The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

-d -h -min -sec

‘We need to do fewer things better for clients’ – agencies debate year ahead for mobile

Author

By Jennifer Faull, Deputy Editor

March 27, 2015 | 3 min read

Agencies need to do fewer things better for clients when it comes to mobile, according to Jem Lloyd-Williams, executive director for innovation at Vizeum.

“There’s a huge appetite for new creativity and that’s absolutely right. But the reality is we’re doing lots of things really badly. And I think sacrificing in overcommitting to something and getting that absolutely right is probably what anyone with strategy in their title should be concentrating on right now,” he said.

His comments came in a roundtable which took place on The Drum’s double decker bus during Advertising Week Europe, sponsored by Phunware Advertising. He was joined by the likes of MediaCom’s head of digital Dan Chapman, Starcom MediaVest’s digital strategy director Liam Brennan, and Libby Robinson managing director EMEA at Saatchi and Saatchi Mobile.

The group set out to discuss some of the key challenges and opportunities in mobile for the coming year as we see an increasing number of connected devices enter the market.

However, Lloyd-Williams said that rather than trying to “hawk the latest things to clients” the strategy advice agencies offer should be focused on attribution across all channels.

“We can’t even attribute on desktop so talking about mobile seems like we’re putting the cart before the horse. Let’s have a solid foundation for building something better for our clients.

“We all want to do the right thing for our clients. But I suspect doing fewer things and doing them better might not be a bad thing. But we’re constantly doing stuff that’s surplus, it’s not sustainable.”

Instead, the group agreed that more advertisers need to think about how people use mobile.

Nike was recognised as a brand that has embraced mobile.

“Nike’s not treated it as an advertising channel, or second screen, they’ve treated it as a new type of service,” said ZenithOptimedia head of digital James Hudson.

He said it’s understood that the company is not just in the business of shoes but is in the business of experiences.

For other brands, the biggest focus should be getting their website and user experience optimised for mobile. They also need to organise the structure of marketing departments to ensure mobile is a focus across all departments.

“Some have a CRM team here, digital team here, online team here and in more forward thinking brands you might have a mobile team," said Robinson. "And they’re not talking to each other."

Trending

Industry insights

View all
Add your own content +