Optism™

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Forums have quickly become not-to-be-missed events for members of the mobile marketing ecosystem and the next big event is in São Paulo, Brazil. The official Forum takes place September 2, and will feature a wide variety of keynotes, panels and presentations discussing the latest technology developments, case studies, and innovative ways of using the mobile channel to extend the reach and effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

With a number of pre-Forum events planned for September 1, there’s good reason to arrive a day early. Mobile operators can attend an invitation-only event sponsored by the Optism team at Alcatel-Lucent. You can get your invitation to this event by letting your sales rep know you’re interested. The MMA is hosting two events, an introduction to mobile marketing and, for members only, a look at regional insights. For more information on all the São Paulo Forum events, check out the website.

To get a sense of how exciting the MMA Forums are, you might want to check out Tomi Ahonen’s feedback on the New York Forum in June this year. We’re looking forward to hearing what Tomi has to say in his keynote at the Brazil event.

Before heading to Brazil, you might want to check out the MMA’s Federico Pisani Massamormile’s insider’s guide, a primer on mobile marketing in Brazil. The Brazilian mobile market is incredibly hot – and it’s one that our own research has shown is open to permission mobile marketing.

In our  recent Youth Lab study, Latin America had the highest positive responses globally to all the key questions we asked regarding permission-based mobile advertising. (For this study, Latin America was represented by Brazil and Mexico.) According to our research a whopping 68% of Latin America respondents indicated that they would be likely to sign up for a permission-based mobile advertising service from their mobile operator. Permission was very important to the research group, with 88% indicating that permission was the top measure for addressing privacy concerns. 59% of Latin American respondents indicated that the availability of mobile advertising would increase the likelihood that they would stick with a mobile operator.

In the near future, Brazil will be hosting two major world events: the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016. With the rapid expansion of 3G capabilities in Brazil, the tremendous adoption of mobile by Brazilians (90% of the population at the end of 2009) and the people’s overall openness to mobile advertising, Brazil is definitely a market to be watched!

The Optism Team will be well-represented in São Paulo and we look forward to saying olá to as many of you as possible. We’ll be providing updates on the Brazil Forum on Twitter @Optismww. You can also join the permission mobile marketing conversation on our Facebook page and watch our videos on our YouTube channel.