Portions of this article appeared previously on Mashable.com.
Let’s face it: mobile advertising still has a long way to go. Facebook finally announced its latest and greatest mobile-ad effort last week, but smart industry folks say it still leaves much to be desired. And even though more money’s flowing toward mobile, the dollars spent on mobile marketing still don’t come close to aligning with the amount of time we spend with smartphones in hand. In fact, some say that the only reason mobile pulls in ad spend is because it’s so damn cheap.
Even so, it seems inevitable that mobile’s share of spend will continue to increase – if only because it already owns such a significant share of mind. Mobile also has serious potential to perform for marketers. A Nielsen report out this week showed a shorter time to purchase and dramatically higher purchase rates among mobile consumers. And leaders at trailblazing agencies are putting serious effort into setting the mobile agenda for the rest of the marketing world.
Mobile has transcended its role as a connection and convergence device. In the words of Starcom MediaVest Group’s Jesse Missad, “it will be part of every communications plan.”
I spoke with Missad and... Read more
Tagged 'razorfish' 
5 Mobile Rules from Top Marketers
Marketing's Identity Crisis
Since this post is part of the24 Hours of Innovation, I thought it'd be appropriate to start with a quote from futuristBob Johansen, President of the Institute of the Future from 1996-2004 In his bookGet There Early, Johansen asserts that "no one can predict the future." By his definition, predictions are statements of whatwillhappen—and they're almost always wrong. Futurists forecast whatmayhappen and "a forecast doesn't need to come true to be valuable." Forecasts are valuable when they "provoke new thought, new insights, new possible actions, or new ways of thinking about the present [and] you don't need to agree with a forecast to find it useful."
To that end,My Pep Talk for 2009during the24 Hours of Innovationis less a statement of fact about the future of marketing innovation and more an outline of real examples, rhetorical challenges and possible outcomes.
The marketing hard sell and cold call have given way to interactions where brands intersect a customer's life and add to their experience, provide clarity or make the customer's life easier. But marketing strategies and tactics are not in line with this new role; it's the basis of an identity crisis in marketing—the likes of which we've never seen.
Marketing's identity crisis
Marketing has an identity crisis... Read more
