Christian Louca
This is a piece I put together on the Digital Britain report.
The recent governmental Digital Britain report has been heralded for its pledge to provide high speed broadband for all and clamp down on digital piracy, enhancing the UK’s digital ranking and driving hi-tech industry. But what does the plan mean for mobile, and by natural extension, the rapidly growing mobile marketing and advertising industry? Christian Louca, UK country manager and head of publisher, YOC explains more.
Mobile is rapidly becoming the communication channel of choice for many as interactions between friends and work colleagues and media consumption habits change to reflect the increasingly fast paced and mobile world that we live in – becoming on demand and instantaneous. This trend towards a mobile lifestyle, combined with the personalisation and targeting capabilities that mobile offers, not to mention the fact that it’s measureable and provides a high return on investment, is impacting on the way in which brands and organisations interact with their consumers. As we’re seeing from our work with the publishing industry in particular – building mobile sites and managing ad sales for high profile newspaper and magazine titles such as The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, What Car? and PC Advisor – it’s becoming increasingly unusual for a brand not to have a mobile presence. And it’s evident from the rate at which our media network is increasing that more and more publishers see the benefit of mobile advertising and marketing for the monetisation of their content.
So it is therefore vital for the sustainability of mobile services the world over that we as an industry continue to improve current and next-generation mobile services and coverage. The take up of faster 3G network services has already played a significant role in the proliferation and increased convergence of things like music, games and the mobile Internet on the mobile phone; improving the user experience and establishing a range of platforms from which brands can establish a relationship of interaction and engagement with the consumer whenever and wherever they are. But as services such as the mobile Internet continue to grow in popularity, we are presented with a dichotomy as greater strain is placed on the networks; impacting on user experience and therefore on subsequent mobile marketing opportunities. Working proactively to ensure that fast and seamless connectivity is achieved no matter how many people are downloading content, surfing the mobile web or making simple voice calls will help to further expand the already rapidly growing mobile economy of which mobile marketing and advertising are such a major part.
The extension of mobile data services are an important part of increasing industry profitability as voice and text message revenues fall, and mobility in the form of universal coverage is an integral part of this. But the extensive coverage achieved with GSM has not yet happened with 3G networks, with around 90% of 3G subscribers having limited coverage and 20% of the population lacking a choice of 3G network operator altogether. It is therefore imperative for the growth of the mobile, marketing and advertising communities that we continue to build out 3G services and more importantly, work on the implementation of next generation network technologies beyond 3G to ensure that the mobile marketing and advertising industries can continue, unimpeded, to flourish.
As connectivity becomes routinely fast and ubiquitous, consumer mobile usage will reach new heights; encouraging the further development of a raft of content rich, interactive and immersive communication platforms that mobile offers and enabling marketers to continue to leverage the mobile channel as a true one-to-one connection with their target consumers. There will come a time when mobile becomes the first screen of interaction with consumers – a time when we all live in a truly mobile Britain.
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