Coffee with Mike Wehrs, Mobile Marketing Association President

I got an invitation from Singapore to have a coffee session with Mobile Marketing Association President Mike Wehrs during his brief stay here in the Philippines. He was the keynote speaker and guest of honor in the recent Internet and Mobile Marketing Summit which was hosted by the IMMAP. I was very interested in this meeting because I’ve always believed that we’ve yet to fully tap the potential of mobile marketing. I wanted to get insights from this guy on how we can improve the industry here in the Philippines. Some notes and insights on our discussion after the break.

IMMAP Partnership
Basically the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the world’s leading trade organization for mobile marketing. They’re aim is to help the mobile marketing industry in different countries by sharing with them best practices, learnings, and other important resources that they’ve gathered from all of their members. One of their thrusts is to develop local chapters. Since the Philippines has a huge mobile base, they went here shortly after establishing their first local chapter in India.

Instead of developing their own chapter here, they partnered with the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP). This partnership basically makes the IMMAP their marketing and distribution arm in the country. MMA will share with them their resources and programs and IMMAP can push it to the key players here in the Philippines.

Another key function for the MMA is that they can help the industry discuss regulations with the government. There are a lot of campaigns we can’t do here because we’re not allowed to execute.

What do I get out of joining MMA/IMMAP?
According to my conversation with Mike, joining the MMA opens up a treasure chest of learnings that you can apply to your business or brand. You get access to various mobile marketing campaigns done all over the world which you can take on and implement locally. You also become part of a community that can definitely open up opportunities and networks for you.

How to join?
I’ll edit this article again when I find the link but basically you apply for membership through the IMMAP. You’ll pay an annual fee to keep your membership and this gives you access to newsletters and various other online resources. You’ll also get lower rates for seminars and training sessions that will be conducted here.


Will write about other stuff about our conversation in succeeding posts.