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Google UK head of performance: ‘I’ve yet to see a really good creative mobile campaign’

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By Natalie Mortimer, N/A

June 18, 2014 | 3 min read

Luxury fashion brands and agencies aren’t creating good enough ads for mobile and need to work to produce content that is new and compelling for a mobile audience, according to Google UK’s head of performance Matt Bush.

Speaking at the Tech & Tastemakers summit held by Details and Mr Porter last night, Bush said that “without a question” the biggest open goal brands are missing is mobile as they aren’t leveraging the platform to its full extent.

“I’ve yet to see a really good creative mobile campaign," he said. "There are one or two – I’m generalising – but generally there aren’t any if you look at the campaigns that go through Google. The most creative are, to be honest, search ads because they are actually thinking about the uniqueness of the device.

“So what does a mobile do that you can’t do on any other platform? You know what time of day it is, you know where that person is located, you know what services they’ve looked at before and you potentially know exactly what they’re looking for in that point of time. At the moment, most brands aren’t really taking full advantage of that as much as they could.”

Bush revealed that on a “pure performance standing” some of the best ads come from basic search formats, but that Google is keen to get brands and advertising agencies to work with the search giant to come up with different ways of talking to a mobile audience which is “increasingly looking to mobile for everything they do” despite using a smaller screen.

“We can’t make it as interruptive as traditional advertising – it needs to be something that builds and gives a value to the audience and I think none of these things are being done on mass at the moment. Mobile without question is something that I would focus heavily on.”

Speaking about the issue of email and data privacy, Bush said that while there is a certain onus on companies like Google and Twitter to educate customers, there is only "so much" they can do.

“Consumers need to start thinking about their own data and how they protect that data and what they are putting in a social, public environment.”

Bush added that he “struggles” to think of brands that have used Google platforms in an eye-catching way – aside from a handful of watch brands – and that getting luxury fashion brands to use platforms such as YouTube for story telling is a challenge.

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