The following is a guest contributed post by Ignasi Prat, CMO at Tappx

Mobile World Congress reached its conclusion last week and again proved to be the beating heart of imminent and future technology. As a Barcelona based company, we at Tappx are most definitely biased towards MWC being the major global show for all things mobile related, which these days is every kind of tech.

At this year’s Mobile World Congress, there were of course the usual smartphone launches, but this year’s show also went deeper into the two major technologies shaping our mobile future: 5G and Artificial Intelligence. Each of these technologies has its own incredible scope and likely impact, but when combined, they are set to superpower and transform industries; and one of these is the global ad industry.

5G – the fifth generation mobile wireless standard – is fast becoming a reality. 4G was a great improvement in terms of data speed download, which has delivered a sizeable and beneficial impact for users, and how they consume content across their smart devices. 5G is all about the user experience and is set to open up a whole new world of possibilities, as everything will be connected with an ever-growing flow of data, serving an exponentially growing number of connected devices – whether that’s connected cars, homes, or any other examples that people can’t imagine quite yet.

Why marketers should be excited by the focus at MWC on 5G is because it opens new doors for marketers, where new devices can provide new advertising opportunities and deliver new ways and channels to reach customers, where each one has their own idiosyncrasies and nuances.

5G is going to be faster, potentially much faster: compared to typical 4G download speeds of up to 150 megabytes per second, 5G promises up to an astonishing 20 gigabytes per second. But more exciting for mobile marketers is that 5G also promises a decrease in latency (ie the time between when an order is given and when it takes place). The drop is from 50 milliseconds for 4G, to between 1-5ms for 5G. This has a direct impact on the advertising industry, because faster data transmission and lower latency will permit new streaming capabilities, such as 4K video advertising, and immersive 360-degree videos or Virtual- (VR) and Augmented-Reality (AR) ads.

Prior to MWC, Apple unveiled its ARKit project that aims to boost the creation of AR content (at least for iPhone 8 and X users), Google has countered with ARCore. This ARms race will be a boon to mobile marketers as it opens up a new creative horizon for advertising and for creating 5G-enabled immersive experiences. It also gives content creators a new channel – with all the opportunities and challenges that go with it – to come up new types of content to appeal to audiences, but it’s up to mobile marketers to reach those audiences, to monetize the content and make it work for brands. We might not have all the answers, but we’re excited by the prospect of new message formats, acquisition metrics and creative fun we’ll have.

The other side of all the connected devices and content on display at MWC is data. It isn’t just the ‘new oil’ of the 21st century, but data is the fuel that powers technology. The days of marketing based solely on intuition or small data samples are history. Instead we have a wealth of data about consumers, telling us more than we could have ever dreamed of. But as the amount of data gathered grows exponentially, we need to ask the question – what’s the best method to identify data, build insights, and apply to our advantage? Enter AI.

It’s Artificial Intelligence that’s transforming the mobile advertising industry into the current mobile adtech industry, where smart machines trading ads in real-time are significantly more efficient than human ad operations. The increasing role of AI across the entire advertising industry, and its capability for solving challenges facing advertisers and publishers, can empower advertisers to serve relevant content, to hyper targeted audiences, in the correct context. Everything in real-time.

What Mobile World Congress tells us as mobile marketers is that the future of the ad industry is exciting and promising. The arrival of 5G and AI will open new opportunities to deepen and interrogate the relationships that advertising has with people and ways to use these technologies to move customers along the buying journey. Our challenge – as ever – is to get on top of these trends first.

The post Ad Trends from MWC 2018 appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

This year’s three-day event is happening January 26 through 28 at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida, encompassing education, networking, and informational displays exclusively for the automotive, marine and aviation Mobile Reconditioning (Recon) Industry.

Originated by Kevin Halewood, publisher of Detailer’s Digest and Mobile Tech Digest, the Mobile Tech Expo now welcomes an international following of thousands, with more than 175 vendor exhibition booths. The International Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) Olympics Is a popular highlight.

This year’s keynote talk will be delivered by master level detailer and trainer Renny Doyle who restores and preserves multi-million-dollar automobiles and aircraft, including the original Air Force One jet.

