AdMob Alumnus goes where he thinks the money is – mobile vouchers…

Congratulations to Russell Buckley, former VP of Global Alliances and Admob’s first employee who has joined mobile voucher technology platform Eagle Eye Solutions as CMO. Buckley joined AdMob in 2006 as its first employee, with the remit to launch the company in the EMEA region before the company was acquired by Google for $750million in May 2010.

“It’s a very exciting time to be joining the Eagle Eye team. Digital redemption of mobile coupons to stimulate store visits has long been a requirement for sectors such as retail and FMCG to start seriously spending in the mobile channel. After careful research, I’m confident that Eagle Eye has the best solution on the market and more importantly, one which actually works today. Everyone in the ecosystem from the ad networks to the group buying companies is a potential partner for this technology and I’m looking forward to being part of another huge success in the mobile marketing space,” said Russell Buckley, CMO, Eagle Eye Solutions.

Russell has been thinking about mobile since before there were mobile phones and has had an uncanny knack of spotting trends before they happen. When I caught up with him a month or so ago he said that he was thinking about what he would be doing next but he was not going to be joining yet another mobile advertising marketplace – AdMob created the sector but he didn’t feel compelled to leave Google and join one of the 900+ other mobile advertising marketplaces in the world.

There were better ways of engaging customers and talked excitedly about the rise of mobile vouchers…

According to Eagle Eye, digital redemption via the mobile has been a missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle for the last decade in mobile marketing. Eagle Eye Solutions delivers that vision today for retailers, without the requirement for a massive upgrade of the retail/EPoS systems that other mobile voucher solutions like barcodes and NFC, inevitably require.

Buckley’s role will focus on working with retailers, brands and agencies to educate and evangelise the use of mobile vouchers through all marketing channels, from traditional media, such as TV and Print right through to mobile advertising.

Just how companies should capitalise on the emerging tools to acquire and engage with customers remains to be be seen but if you are considering your mobile strategy, come meet, talk and get some inspiration and advice at the BLN’s forthcoming Money in Mobile Forum on June 14th. Simply put, we are featuring people and companies that make companies money from mobile – take a moment to see our extraordinary speaker line up and programme: http://moneyinmobile2011.thebln.com/ Early Bird tickets available until May 5th.