MMA Launches Asia-Pacific Chapter
February 8, 2007
Hong Kong
Published in Media Magazine
www.media.com.hk

Mobile Marketing Forum, Istanbul, Turkey

To view information (in Turkish) on the Mobile Marketing Association's Mobile Marketing Forum, Istanbul, Turkey, please visit http://www.mobilasyon.com/blog/_archives/2006/10/12/2410150.html

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Cracking the Whip on Mobile Content
A committee of mobile providers sets new guidelines for ethical behavior in wireless telecom, with control in the hands of the consumer.
By Marshall Lager
Tuesday, March 21, 2006

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The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) today released its updated standards for proper conduct by providers of wireless chat, subscription services, and interactive TV. "The Consumer Best Practices Guidelines for Cross-Carrier Mobile Content Services" extends and amends the MMA's existing "Code of Conduct for Mobile Marketing." Changes include new procedures for opt-in and -out notifications, chat pricing, and interactive TV voting. Taken as a whole, the guidelines put more power in the hands of service users.

"The consumer best practices committee convenes periodically as required, to ensure we're meeting the needs of carriers, providers, and users in terms of fair play and good business," says Laura Marriott, executive director of the MMA. "By establishing a baseline, we make it easier for companies to roll out new programs to the consumer."

The committee, comprised of representatives from all large wireless carriers, aggregators, and content providers, considers the available services and decides how best to approach delivering and managing them, looking both at smart business and ethical behavior. "In this version of the guidelines, since we did address chat, we also held an open forum in Colorado [in January 2006] so industry representatives could express their own concerns," Marriott says.

Dave Oberholzer, chair of the Consumer Best Practices Committee and associate director of information content programming at Verizon Wireless, says major changes were made to opt-in programs such as short-message chat, subscription services, and similar programs. "The biggest updates affected chat programs, specifically when it comes to billing--subscribers often get caught up in chats and don't realize what they're spending." Oberholzer explains that, for every $25 in premium charges incurred, users should be sent an additional opt-in message informing them of how much they have spent and giving them the option to continue or terminate. As with other premium message services, the user is automatically opted out after 90 consecutive days of inactivity.

Other changes to the best practices guidelines include measures to prevent misleading consumers, such as limiting the use of bots--automated response programs that mimic humans. "People generally assume that they're talking to humans in a chat session," Oberholzer says. "Bots may be used for registration or administrative purposes by the provider, but they can't pretend to be other users." The guidelines also contain rules amounting to truth in advertising, with clear descriptions of the service and billing procedures, cancellation methods, and no hyperbole in the opt-in language.

One place where the rules were loosened is interactive TV, such as programs where viewers are encouraged to vote via mobile messages. "Providers can switch to single opt-in once consumers are aware of the cost structure and other factors," Oberholzer says. By removing this barrier, voting and similar activities can proceed more smoothly and attract a wider audience, he suggests.

MMA best practices are just that, insofar as they are not laws. It is up to the industry to enforce the guidelines with content providers and internally. It is in their best interests to follow the guidelines or risk losing subscribers. "We put more control in the hands of subscribers," Oberholzer says. Too much abuse will make them look elsewhere.

Marketers are hearing the ring of success by way of cell phones
By Jerri Stroud
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
01/12/2006

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Coming to a small screen near you: Coupons, recipes and marketing messages galore.

Your cell phone screen is the latest tool for marketers seeking to win over customers - especially 18- to 36-year-olds.

Polls on TV programs, including "American Idol" and the Super Bowl, are the best-known form of this marketing. Customers dial a five-digit code and key in a short text message.Consumer-product companies, retailers, rock bands and radio stations also are using codes and text messages to cement their relationships with customers. Marketers use codes to sell cell-phone content - ringtones, screen savers, wallpaper and text alerts - related to topics such as sports or name brands.

The cell phone industry began offering the codes two years ago as a way for marketers to interact with customers who use text messaging. In the first year, 150 companies licensed more than 450 five-digit codes. Last year, the number of codes issued grew by a factor of six, according to CTIA-the Wireless Association, which licenses short codes through a Web site, www.usshortcodes.com.

Customers who take the trouble to key in a code tend to be more interested in - and more likely to buy - products than people passively viewing a commercial or print ad, said John Styers, director of data communications services for Sprint.

"The most important allure (of short codes) is self-selection. They're driving a behavior for individuals who are wanting to know more about a brand or to interact with a program," he said. "It costs millions to do that with shotgun marketing."

Advertisers can get immediate feedback on a commercial or ad campaign by including a code. For example:

DaimlerChrysler sent a code and Web site address to owners of Dodge vehicles, offering ringtones based on the brand's advertising jingle as well as images they could use as wallpaper on their cell phone screens.

Dove soap used a short code in its "real beauty" ad campaign last year. Customers could dial a code and vote on whether an elderly woman on billboards was "wrinkled" or "wonderful."

