Bright Lights, Big City! Vovia Goes to ad:tech

Mike, Andrew and I had the pleasure of attending the ad:tech conference in the Big Apple this November and it was a fantastic experience. There were lots of good panels and discussions at the conference, but the highlights were the mobile related ones. The following are a few of the tips from the mobile related talks:

All Ads Are NOT Created Equal

Recycling ads into mobile formats is lazy and ineffective. Mobile needs to be done differently because it’s a fundamentally different channel. Experiment with different creative and messaging to find the winning formula, keeping mobile constraints in mind.

Rinse & Repeat

Make sure to measure and iterate. Advertisers that have an inability to iterate ad design or lack the data to drive improvements, will almost certainly have difficulty getting good results from mobile.

Snack Food for Thought

Mobile ads and mobile advertising objectives need to be tailored to a “snacking” mentality. Mobile consumers have shorter attention spans than their desktop counterparts and this must be considered when developing your mobile strategy. Smartphones are most often checked during “found time” (when waiting for a bus or waiting in line at the bank), making the window of opportunity quite narrow.

Rich & Famous

Video and rich media offer unique and highly adaptable digital experiences. With the snacking mentally in mind, these formats create an avenue to capture attention through deeper engagement. Video and rich media are growing quickly and provide good advertising opportunities.

Indigenous Engagement

Native advertising is especially effective on mobile and should be kept in mind when developing your strategy. In some cases, up to 10x engagement lift has been reported (compared to mobile display ads).

New York, New York

The Big Apple was very good to us and ad:tech put on a great event. The conference reminded us that mobile advertising is still in its infancy while also providing valuable insight into industry leading techniques.

If your company wants to break into this space, but isn’t sure how, let us know! We really enjoy developing mobile strategies and there are great opportunities for those who get in early.