{"id":3413,"date":"2017-02-14T11:50:41","date_gmt":"2017-02-14T11:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pdsxchange.com\/?p=3413"},"modified":"2021-06-08T16:07:37","modified_gmt":"2021-06-08T16:07:37","slug":"build-innovative-digital-creative-mobile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.frost.com\/events\/innovation\/build-innovative-digital-creative-mobile\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do We Build Innovative Digital Creative for Mobile?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WalterBy Walter T. Geer III<\/b>\u00a0<\/i>
\nVice President, Creative Director<\/i>
\nVerve
\n

\nIf you want to understand the state of mobile creative, consider what the industry was like for desktop back in 1999. We barely had a handle on anything we were doing, there were no real standards and we were mostly just building stuff \u2014 making whatever publishers wanted. Now here we are, creative professionals in 2017, still building mobile creative along these same lines. And that\u2019s not a good thing.<\/p>\n

Think about it. We\u2019re developing overlays; we\u2019re hoping someone clicks on them so we can send users off to microsites or someplace else. We\u2019re constructing whole-screen takeovers. We\u2019re packing our hopes for capturing user attention into intrusive special effects and context-blind dazzle. In the end, it\u2019s all too much and it just doesn\u2019t hit the mark.<\/p>\n

The future of creative for mobile is not about slapping an ad over something else and treating the user\u2019s screen like a platform \u2014 or, worse, a launch pad \u2014 for whatever technology can achieve. The future is about creative design that partners with technology to augment user activities and draw consumers close. For marketing-tech innovators, the time is now to bring new focus and new ideas to our work. Early-generation mobile ads have earned early wins for our industry, but they won\u2019t do that job forever.<\/p>\n

In the sections that follow, let\u2019s look at what innovative creative can mean, in terms of data- and tech-driven design, and let\u2019s address the kinds of teams we should be forming around our work. It will take new approaches to mobile ads if we\u2019re going to reach the future we\u2019re talking about, and we\u2019ll only get there with technology on our side.<\/p>\n

Meaningful Moments: Context + User Experience + Design<\/b><\/p>\n

As almost anyone will tell you, data is key to mobile-marketing campaigns that succeed, ones that identify the how, where, and when of user behaviors. And while data is important, data\u2019s impact is not the entire story. Meaning, technology and marketing-technology tend to focus on just the back-end details. At the same time, the creative guys have often been focusing on just the front-end look.<\/p>\n

In these ways, both are losing out. Creative isn\u2019t getting enough deep behavioral and location-based insights. The tech side is missing chances to deliver next-generation ideas \u2026 and brands are paying a ton of money for all this, by the way.<\/p>\n

How do we avoid losing out? How do we build innovative creative for mobile? First, we return to the consumer\u2019s point of view. Let them use their fingers. Let them use their minds. Let them make choices.<\/p>\n

For example, we know mobile users turn to Google Maps and Apple Maps billions of times every week. And so, when bringing a map into creative, why default to a static format? If consumers expect to see a pulsating blue dot, one that shows them in data-driven real-time a location on a map relative to their position, then we need to create opportunities within that moment, with ads that enhance users\u2019 understanding of what\u2019s around them. If data tells us a business-consumer segment often visits a certain area after work hours, our new blue dot of the future can suggest where to go for a post-meeting meal or drink. Couple that with special offers and now you\u2019re talking meaningful creative. Creative that dovetails with ways our user already approaches the mobile interface.<\/p>\n

User engagement can happen in other ways, too. It can be as basic as addressing realities such as banner blindness, and then rethinking how we deploy even the most familiar units of display.<\/p>\n