As you may know, my research coverage at Forrester has shifted into mobile marketing. Last night, I moderated a panel discussion last night for MITX and we talked about the industry for a couple hours with The Weather Channel, ESPN, Carat, g8wave, and Ringleader Digital. The three biggest points that came up in discussion:
- Measurement. It just isn't there today. There wasn't a lot of discussion of platforms, but it seems like marketers must broker deals with all kinds of players that operate many different systems.
- Standards. Like the rise of online ads - lack of formats and standards. IAB? MMA? Marketers, agencies, publishers, platforms, manufacturers, and carriers need to put their heads together to make mobile ad formats work.
- Education. Do you want to learn something new today? Figure out the difference between on- and off-deck, what is WAP, or why does 3G matter. Learning about this environment sounds strangely like learning about how the web works a decade ago.
Good crowd and good panel. Lots of iPhone fans. Lots of Blackberry users. And lots of great services, products, and ideas out there - but I think some of the technical complexity and immaturity of the current business opportunity keep mainstream media attention away from the space.
I'll be thinking more about this in the future - next month I'll publish a document outlining how interactive marketers can take what they already know and apply to mobile.
I've made a couple of UGC shows for mobile. The technology hasn't matched the ideas yet. As soon as it does, I reckon it'll explode here in the UK.
Posted by: danny | 28 March 2008 at 10:40 AM
Great post. I have somehow the same feeling and the future will tell if the mobile web will be working or if the real web will take over the mobile web.
Regarding mobile measurement check my link above. There is a lot of movement lately: There are currently 4-5 vendors out there (see link in my name).
Posted by: Sebastian | 28 March 2008 at 11:54 AM