Friday, January 26, 2018 is the Mobile Tech Expo Education Day, a day-long event filled with seminars and workshops, featuring a rich schedule of Digital Marketing seminars by Martin Brossman & Associates LLC trainers Martin Brossman, Paul Apollonia and Robin Werling.

The team will focus on maximizing the use of Social Media marketing, understanding online review platforms and creating affordable paid digital ads that get measurable results. They will also explain simple ways to sell items online to extend the mobile tech income stream. With over 12 years of experience in small business marketing, the digital marketing expert team brings real world knowledge for gaining more clients and increasing lines of income.

“We love this expo because it is big enough to present a large range of topics and vendors but small enough that participants truly get time to talk to people and network,” Martin Brossman said. “This year we are offering expanded social media and online marketing training, thanks to enthusiastic participation that packed the room at the 2017 Expo. Because keeping up with the latest online marketing trends is a key to success, we focus on results-driven content with strategies and tactics for different levels of marketing budgets.”

The post Mobile Tech Expo 2018 Brings Back Full Digital Marketing Education Track appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Billed as the performance marketing industry’s premier global gathering, the event attracts more than 6,000 attendees, exhibitors and thought leaders from over 70 countries. ­

If you’re not familiar, Affiliate Summit West brings together a wide range of stakeholders – including global brands, agencies, online publishers, networks, media companies, technology providers and more – to network and learn more about the trends and innovations currently shaping the performance marketing industry.

The event features three main trade show areas that will include 300+ exhibitors and sponsors, as well as engaging presentations and panels from over 100 speakers, covering the top challenges and opportunities for performance marketers, as well as the latest industry developments.

“Performance marketing is demonstrating its value for today’s brands with tangible ROAS,” said Santi Pierini, CAKE President and Chief Operating Officer of Accelerize. “As marketers scale their affiliate programs, they need proven solutions that will enable them to manage, measure and optimize campaigns across multiple channels and partners. This is what we are delivering with Journey by CAKE, and we look forward to sharing our vision for Marketing Intelligence with attendees at Affiliate Summit West.”

The post CAKE by Accelerize Named Sponsor at Affiliate Summit West Las Vegas Event appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

While that news might make retailers giddy, security experts are reiterating their annual warnings that the convenience of online shopping comes with hazards. You could become the target of hackers out to steal your credit card or bank information, or “porch pirates” who prey on those packages left on your doorstep.

“Consumers need to take proper precautions if they don’t want their holiday merriment turning into holiday gloom,” says Gary Miliefsky, CEO of SnoopWall, a company that specializes in cyber security.

Changing all your passwords frequently is one way to protect what’s yours. Deleting smartphone or tablet apps you don’t use is another smart move, Miliefsky says, because many of those apps may be malware that spies on you.

Even porch pirates – generally seen as low-tech thieves who simply cruise neighborhoods looking for packages – can go high tech by infiltrating your smartphone where they can eavesdrop on your orders and deliveries.

“Both porch pirates and hackers count on people being lax with their defenses,” Miliefsky says. “But with a little preparation you can thwart their plans.”

He offers a few tips for doing just that:

• Shop online only from websites you trust. If you don’t know where the merchant is located, don’t shop online there. If they don’t have a corporate address or are located in another country, it could be iffy whether you ever see the goods you think you purchased. Also, if their shopping-cart experience is not an HTTPS browser session, then everything you type in – your name, address and credit-card information – is going over the Internet unencrypted, in plain view.
• Pay with credit cards rather than debit cards. If you experience identity theft, credit card laws allow you to keep all of your credit immediately, with no responsibility during an identity theft or fraud investigation. With a debit card, your bank’s policy can be to tie up your money in the amount of the fraudulent transactions for up to 30 days. Some have been known to take up to 60 days to resolve the issue.
• Get permission to ship all your packages to work. That way they aren’t left unguarded at your doorstep for hours where anyone walking by could snatch them. If this arrangement works out, be sure to tell all your friends and family also to ship packages to your work address.
• Ask a friend or neighbor to receive your packages for you. You might not be home on work days, but plenty of people are. Trusted friends who are retired or who work at home might be happy to let you have packages delivered to them for safe keeping.

