Mobile Marketing Magazine

Motally Adds to Advisory Board

Mobile analytics firm Motally has appointed former M:Metrics and Jupiter Research executive Seamus McAteer, and  web analytics veteran Rand Schulman, to its Board of Directors and Advisory Board.
McAteer brings almost two decades of experience in the wireless and online media sectors both as an analyst and entrepreneur. He is currently Managing Director of Market Research at Majestic Research, and was Chief Product Architect and co-founder at M:Metrics, which was acquired by ComScore in 2008. As an analyst McAteer headed up technology coverage as Research Fellow at Jupiter Media Metrix and was a Senior Analyst with SRI International.
Schulman is Principal at Schulman+Thorogood. He has worked as Chief Marketing Officer at both InsideView and WebSideStory, the latter of which was acquired by Omniture in 2008. Schulman also founded the Web Analytics Association and was also the founder and CEO of one of the first SaaS companies, Keylime Software, which was acquired by Overture in 1997. BtoB Magazine named Schulman as one of the top 100 BtoB marketing executives in 2005.
Founded in 2008, Motally recently added iPad and mobile gaming analytics to its service portfolio. It says it is the only analytics firm to support analytics for applications on the iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry platforms, as well as the mobile web, all in one interface. Motally also offers white-label solutions to enterprise customers.

Muzicall Launches Ringback Tone Centre of Excellence

Muzicall, which offers ringback tone services, is launching a centre of excellence for the marketing of ringback tones to consumers, which will be led by Lourens de Beer, the company’s newly-appointed Chief Marketing Officer.
Muzicall says it will act as a dedicated resource for its managed service partners to deliver bespoke, innovative, multi-channel marketing campaigns that will increase awareness and discovery of ringback tones, as well as generating sales and enhancing customer retention.
“Lack of awareness is repeatedly cited as one of the reasons why so few consumers in Europe have ringback tones, but we are changing this with innovative marketing and unique content,” says de Beer. “Muzicall combines leading edge RBT technology and best in industry marketing knowledge to increase consumer awareness of RBTs and drive sales.”
Muzicall say its centre of excellence will offer its managed service partners substantial ring-fenced marketing budget and expertise to implement marketing strategies, including dedicated specialist campaign managers for each country, and bespoke marketing content tailored to each target country.
de Beer has been appointed as Muzicall’s Chief Marketing Officer following the company’s successful €9 million fundraising round in November, plus the additional €2.1 million of funds raised in February. As CMO, de Beer will be responsible for leading all aspects of marketing for Muzicall, as well as driving the marketing of ringback tones to European consumers in partnership with operators.
De Beer joins Muzicall after eight years at Net Mobile UK. Prior to that, he managed direct-to-consumer mobile marketing strategies in over 20 territories as CEO of Pitch Entertainment Group (now Playphone, EMEA) and as Head of Global D2C Marketing for iTouch Plc (now part of Buongiorno).

Boon Heong Takes Inside Job

INSIDE Contactless, which provides open-standard contactless chip technologies, has appointed Lim Boon Heong as General Manager for the Asia Pacific region. In his new position, Boon Heong will be responsible for establishing and managing the company's sales strategy.
Prior to joining INSIDE Contactless, Boon Heong spent more than nine years at Gemplus Technologies Asia, based in Singapore, first as Asia Pacific Technical Manager, then as Regional Marketing Director and then Head of the Telecom Business unit.
"Boon Heong has shown outstanding initiative and drive as Director of Marketing and Business Development for INSIDE's NFC business line in the Asia Pacific region, and so he was the natural choice to fill the general manager position," says INSIDE Contactless CEO, Remy de Tonnac. "I congratulate him on this promotion and look forward to his continuing contributions to the success of our company in this region.

2ergo Appoints Joint MDs

Mobile marketing and technology 2ergo has appointed Jill Collighan and John Stevens as Joint Group Managing Directors. Collighan will be responsible for group finance, operations, technical development and HR, while Stevens will hold responsibility for sales, marketing, product development and new business ventures.
The creation of the new roles follows a successful year for 2ergo, with geographical expansion, many client wins including Transport for London, and ground-breaking work such as the iPhone applications for The Guardian, Rightmove and Arsenal F.C.
Collighan has been with the 2ergo group since 2002, having been appointed Group Finance Director in 2004. She has more than 20 years finance experience. Stevens joins 2ergo from DSGi Business, where he was Sales and Marketing Director. He has more than 25 years commercial experience in retail and B2B sectors, including  three years as Marketing Director at PC World Business, and various board positions, including eCommerce Director and Multi-Channel Marketing Director.
“We are delighted to make these appointments, and are excited at the dynamism this partnership brings to the business,” says 2ergo Joint CEO, Barry Sharples. “We operate in an exciting, fast-growing market and we look forward to seeing the business continue to grow under Jill and John’s leadership, as we seek to exploit new product innovation and capitalise on market opportunities.”

Four Go Flirting

Mobile and online flirting service Flirtomatic has added four more members to its team, including Udi Jacobi as Head of European Business Development, who will be responsible for developing partnerships across Europe as Flirtomatic enters further European territories.
Jacobi joins Flirtomatic with over 15 years of management and leadership experience in the wireless and online industry across APAC and Europe. Prior to joining Flirtomatic, he was VP of Sales, Marketing and Business Development at Cellectivity, responsible for all commercial and marketing activity within the company.
Flirtomatic has also made three further additions to the team. Geoff Wyre joins the company as International Product Manager from Tania Mobile, responsible for all aspects of new territory launches, including translations, testing and reporting, working with different teams in Flirtomatic to keep track of different promotions across the globe.
Liesbeth Bergmans has joined the team as a developer. Previously she was the Development Team Lead for the Belgian digital agency Nascom, working with clients including Sony, VoxMobile, KBC Mobile and Deutsche Bank.
Finally, Mauricio Reyes joins Flirtomatic to consolidate and drive the quality assurance process as a Software Testing Engineer. He has worked in mobile technology for over six years on enterprise and consumer level solutions for Vodafone, T-Mobile and France Telecom.

