MMA / Marketing + Media Alliance - mobile advertising

The Definitive Guide to Location Data

Visitor — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 17:01:49 +0000

June 26, 2019

Submitted by Gimbal

There is a lot of confusion that exists about location data. Although the concept has been around for a while, the mobile advertising and marketing industries have a habit of making claims and conflating ideas so often that it becomes difficult to understand what is real, what is possible, and what is completely unfounded.

Gimbal's Definitive Guide to Location Data is a deep dive about how location technology works, the valuable data it generates, and where it can be applied.

View the guide

External URL:

gimbal.com/location-data-guide

Article

2018 Holiday Advertising Forecast - Survey

Matthew Davis — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 14:29:09 +0000

2018 Holiday Advertising Forecast - Survey

This holiday season, retail spending, both online and in-store, could reach new heights. The latest Consumer Confidence Index numbers, which measure consumer sentiment towards buying intentions, haven’t been this high since October 2000, eighteen years ago.

To understand how and when retailers plan to reach holiday shoppers, we surveyed over 260 owners and managers of small-to-medium businesses in the United States. Find insights on:

Where SMBs will spend their holiday ad dollars
The influence of geotargeting
Which digital channels will get the most attention
Holiday ad spending trends

MMA members can download a copy here.

Log in with your MMA membership to gain full access to member research.

Interested in becoming an MMA member? Click here.

If your company is an MMA member and you need log-in information, please email membership@mmaglobal.com.

PDF(s):

reveal-mobile-holiday-advertising-survey-2018.pdf

Content Tags (Deprecated):

social media

mobile advertising

Geo targeting

location-based marketing

Location Based Advertising

Research Type(s):

Public Research

Research

Members Only

Webinar: Two Case Studies on Geotargeting

Matthew Davis — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 20:24:12 +0000

October 24, 2016

As attention continues to shift to mobile devices, ensuring that revenue follows is a challenge for media companies across the country. With a plethora of new advertising products and companies available, sales teams seek creative strategies to help them stand out in a competitive market.

In this webinar, learn how WRAL took advantage of new and existing technology to build two innovative and high performing mobile ad campaigns. Attendees get a rare peek inside one of the industry’s most forward-thinking sales teams to see how they’re using beacons and geotargeting. Through two case studies, the webinar covers numerous ways to leverage location data to create more sales opportunities, improve revenue, and build effective mobile campaigns.

Agenda

Exploring location based advertising across all screens
Location based targeting in mobile apps
Two real world case studies

Speakers
Chris Weatherly, Director Digital Sales & Products at Capitol Broadcasting Company
Matthew Davis, VP Marketing at Reveal Mobile

Audio.Ad Launches Interactive Audio Advertising with XAPP Ads® in the United States and Latin America

Gonzalo Alonso — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 19:20:52 +0000

