At MAMA London, industry leaders to address challenges of the mobile economy

Paul Wright, managing director, UK, France, Middle East & Africa at AppsFlyer, says the company’s MAMA London event, taking place on 4 July is one no serious mobile marketer can afford to miss.

The sun has set on another year at Cannes, with thousands of people from the world of media and marketing gathering to celebrate creativity in the industry. The tone of Cannes reflected how far the industry has changed over the past few years, with data and creativity remaining one of the main themes, and data businesses getting recognition for their role in creative campaigns.

For marketers, perhaps nowhere is the convergence of data and creativity more essential for success than on mobile. So while most of the industry may require a couple more days to recover from Cannes, AppsFlyer and Mobile Marketing Magazine are ramping up ahead of an exclusive event for the UK and Europe’s premier mobile marketers – MAMA London.

Some of the best minds in the mobile industry will be teaming up to share success stories, hone their skills, and address the opportunities and challenges shaping tomorrow’s mobile and app economy. Ahead of our event on 4 July at Tobacco Docks, we have looked at some of the key trends in the industry as highlighted by a few of the speakers themselves.

A smart investment
Technology, and more specifically mobile, has proved to be a lucrative market for investors over the past few years. With Android offering a number of low cost handsets, this market will continue to grow as it becomes more accessible to a wider global audience.

For investors, it is reasonably easy to measure, predict and forecast the outcome, therefore mobile is seen as a relatively low-risk investment. There are now more mobile devices than people on the planet, offering infinite opportunities to connect with consumers. And with the average person checking their devices up to 50 times per day, it offers unrivalled reach and scale, allowing brands to engage with consumers on a much more intimate level.

But practically every business today has some mobile strategy – and they also understand that the market is saturated, which can make it a challenge to gain the investment needed to be competitive. Therefore, it’s important to find a way to break through the noise, proving that the business provides actual value to the supply chain.

“The UK and European tech ecosystem is maturing nicely, as evidenced by a number of recent multi-billion dollar IPOs and exits,” says Kirk Lepke, a growth investor at Goldman Sachs and speaker at MAMA London. “We are excited by the growth that we have seen across Europe in terms of capital, talent and global ambition, which we believe will lead to more success stories in the coming years.”

Gaming
The technology sector has continued to grow exponentially, with mobile and gaming remaining a key focus for most businesses. In the past few months we have seen a number of major acquisitions and investments, including Gram Games’ recent acquisition of Zynga for a huge $250m (£190m), while Voodoo games has just received $200m investment from Goldman Sachs. Even the more traditional gaming console businesses have realised that mobile gaming is a significant market, and a number of them are investing in their mobile offering alongside consoles.

Technological advances will continue to evolve this market – with the introduction of a wider rollout of 4G, followed by 5G – and brands will be able to utilise technology to create a more immersive experience, including ultra HD, VR, voice search and IoT. For gaming apps, this provides endless opportunities to build a truly mesmerizing experience.

At MAMA London, a number of gaming experts – including Ubisoft, Badoo and Supersolid Games – will hit the stage to discuss some of the challenges in mobile gaming, as well as highlighting the future of user acquisition and retention.

Fraud is still an issue
Fraud continues to be a hot topic for the industry, and it doesn’t seem to be disappearing any time soon. We’ve lined up a whole host of industry experts to discuss this topic in detail on our “F*** Mobile Fraud!” panel. Moderating the panel is Alex Hewson, Managing Partner – Media at M&C Saatchi Mobile, and he’ll be discussing the main issues around fraud with spokespeople from Gett, Huuuge Games, Social Point and Playtika.

Alex believes that mobile fraud has evolved hugely over the past few years. He says: “Sophisticated forms of mobile fraud are becoming more common, and when a bad actor attempts to take credit for an organic user, it’s very difficult to spot. They are real users, so they behave in a similar way to true organic users.

“I think all ad agency clients are worried about how much of their digital advertising is wasted through fraudulent practices. The main issue is that when dealing with the mobile space, there may be a lack of awareness of how complex and widespread an issue it is.”

All of these speakers plus many more will feature at the MAMA event on the 4 July, for a day of connecting, learning, and networking in style. To find out more about the event, please visit the link here. We hope to see you there!