State of The Industry Mobile Marketing

Things to take from this report
1 2 3 4
Mobile Disruption Mobile strategy, budgets and integration Mobile tactics Barriers and challenges
Mobile disruption continues to intensify, with Although mobile is gaining executive support Display and search are the most popular Measurement of mobile remains a key
retail and entertainment leading the way in organizations are still not ready: skills and forms of mobile advertising but branded problem for marketers. Currently, mobile
terms of innovation. Half of the surveyed learning are lacking, there is an overall lack of content shows the most potential for future marketing effectiveness is measured
marketing professionals are already feeling formal mobile strategies and an opportunity growth. Location data is at the core of mobile primarily through engagement, meaning that
the disruption, while the other half are to better integrate mobile with traditional right now but marketers expect Internet of marketers don’t have a clear view of the ROI
expecting a bigger impact in the near future. media. At the same time marketers still Things marketing applications to drive mobile of mobile in the mix.
underinvest in mobile, but mobile budgets are growth by 2022.
set to increase: one out of two marketers will Separately, marketers feel that the cost of
spend a quarter of their budget in mobile in advertising is increasing, which reinforces the
the next five years. More evidence is needed need for proper measurement that puts
about mobile’s effectiveness in order to mobile at an equal footing with other media
create more urgency and unlock budgets. and allows marketers to optimize their mix.
2 State of the Industry: Mobile Marketing in North America © Copyright WARC 2017. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1
Key Insights Mobile is a major disruption across industries
mCommerce and mobile payments are expected to have a

big impact in marketing, followed by video
Retail is seen as the most innovative sector in mobile,

followed by entertainment
Amazon is seen as the most innovative brand in North
America
Mobile is a major disruption across industries
Commentary
52%
Across markets, mobile is growing. The rapid
47% penetration of smartphones globally over the
43% 42% North America
past few years means that marketers have had
EMEA to embrace the channel and focus on the
importance of seamless, user-friendly
experiences on mobile.
In North America, mobile is a major disruption to

more than half of marketers, and a further 42%
predict are expecting an impact in the future.
Marketers in EMEA are slightly less convinced

8% of mobile’s disruptive effect: more see it
5% impacting on the future more than the present,
1% 1% and almost 10% think it has limited or no impact
to their industry.
It´s already a major It has some impact, It has limited impact It has no impact
disruption but will have more in
the future
Q: To what extent do you think mobile is impacting your industry? NA n=350, EMEA n=387
mCommerce and mobile payments are expected to have a big
impact in marketing
mCommerce 41%
46% Commentary
41%
Mobile payments
40% In North America almost half (46%) of client-side
30% marketers see mCommerce as having the most
Watching video
32% significance for the marketing industry, followed
43% by mobile payments (40%).
Multi-screening
28%
13% Results differ slightly in the EMEA region, where
Mobile loyalty multi-screening is having a bigger impact
20%
18% according to these results (43% selected the
Showrooming latter in EMEA, compared to 28% in North
18%
18% America).
Engaging with virtual reality
18%
10%
Webrooming
14%
16%
Photo-sharing
14%
12%
Streaming music
14%
17%
Mobile as a remote control for devices
10%
12%
Playing games
8%
EMEA
2%
Other
2% North America
Q: Of the following consumer behaviours made possible by mobile, which do you think has the most significance for the
marketing industry? North America n=50, EMEA n=103
Retail is seen as the most innovative sector in mobile, followed
by entertainment
17% 14% 16% 47% Commentary
16% 13% 13% 41%
Respondents were asked to select which sector
4% 13% 15% 32% they thought was most innovative in terms of
mobile marketing in their region.
13% 11% 6% 31%
11% 9% 9% 29% Retail came out top, selected in total by 47% of
respondents and ranked first by 17%.
15% 6% 5% 26%
Leisure and entertainment came out second,
8% 8% 5% 21%
with 16% ranking it as the most innovative
5% 7% 15% sector. Views were more polarizing for drinks
and beverages with 15% ranking it first but not a
4% 5% 4% 13% lot of respondents ranking it second or third.
First choice
6% 3% 11%
Second choice
6%
Third choice
3% 6%
4%
4%
4%
0% 1%
0% 0%
Q: In which sectors in North America, are you seeing the most innovation in mobile? n=232
Amazon is seen as the most innovative brand in North America
1 3
Commentary
When asked what the most innovative brand in

