The following is a conversation between Rupert Day, CEO of tenthavenue, and Jeremy Corfield for Marketing Magazine Australia:

Mobile and out-of-home, combining the two makes a lot of sense. There’s no shortage of technologies, no shortage of content, and no shortage of receptive consumers. I’ve been talking recently with Rupert Day, the global CEO of WPP’s tenthavenue, which focuses on reaching consumers on the move. And whilst those conversations have happened in different continents and with different focuses, there are some clear themes that emerged.

To try to refine and capture those themes, I put some questions to Rupert on how his business sees mobile.

Jeremy Corfield: The mobile phone and tablets are very personal devices for people. What is your/tenthavenue’s view on the role that these devices play in people’s daily lives?

Rupert Day: ”While both are personal, they are not the same in terms of degree and usage. Standing in an immigration queue I heard one person thanking another (they seemed not to have known each other previously) for lending them their tablet to watch a movie on the flight. This would not have been the case with the person’s mobile. A tablet is a convenient way to enjoy content on the move, and it’s also used inside the home as a parallel experience to television. That’s due to its increased functionality; being able to get additional information, and to shop as well as share with friends. Research from Viacom in the US shows that, as expected, the 18–24 demo are heavy users of tablets, especially in the dual video experience of watching TV and using tablets. However for all users, 77% of tablet use is done alone; 74% of tablet usage is done at home. How this will change with the roll-out of IPTV or ‘social TV’ remains to be seen.

“This compares with people’s mobile device which is truly personal and as additional features, such as mobile wallets, become standard this will only become more apparent.”

JC: Because mobile devices are so personal, what must marketers do differently with mobile advertising compared to other media? What are the top few tips for mobile marketing? And perhaps the top things to avoid?

RD: “The mobile device is more than another channel. People use their mobile device as an interaction device – first and foremost. That can range from checking in with their friends (voice; text and social) to retail and transactions. However all interactions have a high degree of ‘immediacy’ and normally a degree of localisation. This does not mean that the mobile device is not an effective marketing tool but any interaction needs to be personalized, not so much to the individual but to their circumstance and the environment which they are in, to ensure a high degree of relevance or even usefulness. To be successful, I recommend the following:

• Firstly it is just so important for marketers to really understand what they are trying to achieve from their mobile campaign. Mobile is different. People are thinking and acting differently when they are at home to when they are out of home. Any campaign has to start with this premise.
• And therefore the location of people’s usage is important. Understand what people are looking to do from mobile depending upon where they are: ie local search vs wider content distribution.
• This informs message relevance – the message needs to be relevant for what they are looking for at that point in time. The ability to engage is greater if we get this right but the opposite is also true if we do not.
• The content needs to be mobile-specific – attention spans are shorter. Sending mobile users to a web site that is not mobile-optimised is a bad idea.”

You can continue reading the conversation here.