Media Week

Maybe not......but one of these years (soon) it will be and you should be ready!

Media Week, reporting on the new IAB figures, headlined that mobile ad spend is up 99% in 12 months.

Reasons are obviously cheaper, better handsets, cheaper data packages and the fact iPhone users are seven times more likely to be checking news and info on the move.

And with prices coming down even further, sites like Facebook & Twitter easily driving people to network via their mobiles, and Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 6.5 platform being released later this year, more and more time will be spent on handhelds which means more eyeballs for you!

Try and think globally too. I was in South Africa recently and TV ads were wall-to-wall driven by mobile, SMS this and SMS that. Most folks over there can’t afford PCs but the ALL seem to have mobiles.

The other reason to get savvy is because if you don’t, your competitors will be and that’s a bad place to be. Too many people think that a recession is for battening down the hatches and taking fright but it isn’t.

Now is the time to be experimenting with this stuff. You should be drip feeding some spend and resources and building up your expertise and brand impact for when big budgets get released and you can go gung-ho!

2009 may not be the year of the mobile but it’s sure as hell the year for learning about it and getting prepared for when the flood gates open and you have the opportunity to capitalize.

At the weekend a guest at a lunch I was at  who was a GP asked me why he never sees advertising for funeral directors or coffins on TV, in print or online.

I didn’t have an answer. Is it illegal? Are there guidelines set out by some higher body on the grounds of taste and decency?

Or do we just know there’s one on every high street so there’s no need to even go there.......unless we really have to?

Some are advertising on search which is obvious and a great idea, but what about other channels?

How could demographic and behavioural targeting play into what must be one of the oldest professions/industries ever?

I just got an email from the fabulous Guy Phillipson at the IAB which had a side bar that looked like this:

You'd have to be a woolly mammoth buried under ten feet of ice for the past 10,000 years NOT to have heard of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube!

But for every few people who have acknowledged their importance to marketing, there’s always one who appears to throw up slightly in their mouths at the thought of sending customers from a newsletter to the channels they’ve set up on these sites, because they’re worried they’ll see a dip in traffic or engagement on their own property.

Who cares?

People with control issues, or those that just don’t get it, that's who!

If millions and millions of your potential customers, readers, audience or whatever are on those sites then why not go where they are and they feel comfortable?

Sure, there are rules of engagement, but for goodness sake we’re operating in a fast-moving, ever-changing and dynamic (I think they all mean the same thing?) environment so get with the program.

There’s been a change in the way business is done and social media is now firmly part of the media mix.

Ditch page views and unique users and think about your ROI – Return On Inaction!

Think of the data! Look what people are saying about the IAB even now!

Failure to embrace these channels and to keep morphing as new channels start emerging simply isn’t an option.

On my way to the station the other morning I spotted this sign:

Initially I was confused!

From the name of the company - Cards In The Window – I thought the idea was homeowners would get paid for sticking adverts on their double-glazing in an effort to catch the attention of passersby.

Genius I thought!

A company has been born out of these tough economic times that will pay hard up mortgage-payers for carrying advertising in their windows. Then I pondered, what about TV screens? Why not carry TV ads? It’d bring a whole new meaning to the phrase “neighbourhood watch!”

Alas no!

My advertising imagination had got the better of me.

Cards In The Window is like a local, newsagent-themed self-serve ad site catering for SW London, which lets you place a free ad for something you’re selling or a service you’re touting.

The different cards you can use are quite fun and design and functionality is very good.

On reflection, I’m glad it didn’t turn out to be what I had imagined but it does go to show what this business can do to your brain sometimes!

I'm looking forward to the Bank Holiday weekend!