New Marketing Director at Phones 4U

Russell Braterman has joined Phones 4U from Unilever as Marketing Director, replacing Jim Slater who left at the end of August. [Source: Mobile News]

Mobile Marketing Association finds increased interest in mobile marketing

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has published its Annual Mobile Attitude and Usage Study, which shows there's increasing interest in - and usage of - mobile marketing services. It says a quarter of mobile users in the US and Western Europe are interested in mobile marketing, with interest levels even higher in Asia Pacific and Latin American markets. In all regions, text-to-win and interactive voting campaigns are the most common examples of mobile marketing in which mobile users have participated. [Source: MarketWatch.com]

Channel 4 drops mobile ad sales

Channel 4 is shutting down its mobile advertising sales business at the end of the year. The company, which is also closing its interactive TV advertising at the same time, produces a 20-minute mobile TV compilation of popular shows. This compilation currently includes commercials but, from 31st December, will no longer carry any advertising. [Source: BrandRepublic.com]

Mobile advertising awareness up 33% this year

A study from social networking site Limbo.com in association with research company GfK has revealed that mobile advertising awareness in the USA grew 33% since January (compared to a 6% growth in mobile phone usage). Nearly four out of ten Americans with a mobile - 104 million people - recalled seeing advertising on the device between July and September 2008. [Source: MarketWatch.com]

Vodafone and Visa reveal ad trial results

Vodafone and Visa Europe have revealed the results of a recent mobile advertising trial. The trial involved sending 150,000 text messages to Vodafone subscribers in eight countries during May. Customers were reminded to use the +44 UK country code when calling home and were offered a promotion to win tickets to the Beijing Olympics if they used their Visa credit card abroad. 86% of customers remembered the promotion and 74% read the message. Vodafone says the trial was a success, although only half of those receiving ads said they were interested in receiving further relevant and targeted messages. [Source: Mobile News]

Marketing man leaves T-Mobile

T-Mobile marketing director Phil Chapman is leaving the company next month. His job is losing its European focus to concentrate solely on the UK. Phil joined T-Mobile in January 2005 after a 23-year period working for Unilever. [Source: Mobile News]

Budgets for mobile marketing to grow 150% in 5 years

A report from O2 says the amount of money spent on mobile marketing is expected to increase by over 150% by 2013. 85% of respondents said that mobile marketing generated a higher response than traditional methods. [Source: NMA.co.uk]

Vodafone marketing man moves to LG

Dominic Chambers, who left his role as Vodafone's head of brand and marketing earlier this year, has been appointed by LG as its European Marketing Director. [Source: BrandRepublic.com]

Mobile users will pay to avoid ads

Market research company TNS says a growing number of mobile users are so averse to advertising that they are willing to pay a premium in order to avoid it. Although 56% of users believe that content downloads to mobile phones should be free of charge, 25% of respondents said they would rather pay for a download if it guaranteed them immunity from advertising. Younger users are more prepared to pay: 35% of 16-to-24 year olds are happier to pay for downloads than receive them with advertising, compared to 17% of 35 to 44 year olds. The company says mobile providers risk losing customers if they don't offer chargeable but ad-free downloads. [Press release; pdf]

Mobile manufacturers to launch mini-laptops

Marketing magazine says mobile phone manufacturers are expected to start producing mini-laptops for Christmas. LG has just launched the Netbook X110 mini-laptop, with Vodafone and 3 expected to launch their own mini-laptops soon. In fact, Vodafone has just announced an exclusive deal with Dell for the Inspiron Mini 9 'ultra-mobile' laptop. [Sources: BrandRepublic.com; Vodafone press release]

Phones 4U marketing director leaves

The Marketing Director at Phones 4U, Jim Slater, has left the company this month. He'd been wth Phones 4U for four years, having joined from Sunderland Football Club. [Source: BrandRepublic.com]

Samsung marketing man returns to Motorola

James King, who moved from Motorola to Samsung in July, is returning to Motorola and being appointed as European marketing director. Mr King resigned from Samsung a few days ago due to 'personal circumstances. [Source: MarketingWeek.co.uk]

New Samsung marketing head leaves

James King, who joined Samsung Mobile in July as the company's UK head of marketing, is leaving due to personal circumstances. [Source: mad.co.uk]

Carphone dumping Mowbli?

Animated mobile phone Mowbli is apparently being dropped by The Carphone Warehouse when the company rebrands in August. [Source: Metro.co.uk]

Mobile Marketing Association issues global guidelines

Trade organisation The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has released its Global Code of Conduct, which provides guidelines to anyone involved with marketing that's seen on mobile phones. The new Global Code of Conduct, which updates the 2007 version, has five categories:

• Notice – telling users who's selling the products and explaing the terms & conditions;
• Choice & Consent - making it straightforward for consumers to opt-in and opt-out;
• Customization & Constraint – making sure consumers only receive messages they want;
• Security – taking care of user information;
• Enforcement & Accountability - making sure MMA members to comply with the guidelines.

[Press release]

O2 joins Mobile Marketing Association

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), a global non-profit organisation dedicated to increasing marketing on mobile devices, has announced that it now has almost 600 member companies. 33 new members have recently joined, including O2. (Vodafone and T-Mobile are already members). The MMA says this signifies a growth in membership of over 350% in the past two years. [Press release]

Vodafone changes Marketing department structure

Vodafone is changing the structure of its Marketing department, according to a report on BrandRepublic.com. UK head of brand and marketing Dominic Chambers, who's been with Vodafone since 2004, is leaving the company and is understood not to have a new job lined up. Chief Marketing Officer Tim Yates is also losing his role, although he's said to be moving to a new position within Vodafone.

Vodafone appoints ex-Microsoft man as web chief

Vodafone has hired Pieter Knook, previously Senior Vice President of Microsoft’s Mobile business, to the new role of Director of Internet Services. It says the new Vodafone Internet Services division will focus on the provision and delivery of distinctive consumer web services such as IP communications, mobile internet access and selected content categories, through mobile devices. Mr Knook will report to Frank Rovekamp, Vodafone's Global Chief Marketing Officer.

Mobile marketing to grow over ten times by 2013

ABI Research says mobile marketing has taken off in Western Europe and is now beginning to grow in North America. It says revenue from the industry, which was worth $1.8 billion worldwide in 2007, will grow to over $24 billion in 2013.