By Elías Jabbe
The Mobile Marketing Association returns to Dubai today to host the latest edition of one of its signature events: MMA Impact Forum. The Istanbul-based MENA & Turkey chapter of the global MMA is leading the organization of the annual forum in Dubai that unites marketers from various countries in the Middle East and North Africa to explore regional case studies and opportunities for growth.
Ahead of the Impact Forum, which carries the theme #ShapeTheFuture, MMA EMEA Managing Director Chris Babayode shares with Communicate an overview of MMA’s regional and global initiatives as well as a preview of his presentation at the Forum revealing MMA’s latest scientific neuroscience cognition research related to the ‘One Second Strategy’ for marketers.
Architecting the future
Babayode explained that MMA is aiming much of its energy in the direction of helping the marketing community future-proof itself during a time when technology is rapidly impacting the industry landscape.
“Our key our focus is on ‘Architecting the Future of Marketing.’ How we see that playing out is that there’s an opportunity for us to enlighten marketers to give them a vision into the future, empower them and then enable them to find insights and research that help them grow their business,” said Babayode.
He added that for them architecting the future has manifested itself in the forum. According to him, they want to showcase at the forum the impact that mobile is having on the growth and development of marketing.
Research initiatives
Along with over 20 events held around the world yearly, MMA concentrates on sharing knowledge through other mediums such as white papers and frequent webinars with its #MMAWebinar series. The latest webinar on April 23rd focused on the “One Second Strategy – Mobile Ads are processed in the blink of an eye” which was the result of MMA’s aforementioned research that will be further discussed during Babayode’s presentation today in Dubai.
“We’ve had requests from MMA members in regard to being able to understand what happens in our brains in a mobile feed environment around messaging, advertising and content. The data from our research showed that our brains are able to process advertising very quickly – in the blink of eye. That makes what marketers do in the first second so crucial,” said Babayode.
Two-thirds of all ads are cognitively recognized at 0.4 seconds! The findings from our #Mobile Cognition Research study suggest that #marketers should develop plans and strategies that address the first one second! What's your #OneSecondStrategy? https://t.co/jSRK53JswH
— Mobile Marketing Association (@MMAglobal) April 8, 2019
2019 and Beyond
Babayode highlighted several acronyms behind the MMA 2019 programs that describe the current challenges and focus of the marketers. He stated that MOSTT (Marketer Organization Structure Think Tank) is of importance: advertisers need to understand what organizational structure they need to take advantage of mobile and digital. Yet, that’s not the only research, or acronym, that he divulged.
“One of our initial findings was that marketers are focused on 4 areas: Mobile, Analytics, Real-Time, Social (MARS). The work we’re doing on the organizational structure through interviews with marketers and their companies focuses on understanding how they can compete in today’s MARS environment,” said Babayode.
He added that later in 2019 MMA will develop a diagnostic tool to help marketers understand their current capabilities and what they’ll need in the future.
“As an organization we find that these challenges, Brand Safety, Attribution and Ad Fraud, Measurement and Attribution (MATT), Branding and Performance marketing, are faced by marketers all around the globe. Therefore, the work we do at MMA is transferrable across regions and these insights are certainly beneficial in MENAT as well.”