August 17, 2016

Audio.Ad Launches Interactive Audio Advertising with XAPP Ads® in the United States and Latin America • Audio.ad will be XAPPmedia’s exclusive representative in Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market • Audio.ad will offer XAPP Ads® that enable mobile consumers of music streaming services and other audio apps to interact with advertising simply by speaking MIAMI (August 17, 2016) – Audio.ad, a Cisneros Interactive company specialized in digital audio advertising for brands and content producers, has signed an exclusive representation agreement for Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market with XAPPmedia, the inventor of interactive audio advertising and content promotion solutions. Through this alliance, Audio.ad will exclusively commercialize XAPPmedia’s interactive audio format in the region that allows online radio, music streaming and podcast audiences to interact instantaneously with brands by simply speaking in response to prompted offers. XAPP Ads® prompt listeners with convenient ‘calls to action’ or verbal commands, such as: download app, send coupon, email me, go to advertiser’s website, connect to a call center, or take me to a retailer’s nearest location. “For more than 80 years, radio advertising formats didn’t allow consumers to interact directly with commercial ads. Digital audio delivered through mobile devices has eliminated that barrier, however, mobile listeners don’t have visual contact with their telephone’s screen 87% of the time they spend listening. That means display ads have low response rates.” explained Gonzalo Alonso, Audio.ad’s Managing Director. “By contrast, XAPPmedia’s interactive audio ads enables a unique experience for digital audio consumers that ensures 100% ad exposure and frictionless engagement. When consumers hear a XAPP Ad on their mobile devices, they can access more information on a product or service instantaneously by simply repeating a prompted phrase. These new ‘voice clicks’ perform 13 times better than conventional ‘touch clicks’ in results measured in mobile devices in the United States. “From Audio.ad’s standpoint, we are excited to bring this innovative technology to the Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market. It provides new ways to connect brands with their audiences, while improving the experience of digital audio listeners,” Alonso added in respect to the exclusive representation agreement with XAPPmedia. Pat Higbie, XAPPmedia’s CEO and Co-founder, concluded: “Audio.ad provides access to an audience of over 55 million listeners in Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market, providing substantial mobile consumer reach for advertisers. We consider Audio.ad an ideal strategic partner to continue our international expansion for interactive audio services.” ABOUT AUDIO.AD: Audio.ad is a Cisneros Interactive company providing digital audio advertising solutions for brands and audio content producers in Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market, enabling advertisers to impact audiences of online radio and audio streaming services through intelligent and targeted audio spots and other digital formats. Founded by Germán Herebia and Carlos Córdoba in December 2014, Audio.ad reaches an audience of more than 55 million unique users in the region. For more information, visit audio.ad ABOUT CISNEROS INTERACTIVE: Cisneros Interactive is a corporate division of the Cisneros organization that encompasses all its digital initiatives and focuses on digital advertising. It has several companies in this field: RedMas, being its initial investment, is an online advertising business unit with 135 million unique users a month in Latin America and the U.S. Hispanic market, and Adsmovil, the leading mobile advertising network in the region. Other investments by Cisneros Interactive in digital advertising include Audio.Ad, FLUVIP, Tail Target Latino, and Coyote Media House, to name a few. About XAPPmedia®: XAPPmedia is the leader in interactive audio advertising and content engagement services and is the first company to Give Consumers a Voice™ allowing instant, voice-activated connections with brands and audio content through mobile apps. Unlike other mobile ad formats, XAPP enables consumers to connect with content, artists and brands by simply speaking. Simple, spontaneous and convenient voice conversion brings more value to advertisers and content producers while improving ad unit yield and user experience for audio app publishers. The company was founded in 2012 with headquarters in Washington, DC. For more information, visit: xappmedia.com

