What do brands and retailers need to know about HTML5?

Nathan Kerry, VP Strategic Accounts

LOS ANGELES, CA March 17, 2011 – If you look at the objectives of a brand advertiser or a retailer, they want to reach out to all of their users—they want to engage with everyone and create a meaningful, compelling experience for users across all devices.

HTML5 has such a huge advantage in that it is the one language can extend to all smartphone browsers that can support it, including every new device based on Google’s Android operating system and Apple’s iOS.

A recent feature story in Mobile Marketer said that HTML5 is enabling open, cross-platform rich-media standards that will help brands’ and agencies’ display advertising achieve the compelling creative and reach across mobile devices they have been seeking. http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/software-technology/9314.html

The mobile Web, powered by HTML5, can extend to almost all users, which is a huge advantage over applications, because apps have to be made for each particular operating system. You must let consumers know about the app and then encourage them to download it and use it regularly. Brands, retailers and publishers must spend at least as much on promoting an app as they do on creating it.

Marketers must create mobile experiences that are engaging enough and rich enough that users want to connect with content and consume it, preferably on a regular basis.

Ease of use is very critical—the greater the level of simplicity, the more likely users are to come back.

The richer, smoother, slicker the experience is, the more likely consumers are to enjoy it and come back.

HTML5 allows or this kind of engaging experience to be possible on Web-enabled mobile devices.  The level of engagement and interaction through a mobile Web browser can match that of an app.

You don’t necessarily need to support just Android or iOS with a downloadable app—you can reach out to a wider audience via a rich search-friendly mobile Web site powered by HTML5.

HTML5 is also leading to innovation in mobile advertising, enabling animation, video and other highly engaging rich-media mobile ad units.

Marketers have to hook users’ attention, grab them with a compelling graphic or video to boost brand recall.

Brands, retailers and publishers must be willing to give consumers some information that they can make use of, or an experience that delights and entertains them.

The important questions are: How engaging can you make the experience? How ubiquitous can it be?

GigaOm reported that mobile ad network AdMob, a subsidiary of Google, is updating its platform to full HTML5 for iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7. The move to HTML5 also enables more rich media opportunities for ads. The article notes that a mobile ad can now incorporate more location information and direct people to nearby retail outlets right in the ad. http://gigaom.com/2011/03/15/admob-releases-windows-phone-7-sdk-expands-html5-support

HTML5’s support for animation enables the creation of visually engaging ad units. Brand can place an animated display ad that takes over the entire screen. Everything is possible due to HTML5.

Previously developers had to build something separately for each platform, but now they are able to create one ad unit that works across all of the increasing number of smartphone browsers that support HTML5.

If a browser able to detect location, marketers are able to capture that and get user input through HTML5. They are then able to take that information and provide them with a quicker, smarter experience.

HTML5 makes creating an interactive experience much more painless—if a mobile site or ad unit is quicker and easier to navigate, users will interact with it more and offer up more information.

From our perspective, we want to look at users’ motivations and figure out how best to achieve their goals.

At the end of the day, it is about how those users are going to behave when using their mobile devices and how to make the experience more user-friendly, fun, exciting and engaging for them.