The 2009 Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)’s Forum opened yesterday in New York City to bring together industry experts and executives to discuss a wide range of topics related to the mobile channel.
While discussing all aspects of mobile, this year’s event will focus on consumer engagement, branding in the mobile channel and social media, among others. Hearing from executives from a wide array of mobile-based companies, the forum will emphasize marketer’s case studies and discussions around privacy, location services, and creating opportunities through the evolution of the market.
While some have argued that mobile marketing as a whole is seeing slowing growth this year, those familiar with the industry see it differently. In March, for example, the MMA announced that the four largest U.S. wireless service providers – Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile USA – had agreed to incorporate their mobile marketing guidelines within the MMA’s best practices, resulting in a transparent, consolidated playbook of consumer best practices. This alone shows the dedication to the advancement of mobile best practices and the overall evolution of the mobile marketing industry as it moves forward.
“By working with the MMA to create an industry-standard set of guidelines, these four carriers are playing a pivotal role in enabling the mobile marketing opportunity for years to come,” said MMA President and CEO Mike Wehrs in a statement. Speaking of this year’s MMA Forum event, Mr. Wehrs stated “The mobile marketing channel has taken some big steps over the last year and the Mobile Marketing Forum has started off strong today with some incredible speakers sharing their success stories and discussing hot topics for the mobile industry.”
“Consumer privacy will continue to be at the core of our organization, with an emphasis of education and awareness around making the mobile marketing ecosystem profitable for all involved,” continued Wehrs. As always, this year’s event should bring forth some new ideas and advancements that are yet to be shared. Wehrs today said that the MMA will be announcing some big news in the next couple of weeks. While he couldn’t be specific, he said the new solution from MMA “will have an enabling effect for everyone in the ecosystem. We just need a little bit more time to get a couple pieces in place.”
