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ADOTAS Advertising Week Conversations: Laura Marriott, Executive Director, Mobile Marketing Association

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Sep 26, 2006 
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Lauren Kerensky  |
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ADOTAS Advertising Week Conversations: Laura Marriott, Executive Director, Mobile Marketing Association

Do you find that the US is lagging behind at all in comparison to Europe or China?

No, absolutely not. I think we’re all building this industry together and where Europe might lead in terms of text-based campaigns, so Europeans and Asians as well utilize text messaging a lot more than we do here in North America, we are probably ahead or leading the industry in terms of creative development around mobile web, around mobile video, around downloads.

Switching over to the topic of Advertising Week, have you spoken at Mixx before?

I have not. This is my first time, and so we’re working on a relationship with the IAB to figure out how the MMA and the IAB can work together. So, we’re having Greg Stewart speak at our event in LA in November and so we’re speaking at his event at Mixx.

Can you talk a little bit about what are you planning to address or cover at the conference?

We’ll be talking about some of the research that the MMA and its members have conducted. A lot of it has not been made public because this is, for the most part, members only information, but what we’re going to do is really talk about how mobile so far is still in its early days. It is a relatively untapped channel. The number of consumers who have engaged in mobile campaigns is still very small, but it is experiencing rapid growth and adoption. So really an emphasis on mobile marketing effectiveness is what I’m going to speak about.

So is making mobile marketing more effective one of the biggest challenges?

I would say our biggest challenge is actually education. So, making all members of the value chain, the brands, the agencies, the publishers, content providers, all aware of what mobile can do for them. 2006 has been a pivotal year in terms of the number of campaigns that have been launched. We are experiencing the true “hockey stick” vertical growth, in terms of campaigns. So the biggest challenge is actually education.

During Advertising Week, there seems to be a bit of focus on women, both as consumers and as advertising executives. I just thought I’d ask your perspective on the female demographic in mobile marketing and your personal experience as a female in the industry?

Taking the first part of your question, if you look at the consumers of mobile content, it’s actually almost 50/50 in terms of who is consuming mobile content. I think it’s 49% are women and 51% are men. So in terms of targeting campaigns and initiatives, there is definitely a difference in terms of targeting. From a gaming perspective, women like the more strategic games, whereas men tend to like the more action-oriented games. And obviously, the products and services are going to be different, and agencies just need to take that into account.

But in terms of the consumer, it is very balanced. Which to me, just blew me away. I think that is incredibly interesting, that it is a balanced approach to market. So it depends on the product and service being marketed, but as for any demographic group, whether you’re looking at affluent males or the Hispanic community, you always have to gear your message towards your target audience, and I don’t think women are any different than any of the other demographic categories.

To answer the second part, I am in the wireless space and the wireless space is traditionally dominated, or has been traditionally dominated by men. I would say that women tend to occupy the marketing positions more so than a lot of the leadership positions. Although, they’re in marketing leadership positions so that’s probably not a fair thing to say, but it is definitely a male-dominated industry.

I think as a woman…it is sometimes a challenge. It is definitely sometimes a challenge, but as long as you maintain confidence and are good at what you do, I don’t think sex really plays a role. We’re starting to see more and more women come into the wireless space, in key positions. So, it’s changing, but it’s slow to change. It’s hard to comment on, but I think we all feel that there should be more women.

Thanks so much for your time. See you at Mixx!





Reader Comments.

The Madison Avenue types have gotten on board. The only thing missing is the carrier’s attention.

/e

Posted by evolvetek | 5:46 pm on September 22, 2006.

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