Mobile Marketing Association Building Out Consumer Agency, Brand and Retailer Initiative

NEW YORK, LONDON, SINGAPORE and SAO PAULO, May 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) (www.mmaglobal.com) today highlighted its efforts and focus to minimize the cost, risk and time to market for consumer agencies, brands and retailers as they implement mobile marketing strategies. The initiative is designed to further the recent trend among major agencies, brands and retailers – including Ogilvy Interactive, Isobar and Best Buy, as they move their mobile budgets out of the R&D column and into their mainstream marketing programs.

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The MMA initiative will include events, Webinars, outreach programs and educational collateral, all designed to help agencies, brands and retailers overcome challenges that include:

• Understanding and implementing effective mobile marketing tactics
• Integrating mobile marketing with their overall brand strategy
• Developing and executing highly engaging campaigns
• Measuring campaign effectiveness

The educational collateral will include a MMA member developed informational packet that provides a concise, accessible overview of the mobile marketing ecosystem, with tips for reducing costs, risks and time to market, and other advice from leading vendors, agencies and media planners. The informational packet will feature a variety of real-world examples that illustrate mobile marketing's positive ROI and can serve as models for agencies, brands and retailers as they develop campaigns.

"This new initiative reflects the MMA's commitment to supporting agencies, brands and retailers as critically important market sectors that are leveraging mobile marketing for effective consumer outreach and engagement," said Michael Becker, Managing Director for North America, MMA. "This is just the start, along with leading MMA members we're building the foundation and providing actionable intelligence and rare opportunities to network with and learn from the industry's leaders, this initiative is an ideal opportunity for brands and retailers to fast track their mobile marketing strategies."

"On behalf of Steve Madden, we look forward to participating in the MMA agency, brand and retailer initiative along with industry peers to further the discovery and development of mobile commerce," said Andrew Koven, President of Ecommerce & Customer Experience, Steve Madden, Ltd.

"Continuing our six-year effort, Hipcricket is committed to moving the industry forward via even closer collaboration with brands, retailers and agencies," said Doug Stovall, Hipcricket Senior Vice President of Sales. "Through these strategic and creative activities, we will show the mobile channel to be the choice for consumer engagement and loyalty and to drive sales."

"In our technology-saturated world, the mobile phone has proven to be a device that truly qualifies as 'essential' and 'indispensable' in almost everyone's life," said Diane Strahan, vice president of Mobile, Media, and Registry Services at Neustar. "It's no surprise, then, that mobile is becoming a larger piece of brands' and retailers' overall marketing, advertising and customer retention strategies. Neustar looks forward to collaborating with the MMA and industry partners to drive the further adoption of mobile marketing in this sector."

The initiative's co-Initiative leaders are:

• Chris Wayman, vice president of global sales, iLoop Mobile
• Doug Stovall, senior vice president of sales, Hipcricket
• Troy Gibson, director of technology, Resource Interactive

June 7th, 2010, prior to the MMA Forum--the industry's leading mobile marketing event, June 8-9--the MMA will host its first ever exclusive event centered around the agency, brand & retailer initiative, "The Agency, Brand & Retailer Roundtable" sponsored by Neustar and Hipcricket.  The event will be held at Ogivly from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in New York, and will be followed by a cocktail reception from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.  Qualified agencies, brands & retailers are invited to register by emailing their complete contact info to the MMA at [email protected].  There is no cost for them to attend.

In conjunction with the roundtable and the MMA Forum, the MMA has announced its "adopt-a-brand" program.  Under this program, agencies, brands and retailers interested in attending the MMA Forum being held June 8th and 9th at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel may join the waitlist to be matched and adopted by a vendor, who will pay the reduced event entrance fee of $500 on behalf of the agency, brand or retailer.   Alternatively, those agencies, brands and retailers that do not want risk not being adopted or matched once the available event tickets for this program are sold out, can register immediately for the event at the reduced price of $500 by returning the completed adopt-a-brand registration form, which can be download at http://mobilemarketingforum.com/?q=node/1008.  Non-agency, brand and retailer organizations may also elect to adopt and register their clients by completing the form.  Again, space is limited for the adopt-a-brand program, so act soon.

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 forty 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 (EUR), Latin America (LATAM), Middle East & Africa (MEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) branches. For more information, please visit www.mmaglobal.com.

SOURCE Mobile Marketing Association