Mobile’s Already The Next Big Thing

Mobile’s Already The Next Big Thing

The shiny new year of 2017 has kicked off and judging by the flurry of predictions streaming in, it’s going to be a grand one for mobile!

We were just getting to grips with the exciting news that mobile overtook desktop for the first time globally in 2016. That is to say, for the first time in the history of the human race (not to sound overly dramatic), there were more consumers globally accessing purchasing-enabling browsers from mobile devices like handsets and tablets. That really speaks to a workforce and a society on the move and our industry is perfectly-positioned to tap into the move to mobile.

Our own Mobile Marketing Association confirmed in April last year that mobile has also “outstripped growth in desktop adoption and is now driving internet access in South Africa”. This was according to the MMA SA’s Mobile Report for 2016. We eagerly await the 2017 installment of what InTarget Mobile Advertising is hoping will become a regular feature on the local mobile marketing calendar.

Smartphones will continue to be the dominant access device in South Africa and the world and that’s great news for marketers as we can really let our creativity test the limits of cellular functionality. Just this month, respected ad rag Advertising Age is using phrases like “mobile marketing’s awesome potential” when referring to likely trends in 2017. They’re backing up their glowing and possibly new-found respect for mobile with stats like this: research firm BIA/Kelsey predicts that mobile-ad spend will exceed $40 billion.

Because we’ve just come to the tail-end of another December / January holiday season, this time of year had me wondering about the effect of another mobile trend that’s set to deepen in 2017. The growth of smartphones has meant that consumers are moving further away from traditional calendar-focused approaches to purchasing.

Today, we’re firmly in the always-on lifestyle and this means purchasing certain goods and services simply happens all the time, and not only at specific times of year. Brands will have to reevaluate their traditional marketing-calendar practices and update accordingly. This means exploring continuous programmatic approaches to mobile marketing rather than delivering episodic campaign executions.

There is a lot at stake. Advertising Age expects brands to spend more than USD20 million on mobile-programmatic marketing this year. Our MMA, hopefully, will translate that into rands during the course of 2017.

anton

 

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