Appointments Update

Micro-billing, communications and mobile enablement company Oxygen8 Communications has appointed Keith Dibble as Media and Corporate Sales Director, as the company seeks to grow the business by 60% over the next two years.
Dibble will be responsible for driving the company’s sales and business development strategy, winning new customers in the media and corporate sectors, and up-selling to the existing customer base. Dibble has extensive experience in the Telecoms market having held a number of sales and business development positions within the industry. Prior to joining Oxygen8 Communications, he was Partner Sales Manager at NetPlayTV, and before this he was Media Business Manager at Opal Telecom. Dibble also used to be the Head of Premium Rate Sales at PNC Telecom Services.
Meanwhile, Business Logic Systems, which specialises in prepaid marketing automation and loyalty solutions for mobile operators, has appointed Thomas Demolliens as Regional Sales Director for Africa. Demolliens will be responsible for identifying and securing new business from network operators throughout Africa.
He brings more than 10 years of telecoms experience to the new role. He also has in-depth knowledge of dealing with mobile network operators in Africa, having spent two years selling and managing a customer care and billing system solution for Protek in Johannesburg.  He has also held several senior positions at French telco Bouygues Telecom, and at LogicaCMG.

InfoMedia Hires Sky's Head of Mobile

Mobile media firm InfoMedia Services has appointed Tim Satchell as its Commercial Director. Satchell also joins the company’s board of directors.
He was previously Head of Mobile at BSkyB, where he oversaw the launch of 24-7 Football and managed Sky Mobile TV. At InfoMedia, he will be responsible for overall client management and new business development.
The appointment sees Michael Tomlins move from his current position to take up the role of Managing Director. Tomlins says: "We are really excited to have someone of Tim's pedigree and standing within the industry join our team. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of the mobile media industry, having worked on some of the most high profile mobile projects in the last few years."

B!Digital Promotions Complete Rebranding Process

B!Digital has announced two internal promotions to expand its UK executive team. The company says that the appointments are the final stage in its rebranding and reorganisation process, consolidating its European operations - including Russia - under the umbrella brand ‘B!Digital’.
Adhish Kulkarni has been appointed as Head of B2B Product Development and Management, reporting to the Global Head of B2B, Pietro De Nardis. Kulkarni was previously at Flytxt, one of the original mobile marketing, innovators, acquired by the Buongiorno group in 2007. He was previously Managing Director, B!Digital UK & US.
Stefano Diemmi takes over the role of Managing Director, B!Digital UK & US. He was previously Deputy COO - APAC, responsible for establishing the Buongiorno Group presence and client portfolio in the Asia Pacific region.
The B!Digital offering is now available via a new website, offering one-click access to the five key product areas represented by the full service agency: CRM and Loyalty; Mobile Display Advertising; Mobile Applications and m-sites Digital Campaigns; and Social Media Marketing.
The site is available in seven languages reflecting the company’s presence in seven countries (UK, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Russia and the Netherlands), offering international planning and buying capability, with regional sales and account teams supporting the company’s clients.

MEF Elects Asia Board

The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF), the global trade body of the mobile media and entertainment industry, has announced the results of the election results for its Asia Board.
The newly-elected board was appointed to a two year term, and consists of industry leaders throughout Asia with expertise spanning the mobile, media, entertainment and services industries.
In recognition of the strategic importance of Asia as one of the industry’s global drivers, the Asia board was expanded to 11 seats, with elections taking place alongside Mobile World Congress (MWC).
The MEF Asia Board 2010 is as follows:
Chairman: Neeraj Roy, Managing Director & CEO. Hungama Mobile
Vice-Chair: Colin Miles Co-founder & Executive VP i-POP Networks 
MEF Asia Board Directors:
Christian H. Cadeo – Head of Brand Advertising, APAC, AdMob (Singapore)
Ben Chong – Operations Relation Manager, Silverstreet (Malaysia)
Sudarshan Dharmaplin – VP Product Management, IMImobile (India)
David Frey – Head of KPMG Centre of Excellence for Comms, KPMG, (China)
Representative to be confirmed: Bharti Airtel (India)
Pankaj Sethi – President, Corporate Strategy & Services, Tata Teleservices (India)
Kugan Thirunavakarasu – Senior GM/Head Of Product & Infotainment Business, Maxis Communications (Malaysia)

“Asia represents a key territory for MEF and its members,” says MEF Global Chairman, Andrew Bud. “I have every confidence that the MEF Asia’s skilled board will help the industry and members to better navigate the territory’s unique challenges, and grow this vibrant mobile media market.”

T-Mobile Marketing Chief Moves to Vodafone

Vodafone UK has appointed Srini Gopalan as Consumer Director responsible for the UK’s Consumer Business Unit and its P&L. 
Gopalan joins Vodafone from T Mobile UK where he was Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to this, he was UK Managing Director of Capital One, part of Capital One Group, one of the top 10 credit card issuers in the both the UK and the US. He has also worked in India for Unilever and Accenture.
“Srini brings a wealth of knowledge around delivering great value to new and existing customers by driving effective marketing campaigns which increase market share” says Vodafone UK CEO, Guy Laurence. “His experience in improving business performance in competitive industries will have a positive impact for both our customers and our business.”

Harrison Hired to Aid Oxygen8 Growth Plans

Oxygen8 Communications, the global micro-billing, communications and mobile enablement firm, has announced the appointment of James Harrison as UK Sales Manager, as part of the company’s strategy to grow its business activities by 60% over the next two years.
Harrison will be responsible for implementing Oxygen8’s sales and business development strategy, managing the UK sales team and winning new business opportunities in the media, travel & tourism, hospitality and finance sectors. Prior to joining Oxygen8 Communications, Harrison was National Sales Manager at Mainline Digital Communications, the UK’s largest distributor of Orange mobile phones in the B2B sector. Before this, he was Associate Sales Director at Phones4U Group.
“Oxygen8’s ‘one-stop-shop’ service is providing a competitive edge in the UK market, says Harrson “Customers like the fact that they can come to Oxygen8 for a full range of end-to-end services, including sales, account management, support, technical assistance and compliance advice. The breadth and scope of our offering means that we are ideally positioned to help companies exploit the potential of mobile, web and voice services in order to generate new revenues and improve customer engagement.”

