Crisp Voices Blog

New Apple Products, Brand Advertising, and Crisp Wireless

13 Apr 2010 - Boris Fridman

A lot has been said about iPad and iAd already. I don't know if I can add a unique or interesting perspective. However, I do know that I can authoritatively comment on how Crisp is supporting iPad and how our rich media advertising solutions benefit from iAd.

With the launch of iPad and iAd, Apple has provided another validation point that the dominance of direct response advertising in mobile is coming to an end and the era of brand advertising is upon us. Brand advertising works when playing to emotions and Apple devices are enabling advertising with emotion. iPad, iPhone, Android, and other HTML5-based devices can deliver engaging, interactive, and plainly gorgeous ads that integrate high-quality images, hi-fi audio, HD video, and location to boot. Brand advertising on mobile has indeed arrived.

The shift to brand advertising is an area that Crisp Wireless has been focused on for the last two years. We created the Crisp rich media ad platform, launched our Adhesion fixed placement for the mobile web, and built an advertising sales force to support the direct sales efforts of our publishers. We have executed rich media campaigns with Skittles, Intel, Paramount Pictures, Estee Lauder, Lexus, Infiniti and many others. Without exception, all are major brand advertisers.

With respect to iPad, I want to state in no uncertain terms that the Crisp Rich Media Ad Framework supports iPad. Our platform enables agency developers to develop HTML5 ads that can run on iPad today. These ads push the envelope of mobile advertising, take full advantage of the iPad's larger canvass, and are limited only by the author's imagination. These ads run in application and on standard web sites, providing a compelling alternative to Flash ads, which are not supported on iPad. To date, we have extended our Adhesion placement technology to iPad and can convert existing IAB Flash ads into HTML5 ads that can run on iPad. We will also continue to deliver new and innovative iPad-optimized ad templates.

iAd won't be available for a few months so I have to resort to speculating. Apple has addressed the needs of its key constituency, the thousands of app developers. This is a long-tail play. Apple has neither addressed the needs of premium publishers, nor has it prevented third parties from providing advertising solutions for premium publishers. To add, iAd is all about apps, not mobile web, which will support open standards even on iPhone and iPad.

The Crisp Rich Media Ad Framework will continue to stay ahead of the market for rich media advertising on mobile web. Interestingly, what Steve Jobs demonstrated last week in his demo--a Toy Story 3 ad with options to watch clips and play games--Crisp has already delivered on the mobile web.

Much has been said about the closed nature of iAd for apps. However, there is nothing to indicate that the adlib libraries in Object C and JavaScript are exclusively tied into the Quattro Ad Network. While the Quattro iAd ad network might have some unique capabilities related to targeting, we haven't found a reason to believe that Apple will make it technically impossible for developers or premium publishers to leverage some of the new advertising related libraries in iPhone 4.0 OS.

In other words, I expect the Crisp Rich Media Ad Framework will be used by agencies to build rich media ads that work on mobile web, which what is possible today, and in iPhone/iPad apps after iAd becomes available.

In short, iPad and iAd will be a boon for mobile rich media brand advertising. Brand advertisers will finally start spending meaningful budgets on mobile. And Crisp is ready to help both publishers and agencies to execute on engaging rich media campaigns across mobile web and in app.

First Impressions of Apple iAd

8 Apr 2010 - Boris Fridman

Apple's announcement today of iAd really highlights the importance of relevant, innovative mobile advertising. The era of ringtone and download ads is ending with high profile brand marketers taking their place.

Crisp Wireless has been at the forefront of this shift to brand advertising for the last two years and we've seen significant traction with the likes of major brands such as Skittles, Intel, Paramount Pictures, Estee Lauder, Lexus, Infiniti, and more. We believe in the rich media, engaging experience that provides opportunities for interaction within the ad unit itself, including the likes of location awareness, video, game play, social networking, sharing, and more.

We are going to continue to bring these interactive mobile Web and app ad experiences to premium publishers who would rather maintain control over their inventory and sales. Moreover, agencies will be able to use Crisp to deliver rich media ads to wherever smartphone users access content, whether through their browser or in applications. We deliver a unified experience and reporting across the mobile web and apps, devices, and platforms including iPhone, iPad, Android, and more.

It is wonderful to have the power of Apple pushing innovation and interactivity to drive forward the possibilities of mobile advertising.

The iPad is here.

5 Apr 2010 - Xavier Facon

I pre-ordered the iPad via the Apple website. Even though the Apple site mentioned the Saturday April 3 delivery date, I was really expecting it on Monday. On Friday, I tracked the package via the UPS site in the style of NORAD tracking Santa. This was yet another reality check of where these beautiful electronics are manufactured. The package was still in Guangzhou, China. Our UPS guy generally doesn't even attempt deliveries in the weekend to our business address, so I called UPS. Before I could get through to an agent, an automated message preempted me. It announced to all impatient kids waiting for their iPad (or something like that) that it was going to get delivered on Saturday. Indeed, it even arrived in the morning.

Once in possession of the device, the crazy idea of taking a golf club to it before even turning it on like Daniel Tosh did in this clip flashed through my head. But that would have been a really stupid thing to do. Minutes after using the device, it became obvious--this device stands up really well to all it was hyped to be.

Even though many people have said that this is all about the irrational culture created by Apple's marketing genius, I have a perfectly rational explanation for the popularity this device is having. Here it goes.

Evident by the basically unchanged Windows PCs many of us have been using for at least a decade now, the consumer is pretty tolerant to the often poor user interfaces of personal computers. After all, what choice did we have? This has not been the case for cell phones. There has been a lot of choice of different mobile software platforms. Since the first Motorola 3000 cell phone circa 1983, all the way up to today, if a mobile phone is hard to use, it will sell poorly and it will give the mobile operator a huge customer support headache. Since I started using a Blackberry 957, I have wished the same care for detail would be put into the user interface of an actual computer OS.

This is it. The iPad is a small computer with the well designed user interface of a cellphone--the iPhone. I can find a large collection of content and software especially designed and optimized for this exact hardware. This is not the case on everyone's PC. In contrast to some PCs, it is a computing experience without the common frustrations of slow software, clogged menus or searing hot laptops with 4 hour battery lives. Not surprisingly, it is individuals who have great computer skills who don't understand the hype about iPad. They miss the point. They are often happy Linux users unaware of user interface obstacles common to software.

Users of the iPhone had seen what developers are capable of in terms of interactivity design on a constrained mobile device. Those are the same users who bought approximately 700,000 iPads over the weekend. It's a great example of less is more. I read a great blog post by Matt Gemmell on iPad user interface design here. The more direct a consumer can interact with content the more fun they have. So far, because of the large touch screen on a mobile 'always-on' device, the iPad allows more direct interaction with content than any other. The device is surprisingly fast thanks to the A4 CPU that can move data 64bits at a time.

Seeing the great full screen advertisements for Coca-cola, Oracle, Buick, and several other advertisers in between the content of great iPad optimized applications (like the WSJ and USA Today applications), I expect this device to be a darling of brand advertisers. The combination of large full page interstitials with integrated video works really well. Advertisers finally have the tripple threat: size, interactivity and measurability.

This is great news for those who bought the iPad. Your favorite newspapers, magazines and TV shows are likely to be largely free to download. For mobile publishers, this is a chance to take more control over monetizing their content as well. The ad network model that has been helpfull in mobile because of its efficiency, I expect to be less important for iPad apps. Regardless what you call rich media on mobile (H.264, HTML5, JavaScript or Flash), the iPad can support more impressive advertisements than any popular mobile device.