Mobile ads have a lot of catching up to do

It is estimated that global advertising spend will total $503 billion (Dh1.847 trillion) this year, up 3.5 per cent from the last, led by a pace-setting growth in digital ads. According to ZenithOptimedia, the Publicis group entity, digital ads will be responsible for 21.8 per cent of this, up from 19 per cent last year.

However, ads on mobile platforms still make up only 3.7 per cent, despite the sustained pace in smartphone sales worldwide. Despite the low base, such ads will see higher growth in the long-term. There has been an 81 per cent surge in the North American marketplace, and could be boosted by 61 per cent and 53 per cent in 2014 and 2015 respectively, by which time this format is expected to represent 8.4 per cent of the gross ad spend. ZenithOptmedia’s analysts say mobile is growing seven times faster than desktop Internet spend.

As for spending patterns in the present, mainstream media still carries a lot of clout — TV represents 39 per cent and newspapers 14.9 per cent. Billboards and magazines pull in greater media spend than the mobile, at 7 and 6.8 per cent respectively.

Briefs

Apple makes the first cut

Interbrand has released its annual ‘Best Global Brands’ report, in which Apple takes first place and in the process consigning Coca-Cola down to the third. The sharpest gains in brand value perceptions were for Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Prada. Brands which found themselves on a slippery path were Morgan Stanley, Dell, Nokia and Nintendo.

(Source: Interbrand)

A lot of Facebook pictures to get through

The ‘Faces of Facebook’ site by freelance creative Natalia Rojas organises every single profile picture on Facebook in chronological order, right from Mark Zuckerberg onwards. Rojas has calculated that if you were to take a look at each of them for just one second it would take 36 years, five months, nine days, six hours, 46 minutes and 16 seconds) or you can log in with Facebook to see what number you were to sign up, and where your friends are.

(Source: AdAge)

Designing through iPads

An upcoming design workshop in Dubai will take you step by step on conceptualising interactive projects through iPads. Participants will learn how to create basic interactive functions such as scrolling, vertical and horizontal layouts in tandem, importing videos, photo galleries, panaromas, buttons, rotating 3D images and publishing.