To Adblock or not to Adblock, that is the Question(naire)

Well, it's one of the questions that crosses my mind as 2016 seems to be the year of the Adblock Wars. I'm busy collating a bunch of resources and thinking around the topic and I will write about it here in due course.

However, having worked in mobile advertising and media for 16 years, I am more than a little interested in what's happening in the sector. I've been heard to lament the lack of innovation in mobile advertising many times and I am still frustrated that, as an industry, we are so focussed on the banner ad but maybe the times are a-changing with the debate around adblockers, click fraud, 'sponsored' or 'branded' content.

So indulge me if you will, and please complete my short questionnaire about your usage (or non-usage) of ad-blockers and mobile advertising. I'm not judging you! I just want to get a picture of what's going on in the sector which will confirm or deny some of my hunches.

I will compile the results and try and make some sense out of them. I have no idea what insight may result, but let's see what happens. If nothing else, the answers will help me formulate my next series of events. Please also share it with colleagues, friends and family. It shouldn't take you more than a few minutes to complete as it's mostly tick boxes.

If you can't easily access the form below to complete, you can follow this link instead. And if you'd like to share the survey with friends and colleagues, please feel free to copy/paste this link https://goo.gl/forms/JDUG1RK4wedtN7C03

Wirehive 100–get your entries in by 19 July 2013

It’s time for some local recognition and the Wirehive 100 is giving agencies in the South of England a chance to shine by entering for their place in the Wirehive 100 league table and also to enter one of 12 specific categories to win a prestigious Wirehive 100 award. I’m judging the mobile category again this year and look forward to seeing some new work from new agencies.

How do I get involved?

The Wirehive100 Awards and League Table are open to any digital agency in the South of England based in the following counties: Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent, Wiltshire, Berkshire and Surrey.

It’s free to put yourself forward for the Wirehive 100 League Table. You can do that here.

Then there are 12 categories that you can enter for the awards for which there’s a charge of £75 per entry. The categories include several techie categories including Techie of the Year, Best Mobile Project and Best Tech award which may well appeal to some of you reading this. All twelve categories are listed here.

The deadline for both is 19 July 2013 – that’s just a few days away. If you miss the deadline, there is a week’s grace period but it’ll cost you £100 to take advantage of that. And do check the terms and conditions of entry too to make sure you qualify.

So get those thinking caps on and get entering. Make my life as a judge difficult by making sure there are some great mobile entries in there! Best of luck and hope to see some of you at the awards ceremony.

2012 Wirehive 100 Digital Agency Awards

Yes, it’s most definitely award entry season. I’ve just spent the day reviewing and scoring the entries for the Meffys. The Mobile Marketing Magazine Awards are still open for entries here. And just in, I’m going to be a judge on the Best Mobile/Tablet category for the Wirehive Awards which are new this year and supported by Digital Donut and BIMA and sponsored by RecruitmentRevolution.com and Mundays with individual award categories also sponsored.

Some might ask why I’m involved with judging yet another awards… well this one is a bit different as it’s very regional. It’s designed to celebrate the work of digital agencies who are outside of London but in the South or South East. And there are *a lot* of them. These are often the agencies servicing local businesses well but don’t always have the scale to compete for the larger national or international accounts. But they’re still doing good work in digital and they’re still innovative and still working in mobile and more. So from judging the global Meffys today, I’m going to the other end of the scale with these highly regionalised awards.

So here’s the deal. If you’re outside of London and you’re a digital agency, you can apply to be in the Wirehive 100 League Table. This is free, gratis, no charge. Plus it gives you a vote for a peer agency in the Most Respected category and automatic entry into the Fast Growth and Most Efficient if you want to submit them. These are all free.

Other categories cost just £50 each to enter and you can enter for as many categories as you like.

You may be wondering what constitutes the South or South East? It excludes London but does include all the Home counties and all southern counties. It does not include the South West – i.e. Bristol and beyond. Not sure if you qualify? You can always ask here.

But what if you have offices in say, Manchester and Brighton? If you have an agency with an office in the eligible area and the billing entered is specific to that office, then that’s just fine. However, if your billing includes the billing for the Manchester office (in this example), then then that wouldn’t qualify. Still not sure? Then please ask here.

You have until 13 August to get your entries in http://100.wirehive.net/ and then it’s a month until the big awards bash itself hosted by Gadget Show’s Suzi Perry no less. I look forward to going through the entries for the Mobile & Tablet category.

Did you miss the mobile marketing forum?

I didn't make it to this year's MMA London mobile marketing forum for the conference, but I did manage to say hello to pals and colleagues in the evening courtesy of Admob. It sounds like it was an interesting day and worth going to. So, if like me, you missed it, then you can read all about the 'What Agencies Want panel session' here. It's well worth a read if you're an agency, working with an agency or want to work with agencies.

Via mobhappy.