TORONTO – Mobile advertising should be part of marketers’ media buy now – “not next year, not in six months, the opportunity is now” – said Phil Barrett, vice-president of digital and mobile for Toronto-based marketing communications agency B-Street Communications.
Barrett made his comments during a panel discussion on mobile marketing, advertising and commerce at the Canadian Telecom Summit on Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re not suggesting you forget about online and TV and other media, but our point of view is that mobile is now about 10% of our marketing business… and we’re seeing great click-through rates on mobile advertising,” Barrett said.
Whereas online display ads typically achieve a click-through rate as low as 0.1%, Barrett said he is seeing click-through rates for mobile advertising in the range of three to six percent. “That’s really good,” he said.
“Based on the numbers, based on the adoption curve, the opportunity is now to include mobile as part of your marketing plans,” Barrett said.
Sara Diamond, president of the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) in Toronto, said she agrees. Diamond heads up OCAD’s mobile experience and innovation centre.
“The opportunity to aggregate mobile applications in meaningful ways, and for a lot of brands to deliver experiences for different kinds of consumers is unlimited. It’s an amazing moment right now,” Diamond said. “So I agree, it’s time to move into this space aggressively.”
Diamond says she sees two current opportunities for brand marketers. The first is the ability to embed brands into what she calls the “augmented reality” presented by new mobile user applications. And the second opportunity is to use location-based services that allow local businesses to provide mobile consumers with just-in-time experiences, Diamond said.
Earlier this week, Toronto’s EnStream, a joint venture company owned by Bell, Rogers and Telus, launched its Zoompass mobile money transfer and payment system. According to EnStream president Robin Dua, Zoompass is the first step in the convergence of the wallet and the mobile phone (and which has already gained traction in other countries).
“We feel this is an important foundation in terms of enabling other types of mobile payments directly through the phone – for example, enabling payments in a point-of-sale environment or in a transit environment, or over-the-air purchases of digital content and so forth,” Dua said.
During a later interview, Dua admitted there are still some challenges to overcome in terms of ensuring mobile customers feel comfortable using their phones to conduct financial transactions.
“There are several things that are going to help shape consumer behaviour and overcome those perception issues that the mobile phone is not secure,” Dua said.
First, mobile networks are getting faster, Dua said. “If you initiate a money transfer and you get an instant message saying that money has been transferred to the recipient, that type of confirmation is really important in terms of shaping consumer behaviour that this is a trusted way to transfer money,” he explained.
Secondly, he gave Apple’s iPhone a lot of credit for creating “a halo effect” throughout the industry. “Just because they’ve done a great job in terms of selling applications, selling music, right through the device, over the air, and enabling a very simple user experience,” Dua said.
It all comes down to trust, said Mark Fruehan, executive vice-president of sales and business development for San Mateo, Calif.-based AdMarvel, which provides mobile advertising mediation services to its clients.
“As a user, I’m going to purchase with my trusted payment system,” he said. “Clearly, the mobile operators are my trusted source to buy off the phone. Whatever they offer, I’m going to trust it because they’ll ensure I have a successful experience.”
