MMA announces change of focus

The Mobile Marketing Association announced a "repositioning" it said would better situate the organization for a changing wireless marketplace.

The association announced five aspects of its new approach: to promote the mobile marketing channel; to educate brands, agencies and consumers about the medium; to measure ad metrics; to help guide the development of standards and best practices; and to protect the industry with "self-regulatory programs."

Federico Pisani Massamormile, the MMA's chairman and interim CEO, said the actions reflect the organization's transition from market growth to management.

"In its formative years, the MMA placed great emphasis on helping build a global industry, creating standards and guidelines to support the growth of a new industry," Massamormile said in a statement. "In many ways, the need to act as evangelists for the mobile channel has evolved into to a need to get brands and agencies to increase spend on a channel they're now aware of."

MMA representatives said the association's repositioning did not include any staffing changes.

The Mobile Marketing Association has for years worked to develop the space, which in recent months has seen dramatic growth thanks to the likes of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) (via its acquisition of Quattro Wireless and subsequent introduction of iAd) and Google (which continues to push its mobile advertising efforts, which include its recent acquisition of AdMob).

The MMA also has recently undergone a pair of leadership changes. The group's longtime director, Laura Marriott, left in late 2008, and was replaced by former Microsoft executive Mike Wehrs in early 2009. However, Wehrs left the organization and became CEO of Scanbuy in August.

For more:
- see this release

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