Hyperlocal Mobile Apps More Effective in Drawing Consumers Than Mobile Ads

By Victoria Clark, cofounder and chief creative, timeRAZOR -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/20/2012 9:21:04 AM

I admit it's hard not to be tempted. Low CPCs (cost per clicks), high CTRs (click-through rates), the promise of vast audiences and unprecedented engagement. You read the headlines proclaiming that adoption, engagement and revenue from mobile ads is on the rise.

You want to believe it; buy into the hype. It sounds so appealing, right? Then you ask yourself, "Is this too good to be true?"

That's when you realize that mobile ads suck. I know, Steve Jobs said it first in 2010, but I'm saying it again now.

If you're a marketer, like me, this is a real problem. Still, we can't ignore that our audience is mobile and increasing their dependence on their mobile devices every day. And yet, we can't reach them. That is, unless we want to continuously piss them off with endless disruptions.

I think we'd all agree, from a strategic perspective, that is just a recipe for disaster.

Let's take a step back and revisit the business objectives:

• Connect with your audience in a meaningful way

• Engage and empower audience to act when time is right for them

Ultimately, you don't want to turn them off -- 79% of mobile users in a YouGov research survey said ads on their mobile devices are irritating -- or have them just ignore your ads, which 88% of those surveyed said they do with mobile ads.

So why does it seem like companies are trying to give us marketers a faster horse to solve this problem when we need a car?

Even if it were created by one of the most talented agencies in the world, do they really think it will be less disruptive if the message is wrapped in rich media or video?

Sure it would be entertaining, creative and beautiful, but at the end of the day, isn't it really just a faster horse?

What if the future of mobile marketing is really offline? What if mobile is really meant to better connect us to the offline world? Amplify the world around us? Provide us solutions to problems when and where we need them?

One path we are exploring at timeRAZOR, with the help of some national brand partners, is connecting people and brands when they are at the moment of decision. Whether it's empowering people to discover our partners' experiential events or curate local happenings handpicked by our partners -- we're seeing there are meaningful ways for people and brands to engage on mobile.

One of our partners, Vichy, a division of L'Oreal USA, experienced this meaningful engagement firsthand. They know that when it comes to beauty products, "try before you buy" is essential.

To do this, they created in-store beauty days in an effort to get in front of consumers. When it came to driving awareness and attendance for the event, Vichy turned to timeRAZOR. With timeRAZOR, they were able to hyperlocally target consumers at the moment of decision, resulting in a 150% increase in attendance for the event and a 70% increase in revenue.

Consumers told us without timeRAZOR they never would have known about the in-store beauty days and were excited to engage with the brand. We've seen similar results in other verticals too, including music, sports, retail and entertainment.

We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg and are excited to continue to pioneer this space with brands committed to improving how they engage with their mobile audience.

Even though mobile ads suck now, maybe they won't have to in the very near future and marketers can finally get their car and not a faster horse.