Challenging the definition of mobile...

I'd like to challenge the very term of mobile as being superfluous. When we talk about mobile, we inherently think about a specific point in time when we are 'away'. A point between A and B. Whether it be literally in the form of our commute or business travel, or on a more figurative journey - exploring the best solutions for our rapidly evolving business.

Some of us think of mobile as determined by the device we are using. Aren't they all built for mobile, and don't we use them all in that way? When are we not mobile...in our offices, our homes...? Even so, I use smaller, mobile devices just as much in these 'permanent' locations as I would 'on the road'.

And so I argue that we are now always mobile - either as an evolving mobile workforce or on a journey towards a better evolution of our business.

Now more than ever, the journey is the destination and our success lies in the permanence of being mobile.

Adoption vs. Invention

With digital being all about the law of attraction, we strive to create programs with rich media content that will attract our client's target. What has a better chance of success? Adoption; whereby we 'adopt' a trend or relationship that is already authentically connecting with both the target audience and closely aligned with the client beliefs, or Invention; whereby we invent, from scratch, an initiative, movement or trend in the hopes that what we think is brilliant will be just as well embraced by the consumer.

My vote is for adoption. We cannot be so naive as to think that we will have any better success at creating a winning concept over the entertaiment industry who have been fine tuning the process for years with limited success. True cultural hits are few and far between. We too are creative, but the risks of success are high and unlike the entertainment industry, our clients expect return every time.

I am not saying the days of creativity for us are over. What I am saying is that there is an abundance of cultural content waiting to be supported and the right partnership, can be a win for everyone.

New Year's Revolution...

UK advertisers are set to spend more online by 2009 leaving TV trailing in overall media spend - This forecast was made by Group M, a subsidiary of WPP. Sweden is expected to experience that phenomenon THIS year. UK internet advertising revenues are expected to swell by more than 30% to £3.4bn this year. TV advertising, on the other hand, is expected to grow by less than 1% to £3.56bn in 2008. And by 2009, after Sweden, the UK is likely to become the world's first major economy to witness the ascent of the internet past one of its biggest rival mediums in the advertising arena.

When it comes to local markets, pure play internet companies for the first time will control a larger share of the local online ad market than national newspaper sites. This according to a Borrell Associates report cited in the Wall Street Journal. Internet firms had 43.7% of the $8.5 billion local online ad market in 2007, compared to 33.4% for newspaper companies.

This all qualifies my point of the past two years in this blog; that changes are happening faster than we think. It is nice to finally see the larger holding companies recognize the fact - an acknowledgment which is sure to contribute to Moore's law and continue to escalate the pace of change.

And don't think that the UK & Sweden will not hold up to a US comparison. Granted, their viewing populations are smaller, as is their media inventory. But the digital media convergence, now global, effects us all and successful transformation no longer needs a passport.

Another point to all of this is our focus on Digital Media as an important component of the marketing mix. Digital Media is NOT a component, and in the near future we will not need to make this distinction. Why?...because it will ALL be Digital Media, so lets stop talking about it as if it where an alternative media strategy.

2008 will prove to be a faster ride than 2007, so strap on your seat belts.