The world is generating a near infinite supply of mobile ad impressions. U.S. consumers, alone, are estimated to collectively generate eight billion “mobile moments” per day, which means an average of 46 glances at a mobile phone per consumer every day.[1] Simply put, a “mobile moment” is that instance in which a person pulls out a mobile device to get what he or she wants, immediately and in context.
Getting the most out of a small mobile screen is far more challenging than with other platforms. The biggest challenge is that a consumer’s state of mind and intent during this ephemeral moment is far less predictable than when a consumer is on a desktop at work or on the couch watching television. In order for advertisers to serve relevant content and marketing messages on mobile devices, they need to understand these points in time and collaborate to target them more deliberately than on other platforms.
In order to successfully create these mobile moments, publishers and advertisers need to understand three key components: 1) the dynamics between mobile web and mobile app usage, 2) how consumers are spending time on their mobile devices and 3) how to use technographic data (i.e. data sourced directly from a mobile device), such as geolocation data, device ID and browser type as a substitute for cookie targeting. (More detail on this in the full report.)
PubMatic today released the third in a series of three mobile point-of-view (mPOV) studies, Crafting Mobile Moments: The Union Between Creativity and Automation, which illustrates a three-prong framework that can help publishers and advertisers collaborate on constructing a mobile moment:
- Getting Creative in Mobile Means Getting to the Point
Advertisers and agencies should focus on developing mobile creative that are less intrusive. Marketing messages should be clear and simple, and ads with a call to action (CTA) should be very prominent. Mobile video ads should also be skippable, or if they are not skippable, should be shorter in length to not deter a viewer from leaving the site entirely.
- Data is the Key That Opens Mobile Creativity
Advertisers typically require reach and audience composition when starting an advertising campaign. This is made possible through the collection of first-party data from their sites combined with third-party data collected from other sites. The audience profile should ultimately include demographic information on their audiences, site engagement metrics to illustrate which content areas are most popular and, as mentioned previously, technographic data (e.g. location, device and browser data) to help exactly target mobile ads. Once this information is known, a publisher can create content for specific user profile.
- A Mobile Ad Without a Scalable Platform is Merely a Message in a Bottle
In order to scale a mobile ad campaign, publishers and advertisers need a full-stack technology platform that brings creative, data integration and ad execution altogether. There are four key components to this platform: 1) A simple and clear user interface (UI), 2) Flexibility to connect via application program interface (API) to any first- or-third party data source, 3) An ad server that is capable of serving any ad format (display, video, etc.) to any device (desktop, mobile, tablet, etc.) and 4) Analytics capabilities to synthesize results in real-time, allowing publishers and advertisers to understand how campaigns are performing.
Mobile Moments in Action
PubMatic has helped multiple premium publishers create these mobile moments. One U.K. publisher, National Rail Enquiries, was able to develop a mobile moment for Starbucks targeting National Rail riders en route to the office during the early morning hours. This campaign led to higher than average performance and helped drive store visits for Starbucks.
U.K.-based mobile agency Somo worked closely with online retailer, Very.co.uk to create a clever, location-based rich media campaign to urge shoppers to buy weather-specific clothing.
The campaign’s contextually relevant messaging and timeliness resonated with target audiences and implored a sense of urgency to buy before the weather changed again. This personal experience received outstanding engagement rates, conversion and ultimately incremental sales, with an ROI of 10:1 for the entire campaign, beating the initial target ROI of 7:1.
To download the full white paper, click here. Please also feel free to reach out to discuss the report with your PubMatic sales representative or contact PubMatic here, and someone will follow up.
[1] Deloitte (2015) – http://time.com/4147614/smartphone-usage-us-2015/
