Ad Week Europe 2016 - Part 2 - Mobile & Ad Metrics

Following on from last Friday's AWE post on Ad Blocking & Culture, my second instalment as an Ad Week wrap up takes a look at Mobile - one of the most talked about topics in the ad industry for what seems like a lifetime now, and Ad Metrics, possibly one of the least talked about areas and often seemingly brushed under the carpet.

Mobile: It's not even mobile first anymore, it's mobile only.

One of the sessions of the week for me*, and judging by Twitter many others too, was Facebook's 'Stop The Scroll'. Described as a 'discussion exploring creativity in a connected world, the explosion of mobile video and the implications and opportunities for brands and their agencies', it was a packed hour of discussion on exactly that.

As with most sessions, it started with some *incredibly* impressive stats, this time from hosts Facebook, but crucially these led to and instigated a fantastic discussion. To demonstrate my point, the following were just a few of the numbers FB displayed to show the shift towards mobile:

• 8bn video views happen on FB each day - 75% of which are mobile
• 66% of all UK video is now viewed on mobile
• 46x a day - how often the average UK adult checks their phone

The real thing that surfaced from these numbers, and that the panel unanimously agreed on, was that where-as previously people used to think about 'mobile first', (my personal opinion is that they still often don't), brands are now thinking about mobile only. 

What really kicked this off, and resonated with the audience and the panel was Steve Hatch from Facebook saying that mobile is now of such importance to Facebook, that all ideas and concepts are presented on a tablet or mobile, and not a PC, as that is increasingly where the consumer is spending the majority of their time. If you walk into Zuck's room with a laptop - you're out!

Claire Jerrold of Heineken summed this up perfectly by highlighting that at Heineken, over 80% of content is made for a specific channel or medium, and that rather than starting with what content to produce, they start by thinking about how the consumer will enjoy and engage with each variation. Use the consumer as a challenger to your thinking. For example, why put a 60 second TV ad in a social feed - when was the last time anyone watched a TV ad on mobile?

This sentiment was equally echoed by O2 who brought up one of the most agreeable points of the week by saying that if you content isn't noticeable, relevant or doesn't fit, the consumer will simply scroll past it. As a result, O2 now invest a huge percentage of resources into creating mobile only content, and build backwards to desktop and other platforms from there.

Get mobile creative wrong, and your audience is a human ad blocker - Camilla Harrisson

A great example of this is the Budweiser Amateur Goals campaign, that's been running across mobile, digital and TV. What makes it unique, was that rather than thinking about creative for each platform, and how the campaign could be promoted, the core idea started by thinking about what their key audience are doing.

Think young, male, interested in sport. They're playing football with their mates, and whilst doing that, they're filming each other. That is then shared on social media and messaging platforms so Budweiser decided to start there. A very simply cycle, but one that the advertiser has managed to jump on and seamlessly slip into with how they ask the consumer to engage.

From this, the key thing to remember is just to think about who you want engage with your brand, but most importantly, where and how. If it's on mobile you simply have to make it work. Brands are already up against it with so much content out there, that if they can't immediately catch the eye of a consumer, they've more than likely lost them for good.

Brands now have a 3 second audition on mobile - Steve Hatch

What brands really need to start doing, is ripping up what's been done before with mobile and video. Start by testing and playing about with different platforms and mediums. Much like when you go on a first date, work out what your audience stops for, and go from there. Build a relationship from what they deem worth stopping for, and you'll be onto a winner 

The final point on the topic of mobile that really struck home, was that we need to finally see that one format does not fit all. As the point earlier made, you wouldn't view a 60 second TV ad on in a social feed, so why are we still persisting with desktop ad formats (see 300x250 and pop-ups) on mobile sites? 

It was echoed in the ad blocking sessions, and actually throughout the week, that we as those in the industry need to take a step back and ask the consumer what they want and where. 

With less and less opportunity to cut through and win a consumer over, advertisers need to be seen as helpful, and not disrupting, in order to develop brand equity and consideration.

Don't go technology first, always focus on user first - Cameron Worth 

Ad Metrics: Those things you used to measure? Yeah, they may not be as relevant any more.

Who doesn't love measuring digital advertising? Number of impressions served, CTR, CPC etc. all benchmarked against an industry average. Say you've beaten them and everyone's happy right? Well, possibly, but it shouldn't be that way.

Sure, they're still important to an extent, and can provide a basic overview and understanding of how some platforms have performed for an advertiser, but they should no longer be used for either comparing a large group of platforms performance, or measuring overall success of a digital campaign.

What advertisers need to start looking at more is what really matters to them. What does a good CTR mean in terms of actual end product? What does that CTR mean in terms of audience? Have you even reached the right audience? 

A basic example was given, that two media owners are put up against each other when performance is measured - both running content based marketing formats. On paper, media owner A who has delivered a CTR of 0.6% and 500k impressions, for the same investment as media owner B who delivered a CTR of 1% and 800k impressions, would've been deemed the lesser of the two.

But what if you looked beyond that, and analysed the audience. What's more valuable to the advertiser, 500k impressions against the right audience, or 800k against a not so targeted audience. Further more, how many of those who actually clicked and engaged, have returned to the site and how long have the spent there? 

Yes, this is the most simple of examples, but I hope it highlights a point that traditional metrics on the surface may not be as relevant and valued by the advertiser any more. Agencies, media owners and advertisers alike all need to take a long hard look at what and how they are measuring, to ensure activity can be looked at from a well rounded view.

In a way, we need to unlearn what we've been told to look at before, and move forward at the same rate our technology has. 

As always, feel free to share your opinions and let me know what your key takeaways were from the week.

*Sadly I did not attend the infamous 'Sir Martin Sorrell meets Bernie Ecclestone' session, due being in a session before and forgetting about the impossibility of doing back-to-back sessions in the same room, but I heard it was great!