Industry leaders discussed possibilities of more consumer centric mobile marketing campaigns | MMA Global

Industry leaders discussed possibilities of more consumer centric mobile marketing campaigns

April 19, 2010

Day One at MMA Forum APAC a grand success

Singapore, April 14, 2010 – The first day of the Mobile Marketing Association Forum Asia Pacific 2010 (MMAF) brought together some of the world’s largest brand and agencies to discuss the myriad possibilities of engaging consumers via the mobile medium.

Several themes emerged during the course of day one. Speakers expressed positive disposition towards the state of the mobile medium. Rajesh Jain, Founder-Chairman and Managing Director, Emergic Venture Capital Pte Ltd delivered the keynote, where he described the range of mobile channels and outlined some potential new areas for development.

The rest of the speakers took off from that starting point, looking at the tremendous growth in mobile over the last year or so, including the interesting but possibly anecdotal statistic that there are more mobile users (4.5 billion) than there are owners of toothbrushes (4.2 billion).

Speakers also shared different statistics to demonstrate the scope of growth in the mobile industry. There were over 850 million mobile payment transactions by 2009, and by 2020 there will be an estimated 10 billion mobile devices in use, more than one and a half times the population of the planet. More interestingly, when discussing mobile giving, it emerged that over 4 million users had used their mobile devices to donate money to Haiti, which accumulated to 41 million dollars. Different approaches to reaching customers were also discussed, from branded utility to location based advertising.

“The discussion today was very rich - pointing out characteristics of mobile communications, including their always-on nature, and the rich customer profiling that can be done, as well as, ways to use that to deliver marketing messages most effectively to customers,” observed Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, APAC, Mobile Marketing Association.

The need for accurate metrics was a focal theme, even as Henry Stevens, Director of Media and Entertainment, GSM Association shared their pioneering efforts in the United Kingdom in the area of Mobile Media Metrics. The lack of consolidated standard for measurement didn't stop growth in the mobile sphere, as several other speakers demonstrated with case studies, both globally and in the region.

Sean Rach, Director, Digital Media & Corporate Events, Prudential Corporation led the brand perspective, pointing out that marketers want relevance, reach, innovation and results and that it was up to the various parties in the mobile economy to demonstrate this. He rallied his colleagues to further collaboration and innovation, calling mobile the marketer's secret weapon. And other speakers shared case studies from around the world, success stories from other markets, the benefits to be gained from SMS-based advertising efforts, as well demonstrating a couple of new platforms and technologies.

Day two of the event will see another exchange of knowledge revolving around brands and agencies.

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
http://www.mmaglobal.com

Media contacts:

Rice Communications on behalf of Mobile Marketing Association

Suzanne Yap
Tel : +65 6221 8322
Mbl : +65 8522 3221
[email protected]

Shouvik P. Mukherjee
Tel : +65 6221 8322
Mbl : +65 9826 1424
[email protected]

Shruti Soni
Tel : +65 221 8322
Mbl : +91 98733 54750
[email protected]