Google being noncompliant to MMA guidelines?

A few days back, the Mobile Marketing Association made an announcement about new guidelines for mobile ads. At the same time, Google announced its decision to come up with custom-made mobile image ads. Now, that is coincidence. But the irony, however, is not in the timing of these two announcements.

Google image ads differ in size from the ad formats specified by the MMA. Let’s take a look at the dimensions.

The MMA specified four different sizes for mobile ads – 300×50 pixels, 216×36 pixels, 168×28 pixels, and 120×20 pixels. However, Google’s banner ads are in the following range – 305×64 pixels, 215 x 34 pixels; 192 x 34 pixels; and 167 x 30 pixels.

When asked about this noncompliance, Google’s authorities said that the MMA’s guidelines were not rules, but just guidelines. They also said that Google image ads are compliant with MMA’s previous guidelines, which they thought were ideal for mobile phones.

Google, though, has promised that it will work with the MMA to improve user experience and work on these noncompliance issues.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, Google, All things mobile phones, Mobile Marketing Association.

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Mobile Marketing Association to come up with guidelines for mobile TV and mobile video

The Mobile Marketing Association has been working on formulating a set of advertising guidelines for mobile TV and mobile video and it’s expected to be launched this October.

The guidelines include banner dimensions, file sizes, file formats, and other things related to mobile video and mobile TV. MMA’s global mobile advertising committee comprises five groups – mobile web, text, MMS, downloadable, and video and television.

The group discussed the various features of mobile TV and mobile video and came up with different ideas to regulate mobile advertising in these areas. MMA is said to have recommended that click through ads should play either before the launch of a mobile application or at the end, not when the customer is viewing the application.

I think the MMA has done a brilliant job by setting up guidelines for mobile advertisers. Viewing ads while watching something interesting is not at all good, and it’s even more so in the case of a mobile phone. With the kind of growth that mobile advertising industry is expected to have, guidelines such as this one are absolutely necessary to make sure mobile advertisers stay within the line.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile Marketing Association.

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Thoughts on the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)

While it’s certain that the mobile advertising industry is about to have a huge growth, it’s still largely an unorganized sector. There are no hard and fast rules regarding mobile advertising or mobile marketing and we often see advertisers coming up with one idea after another to grab our mobile space. In this scenario, we should commend an organization like the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). It’s an association which is meant to help the mobile marketing industry grow and reach the consumers’ mobile space better, faster, and more importantly, in a non-intrusive way.

Mention the term mobile marketing and the first thing you hear people say is that it’s intrusive and bound to disrupt the privacy element associated with their mobile. MMA strives to change this perception by making mobile advertisers and service providers aware of the fact that the consumers’ privacy needs to be respected and the advertising campaigns should be done in a non-intrusive manner, with the full consent of the consumer.

They have come up with a code of conduct for mobile marketing and it stresses on the fact that consumers should be given the right to opt out of mobile marketing schemes and they should always have the choice to opt for different campaigns and to opt out from the same at any time they want. The whole point is to make the industry experts and marketers understand that the more they make consumers feel comfortable, the more successful they can be in their marketing campaigns.

If this association becomes successful in making a majority of mobile marketers sensitive to consumers’ privacy, then we can be sure that mobile advertising will not be a threat to our private space anymore. And who knows, with so many offers and discounts associated with mobile advertising, we might as well enjoy it.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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