Mobile Advertising Industry's Hottest Topics Passionately Debated at 2014 Kochava Mobile Summit
Broad adoption of mobile platform, real-time bidding, programmatic buying, and re-engagement campaigns emerge as hot topics for 2014
SANDPOINT, Idaho, March 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Participants at the first annual Kochava Mobile Summit, held in February in Sandpoint, Idaho, were treated to two full days of lively debate and discussion around the aggressively growing mobile advertising industry.
Kochava (www.kochava.com), the mobile attribution analytics and optimization company organizes this annual Summit to bring together thought leaders from across the mobile advertising ecosystem, including executives representing leading advertisers, ad networks, demand side platforms (DSPs), super publishers, and agencies. The invitation-only leadership event was sponsored by Kochava, AdColony, OpenX, and other Idaho-specific partners like the University of Idaho and the Idaho Department of Commerce.
"Summit attendees made it clear that mobile advertising is very much in its Wild West days, with no obvious experts who have all the answers sitting in a golden tower somewhere, untouchable," said Charles Manning, Kochava CEO. "The Kochava Mobile Summit brought together top execs from companies that are pushing the envelope in mobile advertising, each of whom said they saw this as the go-to event for mobile media planning. I can confidently say everyone who attended learned something new, shared their unique expertise with someone else and came away from this Summit fired up about the potential for our industry."
2014: The Year of Mobile & Programmatic
Summit attendees agreed 2014 will bring maturation to advertising across the mobile platform, and many believe this will be the year of programmatic buying, the use of technology and data to automate and optimize campaigns.
"2014 is the year of programmatic ad buying, and we're going to see the focus move from games towards mCommerce," said Niels Kvaavik, vice president of sales for North America at London-based social media advertising platform TBG Digital. "I think the most significant trend the industry will see is retailers taking their existing customers who have already purchased online, and using all the various mobile advertising tools available to move those customers over to mobile."
"Programmatic and big data are certainly the big buzzwords this year," said Greg Blackman, senior director of business development at mobile advertising platform provider OpenX. "I'm the most interested in seeing how this plays out through native advertising which I believe is a large growth area for 2014. Today, companies want better ad formats that can still generate revenue. Advertisers want new paths to acquiring users, hence the need for Kochava."
"The biggest change I see coming in 2014 is programmatic access to different, unique and high-impact ad formats, and it's changing the way that rich media is bought across exchanges," said Garrett MacDonald, VP Strategic Sales, AirPush.
It's time to Measure, Analyze, Optimize
Summit attendees heralded the importance of accurate measurement and the ability to analyze attribution data in real time, creating actionable intelligence. During The Summit, Manning provided attendees with a demonstration of how the improved Kochava 2.0 platform delivers this actionable intelligence, as well as a preview of new features expected in 2014.
"In 2014 I believe we'll see a shift from CPI-based buying to ROI-based buying that will really be led by tools like Kochava that provide that actionable intelligence to help us attribute lifetime value to a particular ad network source," said Eyal Grundstein, head of mobile marketing at GSN Games. "The other big trend this year will be the use of re-targeting and re-engagement campaigns."
"Advertisers will continue to demand more transparency in where they're getting traffic from because of the arbitrage issues with affiliates," said Dave Westin, co-founder of the Mobile UA Fellowship. "The tracking needs of advertisers are changing because the space is changing. Where advertisers get traffic from, what ad units, geographies, and devices are in play; it's nearly impossible to keep up to date on your own."
Kochava Mobile Summit Becomes Important Mobile Ad Industry Conclave
The first annual Kochava Summit proved to be just what industry insiders were looking for.
"I can say that the first panel with all the key players was probably the most informative panel that I've seen in the last 8 years," said Greg Blackman, OpenX.
"The Kochava Mobile Summit has been a really huge exchange of information, far more interactive than most conferences and one of the most important I've ever been to," said John Solamito, Co-Founder and CTO, Appfxs. "Hell yes, I'll be back next year!"
"The Kochava Mobile Summit was extremely valuable due to the intimate setting and the thought leaders and industry experts who attended and spoke candidly about what's going on in the mobile ecosystem," said Eyal Grundstein, GSN Games. "For me as a buyer I don't get a chance to interact with people on the sell side in settings that are not a sales pitch, so the Summit was a great setting for that. And the fact that it's in a location outside of San Francisco gives us more time to get to know one another."
"I've been to at least a hundred conferences in my career in this industry but the small format and the in-depth discussion on certain issues and topics that the Kochava Mobile Summit featured really gave me some breadth and depth on trending issues in mobile," said Dave Westin, Mobile UA Fellowship. "This will definitely be an event on the industry roadmap for years to come."
"I thought the Kochava Mobile Summit super publisher panel was pretty spectacular," said Garrett MacDonald, AirPush. "You don't get to sit in a room with the heavy hitters all that often. Hearing firsthand what some of the brightest minds in mobile are doing was probably the most rewarding experience."
"My biggest takeaway from the Kochava Mobile Summit was the incredible level of positive cooperation you saw among the people who attended. Everyone was very open about what's working and what's not working, and the discussions fostered some great debate about how the industry should and could be changed moving forward in 2014 and beyond," said Brian Malkerson, VP of Business Development, TapCommerce. "I'm definitely looking forward to coming back to the Summit next year."
Complete video interviews with select Summit attendees can be found here: http://blog.kochava.com/?p=254
Photos from the Summit and networking activities can be found here:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.647160118653891.1073741827.196890087014232&type=3.
Photos:
https://plus.google.com/photos/106188996729865435279/albums/5991589637514041969
Industry insiders interested in being invited to the 2015 Kochava Mobile Summit should sign up to receive event updates here: [email protected]
About The Kochava Mobile Summit
Held annually in Sandpoint, Idaho, the Kochava Mobile Summit is an invitation only conference for mobile advertising industry insiders designed to bring together the best in the industry. Summit attendees meet with other leading advertisers, publishers, and ad networks and get exposure to what leading buyers are doing in their mobile ad efforts during this intimate and highly interactive event. For more information visit www.kochavamobilesummit.com.
Media Contact:
Melissa Burns
Mobility Public Relations for Kochava
208-850-5939
[email protected]
twitter: @kochavamobile
SOURCE Kochava
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