Mobile Ad-Fill vs Mobile Targeted ads? FISHLABS argues that Ad-Fill wins

I had a lovely chat at the Smaato BBQ with the CEO and Co-Founder of mobile gaming developer Fishlabs: Michael Schade.

Michael is an outspoken guy and had some interesting things to say about in-application mobile advertising and what he wanted. We had both had a couple of drinks so he might have been overly strong about his opinions but I did ask him if I could publish!

First of all: What is Fishlabs?

Fishlabs is a mobile games developer with a focus on quality. We develop state of the art mobile games for key players. For example the F1 Team Brawn GP.

Bena: WOW. You do BRAWN GP Games. That is huge – I bet you didn’t predict the success of the company when the first came to you – they are rocking in F1 right now.

Michael: Yes we are very proud they chose us. They focus on quality and so do we.

Michael and I spoke for a long time on the Brawn win (press release here) and here is a quote from Ross himself on the new application.

Ross Brawn, Team Principal of the Brawn GP team said: “Brawn GP has had a fantastic start to the 2009 Formula One season which has been made possible by the hard work and dedication of our team. We want our fans to share the excitement of racing a Brawn GP car and become winners themselves. Partnering with Upstream and FISHLABS has allowed us to create a unique racing experience.”

Then the conversation moved towards Smaato and mobile advertising.

Bena: Are you using Smaato?

Michael: Not yet. We are going to now. But it can’t be worse than what we have already.

Bena: What do you have?

Michael: Greystripe.

Bena: Greystripe are one of the best, I heard.

Michael: Maybe they are now but they used us and I imagine all first movers as a test-bed. I am frustrated with them and advertising companies can’t play with our business model.

Bena: Yikes. Do you really feel like that? What about the quality of the ads and other things?

Michael: OK. I am being honest as I have been very frustrated. As a strong business advertising providers need to have a lot of adverts.

Bena: But also relevant ads?

Michael: As a publisher and developer I only care about Ad Fill.

Bena: What about targeting and personalisation?

Michael: I don’t care. The space needs to be filled and who really knows what a consumer likes. They might like girls games and be boys or boys games and be girls or anyone can be using the mobile device.

Advertisers sound good when they say “we know the user” but at the end of the day publishers want to fill their ad spaces and make money back.

Bena: Well, thanks for your honesty. I feel like a Smaato vs Greystripe coming on!

Michael: Sure, I will send you some games in light mode know where you can test Greystripe for yourself.

Bena: Super. Do you mind if I publish this view?

Michael: Sure.

What we think?
I got a quite addicted today to some Fishlabs games and haven’t had so much fun in ages. I thought I hated games –but I was wrong. I am keeping my eyes open on German business and small mobile companies as there is a lot of talent here.