Brett St Clair is a local mobile content network expert, and heads up AdMob South Africa. He was kind enough to answer some questions on mobile content networks and does a fairly good job of introducing himself so we’ll let you jump right in!
Could you introduce yourself and your experience in the mobile field?
I have a varied background in Mobile. I started my years as an engineer over 15 years ago working in London, since then I had the pleasure of working for some of the largest and weirdest Moble Companies and Operators, in countries from Europe to Greenland, Mongolia and all over Africa. My role back in those days was rolling out the tech as a Service integrator. I then found myself back in SA ,(after 10 years) on the sales side which was awesome. I went on to start up my own Mobile Agency with a couple of partners called Be-Mobile which is now one of SA’s Top 5 Mobile agencies. I then had the opportunity to head up AdMob SA, which was just too tempting. That was over a year and a half ago and now Google has bought AdMob out for over $750 million so I am fortunate to be working with the Google SA guys!
What does mobile advertising offer a marketer?
Three Key points:
Reach - with Mobile, marketers can reach over 80% of the SA population using various Mobile Media.
Interaction - for the first time ever, one can integrate any traditional media with digital media, using Mobile. For instance, SMS ‘WIN’ to … Mobile is always on the go and the interaction is instant; this allows marketers to build relationships with their consumers rather than pushing a set message.
Finally Measurement - being able to measure the interaction across all traditional media and Mobile Media real time means marketers can now change messaging on the fly to ensure better ROI.
What types of industries are doing well with mobile ads?
The current winners are companies who sell Mobile Content. As more traditional businesses realise, however, that mobile is a platform that can be used to acquire customers, grow their brands and then retain customers with solutions like Mobile Check-in for Airlines etc, this will change. Here mobile goes beyond just being an advertising medium and becomes integral to the core business. We are seeing uptake from all verticals, whereas in digital one would usualy see Finance and Technology leading the way. If we look at the developed markets, i.e. US and Europe, the key verticals are Automotive, Entertainment, Travel and FMCG (starting to see the benefits as mobile payment systems are stabilising).
What models (CPM, CPC, CPA) tend to work best with mobile ads?
CPC is the most cost effective. But we are seeing a strong demand for CPM because inventory is difficult to secure so brands want to lock down any available inventory.
Google bought AdMob. Does this mean that Google Analytics will change the way it handles mobile tracking?
We are working on integration at the moment, so in the next quarter we will have a clear understanding of how the Google Mobile offering will be comprised and how we can better service our end users and advertisers.
Do you have any comments on mobile search advertising vs mobile display advertising?
These are two very different pieces of media. Mobile Display has led the charge in Mobile Advertising with South Africa remaining the most competitive country in the world in this market space. With Mobile Search being a priority for Google we have seen a massive growth locally here in SA, there is plenty of opportunity for brands to capitilise using Mobile Search.
How should a marketer approach a campaign run through an organisation like AdMob in terms of first steps?
The best advice is to work with a specialist agency. Mobile Advertising is still a new exploding medium and South Africa has some of the world's top agencies. With over 47 million handsets in South africa and almost a half a billion in Africa, the opportunity to reach a previously untapped market is huge. But you want to make sure you do it right and learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. The best approach to do this is by far working with the specialists. Then keep an open mind, be eager to learn, go to conferences and be part of associations like the MMA. SA is at the forefront of mobile marketing so lets make sure we stay in front.
Where would you advise a marketing manager to invest their budget if they are hoping to get involved with mobile marketing for their brand – or how would you suggest they go about making budget allocation decisions?
The first step is to understand your audience. For the first time in SA, we have a digital medium that reaches the entire population. Depending on who you want to reach, that will impact how you spend your budget. For example, if you want to reach a very low LSM consider ‘Please call me backs.’ If you want to reach LSM 4 and above, then the Mobile Web is great (display and search). If you are targeting LSM 7+ then smartphone adoption is growing at tremendous rates, which means looking at Mobile Apps for Android, Blackberry and iPhone. Either build one or buy display or search on these platforms.
Again a speciallist agency will be able to advise best and of course reaching out the MMA who have a membership of over 47 Mobile Marketing businesses is a good idea. They have vast resources.
Anything you’d like to add?
Well as you might have picked up, I am passionate about Mobile and we have just nicked the first layer of paint - the potential is huge. If you look at the Internet, there are a billion users globally. There are 4,5 bilion mobile phone subscribers globally.
Where the internet taught us how to scale, Mobile is going to take it to the next level. As marketers the opportunites are huge, especially when you consider that one can now have a two way communication at a scalable level with their consumer. With Mobile Payments now being a real option, we are going to see a whole new way of marketing more effectively and new business models being developed. The best part is that South Africa is leading the way globally.
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