Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

strikes me that they are trying to gain traction from the back of the booming mobile space rather than contributing anything meaningful.

to give an award you need to be a credible leader in the space with a proven track record for it to mean something.

self serving PR unless they have a judging panel who really know what they are on about and they are committed to establishing a real presence in this space

Paul,

I have to agree. It’s open to entrants with an “innovative mobile product, an original service or a new marketing theory that has a practical application for the mobile industry” - too broad for the IAB.

There are a number of better bodies: MoMo is one, the GSMA (over)does the whole award thing every year in Barcelona (Cannes).

Of course, in some way, anything that can raise the profile of small mobile apps/services companies can’t be all bad.

Eric

Hi Paul,

As I remember the IAB Mobile Council was created in league with the MMA. Not sure if that can last though if they are going to cannibalise each other’s awards.

Will try to find out more and come back…

Best, Andy - Revolution

Paul I think you are being a bit harsh here. Mobile needs to be treated as another marketing channel. In my view , its been held back by the specialist trade bodies and if we truly want mobile to succeed as a marketing medium, we need the mobile industry to start looking at what will work, make money and be scaleable. As ever, the innovation seems to be coming from the smaller companies and they could do with the profile right now.
The IAB are a much better bet than the GSMA to do this sort of thing and thats why we (NMA) are involved.

I agree Andy. What I’m unsure about is whether the IAB is the right association to lead the way, just because they can. It’s like the Creative competition they hold - that should have BIMA had it been quick and smart enough to do it - it’s certainly not the IAB’s place.

I’m pleased to see the NMA get involved though as you have a relevant audience - unlike the IAB. I think someone like Mobile Monday is best suited for this type of award.

Andy, I don’t think the MMA have contributed much, if anything. Perhaps you could set one up with Mobile Monday and go head to head with NMA

Paul

Not harsh, just ill informed. The IAB have been actively involved in mobile for the last 18 months having secured a partnership with all the mobile operators back in July. This event is part of a suite of ongoing events and initiatives which can be found on our site. If you had read the entry you would have seen that this is not an award for the mobile industry, but rather a bit of fun for ‘advertisers’ to see what the industry has to offer. The NMA are involved as they did a brilliant job with us in the digital innovators awards which ran last year. Regarding the MMA, we work very closely with them in helping grow the mobile advertising market - which lies at the heart of why we’ve done it.

Great to see you and everyone in this discussion feels so passionately about it all, especially your views on the IAB ‘knowing it’s place’. For the record our place is encouraging every advertiser to put online and mobile on their marketing plans - a vision I’m sure you share.

Kieron

Kieron love your response, thanks

It is good that we’re having this conversation. I’d hate to think that IAB or any other association is doing stuff just because they can - I see it all too often…

I remember when you started speaking with the MMA - I had a chat with the previous guy who ran it. He said Mobile Advertising wasn’t your space - I disagreed with him as mobile is just another access point for the Web.

May I ask you to speak to the guys at Mobile Monday as they’re extremely well connected in this space and could add massive value - I’ll connect you by email if you don’t know them already.

I think Jon Mew our head of mobile is on the case with MM, but if not I’ll get him in touch with you.

Hope all is well.

Kieron