“It’s wonderful that you can go online and track down those hard-to-find gifts that aren’t available in local shops,” Miliefsky says. “Just make sure you’re taking measures to help keep you and your personal information safe. The holidays will be a whole lot brighter if you do.”

The post How To Outwit Porch Pirates And Hackers During The Holiday Shopping Season appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

The following is a guest contributed post by Keith Petri, Chief Strategy Officer at Screen6.

The amount of time consumers spend on connected devices  (mobile phones, tablets, and connected TVs) is increasing and we don’t foresee this trend changing. While there are only 24 hours in a day, the amount of time spent on devices increase year over year and the proliferation of new devices and connected technologies has made it possible for consumers to be online around the clock.

According to most industry analysts, the average American is consuming a record amount of digital content and now spends 12 hours, 7 minutes of each day behind one screen or another — further reflecting the need for marketers to prioritize mobile and connected devices in their media mix modeling.

As advertising campaigns are continuing to be deployed across multiple devices and as creative becomes more dynamic and personalized across platforms, marketers will need to think literally about the customer and their journey. The mobile medium, by its nature, makes for a multitude of new opportunities that brands can tap into get the attention of consumers. Understanding the interrelationship between mobile devices and how and when consumers use them is critical to providing the best possible experience for both the advertiser and the consumer.

Marketers understand the importance of having a mobile marketing strategy, but need to make necessary changes to avoid fumbling opportunities in today’s mobile-minded world. In order to serve the right ad on the right device at just the right time, marketers need to look extensively at usage patterns and preferences for mobile phones, tablets and connected TV and optimize their campaigns. To accomplish this, they’ll need to stay ahead of the curve by monitoring where consumers are spending their time and how they are dedicating their attention.

To get a better sense for how consumers spend their time across platforms, Screen6 examined a massive amount of device ID data from more than 100 million mobile devices, mobile PCs, tablets and connected TVs in the United States. This data, provided by our data partners ShareThis, Kochava Collective and Airpush, was analyzed in an aggregate and anonymous fashion, taking a deeper look at server interactions during the second quarter of 2017.

It should come as no surprise that people spend a lot of time on their mobile devices. According to some reports, as much as 4 hours per day. Based on our research, the amount of time people spend on their device increase steadily throughout the day and peaks in the evenings between 7PM and midnight. When thinking about targeted “day part” campaigns and ad serving, advertisers should consider this the new “prime time” for mobile usage and advertising.

In examining which days have the most mobile usage, it may come as a shock that weekend usage outpaces weekday usage. While the prevailing belief is that people tend to unplug and become less connected on the weekends, they are in fact more connected to their mobile devices on Saturday and Sundays.

When looking at the amount of time consumers spend using their mobile devices as compared to connected TVs, the total TV time outpaced that of mobile devices for a majority of the day. This should not come as too much of a surprise considering most mobile devices are used intermittently while connected TVs remain in an always on state.

While most campaigns will shift between mobile and connected devices, there are key times that marketers should be thinking about weighting their ad serving towards mobile. During the morning commute, 7-9AM and again later in the evening from approximately 9PM-12AM after prime-time television programing has ended, mobile usage was in fact greater than connected TVs.

Finally, what kind of device a consumer is using will dictate when they are the most active. When looking at Android versus iOS devices, the two operating systems tend to be used equally throughout the day. There are two exceptions: iOS users tend to catch the worm and iOS devices are used more often in the early hours of the morning (Midnight to 6AM) and Android is used more often during the morning commute beginning at 7AM until the early afternoon at approximately 3PM. iOS and Android have similar usage patterns in the evening.

The amount of time people spend on their mobile devices is less representative of binge behavior or “at work” compared to “at home” behavior, and more representative of a massive cultural shift. The cross-platform consumer has become a reality. There is a new definition of “prime time” for people’s attention and “must see” viewing now takes place during the weekends.

The good news for advertisers and content owners is that as addressable, programmatic and cross-device advertising strategies will undoubtedly continue to evolve, they’ll also provide marketers with assets and better ways to reach desired audiences irrespective of device.

