“The obvious is only obvious when it happens to someone else.” (Anthony Marra).
By 2017, there will be nearly 1.4 mobile devices for each person in our planet, people spend more and more time in front of a mobile screen, by 2017 ~2/3 of the mobile data traffic will be videos....
The main aim of Kelly's book is to try to explain to our marketing community that a) mobile is now THE media to focus, 2) therefore, a quite radical change in the way to do marketing is required and 3) this is not that difficult, it is about be "truly" customer- centric and design practical solutions to target them. "All Thumbs" stands for the importance of finding simple solutions that will give people a better and better mobile experience when connecting with products and brands.
This is all obvious, of course, but Kelly rightly points out that the marketing and advertising world has traditionally considered mobile more a problem than an opportunity, mainly for the lack of professional skill (and even business culture) to address this challenge. Therefore, the whole book is dedicated at giving practical advice on how this massive "mobile" challenge could be easily and effectively addressed by really understanding what role mobile has in people's lives and how to use this understanding for better connecting Brands with People.
To exploit this opportunity, Kelly identifies 4 key golden rules:
- Everything starts and ends with the Consumer. A cultural change is needed in the marketing community to make sure this is clearly understood and embedded in the profession. Therefore, it is all about the "experience" more than the "Share Of Voice", it is about realizing that Consumers - and not Brands - are now in control and act accordingly. In a word, "Think like a Consumer" as "Consumers know what they want".
- Technology is a means to an end, not an end. Marketers' widespread attitude to be driven by tech solutions more than genuine marketing innovation is not the most efficient and effective way to connect with the Consumers, and therefore "Innovation in Experience" is where the Holy Grail is
- Try, Fail, Try Again. As things change so quickly in mobile, a "long-term solution" is a chimera. It is all about here and now, and the ability to find the best solution for every single campaign. As a result, A-B testing will become and more important. At the same time. making sure that every single communication strongly fit with the brand positioning/mission will be key
- Content, Content, Content. Mobile is 300% about content and the way this is served to the Consumers. Gone is the era of "fitting the TV ad into the mobile screen"! Today is about mobile apps, tablet vs. smartphone, geolocation, VR, AR, vertical vs. horizontal screen etc.
The reader will find a lot of practical tips on nearly every aspect of mobile marketing, including a very interesting chapter dedicated to mobile in retail, a potential massive change for that industry.
Finally, Kelly believes that mobile is not only for Great Corporations, it is there for Everybody, given that there are virtually no entry barriers and the way to use it to be unique and distinctive are virtually fully dependent on our creativity!
Read more from Riccardo Brenna here.