their region was, Amazon was cited by the
highest percentage of marketers (21%),
followed by Starbucks (18%) and Facebook
2
(16%). In fourth, fifth and sixth places were Nike,
Google and Apple respectively.
“They lead the way in regards to “They developed a winning Quotes from survey respondents are shown
mobile retail best practice” messenger that's gained mass use below each, describing why they believe each is
quickly, and they gave scale to user the most innovative brand.
generated live video.”
“All encompassing for brand use and

loyalty; mobile payment, notifications,
loyalty program, free downloads and
easy order/pay/pickup.”
Q: In your experience, which brands do you feel are the most innovative in the mobile space in North
America, and in what way? n=203
Chapter 2
Mobile is gaining executive support but skills and learning are
lacking.
Key Insights There is a lack of formal mobile strategies and an opportunity
to better integrate integrate mobile with traditional media.
Mobile is “quite important” but more evidence about its

effectiveness is needed in order to create more urgency.
Mobile budgets are set to increase. One of two marketers will

spend a quarter of their budget in mobile.
Mobile is gaining executive support but skills and learning
are lacking
10% Commentary
17% 16% 14% 14%
32% 12% More than half of client-side, media owner and

tech vendor respondents said they are ‘ready’
19% 21% 26% (‘4’ or ‘5’ in the 5 point scale) in terms of having
29% the executive support and prioritization for
mobile adoption in their company.
34%
20% For the majority of parameters, the proportion
of respondents ready for mobile adoption is
29% greater than the proportion not ready, which is
32%
29% 32% an encouraging sign, yet at least one third of
23% respondents are unsure (‘3’).
An area of work for marketers is the learning

34% agenda for mobile: 44% are not ready (‘1’ or ‘2’)
27%
25% in this parameter.
23% 24%
22%
8% 6% 10%
5% 4%
5 - most ready 4 3 2 1 - least ready
Q: How would you rate the level of readiness of your organization when it comes to each of the
following parameters in relation to mobile adoption in your company? n=173
Agencies feel that their clients are not ready
6% 6% 4% 4% 2%
6%
12%
13% 18% 17% Commentary
25%
34% Agencies see their clients as far less ready for
27% mobile. Only 6% of agencies see their clients as
28% fully ready for mobile adoption in terms of
34% executive support and prioritization, compared
39% to 32% of other marketers’ assessment of their
own readiness.
37%
Unsurprisingly, the only parameter where
39% agencies see their clients as more ready than
not for mobile, is in collaboration with external
47%
44% partners and agencies.
34%
26% 35%
20%
9% 11% 12%
7% 4%
5 - most ready 4 3 2 1 - least ready
Q: How would you rate the level of readiness of your typical clients’ organization when it comes to each of the
following parameters in relation to mobile adoption in your company? n=167
There is a lack of formal mobile strategies
100%
90% Commentary
80% The majority (65%) of client-side marketers do

not have a formal mobile marketing strategy for
No strategy 70% 58% No strategy their brand. A higher proportion of agencies say
65% their clients have formal mobile marketing
60% Closely connected strategies, but the majority still said that most of
strategy their clients don’t yet have a strategy in place.
Closely
50% Slightly connected For those that do have a mobile strategy, about
connected
strategy half are closely connected to other marketing
strategy
Unconnected activities, and the other half are loosely or not
40%
Slightly strategy connected.
connected
30% 19%
strategy 16%
20%
10% 21%
19%
0%
Client-side Agencies
Left: Q: Do you have a formal mobile marketing strategy for your brand and if so how closely is it integrated with other
marketing activities? n=52
Right: Q: Do your clients have a formal mobile strategy and if so, how closely is it integrated with other marketing activities.
n=171
Marketers need to better integrate mobile with traditional media
83%
Social media Commentary
88%
Social platforms are used widely alongside
57% mobile in campaigns, whereas only 28% said TV
Desktop search and display
is being used frequently with mobile in North
55%
America.
19% In North America, of those who selected social

In-store media, 97% said they had used Facebook for
29% mobile marketing, followed by Twitter (74%),
YouTube (71%) and Instagram (69%). Snapchat
38% EMEA has been used by 43%.
TV
28% North America
19%
Out of Home
16%
8%
Print
7%
3%
Other
4%
Q: In your experience, which media channels are used most frequently with mobile? n=346
Marketers still underinvest in mobile, although their sell side
counterparts are more optimistic
31% Commentary
Client-side marketers are most likely to assign

