Certainty?  OK, to explain I covered three major themes.  First, the rise of the mobile app economy, and how, in many cases, the evolution of mobile, namely apps, is making mobile the first screen.  Mary Meeker recently asked us to “re-imagine” numerous technologies and interactions. Her key message is that mobile is changing the way that everyone is acting or interacting today.  And with faster connection speeds, smartphones, app downloads---these three are the backbone of the app economy—with improvements and growth happening continuously across these three litmus points, we can see the positive impact this is having on the app economy.

Here’s a scary thought--developers understand consumers better than advertisers...in mobile.  These developers are smart—they understand how people act in mobile---even more than brands do.  People will pay for things in mobile that they would not dream of paying for online.  If they are utilizing apps or mobile web browsing at an extensive clip, doesn’t the mobile phone become not only a place for commerce, but also for branding?

We believe it does.  So I threw the gauntlet……Build brands via mobile.  I used the example of an early print ad for Gillette.  Gillette used the stunning imagery and the full canvass to create a branding message.  If the mobile phone is the most personal device every created, what kind of brand impression are companies making if a) they aren’t using mobile or b) they are running thin banners with light (if not poor) consumer engagement.  Use the mobile device and all its unique technological advances to create a stunning, engaging and relevant ad experience.

Which brings me to relevancy.  It’s not the right ad, at the right place, at the right time.  It’s the right CONSUMER, at the right place at the right time.  And the right time doesn’t need to be 20 seconds after they might have been on a car-related website.  It could be a day after the aggregated, anonymized data shows that they have been to a car dealership multiple times, playing a mobile game as they waited for their sales person to run their driver’s license and clear them for a test drive.  That CONSUMER is an auto-intender.  Not an auto-enthusiast.  Not someone’s teenage daughter that happened to be showing her friends what car she wanted on the family computer.  Location isn’t a place, it’s an intention--a future intention presenting a world of opportunity for advertisers to reach that right CONSUMER.

With up and to the right charts too prevalent to name here; understanding that real world actions will drive ROI, while potential audience reach and audience engagement with a brand is happening on mobile--today.  Building a brand, to the right consumer is critical.  What screen is becoming the most critical to master?  Mobile.  Because if brands want to reach consumers, they must utilize the fastest, most personal means possible.  It is a mathematical certainty.

When planning a holiday campaign, many of the general best practices in mobile will still apply:

• Think about running cross platform to reach as many consumers as possible
• Implement targeting parameters to reach your core audience
• Identify clear campaign goals
• Etc.

With that said—there are a few specific things to think about that can make a difference when running a campaign during the holiday season.

Mobile is not just a DR channel

mCommerce has been getting a lot of attention lately, and deservedly so. Retail advertisers in particular are finding that consumers are responding positively to mCommerce, and it can be a great way to boost sales.

mCommerce should not be thought of as the only option though. Mobile can be an effective branding tool, and as consumers are turning to their phones to research potential gifts, brand awareness campaigns can still often lead to sales (even if it happens in the store, and not directly on the phone).

Identify the big days

Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be over, but there are still a few huge holiday buying days left that advertisers should be planning for. For many consumers, December 16 will be the last day they can receive free shipping, and December 21 will be the last day they can guarantee their shipment will arrive before Christmas.

For advertisers with a branded app—December 26 is what we call “New Device Day.” Consumers all over the world will have new tablets, phones and e-readers, and will be actively looking for content. An app download campaign can be a great way to gain immediate adoption from these new users.

This is true in mobile as well. Brands and agencies often come up with innovative ideas and unique campaign goals, and it is a major focus for us to create unique tools that will help them achieve these goals without jumping through hoops or waiting months to execute.

Mobile is a unique marketing channel, and advertisers can hit certain campaign objectives that simply aren’t possible in any other medium (i.e. Reaching an auto intender while they are on the lot!). Once a brand has determined campaign objectives though—it’s time to execute. Whether it’s an expandable banner—or a “next generation ad,” like a fully branded interactive game—building mobile creative shouldn’t be thought of as a constraint to achieving results. Brands should find the process that works best for them, and in most cases, it will be the one that allows them to execute efficiently and effectively.

A large part of the discussion was focused on different verticals, and how various industries are all finding their own creative ways to leverage the mobile channel. Paul Gelb said that “every vertical has found a way to use mobile,” and he then went on to give a few different examples from clients of his.

Coors beer for example, is a brand that Paul said was ramping up quickly, largely because they have seen that mobile is a great way to reach their core audience. Paul also spoke about some of the work Razorfish has done with Disney, who often turns to mobile to promote new movie releases. Paul mentioned that this past summer, studies have shown 50 percent of theatrical sales were via the mobile phone (Wow!).

We also spent some time discussing mobile advertising in the retail industry, and Jason Newport was able to speak on some of the great work Home Depot is doing. Jason said that “Home Depot has made a commitment to developing apps and mobile optimized sites,” and they are leveraging location to add another level of depth and relevance to their campaigns. In general, Jason said that “proximity and location are game changers in terms of targeting.”

Paul also weighed in on the mobile retail space, and spoke about the huge impact tablets have made. The large screen can make them a perfect device for browsing, and Paul said that tablets have created a consumer experience that can usher users through a linear purchase path, which is ideal for advertisers.

