Everyone’s talking about the power of mobile targeting. But all the talk is JUST about the targeting, and very little is about the potential of stunning creativity to change opinions and behaviour once the mobile finds the right person.
Handset manufacturers are doing their bit: the mobile screen has become a thing of beauty. High resolution, saturated colours, deep blacks and screens that are getting bigger and bigger.
But the media owners are not doing enough to turn that newly-magnificent screen into a canvas for the creative teams to develop ads that grab and hold attention and get talked about.
I no longer buy the argument that truly creative people should be able to work magic in the miniature spaces the media-owners provide. I can’t think of any of the world’s top artists who are known for their postage stamp designs. So let’s give the creatives a chance.
Yes, there’s mobile video. But that means the customer must invest time to watch it, when much of the time they are glancing quickly at static utility-based screens.
There is a real opportunity for the mobile sector to come up with some better ad formats that really change minds for the 99.9% of people who see the ads but do nothing.
It is easy to test and to prove that higher impact ads change attitudes. It just takes a little more work from the media owners.
Agency groups like Publicis and WPP should be putting more pressure on the mobile industry to show more imagination.
Then we’ll see more ads that do this wonderful medium justice.