An eventful week in London was followed by a long weekend fighting off the cold/flu I picked up during the conference(s) I attended on the last leg of the MSG “world tour” that has taken me to three continents and 20+ conferences to explain the MSG mission (to identify and amplify ideas/voices/companies we need to hear and analyze solutions/business models/approaches we need to consider). More importantly, my travels have allowed me just this last summer to cross paths with Jonathan MacDonald, a senior consultant at Ogilvy turned mobile advertising evangelist, who has had a profound impact on my worldview and the future direction of MSG.

But it was Jonathan’s presentation in London last week – like no other – that has strengthened my determination to create/cultivate the linkages/ exchanges that will allow us all (“every single one of us,” as Jonathan would say) to move the industry a giant step forward. One day after a speech to the 450+ attendees at Future of Mobile, where Jonathan launched into a harsh critique of the mobile advertising industry (in fact, the entire communications industry), he switched gears and replaced his entertaining rant with a realistic roadmap to change. I was fortunate to witness the birth of this powerful plan and overjoyed that I accidentally left my MP3 recorder running.

If you do nothing else today, listen to Jonathan’s speech here.

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It outlines the seven steps that the industry can/should/must follow to get where it needs to be. Jonathan aptly titles this chapter of our great adventure No Way Back From Here. And the truth is. There isn’t.

By way of background, it all began with Vol. 1 of a book/concept Jonathan dubbed The Communication Ideal. (Many of you may not know the context – and therefore miss the pivotal importance of Vol. 2 ( No Way Back From Here). For this reason, Jonathan and I are developing a comprehensive yet highly accessible summary of key points to post on MSG to make sure we’re all on the same page. On December 8, Jonathan “will close the Communication Ideal Phase of the ‘Every Single One Of Us‘ movement.” December 9 marks the start of No Way Back From Here, a new venture and one that will be the most powerful ever because it combines pragmatism and passion. (Listen to the audio and you’ll understand…)

Cognitive dissonance (until now rampant in the mobile space) has been replaced by the recognition of a painful truth: Mobile advertising (and perhaps mobile as a whole, if we accept advertising is nothing more than a form of content) is broken. Now we (“every single one of us”) has to fix it. The good news: We are ready to seek solutions. The great news: It’s not just about Jonathan.

Granted, Jonathan is spearheading this re-think, but his outreach to stakeholders, shareholders and investors at all levels ensures this effort will deliver real value and tangible results. And if you think this has never been/can never be done, then think again. Mobile Advertising Netherlands, an effort involving the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and companies up and down the mobile advertising value chain, has recently produced research aimed at providing companies “insights in the possibilities and status of Mobile Advertising in the Netherlands.” Clearly, there is a blueprint here to follow – and Jonathan gets this better than most.

However, as I have I observed earlier, it’s not about Jonathan; it’s about every single one of us.

There is encouraging evidence that many of us see it this way. In fact, the need for new guidance and new approaches runs like a leit motif through my work and my encounters with execs over the last weeks/months. From briefings with brands such as Coca-Cola, to yesterday’s amazing exchange with Mauro Montanaro, Jamba CEO (soon to be branded Fox Mobile), the same message comes through loud and clear: Mobile is not about technology, it is about communication.

Insisting that mobile content/apps/advertising is about anything else is a flawed approach and “business as usual” is not an option.

The need for a re-think also echoed through many of the presentations during the Mobile Content conference and the invigorating discussions/exchanges that followed. You could sense this groundswell at Future of Mobile when six social media practitioners/industry bloggers – including Helen Keegan of Beep Marketing and James Whately of Whatelydude – took the stage to tell us where mobile has failed and why. (More on Helen’s take here.)

Take a wider view and you can pick up on similar messages and similar intensity across a wide range of sites and destinations, including London Calling (written by mobile advertising evangelist and esteemed colleague Andrew Grill), David Cushman’s FasterFuture and Tomi Ahonen’s Communities Dominate Brands – to name a few.

Connect the dots, as Tomi and I did, and change is underway – at all levels everywhere. (Tomi documented his moment of clarity in this eloquent must-read post.)

My take: If we accept that advertising is content (just today MoCoNews tells us Gap and Target have launched iPhone apps to spread brand love and boost their value-add) and we recognize the pivotal role of mobile and community in advertising (translated: mobile social networks, viral marketing and personal recommendation), then the only sustainable business model lies at the intersection of these new universal constants.

And, if you listen in on the audio, take special note of Tomi Ahonen’s introduction. Yes, there is a change in Jonathan’s thinking, but there is also a seismic shift in the mobile industry -and the epicenter for this is London!

(I am immediately reminded of The Medici Effect, a book by Frans Johansson that documents how, why and where diversity in ideas and experiences breeds breakthrough ideas/insights. They occur at intersections, and London is certainly the place where mobile and advertising meet. I’m going to read the book again, and suggest you also check it out…)

And before you dismiss the potential significance of London (and the U.K.) in the scheme of all things mobile, consider today’s stats from Nielsen and the story they tell (as reported by Brand Republic): Mobile Internet use has skyrocketed in the U.K. in 2008, growing eight times more than PC-based Internet.

The Mobile Media View report found that from Q2 to Q3 2008, the number of people using the mobile internet increased by 25 percent from 5.8 million to 7.3 million . That’s compared to 35.5 million surfing the wired Internet, up only 3 percent from Q2 to Q3. The mobile audience is younger than its PC-based counterpart, and flocking to sites that provide immediate information/value. In fact, mobile Internet traffic also accounts for the lion’s share of visits to majority of page visits to sites like BBC Weather, Sky Sports and Gmail.

Finally, as I have twittered and told my closest associates, MSG will be a proactive part of what Jonathan is leading and what we are all building. The first efforts will center on #1 of the seven-step plan: Documenting/assessing the lay of the land through primary research, interviews and analysis.

Understanding how things are now is the first step to affecting significant future change.

And speaking of analysis, interviews with Coca-cola, Jamba (Fox Mobile) and some 25 other key execs/thinkers will be featured (in Q&A format) in the Netsize Guide 2009, a book whose unifying themes are empowerment, engagement and expansion. I am proud that Netsize has commissioned me to write the guide and pleased to collaborate with George Yaryura, Netsize Strategic Marketing Manager, who shares my enthusiasm about the project and excitement about its potential impact.

Tags: Coca-Cola, Communities dominate brands, Faster Future, Interactive Advertising Bureau, Jamba, Jonathan MacDonald, London Calling, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Advertising Netherlands, Mobile Content, Netsize Guide 2009, No Way Back From Here, Tomi Ahonen

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 4:43 pm and is filed under Content Discovery, Mobile Advertising, Mobile Content, Mobile Research, Mobile Social Networking, Personalization, Podcasts, Usability, Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.