AUDIO.AD LANZA EN LATINOAMÉRICA Y EN ESTADOS UNIDOS EL FORMATO PUBLICITARIO DE AUDIO INTERACTIVO XAPP ADS®

Gonzalo Alonso — Wed, 17 Aug 2016 16:47:55 +0000

August 17, 2016

Submitted by

AUDIO.AD LANZA EN LATINOAMÉRICA Y EN ESTADOS UNIDOS EL FORMATO PUBLICITARIO DE AUDIO INTERACTIVO XAPP ADS® • Audio.ad será el representante exclusivo de XAPPmedia en América Latina y el mercado hispano de los Estados Unidos • XAPP Ads® permite a los consumidores móviles de servicios de música digital y aplicaciones de radio interactuar con anuncios publicitarios a través de la voz. MIAMI (25 de julio de 2016) – Audio.ad, compañía de Cisneros Interactive especializada en soluciones de publicidad en audio digital para marcas y productores de contenido, firmó un acuerdo de representación exclusiva para América Latina y el mercado Hispano de Estados Unidos con XAPPmedia, empresa desarrolladora de soluciones de audio interactivo para publicidad y promoción de contenidos. Mediante esta alianza, Audio.ad comercializará en forma exclusiva en la región el formato publicitario de audio interactivo de XAPPmedia que permite a las audiencias de radio en línea, streaming de música y podcasts, interactuar instantáneamente con las marcas desde sus dispositivos móviles a través de una simple respuesta de voz. Mediante XAPP Ads®, los oyentes pueden realizar mediante comandos verbales, distintas acciones como bajar una aplicación, pedir el envío de un cupón o de un e-mail con más información, visitar el sitio web del anunciante, conectarse a un call center o encontrar la tienda más cercana. “Por más de 80 años, los formatos publicitarios de radio no permitieron la posibilidad de interactuar de forma directa con los anuncios comerciales. El audio digital distribuido a través de dispositivos móviles ha eliminado esta barrera, pero sin embargo hoy los oyentes móviles no tienen contacto visual con la pantalla de sus teléfonos el 87% del tiempo mientras escuchan; por lo que los anuncios de display en audio digital tienen tasas de respuestas muy acotadas”, explicó Gonzalo Alonso, Director General de Audio.ad. “En contraste, el formato publicitario de audio interactivo de XAPPmedia permite generar una experiencia única para los consumidores de audio digital, que asegura un 100% de exposición publicitaria y de empatía con el oyente. Cuando los consumidores escuchan un anuncio publicitario XAPP Ads® en sus dispositivos móviles, pueden acceder a más información sobre un producto o servicio instantáneamente solicitándolo con su propia voz. Esta nueva modalidad de ‘clicks de voz’ ha demostrado una performance 13 veces mayor que los resultados que generan los anuncios convencionales en resultados medidos en dispositivos móviles en el mercado norteamericano en general”, agregó Alonso. “Desde Audio.ad, tenemos muchísimas expectativas de traer esta innovadora tecnología de manera exclusiva a Latinoamérica y el mercado hispano de los Estados Unidos, ya que genera una nueva forma de conectar a las marcas con sus audiencias, y mejora la experiencia de los oyentes de audio digital”, señaló el ejecutivo sobre el acuerdo de representación exclusiva con XAPPmedia. Por su parte, Pat Higbie, CEO y Co-fundador de XAPPmedia, indicó: “Audio.ad provee acceso a una audiencia de más de 55 millones de oyentes en la región y en el mercado hispano de Estados Unidos, brindando un gran alcance a los anunciantes en dispositivos móviles. Consideramos a Audio.ad como nuestro socio estratégico ideal para continuar nuestra expansión internacional para los servicios de audio interactivo”. Contactos Para la Prensa: Latam: Leandro Zalcman USA: Todd Michael PR Audio.ad tjamison@cisneros.com leandro@codigocom.com.ar (305) 507-6821 (54911) 3034-6332 ACERCA DE AUDIO.AD: Audio.ad es una compañía de Cisneros Interactive que brinda soluciones de publicidad en audio digital para marcas y productores de contenido de audio en Latinoamérica y el mercado hispano de los Estados Unidos, y que permite a los anunciantes impactar con spots de audio y otros formatos digitales a las audiencias de radios online y servicios de audio streaming de una manera inteligente e individualizada. Fundada por Germán Herebia y Carlos Córdoba en diciembre de 2014, Audio.ad posee una audiencia de más de 55 millones de usuarios únicos en la región. Para más información, visite audio.ad SOBRE CISNEROS INTERACTIVE: Cisneros Interactive es la división corporativa de la organización Cisneros que agrupa las iniciativas digitales y está enfocada en Publicidad Digital. Cuenta con varias empresas en este ramo, siendo sus primeras inversiones RedMas, unidad de negocios de publicidad online con 135 millones de usuarios únicos al mes en América Latina y el mercado hispano de los Estados Unidos, y Adsmovil, la red de publicidad móvil líder en la región. Otras inversiones en Publicidad Digital de Cisneros Interactive son Audio.Ad, FLUVIP, Tail Target Latino y Coyote Media House, por mencionar algunas. ACERCA DE XAPPmedia: XAPPmedia® es líder en publicidad interactiva en audio y en servicios de contenido. Es la primera compañía en proveer a los consumidores el servicio Give Consumers a Voice, que permite instantáneamente conexiones activadas por voz con marcas y contenido de audio a través de aplicaciones móviles. A diferencia de otros formatos publicitarios mobile, XAPP permite a los consumidores conectar con contenido, artistas y marcas simplemente hablando. La tecnología de XAPP aporta más valor a los anunciantes y productores de contenido, y mejora la experiencia del usuario en aplicaciones móviles de audio. La empresa fue fundada en 2012 y tiene sede en Washington, DC. Para más información, visite: xappmedia.com

Think you don’t need mobile in your channel split? Think again.

