SAN FRANCISCO -- Traffic was light at Mobile Entertainment Live, one of the four pre-conference seminars organized by CTIA: The Wireless Association.

Those who chose to make it to the event ahead of today and tomorrow's CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2008 show got to hear senior executives from mobile talk about the state of mobile entertainment.

"Now is the time for mobile," Brandon Starkoff, vice president and global account director at Starcom, told early-morning attendees at the event held at the Moscone West convention Center.

Mr. Starkoff was part of the speaker lineup that included executives from Warner Music Group, Nokia, Billboard, MediaFlo USA, The Hollywood Reporter, Research In Motion, Nielsen Co., Skyfire, MySpace Mobile, MocoNews/PaidContent, Crisp Wireless, Mojiva, Discovery Communications, Ericsson, Kadoink, Medio Systems, Thumbplay and Time Inc.

In his session, Mr. Starkoff discussed the mobile campaign for the BlackBerry with co-panelist Dan Quinn, manager of global online marketing at Research In Motion.

The case study is one that's often touted at various venues. The campaign targeted non-smartphone users, competitive smartphone users and BlackBerry users.

That effort from Starcom was sufficiently well-received for Research In Motion to have noticed a lift in attitudinal impact.

In response to a question texted in by this writer, Mr. Quinn admitted that it was difficult to gauge if the mobile campaign led to higher sales of BlackBerry phones.

"We'd love to have that answer if you could," Mr. Quinn told the audience. "A big portion of that is consideration and probability."

Mobile narrows that gap, he pointed out.

"[But] right now there's no quantifiable media equals X number of sales," Mr. Quinn said.

Repeating a key validation from a Starcom study last year, Mr. Starkoff pointed out that consumers want more of the Web on their phone. He also said that mobile ads created a new realm of contextual relevance.

The study also had some surprises. One of them: there's no day-parting anymore. Media is consumed on mobile at all times. And then there's consumer willingness to give up personal information for mobile.

"Over time, as people get more exposure to this, it'll die down," Mr. Starkoff said, alluding to the similarities with the early days of the Internet.

Mr. Starkoff had four pieces of mobile-related advice to offer. Invest and test, enforce measurement standards and offer consumer value. Finally, understand that mobile is a platform, not just a tactic.

"It's really important to think of mobile just beyond the device," Mr. Starkoff said. "Value proposition remains critical."

Meanwhile, the session following the BlackBerry panel was focused on MySpace Mobile and its latest endeavors. Rafat Ali, co-editor and publisher of MocoNews/PaidContent, moderated.

John Faith, general manager and vice president of MySpace Mobile, said his brand uses a combination of SMS alerts, WAP site, GPS and an iPhone application to round off its mobile presence.

"You need all of them together to create an ecosystem," Mr. Faith said.

Mr. Faith said MySpace Mobile is building an ad network with tier 1, tier 2 and remnant ad inventory.

MySpace's WAP site is offered in 10 languages across 22 countries. The brand has a dedicated sales force in 20 countries.

All told, MySpace Mobile attracts 2 million unique visitors a month.

Like most social networks, MySpace is looking for different ways to monetize its mobile offering.

"LBS is something that we're considering heavily," Mr. Faith said.

The executive clarified that user safety and security were top concerns. Also, he cited a need to respect granularity levels.

Mr. Faith said his company is working cautiously to integrate "geo-spatial networking into MySpace that creates a compelling use for MySpace."