Competitrack Introduces Mobile Ad Monitoring

As smartphones and tablets continue to play an increasingly central role in consumers lives, its little surprise that advertisers have sought out opportunities to weave themselves into the mobile experience by advertising on mobile websites and apps. For now, the mobile advertising landscape is in an early stage of development, but advertisers are enthusiastically experimenting with the best ways to approach this emerging medium. In March 2012, Competitrack added mobile advertising to our monitoring services, and we have since captured nearly 20,000 ads from Apples iOS and Googles Android phones and tablets. Looking at mobile advertisements that ran during the second half of 2012 through the first quarter of 2013, we have produced this report to address who is investing in mobile ads, where they are running mobile ads, and what ads they are running. Our key findings include:

Interest in mobile advertising is soaring.

94 of the top 100 U.S. advertisers have run mobile ads in the last 9 months. Interest is also high among medium and smaller brands, as 64% of the top 1,000 brands have used mobile to advertise during this period.

The top 10 mobile advertisers

(in terms of number of unique creatives running) were Amazon, Toyota, Google, Verizon, AT&T, Microsoft, Bank of America, Home Depot, Progressive Insurance, and Target.

Top categories of advertisers

using mobile advertising include retail, entertainment & media, technology, travel & tourism, and automotive advertisers.

Mobile ads are unique.

Advertisers have been driven to create unique content for their mobile ads. Of the nearly 20,000 mobile creatives in our archives, 85% were created specifically for mobile devices rather than being repurposed from other media.

Competitrack is a full service advertising tracking firm that provides U.S. and international creative tracking across 22 online and offline media types.

Our clients can access static, animated, or video adsas well as landing pagesfor the advertisements we have captured from 100 leading apps and 40 leading mobile websites. This report focuses on the quantity of mobile ads run by each advertiser, not the advertisers spend in the medium. Written and Researched by Brian Asner
Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/asner.

Designed by Tulula Deville

Connect on Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/tululadeville/

The Who
Although it is a relatively new medium, interest in mobile advertising is soaring. Thousands of top tier advertisersdrawn from a diverse range of industriesare now investing in the medium. Of the top 100 advertisers across all media, we found that 94 of these advertisers ran mobile ads in the previous 9 months. Adoption is also high among medium and smaller advertisers, as 64% of the top 1,000 brands used mobile advertisements during the same period.

Top 15

206* 198 166 126 107 106 93 92 90 90 85 78 76 75 74

206 198

Advertisers During the Period

126

(based on the number of unique creatives monitored) 166

In the last 9 months, we have compiled mobile ads from more than 107 2,100 leading national and regional advertisers. During this period, Amazon was the most 106 active mobile advertiser, running over 200 mobile creative executions. Toyota 93 followed close behind with just under 200 ads, while Google ran over 160 creatives 92 during the period. To give these numbers 90 some context, its helpful to assess how these top three advertisers used online90 display ads during the same period. We captured 955 display 85 this time, and ads from Amazon during Toyota and Google each also ran about 20% as many mobile 78 ads as online display ads. Considering that online display ads have been an established medium for well 76 over a decade, this seems to suggest that advertisers are confident 75 in the potential of the emerging medium of mobile advertisements. 74

Logos, brands and other trademarks referred to within this report are the property of their respective trademark holders, and are not affiliated with Competitrack. They do not sponsor or endorse our materials.

Top 10
Advertiser Industries
16%
1,744
ADS

Over 30% of the mobile ads captured came from just two industries: retail (16% of ads) and entertainment & media (15% of ads). Other top industries for mobile activity include high tech, travel & tourism, financial services, and telecom.

15%
1,692
ADS

Percentages represent share of collected ads.

10%
1,080
ADS

9%
986
ADS

9%
967
ADS

8%
915
ADS

6%
668
ADS

4%
456
ADS

3%
352
ADS

2%
255
ADS

Retail

Entertainment Technology & Media

Travel and Tourism

Automotive

Financial Services

Telecom

Food & Beverage

Insurance

QSR

Unlike some emerging media that have been limited to early adopters, the initial users of mobile advertising appear to be drawn from a broader range of industries and advertisers. This more diverse adoption may be attributed to the fact that mobile media are relevant to a very broad range of advertisers, as opposed to some touchpoints that only reach niche audiences. This may also indicate that the mobile advertising space is perceived as more of a sure thing than other emerging media, so historically risk-averse advertisers may be more willing to dip a toe in the water.

The Where

Top 10

APP CATEGORIES

Almost all of the advertisers we observed used a combination of mobile apps and sites for their campaigns, with a high degree of concentration among the top app categories. 97% of the mobile ads that we observed ran on one of the top 10 app categories, while 70% ran on one of the top five categories.

News Weather Music & Audio Entertainment Games Books & Reference Sports Lifestyle Finance Navigation

AccuWeather 670 418

Ad Count

APPS Pandora 453 261 Among the apps we monitored, AccuWeather featured AroundMe 383 193 the most creative elements during the period, with 670 Dictionary.com 343 285 ads from over 400 different advertisers. The ten apps that ran the most ads during the period are shown here. CNBC Real-Time 286 137
# of Advertisers

WeatherBug 275 195 Angry Birds CBS News ABC News 260 158 249 181 191 418

About.com 139 121 ESPN 101 74 Amazon.com 100 58 AOL 96 86 CBS Sports 88 65

TMZ 177 123

Mobile Sites

Ad Count # of Advertisers

eHow 84 78 New York Times 83 70

With 139 unique ads from 121 advertisers, About.coms mobile website was the most active site we monitored during the period. ESPN and Amazons mobile sites each ran about 100 creatives, followed by the sites listed here.

