
What will mobile advertising look like in 2020? A new report from OgilvyOne and messaging company Acision predicts mobile advertising in 11 years will be far more
personalized as users exercise control over the types of messages they see, and when, on their handheld devices.
"Mobile advertising in 2020 will be mobile directed advertising which is
selected and chosen by the individuals themselves. It is the individual who will be the pivotal player in the mobile advertising domain of the future and the mobile device will be a technological
representation of them," according to the study.
The projected transition to more highly tailored mobile ads outlined in the report will change how agencies and wireless providers operate. For
agencies: "Pushing messages out to unwilling consumers is replaced with producing ideas and content that individuals will seek out and incorporate into their own world," states the report.
This
sounds a lot like the consumer-in-control rhetoric of the last few years encouraging marketers to embrace user involvement in online ad campaigns. Whether it actually leads to more relevant
advertising on mobile phones by 2020 is another question. What if most people opt not to have any advertising at all? (The OgilvyOne study does foresee an opt-in model for receiving mobile advertising
becoming a global standard by then.)
By 2020, the wireless industry will not be dominated by a handful of mobile operators, but become segmented by service specialty. "This operator segmentation
should ultimately be a positive transformation for the future of mobile advertising. It will enable the operators to excel at what they deem to be their core capabilities."
The report also
envisions technological advances -- especially the proliferation of 4G networks -- propelling the growth of mobile advertising by blurring the line between wired and wireless connections and ensuring
better security.
"This will allow us to decide which screen we would like to receive the advertisement on: the mobile device, the screen on the back of the airline chair, in the game which we
are playing or e-book which we are engrossed in, etc., etc."
So will 2020 finally be the Year of Mobile? The study does not explicitly make that prediction, but says we will know when it's
arrived when users do more with their mobile phones than anything else. "It is when the mobile device is truly used for all touch points in your life." Some smartphone users may already feel that time
has come.