As we wrapped up the panel, both Jason and Paul were clearly bullish on the future of mobile. Jason mentioned that he envisioned certain verticals (like Pharma) making huge gains in the near future, while Paul simply said that he was “excited about everything,” and that he saw great possibilities for what he called “the most flexible device in history [the phone].”

If you’d like to see more examples of how we are helping brands succeed in mobile visit our campaign summaries page.

Thank you to Paul Gelb and Jason Newport for joining me on the panel!

Here’s the full discussion:

Click here to view the embedded video.

• Craig Atkinson, President, Chief Digital Officer, PHD
• Colleen Soriano, SVP, US Director of Digital Communications, UM
• Sean Finnegan, Partner, DMR Partners
• Amanda Richman, EVP, Managing Director of Digital, MediaVest
• Joel Lunenfeld, Director of Global Brand Strategy, Twitter

The discussion was wide-ranging, and the panelists all spoke on the key mobile trends that are affecting their day-to-day business.

When comparing mobile to digital advertising, one of the key themes to emerge was the depth of opportunities in mobile. Craig Atkinson said that “Mobile excites me like digital did in 1995. People are walking around with the digital world in their pocket, and the potential is unbelievable.”

Amanda Richman also had an interesting viewpoint, and said that mobile will allow us to look at some of the mistakes we made in digital. While Amanda said that mobile may end up making some mistakes too, we’ve learned so much, that in 1-2 years of mobile, we are accomplishing what took 10 years in digital.

Another trend that we touched on was how mobile has emerged as a great channel to reach local consumers. Sean Finnegan mentioned that while “people try to take a media agnostic approach, we’re seeing more and more of the traditional local spend transition to mobile.” Sean also mentioned that mobile has given us a fresh opportunity to look at how we approach advertising, and the industry can use this as an opportunity to infuse creativity into the way we’re trying reach consumers.

As the conversation turned towards local opportunities, we also veered into a discussion on mobile and social. Joel Lunenfeld mentioned that 45% of tweets are sent via the mobile phone (directly blending the two channels), and said that one of the most powerful results of this is that brands can interact with a consumer directly at the point of purchase. Joel said that “mobile is not just about getting a message out—it’s about connecting with consumers, and helping out an individual person.”

Colleen Soraino agreed with Joel’s statement, and said that “as mobile is changing our approach as consumers, marketers need to adjust and change as well.”

As the conversation wound down and turned back to mobile’s place in the digital landscape, Craig Atkinson summed everything up nicely, and said that “Mobile is the first real platform that allows us to do what we’ve been trying to do for a long time. Mobile brings out the best of the ad industry, and lets us add value as advertisers.”

It was a pleasure to be up there—and I want to thank all of the great panelists for coming out and taking the time to join me.

While many of the panels and presentations at the event focused on very specific topics in the space, I decided to go a different route in my talk and take a big picture look at how mobile has evolved in the last 5 years, and how we can use that info to examine the key trends today and potentially predict the coming years.

While 2006 may not sound like that long ago, in “mobile years,” it was ages ago. Consumers used their mobile devices (which were predominantly flip phones and BlackBerry’s) nearly 100% for voice/email/text, and mobile advertising was talked about in mostly hypothetical terms (i.e. “imagine you are walking by a Starbucks”). Sure, people were running WAP banners and building early applications, but it was primitive.

2007-2009 brought about the iPhone, the introduction of the mobile app store, and the rise of Android, and last year in 2010, the iPad helped usher in tablets and the beginning of the “Post-PC” era. In today’s world, mobile devices have been transformed into media devices, and new apps are created every day that add to their usefulness and entertainment. Maps, games, calendars, social networking, (more games), weather, sports, TV, etc…and oh yeah, they are also still phones.

As mobile has evolved, advertisers have evolved accordingly. The mass adoption of apps in 2008 was a signal to advertisers to begin testing and experimenting with more complex campaigns, and the emergence of Android in 2009 was an eye-opener about the importance of making campaigns cross platform.

So what are the main themes so far in 2011, and how will advertisers evolve next? Right now we see a few key areas that are impacting mobile, and could continue to be game changers down the line:

• The Expanding Mobile Canvas. Touchscreen phones have exploded in the last few years, and advertisers suddenly have a larger canvas to place ads on. Tablets in particular open up exciting opportunities that advertisers have begun to leverage with custom creative units that take advantage of the larger screen.
• Engagement vs Utility. As advertisers become more comfortable with mobile, they have begun to see that engagement enhances utility. Consumers engage with a variety of apps and mobile sites, ranging from games to mobile video destinations. When determining where they want to place their brand, advertisers have put increased emphasis on how engaged the audience is, while focusing less on the actual utility of the mobile destination.
• Local Market Advertising. Local dollars are shifting away from traditional local channels like newspaper and radio, and that spend is coming to mobile. Advertisers can use local deals and offers to entice neighborhood consumers, and can implement targeting parameters that will make sure they are hitting their desired audience. This is a trend that is hard to escape in 2011, and should continue in the future.

Where will mobile be in the next five years?  It’s hard to say. What is clear though is that it is a constantly evolving medium, and we’ll continue to look at the past in order to help with what is coming next.