Agencies no longer need to “evangelise” the potential of mobile advertising to clients, but more needs to be done to enhance the creativity and measurement of mobile advertising.

That was the message from a panel debate at today’s (18 April) Advertising Week Europe in London, with panellists including MediaCom global head of mobile Ben Phillips, Microsoft director of consumer engagement Tejal Patel, and AOL head of international Graham Moysey.

Moysey set the scene, observing that around $100bn is now spent globally on mobile marketing, with the aim of reach the 7.9 billion global smartphone devices currently in use.

For MediaCom’s Phillips, the need to promote and push mobile channels to clients is no longer as pressing as in years gone by: “We’re no longer evangelising about mobile. The two main questions we have is education – understanding a lot more about what we’re doing – and also the technology.”

Patel agreed that mobile is considered vital for her marketing team, in particular with the need to target early-adopting technology users who might buy Microsoft’s devices.

“Mobile is important to us. It’s making sure we have the right messaging throughout that consumer journey,” she said. “With consumer technology, digital is so important, and if we’re not in mobile we won’t be considered for the product purchase. We’re constantly trying to increase our budget into mobile.”

Although mobile is a “runaway train” in terms of consumer usage and advertiser spending, hurdles remain which must be surmounted before mobile is considered completely trusted channel, argued Patel.

“We want to keep investing more in mobile, all the indicators say that’s where consumers are, but it is about measurement and optimisation. Some of these things need to be cracked,” she said.

Phillips agreed that “measurement is everything”, and argues the creative side must be improved as well: “Who enjoys a good banner? It doesn’t happen. A number of creative agencies haven’t yet worked out how to harness mobile.”