Velti Hires Walsh to Preach the Mobile Message

Velti, the global provider of mobile marketing and advertising solutions, has appointed Mike Walsh as VP of Business Development in the UK, reporting to CEO, Alex Moukas. Walsh will be based in Velti’s London office and lead the company’s interaction with agencies, brands and enterprises.
Walsh has over 33 years experience with brands including Ford, Nestle, GSK, American Express and Heinz. He was also Director of the Worldwide Board and Group CEO for EMEA at Ogilvy and Mather, where he was responsible for operations in 66 countries. In his new role at Velti, he will be charged with educating traditional agencies and brands on the mobile channel and how integrated, multichannel campaign opportunities can be delivered. He says:
“Mobile delivers on the marketing objectives that all brands strive to achieve - highly targeted audiences defined attitudinally as well as demographically, a cost effective channel, accountability and measurability. To be part of an exciting business that is leading the mobile marketing revolution is a real honour and a challenge.
Away from the day job, Walsh has previously been a trustee and Vice-Chairman of the British Red Cross, and a World Trustee of WWF (World Wildlife Fund). He is currently Chairman of the UK Disasters Emergency Committee, representing 13 of the UK’s largest international charities.

MEF EMEA Board Unveiled

Representatives from Mobile Interactive Group (MIG), Dolby, du, Mira Networks, Sony Pictures and Telefonica were voted onto the Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) EMEA board at the general meeting held during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this week. Dozens of member companies based in more than 15 different countries gathered at the elections to cast their ballot.  The new board subsequently voted to re-elect Gerrit Jan Konijnenberg from Comfone, as Chairman and BBC’s Mark Kortekaas and Qtel’s Colin Yeh as Co-Vice Chairmen.
Prior to the elections, attendees received a sneak preview of MEF’s latest Business Confidence Index (BCI), the quarterly membership survey providing a health check on the global $36 billion (£23 billion) mobile media industry. According to the BCI, market share in the Middle East and Africa has grown from four to 10% during 2009, largely at the expense of the Northern Hemisphere. While most regions are relatively cautious about revenue growth for 2010, the Middle East and Africa regions are predicting higher than previously expected revenue growth rates for the coming year.
Gerrit Jan Konijnenberg, MEF EMEA Chairman, says:
“I am delighted to welcome the new and re-elected representatives to the EMEA board, who bring a wealth of insight from across the EMEA region and the mobile value chain. I look forward to us facilitating the next wave of mobile media innovation and information exchange with a particular focus on the Middle East and South Africa. I would also like to thank those stepping down from Sony Music, Telecom Italia and Turkcell for their commitment over the last two years in supporting our strategy for regional outreach.”
Barry Houlihan, CEO and Founder of Mobile Interactive Group, who has been appointed to the MEF Board, adds:
“We have worked very closely with the MEF over the past few years, supporting initiatives, and discussing industry trends and influences. The MEF EMEA board is a great forum and I’m honoured to have been appointed. I look forward to many debates with my fellow representatives and members and discussing the future of the mobile entertainment industry.”

The full MEF EMEA Board 2010 is:

Chairman: Gerrit Jan Konijnenberg, Comfone

Co-Vice Chairman: Mark Kortekaas, BBC

Co-Vice Chairman: Colin Yeh, Qtel Gp

Chairman Emeritus & Founder: Gerard Grech, Nokia

Board Directors:

Barry Houlihan, Mobile Interactive Group

Emma Kaye, Mira Networks

Jiella Esmat, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Jonathan Jowitt, Dolby

Javier Lorente, Telefonica

Mark Ollila, Nokia

Dominique Rougie, Next.com/Orange

Raghu Venkataraman, du

Granath Takes Greystripe Sales Role

Mobile ad network Greystripe has appointed mobile and digital ad sales veteran Kevin Granath as Vice President of Sales. Granath will be responsible for growing Greystripe’s US sales team in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, and developing ad sales strategy and tactics.
Granath brings over 20 years of experience working in mobile and digital ad sales to Greystripe. For the past two years, he has served as Senior Vice President, Sales and Business Development for ad network Sportgenic, managing a network of more than 750 properties and selling to major clients including Nike, Pfizer, Gatorade and Philips.
Prior to Sportgenic, Granath was Co-founder and Vice President, Account Development, for Ansible Mobile, a joint venture between Interpublic Group and Velti, where he was responsible for all revenue and strategic direction for both sales and business development teams, and worked on General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft and Verizon.
“Kevin has a proven track record of surpassing revenue goals and developing strategic positioning in extremely competitive market segments,” says Greystripe CEO, Michael Chang. “With a trusted sales leader like Kevin at the helm, our network will continue to expand and exceed our goals during this period of explosive growth in mobile advertising.”

InMobi Hires Google Exec as Europe MD

Mobile ad network InMobi has unveiled plans today to provide local European support to publishers and advertisers under the leadership of Rob Jonas, former Google and Yahoo! executive.
Since launching its Mobile Ad Network product in Europe in the Summer of 2009, InMobi has experienced rapid growth and is now serving over 500 million mobile advertising impressions monthy across all major European markets. To capitalise on this success, Jonas has joined InMobi as Managing Director Europe, bringing with him deep experience in high-growth technology businesses that includes both start-ups and public companies across Europe, the US and Asia.
“I was attracted to InMobi by the phenomenal talent and success of the existing team, combined with their desire to build a truly global business in the fastest growing digital sector of this new decade,” says Jonas. “Many factors are finally converging in Europe, which will result in significant growth in the use of mobile technology, with advertising being both a driver and beneficiary of this growth.”
Jonas joins InMobi from Google where he was a Director of Strategic Partnerships for EMEA, with responsibility for identifying, closing, and managing some of Google’s largest commercial relationships in the region. Before Google, he was at Yahoo! Europe, having joined through the acquisition of Overture Europe in 2003. He was also a founding member of idealab! Europe, where he worked with multiple idealab! portfolio companies expanding into Europe. Over the last 13 years, he has worked in roles encompassing sales, strategy, product and business development, M&A and general management. At InMobi, Jonas will be responsible for expanding the company’s business in Western and Eastern Europe.
“Since our launch in Europe only five months ago, InMobi’s growth has surpassed expectations, with the UK now one of our top five countries,” says InMobi CEO and Founder, Naveen Tewari. “To sustain and capitalise on this growth,we recognise the need for local presence. With his extensive experience, Rob is the right fit to further build the business in Europe and provide our advertisers and partners with the insights and support of a local team. Equally important, our ability to attract and hire a seasoned executive like Rob Jonas is a testament to the strength of our business.”

