The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has announced the appointment of Marco Lopes as managing director of the MMA’s Latin America (LATAM) branch. Lopes is a managing partner at Innovideas, a consulting and business development firm that develops marketing programs for premium brands in Brazil. In his new role, Lopes will be  responsible for driving the association’s charter to build a sustainable ecosystem for the mobile marketing industry in the region.

The LATAM branch is one of four business units – Asia Pacific (APAC); Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA); Latin America; and North America – established in 2010 to enhance the MMA’s ability to anticipate and address the unique needs of each region. Each business unit’s managing director has autonomy to foster strong member communities, launch new in-region local councils and perform MMA Forum events with full profit & loss responsibility, while overseeing adherence to the MMA’s Consumer Best Practices (CBPs) guidelines. The MMA says that these expanded responsibilities guarantee that the business units will operate according to the MMA vision, maintain consistency, and encourage the exchange of success cases and best practices across the globe.

“The MMA has played a key role in fostering the LATAM region’s mobile marketing ecosystem, including identifying emerging opportunities, creating industry-standard best practices and protecting the consumer experience,” says Lopes. “I’m honored by the opportunity to lead the MMA’s initiatives in the region.”

Lopes’ initial charter will center on the regional committees: Consumer Best Practices, Mobile Advertising Guidelines with focus on SMS advertising.  In addition, following the success of the MMA Forum New York held last week, Lopes will host LATAM MMA Forum in September in Sao Paulo. Finally, MMA LATAM is launching Local Councils, starting in Argentina and Mexico.