6 November 2008 15h00….In news hot off the press….

The MMA (Mobile Marketing Association) will officially announce the formation of a South African council on Monday 10 November 2008.

I will however make the first public announcement at an open briefing tomorrow afternoon at 15h00 (7 November) as part of the Mobile Solutions Showcase event being held at the Southern Sun Hotel on Grayston Drive, Sandton.

The briefing is open to the public at no charge – more info here.

The creation of a strong representative body linked to a global organization of the stature of the MMA is long overdue and very necessary to ensure the continued and accelerated growth of mobile as a medium in South Africa.

Companies are still free to join the MMA at either a global or regional level but the MMA has created an exciting and much more cost effective “local council” membership option with a local council management structure – the majority of new South African members are expected to join the MMA as local council members.

The founder members of the South African Council of the MMA are (some of these are existing Global or Africa/Middle East members):

  • Admob
  • Brandsh Media
  • Capital Supreme (Pty) Ltd t/a Multimedia Solutions
  • Celebrity Systems (Pty) Ltd
  • Clickatell
  • Google Inc.
  • GroupM
  • Habari Media
  • Microsoft (MSN and Windows Live)
  • Mobiclicks
  • OgilvyOne Worldwide
  • One Digital Media
  • Ringco
  • Silverstone CIS
  • Vodacom (Pty) Ltd

I was asked by the founder members to lead the negotiations with the MMA and to act as interim Chairman of the local council.

At a recent meeting of the founder members the following 2009 priorities were agreed:

- Ensuring implementation of existing MMA creative and technical standards and recommending adaptation for local market conditions where appropriate

- Measurement/tracking: including the publisher landscape, quantifying available inventory volume and value, tracking brand and category investment

- Escalation in the evangelism and promotion of mobile as an important marketing medium for South African brand managers and advertising agencies

Spend in mobile channels already represents nearly half of total direct marketing spend in South Africa (according to the DMA of RSA) and I am of the opinion that spend in rate carded mobile media is likely to overtake spend in Online media by the end of 2008 – unfortunately there is currently no independent validation for that view (e.g. Nielsen Adex etc).

And that is precisely why we need a credible industry body – to drive measurement, standards, self regulation and promotion of a medium which is already showing strong growth and is likely to explode over the next five years.

If you are interested in joining the South African council of the MMA please contact the MMA directly at membership@mmaglobal.com or for more information you are welcome to write to me from here.

The local council membership fee is $1000 per year and you can look forward the following benefits as a local council member:

– Access to best practice guide lines and case studies

– Development of local standards in global context

– Benefit from global measurement regimes (applied locally)

– Early access to member white papers

– Eligible for MMA regional event discounts

– May participate in and lead local committees

– Listing in MMA member directory (new website)

– Access to local members only site (new website)

– Complimentary participation in local networking events

– Use of MMA logo on marketing material

– Access to members only research at discounted rates

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.