Sterpe Takes Airwide R&D post

Airwide Solutions, which provides next-generation mobile messaging infrastructure, applications and solutions, has appointed Peter Sterpe to the role of Vice President of Research and Development.
With over 25 years’ experience in software product development and operational management of research and development, Sterpe will lead Airwide’s global research and development activities, supporting the company’s main R&D sites in Canada and Finland.
Prior to joining Airwide, Sterpe managed engineering teams at a number of companies including iAggregate, ArsDigita and Cering, before spending several years at Forrester Research. He hold both M.S. and B.Sc. degrees in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Innovation and performance is at the very heart of our business, and is essential to staying ahead of our competition and continuing to add value to our operator customers, says Airwide CEO,  Kevin A. Wood. “Peter’s appointment further strengthens our R&D capability and brings increased focus to this vital aspect of our business. As the mobile messaging sector continues to rapidly evolve, we must continue to advance our offerings, both through product innovation and in our ability to work with a wide spectrum of partners to uniquely provide value to our customers. We look forward to Peter playing a key role in furthering the reach of our technological initiatives on a global scale."

Booz Hires Knott

Global management consulting firm Booz & Company has hired Michael Knott as a Partner in the Telecommunications, Media and Technology (CMT) Team in its London office. In his new position, Knott will contribute towards further strengthening Booz & Company’s UK telecommunications team alongside the current UK CMT Head, Michael Peterson. Knott will advise clients on strategy assignments and transformation programs..
Knott has over 15 years experience in the communications, media and technology markets. He has led a number of strategic and transformational initiatives, primarily in the fixed and mobile telecommunications space, across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He previously held a number of management positions at another major consultancy, including lead of their CMT Strategy practice for Europe, and prior to that, was with British Telecom. He holds an MBA from London Business School and a MA in Economics from the University of Western Ontario.

Morgan Takes Flirtomatic Marketing Role

Mobile flirting service Flirtomatic has appointed Danielle Morgan to the role of UK Sales and Marketing Manager. With her appointment, Flirtomatic says it will now extend its sales and marketing efforts in a number of territories.
As part of Morgan’s role, she will be working on UK marketing with Matthew Dicks, Flirtomatic’s CMO. Her focus will be to enhance relationships with UK carriers with new marketing and promotion ideas, and also to work mobile app stores such as Mobango and GetJar no app opportunities. Utilising her aggregator and carrier experience, Morgan will be looking for new opportunities for mobile and web customer acquisition beyond the carriers and off-deck marketing. 
rior to Flirtomatic, Morgan was a Senior Account Manager at Tanla, helping to deliver products into the UK market. Before that, she was a Business Account Manager at MX Telecom, and prior to that, she was at Mobix Interactive.

Cross Takes Incentivated Marketing Role

Mobile marketing firm Incentivated has appointed Jason Cross to the newly-created role of Marketing Director. Cross, who was most recently acting Head of Marketing at the Greater London Authority (GLA), will be tasked with reviewing and overhauling the brand and marketing strategy for the agency, which includes Marks & Spencer, British Airways and the Central Office I amongst its clients.
Prior to filling the role of acting Head of Marketing at GLA, Cross was a key member of the marketing team that operated under both Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone. He helped develop and drive award-winning campaigns including Cabwise, which includes a successful SMS-based cab-hailing service, and the annual London Freewheel cycling event. Cross was also responsible for campaigns that supported the Recycle for London initiative, sports legacy programmes for the 2012 Olympic Games and, most recently, supporting London’s element of the World Cup 2018 bid.
Before joining the GLA, he held a variety of marketing roles during an 8-year stint at BT, and also helped to launch the award-winning black-cab location-based hailing service Zingo.
Cross says:
“I am very excited to be joining Incentivated at a period when the mobile industry is absolutely pregnant with possibility. The ‘Year of Mobile’ has seen many false dawns, but now with the success of the iPhone and the rush of other Smartphones entering the market, we’re finally here. The evolution in tariffs, consumer usage and business understanding of mobile is already enabling targeted, measurable, respectful and relevant marketing activity to take place – and this will only develop further.”

Voda Nabs Crook from Gap

Vodafone has appointed Danielle Crook, European Brand Director at Gap, as Brand Director, Vodafone UK, with effect from early December. She previously worked at Vodafone in a global role as Head of Brand Integration and Customer experience as well as General Manager, Brand and Communications in Vodafone Australia, before joining Gap. 
Her new role will include Vodafone UK's brand engagement initiatives, advertising and sponsorship activity across consumer and enterprise customers. She will report to Ian Shepherd, Director of Consumer, Vodafone UK. She replaces Charlie Smith, who leaves the company with immediate effect.

