MMA Recognizes Excellence in Mobile Marketing @ THE SMARTIES'14

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), rcently unveiled the winners of the third annual MMA SMARTIES™ India Awards 2014 at a Gala Dinner in Mumbai. Showcasing the ‘best of the best’ in the industry, the SMARTIES™ India Awards honor solid mobile strategies that address specific business challenges through the creative use of mobile technologies. Winners were declared across 21 categories with over 60 brands and 40 agencies participated in this year’s awards.

MMA also released its annual India Mobile Ad Spend Report based on extensive research whiich estimates the total digital ad spends in India to stand at Rs 3,300 to Rs 3,600 crores with mobile ad spends at Rs 475 crores. Mobile ad spends are expected to grow at a rate of 52% to reach Rs 722 crores in 2015.

“The MMA has been tracking the growth story in India for a while now and our faith in the market keeps getting stronger. Our Mobile Ad Spend Report shows that marketers are not only recognizing mobile’s potential but are actively integrating the channel into their marketing mix,” said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, Mobile Marketing Association Asia Pacific. “The SMARTIES™ awards are our way of recognizing the best-in-class mobile campaigns run by leading brands. The winners of the 2014 SMARTIES India Awards have demonstrated how the creative use of mobile can help build better brands and increase engagement while driving business results.”

The winners of SMARTIES™ awards were selected following a rigorous process involving a council of senior brand marketers and advertising leaders. The judges reviewed campaigns from 65 entries that came from across India, spread across sectors like telecommunication, sports, social media, healthcare, travel, banking, and sports before choosing winners.

An analysis of the winning entries, presented at the event by research agency and Knowledge Partner, Millward Brown, found that successful brands and marketing strategies had well-defined clarity of purpose with 100 percent of winners identifying a specific objective of increasing awareness or sales. 70 percent of the winners also had a precise role for mobile using the channel’s unique strengths such as location, payments, and targeting. 50 percent of winners at the SMARTIES™ India 2014 Awards built relevance of the brand in the target consumers’ context. 70 percent of the winners used mobile synergistically with other media channels.

Commenting on the winners Jury Chairman, Sam Balsara, Chairman and Managing Director, Madison World, said, “Brands and marketing strategies are increasingly adopting a mobile-first approach and the competition in innovation and creativity is only getting tougher. In such an environment, it gives me immense pleasure to lead the mobile marketing conversation and thank all my fellow jury members for their valuable insights and time. We selected the winners after extensive debate and deliberation and are extremely impressed with the results some of the campaigns have achieved.

Commenting on the Ad Spend report CVL Srinivas, CEO at GroupM South Asia said “The increasing number of formats being explored everyday on this medium gives every advertiser a chance to experiment. Once an advertiser cracks the communication type being best received, he will naturally increase spends. The evolution is on the marketer, an increase in smartphone penetration. “Mobile has huge potential across the board from a media reach and targeting perspective. From finely segmented audiences in cities to those who are in media dark areas, mobile can deliver massive numbers for any campaign. The challenge lies in getting the right idea and keeping the engagement going”.

The SMARTIES™ Awards is the only global awards programme dedicated exclusively to mobile marketing.