The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has secured over $1 million in funding to launch a global, in-market research project to evaluate the ROI of mobile in the marketing mix. 

The project (SMoX.me for Smart Mobile Cross Marketing Effectiveness) will test real in-market marketing campaigns to determine the relative economic value of investing in mobile channels compared to traditional marketing channels. 

"With the radical shifts in consumer media consumption all around the world, it is vital that marketers get quantitative guidance from the industry on how to best optimise mobile in the marketing mix," says Jack Haber, vice-president global advertising and digital for Colgate-Palmolive. 

Each SmoX.me study will provide a cross marketing channel ROI analysis seeking to understand mobile marketing alongside traditional and other digital marketing channels in generating brand metrics (e.g. awareness, brand image or purchase intent) and/or sales, depending on a marketer's goals. 

The Coca-Cola Company and Colgate-Palmolive are among the companies on the MMA Global Board of Directors supporting and spearheading the research. 

"As we integrate mobile into our marketing mix, it is critical for a brand like Coca-Cola to gain global insights on our ROI across our worldwide spend," says Tom Daly, group director, global connections, The Coca-Cola Company. 

Other SMoX.me partners include Vodafone, Pandora, The Weather Channel, Velti, AT&T AdWorks, InMobi, Telefonica, Tremor Video and Vibes. 

The results are expected to also provide insight into channel mix optimisation and assess more clearly the role and relative value of each of the individual mobile channels, including mobile display, rich media (or other unique ad types), video, audio, email, SMS and others. Studies are already planned for the United States, United Kingdom and Turkey. 

Posted by

Smarayda Christoforou