Optism™

The first of the MMA Forums for this year will be taking place in Singapore next week, 23 – 25 April. This year’s Forum is bringing together the world’s leading mobile marketers and big brands to showcase smart approaches to mobile marketing. Through their examples and discussions, you’ll learn how to capitalize on the power of mobile in your own endeavors.

We’re happy to report that Optism’s Avtansh Sharma, Commercial Director, Media Monetization for Alcatel-Lucent, will be presenting at the Forum. Avtansh’s session, Mobile Marketing Meets the Wallet, will focus on the promise of commerce aided by advertising and how you can use mobile as the connective tissue in your marketing strategies. Avtansh will explore the benefits of surrounding mobile payments with additional value such as offers, deals and loyalty programs. This topic is very timely, given the growing demand from the industry to bridge the gap from advertising to actual conversions and demonstrate the ROI from mobile marketing.

The MMA Forums provide an excellent opportunity to learn the inside scoop on our always-exciting industry. There’s still time to register so please check it out. If you can’t join us, then follow the conference chatter on Twitter #MMAF2012. We hope to see many of you there.

Two years ago, we started with a simple – but innovative – idea. We introduced a permission-based mobile marketing solution, called Optism, which put the user at the center of the experience. We asked people to tell us a little about themselves and their preferences so we could be sure that the ads they received on their mobile devices were relevant to their lives. And we gave them the ability to opt out of the service easily. We told them exactly what we were going to do and then we did it. Finally, we assured them that we would always respect their privacy.

Our solution provided a critical link between mobile operators and advertisers. Operators were able to leverage their unique relationship with subscribers to create advertising media that was more valuable to advertisers. For their part, advertisers loved being able to reach targeted, receptive audiences.

Like everyone else in this dynamic industry, we have learned from our experiences. We developed our own “best practices” for mobile marketing, based on the concept of “thinking human.” When you think human, you remember that there is a real person at the receiving end of any mobile marketing initiative and you engage with them in an open, honest and transparent way. Read the rest of this entry »

A new issue of the International Journal of Mobile Marketing (IJMM) has been published, featuring the latest thinking on how the mobile channel can be used effectively for marketing. The award-winning IJMM collects insights and research from leading academics, students and industry professionals around the globe. The Mobile Marketing Association’s Academic Outreach Committee oversees the IMJJ’s publication in consultation with an Editorial Review Board made up of academic and industry professionals.

The Winter ’11 issue includes critical thinking on mobile marketing developments in specific countries, including India, Pakistan and South Korea. It also provides articles on different aspects of the interplay between mobile marketing and social media.

In addition, this issue features an analysis by Optism’s Mihai Vlad of the importance of transparency, straight talk and building trust in permission marketing approaches. Mihai’s article provides the academic underpinning for the ideas introduced in his recent Optism blog, “Thinking Human: Six Steps for Building a Successful Opt-In Mobile Marketing Strategy.”

Mihai’s article is the first offering in a new section within the journal called “Invited Commentary.” MobileGroove’s Peggy Salz has leveraged this development in the IJMM to introduce her own new series on “the best and brightest” in our industry. Her inaugural piece focuses on Mihai Vlad and his refreshing take on “how companies and brands can (and must) approach people to ensure a desired outcome for everyone involved.”

We highly recommend the International Journal of Mobile Marketing.