Ivar Krustok — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 19:39:36 +0000

August 3, 2016

Submitted by Nexd

Last year most sites saw that mobile usage topped that of desktop. A lot of smart advertisers have already started increasing their mobile spend on mobile, but still many marketers don't understand how big mobile really is. As a result, the marketers that do not shift spending from desktop towards smartphones/tablets are missing out on a lot of consumers. Mobile is already huge for consumers and if you don't act now your brand will really miss out.

How huge is mobile really?

Today there are around 3.4 billion smartphone subscriptions globally according to the Ericsson Mobility Report. In the same study we find out that a huge number of them have access to a really fast LTE connection around 1 billion. The smartphone penetration is slightly lower in developing countries but most people in developed countries own a smartphone, particularly in the Nordics.

In the Nordic countries over 95% of internet users have a smartphone, with Norway leading the way with 97% smartphone penetration among internet users. Not only are most people using smartphones, but they spend massive amounts of time there. In the UK, Ofcom's report found that 16% of UK adults now exclusively use smartphones or tablets to access the internet.

More and more people are so called “cordcutters” and are switching away from traditional TV watching and favouring smart devices to view shows when and if they want. All this means that the smartphone is actually the best place to have your advertisements!

Is it a great place to advertise?

Mobile allows advertisers to really engage with the consumer. What’s the point of having a huge outdoor billboard when most people will likely not see it? You can pour huge amounts of money into developing video ads for billboards, vast 6x3 posters. But you have no way of knowing if anyone has seen it, let alone whether it’s actually generated a return.

The mobile screen is right in front of the consumer, they are literally holding it to their face so other people won't see what they are doing. How much more attention can you get? And what’s more; it’s all trackable, measurable and can be optimized on the fly.

The main things people are using these devices for is to connect with their friends, stream music, watch clips or visit new websites. Most of these are rather entertaining activities, when a person is more likely to spend time engaging with your brand. Rather than running for a bus or being late for work while stuck in traffic. So even when a phone’s screen might seem to be small, next time think how small a 6x3 seems next to the road and how huge a mobile screen right in front of your face is.

If we look at things from the numbers side we know that increasing the percentage of mobile, for an awareness campaign, from 16% to 20% we can increase the overall campaign performance by 6%. For an image campaign if we raise the percentage from 8% to 12%, we can increase the overall campaign performance by 10%. These are just a few examples taken out from the latest SMoX study. But they show that marketers should embrace mobile advertising

So why are so many marketers still afraid?

Most marketers are not aware of all the possibilities that are available to them on mobile. For instance, there are great platforms which can produce far more engaging ads that just still images. But as more and more marketers are getting burned by HTML5 ads not working correctly or at all on mobile, they stay back.

Video is also being used a lot on mobile devices, but I believe that it's not the greatest solution. It's a start, but we will have to think more on the core smartphone features. We cannot just adapt TV into mobile and think that it's the best solution! That’s what happened when the first digital ads started appearing and creative agencies started adopting print to digital. To this day, that is a problem for a lot of creative agencies.

We should actually harness the power of the smartphone and use features that are only available on these devices. With the Adcanvas platform advertisers can create truly mobile worthy advertisements without adding painful steps to the whole process. The platform works with all publishers and networks, so there really are no good reasons why you shouldn't have creatives that are built for mobile and that will provide emotional engagement for the user.

To get more information about Adcanvas visit www.adcanvas.com

A lot of advertisers believe mobile will not convert for them and this is half true. Although Desktops are still the main conversion devices, conversion rates have been growing on mobile devices yearly. Most people still are using their mobile devices to do research or other upper-funnel activities. This is changing however, as mobile evolves with better formats and more marketers understand the desired outcome of mobile ads.

Conclusion:

Mobile is one of the best places to advertise. It's still not overcrowded and most brands have not yet owned the platform.
The users are already there and now you just have to create great advertisements for them.
There are a lot of possibilities, but you should always think of the platform rather than adopting something to that platform.
Video advertisements are a start into mobile, but platforms like AdCanvas can really make a difference in your mobile strategy.

