Mobile Marketing Association publishes EMEA mobile advertising guidelines

LONDON, UK: September 25, 2007 — The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), (www.mmaglobal.com), which represents more than 450 companies across the mobile marketing ecosystem, today announced the release of its Mobile Advertising Guidelines tailored specifically for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. The guidelines are designed to foster the uptake of mobile advertising by global brands as well as enhance and protect the customer’s experience.

The guidelines make it easier for marketers to develop mobile advertising campaigns while ensuring the campaigns are delivered consistently on the majority of mobile devices ensuring a positive and consistent consumer experience.

 “As marketers embrace the power of mobile advertising to create and deliver engaging campaigns, so must the ecosystem demonstrate the strength, quality and potential of mobile.” said Laura Marriott, President, Mobile Marketing Association.   “The MMA EMEA Mobile Advertising Guidelines launch is a landmark event in our mission to establish a consistent approach for mobile marketing. The guidelines will play a critical role in ensuring all players in the ecosystem see mobile advertising as a natural option for brand communication as a means to deliver targeted, meaningful and rewarding connections with consumers.”

 The guidelines provide important information including how to purchase and use Mobile Web advertising, how to use Mobile Web Banner advertising, recommended aspect ratios and banner dimensions, maximum file sizes, file formats and other technical specifications.

 The GSM Association, which represents more than 700 mobile operators worldwide, and the dotMobi Advisory Group (MAG), both support the new guidelines.  “These guidelines have broad support among mobile operators, enabling advertisers to quickly create compelling campaigns for the mobile medium that will be effective across many different networks [1] and geographies.” said Bill Gajda, Chief Commercial Officer of the GSMA. “Our collaboration with the MMA will help bring economies of scale to this nascent and exciting new market, enabling it to reach its full potential to the benefit of all players in the ecosystem.”

 “Mobile internet is fast emerging as a mainstream information, entertainment and transaction source for people on the move. It is vital that the industry has a frame of reference for effectively implementing such initiatives,” said Richard Saggers, MMA EMEA Chairman and Head of Mobile Advertising, Vodafone Group “The EMEA Mobile Advertising Guidelines reinforce the MMA’s commitment to providing industry specific guidelines on both a regional and global level. The guidelines are key to driving the development of the mobile advertising industry forward in the EMEA region.”

“The MMA’s leadership in launching these guidelines will help to create a global guideline for mobile advertising, enable brands to quickly deploy their initiatives and enhance the consumer experience,” said Michael Bayle, GM, Global Monetisation, Connected Life, Yahoo!. “As an active contributor to their development, Yahoo! supports the guidelines and is immediately adopting them as the global standard in the 19 markets where we support mobile advertising."

 “It is our overall goal to ensure that as the mobile advertising market develops worldwide, consumers not only experience a positive mobile advertising experience but are also treated equitably by all in the value chain.” concludes Laura Marriott, president of the Mobile Marketing Association.

The EMEA guideline development is led by the MMA’s EMEA Mobile Advertising Committee, chaired by David Barker, Enpocket and Markus Münkler, Vodafone Group Services GmbH.  The committee is comprised of mobile operators, content providers, agencies, brands and technology enablers from the following member companies:  Action Engine, AdMob Inc,.AKQA Mobile, Alcatel-Lucent, Amobee Media [1] Systems, Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) e.V., Buongiorno, Dynetic Mobile Solutions, Inc., Enpocket, Inc., Ericsson AB, Greystripe Incorporated, Incentivated Limited, M:Metrics, Microsoft (MSN and Windows Live), Mobile, Dreams Factory, SL, Mobile Enterprise Ltd, Mobile One2One, MOBILERA, Mobixell Networks (Europe) Ltd, MoviDream, mTLD Top Level Domain, LLC (.mobi), Net Think Iberia, Nokia Corporation, Openwave, Orange UK, Out There Media Holding GmbH, Qualcomm, Rhythm NewMedia, ScreenTonic, Sports.comm Ltd, Telenor Nordic Mobile, Tempos 21, The Coca-Cola Company, The Weather Channel, Interactive, T-Mobile UK, Turkcell Iletisimi Hizmetleri A.S,.Universal McCann, Vodafone Group Services Ltd., Yahoo!

The MMA EMEA Mobile Advertising Guidelines can be downloaded from http://www.mmaglobal.com/emeamobileadvertising.pdf