The American Red Cross used the short code 2Help to seek donations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The campaign helped redirect traffic that was overwhelming the agency's toll-free number, allowing it to put workers in the field rather than on the phones.

Anheuser-Busch Cos. ran a Bud Light promotion at bars urging customers to use their phones to send messages to screens set up for the evening. A-B also offers cell phone screensavers and ringtones at Budweiser.com.

The campaign was designed to raise brand awareness among 21- to 28-year-olds in a way that was fun and social, said Rick Leininger, Bud Light brand director. More than 7,000 unique users sent 80,000 messages during the campaign's 28-city tour, he said.

"Internet and mobile are huge aspects of how we communicate to consumers," Leininger said. But they're usually integrated with traditional media campaigns.

Text-to-screen applications, such as the Bud Light promotion, also have been popular at rock concerts, where fans can send messages to an electronic board and, in some cases, win prizes.

"Everybody wants to see their name in lights," said Jack Philbin, president and founder of Vibes Media, a Chicago-based mobile marketing firm that designed the Bud Light campaign.

Customers used the message displays to flirt in bars, for example. At concerts, they've been used for marriage proposals and other messages.

Mobile marketing helps companies get more mileage out of their marketing dollars, Philbin said. "When people respond to a call to action - that's real engagement."

Hip and fun

The best mobile marketing campaigns keep customers engaged by giving them entertaining information centered on a brand, Philbin said. "There's an insatiable demand for interaction."

Philbin doesn't advocate sending unsolicited messages. Instead, he prefers to design campaigns that prompt customers to dial in, get an entertaining message or teaser, then dial back again and again for more. A well-designed campaign can draw dozens of responses from each potential customer, he said.

"Every single individual gets a customized experience," Philbin said. "It breaks through the clutter" of other advertising in a way that's "hip, cool, young and fun."

Mobile marketing allows companies to target consumers they want to reach anytime, anywhere, said Laura Marriott, executive director of the Mobile Marketing Association. Research shows that about 36 percent of consumers are interested in participating in mobile campaigns, she said.

Marketers tend to use mobile content as one element in a comprehensive media campaign, Marriott said. It's a small part of most campaigns now, but it's growing.

The use of text messaging on cell phones "is bigger than most people imagine but not as big as everybody would like," said Will Hodgman, chief executive of M:Metrics Inc. of Seattle. He formed the company in November 2004 to study the use of messaging, so advertisers could measure the potential impact of a mobile campaign.

In the United States, about 200 million people have cell phone service, according to CTIA-the Wireless Association. Most phones are capable of text-messaging even if their owners don't realize it.

About 58 million customers have used text messaging, 21 million have used the Internet on their phones and 17 million have purchased a ringtone, Hodgman said. In June, cell phone customers sent 7.2 billion messages using the text feature built into most phones.

"When advertisers see that kind of market penetration, they start drooling," said Tamara Gaffney, a mobile industry analyst for Telephia, a San Francisco market research firm.

Text-messaging is most popular with young users, making mobile marketing a good fit for companies trying to reach that demographic. But it's also gaining popularity with young adults and others who want quick access to specialized information, including sports, weather and stock quotes.

Advertisers must be careful to deliver value when they entice customers to dial a code, Gaffney said. Cell phone customers know they're paying for a message. Even if it costs a dime or less, they still want some value, whether it's a free game, ringtone, coupon or trivia quiz.

Mark Nagel, Cingular's director of entertainment services, said short codes have helped companies sell specialized content.

"Most of our sales (of ringtones, games and wallpaper) historically have come through people surfing the Internet on their phones," Nagel said.

But marketers can drive buyers directly to their content by publicizing a code in print ads or in other media. Some record labels are putting codes on CD cases to sell ringtones based on popular music.

The campaign can be tailored for a nontraditional audience, Nagel said. "We tend to gear services to a broader marketplace."

For example, Jamster, a company that sells ringtones based on a variety of music genres, tends to market on cable-TV channels such as MTV and BET, where Cingular advertises less frequently.

"Even when we offer the same content, (short codes give a marketer) the ability to reach new people," Nagel said.

Some marketers believe that short codes eventually will become as pervasive in advertising as Web site addresses are now, said Drew Hull, research director for NPD Group, a market research company in Port Washington, N.Y.

"You hear people say that short codes will be tomorrow's URL," Hull said.

Mobile marketing relies on common short codes

Common short codes are the glue that holds mobile marketing together.

The five-digit codes allow cell phone users to participate in polls or trivia games, retrieve coupons and download games and ringtones quickly, without taxing the brain.

CTIA-the Wireless Association manages the issuance of short codes. Companies register at www.usshortcodes.com, then they pay $500 a month for a random numeric code or $1,000 a month for a vanity code, such as one that spells a word.

Codes can be rented for three, six or 12 months. Renewals are high, especially for vanity codes associated with name brands.

The advantage of short codes versus calling a toll-free phone number are that messages go into a queue, rather than tying up an attendant answering phone calls. Return messages come back to a caller's phone as text, where they can be retrieved at the customer's convenience.