TMW Commits to Mobile with McDonald Hire

Digital and DM agency Tullo Marshall Warren (TMW) is boosting its mobile marketing offering with the appointment of Douglas McDonald as Head of Mobile. With McDonald’s appointment, TMW says it can now offer a full mobile marketing service, which includes strategy, creative, project management and delivery.
“Too often, mobile has been thought of as the add-on channel, but it is now too important to be treated as an afterthought,” says TMW Chief Digital Officer, Ross Taylor. “Right from the start we must consider how it can be integrated into our overall communications planning for the brands we support. We can deliver far better experiences for consumers by using the additional opportunities offered by mobile to engage at different stages of the purchase process. 
Taylor adds that TMW thinks of mobile channels in three main categories: Push, which includes SMS, MMS and Bluetooth; Pull, which incorporates mobile websites, advertising and search, and On Device, which encompasses the opportunity for application development on a range of mobile platforms. 
McDonald will report into Taylor and spearhead TMW’s mobile capabilities, bringing together the appropriate mobile marketing knowledge and expertise for each project. He will also be the agency’s key educator on mobile marketing, providing clients with practical advice on techniques, innovations and legal requirements. Furthermore, he will head up mobile marketing across all companies in the Creston group, TMW’s parent company.
McDonald has 10 years’ experience in mobile and web, both in the UK and internationally, having been Managing Director for two online marketing solution providers owned by Cube8, an AIM-listed internet incubator. He joins TMW from Upstream Mobile Marketing, where he was European Business Director. Prior to that, he was Client Services Director at Sponge.
He says:
“With better handsets and faster connectivity, mobile is increasingly becoming a significant channel of choice for many consumers to interact with brands. For marketers, it is providing fantastic opportunities to amplify, enhance and activate other media, which have traditionally been non interactive, such as posters. 
 “Our aim is to provide clients with a clear understanding of how mobile can work for their brand and their customers and how to avoid common pitfalls; and as we work from a media-neutral perspective, we can ensure that they use it appropriately and maximise its effectiveness.”

Appointments Update

2ergo has appointed John Orlando as Managing Director of 2ergo Americas, with effect from 1 December. Orlando also serves as Vice Chairman and Marketing Chair of the Mobile Entertainment Forum Americas, and has worked with more than 30 mobile network operators in the US and worldwide. Prior to joining 2ergo, Orlando was Chief Marketing Officer at mobile personlization and music company, Livewire Mobile.
Velti has named Wilson W. Cheung as its new Chief Financial Officer. He joins Velti from AXT, a NASDAQ-listed semiconductor firm where he has been CFO since 2004. AXT has more than 1,000-employees with operations in the US, Europe and Asia. Prior to AXT, he held senior financial positions at Yahoo! and Interwave Communications. Velti has also appointed Mike Walsh as VP of Business Development, based in London;  Dakota Sullivan as Global VP of Marketing, based in San Francisco; and Greg Bauer as VP, US East Mobile Solutions, based in New York.
deCarta, which supplies software and services for the Location-based Services (LBS) industry, has appointmed Brian MacDonald to the role of Vice President, Mobile Business Development. MacDonald will head up deCarta's global mobile business development operations with a dedicated team focused on strategic partnerships with mobile operators.
MacDonald joins deCarta from mywaves, where he was VP, Worldwide Sales and Distribution, selling video content and mobile advertising to mobile operators, both direct, and through OEM channels.
And finally, iome, which provides digital platforms for targeted location-based advertising, discounts and brand marketing, has appointed Chris Burke as Chairman. Burke’s previous roles include CTO of Vodafone UK from pre-merger to globalization; CEO of RIM EMEA until February 2009; and Chairman at Ubiquity Software. He has also held advisory roles at VantagePoint Venture Partners and Avaya, and continues to operate on the board of advisors for HP. 

Appointments Update

2ergo, which provides mobile-enabling technology, has appointed Mark Gilburt as Head of MNO/MVNOs and Public Sector. The company says the appointment fulfils a crucial component in its global growth strategy, and will enable it to further develop these sectors and expand across key regions.
Gilburt has more than 20 years experience in b2b technology environments, and has held senior positions with Vodafone, O2, and, more recently, THUS, where he was Head of Mobile Business Development.
Meanwhile, WIN plc, which provides interactive mobile information and entertainment services, has announced that Gordan Gajski, former Director of Licensing at Amdocs Interactive, will be joining the company pon 1 October to manage business development in central Europe.
Gajski has more than 18 years’ experience in the music industry, telecommunications, marketing and business sectors. His role at WIN will be to develop relationships and drive business leads in central Europe. He will be based in Vienna and will also work between WIN’s offices in Berlin, Budapest and London.

MEF Unveils Americas Board

The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) has announced the results of its 2009 MEF Americas board elections. This year’s board election had the greatest number of potential candidates seeking to gain a prestigious seat in MEF Americas’ chapter history. Jim Beddows, representing Motorola was re-elected as Chair of the Americas board; John Orlando, CMO, of LiveWire Mobile was re-elected as Co-Vice Chair; and Gary Schwartz, President and CEO, Impact Mobile was newly elected as Co-Vice Chair. Orlando will continue to focus on the MEF Americas’ marketing activities, and Gary Schwartz will devote his time to Americas industry initiatives.
The elections followed the MEF Inaugural Mobile Leadership Summit, hosted by the Writers Guild of Americas in Los Angeles, home of Hollywood’s leading TV and screenwriters. Over 150 attendees and 16 invited speakers from the LA area and Americas assembled to discuss the key issues that connect the mobile and entertainment communities. The newly expanded MEF Americas Board identified as its key objectives support for initiatives to foster cooperation between the Hollywood and entertainment communities with the mobile industry to accelerate innovation and revenue opportunities; regulatory and policy activities which represent the industry and protect revenues and consumers; trade development activities across the Americas and greater localisation to support the growth of the mobile entertainment industry in these markets, with an expanded focus upon Latin America and Canada; and MEF metrics and intelligence which illuminate the industry and provide competitive advantage to members.
The following board members were elected to the MEF Americas board:

• Ron Czerny, Founder and CEO, Playphone
• Gavin Kim, Vice President Content and Data Services and Enterprise Mobility, Samsung Telecommunications America
• Sanjaya Krishna, Principal and US Digital Services Leader, KPMG LLP
• Steven Masur, Managing Director, MasurLaw
• Dan Mo, Senior Program Manager, T-Mobile
• John Orlando, CMO, Livewire Mobile (re-elected for a second term)
• Soren Schafft  GM Americas, Fox Mobile Distribution

They join existing board members:

• Jim Beddows, representing Motorola
• Massimiliano Pelligrini, CEO, Dada Entertainment
• Gary Schwartz, President and CEO, Impact Mobile
• Joe Waimrin, VP Business Development, mBlox

In a separate move, the MEF has appointed Miranda Roberts as Policy and Initiatives Officer.  The MEF says the appointment underlines its commitment to driving mobile entertainment adoption, shaping regulation and delivering competitive advantage to its members.In her new role, Roberts will be providing support and engaging with all stakeholders on key MEF initiatives and policy work. She comes to the MEF from PhonepayPlus, the UK premium rate regulator.

