Five Years from Now Mobile Will be a Mature Market…but Still Confusing

Procter & Gamble’s Downy is using location through a mobile scavenger hunt to help promote the launch of a new product.  Launching in Vegas they hope to get into the Guinness Book of World Records and appeal to the younger Millenials.  Reading through their plan though brought me to a sudden realization.  The mobile industry is doomed.

Before I explain, let’s get back to location.  We all know this is what makes mobile unique and powerful as a marketing tool – it can be anywhere your consumer is.  But that is also part of its weakness.  Marketers are used to thinking of marketing channels as having a specific location or place.   Since mobile does not, it is–and will continue to be–thought of differently than all the prior mass media.

All other media channels have a “place” that both consumers and marketers expect them to be.  TV is in your home/office.  Radio in the car (and maybe shower).  The Internet is on your computer.   But mobile has no “place” because it is everywhere.   That is why we see every type of agency (shopper, social/pr, web, experiential, etc.) executing mobile.  With no “place,” it falls into the hands of whoever has the idea.  And this is a problem for the growth of mobile.

For those of us in the industry (i.e. those of who work on mobile marketing 24/7, not just the “oh yeah, we do mobile” people), we know that the breadth of mobile is, well, breathtaking. You want to build your spot radio campaign? Add mobile. Want to increase the reach of your experiential marketing? Add mobile. Want to drive greater engagement in-store? Add mobile. And so on. Even TV’s effectiveness can be augmented by adding mobile as we all saw at the Oscars with the Save the Dolphins stunt.

To make it more confusing, mobile can also be its own channel. Mobile ads, mobile web, mobile search, mobile apps are all solidly in the mobile channel. The rise of all of these are tracked in the news every day and usage is only growing at smartphone adoption steadily rises from 40% today to 58% in 2015 (per eMarketer, slide 4).  There is no other media that is as amorphous with as few boundaries.

So what if people don’t know “where” mobile is?  This is my doom prediction.  It will stunt the growth of the industry.  The fragmentation of this industry, particularly in this current rapid growth period creates even more confusion and often more mobile heartbreak.  Dissatisfaction leads to a lower level of investment and perpetuates the myth that mobile is not “ready” for big time marketing investments.

The mobile scavenger hunt that P&G’s Downy is a good example.  So what is Downy’s goal?  To create brand awareness, engagement and consideration with younger Millenials for their new product.  The work is being done by SCVNGR, a good company with a solid mobile product, but is it really the best way to achieve these marketing goals within the mobile channel?  Well, they’re doing it for a dime so P&G’s risk is minimal.  But would a typical PR stunt with a texting component be better?  Or maybe just banner ads on mobile websites that target young adults.  Or print ads in young adult magazines with a text or QR code call-to-action.  Or an event marketing tour around the top markets with a mobile component that extends its reach.

Currently each of these ideas are the bailiwick of different agencies.  No ONE person/agency is corralling all the mobile ideas and saying this is the best.  And more than likely amongst the multitude of agencies pitching mobile none of them have a true mobile expert.  The implications is that the fate and growth is in the hands of many, not just those of us focused on mobile.  Perhaps this will generate an explosion of ideas but it will most definitely lead to self-imploding campaigns.  Inevitably agencies without enough knowledge take on this tricky new mass medium and more often than not fail.  With mobile growing in fits and starts with so many hands in the pie, it will take some time to line-item mobile in the budget.

One solution to this problem is impractical: Just let mobile-specific agencies handle mobile marketing work.  That would make my colleagues extremely happy but realistically nothing will stop other agencies from this land grab.  Much like social media, they all see it as a way to increase their billings.  And truthfully there is nothing wrong with them proposing mobile ideas – competition is good for all.  The downside is that marketers are generally risk-averse people and once burnt, twice shy does not bode well for industry growth.

The other solution is education.  Educating the marketers, product managers, business people AND their agencies.  If we have a place where we can get the full panorama of mobile possibilities–not just what’s being pitched to us today or what we read in the Huffington Post–then businesses can intelligently and strategically invest in mobile.

Modestly, that is what we’re trying to accomplish at the Heartland Mobile Council.  Our mission is to educate brands on how to use mobile effectively.  We do three things unique to any other mobile organization:

1.  The HMC creates a safe haven for education.  We’re a non-profit with a 100% volunteer staff.  No pitching.

2.  We provide a broad, comprehensive education.  A company like SCVNGR is great but they (rightly) only pitch their own product.  The press only covers what they think is the latest shiny object.  The HMC, however, provides a broad education, whether on a specific topic like 2D codes at a Seminar or the entire mobile marketing spectrum as we provide at our Mobile University Summits.

3.  Lastly, we provide Experiential Learning – more than “classroom” instruction.  Professional learning is more often done on-the-job, and our Experiential Learning initiatives do the same.  At our Mobile University 2011 Conference we brought 14 companies to our Experience Hall to demonstrate how Google does a mobile wallet, how Lockitron does mobile locks, how the Art Institute of Chicago is educating a new generation on Impressionism by iPad.

If you believe that education in a safe place, with a comprehensive curriculum using experiential learning is the right way to build this industry, please join us.  Location, location, location will always be critical but we are a mobile organization so you can be part of our movement from anywhere.

Hugh Jedwill is the Executive Director of the Heartland Mobile Council.  He also leads Mobile Anthem, an agency that activates consumers with brands.  He was a brand marketer at Procter & Gamble where he did the first mobile-integrated campaign.  Previously he worked at Palm and Kraft Foods.  He can be reached at hugh@heartlandmobilecouncil.com and followed on Twitter at @mobilebranding.

The next Mobile University educational program is a Webinar on Mobile Strategy and how to make your brand relevant through mobile.  Presented by Nissan and Critical Mass, it will be held Tuesday, November 22, 2011.  Click here for more info and to register.

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