2011 was destined to be the year of mobile. Why? Because “this year” has been for the predicted to be the year of mobile for the last 10 years.

With the explosive growth in tablets in the last year it’s safe to say it finally, truly was the year of mobile.

Transitioning to video business this year and creating a start-up video business in September, I can also say that online video is truly on the minds of everyone in the marketing, interactive and advertising businesses. Creating video content for audiences now interacting more often on less work related devices that are more suited for video content, I believe will fuel more growth in video next year.

Internet TV has received a fair amount of buzz this year. GoogleTV has popped up on lots of new devices and Netflix has had some major success and failures. I think IPTV is definitely the wave of the future as it is in phone technology. We should see continued growth here.

QR codes of course have also been all over the place this year. Here’s to hoping they get more thoughtful next year.

Location based apps have become ubiquitous – well, for anyone owning a smart phone. I have to say folks, I’m about sick of seeing you check into work, lunch, and then work again.

Probably the best part of the year has been that people are starting to understand social a little better. Fewer blank stares in meetings and also less reliance on the guru types. Social is also no longer the thing for the intern “cause they’re young and they understand that stuff.”

I haven’t seen any overall statistics for the year yet but just from what I’m hearing and seeing is a lot of pain in the small to mid-sized ad agencies while the larger ones doing better this year. But not nearly as well as the larger interactive shops. This is also a trend I think will continue until traditional small ad agencies find a way to make themselves relevant again or the economy shifts dramatically.

2011 has truly been a mixed bag – lots of cool tech but stagnate growth. Here’s to 2012 being a little more positive on the growth side.

Posted on: December 15, 2011, by : Jimmy Gilmore