The codes have been popular with consumer brands, radio stations and services such as ESPN's sports alert service, said Jeff Simmons, director of technology programs for CTIA.

"The growth is tremendous," he said. "We are in the process now of considering adding other ranges of digits, specifically six-digit codes."

Short codes:

These 5-digit codes allow marketers to connect with customers who use text messaging. "American Idol" and other popular TV shows use these codes to decide what will happen next with a show or contestant.

Text-to-screen applications:

Web sites such as Epicurious.com allow users to download recipes, graphics and other items to their cell phones for later use. The Anheuser-Busch Cos. Web site allows text messaging to friends about concerts, songs or meeting times, as well as downloading ring tones and graphics.

Other:

The potential for cell phones in marketing is huge. Research shows that about 36 percent of consumers are interested in participating in mobile campaigns.

Phones are becoming electronic shopping lists

How many times have you gone grocery shopping and been unable to remember all the ingredients for a recipe you wanted to try?

New technology allows users of Epicurious.com to download recipes and ingredient lists to their mobile phones, which then function as electronic shopping lists.

The latest version of the technology will combine the ingredient lists from several recipes, so you know you need three sticks of butter to make three recipes, not a half stick for one, two sticks for another and a tablespoon for a third. You even can add toilet paper and dog food to the phone's shopping list.

The technology also enables advertisers to promote their brands with recipes that contain their products, either with a banner on a phone's Web screen or a button to click for more information, said David Herman, chief executive of Juice Wireless Inc. One of the first advertisers to use it was Turning Leaf wine, a Gallo product.

Herman said Juice Wireless, a mobile data company based in New York, came up with the idea of downloading recipes when working with Conde Nast, publisher of Bon Appetit, Gourmet and Parade magazines, and the owner of Epicurious.com. The application, Epi To Go, uses "tag and retrieve" technology to mark information that can be retrieved later by clicking a button in a phone's Web browser.

Juice Wireless delivered the technology to Epicurious last February. The company didn't promote it, but each recipe on the Web site has a "send to my phone" button at the top. Since then, nearly 30,000 users have registered to use the feature, and 20,000 are tagging at least one recipe a month, Herman said.

Starting Sunday, Juice Wireless will roll out updated technology that Epicurious and Conde Nast will promote with nine new features, including the ability to search for a recipe from the phone, not just on the Web site.

ALICE Z. CUNEO
Advertising Age

Three power players-Verizon Wireless' John Stratten, Sprint Corp.'s Tim Kelly and Cingular Wireless' Marc Lefar-are leading their companies from marketer to medium. The cell phone is transforming into what's being dubbed the ``third screen,'' providing information and entertainment, along with the TV and PC monitor.

`The third screen is in fact a reality,'' says Mr. Kelly, senior VP-consumer solutions, marketing, strategic planning, business development and product realization at Sprint Consumer Solutions. Already, Mr. Kelly says, Sprint has begun to view itself as an aggregator of content akin to a cable TV company.

``We are very focused on the content customers want,'' he says, pointing out that cell phones have the potential to become a mobile TV device.

``It's the beginning of a new era,'' says Glenice Maclellan, VP-messaging services at AT&T Wireless Mobile Multimedia Services.

At the leading edge of this new era will be carriers like Sprint, Cingular and Verizon. The wireless carriers-some of them offshoots of major landline telcoms-have already stolen the marketing spotlight by unleashing ad blitzes worth about $5 billion a year to win subscribers.

``Wireless provides a tremendous reach vehicle,'' says Mr. Lefar, chief marketing officer at Cingular, adding, ``It's a very unique content distribution vehicle and the next big marketing tool.''

Text messaging is leading the new revolution. AT&T Wireless' Ms. Maclellan served as a point person on one of the biggest package-goods trials involving text messaging. In the McDonald's Corp. promotion, 250 million bags for takeout orders were handed out during the Summer Olympics with a text messaging trivia contest. Cingular has major text-messaging deals in the works with Procter & Gamble Co. and Coca-Cola Co., Mr. Lefar says.

Such efforts turn wireless communications into a marketing medium. The amount of money companies spend on mobile phones as a marketing medium in the U.S. is expected to go from less than $1 billion this year to an estimated $5 billion in 2005, says Peter Fuller, executive director of the Mobile Marketing Association. ``When big brands get involved, it's definitely a turning point,'' he notes.

Mr. Fuller says messaging codes will be as ubiquitous as Web addresses on shopping bags during the dot-com boom. Integrated marketing programs will be considered lacking if they fail to include a text messaging element starting as early as 2005, he says.

Beyond text messaging, some of the world's most powerful brands are eyeing the mobile phone as a branding weapon. In the mobile sector, Sprint offers its services as a host for other wireless brands. Already, Virgin Mobile operates through Sprint's facilities. AT&T Corp. has announced plans to start a new wireless offering under a similar arrangement with Sprint. That effort conceivably could give the AT&T brand a second life in wireless.

