Innovations in Mobile Advertising – 2019 and Beyond

The capabilities of mobile advertising have grown profoundly over the last decade, and—not surprisingly—is set to evolve and grow faster than any other marketing technologies. Similar to other methods, mobile advertising has its own trends, and advancements in technology impact it in unique ways. Moving into 2019 and over the next several years, mobile advertising will be defined by several emerging technologies.

Augmented Reality

Augmented reality is arguably going to be the biggest game-changer in the mobile advertising world. It can bring a level of interactivity to the consumer-brand relationship that has simply not been achievable historically. It is a deeper connection because you are not simply asking the customer to be a passive receiver of information, you are able to build something with your customer.

One company that has already realized the value in this is IKEA, who partnered with Apple to implement an app that allows users to virtually place IKEA products in their own home. They have marketed it aggressively and it has been a huge hit with their customer base.

Companies that wish to use augmented reality applications must consider how it can be implemented in a way that will bring value to their customer experiences and journeys.

Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence

Chatbots and artificial intelligence applications have been around for a while and it’s clear that they are here to stay. Rather than losing relevancy as new technologies emerge, chatbots will likely only continue to evolve in ways that make them more valuable to everyday business operations.

This is especially true for customer interactions. Their ability to interface with customers, learn about their preferences and customize their experience will only continue to grow, while still being able to improve profitability and efficiency.

Amtrak’s chatbot, Julie, answers more than 5 million customer questions annually, which has led to an increase of 25% in bookings and 30% more revenue. Moreover, the ROI for Julie exceeds over 800%.

With figures that are this impressive, it’s hard to imagine the future of mobile advertising without the heavy presence of chatbots and other artificial intelligence-based platforms.
Novelty Technologies

With the ability of technology to make effective marketing easier than ever, the difficulty will then lie in how well you differentiate yourself from competitors. What can you offer them that others can’t?

Moving forward, the existing tech and use cases we’ve discussed will become increasingly available, and also increasingly expected by customers. This means you’ll have to find novel ways to implement it in ways that think outside of the box.

Vodaphone wanted to help its female customers in Turkey, a country in which nearly a third of its women are victims of domestic abuse, so they developed a secret app, hidden in the flashlight app of a phone, in which if the victim shakes her phone, an emergency message will go out to 3 trusted individuals. They update the app periodically to hide it in different locations on the phone.

It has already helped over 100,000 Turkish women, received the Grand Prix award and created a massive amount of customer loyalty and trust on a global scale, all because the company acted on an idea outside of their primary function that leveraged existing technology.

The successes achieved by IKEA, Amtrak, and Vodaphone are only a few examples of how the future of mobile advertising may look. With much of the manual and repetitive functions of advertising being completed virtually, marketers can focus on the artform of combining technology with customer needs in more creative and effective ways.