“The era of the connected lifestyle is beginning…” – Mobile trends Q&A with Dan Rosen, CEO, Joule

What do you expect from mobile in 2014?

I’m really excited the way digital is cutting deeper into the physical world, and how tech isn’t becoming part of our lives, it’s becoming part of us and the world around us. Wearable technology, although still in its baby stage, will not only affect what we see visually, but how we monitor our wellbeing. In addition, our ‘possessions’ such as our home and cars are moving from being fairly dumb to smart, affecting everything from whether the lights are on when we get home to our insurance bills. The era of the connected lifestyle is beginning… from mobile to mobility.

What was your favorite mobile campaign or event in mobile of last year?

Call me biased, but my favourite campaign has to be Joule’s Paramount Star Trek 4: Into Darkness, where alongside Blue Bite we used OOH and mobile together to create an wonderful cinematic experience. What also excited me in 2013 was the launch of iBeacons and iOS 7 – as a company who spends a lot of time looking at digital interaction within the physical world, it’s brings a real tangible opportunity for ‘mobile’ context to be fully realised. I will be monitoring the consumer uptake in 2014.

Google Glass – is it overhyped or worth the excitement? Why?

Google Glass is certainly an exciting piece of kit, and a ‘here now’ example of the digital and physical world merging… But it’s one of many! The true excitement will be uncovered by consumer uptake and developer application. But truthfully, my money is on us looking back on the ‘2014 release of Google Glass’ as we look upon ‘2007 iPhone release’ now – it’s a game changer.

According to the IAB, media agencies are diverting on average 15 per cent of digital spend towards mobile – how do you see that trend developing over the coming months?

I see the mobile spend trend only increasing, particularly as programmatic becomes the norm. Although I wholeheartedly believe greatness doesn’t always come from purely data driven decisions, when you have something which is so accountable for performance it’s extremely difficult to move away from this. Insight driven creativity from a brilliant team will always produce greatness.

Mobile can be a problem for many marketers when it comes to judging how much to spend – is there any advice you would offer to them in determining how important it is for their marketing communications to run across mobile devices?

My advice: understand how much of your customers' media time in spent on mobile, and calibrate your advertising spend accordingly. Your customer won’t have given a moment’s thought into where you should be, they just expect you to be there and to give them a great experience. Therefore if they’ve chosen to engage with you on mobile and receive a shoddy experience, the likelihood is they won’t give you a second chance!

What mobile devices do you own?

iPhone 5. I don’t consider tablets mobile.

If you could or planned to upgrade or change – which ones would you choose?

LG Nexus 5 – I will remain an Apple loyalist, but the Android interface looks beautiful.

Rosen is joined on the MOMAs judging panel by Sony Mobile marketing director Catherine Cherry, James Hilton of M&C Saatchi Mobile and Google Creative Lab's Indy Saha.

The MOMAs, which rewards effective mobile campaigns and strategies, is now open for entry with a deadline of this Friday, 28 February.