Live Mobile, the South African global mobile soccer portal, scoops coveted Global MMA Award

Livemobile, a South African global mobile soccer portal scooped the coveted Mobile Marketing Association global award in the display category for the Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region at the prestigious awards ceremony held in Los Angeles, USA on the 17th November.

This makes Livemobile the first African company to win an award since the inception of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) global awards. The MMA is a global organization leading the way in promoting the development and sustainability of mobile marketing.

"We are privileged and honored to be the first African company to win an award since the inception of the MMA Global awards 5 years ago, and we see this not only as a Livemobile accolade but one which we share with the whole mobile marketing industry in Africa as this award serves as an endorsement to the fact that the rest of the world recognizes the leadership position that this continent is taking in this sector", said Patrick Kuwana, Co-Founder of Livemobile. "The world population sits at 6.8 billion at the moment and 4.1 billion of those people have mobile phones.

Mobile marketing is not hype anymore; it is now a mainstream channel to access the market out there in a personally engaging and measurable way. We are providing marketing and advertising agencies with the perfect platform to offer to leading brands and advertisers who want direct and measurable access to the millions of football followers in South Africa, across the rest of the African continent and globally. Most of the traditional advertising inventory in South Africa during the world cup period is either all sold out or selling at astronomical rates, but Livemobile offers the powerful opportunity to access the football fan in the most direct way within the context of football on the one channel that stays in the hand or pocket of the target market 24 hours a day. We are extremely delighted that the foremost global mobile marketing authority and industry leaders have recognized, endorsed and rewarded our strategy" concluded Kuwana.

"The MMA, its members and the entire mobile marketing community come together each year to honor our industry's exemplary campaigns and remarkable leaders throughout the world," said Mike Wehrs, president and CEO of the MMA. "We congratulate Livemobile on their outstanding achievements, and look forward to their continued success as they help advance the mobile marketing channel's evolution in the years to come."

The award winning campaign was based on providing football fans with a multi-channel real time mobile football experience during the Confederation Cup in June 2009, without infringing on any governing body media rights. Livemobile offered fans real time running commentary, statistics and news from each game during the tournament from its portal www.lmfootball.mobi. Fans also received SMS based match kickoff reminders and also other key SMS alerts to keep them engaged in the football excitement for the duration of the tournament. Each interaction experience between the fans and Livemobile presented advertisers with the opportunity to take their brands or marketing campaigns to the audience. And from a business stand point critical marketing intelligence and profiling information was gathered from the fans to drive further targeted marketing to the user base and increase call to action activity and hence customer acquisition.

Livemobile worked very closely with its strategic partner Mo-B (Mobitainment Pty Ltd - www.mobitainment.mobi), one of South Africa's leading mobile strategy consultancies in the design, execution and commercialization of the campaign. The site was designed, built, integrated and hosted by Multimedia Solutions (www.multimediasolutions.co.za), a premier global award winning mobile solutions company.

As the MMA's highest honors, these awards recognize companies and their campaigns for spearheading the adoption of the mobile channel for marketing purposes. Each year, the MMA's highly anticipated awards ceremony serves as the conclusion of the Mobile Marketing Forum (www.mobilemarketingforum.com).

The MMA received hundreds of submissions in 12 categories from companies across the globe. Winners are selected by the MMA Awards Selection Committee comprised of global industry leaders from wireless carriers, technology and content providers, agencies and industry publications. A complete list of this year's winners and finalists is available at www.mmaglobal.com.

About the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier global non-profit trade association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth, and evangelize the use of the mobile channel. The more than 700 member companies, representing over 40 countries around the globe, include all members of the mobile media ecosystem. The Mobile Marketing Association's global headquarters are located in the United States and it has regional chapters, including North America (NA), Europe, Latin America (LATAM), Middle East & Africa (MEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) branches. For more information, please visit www.mmaglobal.com.

About Livemobile Pty Ltd

Livemobile (Pty) Ltd is a South African based mobile media and services company focused on providing innovative mobile services targeted at the sports fan market. Livemobile is a leader in the delivery of sports services on mobile across multiple channels including mobile internet, SMS, MMS, USSD and JAVA based applications. Livemobile is also the rights holder within the African territory for several mobile media rights including the English Premier League mobile video Archive package.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Livemobile

Patrick Kuwana
+27 82 333 7989
az.oc.alibmu@kcirtap

Mo-B (Mobitainment)

Candice Goodman
+27 83 326 2461