Only six seats remaining

Secure your place at the Digiday Media Buying Summit in Nashville, March 2-4

REGISTER

Why Mobile’s Often Not About Mobility

This week the advertising world takes over Manhattan for Advertising Week. Digiday editors are moderating several sessions during the week. We will also cover the highlights, lowlights and key personalities. Our coverage is made possible by Specific Media.

Mobile is a huge question mark for brands, publishers and agencies.

New research from AOL and BBDO challenges conventional wisdom that mobile is all about utility-on-the-go. After all, 68 percent of people use their smartphone at home. The study, conducted by research firm InsightsNow, found that nearly half of smartphone use is for “me time,” ie, vegging on the couch. Additionally, 70 percent of this behavior is during lean-back experiences, like watching television.

“That gave us a big breakthrough,” said Simon Bond, CMO at BBDO. “Mobile is not always mobile.”

According to the study, advertisers and brand experiences don’t perform very well in that me time. Very often, brands brief agencies about geolocation or building utility as their mobile play. Instead of this approach the study implies conversation should shift away from spending money on  the mobile aspect of mobile.

“We have to retrain ourselves as advertisers, marketers and publishers that mobile is not mobile-on-the-go,” said Christian Kugel, vp of consumer analytics and research at AOL. “So much happens at home, and that has a real fundamental implication in reforming the industry.”

Image via Shutterstock

More in Marketing

In Graphic Detail: The state of the marketing agency sector

Revenue figures from Omnicom, Publicis and Havas, and new employment stats, offer a snapshot on a quickly evolving industry.

Illustration of a performer balancing money weights on a tightrope, symbolizing how brand safety tools help marketers maintain performance and control.

Future of Marketing Briefing: The mental gymnastics of principal media

Welcome to the psychological CrossFit class of modern marketing. Here’s how marketers are learning to move through it.