• by Ujjal Kohli , September 6, 2013

Anyone who has been in the mobile industry for a while knows it’s been the year of mobile for the past few years now. The headlines, overhyped and exaggerated, have proclaimed mobile’s arrival on the merits of banner and display advertising, but when it comes to digital, mobile display is small potatoes. Where things really start to matter — where mobile really starts to take off — is when we take into account the most engaging opportunities in advertising: video designed for the mobile experience.

Many brands are still trying to fine-tune their mobile video campaigns to capture the hearts and minds of consumers on the go, and a few are definitely onto something. Because of mobile’s unique capacity for full-screen, immersive video and immediate engagement, a successful mobile campaign comes down to three factors: production value, engaging obsessive audiences, and creating great ads with even greater content beyond the tap.

Production Value Matters
The key to a great campaign begins with an overall commitment to high quality. That commitment begins with a premium content environment for the ad and extends into the mobile video ad execution itself. Because ads built without the highest standards of production often have short-lived impact, brands must be careful to invest wisely to nurture rich, immersive, and high quality executions with staying power. Premium might cost more, but the value is evident in the completion rates — often 80% or higher.

Engaging Obsessive Audiences
An inherently intimate and interactive platform, mobile is ripe for engagement. Marketers who win in mobile understand that they must find ways to pull users in by appealing to their interests. Inviting the inclined audience to initiate, expand, explore, and stay in the brand’s creative strokes arena, Marketers need only think through the right mechanics for enthralling these audiences and keeping them engaged with the content over time.

The Power of More
With high production value and obsessive audiences, the power of giving audiences more of the content they want is undeniable. Games, interactive experiences, and fun, useful content beyond the original ad experience only pulls consumers in deeper, allowing them to engage with brands on their own terms. High completion rates in premium content environments point to the fact that users recognize a fair value exchange. Engagement beyond the initial 15-second spot identifies consumers who are not just resigned to viewing an ad before the content; they actually want to watch.  They also recognize they can get more of what they want by engaging with the ad — be that more entertainment, deals, or information about the product.

As mobile continues on its growth path, it does not benefit us as an industry to hold onto old conventions of digital display, nor to believe we can simply port over those conventions to the mobile environment. Mobile is unique. Sustained growth in mobile is about immersive video and the engaging experiences users experience after the tap. Ultimately, success in mobile depends on staying true to high quality production, tapping into obsessive audiences and potential brand ambassadors, and delivering more, rich content for consumers who demand more.