E-book readers
If you paid attention to your holiday shopping list, you would have noticed that e-book readers like Kindle made a huge push with consumers. But just because they're digital, interactive, and scalable doesn't mean they'll be platforms that advertisers can do much with, says Organic's emerging platforms strategist Dan Neumann, who lays out the good and the bad of e-book readers.
The good
"Together, the Kindle and the Nook have commanded a good deal of attention in 2009. In February, Amazon launched two updated versions of the Kindle and, more recently, Barnes & Noble brought a strong competitor to market, the Nook. Both platforms have cellular radios, which enable persistent broadband connectivity, and subsequently make both platforms good candidates for delivery of interactive media. It gets better when you consider the amount of time their users will spend with the devices. Sony and iRex will bring strong competitors to market in 2010. Expect to see major growth in the user-base of both the Nook and the Kindle through 2010, with the Kindle holding on to the lion's share of the market."
The bad
"The problem for marketers is that these platforms are closed end-to-end. Neither Amazon nor B&N have made public any plans to deliver display advertising despite a clear opportunity to subsidize content. Amazon holds patents for contextual advertising in e-book formats but has yet to act on them. Even if it does, the Kindle's user-base will still be too small to attract many large advertisers. Expect both parent companies to instead focus on subscriber growth and building their e-book libraries in 2010. Neither platform has made available a public SDK or set of APIs, so branded apps are out, too. The bottom line is that until there is a clear plan for display ads or third-party apps on one of the top-tier platforms, they will offer little value to attract brands and agencies."
Translation: If someone on your team is passionate about their reader, have them demo the product for everyone else. And be ready for a headline that reads, "Amazon to Sell Display on Kindle." That's when your creatives and programmers better know how to execute in that space ASAP.
Rich media for poor reasons
While a lot of emerging technologies are not quite ready for primetime because they're in their infancy, others are well understood but poorly used. That's quickly becoming the case with rich media, says Allen Kung, CTO and founding member of Createthe Group.
"Brands are more and more employing rich media just for the sake of having these dynamic ads," Kung explains. "Oftentimes, there is no real value, and the ads can just be more of an annoyance than call-to-click, such as the proliferation of expanding ads on big-box publishers. Rich media works great when the ad campaign is created with them in mind. However, simply adding rich media to an ad campaign for the sake of having it is ineffectual."
Takeaway: Just because you've got a shiny, new toy doesn't mean you have to use it all the time.
Mobile
You hear it every year: This is the year mobile finally takes off.
Well, it is taking off, but it's doing so in stages, says Nicola Smith, supervisor of emerging trends at Moxie Interactive.
While advertisers should be excited about a great deal of what mobile has to offer, there are still areas that won't pay off anytime soon. According to Smith, coupons and 2D codes (also known as QR codes) are areas that still need improvement.
"2D codes and mobile coupons are two areas of mobile that still have an uphill climb in regard to user adoption," Smith says. "And in the case of mobile coupons, the redemption technology is not yet prevalent enough for broad implementation."
Takeaway: When planning your mobile campaign, don't ignore the vast segments of the market that aren't pushing the envelope.
Michael Estrin is a freelance writer.
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