NEW YORK - This year brands are on pace to spend more than they ever have on mobile marketing campaigns, according to the Mobile Marketing Association's president/CEO.

That was a key message from Mike Wehrs' welcome address at the MMA's Mobile Marketing Forum at the Grand Hyatt in New York yesterday and a one-on-one interview with Mobile Marketer, where he discussed the mobile marketing and advertising landscape. This two-day event brings together brands and mobile industry leaders to discuss such topics as consumer engagement, branding in the mobile channel, social media and others.

"Mobile marketing has seen exceptional global growth, and highly effective mobile strategies have caused changes to marketing that have never been available before," Mr. Wehrs said. "The penetration of mobile advertising reached 30 percent in the second quarter of last year, according to Nielsen, and it has continued to grow since then.

"We're seeing more spend on mobile this year than we have ever seen before, even in this down economy, which shows that the unique value of the mobile channel for marketing purposes is becoming clear," he said.

"Mobile companies' order books are full, they've never been busier -- we're not seeing budgets getting cut in the mobile space, rather we're seeing a willingness to spend more and integrate mobile into traditional campaigns, which is fantastic, especially in a down economy."

As evidence, he referenced a mobile campaign Coca-Cola ran in conjunction with Nokia to promote its Coke Zero brand (see story) and the Sunglass Hut's mobile sweepstakes, which involved sending MMS to win a trip for two to New York (see story).

"2009 is not the year of experimentation any more -- brands are launching full mobile campaigns," Mr. Wehrs said. "Mobile has become an essential element of the marketing mix."

The Mobile Marketing Association, which represents more than 700 member companies worldwide, is a global non-profit trade association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies.

The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth and evangelize the use of the mobile channel.

The Mobile Marketing Forum emphasizes marketers' case studies and discussions around privacy, location-based services and creating opportunities through the evolution of the market.

The MMA is also offering mobile access to the Forum's overview, schedule, speaker list and other event information via a mobile site, created and powered by iLoop Mobile's mFinity Mobile Platform.

The WAP site is available at http://nyc2009.mobilemarketingforum.com.

The mobile marketing channel has taken some big steps over the last year, according to the MMA.

In the second quarter of last year, there were 100 million unique mobile subscribers and $1.8 billion in wireless revenues.

There is a total of $453 billion to be spent on advertising globally in 2009, and mobile's slice of that pie has increased 9 percent from last year to this one.

"There has been a big increment of growth over last year, and proof points that show that ROI is greater with mobile than any other channel," Mr. Wehrs said.

"With reduced marketing budgets, brands are finding that mobile is less a expensive place deploy campaigns, so we're seeing a shift to mobile based on an incremental shift in marketing budgets," he said.

There are 4.1 billion mobile users globally today, a 61 percent penetration rate, which continues to grow. By 2013, there will be 5.6 billion mobile users globally, according to projections cited by the MMA.

Spending on mobile messaging is expected to rise to $2.9 billion in 2010, while spending on mobile content is predicted to rise from $24 billion in 2008 to $47 billion by 2013.

Consumer privacy will continue to be at the core of the organization, with an emphasis of education and awareness around making the mobile marketing ecosystem profitable for all involved, according to the MMA.

"Personal privacy issues have unintended consequences, because most people don't understand possible ways data could be aggregated together to what some would say is a misuse of personal information," Mr. Wehrs said.

"How do we as an industry behave responsibly with consumers' information, because we want advertising to be targeted, we want it to be relevant, but we can't cross the line to misuse, and it's up to the industry to figure out how to package that," he said.

Mobile offers marketers increasingly attractive returns on investment as other marketing communication channels lose their appeal, and carefully respecting consumers privacy rights will pay dividends over the long haul, and in the short term as well.

"Mobile can deliver on the promise of one-to-one marketing," Mr. Wehrs said. "If brands do the right thing by the consumer, they can create a one-to-one experience, which is the ultimate goal.

"Mobile can enable truly personal, targeted conversations and a higher level of engagement and interaction controlled by the consumer," he said. "Relevant, tailored and timely messages sent to a consumer's mobile phone can translate to high conversion rates.

"Mobile is becoming increasingly attractive in both the marketing and media landscapes."