With Christmas just around the corner – bringing with it an inevitable huge spike in device activations and app store traffic – ad giant Millennial Media has put out a call to arms for developers.

In the firm's latest blog post, SVP of global monetisation solutions Matt Gillis has claimed the holidays represent the perfect opportunity for developers "to drive more installs and build a bigger base of users."

As such, Gillis represents developers boost their exposure by adopting promotional pricing for paid apps.

Yes and no

Interestingly, however, Gillis' stance comes just as other figures in the industry have come out to advise the exact opposite.

PocketGamer.biz US correspondent and 148Apps writer Carter Dotson took the site yesterday to claim that the festive season, as a whole, is not the gold rush many depict it as.

In his investigation, Dotson explained that the tendency for big publishers to heavily discount games during the holiday season actually makes cracking the charts much harder around Christmas.

And that's also the view of Ed Vause, MD of app marketing service appromoter. In a recent PocketGamer.biz column, he explained that at this time of year, big publishers "will not only drop their prices, but they'll also pump tens of thousands into app advertising and marketing."

"It's a bloodbath out there."

Steps two and three

Nevertheless, Millennial also recommends that developers – naturally – take advantage of mobile advertising campaigns and cross promotion as a means of driving installs throughout the holiday season.

The latter can be effective if you already have an established userbase, of course, although it's questionable how effective cross-promotion would be as a means of picking up new device owners.

An advertising campaign may stand a better chance of driving installs, but a recent Chartboost investigation showed that holidays can create unpredictable fluctuations in cost per install – thanks to a combination of increased traffic and the industry taking the day off.

But while there are clearly some differing perspectives on the best response to the festive rush, it's clear that the season brings with it a significant in both potential audience and hard-hitting competition.

[source: Millennial Media]