MWC: The pinnacle of global mobile marketing?

Last month, I wrote about Paran Johar’s new appointment as Chief Marketing Officer at white label search and advertising provider, JumpTap.

They’re not hanging around, at JumpTap — this week, they announced a seven country integrated search and advertising deal with TeliaSonera (the leading network operator in the Nordics and Baltics). I asked Paran to send me a quick overview of his experience of this week’s Mobile World Congress:

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As the new CMO for JumpTap, I’ve well and truly received my initiation into the world of mobile marketing at Mobile World Congress this week. I’ve been to conferences, plenty of conferences, and I can tell you that Mobile World Congress is the ‘pinnacle’ of global mobile marketing – I haven’t seen this kind of energy and excitement since Ad Tech 1996.

The promise of what could be is enormous. At the perfect time when advertisers and agencies are begging for a new medium, mobile marketing represents the web wrapped up in a nice personal package that goes with consumers where ever they go. Mobile operators that are taking chances are reaping the rewards; the smart, bold and brave advertisers have been testing with the new medium and those who haven’t are beginning to realise that they had better get on it, and quick. In 2008, the top advertisers have eight -figure budgets allocated to mobile. That’s a lot of money, and a lot of money that could be wasted if not spent wisely. The mobile device is an incredibly personal medium and building relevancy is key. If mobile marketing is to be a success and make money for everyone in the value chain we need to provide consumers with a value exchange by serving the most relevant search results and the most targeted ads. Mobile operators, advertisers and publishers all need to work together to help consumers find what they want, where they want it and when they need it. The opportunities are endless for those that take them.

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Thanks Paran! Safe trip back to New York!