• by Kevin Wassong , August 7, 2014

Nearly every industry event, analyst or trend story today supports the explosive growth of mobile advertising however; mobile really has yet to see its heyday. eMarketerprojects that mobile display will grow at double the rate of search over the next year.

This presents a phenomenal opportunity, but we won’t be able to take full advantage with static 320x50 and 300x50 ads as our standard. It’s time to redefine the mobile banner ad.

Millennial Media CEO Michael Barrett recently told Ad Age: “We can chug along at 5% of the market; in most cases, you wouldn't be elated about that. In mobile, we could plant the flag and claim victory.”But can we really?

First, we must recognize that the lack of brand dollars flowing to mobile is a self-inflicted wound – an unfortunate consequence of a marketplace racing to the bottom, with buyers all vying for the lowest prices, publishers focused on eking out what profits they can, and very few parties looking to provide valuable brand experiences.

The result of this narrow focus has been a flood of ad dollars going to mobile search with barely a weak stream to mobile display. As it stands today, 50 cents of every mobile ad dollar goes to search and Google, and the top three companies control 75% of all mobile budgets.

So when exactly will brands embrace mobile display?

The dollars will shift when we purge 320x50 and 300x50 ad units, and replace them with more impactful and engaging ad solutions that can be delivered at scale. Fifty pixels make a tweet look like “War and Peace.” Brands simply cannot and should not work with a pallet so small. We need to do better than ads that are so small that users must click to expand them, just to be able to see the ad.

The next phase of mobile creative requires the full real estate of 300x250 units with responsive rich media interactivity. According to the Mobile Marketing Association’s most recent SMoX study, rich media units delivered in-stream have proven to be more than two and a half times more effective than the current standard.

Premium publishers have begun to recognize the problem and are making alterations. USA Today’s strategy has shifted to focus on high-impact ads on its home page in order to keep online CPMs high and for readers to see them with minimal disruption.

It also calls for mobile units that take advantage of inherent smartphone features, such as hi-resolution screens, instant calling, high-quality video, GPS capabilities, email, etc. The smartphone revolutionized human connectivity because it allowed us to do things we had never done before. Its impact on advertising, while significant, has not been nearly as prolific. But it can be, if we expand our idea of what a mobile ad can be.

And let’s not forget another important element, ensuring that the ad is delivered in-stream within premium content, a proven foundation for marketers to reach their target audiences. Context and trust matter – from professional news to incredible shows and sports – the curation of content has never been more critical to the brand-building ecosystem.

Mobile could be the saving grace of display when brands, agencies, and publishers adopt larger responsive rich media creative. Bigger has always been better. Let’s embrace it. Let’s integrate it. Let’s make it a standard, and everyone will follow.