So step up your game and harness the true power of your mobile device.

Studies used in making this article:

1.Ericsson Mobility Report – Mobile World Congress edition, February 2016

2.EMarketer http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Smartphone-Ownership-Almost-Universal-N...

3.Adults’ media use and attitudes http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/media-literacy/adults...

4.SMoX Study http://www.mmaglobal.com/smox

Article

Swedbank Mobile bank

Ivar Krustok — Mon, 18 Jul 2016 09:42:25 +0000

Nexd

Title: Swedbank Mobile bank

Brand: Swedbank

Category: Financial services

Agency: Nexd

Vendors: Delfi, Postimees, Õhtuleht, Smartad

Region: Estonia

Timeline: 28.12.15 - 17.01.16

Results:

The campaign delivered results that are far better than the average mobile campaign receives. With the estonian version of the campaign having an engagement rate of 21.37% and a CTR of 2.25%. That means over 1/5 of everybody that saw the advertisement started engaging with it.

For the russian version we had an even higher engagement rate of 28.06% and a CTR of 1.48%. So over 1/4 of everybody that saw the ad, wanted to get more information about the product.

The results are far better than almost any mobile ad so far, we are sure that most of the success came from the fact that AdCanvas offers a next generation mobile advertising platform. The main reasons we get far better engagements is because our ads are at average 10 times lighter that html5 ads, also since AdCanvas ads are packaged differently. This means a phone can load them faster.

Making it the ultimate platform for mobile advertising.

Summary:

The most important key performance objective was to engage the possible target audience with an advertisement that demonstrates how easy it is to transfer money with your mobile phone. The creative strategy was to create cultural and emotional sensation inside the ad in a form of familiar cultural experience, experienced by the target group in real life. With Adcanvas provided technology, the campaign performed exceptionally well and was delivering emotional engagement.

Technology was the brightest side of the mass media usage by creating the most engaging and sensational ad experience through the TTL campaign. Mobile media was the most sophisticated and exceptionally close to the Swedbank core values.

Creative should be viewed from your mobile device:

By visiting this url:

http://adcanvas.com/content/preview/?adId=3303

or scanning the following QR code:

Or a video of the creative can be found here:

https://adcanvas.com/videos/SwedbankMobileBank.mp4

PDF(s):

swedbank_mobile_bank_case_study.pdf

Closing the Gap Between Mobile Consumption and Ad Spend

Hannah Weyland — Tue, 08 Dec 2015 14:27:26 +0000

December 8, 2015

Submitted by Quaero

Companies are battling each day to "win the screen wars." The only way to do that? Win the screen wars. In this SlideShare, Quaero's experts tackled questions about closing the gap between mobile consumption and ad spend. Help your company "close the gap" with this SlideShare.

Article

A Completely Different Beacon Case Study

Matthew Davis — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 19:10:24 +0000

Reveal Mobile

We love detecting Bluetooth beacons anywhere in the world. Detecting and classifying beacons creates a very distinct source of data from which we build mobile audience profiles. As mobile devices bump into known beacons, we understand an app audience's real-world behaviors and interests.

Sometimes, though, you find very interesting beacon data in your own backyard. Neighboring mobile company Stealz places beacons restaurants and retailers to alert their app users of nearby offers. Their audience then posts photos of themselves enjoying food, drinks, and camaraderie in exchange for discounts.

Because we detect any beacon, we detect Stealz beacons. Although we're not integrated with the Stealz app, our tech sits inside hundreds of apps across the country. This gives us the ability to detect many more devices that "bump" into their beacons.

In this completely different case study, we're not showing how beacons increase engagement, or how retailers & restaurants use them. Instead, we show never-before-seen data on the profile of retail mobile audiences in Raleigh, NC, where Stealz is based. Top locations visited, demographics, behaviors, and more.

PDF(s):

stealz_beacon_case_study.pdf

Mobile Strategy For The Holidays: Two Industry Insiders Answer 5 Critical CMO Questions

Hillary Read — Fri, 06 Nov 2015 19:53:14 +0000

November 6, 2015

Submitted by 3Q Digital

By Scott Rayden, 3Q Digital

Mobile advertising is poised to make or break 2015 goals for millions of companies over the next six to seven weeks.