Mobile Pipeline News
CMP TECH WEB

A trade group of organizations that want to use wireless services and devices for marketing said this week it will examine ways to prevent mobile users from receiving spam.

The Mobile Marketing Association said in a statement that it has formed an anti-spam committee that will examine a national database that would enable users to opt in or out of various types of marketing campaigns aimed at mobile devices and their users. Last December, the group previously approved a code of conduct for marketers using wireless devices.

The group claims that, while marketers see mobile users as a target audience, they want to force users to accept unwanted messages.

"The industry is strongly behind this initiative," William Erickson, co-chair of the committee, said in a statement.


Mobile Marketing Association Gears Up to Get Tough on Spam
220 words
27 September 2004
WIRELESS NEWS

The Mobile Marketing Association has formed an anti-spam committee, the second phase in its program to ensure that wireless content applications remain spam-free.

The first phase was completed in 2003 with the release of the Code of Conduct.

The committee is lead by co-chairs Bill Erickson, CEO of M7 Networks, Gerry Christensen, director of Wireless Services for VeriSign, and Neil Kuruppu, CEO of Ecessor Corporation.

"I am pleased to announce the establishment of this committee, led by three of our industry's premier experts," said Jim Manis, MMA Global Chair. "The mobile channel is the fastest-growing medium for brand marketers and content providers today. The industry needs this committee to help ensure the consumer's right of non-participation, as well as to continue to build the foundation for the industry's long-term success."

The Anti-Spam Committee will research the merits of a national preference and privacy database designed to ensure a spam-free mobile experience. Such a system will allow consumers to opt in and out of various campaign types, based on the Code of Conduct, the group noted in a release.

By Riva Richmond

The Wall Street Journal

SEVERAL WEEKS after Lori Crispi got a new cellphone, trivia questions sent by a firm selling mobile services began popping up on her screen, accompanied by an annoying beep.

At first, Ms. Crispi, assistant to the head of a Colorado Springs, Colorado, real-estate brokerage firm, received five or six a day. Within three weeks, she was getting 15 to 20. And that's not all: She had to pay for the ads. Her cellphone company, T-Mobile USA Inc., charged her for every text message she received.

The spam was "beginning at 5 a.m., which is really unpleasant if you're not usually up that early," says Cathy Wickerd, the firm's bookkeeper, whom Ms. Crispi enlisted to get T-Mobile, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, to stop the onslaught and credit the firm's account. Although the bill amounted to only about $9 (7.30 euros), Ms. Wickerd was determined to get relief. After some elbow grease, including a complaint to the Federal Communications Commission, she succeeded.

The FCC considers experiences like Ms. Crispi's a warning. Now that text messaging is catching on in the U.S., the risk is rising that spam could one day flood cellphones, much as it has personal computers. The FCC -- along with wireless carriers, consumer advocates and marketers -- worries that unrestrained commercial messaging could spark a consumer backlash that would kill the mobile medium.

"Users are going to scream bloody murder" if the spamming picks up, says Alan Mosher, director of research at Probe Group LLC, a Cedar Knolls, New Jersey, telecom-focused research firm. That's particularly true, he says, since most consumers will be charged for receiving these messages. "If all of a sudden the consumer's handset is clogged up with unwanted messages, they'll just stop using it."

That's why the FCC, with the blessing of marketers and the wireless industry, last month issued rules prohibiting companies from sending commercial messages to wireless devices without the user's permission. But many say that the rules don't necessarily remove the risk to the industry: If the PC experience is any guide, legitimate marketers will comply with the law -- and fraudulent and unscrupulous ones won't.

Regulators, marketers and industry insiders look at other countries and worry. Wireless spam has run rampant in Japan in particular, where text messaging is more popular than e-mail. NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's largest cellphone provider, now stops an average of 960 million pieces of spam each day, or more than 80% of all messages, from reaching its 46 million subscribers.

Cellphone spam in the U.S. is still small, but there are signs it's rising. According to a June survey by research firm Yankee Group, 20% of U.S. mobile-phone users have received an advertisement or a commercial message, up from 13% a year ago.

"It's not a huge problem yet, but everyone's concerned about nipping the problem in the bud before it becomes unmanageable, as it has become with our PCs," says Susan Grant, vice president for public policy at the National Consumers League, a Washington, D.C., consumer-advocacy group.

"This is the last bastion that we are all trying to protect," says K. Dane Snowden, chief of the consumer and governmental affairs bureau at the FCC. "We're trying to watch the trends world-wide and trying to get ahead of them to protect the American consumer."

The good news: The wireless world has a number of advantages over e-mail when it comes to controlling spam.

For one thing, it's much easier to simply block spam from reaching the consumer. Carriers say filtering is easier in the wireless environment because, unlike the Internet, their networks are closed systems over which they exert near-dictatorial control. "Once something is knocking at the door of our network, we can let it in or not," says Jeffrey Nelson, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC. "On the land line, the messages just travel. There isn't a gate, if you will."

