Industry collaboration key to success of mobile marketing

The MMA Mobile Marketing Forum www.mobilemarketingforum.com was held in Barcelona 9-10 October 2007, and attracted over 200 industry delegates from across Europe, Asia, North America and Latin America. The event saw industry leaders speaking about the latest developments in mobile marketing including; advertising, search, communities, and commerce. Keynote sessions from Acision, Coca-Cola, Enpocket and AKQA Mobile confirmed the mobile marketing industry is gaining traction with brands world-wide.

Common themes emerging from the event included:

1. Collaboration and integration: fundamental to the broad scale adoption of mobile marketing will be industry wide collaboration. By companies pooling together their knowledge and experiences, the industry can advance quickly.

2. Measurement and Metrics: the development of common currencies and definitions across the mobile ecosystem will help the integration and acceptance of mobile as a key part of the media mix.

A survey conducted by Airwide Solutions and launched at the Mobile Marketing Forum (October 2007) demonstrates the need for more metrics and found big brands claimed that up to 10% of recipients of mobile marketing campaigns requested more information as a result of receiving a mobile marketing message grew from 32% in 2006 to 58% in 2007. The survey also found that more brands are looking to spend a greater proportion of their marketing budget on mobile campaigns in the near future with 71% of brands projecting to spend up to 10% of their budget on mobile marketing within two years' time.

3. Consumer privacy: is key to growing the industry. Relevance and consumer pull are the foundation elements for a positive consumer experience. Developments such as the MMA EMEA mobile advertising guidelines help to ensure a clear and consistent interaction.

Invest in mobile

Leif Fågelstedt, Chief Operating Officer, Blyk, “When brands can see how mobile can be used successfully within marketing and advertising campaigns, then we will see them invest in mobile. This will shape the future of the industry.”

Laura Marriott, President, MMA commented, “Ensuring a positive consumer experience is paramount for all players in the ecosystem. All attendees at this event understand the need for consumer privacy and protection in order to protect the long term sustainability of mobile as a viable media channel. The goal of the MMA is to lead in the development of guidelines and best practices to ensure consistency, rapid deployment and ease of access.”

Mobile search

The intersection of mobile search and advertising was highlighted by Richard Siber, Interim CMO and Board Member, JumpTap, “Search plays a pivotal role in enhancing the user experience. By intersecting search with advertising, it becomes highly relevant to the consumer and effective marketing messages can reach the intended audience.”

Daphne Loukas, CEO, Out There Media said, “This was one of the best events I have attended in Europe with a whole range of industry players to learn from. It's been apparent from the Forum's sessions that the industry needs to collaborate to progress this industry forward. We see the EMEA mobile advertising guidelines the MMA launched recently as essential to progress the industry and will be implementing them.”

Join the MMA at one of its upcoming 2007 events: