Mobile is a must-have for agencies in 2012

By Chantal Tode

January 19, 2012

Without a strong mobile strategy, agencies could begin to lose relevancy.

Many agencies failed to integrate mobile in a meaningful way in 2011, missing an important opportunity to organically build mobile practices. As a result, this year many will be scrambling to react to the growing demand for mobile services from brands which have seen a significant increase in mobile traffic. The growth in mobile penetration and use means agencies and brands can reach more consumers than ever before via mobile and use mobile to marketer an ever-growing array of products and services. As mobile continues to become more pervasive in consumers’ lives, it is imperative that agencies jump in or risk losing relevancy.  “There are both agencies and brands that sit in very different places across the mobile and multi-channel maturity curve,” said David Hewitt, vice president and global mobile practice in Boston.

Part of the problem is that agencies and brands have not kept pace with consumers, who are embracing mobile devices for a growing array of activities. Brands and agencies have often been the ones pushing new ways of doing things that have not caught on in the marketplace, but that is not the case with mobile in many instances.
“With mobile and multi-channel, it is more often the brand and their incumbent agencies that need to catch up with the emerging role that mobile is playing — especially with retailers and CPG companies,” Mr. Hewitt said.  “Many agencies struggle when mobile becomes an opportunity to bring connected experiences to bear, and extend beyond the mobile channel and display ad mindset,” he said.
Another issue is that, as agencies look to bring mobile to more consumers and products, they will need to master a wide array of new capabilities and issues including compatibility, mcommerce, messaging, location-based services, tablet optimized experiences, being adept at integrating mobile with CRM programs and creating experiences for in-store, at home and on-the-go consumers.

Mobile commitmentIn a sign of its commitment to integrating mobile into everything the agency does, Omnicom digital shop Organic, San Francisco, recently hired former iCrossing executive Rachel Pasqua as the executive director of its mobile marketing practice  While mobile has been a part of Organic’s strategy for 10 years, Ms. Pasqua will focus on producing more mobile-specific campaigns around augmented reality, near-field communications and other mobile technology as well as increasingly making mobile an integral part of holistic campaigns. This means integrating mobile into search marketing, search engine optimization and how it creates the digital strategy for clients.

A fundamental shiftUnlike Organic, many agencies are taking a reactive approach to mobile instead of having a strategy for how to build it organically, per Ms. Pasqua. They also struggle with figuring out what to focus on first in the fragmented mobile space. Those agencies with a deep understanding of mobile and how it can be used to drive brand awareness and sales will could see significant growth this year while those who do not have the right mobile capabilities will continue to miss out on important business.