The present day state of attachment between the majority of people to their mobile phones is staggeringly normalised and understandable. Those vibrating rectangles in our pockets are worth more than just the $1000+ we all forked out for them. They are our primary gateway to communication with loved ones and loved things and don’t we just love to love them. This is a trend which has been cementing itself into our world for a while now and Marketer’s have caught on accordingly. You can now seldom visit a mobile site of any nature without being bombarded by banners, PPC or in-game advertising which detract, annoy and frustrate us more often than not.
So time goes on, ad’s become more prevalent and intrusive. We’re spending 30 seconds watching an ad before we’re allowed to watch a 25 second Youtube video. It’s not making sense. But then, shrouded in a cloud of promotional clutter, a bright idea is devised in which you can now pay to not see these ad’s. Imagine pouring all of yourself into a piece of artwork and having it in a gallery amongst the other masterpieces, only for impatient gallery attendee’s to drop a handful of change into a bucket nearby simply to not view it. A ZDNet article from June last year revealed that 615 Million or 11% of all internet users are currently running an ad-blocking service on their computers. For your everyday time-poor mobile-engrossed consumer, it seems like a gift from the gods being able to pay away these pesky pop-ups. But what kind of detrimental affect will it have for Marketers?
However, the power of the mobile user reaches further than just being able to deflect advertisement’s. The emergence of and dependence on our mobile phones is helping shift us all toward a cashless society whether we like it or not. ApplePay and WeChat are only a couple of ways we can now transfer our hard earned money to one-another without stretching the leather in our wallets. If our phone’s can permanently shift the face of monetary exchange and abolish the use of cash forever because thats whats in demand, then what future does mobile/digital marketing have in a world we can bribe away advertising?
Alexander Graham Bell would be rolling in his grave.
Jake Herman
Jake's Perspective 
Hey Jake, really appreciated your post and your mention of WeChat. I find WeChat so fascinating, particularly in its ability to link regular people with street vendors who previously would have only dealt in cash.
A little confused by your use of ‘fiduciary’, and not sure if that last sentence is indeed a rhetorical question, but if I were to answer, mobile still has every chance of existing in the future. We may decide to “pay away” blatant advertisements, however there are so many subliminal messages and ads that we are ingesting every day, whether we realise it or not. If we as consumers are accessing content on our mobile, it makes sense that marketers will continue to try to access us. A never-ending game of cat and mouse.
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Hi Hannah, thanks for taking the time to have a read of my post.
What I was referring to with the use of the word is just the use of paper money or cash. I agree with your comments on subliminal advertisements and their relevance entirely. Hypothetically, do you think that if there were to be a demise in the effectiveness of mobile advertising as a primary digital tool, that subliminal advertising would be a viable alternative in the digital marketing landscape? or would the argument of ethics and social responsibility be too strong for it to prosper as a primary digital marketing strategy?
Very hypothetical I know, but i’m keen to hear your point of view.
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Hey Jake,
Super interesting to read that only 11% of internet users have utilised some sort of ad-blocking service. I thought that number would be incredibly higher- I’ve been using ad-blocked for the past 3 or 4 years and every time I have to watch a video or go to any website without it, it hurts my soul seeing all those useless advertisements. I agree to some extent that digital marketing may not have a place in our future but I think that future is very very far into the future, just because of the fact that still 89% of internet users are still unwillingly viewing these ads and getting those click-rates up!
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Great post Jake!
I would not be surprised if the use of ad-blockers rises significantly above 11% of internet users into the future. Particularly with the rise of mobile usage in developing countries. Though ad-blockers are great for internet users blocking intrusive ads, they may not be so useful in the long-run. Many sites and creators on sites such as YouTube heavily rely on advertising revenue. Ad-blockers distinguish their opportunity to make a viable income, and as such force them to stop or limit their accessibility. Businesses and creators are being forced to be more creative in advertising, but I question whether this can be sustained forever. Subscription models are an option, but there is a subscription model for everything these days and consumers only have a limited amount of disposable income to spend on services. It will be interesting to see how this space moves into the future.
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