The post It’s Not Just How Much, But Where and When We Are Connected That Matters appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to the official report summary emailed to MMW:

Print ad spend declined 6%

The number of print ad pages in Q1 2016 was 117,551. Compared to Q1 2017, the number of print ad pages has decreased 8% year-over-year to 107,698 pages. Similarly, estimated print ad spend has declined 6% from Q1 2016 to Q1 2017.

“There has been a noticeable drop in ad pages and spend from the start of 2016 to now,” said Todd Krizelman, CEO & Co-Founder of MediaRadar. “That being said, there are still a considerable amount of pages being bought. Niche and enthusiast titles are on the rise, with some regional titles flourishing.”

Programmatic buyers down 12%

According to MediaRadar data, 45,008 advertisers purchased ads programmatically in Q1 2016. In Q1 2017, however, the number of programmatic advertisers dropped substantially, falling 12% year-over-year. On the quarter, more than 5,000 fewer advertisers (39,415) bought programmatically.

“After years of growth, the decline in programmatic buyers is likely attributed to concerns around brand safety – especially given recent problems for companies like YouTube. This form of advertising is continuing to evolve as brands seek more control over where their ads are running. We expect to see programmatic rise as more brands move to programmatic direct models,” said Krizelman.

For more insight into the study and its findings, click here.

The post MediaRadar Releases New Consumer Advertising Report appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

Rights Cloud is described as being a solution that can help brands and agencies of any size quickly navigate complex rights issues to reduce production time and cost, maximize the use/reuse of content and avoid the high price for misuse of intellectual property.

We’re told that Rights Cloud is the company’s first solution expressly designed for the brand and advertising community, envisioned as the most comprehensive and usable software platform for the unique rights management challenges facing the industry.

Rights Cloud is designed to seamlessly integrate into the most popular digital asset management and advertising platforms utilized at large to small sized agencies and brands, including Abode, OpenText, Box and Adstream. Brand managers gain instant access to talent profiles including their agent relationship, assignments, characteristics and associated assets as well as agreements, releases and usage terms.

“We are bringing all we have learned from our 14 years’ experience and innovation with rights management and technology to the advertising community with Rights Cloud,” says Tarek Fadel, FADEL’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer.

The post Ad Industry First: Fadel Launches Rights Cloud appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

According to a new report from the IAB, the UK is experiencing a video ad boom of epic proportions.

“Due to advertisers’ need to tap into people’s rising use of mobile to watch content, digital advertising grew at its fastest rate in nine years – by 17.3 percent (£10.3 billion) in 2016,” MAW reports, citing data from the Internet Advertising Bureau UK (IAB/UK).

An IAB/UK/PwC Digital Adspend report notes that the last time annual growth was higher was in 2007, when it logged in at 38 percent.

“Almost half (48 percent) of UK internet time is now spent on smartphones and mobile ad spend rose 50.8 percent to £3.87 billion,” according to the report announcement. “Mobile now accounts for 38 percent of all digital ad spend, up from 4 percent just five years ago.”

What’s more, we’re told that mobile now accounts for 63 percent of video spend, 76 percent of Content & Native (including social media news feeds), and 79 percent of social media spend.

“Spend on mobile video ads more than doubled (up 103 percent) to £693 million – making it the fastest growing ad format. It accounts for 29 percent of the total growth in digital ad spend,” the IAB/UK report notes.

The post Video is Hot and Getting Hotter for Mobile Advertising appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

While that news might make retailers giddy, security experts are reiterating their annual warnings that the convenience of online shopping comes with hazards. You could become the target of hackers out to steal your credit card or bank information, or “porch pirates” who prey on those packages left on your doorstep.

“Consumers need to take proper precautions if they don’t want their holiday merriment turning into holiday gloom,” says Gary Miliefsky, CEO of SnoopWall, a company that specializes in cyber security.

Changing all your passwords frequently is one way to protect what’s yours. Deleting smartphone or tablet apps you don’t use is another smart move, Miliefsky says, because many of those apps may be malware that spies on you.

Even porch pirates – generally seen as low-tech thieves who simply cruise neighborhoods looking for packages – can go high tech by infiltrating your smartphone where they can eavesdrop on your orders and deliveries.

