Top U.S. operators consolidate marketing guidelines

The four largest U.S. operators--Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile USA--announced an agreement to incorporate their mobile marketing guidelines within consumer best practices [1] outlined by the non-profit industry trade group the Mobile Marketing Association. Per terms of the agreement, the operators will incorporate their respective mobile marketing guidelines and codes of conduct (i.e., "carrier playbooks") into a unified document under the supervision of the MMA, generating operational efficiencies upward of $200 million annually. The best practices are expected to yield five primary benefits:  

• Promoting a consistent consumer experience including standardizing key consumer disclosures;
• Enhancing efficiencies in running short code programs;
• Accelerating the time to market for mobile campaigns;
• Guaranteeing monitoring programs and audit results are more consistent; and,
  
• Cutting operational costs across the mobile marketing ecosystem.

The MMA adds that major aggregators, brands and content owners also played a substantial role in securing the best practices agreement, singling out the efforts of VeriSign, Neustar, Limbo and Thumbplay. The group's Consumer Best Practices Committee will review the first draft of the document early next month, with plans to finalize and release it to the public by the end of June.

For more on the carrier playbook consolidation:
- read this release [2]

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MMA [4]: One in four U.S. users interested in mobile marketing