Infiltrating the fast moving world of performance marketing, on an international level, is next on the to-do list for full service digital performance media company, Impact Digital Group.

We caught up with the company’s managing director of Europe and EMEA, Dominic Yacoubian, to talk about competition, TV-generated leads and the company’s separate voucher code business.

Earlier this summer the performance media firm, which is based in New York and London, rebranded from Clash Group, to the Impact Digital Group (IDG). The 2006-founded business also has Impact-Mobi platform, a global affiliate network dedicated to mobile.

Q: How has client perception changed since you rebranded from Clash Group to IDG?

DY: It was important for us as a company to rebrand to encompass the wide market we are now in across all digital advertising – from mobile to TV. Our existing customers understood and welcomed the fact that we as a company were moving to encompass the wider digital market.

Q: How is Impact-Mobi competing with the bigger affiliate networks?

DY: Our USP’s are quite clear, 1) we are unique in that our network is the only one that is truly mobile specific, 2) our service levels and personal service really sets us aside, and 3) we have no charges, ambiguous or otherwise and no barriers to prevent clients or publishers from working with us.

Q: Are you close to using programmatic buying as your primary method of real-time bidding for all clients?

DY: Our network is an affiliate network, not a DSP or technology platform, and therefore Impact-Digital doesn’t itself use programmatic buying or RTB, however as part of the wider digital marketing services offered by the Impact Digital Group, programmatic buying is employed by many of the products available in our portfolio including many of the DSP technology platforms we license.

Q: What are the big differences you’ve found between mobile and desktop lead generation?

DY: PRICE!! In reality a lot of marketers are attempting to transfer learnings from web to mobile and that doesn’t work, it’s an entirely different medium with completely different metrics and our greatest challenge is educating our clients to this fact.

Q: When do you expect mobile to become the primary tool for lead generation?

DY: It is very different for each channel or vertical. For instance, retail clients are currently seeing around 40% of traffic from mobile and many gaming clients much more. When it comes to traditional lead generation on the other hand, web is still a great deal cheaper than mobile so again, it is a struggle moving marketeers across and getting them to take that leap of faith. Whilst lead generation may cost a lot more on mobile when compared lead for lead, that’s not really comparing apples for apples as many lead generation methods leveraged on mobile have a substantially higher conversion rate, so the end ROI for mobile will be considerably greater for mobile.

Q: What is the next big thing in lead generation? What will be making the headlines in 2014?

DY: We have recently launched a new type of lead generation on mobile on Android devices that captures the user’s details directly from their Android account with a user’s permission. This has led to a bounce rate of around 0.5% on email marketing and an open rate of >30% generated through this method which is almost unheard of. We think this type of permission lead generation from mobile will really be a game changer.

Q: At the end of August you launched a ‘groundbreaking’ cross platform marketing solution, Mobile App Discovery, allowing app developers to promote mobile and web apps on smart devices. Can you explain why it is groundbreaking and tell us what the take-up has been like?

DY: We know that more and more people are browsing the web more on mobile than on conventional digital devices so the Mobile App Discovery solution is a key extension of our services. Our clients now have the option to pay for television-generated leads on a performance basis and get the best return on their investment in executing TV ad campaigns for apps. The launch of the cross platform Mobile App Discovery Network and the mobile streaming service is just the beginning for us.Q: Impact Digital Group’s CEO, Simon Wajcenberg, said there is currently a gap in the market for a full service agency that can provide clients with the ability to pay for TV-generated leads on a performance basis, and get the best return on their investment in executing TV ad campaigns for apps. Why are some agencies so slow on the uptake of this?

DY: We are seriously ahead of the curve here, partly because of our background in digital advertising. We have seen the market develop and are fully aware of the new opportunities as they occur – and the company is built on digital advertising professionals who are ready to take advantage of the opportunities as they arise. We can clearly see how Mobile App Discovery will allow advertisers to create a deeper customer relationship with a brand and drive significant client ROI through IDG’s payment on ‘results only’ basis. It truly marks the step in the evolution of advertising that a lot of other agencies have not yet noticed.

Q: Do you have any future plans to open more offices, in addition to the London and New York hubs? If so where and when?

DY: Indeed, can’t say too much but do watch this space for more on our global domination of the performance marketing world.

Q: You are also founder of the now Impact Digital Group-owned UK startup technology business, Vendari Limited – the company behind VoucherComparison.com. To what level are you still involved in this business and how is it going?

DY:  I am still very much involved with VoucherComparison.com and still manage most of the business operations and marketing. VoucherComparison, along with its US sister site, MyCouponComparison, is doing very well, is meeting expectations and remains an integral part of the IDG group. We will very shortly be rolling out the product in new territories.