AdWeek Europe: Quality Content Vital On Mobile

Participants of “Mobile Innovation: Do or Die” session talked about millenials’ expectations of high quality, new platforms, and readiness for the next wave of disruption.

Marketers looking to get the best out of mobile should be concentrating on quality content, and on integrating with other platforms, but they should also be aware of the next wave of disruption that will build on the mobile revolution.

So said the panellists taking part in the “Mobile Innovation: Do or Die” session on the first day of Advertising Week Europe in London. Asked by moderator Sarah Mansfield, VP Global Media Europe and Americas, Unilever, for his advice, Philip O’Ferrall, senior vice-president of Viacom International Media Networks, emphasised the need for quality.

“If you’re a brand that’s making high-quality content, don’t move away from that,” he said. “Treat content with the respect it deserves. Millennials expect high quality, and you also have to remember that just because you’re making it for a phone, that’s not necessarily its final destination. It might equally be shown on a TV screen.”

Mansfield quizzed Norm Johnston, global chief strategy and digital officer at media agency Mindshare, about whether the rise of mobile video meant the 30-second ad would be replaced by 10-second ads. Johnston’s reply was that the world “isn’t that binary.”

“You need to see the nuances across the different platforms,” he said. “Content should be polymorphic; it should fit the platform, and that creates huge opportunities for storytelling.”

O’Ferrall agreed that TV was continually evolving as part of a larger video ecosystem.

“New platforms bring new opportunities,” he said. “Content is resonating with huge audiences across different platforms. It’s a very exciting time, but you have to understand all the platforms. And we need to understand the value chain, because we need to pay all the content creators.”

Johnston also warned marketers to beware of the next wave of disruption, which he said would build on mobile.

“A much bigger wave is about to break, based on wearables and the Internet of Things. Mobile will be fundamental to that, and so you need to be prepared.”