For example, carriers can impose message-volume limits on SMS senders, which counteracts the automated mass blasts spammers must do to send messages economically. Carriers received a green light from the FCC to block unwanted commercial messages, and they have used that go-ahead and their gatekeeper power to exert considerable control over marketing campaigns that target their customers.

The FCC has set a high bar for mobile marketing. Under its "opt-in" plan, senders must gain consent from consumers -- using, for example, a phone solicitation -- before sending their first message. Compare that with the "opt-out" plan Congress set for e-mail marketing with last year's CAN-SPAM Act: Senders can contact consumers without permission as long as they give recipients a way to be removed from the mailing list. Congress told the FCC to set tougher rules for cellphone marketing because most consumers would be charged to receive their diet of spam.

The tougher rules also come before market practices have become firmly entrenched. This kind of early rule making can be effective. For instance, the FCC forbade telemarketer calls to cellphones in 1991, before the devices were widespread. The practice never took off.

"If the FCC had chosen an opt-out framework, we could have expected a flood of spam on wireless devices," argues Chris Jay Hoofnagle, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "If you can get ahead and set a legal norm that prohibits a certain marketing activity, chances are it will not take hold."

Meanwhile, marketers are making moves of their own to pre-empt spamming. They believe that consumer anger over spam has spoiled e-mail as a marketing medium, and they don't want that to happen again with text messaging.

"Spam is defined by the consumer," and usually just comes down to messages that consumers don't want, says Peter Fuller, executive director of the Mobile Marketing Association, or MMA, a Mountain View, California, group for carriers, advertisers, ad agencies and technology companies. "Brands must be careful about who they reach, when they reach them and the frequency of the messages."

The MMA has championed a strict code of conduct since 2000 for mobile marketers that it says has taken hold with big companies. The code mandates the opt-in principle, as well as requiring easy outs for consumers who wish to be removed from contact lists.

Verizon Wireless has already pursued several cases against spammers who have targeted its subscribers. And, as with PC spam, state attorneys general and agencies like the FCC and the Federal Trade Commission can take spammers to court.

In some cases, consumers themselves can sue -- depending on how the spam is sent. In its recent rule making, the FCC made a distinction between SMS messages, which travel from phone to phone, and e-mailed spam that reaches wireless devices via the Internet. SMS messages, the FCC said, fall under the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act of 1991, which unlike CAN-SPAM allows consumers to sue marketers.

Why the distinction? The telecom act forbids telemarketers from using autodialer technology to make unsolicited calls to cellphones. The FCC concluded that SMS spamming is simply the latest iteration of that practice. Under the telecommunications act, consumers can win $500 per infraction, or triple that if they can prove the marketer was aware of the law. And consumers don't have to prove damages.

The problem: Spammers tend to favor spam e-mailed from PCs to cellphones, since they aren't charged a fee for sending the message. The FCC plans to create a list of e-mail domains used by wireless companies, which marketers won't be allowed to target for e-mail. But, again, legitimate marketers are likely to honor the list, while unscrupulous spammers may well use it to glean new targets. Stopping them could be the same hard slog it has been on the PC.

By Kathleen Joyce

Last month, PROMO took an overview look at marketing that leverages mobile phone communications. To date, the most cutting-edge SMS (short message service) campaigns have been staged outside the U.S. What's inhibited SMS marketing in North America? In this issue, the second in our three-part series, we look at the technical and regulatory issues facing mobile phone-based marketing. In our November issue, we'll get a preview of some SMS campaigns scheduled for launch in early 2005.

This past summer, Verizon Wireless filed the first anti-spam lawsuit against 51 people who allegedly sent millions of unsolicited text promotions to cell phones. A lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, Trenton, charged violation of the 2003 federal CAN-SPAM Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, among other state and federal statues. The suit called for unspecified damages and injunctive relief.

According to the filing, Jacob Brown of Pawtucket, RI, and 50 of his cohorts initiated 4.5 million unsolicited text messages offering mortgages, herbal supplements, software and porn Web site content. Brown and company managed to rig the messages so they appeared to come from nonexistent e-mail accounts.

Verizon charged that the messages, including some sent to children, clogged its computer systems. The company took speedy action, it says, to protect its systems and ultimately its customers.

?That's why e-mail spam will get nipped in the bud,? says Roman Bodnarchuk, president and CEO of Toronto-based mobile marketing firm N5R. ?The telcos just won't stand for it. E-mail spam isn't free and the carriers can shut it down much faster than spam on the Internet.?

John Agnew, associate director of marketing for Verizon Wireless, agrees. ?We run velocity checks on our users [to identify high-volume messaging]. We also allow our customers to each block up to 15 domain names, URLs or nicknames, much like the ?rules? filters they have on their e-mail accounts.?

In all of its own SMS marketing, Agnew says, Schaumberg, IL-based Verizon Wireless follows anti-spam regulations; it also highlights opt-out wording for would-be participants in SMS sweepstakes or games.

