SAN FRANCISCO - The explosion in consumer adoption of tablets has been a growth driver for mobile as a marketing medium, making marketers allocate budget to make these devices a vital component of their digital strategies, per panelists at ad:tech.

Speakers during the ?iPads & Tablets: Your Tablet Strategy? session discussed whether it is better to advertise or create an app for tablets and the type of content that consumers are willing to pay for. The panel was moderated by Andrew Solmssen, managing director of Possible Worldwide, Los Angeles.

?We are aggressive on the iPad platform, launching Men?s Health as part of the initial Apple iPad rollout last year,? said Sean Nolan, vice president and general manager at Rodale Digital, Emmaus, PA. ?Our business is anchored by a unique mix of advertising and ecommerce specifically in digital.

?Our main goal with the iPad was the opportunity to learn,? he said. ?We wanted to get in the game early and assess some key questions such as the technology structure and costs, timeline and resource requirements and advertising and commerce response.?

Rodale was approached by Apple to participate in the launch.

The company?s publication on the iPad was positioned as a free download where users can sample the product and if they wanted to read more articles they could buy it for $4.99.

?As far as the advertiser?s response with the iPad, they?re still trying to figure it out,? Mr. Nolan said. ?From a publisher?s perspective, it?s important to offer the iPad to advertisers as another way they can advertise.?

The company found that consumers were responding to its premium pricing and where willing to pay for the editorial content.

?You have to start small and understand that mobile is iterative,? Mr. Nolan said. ?Have a promotional strategy and size the opportunity.?

The executive said that it is important to get into the tablet market.

Additionally it is important to fit the content to the device experience and be rigorously platform-agnostic. 

Advertising
According to Brett Barash, vice president of digital at BBDO, Atlanta, the iPad is a great canvas for advertisers.

BBDO is currently working with AT&T on an iPad iAd campaign, which focuses on how the company lets consumers surf and talk at the same time.

?The iAd is in development now and it lets users interact with the ad and take advantage of the iPad?s features that let them use the slide functionality,? Mr. Barash said.

Getting in
Marketers looking to get into the tablet market should make sure that the content fits with the brand story.

Companies should make the content useful and create something that will have consumers coming back.
And, as always, it is important to test and learn.

?In 2010, people were asking if they should build and iPad app,? said Dan Neumann, director of emerging platform strategy at Organic. ?Now, in 2011, it?s about what is my tablet strategy?

?There are so many options for media brands and that has driven a lot of brands to get involved in the vertical and consider the end-to-end user experience,? he said.

The executive said that access to content is key.

Whether companies are developing applications or a mobile-optimized site for tablets, users need to be able to access it.

For example, when a user goes on your site via their iPad and it is Flash-based, that experience is lost and they will not access that site again.

?Brands need to make sure that their content is accessible and in a lot of cases it?s something that you can easily do,? Mr. Neumann said. ?It?s about moving your animations away from Flash and moving it to HTML5.

?The next critical consideration is cross-platform support,? he said. ?Everyone is aware that Android is on the horizon, but there are a number of other strong contenders on the horizon as well.?