Agency of the Future

Ad Agencies: Hire Mobile App Developers

Peter · March 6, 2013 · Leave a Comment

I’ve discussed the importance of ad agencies becoming mobile marketing experts. My point is that mobile is a major growth area that remains an opportunity area because no one has broken the mobile marketing code — yet. There is still room to become an expert.

The Wall Street Journal ran an article today about mobile app developers. It included a nice graphic that illustrates the demographic profile of the average mobile developer. My take away is that a savvy agency could become home to some of these developers ( they are smart, young and inexpensive) to accelerate an agency’s move to mobile expertise. Here you go.

It Is Time For Advertising Agencies to Go Mobile

Peter · March 4, 2013 · 3 Comments

I’ve been reading the mobile advertising tea leaves. Here are two cups of rather green tea that suggest that savvy advertising and digital agencies should be allocating some (a lot of?) staff time to understanding shifts and opportunities arising in the mobile advertising space. As you can see from the Gartner study below, mobile ad spend in North America is expected to rise by over 100% by 2016.

Mobile Advertising Revenue by Region, Worldwide, 2012-2016 (Millions of Dollars)

	2012	2013	2014	2016
North America	3,181.5	3,825.7	4,694.9	8,866.2

Source: Gartner (November 2012)

Different types of mobile advertising are evolving at a different pace and in different directions. Mobile search — including paid positioning on maps and various forms of augmented reality, all of which can be informed by location — will contribute to drive mobile ad spending across the forecast period, although it will diminish in strength as the period progresses.

Gartner believes that mobile display ad spending will grow and take over from mobile search. It will initially remain divided between in-app and mobile Web (in-browser) placements — reflecting consumer usage — although after several years of in-app dominance, Web display spending will take over in-app display from 2015.

Another tea leaf reading comes from Kliner Perkins via Tech Crunch, “Kleiner Perkins Has Now Put Over $450 Million In Nearly 40 Mobile Investments.”

Head over to Tech Crunch to hear Kliener Perkins partner Matt Murphy discuss the firm’s investment of $450 million in 40 mobile companies.

As Murphy explains, these investments include both the $200 million iFund (launched in 2008) and separate investments. So now the $450 million in mobile investments are part of the firm’s digital investing in both consumer and enterprise companies…

And Kleiner has built a pretty impressive collection of consumer-focused mobile investments including Shopkick, Path, Spotify, Pinger and Square. Of late, the focus has expanded to enterprise with companies like Apperian, Crittercism and Egnyte.

This is action that agencies of the future need to get into.

Here are three tips for getting going in the mobile space:

1. Hang out with your city’s mobile developers. for example, in Portland we have Mobile Portland which hosts monthly presentations. You could even tap into Portland’s vibrant mobile community by watching some of the presentation videos on the website.

2. Go to mobile conferences. Then write mobile advertising white papers to share with clients and prospects.

3. Offer some of your office space to mobile developers to get them into your ecosystem. Maybe start to work with local incubators and accelerators to nurture new mobile companies.

4. Drop some investment coin and buy or merge with a mobile advertising company.

A Happy Case History And An Ad Agency Sold To WPP

Peter · March 4, 2013 · 1 Comment

Client case histories are probably as old as the advertising industry itself. So, how can an agency show its expertise and ROI chops without sounding like every other agency down the street?

Think different.

Canadian ad agency John St., which was just purchased by WPP, created this great video-driven case history of how they made Chelsea Bedano’s 8th birthday party a huge success. The agency employed direct mail, out-of-home media and social media to deliver the message. The results put smiles on everyone’s face.

In case you missed this case (which means you were not one of the 350,000 plus viewers of the YouTube video (!)….

Advertising Agency Wake Up Call From eMarketer

Peter · March 1, 2013 · 1 Comment

I woke up, read my mail and saw these three quotes in an eMarketer email. They got me thinking fast.

You are an advertising agency. You worry about how to be digitally relevant in the next couple of years — or perish. Here are just three quotes from eMarketer that can act as thought starters. if these don’t start your mind, maybe its time to, um, bail?

By 2016 nearly a quarter of the world will be using location based services.

US online video ad spending will nearly triple in the next four years.

43 million Americans convert to using smart phones every minute.

If you need one more idea, another path to agency success lies in the following eMarketer chart. And, no it isn’t rushing onto the Facebook or Twitter scrum.

JESS3: Advertising Agency of the Week

Peter · February 23, 2013 · 1 Comment

This is my first Agency of the Week post. My criteria includes: agencies that deliver some distinction, a competitive positioning, have figured out what the agency of the future might look like, delivers “great” work (my personal opinion), appears to be a destination agency for incoming new business and seems to be able to get out of their way to sell themselves. And, this is a rare one, has some soul and maybe even a sense of humor.

Who:

JESS3. LA and Oklahoma City. Not the usual mix. (Compare JESS3 to other LA agencies here in the Pinterest Advertising and Digital Agency directory.)

What JESS3 says:

At JESS3 we take complex topics and large data sets and make them accessible through beautiful visuals.

We are a creative interactive agency that specializes in the art of data visualization, adding context and meaning to the exponentially growing world of data around us.

And…

JESS3 is a creative interactive agency that specializes in visual storytelling. We challenge ourselves and our clients to push the limits of what creativity and engagement means. Our services range from UI / UX, animation, content creation and digital PR to developing large-scale installations, social strategies, data visualizations and infographics.

Why I Dig JESS3:

They specialize. A major zag while other agencies zig by trying to do too much and have an unfocussed agency positioning.

They are positioned for success. They meld data with visual storytelling. Two biggies.

They have lots of cool clients like Amnesty International, AMEX, Chobani, CSPAN, GE, Facebook, Google, Samsung and Skype.

They are hot:

“JESS# Named to iMedia 25 Agencies to Watch”

iMedia Connection named JESS3 to the iMedia 25 agency list, recognizing JESS3 as a key agency that has advanced interactive marketing through big ideas, brilliant creative, cutting-edge technology, and the passionate pursuit of excellence in the digital space. Citing our work with Samsung, ESPN, American Express, and recent partnership with the Google Politics and Elections team for the 2012 National Conventions, the article states, “JESS3 has a gift for turning numbers into stories and a passion for creating content strategies that resonate over the long haul.”

They are funny:

Hit their creepy cupids on Pinterest.

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