AutoTrader.com 78 25 Disney 78 73 CNN 77 58

The What
When it comes to assessing the content of these ads, we at Competitrack are uniquely positioned to monitor mobile ads in the context of an advertisers broader executions. In response to the unique requirements and opportunities of the mobile advertising space, 85% of the mobile ads we monitored were created exclusively for mobile platforms rather than being repurposed from other media (such as online video and or standard display ads).
The rich media mobile ad shown below from BMW does an excellent job maximizing the potential of this medium.
85% unique for mobile content

85%

15%

15% repurposed from other media

The ads are intelligently targeted, running on an Android app for technology news called Appy Geek. Users of this app are likely to respond to cutting-edge automobile technology and the sleekly shaped, uniquely painted electric concept cars that drive across the ad. The ads have a compelling offer: curious consumers can take the concept cars for a test drive. The ad also takes advantage of the fact that mobile users are often sharing their current location. This version encourages viewers to Take a Spin Around Boston, and includes a map of the Boston Financial District. The landing page points to test drive locations at key Boston landmarks such as Boston Common and Faneuil Hall. A different version of this ad focused on New York and included its own locally relevant content.

A crucial (and admittedly obvious) difference between traditional display ads and mobile display ads is that the latter are usually smaller. Therefore, advertisers need to be exceptionally selective about the content they include in mobile ads. The Citi Financial Tools mobile ad shown below is a good example of using a focused messaging strategy (this one ran on Mapquests mobile website).

The ad encourages readers to

Manage your finances in one place, along with an image of their online dashboard tool.

Learn More drives to

the landing page, headlined by a message thats relevant to the ads content. Landing page directly links to more information about Citis financial tools and features Citis sponsorship of the US Olympic and Paralympic teams (alluded to in the mobile ad).

Like web display ads, its important that mobile ads point to a landing page that is specifically relevant to the content of the ad. When landing pages are not aligned to the content of the clicked ad, a visitor will likely bounce from that page (i.e., immediately leave the website and go elsewhere). Consider this American Express mobile ad, which ran on the IMDB mobile app in December 2012.

Copy emphasizes the points that users can

accumulate via their Business Gold Rewards Card. Learn More drives the user to a landing page with specific detail about the card (pictured below) rather than the American Express home page.

Landing pages strong

call-to-action (Apply Now) shows a focus on conversions (in this case, card applications) rather than just getting ad click-throughs.

Since mobile users have heartily embraced video streaming, its not surprising to see advertisers working in this medium as well. Adobe ran an entertaining B2B mobile video ad (repurposed from an online video campaign) in which a businessperson fires his data-obsessedbut analytics-deprived robot and replaces him with the Adobe Marketing Cloud.

Short videos are ideal for

consumption on mobile devices, especially for the on-the-go business audience Interestingly, Adobe used very little TV during the period (only 1 spot) compared to 12 online video ads plus this mobile execution Landing page opens to digital analytics tab of Adobe Marketing Cloud website Ran on Comcast.net mobile site in January 2013

While we are excited about Competitracks ability to provide clients with mobile ads and landing pages like those shown in the previous examples, the greatest value for our clients comes from being able to see these mobile ads in the broader context of an advertisers cross-media campaigns. An excellent example comes from Starbucks launch of their Blonde Roast over the past year. The mobile ad shown below ran on the Pandora app in January and February of 2013, as part of a cross-channel sampling promotion in which consumers could try a free Blonde coffee if they shared a branded e-card (available on the landing page) through a Facebook mobile and desktop app.

This is a well-executed mobile campaign on its own, but its broader value becomes apparent when it is viewed alongside the full range of cross-channel ads for the product that ran throughout the year. Each medium was used in a strategic and relevant manner, communicating different pieces of the overall brand message.

One series of TV ads featured lifestyle imagery, and centered on the lighter, mellower, subtler flavor. This was supplemented with an additional TV campaign that showed vignettes with the master roasters who developed the new product. In print, the focus shifted primarily to the companys broader history, such as series of sequential quarterpage ads in the New York Times that show a 40-year innovation arc culminating in the Blonde roast. On the other hand, a specific set of print ads in All You magazine utilized consumer testimonials about the product, including a survey of the magazines readers. For instance, one callout in the ad notes that 9 out of 10 All You readers would recommend Starbucks Blonde Roast to their loved ones. Meanwhile, free standing inserts in papers like the Detroit Free Press provided a range of coupons to drive trial among new consumers.

In addition to these traditional tactics, Starbucks produced in-store shelf talkers Landin Online Display and posters that focused more squarely on the product via large, sumptuous photography of the beans and the liquid. Online, the role of (desktop) display ads shifted to publicizing the FindCoffee the Roast You Love Most events, where Visit Original S Advertiser: Starbucks Co. Blonde Roast Coffee consumers could tryProduct: the Blonde roast alongside other Starbucks products and Ad Code: STARRT-3242 Note: Enlarge this page to read vote for their favorite style. These events were also supported with print ads in magazines like People and Latina.

These are just a handful of the nearly 20,000 mobile ads available for review in the Competitrack database, along with 22 other online and offline media types. The ability to analyze how advertisers have successfully translated their integrated marketing efforts into mobile ads (along with other media channels) continues to be a revealing exercise, both for us at Competitrack and for the clients we serve. We would like to help you monitor the campaigns that matter most to your business, whether thats a single mobile ad or a crossmedia look at a key category. To get started, contact us at the information below and wed be happy to help you set up an account. http://www.competitrack.com Kathy DOnofrio kdonofrio@competitrack.com 718.482.4291
This material may be used for internal review, analysis or research only. No part of this document may be reproduced, published or publicly displayed

Competitrack, Inc.

www.competitrack.com

(718) 482-4224