The CEO of the company behind KFC and Motorola's mobile advertising gives his perspective on the state of the industry and where it's headed.
As more and more reports come out touting the promise of mobile marketing, I caught up with Derek Handley, CEO and co-founder of The Hyperfactory, to get his take on best practices and the state of the industry. Handley is well versed in mobile marketing, having launched The Hyperfactory, an international ad agency that creates mobile campaigns for Fortune 500 clients, eight years ago.
Emma Brownell: There are many different approaches to mobile marketing, from the more complex interactive campaigns -- incorporating QR code-enabled magazine ads or electronic billboards that respond to a user's mobile phone -- to straight SMS marketing. Are certain brands and/or products better suited to one form of marketing over another?
Derek Handley: While it would be easy to box certain brands and/or sectors to certain solution types -- and there are many examples of great campaigns to support that thinking -- the key to successfully incorporating an interactive mobile element into an overall campaign is understanding the client's objectives from the start. Then you can formulate a comprehensive mobile plan of attack that might result in incorporating a single simple (or complex) element or multiple supportive elements.
In 2000, Derek Handley founded mobile marketing and media company The Hyperfactory with his brother Geoffrey Handley. Derek is responsible for The Hyperfactory's global strategic growth and direction.
From past experience some of our most successful client work has been either amazingly simple (e.g., our award-winning KFC campaign was a simple SMS consumer-activated coupon in response to a print ad and generated a 42 percent redemption rate) to a big "wow" (such as our multiple award-winning "Say Goodbye" campaign for Motorola, which featured interactive digital billboards with consumer-generated video and MMS/SMS content, as well as exclusive personalized celebrity video content downloads.)
The key is knowing that the mobile strategy will incorporate many different elements of mobile interactivity at different times to serve different purposes.
Different markets will, however, have clear nuances that will show preference for one particular mobile element over another. For example, QR Codes in Japan have become mainstream and are now a natural part of life. A recent MMA Attitudes & Usage Survey for APAC showed a very low level of "specific awareness" of mobile marketing activity in Japan -- which demonstrates how mobile is such a generic aspect of daily life in Japan that it is not viewed as blatant marketing.
Brownell: What does a client need to bring to the table to make the relationship and the resulting mobile campaign work?
Handley: All the partners involved in the overall communications process -- the marketing communications team, agency, media, creative, digital, etc. -- should be open and involved from the outset. The Hyperfactory's very best work has been a result of this -- where planning for mobile has been in the mindset from the beginning, not as a separate silo but together.
Clients should also bring a willingness to test, trial and take calculated risks, and to learn from past / current activity. They should have a desire to incorporate mobile not just for the sake of it, but rather with clear and measurable KPIs / outputs -- whether they are sales promotional related, or brand / equity, new product trial, loyalty / CRM measurements.
Teamwork is key. Much of our best, albeit more complex and strategic client work, has involved not only mental collaboration with other stakeholders but also process and technical integration.
Brownell: Are the campaigns The Hyperfactory launches in Asia and Europe more advanced than those in the United States -- do you see a different level in willingness to experiment in the U.S. than you do abroad?
Handley: We have the great advantage of having visibility and involvement across many markets and our experience, knowledge and passion is definitely shared globally, even taking into account technological and cultural differences. Each market is at its own stage in the technical lifecycle and we need to work within the boundaries of what is there -- but also with the foresight and innovation from what we know will come based on our global view.
For example, the United States has led the way with mobile media recently. For many years, however, markets in Europe and Asia Pacific were doing innovative and sometimes complex work using SMS, which was just not happening in the U.S. at the time.
If you take China as an example, there is no 3G in China at the moment, but there is an active and hungry mobile internet population of more than 60 million people a day, with hundreds of mobile destinations serving great content and great branded campaigns. So while they are mature in one sense, they face technological constraints that we wouldn't face here in the U.S.
Brownell: What is ahead for mobile marketing; how will the landscape change by the end of the year, and how will it change over the next five years?
Handley: More fantastic growth in every sense! We'll see more consumers engaging on their mobile devices, snacking on content, interacting with friends, brands and other devices. Clients are now clearly seeing returns from trials and pilots. Two years ago the innovators were innovating and experimenting, last year there were trials and bigger trials. Now, we're continuing to demonstrate the returns to the clients and also excite the agencies as to how mobile is a fantastic part of the overall mix.
We'll continue to see more measurement case studies and many more success stories, which will encourage clients to make mobile a regular component in their media mix.
Mobile media as a discipline in every market will continue to grow and really start to come into its own. We have the benefits of being able to take much of what we've learned from the online media space -- and while there are as many differences -- we can at least compare and not make the same mistakes twice!
As for the concept of the "third screen," it will soon become apparent that for many people in markets such as China, India, Africa, etc., the mobile internet is their FIRST screen -- and will be for many people, their first foray onto the internet, and first gateway to engage with consumers, brands and the world at large in such an interactive and personal manner.
Brownell: Is there a technology or innovation that you think will be a game-changer?
Handley: I don't believe there's any one technology or innovation that will completely change the game in mobile. I think more market uptake, more positive experiences from brands and more consumers becoming familiar with the mobile web will take mobile advertising to the next level.
Brownell: Do you think mobile marketing has the most impact when it's part of a larger integrated campaign? If so, do you see this changing in the months/years ahead?
Handley: Mobile has always been extremely effective when complementing other elements of a campaign from print to online, etc. But now, more than ever before, mobile is demonstrating its effectiveness as a stand-alone vehicle as well. Looking ahead, as more and more people make their way to the mobile web and become accustomed to digesting mobile content, the power of the medium will continue to grow and become increasingly clear.
Emma Brownell is managing editor at iMedia Connection.