As we head into the holiday season, I posed a few critical questions to two of the brightest minds I know in mobile: Hathway CSMO Kevin Rice and 3Q Digital VP of Mobile Strategy Craig Weinberg. (Disclosure: Mobile agency Hathway is a 3Q Digital partner, and 3Q Digital is my employer.)

If you’re looking for any edge you can get in your holiday mobile campaigns, these guys have answers.

Kevin Rice

Craig Weinberg

1. How Should Brands Be Thinking About Mobile Strategy For The Holidays?

Rice: With so much advertising noise leading up the holidays, it can be hard for a brand to break through it. As a result, brands that want to stand out need to consider all channels for reaching shoppers when they are in the “holiday spirit of giving.”

• Use mobile data to target consumers using contextually relevant factors. For example, mobile advertising avenues like The Weather Channel allow you to reach shoppers in store as they are checking the weather outside with relevant messages, such as, “It’s rainy outside, how about a pea coat for that special someone?”

Mobile data, by providing brands with context such as information on their consumers’ environments, affords them the ability to deliver a perfectly tailored and perfectly timed message.

• Make sure you rank for phrases consumers will be searching for. Brands should bump up their paid search ranking for longtail phrases like “gift ideas for teenagers” or “top gifts for kids” or “gifts for the friend who has everything.”

Lists like this hit big with consumers every year, and they’ll spend even more time researching gift ideas on their mobile devices this year. Even though most of these purchases will be made in store, mobile will be at the core of consumers’ path to purchase.

These strategies work because everything about mobile begins with its context. By understanding the consumer’s frame of mind, you can more effectively target them digitally with timely, actionable advertising.

Weinberg: Well, it’s mid-October. If you haven’t thought about it already, you may want to take this year off and start planning for 2016. But seriously, folks… the key is to plan early and often.

Your normal holiday planning and strategy shouldn’t “change” for mobile. Rather, ask how mobile can enhance your holiday campaigns and offers.

Think of how retailers/brands are using mobile these days: They’re engaging customers with coupon codes they can swipe on site; they’re offering deals and coupons that customers can use on desktop sites; they’re engaging customers with things like newsletter sign-ups throughout the year so that those folks can be targeted (and retargeted) in peak buying season.

Because people are on the go, because they are out of their daily routines and have a lot of planning to do (travel, cooking, gifting), mobile campaign messaging needs to be dynamic and fluid.

The holidays are the perfect time to execute the “moments” approach: Get to people with the relevant message at the relevant time.

You also need to think out of the box; since your users are being exposed to so many messages, why would they stop and listen to yours? What can you do to stand out?

2. What Mobile Strategy Changes Should Be Made To Best Take Advantage Of Holiday Traffic, Behavior And Engagement?

Rice:

• Brands need to create marketing communications that speak to who the viewer is shopping for, not the viewer himself. To do this effectively, get more granular with your targeting.

For example, invest in better creative and more multifaceted testing to optimize your media spend (e.g., “Gift ideas for the person who has everything” or “Top 5 gift ideas for someone who loves the outdoors”).

• Make it easier to share products from one device to another. Bearing in mind that most people won’t purchase on their mobile device, an “email to myself” feature becomes as vital a CTA as the “check out.”

• Partner with retailers on in-store calls to action. If you are a consumer brand, collaborate with your retailers to deliver contextual push notifications in store for those who have mobile apps or beacons.

Weinberg: As with anything mobile (or anything digital, for that matter), start by making sure that your fundamentals are working!

Is your site set up properly? Can you handle the influx of traffic? Do you need to submit your app to the app store for updates?

Next, consider whether you actually should try to take advantage of the holidays. Traffic becomes more expensive, so if your product or service has no special relevance to the holidays, consider scaling down your budgets in November and December and re-investing that money in January.

Last, if you’re all in, remember that consumers are bombarded with messaging during the holidays. There’s more clutter than there is meaningful content/experiences. If you’re going to put budget behind your campaigns, make sure they’re resonant.

