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Oct. 30, 2008

Lately, various marketing and advertising agencies have been taking the wireless and mobile phone industry more seriously, and some are starting to think that the industry is maturing.

According to the association’s president, Laura Marriott, that interest is shown in the MMA (Mobile Marketing Association)'s fourth annual mobile marketing awards program and in the evolution of the MMA’s global advertising guidelines.

The 2008 awards program, which culminates Nov. 13 with the naming of the winners in twelve categories, drew a record 300 plus nominations. The MMA and its panel of judges selected 90 regional finalists.

The MMA also updated its Mobile Advertising Guidelines, originally published six months ago. The updates included recommendations on automatic resizing of mobile Web banner ads, revisions on the use of MMS, and overall guidelines for mobile video and TV.

Marriott said the biggest surprise to her in this year’s proposals were the number of brands and ad agencies that submitted their marketing campaigns. In years past, most submissions have come from the technology enablers.

Marriott added that the interest from the brands and agencies reveals they are taking mobile advertising and marketing a lot more seriously than just a year ago.

Marriott added “we’re out of the trial stages and we are seeing a greater number of brands realize the value of the mobile channel. A lot of brands we’ve known have been testing and trialing and they’re seeing real successes.”

Marriott said the award nominations also demonstrates that the mobile avenue is seen as part of a much larger cross-media campaign and not as a standalone effort.

Another trend is that mobile campaigns, which have targeted the youth market in the past, are reaching out to other demographics.

She cited CellFire’s mobile grocery coupon campaign with Kroger stores, which targets young mothers.

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    This article was featured on Business 5.0 and on Tech Blog.

Source: The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).