CTIA: Verizon's Harrobin: "Stop the hype!"

Verizon Wireless' VP of Advertising and Digital Media, John Harrobin, sat down with co-Fierce editor Lynnette Luna and me to discuss the carrier's CTIA announcements and other general trends in the mobile content industry. --œStop the hype! Stop the hype!-- he yelled at us, as we lobbed a few questions about mobile advertising his way. --œLook we're in mobile ad trials with top brands and advertisers, and we're taking a methodical view. That's the reason we don't have Jamster-like experiences and the reason why we have the lowest FCC complaints--¦We want to protect the consumer experience as the rest of the industry gets caught up in its own speak. We're looking to protect the consumer and the brands.-- Our talk with John was very refreshing and struck a very different tone from most other chats I've had with carrier execs. --œWhat would it take for me to invest in mobile advertising? That's the question I ask myself--the three things to consider are scale, cost effectiveness and efficiency.-- The consideration of scalability includes the frequency of ads that consumers will tolerate, the size of the ads and the placement of the ads. --œWe can't repeat the mistakes of the Internet with pop-ups and spam etc.--¦We're looking to get the right model, the one that consumers accept and that brands benefit the most from, because this is ours to build and shape and mold.-- -Brian