3. How Do You Think Mobile Behavior Will Be Different This Year From Last?

Rice: Last year, mobile was where the consumers were researching products. This nevertheless translated to only 22 percent of those consumers purchasing on their device.

This year, that number will likely increase to 34 percent, which is still small. This is because the mobile checkout process is still tedious and user-unfriendly at this point.

To make mobile the primary channel for holiday (and all) online shopping, brands’ mobile websites need to:

Facilitate checkout within a few simple swipes, or
Populate form fields via better integrations with TouchID
Enable consumers to pay via ApplePay/Google Wallet (or Visa Checkout, Samsung Pay, PayPal)

Each of these factors is key to bringing the mobile shopper full circle — from research to purchase.

On the horizon, Near Field Communication (NFC) will also become more popular for instore marketing. Though this year is probably too early yet for NFC to fully come into play, by next year, consumers will have used Apple Pay more frequently — prompting a better understanding of how NFC works, thereby making it a viable marketing medium.

Weinberg: If anything, the marketplace will be more competitive because consumer reliance on mobile has grown. Expect less in-store traffic and more mobile traffic, and be prepared to invest more in mobile showrooming (Read: Best Buy vs. Amazon).

This isn’t so much about mobile behavior as it is about platform behavior, but it’s important to remember that the App Store rankings freeze during the last 10 days of December.

Many mobile companies scale down marketing expenses during that time period, since no matter how many new users they acquire, their app store ranking and reviews remain the same.

4. If You Could Give A Brand One Piece Of Mobile Advice For The Holidays, What Would It Be?

Rice: Start early. If you’re a retailer or brand with an app, this is a big opportunity to capture a larger share of your customers’ shopping lists.

Coordinating your app development cycles far in advance allows you to specifically align new feature releases with the holidays.

An example of such a feature could be recommendations for Christmas purchases. Facebook, especially when consumers give permission to connect it to an app, website or retailer, gathers information about what that person’s interests are.

In this case, you might need an additional layer of permissions, but careful consideration during the user experience design process could make this work. It can use this information to suggest gift ideas for your friends and family.

For brands, this is a valuable utility and lends itself nicely to a holiday-branded campaign and creative involving elves or the North Pole.

In fact, Target launched a wish list app for kids last year that “gamified” the experience, allowing children to create their wish lists in an interactive and visual fashion. Approaches like this will get more popular — and expand in capabilities.

Weinberg: Don’t forget January! Most brands are so overwhelmed by the holidays that they neglect to plan January’s budgets.

In January, the media rates decrease, people have new phones to play with, and there are many New Year’s resolutions to support (before they all fail). Don’t forget to take advantage of this opportunity to test and learn in a ripe environment.

5. How Will Technology Change The Future Of Holiday Shopping?

Rice: Within the next five to 10 years, the internet will convert from a “pull” to a “push” environment. Although today, we use a browser to search for what we want, the future holds an internet that’s so connected, all websites talk to each other.

This will create enough automated intelligence to allow mobile devices to deliver the content we need at a perfectly relevant moment, without us having to prompt it at all.

For example, imagine you purchase a ski trip close to the holidays on Expedia and then receive an email or push notification from REI about buying a new pair of boots for your wife because hers are ten years old.

In a case like this, if you went on to purchase the boots, Expedia could charge per API call — a huge opportunity for Expedia and brands like them that have large customer bases.

While it might sound creepy to some, Millennials and Gen Z are much more open when it comes to online privacy and receiving advertisements like this. The nice value exchange that results for both consumer and brand is the timely and relevant offers.

And with some tweaks to Terms of Service, combined with opening up web services across brands, this could be a reality.

The result? Brands and shoppers of the future will get what they value most. Shopping is not only going to be a lot easier in the future, it’s also going to be smarter.

Time we used to spend going store to store over the course of weeks has been reduced to browsing website to website over the course of days or hours. And soon, that time will be cut down by brands delivering us relevant information on exactly what we’re looking for to buy ourselves or loved ones, in mere minutes — or even seconds.

In this future, technology will give us the greatest gift of all: less time shopping for the perfect presents for those on our list and more time to spend with family, drinking eggnog and watching “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Article