Australia has continued its drought in mobile for the second year in a row. With one of the highest rates of smartphone penetration in the world, you'd think we'd be doing better.
True, the category has only been around for two years, but Australia generally punches above its weight at Cannes based on the size of our population. So what gives?
According to Mark Bergin, creative director of Design100 and director of the Australian Mobile Awards, well... a few reasons. One of the big ones, however, is that advertisers who've adopted a "mobile-first" strategy are doing so well, they don't want to give the game away.
"They're scared of dropping the kimono, as the expression goes," he says. "People changing their operations to a mobile-first basis are getting tremendous results, but not everyone's broadcasting. They're keeping everything close to their chest to maintain that competitive advantage."
Only two Australian campaigns were shortlisted this year: McDonald's 'Track My Maccas' by DDB Sydney in the Augmented Mobile Experience category, and Durex 'Fundawear' by Havas Worldwide in Networked Mobile Technology.
This year's Grand Prix went to a campaign from the Philippines – Smart Communications 'TXTBKS' by DDB Manila – which repackaged and condensed textbooks into text messages readable on old-school handsets for people who can't afford smartphones or tablets.
Bergin says generally Australian mobile campaigns are dealing with commercial challenges rather than making big "positioning statements". "The Lions generally go to 'big-idea' campaigns – more monuments to marketing than campaigns which necessarily solve business problems."
David McGowan, managing director of mobile agency Nomad, says Cannes focuses less on ROI and effectiveness and more on "creatively well polished" work which pushes boundaries. He says with the smaller budgets allocated to mobile in Australia, we have less room to play.
"In a smaller market like Australia, there's only a select few things we can do with the smaller budgets we have," he says. "We're a smaller market trying to do something in a space that's relatively new.
"Mobile is a line item on everyone's list, but it's the first to get crossed off. It's seen as a campaign channel and not a product development channel, so the money is coming out of marketing budgets, which are shrinking."
But McGowan is quick to point out there is still room to be innovative and push boundaries even with smaller budgets – he cites the 'Fundawear' campaign as a good example – but says it comes down to the client's business priorities.
"To do innovation properly, you need a few things. You need the right expertise, you need a client that recognises the value of innovation, and you need the budget to back it – and a budget to be creative with innovation, because it's an iterative process."
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