Mobile Advertising Conference - The Presentation

So when Simon and I were asked to go to the conference, we were given a remit to talk around how to make mobile ads work. The conference were keen for us to cover overcoming the hurdles to ad delivery in a delivery type way.

And we thought..

Nah..

You see, ads are about brands talking to people, in the hope that they will become customers. They’re not about mechanistically delivering stuff to someone. So we thought it would be good if we could maybe talk about actual adverts. The art of advertising.

So I did a little presentation that covered ‘normal’, non mobile adverts. And me being me, I covered adverts for beer, cigarettes and meatballs.

To kick things off, I thought it worth mentioning that, despite what the mobile industry thinks, there really aren’t any good mobile adverts out there. Not really. There are some good uses of technology, but if we’re honest, no ad agency would put any of our stuff on their showreel.

I know I’m putting myself down here as well, but I genuinely believe we are still to see the first truly great ad.

Then I looked at the Carlsberg ‘Probably’ campaign. The longest running single strapline ad campaign in the UK, and probably (!) the most artfully crafted piece of brand communication ‘in the world’. It was difficult explaining to a largely non-British audience the way that Carlsberg have sneaked into the subconscious of the British sense of humour with their continuously witty and sharp ads. But I think I got across the point, that brands take time to build. It also usually takes a lot of adverts before people get it, so don’t think a single mobile campaign will be instantly effective.

Next I looked at CDP’s seminal work on Benson and Hedges in the mid ’70’s. How they took the incredible restrictions placed on cigarette advertising and made it work for them. The surreal pyramids and sardine can ads were deliberately obscure - they were designed to encourage debate, and the fact they could only use posters and cinema meant they produced cinematic, epic adverts, and huge sweeping billboards. The point this time being that advertising can work within restrictions if we apply our creativity to the area within the boundaries, rather than bemoaning the boundaries themselves.

Finally I looked at the best piece of integrated advertising around at the moment - the Sainsbury’s/Jamie Oliver “meatballs for a fiver” campaign. I love the way that the TV ad is backed up perfectly with press and Point of Sale, to create not just an advert, but a genuine way of reaching out and engaging with customers in a positive way.

It was really nice to talk about what I believe in. It’s also what we find to be one of the strongest reasons for mobile advertising not growing faster. It’s not the technology that’s holding us back, it’s the ads themselves.

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Also posted on www.welovemobile.co.uk