“Both porch pirates and hackers count on people being lax with their defenses,” Miliefsky says. “But with a little preparation you can thwart their plans.”

He offers a few tips for doing just that:

• Shop online only from websites you trust. If you don’t know where the merchant is located, don’t shop online there. If they don’t have a corporate address or are located in another country, it could be iffy whether you ever see the goods you think you purchased. Also, if their shopping-cart experience is not an HTTPS browser session, then everything you type in – your name, address and credit-card information – is going over the Internet unencrypted, in plain view.
• Pay with credit cards rather than debit cards. If you experience identity theft, credit card laws allow you to keep all of your credit immediately, with no responsibility during an identity theft or fraud investigation. With a debit card, your bank’s policy can be to tie up your money in the amount of the fraudulent transactions for up to 30 days. Some have been known to take up to 60 days to resolve the issue.
• Get permission to ship all your packages to work. That way they aren’t left unguarded at your doorstep for hours where anyone walking by could snatch them. If this arrangement works out, be sure to tell all your friends and family also to ship packages to your work address.
• Ask a friend or neighbor to receive your packages for you. You might not be home on work days, but plenty of people are. Trusted friends who are retired or who work at home might be happy to let you have packages delivered to them for safe keeping.

“It’s wonderful that you can go online and track down those hard-to-find gifts that aren’t available in local shops,” Miliefsky says. “Just make sure you’re taking measures to help keep you and your personal information safe. The holidays will be a whole lot brighter if you do.”

The post How To Outwit Porch Pirates And Hackers During The Holiday Shopping Season appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.

From Pepsi pushing Mountain Dew through virtual reality, to leading breakfast cereal powerhouse Post captivating consumers with VR ads from VirtualSKY, the VR advertising revolution is here. And the latest data suggests that a good reason is behind the revolution. Indeed, VR ads are effective among consumers — and on a very profound level.

According to YuMe, Inc., a global audience technology company, and touted ratings firm Nielsen, virtual reality (VR) platforms offer marketers an amazing potential to provide immersive experiences that can elicit strong emotional engagement for brands.

The report, which builds on neuro-scientific insights, also suggests that content does need to be wedded to the right platforms to elicit optimal consumer engagement.

“The research featured content from an entertainment advertiser and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority,” according to a provided report summary. “Consumers experienced the content, which originally was developed for highly immersive platforms, in three distinct environments – mobile VR, 360-degree video on a flat screen and flat, two-dimensional TV screens. Content on VR produced the highest emotional engagement, showcasing the rich, exploratory experiences that brands can develop.”

That’s not to say there aren’t significant challenges. The report also cited issues in connecting consumers with key branding moments; within the report are practical tips for advertisers and media companies considering new immersive and experiential ad formats for their campaigns.

“Advertisers need to artfully balance freedom of exploration and storyline flow in new immersive environments to deliver highly engaging viewer experiences,” said Stephanie Gaines, VP for Corporate Marketing at YuMe. “As an industry we’ve spent a lot of time deep in the conversations about virtual reality. Now is the time, however, to move from hype to action — and this report clearly shows the path to incorporating these powerful new formats.”

The report includes information gleaned from Nielsen’s biometric, eye-tracking, and behavioral coding technologies. It reveals that VR presented participants with the opportunity to play director, navigating through experiences in their own, unique ways — which “brands must understand to effectively divert attention to key branding moments, without interrupting the experience.”

Among the highlights from the research are:

• With content optimized for the platform, VR can deliver higher emotional engagement than flat environments, including 2D and 360-degree experiences.
• VR elicited 27 percent higher emotional engagement than in a 2D environment and 17 percent higher emotional engagement than a 360-degree video on a flat screen.
• VR viewers are emotionally engaged 34 percent longer than when they view the same content in 2D and 16 percent longer than when they view the same content in 360-degree video on a flat screen.
• Immersive content in VR and 360-degree experiences needs to balance freedom of exploration and flow to convey the narrative.
• Guided exploration is critical for brands to convey their message and leverage branding opportunities.

To learn more, check out the infographic below and peruse the full report here.

The post Virtual Reality Advertising: The Power and Potential Are Obvious appeared first on Mobile Marketing Watch.