So, let me say ‘thank you’ to CBS on behalf of the millions (I am betting that there were millions) of consumers who took advantage of the live stream. It certainly provided consumers the flexibility and choice we deserve when it comes to watching the biggest sporting event in the country.

Now, if you were only watching the big game on your tablet that would be fine. You would be very, very happy.

However, I made the mistake of having the television on at the same time as having the live stream on my iPad on my lap (I am sure many others did this as well).

The issue - and I don’t know if it was my connection or the WiFi I was on or if it is a technical limitation of live stream - but the stream to the tablet lagged the television coverage. It was not a short lag, it was considerable. At one stage in the first quarter, I got out the stop watch and timed it. The lag was 21.7 seconds. This was essentially streaming one play behind the live coverage on the television.

This made it impossible to have both the tablet and television on at the same time. And you guessed it, the big screen eventually won.

That said, I did like the fact that you had access to a curated Twitter feed and the commercials that you could play on demand on the tablet.

Perhaps the most exciting innovation was the ability to switch between camera angles at will. It certainly made me feel like I was in control of what I wanted to watch. There was a second or so between the camera angles switching but nothing that marred the experience.

At the risk of looking stupid, the only other thing that I had an issue with was that I could not watch the game on the full screen. Try as I might, I could not find a way of expanding the picture to the full screen. It might be able to be done, but for the life of me I could not figure it out. I am sure someone from CBS will call me out on this.

Overall, I must say I was excited to watch the game on my tablet. We should be able to watch everything on live on tablet. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of live sporting events that are not available. At least there is one network that gets it. Congratulations CBS. Great game!

Where will the reach of the Internet invade next? Those of us who love our television programs are increasingly watching them with our mobile devices in hand. We use them to find our information related to things we've seen, and connect on our favorite social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Shows like AMCs The Walking Dead really play things up in the social sphere, asking fans to create or comment on different hashtags for each episode, then discussing them on the air. This extra interaction is often happening during the advertisements, and the "second screen" trend is changing the way people view TV in surprising ways. See more about TV going social in the below infographic from Confused.com.

The mobile space encompasses all users who view the internet either through their mobile smartphone device or through a tablet.  Shortly, we will be heading into a post PC world where total usage of smartphones, tablets and upcoming products will eclipse total usage of the desktop/laptop. What's amazing is the speed at which this transformation is taking place.  In 2011, there were a total of 117.9 million smartphones in the US and that number will continue to rise to 155.6 million in 2012, a 32% increase. Tablet usage is growing even faster, with the US tablet user base reaching 33.7 million in 2011, and expected to nearly double to 54.8 million in 2012, a 62.8% increase (eMarketer).

From the presentations at the summit and from speaking with other executives in the mobile business, it is clear that larger brands are taking steps to address the radical shifts in web usage taking place. Design wise, brands are encouraged to have responsive web designed pages, crafted with fluid proportion-based grids which adapt the layout to the viewing environment so users across a broad range of devices and browsers will have access to a single source of content.  A good example of this is JetBlue's newly redesigned home pages; larger buttons and simple navigation were purposely incorporated into the site to account for the increase in users accessing the site with their tablets.

The reality is that if they haven't already, brands need to also address mobile in their overall marketing mix and acquisition strategies.  A good starting point is to define what problem you are trying to solve with mobile marketing and then look to develop a campaign strategy that will address that issue.  Until now, many brands have looked at mobile as purely a tool to build stronger ties with existing customers.   However, with the growth of mobile usage, combined with the familiarity and comfort that consumers have with their devices, new customer acquisition and lead generation through mobile is increasingly becoming a reality.   When executed correctly, there is no reason why a lead generation and acquisition campaign cannot take place through a mobile experience.

Another area of interest during the summit was the growth of mobile applications in the marketing mix and the strategies being used to promote installations.   Again, with the incredible growth of the mobile app ecosystem, brands know they need to have a presence and a dedicated app strategy.  Mobile applications have greatly increased the number of innovative ways that brands can interact and attract consumers,  however, like building a great website, it is simply not enough to build an app and wait for users.  Brands are employing a number of tactics for driving installs, from viral campaigns to paid mobile media, but it is clear that a strong strategy on how you plan to promote your app is a key component even before building it.

Overall, it is an exciting time to be a part of the mobile advertising marketplace.  Successful digital marketing strategies such as lead generation, search and display have been adapted, customized and optimized for mobile devices and new strategies such as mobile application installs have been developed in order to address this new medium.  With a full range of mobile marketing solutions, it is great to see advertisers embrace the mobile industry as we enter the post PC age.