25% less than 5% of their overall marketing budget
24%
to mobile. However, the sell side, answering with
22% their typical client in mind, see much higher
20%
19% proportional budgets being dedicated to mobile.
17% 17%
A quarter of the sell-side said their typical client
15% has a mobile budget of more than 25%,
indicating that those brands using agencies for
the marketing are more likely to be making use
9% of mobile, utilising the agency’s expertise in the
channel.
0-5% 6-10% 11-15% 16-25% More than 25%
Client-side marketers Others
Q: What percentage of your, or your clients' typical, overall marketing budget is being allocated to mobile marketing and
advertising? Client-side respondents n=52, Other respondents n=287
Mobile is “quite important” but more evidence about its
effectiveness is needed in order to create more urgency
Commentary
62% The vast majority of brands find mobile a “quite”

effective marketing channel, yet, only few seem
Very 55% North to have extensive data and experience to
Quite
ineffective Very America conclude that it’s “very” effective.
4% effective
ineffective
12% In line with its effectiveness as a channel, mobile
4% EMEA is a priority for more than 90% of marketers in
North America, although only a third of them see
31% 32% it as a top priority.
10%
4% 4% 3%
Quite Very important Quite important Quite Not important at

effective
80%
unimportant all
Left Q: In your experience, how effective is mobile as a marketing channel? n=60

Right Q: Overall, how important do you think mobile marketing (in all forms) will be for you this year?
NA n=52, EMEA n=123
Mobile budgets are set to increase. One of two marketers will
spend a quarter of their budget in mobile
Increase Outer ring: North America Commentary
Stay the same
47%
Inner ring: EMEA
Decrease Now 5 years' time Almost three quarters (73%) of marketers on
the client-side expect their budgets to increase
27% over the next year in North America, with an
2% almost identical proportion in EMEA stating the
31%
same.
Client-side marketers on average expect 14%

24% 23%
of their marketing budgets to be allocated to
19% 19% mobile over the next 12 months. In five years’
17% 17%
15% time, they expect this to have increased to 23%
on average.
74%
6% Almost a third of marketers in North America
4% assign between 0 and 5% of their marketing
budget to mobile. However, this low proportion
73% is set to increase over the next five years, by
which time up to half (47%) of North American
0-5% 6-10% 11-15% 16-25% More than marketers expect at least a quarter (25%) of
25% their budgets to be assigned to mobile.
Left: Q: How do you expect your mobile marketing budget to change over the next 12 months?
NA n=67, EMEA n=131
Right: Q: What percentage of your overall marketing budget is being/do you expect to be allocated to mobile marketing
and advertising now and in five years’ time? n=71
Chapter 3
Display and search are the most popular forms of mobile
advertising. Branded content has the most potential.
Key Insights
Mobile social and video advertising are the focus for 2017.
Location data is at the core of mobile. The Internet of Things

will drive mobile growth by 2022.
Display and search are the most popular forms of mobile
advertising. Branded content has the most potential
46% Commentary
Mobile web display advertising
19%
Over the next year, marketers are focusing on
39%
Mobile search mobile web display advertising (46%) and
33% mobile search (39%), with significantly fewer
38% prioritizing loyalty schemes (12%) and mobile
In-app display mobile advertising coupons (21%).
31%
36% Asked what they expected to be focusing on in
Mobile-based branded content five years’ time, branded content emerges as
55%
the focus. This is likely a reflection of the
27% expectation that screens and devices will
Our own mobile-optimised site(s)
27% become increasingly suited for consuming
longer-form content, and mobile-optimised
23% websites the norm.
Our own mobile app(s)
30%
After content, mobile search is expected to be a
21%
Mobile-based coupons or discounts continued focus for a third (33%), and mobile-
22% based loyalty schemes are expected to rise
12% significantly in the priorities of marketers, from
Mobile-based loyalty schemes 12% to 26% by 2022.
26% 2017
6% 2022
Other
11%
Q: Which types of mobile marketing and advertising are you/your clients

