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.