What about concerns that children may receive unsolicited messages? Teenagers and tweens have been the most avid adopters of texting, and popular games are easily transmitted from friend to friend. The law protectiong kids is clear when it comes to other marketing communication, but is still untested in the context of cell phone-based marketing.

?When we've run viral SMS campaigns, we tend to stage them at specific events, on-premise or at concerts, where patrons tend to be over 18,? Agnew says. ?And we always encourage parents to exercise the blocking capability of their phones.?

As SMS gains ground in the U.S., the recently founded Mobile Marketing Association is encouraging adopters to follow its code of conduct for wireless marketing campaigns. The code covers choice, control, customization, consideration and confidentiality. Among MMA requirements, consumers must opt-in to all marketing programs and an easy opt-out mechanism must be provided. Consumers must get a value-add for participating (i.e., product or service enhancement, sweepstakes, contest or discount). Programs must be limited to a reasonable number of transmissions.

The code was developed by the association's Privacy Advisory Committee, whose members include Procter & Gamble, The Weather Channel, Cingular Wireless, PocketReach, Carat Interactive and VeriSign.

Not all marketers are tuning in to the standards set by the MMA. In August, Sophos, an Internet/wireless security company reported that a marketing campaign to promote the latest version of the ?Resident Evil? video game had backfired, as mobile phone users believed they have been infected by a virus. Sophos tech support was flooded with calls from clients who got unsolicited SMS text messages on their mobile phones telling them they are infected by the so-called T-Virus.

It turned out the messages were a hoax to promote a new version of the game, called ?Resident Evil: Outbreak.? A Web site established by CE Europe, the company behind the campaign, allowed unsolicited text messages to be sent to mobile phones claiming that the phone is infected, without the permission of the phone's owner. A typical message read:

?Outbreak: I'm infecting you with t-virus, my code is ******. Forward this to 60022 to get your own code and chance to win prizes. More at t-virus.co.uk.?

?Some people panicked that they might have received a real mobile phone virus,? said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. ?This marketing campaign seems particularly ill-conceived, as there is so much genuine interest in the mobile virus threat at present.?

The answer to these concerns is to enforce strict guidelines for SMS marketing so the value of the medium isn't destroyed in its infancy, says Jack Philbin, president of Vibes Media.

?We're all about interaction. The power of SMS is in the opportunity for dialogue with consumers,? Philbin says. His Chicago-based firm encourages such clients as McDonald's, Hershey's and Anheuser-Busch to implement an ?instant-response platform.?

?We don't believe our clients should fall back on the direct marketing model of building databases of cell phone numbers. Opt-in or not, that just tends to tick people off. Instead, we build SMS and MMS programs that get customers to initiate the call each time.? A trivia program Vibes built for the Chicago White Sox baseball franchise generated an average of 80 calls per consumer. The White Sox have never built a database via the calls.

While the U.S. market has privacy and spam regulations that are unique from those in Europe and other SMS hotbeds, there is also a marked lack of cooperation among carriers in the U.S. This incompatibility has significantly inhibited marketers from rolling out campaigns across all provider platforms.

Until recently, that is. Earlier this year, Verizon Wireless, Cingular, T-Mobile and other carriers agreed to allow transmission all their platforms of simple 5-character codes. Tipped off by in-store signage, consumers can text in the codes to enter instant-win games and sweeps, or even download coupons for instant redemption.

?We've already used the five-digit codes option for a texted $10-off coupon program for Staples,? Bodnarchuk says. The program, a first in North America, generated a 26% response rate. ?The coding was relatively easy. The harder part was training in-store staff how to redeem the coupons.?

Bodnarchuk admits redemption would have been higher if more time had been invested in training store personnel. ?But we rolled this out in 45 days for the client. Next time, we'll all know more, and build on that first success.?

Taylor, Catharine P.

Long after Fantasia Barrino wends her way to the used-CD bin of history, the show that made her famous, Fox's American Idol, may be remembered for its role in an American revolution--one based not on music but on the idea that cell phones can be used for something other than making a phone call.

Observers credit American Idol and sponsor AT&T Wireless for jump-starting text messaging (aka SMS) in the U.S. During the past season, AT&T Wireless subscribers sent a total of 13.5 million Idol-related text messages involving everything from voting to participating in sweepstakes. That was 80 percent more than the previous season. Forty percent of the senders were first-time AT&T Wireless text messagers.

"The very first time [consumers] text, they usually need a reason," says Glenice Maclellan, vp of messaging services at AT&T Wireless in Redmond, Wash. Adds Avi Greengart, wireless analyst with Jupiter Research, New York, "American Idol probably did more to popularize SMS than anything else."

As its name implies, text messaging involves the use of a mobile device to send text. For most people, it is the first step in transmitting data over their phones, an activity that can encompass everything from downloading ringtones to forwarding a note to a spouse about what groceries to buy on the way home.

