Leading brands and agencies set to share insights on creating successful mobile campaigns and increasing consumer engagement via mobile

Singapore, April 09, 2010 – The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) today announced key sessions and speaker names for the 2nd Annual MMA Forum Asia, the mobile marketing industry’s most anticipated event in the region. Set to open at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront in Singapore on April 13, 2010, this year’s event will bring together some of the world’s largest brands and agencies to discuss the myriad possibilities of engaging consumers via the mobile medium.

“The mobile marketing industry has seen several milestones in the past year. Industry hopes for 2010 include tech-savvy consumers welcoming rich content on mobile, engaging campaigns from a more mature and experienced group of mobile marketers, and eager brands ready to jump on to the mobile marketing bandwagon. This year’s forum is set to see tremendous industry participation and has a very impressive speaker line-up. Attendees will have the opportunity to see how the industry has changed over the past year and learn from the global successes of industry leaders,” said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, APAC, Mobile Marketing Association.

The keynote sessions of the Forum focus on how to leverage both the personal and mass reach of the mobile medium and its ability to generate new value and revenue for businesses. Titled ‘Mobile: One-to-One and One to a Billion’, the Keynote address for April 14, 2010, will be delivered by Rajesh Jain, Founder-Chairman and Managing Director, Emergic Venture Capital Pvt Ltd. It will focus on how mobile is increasingly emerging as the most important medium for brands and agencies in the coming years and is driving the shift from Advertising to Invertising and CRM to Customer Relationship Monetisation.

The keynote session on April 15 will see Kei Shimada, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Infinita, taking the audience inside the mobile value chain. Titled ‘Ubiquity of Infinite Possibilities’, the session is geared towards showcasing the mainstream nature of mobile advertising with all parties in the mobile ecosystem working together to integrate mobile into overall media objectives.

With the Asian market taking the lead on mobile innovation, here is what some of the speakers representing the region have to say about their expectations from the upcoming event:

Adam Dunne, Chief Executive Officer, AURA Interactive comments, “The MMAF program provides a collaborative environment that promotes the strategic development across the various APAC markets. It brings together the brightest mobile minds and companies from the region into one forum, where we can openly share insights, develop new alliances, collaborate on future projects, and collectively analyse and nurture the future of our exciting young industry”.

“Mobile marketing is becoming increasingly popular but there is still much work for the industry to do in order to educate brands and marketers about the significant value the mobile channel can add. The value of the Forum series organised by the MMA is that it allows those working within the industry to share insight and best practice in order to work together to promote the value of mobile marketing. By sharing practical examples and real-life applications, businesses are able to gain inspiration for innovative future campaigns that help to promote the significance of the mobile channel to the wider marketing community – a benefit for all,” said Dr. KF Lai, CEO, BuzzCity.

“The concept of marketing via the mobile phone is only about ten years old. Prior to that, handsets simply didn’t lend themselves to conveying meaningful commercial messages. This means the industry as a whole still has a lot to learn. Old problems need to be solved. New technologies need to be developed. Industry players therefore need to come together to develop the industry, and the Mobile Marketing Association Forum is the best platform to do this. It taps into arguably the most dynamic and innovative mobile market in the world”, said Mark Laudi, Managing Director, Hong Bao Media (Holdings).

“I’m looking forward to learning about new applications and to meeting peers in the industry. But even more so, I am looking forward to hearing about how consumers – who mobile marketing is really all about – are responding to various mobile marketing campaigns, as well as new business models for making them work”, Laudi added.

Mayank Pareek, Executive Officer - Marketing and Sales, Maruti Limited says, “In this fast changing & competitive world Innovation is the key for success, but that does not mean that we have to reinvent the wheel again. MMAF enables everyone to learn from each other and discuss future strategies to exploit the full potential of Mobile Marketing. It provides an opportunity to entire marketing fraternity to discuss, debate, learn and unlearn new ways to reach and pamper our consumers through this emerging new screen in the hands of the consumer.”

Jojit Alcazar, Head of Mobile Advertising, Smart Communications asserts, “The MMAF is an important gathering of Mobile Marketing Industry leaders to come as one and further push the Mobile Marketing business in APAC and educate the rest of the marketing population on the different opportunities that mobile can provide. It helps educate and enables the entire eco system understand the benefits of mobile marketing. It is collaboration where everyone works toward the single goal of growing the industry.”

Vinay Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, StratosHear believes, “A collaborative platform like MMAF provides a great benefit to the industry through data sharing, best practices exchange and industry representation to the government bodies as it benefits from the collective knowledge, data and representation from all its members. It helps in to get to know other players closely, understand trends and exchange ideas to collectively grow the industry”.

The 2nd Annual MMA Forum Asia, built around the theme ‘Now and Next’, will bring together over 250 participants from across the globe and cover a diverse range of subjects including emerging technologies, mobile search, mobile analytics, mobile success stories and social media among others.

To see the full agenda, go to http://www.mobilemarketingforum.com/?q=node/951.

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.

Press Contacts

Suzanne Yap
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Shouvik Prasanna Mukherjee
Rice Communications on behalf of MMA
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Shruti Soni
Rice Communications on behalf of MMA
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