Why Mobile’s Often Not About Mobility

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.”

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