Appointments Update

AOL has appointed Stephane Panier as head of Bebo’s global operations. Panier was previously VP and COO of Bebo. In his new role, Panier will report directly to Jon Brod, Executive Vice President, AOL Ventures.
Before joining Bebo in January 2009, Panier worked for Google for six years in both senior Finance and Operations positions. Prior to Google, he was a management consultant with Booz & Company, focusing on energy and hi-tech. He worked with a variety of clients ranging from utilities and large tech companies to start-ups. His early career was played out at Areva, the French company which designs and builds nuclear power plants.
Mobile content and entertainment firm Buongiorno has appointed Juergen Reutter as Managing Director for UK & International Region, covering Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Eastern Europe, Russia, and South Africa.
Reutter joined Buongiorno in January 2008 as Regional Managing Director for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Eastern Europe and later took up the position of B2C Director for UK & International Region. He previously worked at T-Mobile and O2 in Germany. At O2 Germany, he headed the Content & Services division, and was responsible for mobile services.
PhonepayPlus, the phone-paid services regulator, has appointed Bradley Brady to the role of Director of Strategy & Stakeholder Relations. Brady take sup the role in October, when he will assume responsibility for all strategy development, policy, research and stakeholder relations.
As Director of Stakeholder Relations for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Brady was responsible for building and maintaining relationships with a broad range of contacts from Parliament to the private sector. He was also responsible for the Commission's 100-strong Helpline team, which offers support and advice on a range of equality and human rights issues.
Previously, he was Senior Consumer Policy Manager at Ofcom, with lead responsibilities for phone-paid services, digital switchover and the usability of communications equipment.

Smith Takes Orange Brand Role

Orange UK has appointed Ian Smith as its new Head of Brand Communications. Smith will be responsible for Orange’s advertising, digital and media strategy. He replaces Spencer McHugh, who has been appointed UK Brand Director of Orange. 
Smith joined Orange UK in 2003 as Advertising Manager, moving up to the role of Head of Media, where he delivered a number of successful campaigns across all media, and appointed MEC to handle Orange’s media planning and buying business. In September 2008, he took on the role of acting Head of Brand and Sponsorship Partnerships where he led Orange’s strategy in this area and maintained existing partnerships including Orange Wednesdays, the Orange British Academy Film Awards and Orange RockCorps.
Smith’s previous role as Head of Brand and Sponsorship Partnerships has been taken by Hattie Magee.

Karnstedt Joins Jumptap Board

Mobile advertising firm Jumptap has appointed David Karnstedt, President and CEO of Efficient Frontier, to its Board of Directors. Karnstedt has had a high profile career in both search and display advertising, and his experience includes establishing many significant industry firsts.
As President and CEO of Efficient Frontier, Karnstedt leads overall strategy and is responsible for the management and operations of the company. Prior to that role, he served as Executive-in-Residence for Redpoint Ventures, a current Jumptap investor. He also served as Senior Vice President of Yahoo!’s North American Sales, where he drove $3 billion worth of revenue. He has also worked for Wired Digital, AltaVista and Overture.
“The mobile advertising market is rapidly evolving, and Jumptap’s strategy and advanced targeting technology have uniquely and defensibly positioned them for success,” says Karnstedt. “The company offers a tremendous value proposition to advertisers seeking higher ROI, publishers that want to optimize their mobile revenue, and carriers that seek to leverage their data assets to build targeted user profiles.”

MEF Board Moves

The board of MEF (Mobile Entertainment Forum) EMEA has voted to elect Gerrit-Jan Konijnenberg as Chairman and Alberto Ciarniello as Vice Chairman following the departure of former Chairman Gerard Grech.
From the outset, Konijnenberg has been an active champion for MEF EMEA’s activities and was previously elected as MEF Vice-Chairman for the last two consecutive years.  Prior to joining the board, he headed up MEF’s Mobile TV initiative and was responsible for the membership consultation on the EU ‘Television Without Frontiers’ Directive. He has represented MEF at industry conferences and supported events in London, Istanbul and Dubai. As EVP of Sales at Comfone, Konijnenberg represents the worldwide roaming/hubbing company with its existing and prospective operator clients in 125 countries.
Ciarniello is Telecom Italia’s Service Innovation VP in the Product Innovation unit and oversees service incubation and prototyping for different market segments. He was elected to the EMEA board in 2008 and has been the driving force behind the setting up of a local chapter, MEF Italia; a localisation pilot offering local support to MEF’s Italian membership; and establishing strategic partnerships on innovation initiatives.
“I am delighted that the succession at MEF EMEA has been so smooth, with such an excellent and experienced new leadership,” says MEF Global Chairman, Andrew Bud. “I’d like to thank Gerard for his enthusiasm and vision in establishing and leading MEF EMEA, and to welcome Gerrit-Jan to the Global Board.”
Launched in November 2006, the chapter’s remit was extended to cover the Middle East and Africa regions in 2008. Since inception, the chapter has responded to vital areas of European policy – over 20 pieces - including the Byron Review, Audiovisual Media Services Directive and Unfair Commercial Practices Directive; organised more than 15 trade development events and entered brand new regions such as Turkey, Russia and the Middle East; and most recently set up an EMEA regulatory committee, with 30 members signing up to date.
Grech has stepped down as Chairman after taking up a new role at Nokia and has been appointed MEF EMEA Chairman Emeritus in recognition of the fundamental role he played in helping create and establish the EMEA Chapter. He will continue to be involved in an advisory capacity.
Other new directors welcomed onto the EMEA board include Dominique Rougié, TV/Video Director at Next.com/Orange Group, who replaces Grech, and Mark Kortekaas, Future Media Controller, Audio & Mobile at the BBC.

