Mobile Fix — October 27
(What’s this? Learn about my new adventure here)
Apple
As the anticipation for the iPhone X builds, some think the 8 has sold badly. I saw a stat somewhere that over 80% of prospective iPhone buyers in China were waiting for the X rather than buy the 8. Give the higher price point that’s not a bad results for Apple, but there are questions over whether they can make enough to satisfy demand. Apple have been quick to deny stories they are compromising their face recognition to speed output of the phone.
One huge advantage for Apple is that a large proportion of their sales go through their own stores — online and their 497 physical stores.
The Apple exec in charge of retail is ex Burberry boss is Angela Ahrendts and she is looking to evolve how they do retail. The word store is no longer used and in this good piece she talks instead of Town Squares, as they are gathering places for the 500 million people who visit them each year.
This look at the latest store — or first Town Square — in Chicago shows some of new approach.
Retail
The connection between online and offline in retails is one of the most interesting opportunities for many brands these days and we are focusing here more and more. From what the best customer journey looks like through to driving store traffic getting digital right is crucial.
As ever there is lots to learn from China and this piece on New Retail is fascinating. So too is how brands are developing Private Label to better compete online. And to better understand the pace and momentum of good online marketing read this long piece on the Mattress Wars. Few markets are quiet as competitive as that space, but getting the right blend of tactics is important for any brand selling online.
The other end of the ecommerce world is the democratisation where anyone can open an online shop. The marketplaces that facilitate this are interesting and this piece looks at how some of them work. And this observer piece looks at how Depop and Drops have put a generation to work as entrepreneurial shopkeepers.
GAFA & Content
Apple keep hiring smart Brits. They lured Angela Ahrendts from Burberry and now they have hired Jay Hunt formerly of Chanel 4 to bolster their content plans.
BusinessWeek gets into how Apple are approaching content and it seems they plan to be a little more conservative than some of their rivals.
And even LinkedIn are considering investing in video content.
Music is the other big focus and Google are positioning YouTube well — taking advantage of the huge depth of music content already on the platform from fan uploads. Blending YouTube Red with Google Play Music. As Soundcloud seems in some jeopardy music creators are moving their content and Google seems in a good position to benefit.
Mobile First
With most brands now having a mobile presence term Mobile First seems somewhat dated. But we think some people still underestimate the size and impact of mobile on peoples behavior.
Reading the Activate deck we shared last week underlines the changes across so much of business. But they made the good point that over one quarter of the Top 100 apps were new ones, so the App Economy is as strong as ever. New app store research shows the app market is buoyant.
This piece talks of a Second Mobile Wave as business take advantage of the switch to mobile — and seek to service the Super Users the Activate deck calls out. Huge potential.
But so many people still get it wrong. A good L2 study shows the many missteps smart brands still make. This chart sums it up — the vast majority of mobile sites don’t actually take advantage of the device capabilities.
Less than half have a credit card scanner, making people type in their 16 digit card number with their fat fingers. Less than a third use touch ID and the typical mobile check out is 3 pages long. Only 16% integrate mobile wallets yet we keep seeing huge jumps in conversion when Apple Pay (and Android Pay) are offered.
As one of our Google friends has been saying for a while. It’s still not too late to be early on mobile. Get your customer journey right on mobile and it’s likely to give you a competitive advantage as its likely your competitors are pretty poor at this stuff.
Measurement
Digital hasn’t got that good a rep when it comes to measurement.
People can be quick to jump on errors, like the Twitter miscalculation announced this week — but if I use Tweetdeck am I not still an active users of Twitter?
But back in the old media world, cracks are appearing. Someone I follow on Twitter was invited to join a Nielsen panel — and was sent the forms to be filled in — no online and no calls
And the other Sunday afternoon, as I perfected my Porchetta and three vegetables the door bell rang. I quickly told the guy at the door with a handful of forms we don’t sign up to anythjng at the door he protested; I am not selling anything, I am from Ipsos Mori and want to ask about your radio listening..
So today as the BBC get a kicking for poor listening figures I could have been one of those noting down religiously which stations I was listening to from when to when. But my Sunday Lunch came first.
This has to change — paying for radio ads based on a paper diary is medieval. And a people meter in a few thousand homes doesn’t seem the best way to trade TV.
Google have a good video of an hours TV viewing in a minute, where one of the viewers never take their eyes off their phone and another goes from one screen to the other. Sky have recognised that real time viewing isn’t the only answer and are now talking about the total audience for a show as a 7 day cumulative audience — everyone who watched the show — including repeats and those watching on Now.
What the industry needs is one way to measure watching video across all devices and it seems likely the phone has a role to play here. After all it’s there when most stuff is watched.
Quick Reads
The Duopoly are lobbying for self regulation of ads as they seek to avoid the Honest Ads policy designed (essentially) to avoid Russian political ads
The Monday Note thinking on a quality score for news articles is really interesting
Facebook is lending cash to ecommerce advertisers; their finance partner recovers the money lent — and their fee — from the advertisers payment processor when the ads have worked.
Facebook Messenger still looking for an Ad model
Criteo are using everyone fear of Amazon to try and create a data pool for retailers and brands
Amazon are leveraging a home automation lock to enable their delivery people to enter your house with your deliveries -when you are out
Apps are huge everywhere -look at this data on retail in India
The crack down on influencers gathers pace as Geordie Shore’s Marnie Simpson falls foul of first ASA Snapchat warning
Finally — the link last week for Gary Vaynerchuck on why every brand should act like a media brand was broken — here it is again
The Media Kitchen — What’s Cooking
More new business conversations this week. Meeting with a Global brand who want to hear our proposition. And a scale up who needs help with growth. And we helped our US colleagues with some Comms Planning for a Retailer pitch. And our work with AdTech firms like Photospire, Mporium and Eagle Eye continues — hit us up if you would like to meet them
A long weekend in Venice for Half term reminded me of the power of Art in telling stories. Whether that is the stunning Damian Hirst exhibition or the wonderful churches you stumble across with amazing architecture and the odd Tintoretto.
We are building the team. Our colleagues in New York give great support and drawing upon their expertise and experience is a real advantage. But I want to hire great people here in London — particularly Media Agency people at all levels. If you are really good at this stuff and want a better stage for your talent, come and talk
Combining the talent, skills and experience of addictive, The Media Kitchen and KBS Albion give us a formidable set of capabilities — across Strategy, Product and Proposition development, Creative and Media. What could we cook up with you? Lets have a chat
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