We recently introduced The Mobile Playbook: The Busy Executive’s Guide to Winning with Mobile, a new resource that offers Google’s perspective on how to strategically approach mobile.

With 66% of the population accessing Internet every day on their smartphone (source: Google and Ipsos Our Mobile Planet: Understanding the Mobile Consumer, May 2012), and never leaving home without it, businesses that make mobile a central part of their strategy will benefit from the opportunity to engage the new constantly connected consumer.

On July 16, at the IAB Mobile Marketplace event, Jesse Haines, Head of Mobile Ads Marketing at Google, will be presenting a workshop where she will walk you through the 5 questions every business should be asking in order to win with mobile. She will also share the right plays for a winning mobile strategy straight from The Mobile Playbook.

The workshop will start at 2.40 and will be filled with great learnings on mobile marketing. This event will be a chance to learn from other brands, agencies, and mobile gurus. We hope to see you there on July 16th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel --Times Square, Manhattan.

Posted by Julie Pottier, Associate Product Marketing Manager

Mobile introduces exciting new opportunities for measuring the success of marketing campaigns, but connecting consumers’ mobile activities with advertisers’ business outcomes can be challenging.  Increasingly, advertisers are redefining their direct response marketing strategies for mobile in order to more accurately measure the success of mobile campaigns.  We recently sat down with Kerri Smith, Director of Mobility at iProspect, a leading, global digital marketing agency to discuss this topic.  

Google: How are you helping your clients to assign dollar values to mobile all along the funnel?

Kerri:  This really depends on the client.  In most cases, clients are assigning value based on a number of factors used to determine the lifetime value of a customer.  For example, one of our brands assigns an average order value (AOV) on app downloads based on the usage they’ve seen through analytics and resulting revenue from their aggregated app users.   For another brand, call extensions have proven very effective, though it’s been difficult to track conversions and resulting revenue as the consumer is taken offline.  Therefore, we use an equation that allows us to measure the likelihood of an actual conversion. Knowing the average call duration, which indicates level of interest, and the agent conversion rate, the brand helped to formulate the following equation:

6 minute call duration = an interested consumer

Agents convert 30% of interested consumers

Interested Consumers * 30% = # of conversions

This allows us to quantify a return where 1-to-1 measurement is difficult, and to understand the impact the channel is having on the brand’s overall business.

Google: What types of clients have you seen be successful with understanding the value of these micro- conversions?

Kerri:  We’ve seen our retail brands be the first to embrace these micro-conversions - especially in the case of location-based responses, due in large part to the known “intent to visit” derived from these and previous testing.  We’ve been able to use coupons to measure the revenue opportunity in stores from mobile and to prove the value in attributing dollars to these actions.  Retailers have seen enough of these trends and subsequent lifts in revenue to value these actions.

Google: What success stories or best in class examples can you share?

Kerri:  One of our clients had a goal of directing mobile users to their app download page to increase conversions, and we worked with Google to help them run a two month test of Mobile App Extensions.  During the test, we disabled all sitelinks, location extensions and product extensions in order to focus on the primary goal of driving app downloads.  The test showed phenomenal results: 92 downloads, 89:1 ROI and a 334% lift in ROI when they began attributing value to app downloads.

Google: What's iProspect POV on where mobile is going?

Kerri:  Where is mobile not going?  Mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) have already become so ingrained in our everyday lives that the full impact is literally boundless.  Mobile is the channel that connects all others.  It doesn’t fit in the traditional conversion funnel -- it runs alongside it, involved at every stage.  This presents a challenge to brands who still segment advertising channels with separate budgets and directives instead of focusing on how they impact each other.  Mobile will highlight the need to evaluate all channels together to create a truly integrated approach - one that enhances the consumer’s interaction with the brand.  Applying a value to the multitude of “responses” available in mobile is just the first step.  Advertisers will also need to evaluate the impact of those responses relative to other brand initiatives (both online and offline) in order to determine the role each plays in contributing to their bottom line.  The ubiquity of mobile will force advertisers to redefine their approach and how they measure success.


Posted by: Samantha Podos Nowak, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads

As more of your competitors Go Mo, building a mobile-friendly site becomes more of a priority for your business. Over the past two years alone, mobile search traffic has increased five-fold. Customers are searching for your business from their mobile phones, and you need to engage them with a mobile experience designed for completing on-the-go tasks from their small screens. Recently many businesses have been asking us about an emerging trend among web developers—responsive design—and if they should use it. While we believe that building a separate mobile website is an appropriate solution for certain businesses, it’s also important to understand how responsive design might fit into your plans to Go Mo.

What is responsive design? It is a website design technique that allows you to create a single website that will adapt to the device on which it’s being viewed, whether it’s a laptop, smartphone or tablet. A site built with responsive design will automatically resize for different devices, but it is up to you to prioritize the content that matters most to the mobile user. For example, a mobile user might need to quickly find your phone number or directions, whereas a tablet user might want a simpler way to make couch-surfing purchases. A site built using responsive design could prioritize click-to-call and click-to-map buttons, while the tablet site would focus on simplifying the shopping cart. For the technical details on how responsive design works for building mobile-friendly sites, read this blog post from the Google webmaster team.

