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Vodafone exec urges marketers to bridge ‘massive gap’ between TV and digital spend

Adam-StewartVodafone’s head of global digital marketing has said there remains a “massive gap” between the amount of money spent on TV advertising and the reality of where consumers are consuming content.

Adam Stewart, speaking this morning at the Association of Data Driven Marketing and Advertising global form, said marketers need to stop spending the “vast majority” of their budget on traditional marketing and face up to the reality that the mobile is now the “first screen”.

“Mobile is front and centre and has taken over as the first screen. TV is no longer the first screen,” Stewart told delegates during a keynote presentation.

“Marketers must face the element that consumers’ attention is now mobile. In this increased world of devices the challenge is to be noticed and there is still a massive gap between the amount of ad spend that is going on TV verses where the customers are in this digital age.”

The comments follow those of Amaysim founder and chief executive Christian Magel who said the return on investment of traditional marketing is falling as audiences and engagement levels decrease.

“My kids just don’t watch TV anymore,” Magel said. “It’s just not of interest to them.”

Stewart said brands need to become the “curator and mentor” of content as he urged them to exploit the amount of user generated content. They should strive to make consumers the marketers, he said.

“We need to nurture and create advocates of our communities,” Stewart said. “That is how we create influencers and  it is those influencers who will tend to do the marketing for us going forward.”

Steve Jones

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