Incentivated Seeks Senior Project Manager

Mobile marketing agency Incentivated is hiring again. The firm is looking for a Senior Project Manager to initially act as Maternity Cover, with the possibility of staying with the business beyond the initial 9-month contract.
The successful applicant must be PRINCE2 (PRojects IN Controlled Environments) qualified or part qualified, and will be responsible for managing a small team and for managing multiple projects from concept to testing, through to delivery. Some client facing time will be required, as well as training presentations to company staff.
The successful candidate will enjoy immediate hands-on experience and training, and gain excellent knowledge within the mobile marketing industry. The salary is £35 - £40,000, dependent on experience, plus healthcare and options. 
Anyone interested should apply with their CV to James Hubbard, Operations Director: [email protected] using the subject line: Project Management July09

YOC Hires Two

Full service mobile marketing agency the YOC Group has added a new Account Director and Business Development Manager to its UK team. The two appointments come on the back of YOC’s announcement of its partnership with Haymarket Consumer Media to create mobile websites for a number of industry-leading publications.
Melina Gisler joins the YOC Client Services team as an Account Director from WPP-owned Kinetic Mobile (now Joule) where she drove the launch of the agency in the UK, sourcing new clients and leading the sales process. At YOC, she will manage the international Coca-Cola account, as well as supporting the UK sales team, reporting into YOC Managing Director Thorsten May, who leads YOC’s Client Services.
Grant Sidwell joins YOC as Business Development Manager from online vertical content network Glam Media, where he was Sales Development Manager. He will be tasked with driving YOC’s expanded presence in the UK market, reporting into YOC UK Head of Sales, Gary Danks.
“YOC has recently ramped up activity in the UK, partnering with Haymarket and IDG to bring several of their publications to mobile, and we’re extremely excited about bringing both Melina and Grant on board to help drive our ongoing growth,” says Christian Louca, UK Country Manager and Head of Publishers at the YOC Group. “In tough economic conditions, YOC remains resilient and committed to expanding our presence in the UK market.”

Sony Ericsson Announces Management Moves

Sony Ericsson has appointed its current Head of Region Western Europe, Anderson Teixeira, as President of Sony Ericsson US and Head of Region North America, effective 1 June. He will be based at the company's US operations in Raleigh, North Carolina. Kristian Tear will succeed Teixeira as Head of Region Western Europe, and will combine this new role with his current responsibilities as Head of Sony Ericsson's Global Customer Operations. Tear will be based in Munich, Germany.
A native of Brazil, Teixeira has been part of Sony Ericsson since the formation of the joint venture in 2001. He has led the company's operations in Latin America, as Head of Region Latin America, and subsequently in Western Europe. As President of Sony Ericsson US, Teixeira will report to Sony Ericsson President Dick Komiyama. In his role as Head of Region North America, he will have overall responsibility for Sony Ericsson's sales and marketing operations in the US and Canada, and will report to Anders Runevad, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Sales & Marketing. Runevad is overseeing the North American market until 1 June. 
A native of Sweden, Tear joined Sony Ericsson from Ericsson in 2005, taking  responsibility for strategic account management and relations with major global operators across more than 80 accounts worldwide. Prior to joining Sony Ericsson, Tear spent 17 years at Ericsson in various senior management positions.

Moss Takes Bango Data Role

Bango has appointed Tim Moss to the role of Chief Data Officer as the company increases data handling capacity to scale for rapid growth. With 50+ network connections, Bango says it is now able to serve over 40 million mobile subscribers worldwide on behalf of its content provider customers.
“Tim's primary role is to lead the team that ensures Bango's data centers and databases continue to provide high levels of availability and performance for all our customers, according to our service level agreements,” says Bango CEO, Ray Anderson. “He is also responsible for safeguarding the privacy and integrity of all customer and end user data, and for ensuring the implementation of Bango privacy and security policies.”
Prior to working at Bango, Moss was Chief Technical Architect at the sports news portal, Sportal International, where he helped grow traffic from 1 million page views per month to 1.5 million page views per hour, from over 2.5 million unique users.
Bango partners with network operators to assist in the roll-out of new billing platforms. In the recent case of Sprint in the US, Vodafone in the UK back in 2002 and Telefónica Moviles in Spain in 2006, Bango partnered with the operators to validate the off-portal billing platform before full market delivery.

Tozge to Head Up Velti's Turkish Operations

Mobile technology provider Velti has appointed Elif Ayse Tozge to head up the company’s operations in Turkey. Tozge is assuming the newly created role of Country Manager for Turkey, and will be responsible for overseeing business development for Velti’s mobile marketing solutions with brands and operators across the country. The appointment follows Velti’s announcement of its first deal in Turkey with the mobile operator, Avea.
Velti is a platforms and services provider that enables mobile marketing, advertising, and content delivery, as well as value-added services for mobile operators, advertising agencies, media groups, and large enterprises.
Tozge joins the company after successful roles with leading ad agencies in Turkey, including Rafanieri. She also worked with Turkish mobile operator, Turkcell, as the company’s Mobile Marketing and Advertising Specialist.
in wireless communications.
“Mobile marketing is seeing great success in the Turkish market, through highly innovative operators, and we’re extremely excited to bring Elif on board to help drive our ongoing growth in the country,” says Velti CEO, Alexandros Moukas. “Elif has been one of the leading mobile marketing professionals in Turkey over the last few years, working with some high calibre creative agencies, as well as playing a key part in shaping Turkcell’s strategy in relation to mobile marketing and advertising.”  
In her new role, Tozge will be based in Istanbul, and will report directly to Velti’s Chief Commercial Officer, Menelaos Scouloudis. 

