The Mobile Marketing Association has made additions to its mobile advertising packages aimed to make it easier for marketers to buy, sell and create mobile ad campaigns.

The additions are part of the second version of the MMA Universal Mobile Ad Package. After researching impressions from the second quarter of 2011, six mobile ad units will be the standard for mobile marketers.

?The guidelines are meant to reduce the friction for agencies, publishers and ad networks,? said Greg Stuart, global CEO of MMA Global, New York.

?As an industry, we believe this is what we should use,? he said.
 
The MMA is a non-profit trade organization that helps mobile marketers establish guidelines and standards to overcome obstacles in the industry.

Ad on mobile
The MMA created two documents in 2011 that were meant to help marketers understand the mobile advertising market. However, with the explosion of mobile advertising over the past year, the organization has developed new standards that help marketers establish more specific guidelines for campaigns.

In order to create the new standards, the MMA worked with its members in mobile ad networks, agencies, publishers and rich media vendors and looked at 150 billion ad impressions.

The six new mobile ad formats are using data to drive the new standards with the goal of helping marketers get tangible results from their mobile campaigns.

Three of the new standards are based around smartphones. The other three target feature phone users and are intended at creating standards for mobile Web. 

In order to be compliant, ad networks and publishers must agree to incorporate the new sizes with the goal of eventually standardizing all mobile ad sizes.

Ad networks and publishers have until April to become compliant. If they abide by the guidelines, they will be promoted by the MMA and can place stamps on their marketing materials and Web sites.

For feature phones, the three sizes of mobile ads are 120 by 20 pixels, 168 by 28 pixels and 216 by 36 pixels.

Given the size and user interaction of smartphones, the sizes of ads are slightly bigger. Three hundred by 250 pixels, 300 by 50 pixels and 320 by 50 pixels are all acceptable.

Additionally, audio components to mobile ads are set at 15 seconds, showing how mobile can be effective for letting consumers interact with pieces of multimedia, but it is best used with short messages.

Guidelines for mobile video and rich media are not included in the new ad standards.

Eventually, the standards will be rolled out across the world.

Tabbed guidelines
With the growing number of tablets and device-tailored campaigns, the MMA?s new guidelines help mobile marketers use tablet-specific standards for mobile advertising.

The guidelines are primarily based around the iPad device, but the organization will be giving new guidelines every six to nine months to help mobile marketers navigate the tablet space.

The four main dimensions for tablet advertising being used today are 300 by 250 pixels, 468 by 60 pixels, 728 by 90 pixels and 1024 by 90 pixels.

The tablet-specific standards also use research from the IAB, which suggests 160 by 600 pixels and 300 by 600 pixels for mobile Web accessed via tablets.

The guidelines are less specific than the smartphone guidelines, showing how new tablets are still a piece of unknown territory to the space.

?We are trying to give guidance to publishers to move them in the right direction with tablet advertising, but still keep the door open with standards,? Mr. Stuart said.

?The MMA?s job is to step aggressively into the mobile industry and create appropriate standards for the industry,? he said.

?Everything is geared towards accelerating the growth of mobile.?

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York