Ogilvy goes mobile with Yonder

Ogilvy and Yonder Media announced yesterday, Wednesday, 7 April 2010, the establishment of the Ogilvy Mobile Partnership to bring the best practice in mobile creativity, strategy and technology to brand-building assignments.

The partnership will integrate with the agency accounts and strategy teams and aims to deliver holistic mobile solutions that will deliver brand messages into the hands of customers on an intimate and highly targeted basis.

“Mobile marketing in South Africa is gathering momentum and whilst the agency has been active in this sphere for some time, it is now opportune to ramp up this capability as a core competency in our rapidly evolving digital offering,” states Nunu Ntshingila, Ogilvy's CEO.

“Mobile represents one of the most exciting challenges in modern marketing, particularly in South Africa and other parts of the developing world. Consumers look set to leapfrog the conventional PC access to the internet and the mobile channel represents a unique opportunity.”

Doubling net access

There are 11 million mobile web users in South Africa, double the size of the user market in traditional fixed-line internet access. Mobile opens up a fast-growing channel for brands to connect to their consumers in a highly targeted way, through mobile websites, applications, campaigns, location services and mobile media buying, with focus on real-time analysis and ROI.

This, together with the unique portability and personal relevance of mobile, makes it a compelling marketing channel that has the ability to complement traditional marketing communications and provide connections and integration across both ATL and BTL campaigns.

As Rick Joubert from Yonder explains, “Too many traditional agencies often approach mobile the same way they approach traditional channels, so they are not always using it effectively and to the best of its capabilities. In addition, there are mobile-only agencies that often lack the understanding of the brand and its marketing objectives and how to link an interesting creative mobile program to the marketing objectives in a brand-relevant way. We see this as a gap and an opportunity.”

“This is where the new Ogilvy Mobile Partnership is aiming… to bring these worlds together, where you have the holistic understanding of the brand and the target audience, and you can start building mobile marketing programs as part of that consumer's experience,” he concludes.