Download here.

So how do I know if I should build a separate mobile website or use responsive design?  
Here are some guidelines to help you decide what makes sense for your business:

Download here.

If I decide responsive design is a better fit for my business, do I have to build my site from scratch?
Not necessarily. A sophisticated web developer might be able to adapt an existing site with responsive design, but there will still be costs in terms of time and budget.

Will a site built with responsive design have more than one URL?
No. A site built with responsive design will have the same URL for desktop, mobile and tablets. When building a separate mobile optimized site, typically there is a different mobile url, but the users will be taken there automatically as long as your desktop site is enabled with the auto redirect code.

How much does it cost to use responsive design for mobile?
Prices vary across developers and agencies. We recommend reaching out to a developer and/or agency for help on getting started.

Responsive design can definitely minimize long term maintenance of your site, but many businesses can effectively connect with their customers with a separate mobile-friendly site. If you have the technical resources and a clear business need, then responsive design is a more advanced way to make your site mobile-friendly. No matter how you go about it, you need to ensure you are designing for mobile first, and engaging your customers when they're using their mobile phones to search for your business.

For additional resources on the value of mobile, testing your site and finding developers to help you build your mobile-friendly site, visit howtogomo.com.

Posted by Jessica Sapick, Associate Product Marketing Manager

People use their mobile devices to discover and engage with the world around them. Searching for local information is one of the most common activities on mobile - in the US, 94% of respondents said they had done so, and nearly every surveyed country reported numbers over 80%. With Google Maps, they make informed decisions about places to see, shops to visit, meals to eat, and more.

To enable advertisers to better connect with potential customers via mobile search, we have redesigned our local ad formats for Google Maps for Mobile.  These have produced measurable results - in initial tests, these redesigned formats increased click-through-rates by 100%. This visual redesign will be rolling out today to the newer versions of Android phones.  

The updated formats feature several key improvements:

• Important calls to action like “get directions” and “click to call” are now more prominent in the ad and clickable in more places.
• A new hyperlocal marker shows the user how close they are to an advertiser’s business location
• Clicking on the ad now takes the user to an advertiser’s website from within the app, making it simple to browse the site without losing context or access to maps app navigation.

Above: Current view of local ads in Google Maps for Mobile

Below:  Launching today, new feature improvements in local ads in Google Maps for Mobile

Ads in Google Maps for Mobile are one of many ways advertisers are delivering relevant local answers to people’s questions on mobile.  Likewise, a recent campaign from T-Mobile shows how search ads, combined with location extensions, enabled them to reach users close to their store locations across mobile search and maps.

T-Mobile understood that they needed to adjust their goals and tactics to cater to mobile user behavior.  On the difference in user behavior between desktop and mobile campaigns, Kari Nicholas, Media Director of T-Mobile USA explained, “Consumers searching on mobile devices tend to be further down the purchase funnel and have a more informed opinion about what they want, which presents an opportunity for us to influence their decision regarding where to buy while they’re on the go. That’s why we felt it was essential to provide a way for them to easily find our retail locations.” T-Mobile’s approach of using mobile location extensions drove over 160,000 click-throughs and a click-through-rate of 13%. To read more, download the full case study, here.

T-Mobile’s mobile search ads on Google.com and Google Maps for Mobile contain locally relevant information like a user’s distance from their closest location, and the ability to call and get directions to their closest store.

Mobile technology is enabling people to connect with businesses in new ways via smartphones and tablets. People use search and click to businesses’ websites, but they are also clicking to make phone calls, find directions to walk into local stores, and more. To take advantage of these new local search ads on Google Maps for Mobile, make sure you’ve done the following:

• Target the relevant campaigns to mobile devices
• Enable ads to show to search partners
• Finally, have location extensions enabled within AdWords to take advantage of all these new features - so be sure to enable them if you haven’t already!

We’re looking forward to further understanding mobile usage trends and helping businesses better connect with their customers on the go.

Posted by Jay Akkad, Product Manager, Mobile Ads

This year is the first year when mobile advertising had a separate awards category at Cannes Lions and we're thrilled to have picked up an award today for our collaboration on Project Re:Brief with Coca Cola with help from Grow Interactive and Johannes Leonardo. But more important is the fact that mobile is now such a big part of the festival and generating so much discussion and interest. 

On Wednesday we have a Hangout to talk to the mobile creatives at Cannes on the stand-out mobile moments and inspirations.  We've got the mobile movers and shakers to come to our beach-side Creative Sandbox, including James Hilton, Co-founder and Creative, from AKQA as well as some surprise guests,  for a lively session on mobile creativity. And in true Hangout style we have some remote guests including Richard Ting, SVP, executive creative director, mobile and social platforms - R/GA,  joining us from further afield. All hosted by our very own Google creatives Tom Uglow and Reuben Halper for what is sure to be an entertaining and enlightening session.  

It is on Wednesday afternoon at 9.15 am EST, 3.15 pm (CET), follow the Google+ Creative Sandbox page here and tune-in to join us.

