Ask mobile marketing experts about the much-vaunted “year of mobile” and the reaction is often one of amusement: in most developed countries, that year has already passed.
According to recent figures from the IAB Mobile Marketing Centre of Excellence, as part of its Global Mobile Revenue study released in August, global mobile adspend almost doubled during 2013 to reach $19.3bn, up 92% year on year.
The greatest growth came from Latin America, up 215%, with the North American market increasing by 122% and Europe rising 90%.
Despite Latin America’s surging growth, overall spend in the sector is still dominated by North America, which contributes 42% of the total, or $8.1bn, and Asia-Pacific which accounts for 39%, or $7.5bn. In third place is Europe with 17.3% ($3.3bn), followed by Middle East and Africa with 1.2% ($225m) and then Latin America territories with a 0.7% share ($144m) last year.
Data from digital analysts at GSMA Intelligence, released last week, has even suggested that for the first time the number of mobile devices has surpassed the global population, registering 7.2bn.
Mobile-first
The phrase “mobile-first” has now entered the lexicon for global media agencies and mobile companies alike in explaining a territory that has jumped desktop as a primary digital advertising platform and moved direct to mobile.
Stefan Bardega (below), chief digital officer at ZenithOptimedia, says that these emerging markets should be observed by advertisers looking to contact future mobile consumers, especially as falling handset prices drives the proliferation of smartphones.
“I certainly think that in the emerging markets you’ll see faster traction with the lower end of smartphone devices, which will push up the access in those markets,” says Bardega. “Anyone who is arguing that the future for advertisers to reach their audience through desktop has really not moved on.”
Rohan Tambyrajah, global innovation director in PHD’s Global Strategy Unit, agrees there is an imperative to recognise how consumers are getting online: “The next 100m to join the internet will be mobile-first. There are developing markets that have skipped whole stages of technological evolution and gone straight to mobile.”
Emerging markets
Specialist mobile agency Fetch, which opened up its first Hong Kong office this year, says it is seeing an increase in client demand for mobile expertise in the region.
According to Fetch’s chief operating officer Greg Grimmer, the agency is seeing offline revenues shifting directly to the mobile channel and “missing out desktop completely”.
“This will be spearheaded by mobile video - for instance, 65% of all Facebook video impacts are on mobile – as well as the ongoing march towards higher 4G penetration and the almost omnipresence of superfast Wi-Fi,” says Grimmer.
He does, however, sound a note of caution that the “unique nature” of local mobile vendors may have prevented western brands and agencies from “fully exploiting” the Asian market.
With China-based Xiaomi taking over from Samsung as the most popular mobile company in the region over the summer, and Apple launching its “budget” 5c handset last September, the Chinese market – along with Asia Pacific in general – is seen as key battle ground for mobile.
Ben Phillips (below), head of mobile for GroupM agency MediaCom, insists that, while western markets are likely to reach a saturation point for mobile take-up soon, there is still much to gain from Asia Pacific and, increasingly, Latin American territories.
“I am excited by the mobile growth opportunities in all markets, in particular China, Africa, India and, especially, LatAm,” says Phillips. “Across LatAm, almost 34% of consumers accessing the internet do so from their mobile devices.”
Phillips cites GroupM data that 35% of search clicks are from mobile in the LatAm region while 40% of YouTube views are from mobile with 78% of Facebook users on mobile.
Grimmer agrees that Latin America has “punched above its weight” in terms of mobile ad spend: “In my view this is due to a combination of the budgets being controlled by US mobile agencies, and also the forward-thinking nature of some LatAm operators, which have helped drive smart phone penetration in regions where fixed line broadband is unavailable.”
Humble banner ad
Still, one of the key questions for advertisers is how they reach audiences aside from humble banner ads encountered as part of an internet search. Despite the rapid growth of messaging platforms like WhatsApp, messaging had only an 8.5% share of global mobile ad revenues in 2013, a paltry amount if brands are going to reach audiences directly.
“I would like to think that the potential of mobile is somewhat greater than the humble SMS, but until something as robust outmodes it, I see agencies committing more to this area in the short term,” says Tambyrajah, adding that messaging remains one of the “most effective forms of mobile advertising” in the short term.
Phillips believes that location is fast becoming the “mobile cookie in a cookie-less environment” and “goes a long way” in terms of identifying individuals and their intent.
He adds: “It is also a very crowded space in terms of suppliers, with many purporting to pass back true latitude/longitude, IP address targeting to varying degrees of accuracy. Scale and precision targeting is extremely important, what is as important is what you do with the data you collect.”
Breakneck pace
The mobile market appears in rude health, despite murmurs of a global slowdown in the breakneck pace of growth it has enjoyed of late.
With so many consumers reliant on their mobile phones, the increasing push towards cheaper handsets and smartphone-tablet hybrid ‘phablets’ being introduced, there remains plenty of opportunities for advertisers, according to HP director of media and digital marketing, EMEA, Chris Carmichael (below).
“I can't see any slowdown in mobile advertising revenues happening over the next 12 months,” says Carmichael. “Penetration rates are inevitably slowing down slightly, but that is more than offset by the increase in technologies and platforms.
“It means that advertisers have more opportunities to engage with audiences in a mobile environment, and also more confidence in the effectiveness of the medium as measurement improves.”
The so-called breakthrough “year of mobile” may have passed long ago, but the industry need not panic – a global “decade of mobile” beckons, with countless opportunities yet to be exploited.
CASE STUDY: Nivea Sun Kids – Protection app (FCB Brasil)
Background
With crowded beaches in the resorts of Brazil the risks of losing a child, even temporarily, are heightened. With holidaymakers still taking their mobile phones to the beach skin care and suncreams brand Nivea, wanted to tackle this potential danger putting its Nivea Sun Kids brand at the forefront of parent’s minds when it came to child protection.
Strategy
FCB Brasil conducted consumer insight and noticed that parents on the beach, not only checked their smartphone on a regular basis, but also engaged in magazine reading and it was decided to take that route to protect the children.
Execution
This took the form of a magazine ad that contained a strip to be torn out and turned into a bracelet. The bracelet was made from humidity-resistant material and could be put onto children’s wrists. The magazine platform chosen was Brazil’s weekly news magazine, Veja Rio, published on a Saturday.
Results
Nivea Sun Kids led the solar protection sector for the first time in the Brazilian market: in Rio de Janeiro, Nivea Sun’s sales volume increased 62%, beating its main competitor by 13% according to Nielsen. The skincare brand also won seven awards at the Cannes Lions Festival 2014, including a Mobile Grand Prix.
BRAND: NiveaBRAND OWNER: Bieirsdorf
CATEGORY: Pharmaceuticals/Healthcare
REGION: Brazil
DATE: May 2014 - ongoing
AGENCY: FCB Brasil
MEDIA CHANNEL: Experiential, mobile, print
Mark Banham, London
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