Content demand pushes mobile marketers to innovate
As more mobile consumers across Asia Pacific embrace practices like multi-screening and video watching, marketers expect an eventual shift away from display advertising towards innovative content. Annual research conducted by Warc in association with the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) – State of the Industry: Mobile Marketing in Asia survey – found that while 70 per cent of marketers currently use display advertising, only 44 per cent plan to use it in five years’ time. Content, in contrast, is set to speed ahead during this period and take the pole position, with adoption rising from 33 per cent today to 49 per cent expected in 2020.
This corresponds with the marketers’ perception of video’s rising significance in mobile platforms. The study found that watching video was now considered by 51 per cent of respondents as an important mobile consumer behaviour, up 15 percentage points compared to 2014 and 23 percentage points from 2013. Multi-screening, meanwhile, continues to be seen as the most significant consumer trend for the second year running, with 68% indicating its importance.
Rising consumer expectations present emerging challenges
Given mobile consumers’ increasing sophistication, more marketers now see content and consumer concerns over privacy as critical challenges, at 31 per cent and 33 per cent respectively – about the same proportion as those who are concerned about budgets (32 per cent) and reliable metrics for measuring success (33 per cent). The latter two concerns were ranked higher than the former in previous years, with budgets being the chief concern in 2013.
“Confidence in the channel’s importance continues to rise and the investments speak for themselves. The ongoing challenge now is that today’s consumers expect much more of their mobile content and experience. So in order to keep up, marketers need to hone their skills further and innovate strategically,” said Edward Pank, Managing Director at Warc APAC.
While more attention is being paid to consumer-focused issues, the biggest barrier to the growth of mobile marketing in APAC remains the skills gap and lack of understanding within the industry, as identified by 40 per cent of the respondents. Although this proportion is slightly lower than last year (45 per cent), the consistency indicates a sustained struggle to deploy the appropriate advanced capabilities to engage consumers through mobile in such a fast-moving landscape. This is despite the fact that the number of marketers assigning over 10 per cent of their budgets to mobile has risen from one in five (20 per cent) in 2013 to one in three (34 per cent) now.
Conducted between March and May 2015, the study involved 287 respondents from 17 countries in the APAC region. This is the third iteration of research designed to gauge the attitudes of client-side advertisers and marketing services agencies towards mobile marketing.
In the study, Singapore was named the most innovative market in mobile, with 41 per cent of respondents highlighting it as such. The 2015 study’s findings were released at the 2015 MMA Forum in Singapore, taking place at the Grand Hyatt on November 20, 2015.
“The increasing focus on the consumers and what they want – which is compelling, refreshing content on the go – is important because mobile’s distinct advantage lies in its immediacy and proximity to the consumers. It puts power in the consumers’ hand wherever they go, giving them the choice to be social, to share, capture, augment, and purchase – all at the touch of a button. The findings from this third study with Warc signal that brands and marketers must continue riding on the momentum of mobile by sustaining an integrated approach and challenging creative boundaries,” said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, MMA APAC.
The previous iterations of the survey showed that despite rising awareness of the power and potential of mobile, brands and marketers had been grappling with rapid technological changes, budget considerations, and measurement of outcomes, struggling to develop cohesive mobile strategies. While these challenges remain to varying extent, the latest study indicates that more attention is being paid to consumer-focused innovation.
Among the study’s other findings:
Mobile wallet and location-based marketing set to play key role going forward
#1. While only two in five (40 per cent) plan to use mobile wallet technology this year, this adoption rate is expected to rise strongly to 64 per cent in 2020.
#2. Location-based marketing is shown to be well entrenched in mobile marketing strategy in the region, with a significant majority of marketers (84 per cent) planning to use the technology this year and 85 per cent in 2020.
Programmatic buying of ads is gathering pace
#1. Programmatic adoption appears to be improving: 79 per cent of respondents have some familiarity with the buying mechanism, a sharp increase from 48 per cent last year
#2. The importance of real-time buying is also well-recognised, with 62 per cent expecting it to be ‘very’ important to their marketing strategy in 2020
More attention is being given to mobile strategy
#1. Half of brand owners (54 per cent) state that they do have a formal mobile strategy, up from 44 per cent last year
#2. Just under a quarter (24 per cent) of the agencies surveyed said that the majority of their clients had a formal mobile marketing strategy this year, up from 20 per cent in 2014
Mobile is well integrated with other marketing initiatives
#1. Overall, 88 per cent of mobile marketing strategies in Asia-Pacific are connected to wider marketing activities. 40 per cent of respondents use mobile to measure interest and/or engagement in ad campaigns across other media
#2. 84 per cent of respondents currently find social media to be a good complement to mobile marketing, with online search following closely at 60 per cent, a 12 percentage points increase from 2014. Traditional media – print, outdoor, radio – seem to have lost out as a result
The top mobile innovators
#1. Travel, Transport and Tourism was recognised as the most innovative product category for mobile marketing in Asia-Pacific for the second year running
#2. Unilever, recognised for its scale across the region, is also regarded as the most innovative brand in APAC, a risk taker in the mobile world. Samsung, which had been at the top in 2013 and 2014, came fourth this year, lagging behind Apple. Coca-Cola, meanwhile, took the second position, with favourable comments on its engaging mobile content.
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