While the title of the event was ambitious: Everything You Need to Know About iPad Advertising, the experts were able to live up to it as much as possible, mainly because there is so much mystery surrounding about this exciting new device. The event, held Wednesday night, was hosted by the Massachusetts Information & Technology Exchange (MITX) and a sub-organization of MITX, the Boston Interactive Media Association (BIMA).
With so little data available on ad effectiveness — Apple’s iPad has only been around for two months, after all — the talk of metrics was light and mostly forward-looking. However, one major insight was addressed by all of the panelists: Forget ROI, and focus on branding and innovation.
If advertisers and brands are looking for a consistent sales return from the iPad apps and ads, they won’t get it yet. What they can do, though, is make a name for themselves with an immersive and unique experience on a thrilling new device.
iPad Apps are currently about being hot and cutting edge, not about finding reliable returns. That’s still coming.
Along this same idea, the other major touch point all of the panelists agreed on was not rushing to get your brand onto the iPad. It is not yet important enough that you can’t afford to not be there. If you rush to get a presence on the iPad you will only hurt yourself because your product will not be up to the incredibly high standards of most applications to date.
The advice of the panelists when it came to creating a unique experience on the iPad was not revolutionary, but instead drew on key insights about the interface of the device. Mainly to take advantage of the immersive environment it creates, and let consumers use the features of the iPad to their fullest capabilities — things like the touch screen and ability to tilt and tap the screen, as well as the incredible picture and video quality iPad brings. Also, trying to keep ads completely within the application, and not linking to the Web was another piece of advice they stressed. The experience of the iPad is rich, so ensuring users have to engage in all that Apps can deliver will be key to effective advertising on the iPad.
Hearing the panel speak reminded me of early social media conferences I attended and followed on Twitter. There is no formula for success yet, so companies need to focus on branding through innovation, and accept that they might fail. This is uncharted territory, and the bold early explorers of it’s capabilities will be the ones who find success first.
The speakers were well informed. Many of them have already found success creating and implementing iPad applications. The panel included: Miranda Creswell, Senior VP of Strategy at the BBC: Adam Kasper, Senior VP of Digital Innovation at Havas Digital; Kristen Mollerus, VP Digital Media at Hill Holliday; Chris Needham, VP Interactive at Fidelity; and Todd Pasternack, Manager of Creative Technologies at Point Roll. The moderator was Liberty Carras, Senior VP Sales at CNNMoney.