Those applications are increasingly a mainstream phenomenon in the U.S. Technology-research company In-Stat/MDR predicts wireless subscribers will send 30.2 billion text messages in 2004, up from 11.9 billion last year. An estimated 90 percent of the cell phones in the U.S.--which has 165 million wireless subscribers--have that capability.

What mobile-data users have in common, In-Stat says, is not so much demographics as a general affinity for their cell phones: They use 42 percent more voice minutes than non-users, leading to monthly bills that are 19 percent higher.

Yes, the U.S. mobile-marketing revolution is upon us, and marketers are grappling with what it means for their brands. "It's a means of communication that is untethered, so it's like walking around with a remote control," says Jeff Glass, founder of Boston-based wireless company m-Qube.

To this point, the rapid pace of mobile-data adoption has been lost on most marketers, says Wes Bray, chief mobile marketer at Mobilopia in Essex, Conn., which works with advertisers such as Major League Baseball, Clear Channel and MasterFoods on wireless campaigns. The former MCA executive says getting advertisers to use the platform isn't always easy. "They need to know that this is really mainstream," he says.

It might be getting there. This summer, major marketers such as Warner Bros., McDonald's, Anheuser-Busch, Nike and Kellogg began running campaigns that featured, or were entirely based on, a mobile component.

Before delving into how marketers are implementing the technology, here's an important word from its supporters: This revolution will not be telemarketed. Legitimate marketers are trying to create a wireless world in which users initiate contact, not vice versa. Thus, you most likely won't see what was once feared: a cell-phone user getting an unsolicited come-on from Ronald McDonald while walking by the fast-food restaurant.

"Like anything else, mobile marketing needs to provide value to both the consumer and the advertiser," says Carrie Himelfarb, vp of sales at Vindigo Studios, which has been involved in the wireless business since 1999.

The hope is that, unlike the Internet, mobile can live up to its promise without intrusions like pop-up ads and spam. Many programs ask users to opt-in not once but twice. The Mobile Marketing Association, an industry trade group, is working to enforce a strict code of content, telling its members to promise consumers six C's: choice, control, constraint, customization, consideration and confidentiality. "Everyone is scared to death about spam," says Peter Fuller, MMA's executive director.

Adds Jack Philbin, president of Evanston, Ill.-based Vibes Media, "It's too personal. It's on your hip. It's everywhere you want to go."

Some marketers, then, are tiptoeing into mobile with uncharacteristic restraint. On harrypotter.com/wireless, for example, users are told in no uncertain terms that they may be charged for the messages they send and receive, and that they must register to participate in a promotion for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. First they must fill out a Web form, then a registration code is sent to their phones that must be entered into the site to complete the process. Only then will they get movie updates, Potter facts, SMS polls, games, ringtones, wallpapers, etc.

Unlike in the free-for-all e-mail world, mobile carriers are gatekeepers of their networks, so they can more efficiently shut down spam. They police which advertisers want to run promotions and sometimes even refrain from sending unsolicited messages to their own subscribers. Giving customers a positive experience, they say, comes first. "We don't want to appear that we're spamming," says Amy Wilson, senior product manager at the QuickReach unit of Cingular Wireless, which manages the carrier's text-messaging platform.

As careful as companies are about protecting their customers, wireless companies are still the best place to look for what constitutes state-of-the-art in mobile marketing. Of course, for them, the benefits of such deals go a lot further than marketing; they introduce a bright and shiny new revenue stream. The basic cost per text message can range from roughly 3 to 10 cents, and as with pay phones, that small change tan add up.

Take, for example, Cingular's three-day "America's Tribal Council" promotion in May, tied into Survivor: All-Stars, in which subscribers from any carrier could, among other things, vote on which of the show's alums should win $1 million. Cingular subscribers could download the show's theme song, photos and other content directly to their phones. Over the course of the three days, wireless users sent 3 million text messages. "We're seeing a huge percentage of people who never sent us a text message before," notes Wilson.

Cingular's current "Rock the Vote" mobile effort marks the first time the youth-focused gel-out-the-vote program has had a wireless component. The initiative, also sponsored by MTV and Motorola, heavily brands the sponsors on all materials as it attempts to sign up voters (registration forms can be requested wirelessly), poll them on political issues and, as Election Day nears, give registrants lists of polling places. Users can also download ringtones from artists ranging from Kinky to the Dixie Chicks and participate in contests that could win them backstage passes to gigs on the "Rock the Vote" concert tour.

According to David Rudd, Motorola's director of emerging consumer marketing, the program isn't explicitly about selling the company's mobile devices. "We do get our name out there a bit," he says. "But one of the keys for us is to be able to show you that technological leadership."

Hooray for technology, but let's face it: The story of telecoms (and their relatives) finding ways to increase usage is older than AT&T Wireless' recently revived "Reach out and touch someone" jingle. The real clues about what mobile means for advertising will come when other marketers jump in. Some already have, and while the results are spotty, the potential seems vast.

