The Mobile Marketing Association, (MMA) has unveiled plans to launch an East Africa Council, accompanied by a three-day series of events to mark the occasion. The official launch will take place during the Mobile Marketing Summit, a one day conference for professional marketers to be held in Nairobi on 8 March, 2011. This will be followed by a workshop on 9 March for operators in the region seeking to develop and enhance mobile marketing revenue streams. On 10 March, there will be a half-day briefing for members of the new Council, conducted by CMO and EMEA MD, Paul Berney. Frank Maina, CEO of PHD, has been named as the interim co-chairman of MMA East Africa.

The launch is a reflection of the growing recognition in Africa of the importance of mobile within the marketing mix, and the need to bring together the key stakeholders, including brands, ad agencies, mobile service providers and telecom operators, to work together to establish the conditions for a sustainable and growing mobile marketing medium.

“The use of mobile marketing continues to grow globally, as does the need and desire for the MMA to help provide structure for that growth,” says Berney. “It is no longer a question of why mobile should be used to guide marketing approaches but how. We are therefore excited to be driving its development in a region which has already profiled a number of industry-leading campaigns.