focusing most on in your marketing activities in 2017 and in five year’s
time? n=326
Mobile social and video advertising are the focus for 2017
59%
Mobile social advertising
62%
68% Commentary
Mobile video advertising
56%
In North America, mobile social advertising is a
38%
Mobile search advertising focus for 62% of marketers, followed by 56%
38% using mobile video advertising.
32%
Mobile banner advertising Marketers in EMEA appear to have a larger
34%
focus on video advertising than in North
36%
Mobile–based location targeting America, but otherwise, use of mobile
32% advertising types is very similar across the two
24% regions.
Mobile rich media advertising
23%
7%
Push messaging
8%
9% EMEA
Mobile gaming advertising
5%
3% North America
SMS
4%
4%
Mobile audio advertising
3%
2%
Other
2%
Q: Specifically for mobile advertising, which of the following are you/your

clients planning to focus on in 2017? North America n=326, EMEA n=220
Location data is at the core of mobile. The Internet of Things will
drive mobile growth by 2022
Location data 71%
61% Commentary
360° videos on mobile 41%

27% This year, more than 70% of marketers will use
location data as part of their mobile marketing
Beacons 37% strategy – 30 percentage points higher than use
33% of any other mobile technology.
Live streaming from mobile 33%
36% Though still expected to be most used,
Augmented Reality 29% interestingly, a reduced proportion of

36% respondents expect to be using location data
by 2022: 61% compared to 71% this year.
Mobile wallet 28%
44% By 2022, the Internet of Things and smart home
IoT and smart home 28% technologies will have doubled in importance -
53% 53% expect to be using them in five years’ time.
Virtual reality 28%

Use of mobile wallets and virtual reality
40%
technology is also expected to increase
Chatbots 27% significantly over the next five years.
31%
NFC 18%
23%
QR codes 16% 2017
6% 2022
Other 2%
3%
Q: Are you/your clients planning to use any of the following and their
associated mobile technologies in 2017 and in five years’ time? n=283
Chapter 4
Measurement of mobile is a problem for marketers.
Key Insights
Mobile marketing effectiveness is measured through
engagement, not ROI
The cost of advertising is increasing, but buying is easy.
Measurement of mobile is a problem for marketers
Metrics and measurement 40%

Fragmentation of mobile ecosystem 32% Commentary
Internal challenges and silos 28% The biggest barrier to the growth of mobile in
Ad blocking 22% North America is measurement and metrics,
according to 40% of marketers surveyed.
Consumer privacy concerns 22%
Although internal challenges and silos are a
Content creation for mobile 21% problem for 28%, encouragingly, skills are a
barrier for only 8%.
Ad fraud 16%
Education 15%
Guidelines and best practices 14%
Budgets 12%
Lack of mobile friendly sites 12%
Poor quality mobile apps 10%
Skills 8%
Data pricing 6%
Evangelism 3%
Other 10%
Q: In your opinion, what are the biggest barriers to the growth of mobile
marketing and advertising in North America? n=389
Mobile marketing effectiveness is measured through
engagement, not ROI
Engagement metrics (i.e. video completion 65% Commentary
rates, social sharing, CTR etc) 69% Metrics and measurement are the biggest
barriers to growth, indicating that work needs to
Behavioral metrics (i.e post click engagement, 60% be done on tracking the metrics shown on this
chart.
traffic to sites etc) 66%
Engagement metrics are used by the biggest
Audience delivery metrics (i.e. impression proportion of marketers in both North America
51% (69%) and EMEA (65%) to measure mobile
delivered by target group, or viewable marketing effectiveness, followed by a similar
impressions) 49% number tracking behavioural metrics.
45% Less than one out of two marketers use

Business metrics (i.e. ROI, incremental sales, business metrics and ROI to asses campaign
profit, LTV) 46% performance.
Attitudinal metrics (i.e. awareness, image and 22%

other brand KPIs based on surveys) 21%
10%
Communications metrics (i.e. PR value) EMEA
7% North America
Q: Which of the metrics below do you or your clients most use to measure mobile marketing
effectiveness? North America n=346, EMEA n=370
The cost of advertising is increasing, but buying is easy
Commentary
63%
60%
The cost of mobile advertising is increasing on
average in North America, and only fallen in the
North America opinion of 14%. The picture in EMEA is similar,
with costs slightly more likely to have risen than
EMEA remained the same.
43% 38%
45% Marketers are finding buying advertising to be
43% relatively easy in both regions, with a slightly
24% 23% higher proportion of those in EMEA
encountering difficulties in trading.
17% 15%
9%
4%
2%
14%
Risen Very easy Quite easy Quite difficult Very difficult

