By Andrew Berg
Monday, March 30, 2009
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) today announced that the four largest U.S. wireless service providers – Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile USA – have agreed to incorporate their mobile marketing guidelines within the MMA’s best practices.
The MMA says the industry-first agreement is a milestone toward the continued growth of mobile marketing. In addition to the four U.S. service providers, the major aggregators, brands and content owners threw their support behind the effort. Specifically, VeriSign, NeuStar, Limbo and Thumbplay each played a role in the process.
Diane Strahan, vice president of mobile marketing for NeuStar, says the move adds transparency and cohesion to current best practices. Until now, advertisers have had to roll out different message flows for each carrier given that carrier’s particular guidelines, or “playbook,” she says.
“There are still going to be unique differences amongst the carriers,” she says, “but what we are doing is converging the playbooks and making them transparent, for one industry publication.”
Under the agreement, the four companies, all MMA members, will incorporate their individual mobile marketing guidelines and codes of conduct – known as “carrier playbooks” – into a unified document to be maintained by the MMA.
The MMA estimates that the agreement could result in operational efficiencies for the industry upwards of $200 million annually.
“By working with the MMA to create an industry-standard set of guidelines, these four carriers are playing a pivotal role in enabling the mobile marketing opportunity for years to come,” said MMA President and CEO Mike Wehrs in a statement.
“The MMA’s approach will help provide understanding and set expectations, which will lead to improved experience,” states Dave Burmester, director of messaging services for Verizon Wireless.