The data speaks for itself. Mobile web usage continues to increase dramatically; more people are buying smartphones and tablets, and taking them online. They’re changing the way we watch TV, experience advertising, and make purchase decisions, both online and in-store.

Thanks to this burgeoning mobile shift, scenarios that seemed futuristic not so long ago are becoming our here-and-now reality. Try this one on for size:

You are woken up by the alarm on your smartphone. As you brush your teeth (with your Bluetooth-connected toothbrush), perhaps you attend to a screen or two that’s integrated into your home – maybe via a smart mirror or smart window. Your screens present you with relevant, custom-curated news and information, tailored to your needs and interests based on the preferences you’ve opted to share with media companies. You grab a 10-Hour Energy – in the future, five hours doesn’t cut it – and you’re out the door on your way to work. All you carry is a smartphone and a tablet. When your cab drops you at your office, you wave your phone to pay. At your desk you place your tablet and smartphone in docks, via which they sync instantly with your office’s information systems. A laser virtual keyboard and Kinect interface allow you to input text and control your computing world with gestures.

Sound crazy? Well, pending a few processor upgrades and an uptick in mobile bandwidth, everything here is entirely plausible using technology that’s widely available right now. That same technology is about to dramatically alter how we shop – online, on Main Street, and at the mall.

Our mobile future is, if not already here, fast approaching. So how can smart marketers make the most of the mobile shift to capture new opportunities for consumer engagement?

Here are a few emerging technologies to keep an eye on:

• Near-Field Communications: This technology, which enables devices in close proximity to communicate, promises to have enormous impact on how we market to consumers. Right now it’s discussed mostly as a mobile-payment platform, which it will be, but it also has great potential to deliver hyper-relevancy and drive engagement. Chris Silva of Altimeter warns, however, that privacy issues will need to be top of mind where near-field communications (NFC) are concerned. And I have to agree with Silva on this point: “I don’t necessarily want a ‘Minority Report’ experience where I’m walking down the street and getting marketed to by name because I passed by a sensor.”

• Digital Bridges: QR codes and other offline triggers often get a bad rap, but along with apps like Viggle and Shazam, they’re invaluable as “bridging” technologies that connect the online and offline worlds via users’ mobile devices. What’s more, they deliver highly qualified ‘clicks’ to marketers – the QR-scanning customer has gone out of her way to engage with you. Now how will you return the favor?

• Device Fingerprinting: Still in its infancy, “device fingerprinting” will allow targeting in a way similar to what a cookie does online. This and other standards will emerge to allow consumers to decide what data they want to share with marketers in exchange for a new level of convenience and relevance. Google and others are looking at new frontiers to integrate data across devices and make mobile even more useful to consumers and brands.

• Showrooming: Brick-and-mortar retailers are likely to suffer the most from the new phenomenon of “showrooming,” where people use their phones to comparison shop online while in retail stores. During the holidays, 52% of shoppers used their phones to conduct research in stores, after which many of them chose to make their purchases online. It’s easy to see how this could escalate into a headache for businesses. Marketers can fight back by building apps or working with companies such as Milo that use offers and recommendations to incentivize store visits and purchases.

• Real-Time Dialogue: Customers aren’t waiting until they get home to review your shop, restaurant, or salon anymore – with geo-enabled apps like Foursquare and Yelp at their fingertips, they don’t have to. Next time you’re in a restaurant, look around. That’s right, look up from your own smartphone and notice how many of your fellow diners are engaged with their phones – looking up a Groupon offer, letting friends know where they are, checking reviews on crowd-sourced – or even (gasp) traditional – media sites. Mobile consumers are social, and they are going with the crowd. Tap into the ratings, feedback, and check-in data your customers so readily provide to open a two-way dialogue. It’ll add up to better consumer engagement, and better business performance.

There’s no question that our transformation to a mobile society is already underway. Broader adoption and better integration of mobile technologies will permanently alter the ways we interact with our customers and with each other. Marketers who understand and embrace this change will remain relevant long into the future.

Are you sure you have considered context?

