Category Archives: Mobile

How TV Ads Can Be Optimized for the New Consumer: Part 2

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In Part I of this 2-part article, I committed to analyze and critique real-life TV ads to see how they do at engaging me (and my many devices) while I watch TV in my living room. I did this exercise while watching NBC’s The Voice program during “blind auditions.” Yes, I’m addicted to this show, and yes it’s a guilty pleasure. Don’t judge!

I was analyzing these ads in a few different ways:

  • Frequency – Is the advertiser spending tons of money on a single campaign?
  • Call to action – Does a digital call to action exist? Is it explicit or implicit? Is it intuitive? Is it an engagement or a commerce CTA? (See Part I)
  • Landing page – How does the experience look and feel on my device of choice? Does it meet my expectations? Is it fast?
  • Multi-channel + Multi-device – Is the transition from channel to channel, and device to device, feel smooth and elegant (or disjointed and awkward)?

After reviewing my list of ads and evaluating some scenarios, I chose 3 ad campaigns as good examples that were either doing things well, doing things poorly, or both. Continue reading →

How TV Ads Can Be Optimized for the New Consumer: Part 1

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changing role of television in a multi-screen world

Image courtesy of the study "The New Multi-screen World," created by Google, Ipsos, and Sterling Brands

I recently read an interesting study, commissioned by Google, entitled “The New Multi-screen World: Understanding Cross-platform Consumer Behavior” [PDF here]. The research topic was broad, and several interesting theses were put forward by the researchers.

A few quick points of background on the study for those who haven’t/won’t read it:

  • 1,611 participants in 3 major US cities
  • 7,955 hours of digital activities logged
  • Text diaries, in-home interviews, and surveys were employed
  • Google partnered with Sterling Brands and Ipsos on the study

There were a few points in particular that resonated with me and inspired this post. So, as I go forward with my ideas, keep in mind that I’m not going to cover or summarize the entire study’s contents.

The first is that living rooms in the United States are essentially “multi-screen” now, meaning that it’s not just a TV anymore. It’s a TV, a smartphone, and quite often a laptop or tablet on the coffee table. This has advantages and disadvantages for those who’re trying to make profits off of television, but I believe that the living room is an exciting new playground for multichannel marketers. Continue reading →

Site Optimization for Mobile: Defer the Big Project

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phone image "We need a mobile redesign for our site."I’ve heard similar comments from several marketers lately that concern me a bit, so I wanted to post a bit of a warning, and of course provide some alternative thoughts.

The gist of the comments was that these marketers knew that their sites weren’t yet optimized for mobile, and that they viewed that fact as a problem that could only be solved via a major project aimed at optimizing the entire site for mobile devices. Continue reading →