour' in the UK with few brands and advertisers taking advantage of more rich media options which consumers are increasingly looking for. O'Connor commented that the UK is very much an "80/20 split" with 80 per cent of brands and agencies sticking with performance based campaigns, which are easier to measure in terms of success.
He explained the UK's predisposition towards performance based marketing comes from the fact it is low risk. But what marketers are failing to grasp is users are no longer interested in static ads, O'Connor adds: "if you make an advertisement interesting, exciting and immersive from the start then users are more inclined to be engaged, click on it and take the desired actions."
Though smarter ads are likely to draw more consumers O'Connor stressed the most important factor in mobile advertising, be it performance based or rich media, is to ensure it is relevant to the audience, "by being on point and relevant to the user and to the publisher you end up with a much higher percentage of clicks and engagement."
Since its launch in 2008, Medialets has championed the mobile rich ad format; its rich media ad platform supports the full spectrum of mobile display, including rich media, video and static banners. O'Connor admitted the biggest "challenge is that some [advertisers] are still wary of allocating a big enough budget to mobile."
He continued: "It's about pushing the boundaries - not just creativity - and actually using metrics to demonstrate the impact of the campaign," adding "We need to prove to brands ROI is there in mobile advertising and it's not just a creative and rich media with hearts spinning round and fireworks going off."
O’Connor also discussed his thoughts on how the release of 4G technology may impact the mobile advertising industry, he explained: “Faster connection speeds only fuel consumers’ mobile addiction, driving more frequent, longer mobile sessions and effectively expanding the advertising opportunity.”
In conclusion it is O’Connor’s view that “availability of 4G in the UK is yet another indicator that the rising value of mobile cannot be understated,” underpinning his warning that as technology advances consumers will expect more and more from mobile advertising.