How often do you think about the context in which your media/advertising is received? If you are a media or strategic planner, probably a lot, but possibly not enough. I recently came across a TED talk by David Byrne. Not only did the talk reaffirm my estimation that David Byrne is a sacred alien, it got me to thinking about the increasingly challenging role that context plays in marketing and advertising in a post-PC world. I strongly suggest you take the next fifteen minutes and watch the video below. Then come back to this conversation with me and consider the following elements. I have a great many opinions on this topic, but I am really looking to spark feedback from a variety of practitioners.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Please join the conversation by giving some feedback on the following:

• You know that people use mobile devices "on the go" so you plan apps/mobile web for mobility. Have you ever considered a layout of the same app/site, on the same device, for different contexts (and I am not simply referring to leveraging landscape mode--I am talking real UI variations)?
  • For most of you, the answer is most likely "no" as this is not a common practice. Can you think of an instance when this might makes sense?
  • We know that people are using their smartphones in the bathroom. Perhaps a Lavatory Landscape Mode or a Toilet Time Mode. Of course, I am just joking...well...

• Tablets. No one really knows what the most common uses are yet (yeah yeah--I know YOU know), although some studies are beginning to tell us people are using them in bed at breakfast and in the boardroom--very different contexts. As a brand or publisher providing information and/or experience, do you deem it appropriate to group those contexts together (please don't try and combine those three contexts, trust me!)?
  • Tablet users are proving to be a news hungry, lucrative audience. Just because you sell soap, does that mean you cannot incorporate relevant content that can feed this context (I am not promoting it, I am simply posing the question)?

• Studies are showing us that people use different devices at different times of the day. Is it possible this contextual clue might be valuable in your planning?

These are merely thought starters. Now, go search for contextual clues relative to what you are working on. Bring them back and share your thoughts with you industry colleagues. I am excited to hear your thoughts.

Amidst a flock of ads full of hollow chest-beating, Motorola’s ad, starring its soon-to-be-released Xoom tablet, was a barbaric yawp over the rooftops of Apple fanboys across the land. As most readers must already know, it made sport of Apple’s iconic “1984” ad, which portrayed PC users as trapped in dystopian conformity. Motorola’s ad suggests that Apple has now created a dystopia of its own, with slavish iPad users glumly poring over their Flashless screens while those crappy white Apple headphones bleat in their ears.

Mere hours after the ad’s airing, the blogosphere is already brimming with posts decrying the absurdity of Motorola’s attempt to hoist Apple by its own petard. The decriers rightly point out that Motorola and Google are not exactly scrappy upstarts. And unlike the PC market in 1984, there’s nothing even remotely monopolistic about Apple being the first to market with a well-crafted piece of hardware that’s now facing a flood of as many as 40 competitors.

But these complaints, while perfectly sound on their own merits, are based on the belief that the content of the ad is of primary importance. It is not. The airing of the ad is the main thing, because it is the means by which Motorola asserts itself as the main rival to the tablet throne. Motorola could have aired a 60-second still shot of the Xoom and sent the same signal (albeit less enjoyably). The signal is: We spent Super Bowl money to advertise a tablet, so we’re pretty damn sure of ourselves. We are now the ones to beat.

And wouldn’t you know, I have a theory that explains all this – not my theory, but one developed by game theorist and Nobel Laureate economist Michael Spence in 1973. Spence’s theory of costly signaling was first used to demonstrate how acquiring an MBA degree sends a signal to employers that a candidate is qualified – not because of what they learn in the MBA program, but because a high-quality candidate is more likely to endure the financial, emotional, and time commitment costs than a low-quality candidate. Spence found that employers accepted the MBA signal as valid because they reasoned (unconsciously) that a high-ability candidate was more likely to consider advanced education to be worth the cost and risk.

Motorola is hoping that you’ll read the same costly signal in their Super Bowl ad, i.e., that a tablet that pays Super Bowl money to make the claim that it’s better than an iPad is, in fact, better than an iPad. In my previous work on game theory and marketing, I applied Spence’s theory to Super Bowl advertising by arguing that a Super Bowl ad serves as a legitimacy signal above all else; it tells us either that a brand believes it can win (see Chrysler’s comeback ads) or is going to keep on winning (see everything Coca-Cola and Budweiser have ever done). Making the ads entertaining is a way to gain buzz, which is secondary in importance, and to ensure that top creative directors can still afford prescription Ray-Bans, which is tertiary.

So as much as it pains me, I cannot claim that Motorola could have achieved the same costly signal by spending its estimated $3m investment online. Despite causing George Orwell to spin madly in his grave for the second time in less than three decades, Motorola made the right move, and the tablet gauntlet has been righteously thrown down on the eve of the Xoom’s launch. But in the interests of keeping the guild happy, I will stick to my stance that the Super Bowl investment doesn’t pencil out for most marketers, and that they should really check out this whole Internet thing. Lipton, I’m looking at you. Call me.