by Patricia Wilson


There was a lot of talk today at OMMA Global Conference & Expo in New York about the implications of mobile marketing, mobile search and smart phones. The general consensus is that mobile is not only more local, but often more relevant and engaging than traditional search on the Web.


There was a lot of chat about alternate search on mobile, including  Twitter, Cha Cha, Ardvaark, crowdsourcing and voice. Not everyone agrees whether or not voice is relevant long term. But, like everything else, it seems to depend on where the technology goes from here.


A lot of today’s attendees were blogging and tweeting from the conference and most of the attendees were glued to their iPhone or Blackberry devices. There were many stories about how cool it is to Tweet for a local restaurant location or hotel recommendation and get them without going through the traditional search channels.


Papa John’s Jim McDonnell  told the attendees that he sees most of his success through the banners, not the mobile applications (hmmm: wonder if that’s because mobile applications are still new for most of the United States?).


Maria Mandel of OgilvyInteractive showed an impressive group of case studies, many global. The headline here is that mobile often works best when partnered with other media. Her experience points to print and outdoor being the two most effective partnering mediums with mobile.


That was contradicted a bit by big media brand representatives from CBS and ESPN. They said they have undoubtedly been successful at deploying the brand across all the screens: TV, Web and mobile. The cross-platforms of the big media brands is here to stay and seem to be leading in the investment of mobile research, as well.


The take-aways from OMMA are not unlike what we have heard for traditional media advertising:

1. Define your audience well and understand how they use mobile (or any media, for that matter).
2. Define what you want the campaign to achieve.
3. Understand and apply the intrinsic characteristics of mobile (its ability to target and be relevant) and combine it with other parts of the marketing plan.

Mobile marketing, like other marketing tools, is not a one-size fits-all solution.


Patricia Wilson is the founder of BrandCottage, a media marketing and public relations company with offices in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

by Barry Lawrence


Large brand agencies often have excessive overhead costs that ultimately get passed on to the client. At least that was my experience working at large companies such as Verizon, CareerBuilder, Jobbfox and Siemens.


That means, for every $1 million spent on advertising, $100,000 or more is lost to what we, at BrandCottage, call Monster Agency Administration Fees. It’s for this reason that I am excited to join the BrandCottage team as an expert in social media and public relations.


BrandCottage is structured with minimal administrative costs. So, instead of paying for advertising overhead, BrandCottage clients can put these dollars immediately to work. This means greater marketing return on investment for vital brand and demand generation initiatives.

The reality is [small media agencies] can do things for their clients the big monster shops can’t. With fewer people and less overhead, they offer the nimble and fast approach to problems a lot of nascent brands need.

Advertising Age (March 23, 2009)

In short, our clients pay for smart results — not overhead.


BrandCottage clients not only report administrative cost savings, they also rave about BrandCottage’s senior-level entrepreneurial team of brand and communication experts. BrandCottage never sticks a company with junior-level account managers.


Why? Because we don’t hire junior account managers!

Each member of the BrandCottage team, with locations in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., has more than 15 years of experience across the media landscape, including print, radio, television, digital, direct marketing, guerilla marketing, social media and public relations.

Barry Lawrence is a BrandCottage partner in charge of public relations and social media relations.