Everyone this side of Mary Meeker is declaring mobile as the Next Big Thing. For brands, however, the shift from the desktop era to the mobile world brings a host of difficulties.
Digiday asked brand attendees at the Digiday Brand Summit in Deer Valley, Utah, what their biggest challenges in mobile are.
Tammy Gordon, director, social communications and strategy, AARP
My biggest challenge in mobile is teaching business units that building responsive Web that works on any device is more effective and cheaper than building device-specific, downloadable apps. Everyone wants an app… *eye roll*
Liz Philips, social media manager, global marketing, TaylorMade
From a social perspective, we see mobile as a big opportunity. People want to connect with our brand in real time via social networks from their mobile devices. They want to talk with us while they are watching golf events and while they are on the course. The challenge is providing consumer mobile-friendly branded experiences and mobile-friendly content as well and meeting the expectations of always-on channels.
Jim Cuene, director, interactive marketing, General Mills
For our brands, the challenge is prioritizing mobile over other well-understood, well-measured results drivers. For the organization, the challenge is learning about mobile — what works, what doesn’t and how to do it well.
Orion Brown, senior associate brand manager, Capri Sun
Our biggest challenge is finding a compelling reason to get into mobile. Our business is highly driven by consumer incentive programs and pricing. Unfortunately, while mobile is highly developed in the advertising space, not much has happened on the digital in-store front. What little is out there for mobile couponing, consumer targeting (e.g., Catalina), etc., is either in beta or is not a scalable platform for national reach.
Montana Triplett, director of digital, Hennessy
[Our biggest challenge in mobile] is getting the type of budgets to meet goals we have set for the brand in mobile.
Karen Snell, digital content lead, Cisco Systems
For mobile, our biggest challenge is making sure the user can navigate to the information they want to access easily. We have a lot of solid, relevant content — from original articles and videos to press releases and corporate facts. Providing an easy, simple mobile experience so users can find what they want is something we are constantly working to improve.
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