For the first time this year, Anheuser-Busch has added a wireless component to its annual Bud Light/Maxim Double Exposure series of summer parties, targeted to the 21-27 age group. A-B has deployed teams in 31 markets to go into bars and use a laptop and a projector to broadcast text messages. Patrons are encouraged, for instance, to come up with a better caption than one appearing in Maxim; buy Bud Light for people in another part of the bar; and use text to get the attention of anyone in the bar. Messages are projected on a Bud Light-branded screen, setting off a chain reaction of user-initiated entertainment. The brand is also displayed on users' mobile phones if they participate.

"The challenge with Bud Light is that you've got to stay on the cutting edge," says Bill Decker, product manager for the brand.

The impact on sales, of course, is difficult to gauge. And an ongoing dialogue with consumers isn't assured. The company's main objective is to let consumers know that "Bud Light understands what they are all about," says Decker.

While A-B will reach only a small portion of its target, McDonald's, which launched its Olympics-related trivia-game promotion with AT&T Wireless late last month, will get a huge window into the potential of wireless due to its sheer size and scope.

"It was kind of a combination of objectives that came together," says Karlin Linhardt, senior director for young-adult marketing at McDonald's. Among them: a chance in see how embedded text messaging is within the fast-food giant's customer base. "We thought it was a fun way to dip our toe in the water," Linhardt says.

The promotion calls for 250 million McDonald's bags to be imprinted with one Olympics-related trivia question. (AT&T Wireless and McDonald's are both Olympic sponsors.) AT&T Wireless customers who enter the short code 2004 and answer the question will receive weekly trivia questions as part of an awareness-building campaign. For now, the company isn't offering prizes or conducting a sweepstakes but is billing the effort as the largest "on-packaging text messaging" promotion ever in the U.S.

The advantage of holding a promotion in real time at the point of purchase is startling: It's easy to picture someone playing the game while downing a few Chicken McNuggets, then throwing the bag away and moving on. It's harder to see someone taking the bag home to play.

Exactly what McDonald's can expect isn't known, as solid data on wireless response rates at this point is essentially nonexistent in the U.S. In text-saturated Europe, response rates often reach 8 percent, according to London-based mobile-marketing specialist Flytxt.

Of course, many European marketers know how to make mobile marketing work for consumers, offering enough payoff to ensure that opting in is worthwhile. According to some stateside experts, U.S. marketers still have a way to go.

Steve Weinswig, COO of Publicis' Arc Worldwide unit, points to Nike's New York-only mobile game launching its Air Force-X MID shoe in May as an example. Registrants received text messages urging them to find 16 posters around the city, with points awarded for speed and number found. "The payoff was that you get a pair of shoes early," Weinswig says. "To me, that's not a big payoff."

Perhaps Americans--and American marketers--are still mostly out of the loop on mobile marketing because they have been conditioned to think of U.S. wireless usage as woefully lagging that of overseas markets. If the predominant image in Japan is of fashionable schoolgirls text messaging friends while playing games on their personalized Hello Kitty mobile devices, the corresponding tableau here may be the casually dressed, thirtysomething executive drinking a latte in a WiFi-ed Starbucks while punching keys on his anorectically thin Sony Vaio. The ubiquity of the Internet has relegated our phones to a supporting role in the digital revolution.

"We're supersized [in the U.S.] with our Internet access," says Patrick McQuown, president of wireless specialist Proteus. "We have it at work. We have it at home. We have it at Starbucks. We have it at McDonald's."

Proteus is among a small number of companies that have successfully exploited mobile's big advantage: that users have it with them almost all the time. Among other efforts, the company has run real-time text-message song-request programs for live acts including Fuel, Ashanti and Barenaked Ladies, interactions that were virtually impossible before text messaging began to take off.

One way to tell that U.S. mobile marketing has truly become mainstream will be when the payoff isn't just entertainment but utility, which may also be the most likely way to tope in older demographics. In Europe, some grocery stores give visiting customers downloaded coupons that can be scanned at the register, a massive improvement over clipping coupons.

The idea is more talk than reality on this side of the pond, but there are exceptions. Some airlines, including United and American, offer text-messaged flight-status notification. Receiving a message that one's flight is delayed wouldn't be considered advertising, but over the long term, efforts like that can burnish the brand.

So when is it time to open the marketing purse strings? Wireless proponents, of course, say the time is now, but others are not so sure. Forrester Research, for one, said in December that even though mobile marketing has begun to gain traction here, marketers will see a better return from e-mail and online advertising through 2005.

Meanwhile, there's a good unscientific way to monitor the progress of the mobile revolution: seeing how much time people spend staring at their cell phones.

In this country, we often appear disconnected from our mobile devices--we talk into an earpiece while the unit is attached to a belt buckle or buried in a purse. In other parts of the world, where not only SMS but its sexier descendant MMS (which includes color graphics and sound) are commonplace, people spend a lot of time looking at their phones.