KEY INITIATIVES ANNOUNCED TO HELP SPUR MOBILE MARKETING
India, 15 December 2015 – The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), the leading global trade association for the mobile industry, announced today the appointment of the first MMA India Board of Directors, which includes 12 industry stalwarts, across the marketing, technology and advertising spectrum. The newly appointed board in their first board meeting set up an ambitious agenda to enable marketers to better understand and adapt to the evolving mobile environment in India with regards to advertising and commerce.
Appointed by the MMA for their leadership and visionary approach to the mobile medium, the MMA India Board is led by Chairman D Shivakumar, Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd.
The other board members include:
- Ajit Mohan, President, Novi Digital Entertainment Pvt. Ltd
- Amarjit Singh Batra, CEO, OLX South Asia
- Amrit Thomas, Chief Marketing Officer, United Spirits Limited
- CVL Srinivas, CEO South Asia, GroupM
- Kirthiga Reddy, MD, Facebook India
- Prasun Basu, MD South Asia, Millward Brown
- Priya Nair, Executive Director – Home Care, Hindustan Unilever Limited
- Rohit Dadwal, MD, Mobile Marketing Association Asia Pacific Ltd
- Senthil Kumar, Chief Creative Officer, J. Walter Thompson
- Shireesh Joshi, Head – Strategic Marketing, Godrej Group
- Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder & CEO, One97 Communications & Paytm
Speaking on the appointment of the new board, Chairman D Shivakumar commented, “The Indian market is brimming with great opportunities for Mobile media and marketing. The MMA India Board of Directors brings together some of the best practitioners and minds in marketing, advertising and media, and our collective experience and expertise will hopefully propel the market to quickly adopt mobile marketing as a mainstream medium.” He further added, “Our board members have identified key areas where our immediate focus in needed. These initiatives will facilitate sharing insights, create industry benchmarks and guidelines that will help marketers leverage mobile as core to their business and marketing strategies.”
“Mobile continues to push India marketers to re-think the way they approach marketing and use data and technology to engage with consumers. The conversation has shifted towards how we can build capabilities and further help the ecosystem to leverage mobile,” said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director for MMA APAC. “I’m confident that under the guidance of the new Board, our members will be able to leverage the MMA’s resources and network to accelerate mobile marketing in India. The Board of Directors will be instrumental in shaping the future of the industry and developing the MMA and its initiatives. I look forward to working with them to drive the growth of our industry.”
Recent studies from the MMA, Mary Meeker and others suggest that there will be a dramatic shift in media spending in the near future and it is imperative for the marketing community to reboot their marketing mix with mobile as a key driver for future business strategies especially when Mobile is poised to be the third largest mass medium in India after TV and Print.
The MMA board members have commenced work on key initiatives that are focused on Research, Measurement and Education to help marketers understand consumer behavior and usage of data and non-data mobile users and capabilities across Voice, Text and Data. Studies will help evaluate and analyze traffic sources, path to purchase, creative campaign evaluation, mobile content, and mobile commerce. These initiatives will help in demystifying mobile marketing by cultivating inspiration, building capabilities for success and demonstrating impact thus supporting the growth of mobile as an indispensable part of the marketing mix.
About the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)
The MMA is the world’s leading global non-profit trade mobile marketing association comprised of more than 800 member companies, from nearly fifty countries around the world. Our members hail from every faction of the mobile marketing ecosystem including brand marketers, agencies, mobile technology platforms, media companies, operators and others. The MMA’s mission is to accelerate the transformation and innovation of marketing through mobile, driving business growth with closer and stronger consumer engagement. Anchoring the MMA’s mission are four core pillars; to cultivate inspiration by driving the innovation for the Chief Marketing Officer; to build the mobile marketing capabilities for the marketing organizations through fostering know how and confidence; to champion the effectiveness and impact of mobile through research providing tangible ROI measurement; and advocacy. Additionally MMA industry-wide committees work collaboratively to develop and advocate global best practices and lead standards development.
Mobile Marketing is broadly defined as including advertising, apps, messaging, mCommerce and CRM on all mobile devices including smart phones and tablets. Members include, American Express, AdChina, Colgate – Palmolive, Dunkin’ Brands, Facebook, Google, Group M, Hewlett Packard, Hilton Worldwide, Kellogg Co., L’Oréal, MasterCard, McDonalds, Microsoft, Mondelez International, Inc., PepsiCo, Pandora Media, Procter & Gamble, R/GA, The Coca-Cola Company, The Weather Company, Unilever, Visa, Vodafone, Walmart, xAd, Zenith Optimedia and many more.
The MMA’s global headquarters are located in New York with regional operations in Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA), Latin American (LATAM) and Asia Pacific (APAC). For more information about the MMA please visit: www.mmaglobal.com