Mobile marketing and technology firm Velti has announced the launch of the Velti mGage Marketplace, which it describes as the world’s first global mobile media exchange. Velti says the mGage Marketplace is designed to provide ad agencies, ad networks and brands with greater flexibility, transparency and optimization of mobile ad campaigns, while enabling publishers to maximize revenue.

The mGage Marketplace consists of a number of exchanges, all leveraging the Velti mGage mobile marketing platform. Agencies can research, plan, execute, track and optimize mobile marketing campaigns from a central location, based on the platform’s analytic and reporting functionality. Brands are able to track buys from the first impression through post-click and compare how campaigns are performing across all media inventories.

The mGage Marketplace includes both public and private exchanges. The public exchanges include the global ad exchange for mobile applications provided by Mobclix, which Velti acquired in 2010, as well as China’s largest mobile advertising exchange, operated by CASEE, in which Velti is a strategic investor. The public exchanges match ad networks and agencies with more than 15,000 application and mobile web publishers in a real-time bidding environment. The combined monthly impressions total more than 11bn.

White label private exchanges create a private marketplace where agencies can work directly with Tier-1 publishers and ad networks discreetly. Publishers, such as media companies and mobile operators, can also create white label exchanges to privately sell inventory to a select list of agencies, ad networks and brands. More than 100 premium publishers have already integrated into mGage Marketplace private exchanges in order to transact with agency customers; Velti estimates more than 200 will be integrated before the end of 2011.

Velti says the mGage Marketplace offers targeted ad delivery based on relevance, combined with streamlined campaign planning that enables media buyers to organize ad buys based on price, specific targets and level of transparency. This is supported with analytics to allow for cross-platform, cross-inventory and end-to-end data, which allows targeted media to optimize post-click performance.

Among the first agencies to establish a white label exchange within the Velti mGage Marketplace is Draftfcb, one of the world’s largest integrated communications agencies, with a network that spans 94 countries and employs more than 9,200 people. Draftfcb is leveraging the platform to plan, run and optimize campaigns in the US and China on behalf of leading global clients.

“We conducted an exhaustive evaluation of more than 20 leading mobile platform providers, via a cross-functional committee representing account services, planning, UX, creative technology and executive leadership over a period of about three months,” says Patrick Moorhead, SVP, group managing director – mobile at Draftfcb Chicago. “In our final evaluation, Velti was the clear choice for several reasons, but mostly because of the global footprint and intuitive and world-class tool set.”

Velti CEO Alex Moukas says that, based on the firm’s work with brands, agencies, media owners and operators across the globe, it realized there was a need for a marketplace where each component fundamental to the successful roll-out of a mobile marketing strategy could be bought, sold and managed.

“Whether it is a publisher looking to monetize its inventory without risking channel conflict, an agency looking to plan premium mobile buys with Tier-1 properties, or a technology business looking to execute mobile programs and prospect for agency and brand customers, the Velti mGage Marketplace is the universal platform the industry has needed to realize the potential of this highly valuable channel,” says Moukas.