A Q&A with Somo's Andrew French -- The Jay Sears Mobile Leader Series

Today we continue a series of QampampAs with mobile advertising leaders leading up to the Rubicon Project conference on Wednesday February 26 2014 from 9am to 1pm at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Spain The packed agenda includes two panels amp8220Ad Agencies Mobile and the Automation Opportunityamp8221 featuring leading mobile first agencies and amp8220Mobile First DSPs Why And Why Nowamp8221If you plan to be at Mobile World Congress and would like to attend the Wednesday conference please send an indication of your interest or contact searsrubiconprojectcomToday we continue our mobile leader series with Andrew French VP Client Services at Somo a mobilefirst agencyYour Name Andrew FrenchYour Company SomoYour Title VP Client ServicesWhat Flavor Ice Cream Best Describes Your Management StyleTutti Frutti SEARS In mobile today how much of each 100 spent on mobile media by one of your advertisers is spent on automated or programmatic channels FRENCH We directly spend 005 010 on programmatic Our partnersamp8217 most likely work with additional programmatic buying partners making our total effective between 010 and 020The appetite for programmatic is high there is a gap however between expectation of what is available on web vs reality of what is available on mobileSEARS For mobile what was this number in 2011FRENCH 0SEARS For mobile what will this number be in 2015FRENCH 025 035 SEARS App vs mobile web The app world is fueled by costperinstall advertising dollars from the most popular apps such as Kingcomamp8217s Candy Crush yes or no FRENCH Yes social gaming dominates inapp spend SEARS The mobile web world suffers from an inability to track users and is waiting for better targeting and more brand dollars to arrive in mobile yes or no FRENCH No You can be quite sophisticated with mobile web and certainly target the right sites and environments and audiences Brand dollars lag behind because of a lack of knowledge in the media holding groups that control the brand dollars SEARS It seems like many of the leading agency trading desks have been slow to embrace mobile After they solidified their work in display most trading desks focused on building their video capabilities What will be the catalysts for trading desks amp8211 and their operating agencies at the biggest holding companies amp8211 to place more focus on mobile FRENCH From my understanding most trading desks moved into video before mobile TV is just a channel for delivering video content TV budgets are typically the largest and as they come under pressure TV buyers are moving to protect them by investing in desktop video Same format bought against reach and frequency metrics SEARS With many mobilefirst agencies and mobilefirst tech platforms this period seems similar to when there were many independent search engine marketing and early digital agencies that were eventually purchased by the holding companies amp8211 do you agree FRENCH You typically go through a generalist specialist generalist agency trend Easy to go to your main generalist agency to get started on mobile As you learn more and want to do more it is likely you will speak to a specialist to deliver best inclass activity Then the market consolidates through acquisition and off we go againCatalysts are tough but the main ones for the above trend are1 Education of clients2 Tech to enable things to happen3 Mobile at the heart of the big idea SEARS Are the big carriers still relevant in mobile Everything now happens amp8220off deckamp8221 SMS and call revenue is declining yet carriers sit on a treasure trove of data What are the biggest threats and opportunities for carriers and which ones around the globe are the most progressive FRENCH The data is amazing but very biased as typically excludes WIFI Behavior and environment is very different on WIFI and so they only give half the pictureAs a pipe the carriers will always serve a purpose as a data provider they will have large value in the market Hard to see where they fit in the advertising landscape beyond this Wouldnamp8217t bet against them though huge resources and are more than aware of need for change SEARS The future of user ID and cross device targeting What do your advertisers use today for user targeting Which companies or types of companies are in the best position to facilitate user ID and cross device targeting FRENCH Our clients use a range of tracking providers such as AdX Has Offers or our own product Lithient Using a combination of device IDs device recognition cookies etc you can build up a rich profile of a user These tools will to some extent work cross device but not universallyThe solution for cross device is likely to come from a Google Facebook or maybe an independent like Ad Truth Companies such as Drawbridge and Tapad have a place to play but are skewed in their position by their network servicesSEARS What are the top three amp8220data pointsamp8221 either missing or of dubious quality in mobile mediaFRENCH1 real source of inapp advertising remove arbitrage2 user data who are we reaching3 post impression data what is the value of advertisingSEARS Tell us about SomoFRENCH We work with companies across the globe from the NFL DeBeers Audi Social Point New York Times and BP to solve a range of problems in their business This could be to acquire profitable users create luxury instore experiences produce an AR application or remarket to lapsed customers The most important thing is that we use the latest technology innovation and marketing techniques to deliver best inclass solutions to help business grow efficiently and profitablySEARS PLEASE TELL US amp183 Overall managed budget media spend automated media only for expected 2014 GLOBALo FRENCH Undisclosedamp183 Percentage increase managed budget media spend 2013 vs expected 2014 Global only o FRENCH 100 amp183 How many employees globallyo FRENCHamp167 Worldwide 180amp167 Europe 150amp167 The United States 25amp167 Asia 5SEARS What are Somoamp8217s three biggest initiatives for 2014FRENCH1 To dominate the mobile sector by delivering creative and innovative products and campaigns2 Continue to build world leading enterprise products for solving industry issues3 Global efficiency and processSEARS Apple vs GoogleiOS vs AndroidClosed vs Open amp8220The 1amp8221Apple vs the amp8220Middle Marketamp8221 Google How do you and your clients think about this dichotomy and how does it impact your advertisers And how do global markets with a preponderance of feature phones even fit into this mix FRENCH Advertise on the platforms where your customers are SEARS To drive adoption of direct deal automation programmatic premium and use of the programmatic channel what are the major impediments to overcome Rank these in numerical order FRENCH1 Operational or workforce issues inside the holding companies or operating agencies3 Premium direct deal inventory availability via programmatic2 Lack of proper ad technology4 Alignment of agency compensation modelsThese are my views on the industry issues As a specialist we have the people and workforce just need the industry to catch up and create momentumSEARS All of you work for global companies What global markets are the leaders and laggards in mobile programmaticFRENCH US are leaders in mobile lacking well behind is APACTell us a bit more about youSEARS If you could travel for pleasure anywhere in the world to a place you have never been where would you goFRENCH Whistler SEARS If you were trapped alone on a desert island and needed to choose one ad holding company CEO to accompany you other than your own holding company CEO which CEO would you pick and why FRENCH Is this a joke Canamp8217t I have Jennifer LawrenceSEARS When is the last time you went out for a three martini lunchFRENCH Never not a fan of the Martini Does a three Jaeger bomb count Last TuesdayThanks AndrewJay Sears is Senior Vice President Marketplace Development for the Rubicon Project Sears works with leadership and business unit heads across the company to expand Rubicon Projectamp8217s potential market Sears has also served as General Manager REVV Buyer where he was responsible for global relations with the buy side including ad holding companies ad agencies agency trading desks and demand side platforms headquartered in North America Jay can be reached at jsearsrubiconprojectcomCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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A Q&A with Somo's Andrew French -- The Jay Sears Mobile Leader Series

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