Outer ring: North
America Fallen
Inner ring: EMEA
Remained the same
Left: Q: In your experience, compared to last year, how has the cost of mobile advertising changed? NA n=69, EMEA n=138
Right: Q: How easy do you find buying mobile advertising? NA n=67, EMEA n=142
Chapter 5
Respondent company profiles
Other
16% Client-side (in
house)
marketing
16%
Technology
enabler
15%
Media
Media owner / agency
publisher 17%
5%
Specialist
mobile Creative
agency agency
3% 28%
Q: What type of company do you work for? n=486
Respondent sectors
Food 18%
Other 17%
Retail 10%
Media and publishing 9%
Pharmaceutical and healthcare 8%
Financial services 8%
Business and industrial 8%
Travel, transport, and tourism 4%
Telecoms 4%
Government and non-profit 4%
Motor and auto 3%
Leisure and entertainment 3%
Household and domestic 3%
Toiletries and cosmetics 1%
Drink and beverage 1%
Q: In which sector or industry do you work? n=77
About the study About the MMA Contact Us
This report is based on an online survey of The MMA is the world’s leading global non-
London
508 marketing professionals in North profit trade mobile marketing association
85 Newman Street
America, and 612 marketing professionals in comprised of more than 800 member
London
EMEA, carried out in March and April 2017. companies, from nearly fifty countries. Its
W1T 3EU
members hail from every faction of the
The survey link was disseminated to WARC United Kingdom
mobile marketing ecosystem -- including
and MMA lists, and respondents received a +44 (0) 20 7467 8100 enquiries@WARC.com
brand marketers, agencies, mobile
complimentary copy of the report in addition technology platforms, media companies,
to being entered into a prize draw. Washington
operators and others. The MMA’s mission is
DC 2233 Wisconsin Ave NW Suite 535
to accelerate the transformation and
Respondents were based in the North Washington
innovation of marketing through mobile,
America or EMEA, and were a mix of client- DC 20007
driving business growth with closer and
side, agency and technology vendor United States
stronger consumer engagement. The MMA’s
marketers. +1 202 778 0680 americas@WARC.com
global headquarters are located in New York
About WARC with regional operations Asia Pacific (APAC),
Singapore
Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and Latin
WARC.com is an online service offering 20A Teck Lim Road
America (LATAM). For more information
advertising best practice, evidence and Singapore
about the MMA please
insights from the world’s leading brands. 088391
visit http://www.mmaglobal.com.
WARC helps clients grow their businesses by +65 3157 6200 asiapacific@WARC.com
using proven approaches to maximise
advertising effectiveness.
WARC’s clients include the world’s largest

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companies, universities and advertisers.

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Things to take from this report

mCommerce and mobile payments are expected to have a

Retail is seen as the most innovative sector in mobile,

In North America, mobile is a major disruption to

Marketers in EMEA are slightly less convinced

When asked what the most innovative brand in

“All encompassing for brand use and

Mobile is “quite important” but more evidence about its

Mobile budgets are set to increase. One of two marketers will

32% 12% More than half of client-side, media owner and

An area of work for marketers is the learning

5 - most ready 4 3 2 1 - least ready

5 - most ready 4 3 2 1 - least ready

80% The majority (65%) of client-side marketers do

19% In North America, of those who selected social

Client-side marketers are most likely to assign

0-5% 6-10% 11-15% 16-25% More than 25%

Client-side marketers Others

62% The vast majority of brands find mobile a “quite”

Quite Very important Quite important Quite Not important at

Left Q: In your experience, how effective is mobile as a marketing channel? n=60

Client-side marketers on average expect 14%

Location data is at the core of mobile. The Internet of Things

Q: Which types of mobile marketing and advertising are you/your clients

Q: Specifically for mobile advertising, which of the following are you/your

360° videos on mobile 41%

Augmented Reality 29% interestingly, a reduced proportion of

Virtual reality 28%

The cost of advertising is increasing, but buying is easy.

Metrics and measurement 40%

45% Less than one out of two marketers use

Attitudinal metrics (i.e. awareness, image and 22%

Risen Very easy Quite easy Quite difficult Very difficult

Q: What type of company do you work for? n=486

Q: In which sector or industry do you work? n=77

WARC’s clients include the world’s largest

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