Posted by: Matt Brocklehurst, Product Marketing Manager

Next week is the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity where thousands of creatives from across the globe gather to share and salute the most innovative and successful ad campaigns.  In recent years mobile has been more and more a feature of the talks and award winning campaigns. This year the event has gone one extra special step forward with Cannes Lions awards dedicated to specifically mobile.  It’s yet another sign of the coming of age of mobile and it’s one of the reasons we’re ecxcited to be at Cannes again this year.  

If you’re coming to Cannes, we’d love to see you. If you’re not you can still experience the buzz with our Mobile Mavens hangout.

Mobile magic on the beach
Just down the boulevard from the main Palais we’re holding a Google Creative Sandbox on the Gray D'Albion Beach where there will be demos and talks filled with mobile magic for you to enjoy:
 

• Fly a Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 quadricopter using its onboard camera to direct upload video to YouTube.  All controlled by, you guessed it, a mobile phone.
• Play our new mobile game “Digital Invaders”.  Yes it shows how a rich media ad can be enhanced, turning a user's mobile phone into a game controller. Maybe more importantly, it’s kinda fun.
• Get your latest Android fix - dance with your life-size androidify figure or get your own special Androidified beach bag.

All of this and more will be happening at the Google Creative Sandbox.  Bookmark this site here to keep track on all the Google activities - while you sip your complimentary smoothies and enjoy the sun, sea and Wi-Fi.  And of course the sunset socials and early morning yoga.  


Talks and hangouts
We’ve not forgotten to help you exercise your grey matter as well.  We have a number of Lightning Talks lined up each day from the top creatives from agencies including AKQA, Poke and BBH where mobile is sure to figure.  You’ll also experience first-hand and get the lowdown on the re-brief projects including Coke and Volvo where mobile was pivotal.   

And if you not coming to Cannes?  
Don’t worry you’ll still be able to tune into our special Mobile Mavens G+ hangout on air on Wednesday afternoon at 9.15 am EST, 3.15 pm (CET).  In partnership with the Mobile Marketing Association, we’ll be interviewing the mobile movers and shakers, post-mobile awards, to share with you what’s creating the mobile buzz at Cannes.  Follow the Google+ Creative Sandbox page here and watch our for another blog here next week on how to join us.

We look forward to an incredible week and hope to see you at the hangout or in sunny Cannes.

Posted by Matt Brocklehurst, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads

It’s no secret that users are spending more and more time on their mobile and tablet devices, and the trend will continue to scale. Mobile devices drive 10% of total Internet traffic, up from 4% just 18 months ago, and an astounding 29% of U.S. adults now have a tablet or e-reader -- up from 2% three years ago. This opens up many new opportunities for advertisers to connect with consumers. However, with this new opportunity comes new challenges to create rich ad experiences that engage and delight viewers; experiences that leverage unique features of the devices and environment in which they’re seen.

To see what mobile ads of tomorrow will look like, we’ve re-imagined four iconic ads from the 1960s and 70s in Project Re: Brief, an experiment we launched earlier this year. Today we’re releasing the Android app for Project Re: Brief, which lets you play with these new ads on your phone and tablet devices. Built on the latest platform for mobile rich media, these ads try to push the boundaries of what can be done with today’s technology.

Coca-Cola: “I’d like to buy the world a Coke.” (mobile ad)
The mobile ad lets you send a free Coke with a text message to a stranger across the world, who can receive it on special vending machines. The recipient can then record a message from the machine and send it right back to your phone. The ad uses the phone’s GPS location to show a customized video of your message flying through clouds, Google Maps and StreetView images.

Volvo: “Drive it like you hate it.” (tablet ad)
This ad lets you follow the unique story of Irv Gordon, a loyal Volvo owner who's on his way to putting three million miles on his 1966 P1800s. You can watch relevant videos and hear audio clips about stories from his journey so far, follow his Google+ feed, see his mileage and location in real-time, and explore features of the latest Volvo cars. The ad shows different copy and video based on the tablet app in which it is seen. Simply swipe the screen left or right to see how the ad behaves in different apps.

Alka-Seltzer: “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.” (mobile ad)
You can follow Ralph on the day “he ate the whole thing” through a series of 1970’s sitcom-like episodes that are customized to the viewer based on the device, app, time, weather and location. From the ad settings menu, you can select various options to see how a video might be customized to a viewer based on this information. Then, simply tap the display ad to launch the customized video.

Avis: “We try harder.” (tablet ad)
A user can write about his or her experiences with Avis rental cars in natural language, i.e. spoken English, provide some details about the rental car, and within seconds, his or her story is turned into a one-of-a-kind film, which can be shared on the web - all within the ad. The pre-roll animation of the ad changes based on the app. Swipe the screen left or right to see how the animation varies in different apps.

If you don’t have an Android device, you can play with the desktop versions of these ads on projectrebrief.com, and watch videos of the mobile versions. We’re also working hard on an app for your iOS devices.

These are just some examples of what can be done with mobile ads, when you marry big creative ideas with the latest technology platforms. We hope they inspire the advertising community to create even more beautiful mobile experiences.
Posted by Aman Govil, Product Marketing Manager, Display Marketing