"I love the iPhone – as a physical object Sir Jony Ive has created a thing of beauty" – MOMAs judge Alasdair Scott talks mobile
With the MOMAs (Marketing on Mobile Awards) judging scheduled to take place in April, The Drum will ask each of the judges for some of their own points of view around what is happening within the exponentially growing sector that is mobile.
Alasdair Scott from The Bright Place
This first of the interviews is with Alasdair Scott, co-founder and creative director of design, build and deliverer of applications, The Bright Place.
Are brands making the most of the opportunities offered by smartphones and tablets?
It's early days yet and bands are engaging users via mobile devices in much the same way as they did via the web in the late 1990s – which is to say some brands naturally translate to mobile and others are still way "me too" for comfort.
What is the main factor in preventing the mass adoption of mobile wallets at the current time?
Two issues, firstly, plastic works really well and the best mobile solution (Square) has actually extended the life of plastic, not shortened it and secondly, there's no critical mass. It's going to take Apple plus Amex or Visa to get this really rolling.
What phone/tablet do you own and what do you like/dislike about it?
I carry an iPhone 5, Retina iPad and iPad Mini. I love the iPhone – as a physical object Sir Jony Ive has created a thing of beauty. I'd love it even more if it was ever so slightly larger – not too much though. I'm also waiting to get the new BlackBerry because, well, BlackBerry is the new vinyl.
What is the most exciting development around mobile at the moment?
I'm most excited about LTE and proper WiFi – the ability to get serious amounts of data to a handset gives us lots of great possibilities in terms of a far richer end user experience.
Judging for the MOMA Awards is scheduled to take place near the end of April. Alongside Scott on the panel will be Kim de Ruiter, head of mobile for Cheil Europe; Justin Pearse, ex-NMA editor and head of innovation at Bite; Ross Sleight, chief strategy officer for Somo; and Lewis Clayton, senior product manager, London Underground WiFi at Virgin Media. Also on the panel will be Peter Gandy chief commercial officer of Rockpool Digital, We Are Ignition co-founder Sean Patterson, Transcend360 Consulting partner Ben Salmon; Claire Valoti, media director at Weve; strategy director at The App Business Dan Joseph; LBi head of mobile Ilicco Elia and Matt Pollitt, founder of Five.K.
There are 29 MOMA categories covering all aspects of mobile marketing, from apps to innovative use of mobile and user experience to use of video. The awards are open to any UK based individual, agency, company or business producing effective mobile strategies and campaigns. Registrations and entries should be made via the MOMA website by Friday 22 March.