Turkish participants at the MMF EMEA clearly demonstrated mobile marketing is alive, well, and seeing great success in the Turkish market. Such campaigns as loyalty, text-to-win, and mobile content downloads were profiled, demonstrating not only the campaigns but also critical success rates for mobile initiatives (oftentimes, information we don't have easy access to in North America)…



Hmmm, thats amazing!!!

Someone overseas, is analyzing and writing about the Turkish mobile market  although there is not even a single resident writing about our market. Ironic, eh?   Who is that?



She is Laura… The executive director of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)



Laura was here for MMA’s succesful forum in Esma Sultan(Istanbul). After that, I wrote to her to chat about the town, forum and etc… Laura is very kind, she replied to me at once and took a strong interest with me…



Thank you Laura…



Here are her answers for us…






"Audiences  and the atmosphere in the forum…



           Approximately 180 attendees registered for the MMA’s Mobile Marketing Forum EMEA event.  The attendees were attentive to all presentations and asked some excellent questions.  The majority of networking time and debate definitely occurred at the luncheon, scheduled networking breaks and over the wine reception at the end of the day.



Observations about Turkish market…



            Mobile marketing companies in Turkey have been very aggressive in terms of deploying mobile marketing campaigns – and there is much benefit from being able to leverage the expertise that has been gained since initial campaigns launched in 2003.  As evidenced from the event, the companies that presented clearly understand the value of the mobile channel – and have leveraged the statistics that have been gained from the campaigns to develop more advanced campaigns and services (as evidenced by the high consumer participation rates)



              Turkish MMA members are very active within the MMA.  One member, Aerodeon Turkey, won our best use of mobile marketing in our 2005 awards program.  The MMA looks forward to continuing to work to build a professional and sustainable mobile marketing industry with the members that are based in Turkey.



Opportunities for the global industry?



          Mobile advertising, mobile search and mobile commerce present large opportunities for our global mobile marketing industry over the next few years. The Mobile Marketing Association is taking a leadership position in developing the guidelines and best practices upon which our industry is based in each of these key areas.  I encourage your readers to visit www.mmaglobal.com to learn more.



Laura’a future mobile scenario for 5,6 years later…



          Mobile marketing is in its infancy – and I expect that over the next 5-6 years we will see a larger number of campaigns deployed and technologies launched which will allow brands to maximize the instantaneous  engagement with the consumer – and drive adoption of a broader set of campaigns.



          The mobile channel presents an incredible opportunity for brands to engage with the consumer one-to-one – and we have only just begun to experience the power of mobile – and the applications which will be deployed.  I expect we will see more and more creativity emerge over the coming month and years (rather than repurposing content for mobile, we will see more and more content developed specifically for mobile).



 About  Istanbul and the journey here...



           Istanbul was a beautiful city.  We had the good fortune of being able to take one day to enjoy the sights – including the Blue Mosque, the Palace and a wonderful cruise down the Bosphorous.  Our North American group also spent some time in the Grand Bazaar and we all left with some great gifts and souvenirs from our experience in Turkey.  Two members of our group even tried a Turkish bath (and they are still raving about how wonderful it was).        



The hospitality of our Turkish hosts was definitely some of the best that we have ever experienced – and we look forward to when we can return to see more of your beautiful country.  



Thank you to Turkey, the city of Istanbul and our members for their support of the Mobile Marketing Association’s Mobile Marketing Forum in EMEA.  It was an excellent event.



I loved your country and look forward to spending more time there again in the future.                                                                                                                             "