Mobile Marketing Live Interview with Cogenta’s CEO

If you have missed the Twitter interview between Mobile Marketing Magazine’s editor David Murphy (further “D”) and Cogenta’s CEO Adrian Hobbs (further “A”), read the interview here.

D: You’re speaking at Mobile Marketing Live, what will you be talking about?

I will be speaking about how to effectively engage the mobile shopper. Based on feedback we’ve had from users and stats from our app, we’re going to cover:

1. Experiences that engage shoppers as well as make those experiences personal;

2. How relevant messaging on mobile adds value to shopping experiences.

D: What are you best known for as a company and where does mobile come into it?

A: We are best known for UK retail intelligence. As a consequence we deliver unique shopping info through mobile apps. This unique shopping content is published through Sccope and O2 Wallet apps. From this we track consumer behaviour, which enables us to deliver shoppers targeted, relevant offers within the apps.

D: Yes, you power the Offers platform on the O2 Wallet Service, how do you see the whole mCommerce thing playing out?

A: Personalisation and relevance will be critical as the options for mobile marketing grow and message volumes increase. I believe only messages relevant to the individual will get their attention.

D: Yup, and they’ll soon opt out if not. What are the most exciting things happening in the mobile marketing space right now?

A: Yes, sadly the speed of technology and the amount of irrelevant advertising makes us impatient. As for excitement… firstly, the richness of the experience advertisers are delivering and secondly, a move towards personalising experiences by including social and local content.

D: Yes, mobile ads have come a long way since the time creatives wanted nothing to do with them. And the biggest pain points?

A: In regard to pain points, it is challenging to engage the broader mobile community on a day-to-day basis due to a lack of experiences that enable good advertising opportunities.

D: We are starting to hear the operators talk about 4G now, what impact do you think that will have on mobile marketing and consumers’ attitudes to it?

A: It will help engage users with a richer experience, but more importantly,tt will enable retailers to deliver a more robust, quicker check-out process leading to higher conversion through mobile.

D: Good stuff. What’s the best mobile marketing campaign you’ve seen lately?

A: Without doubt a 3D Shadow QR campaign by Korea’s retailer E-mart called Sunny Sale.  Emart needed to lift sales during low point of the day. They achieved this by placing 3D QR codes around town. The 3D QR code, scanned between noon and 1pm would reveal a hidden sale and shop voucher. Sales rocketed as a result.

D: Nice, so last question, who, in your opinion, is the most influential person in mobile marketing?

A: In what is still an emerging industry, it is difficult to pick one individual but with the growth of Android, you can’t underestimate the influence that Google and Jason Spero are having on the industry.

 

Further reading:

For Emart’s Sunny Sale mobile marketing campaign that used 3D QR codes to boost sales overview, click here;

If you would like to read more about using mobile for retail marketing and sales, click here for another piece by David Murphy discussing why mobile is retail’s future.

 

Mobile Marketing Live event is taking place October 1st and 2nd at London’s Business Design Centre.