Five creative tips for maximising the mobile opportunity

This isn’t an agenda we push exclusively for the betterment of our business as a mobile specialist. We obviously have a bias but what’s more important is what should be an industry-wide ethos, and that’s ensuring brands give customers the best possible user experience.

Whatever the format, rich media and/or video, the much-publicised reality is that users check their devices often, but usually for shorter sessions. The implication for advertisers is that your audience will not be investing a great deal of time processing the information you present, which is why it’s crucial to get your message across clearly and concisely.

For example, a 15-second video is nearly a third less likely to be watched to completion than something seven–10 seconds in duration, so build your story accordingly if you want to maximise engagement.

Smaller screens mean bigger impact too. Many rich media mobile ad formats command 100 per cent share of voice so the temptation remains to cram the screen full of information. Don’t. The ads that perform best are big on branding with a few, clear, calls to action.

2. Go native

We’re not joining the ad formats debate here, in this context it’s a reference to the oft-overlooked handset features you can make use of in the ad environment, the touch screen being a good example. In addition to taps, also think about incorporating swipes, shakes and tilts – and not only through to external destinations, but to activate other functionality.

Users can be encouraged to take a selfie to create a custom image and upload it with a single action. To offer users an almost 3D experience of your latest piece of wearable tech use the gyroscope. The location function on the handset can even direct the user straight to their nearest coffee shop without leaving the ad unit, all of which means the creative can be consistent in terms of look and feel with other channels, but it can also live much more freely by making use of what is exclusively mobile.

3. Kick the pixel habit

For so long we have thought about digital ads by their footprint on the screen. This is easy on desktop and print perhaps, but apply the same logic to the myriad screen sizes and aspect ratios that are added to the mobile mix with every new handset launch, and you’re left with empty space surrounding many placements.

The solution is simple; build your ad to be responsive and it will rearrange or re-size the components to deliver the best user experience. The same is true if it’s delivered in landscape rather than portrait. Deploying something so organic may create a degree of nervousness at sign off, but it can look amazing and is always preferable to delivering a poor user experience.

4. Mobile means apps

It’s no coincidence that users spend up to 86 per cent of their time in app; generally it’s a better user experience. The same is true for advertisers, even down to the basics like full-screen actually being full-screen, not just within the browser tab of mobile web.

The MRAID (mobile rich media ad interface definitions) environment applied to in-app rich media advertising is unparalleled by regular web standards. It’s a more stable environment so delivery is more consistent and the risk for unplanned, and unwanted ‘changes’ to the creative is minimised.

If using video in the creative, a correctly formatted ad in-app will allow for the video to play within the unit itself, whereas on mobile web the typical solution requires the native player to initiate. Additionally with a full SDK (software development kit) app/DSP integration video can be pre-cached to play instantly; at a time where viewability is increasingly (and rightly) under scrutiny this is a significant advantage, because on 3G or even 4G connections, a video file can take several seconds to load and never actually get seen, even though an impression or view is counted.

5. If in doubt, speak to a specialist

There is ever-increasing demand from advertisers that don’t want to take the easy route and run blindly cross-screen, instead preferring to invest time to ensure the creative plays to the strength of the individual channel it’s designed for.

Opera Mediaworks recently launched Opera House, a mobile first global creative studio; contact operahouse@opera.com to learn more. operamediaworks.com/opera-house

Luke Harris, Director of Studio EMEA, Opera Mediaworks

Tel: 020 3434 2400

Email: operahouse@opera.com

Web: www.operamediaworks.com

Twitter: @OMWEMEA