Whiteing Makes PhonepayPlus Role Permanent

Phone-paid services regulator PhonepayPlus has announced the appointment of Paul Whiteing as Chief Executive, with immediate effect. Whiteing, who has been performing the role on an acting basis since the resignation of George Kidd in December 2008, will also assume a seat on the PhonepayPlus Board.
He was previously Director of Policy and Innovation at PhonepayPlus. In this role, he oversaw the creation of an industry support function which provided almost 3,000 pieces of compliance advice in 2008. He was also responsible for policy, directing the ongoing development of the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice and the Review of mobile phone-paid services in 2008-9. A member of the executive leadership team throughout this time, he had a hand in all major decisions affecting the organisation.
Whiteing is also Director of the Independent Mobile Classification Body (IMCB) and a member of the Committee of Advertising Practice’s Sales Promotion & Direct Response Panel.                         

mKhoj Hires Frisbie from Yahoo! for US Role

mKhoj, the mobile ad network for Asia and Africa, as appointed Anne Frisbie as Head of its North American operations. She joins mKhoj after almost five years at Yahoo! where she served as Vice President of Category and Sales Intelligence, and was charged with leading Yahoo's advertising sales strategy for its most important industries.
Her experience prior to Yahoo! includes founding an online shopping service in 1996 that was ultimately funded by CMP Media. She then focused on local search at Zip2 Corporation, where she served as a Director of Publisher Development until it was acquired by AltaVista in 1998.  She worked at AltaVista as a Director of Strategic Alliances, and later ran sales and business development for the company until it was sold to Overture. She moved to Yahoo! when it bought Overture.
As Head of North America for mKhoj, Frisbie will be responsible for helping US based publishers monetize their mobile inventory in India, South East Asia, Africa and the Middle East and will also help advertisers reach their target audience in these geographies.
“The growth of the mobile internet in Asia and Africa is astounding,” says Frisbie. “The strength of mKhoj’s ad network in that region, combined with its strong local expertise, brings tremendous value to our North American partners as they look to grow their sales and consumer acquisition efforts in these ‘mobile-first’ markets."

Appointments Round-up

New year, new job and all that, there have been a few moves in the industry these past few weeks. Here’s a brief run-down…
Voice-to-content company SpinVox has hired Oscar Rodriguez as General Manager of SpinVox Latin America. Rodriguez’ will be charged with developing the market for voice to text services in the region. Rodriguez will be based in Mexico City. He has previously jheld senior positions at IBM, Grupo Empresarial Angeles and Avantel.
SpinVox notes that according to figures form Pyramid Research, mobile phone penetration in Latin America increased by nearly 31% percent in 2008 to reach 488 million connections, but with only 67 lines per 100 inhabitants, there is still huge potential for both mobile telephony and voice-to-content services in the region.
SpinVox has also appointed David L. Thomson as Senior Vice President for Speech Technology. Reporting to SpinVox CTO, Philip Marnick, he will be based in the US and charged with building relationships with technology centres in North America. 
Thomson has 24 years experience in the speech technology and telecommunications business, covering a broad range of technology development, network engineering, and business development roles.
He worked for 18 years for AT&T/Lucent where latterly he was CTO for Lucent Speech Solutions and was responsible for developing the speech technology behind systems that have handled over 10 billion calls.
Mobile Distillery, which specializes in software solutions for mobile application production and testing services, has made several appointments. Steve Haney joins the company as Vice President of its North American office, based in San Francisco. Mobile Distillery has also opened a Singapore office, and appointed Emilie Guldner as Business Development Manager for the Asia Pacific region. Jean-Marc Rocchi joins the company as Business Development Manager, and François-Joseph Viallon has been appointed Head of Operators Business Unit. Finally, Delphine Guyot Giler joins the company as Head of Mobile Distillery’s Testing Labs.
Digital innovations and design consultancy Fjord has hired Joachim Hoffmann as Business Development Director, working out of the company’s London office. Hoffmann joins Fjord from the European business development team at Yahoo! Connected Life. As Senior Director, Business Development, he played a key role in helping to secure partnerships with operators and publishers for Yahoo’s mobile search product, oneSearch, as well as mobile advertising and further partnerships for Yahoo! Go.
Virgin Media has created a Device Portfolio and Campaign team. The team will by headed up by Kate Randall, following a promotion from Campaign Controller to Device Portfolio and Campaign Controller.
Team member Chris Tatton has also been promoted from Assistant Handset Marketing Manager to Device Portfolio Manager (Pay Monthly). Other new additions to the team include Chris Connon, Wayne Daniel and Victoria Marshall.
Finally, messaging company Acision has appointed Tony Morrish as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Europe, Russia and Africa. Morrish joins Acision from Sonus Networks, where he was Vice President and General Manager for the company’s EMEA operations. Morrish brings with him over 25 years of communications and technology experience to the role, leading teams at international companies, including Cisco Systems. Morrish also has experience building and leading start up companies in Europe, such as Juniper Networks in the late ‘90s.

Dark Takes mBlox CEO Role

mBlox has announced the appointment of Andrew Dark as global Chief Executive Officer. He will take up his position by the end of March 2009 and be responsible for leading mBlox through its next phase of global growth.
Dark takes over from Jeff Clark, who is stepping down after four successful years at the helm, during which mBlox has become the world’s largest mobile transaction network and has grown to connect with more than 500 carriers in 180 countries.
Dark joins mBlox from DataCash Group plc, where as Chief Executive, he successfully grew the company organically and through acquisitions. He will use this experience to lead mBlox’s exploitation of the growth and M&A opportunities in the global mobile market, focusing on expanding mBlox’s scale and product range. He will also drive mBlox’s growth through geographical expansion into major new markets.  
“I see enormous opportunities for mBlox, both in developing the global digital economy and in leading industry consolidation.,” says Dark. “My vision is to make it an even better partner for customers and operators worldwide, building on mBlox's global scale, its people and its financial strength.”

Vasudevan Takes Flytxt CEO Role

Flytxt has announced the appointment of Dr. Vinod V Vasudevan as Group CEO. He succeeds Tim Williams, who will take on the role of Executive Vice President, Worldwide Sales. In this new role, Williams will drive the company's sales and build strategic business relationships worldwide.
Dr. Vasudevan has 20 years experience in the IT and telecoms industries, with senior management experience in Asia-Pacific, Europe, the US and India. He joins Flytxt from Reliance Communications, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of Integrated Services. Prior to his time at Reliance, he held executive roles in companies including Newstakes Inc, KRDL and NTT.
“We are delighted to have a highly successful and respected industry leader as our Chief Executive to give momentum to our global expansion,” says Flytxt Chairman, David Harper. “Dr Vasudevan has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by mobile operators which will help Flytxt deliver more value to our customers.”
Having sold its agency business to Buongiorno, Flytxt now develops and sells its mobile marketing platform, Neon. The company’s main development centre is in India, and it also has offices in the UK and Germany.

Jenkins Takes MEF Marketing Role

The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) has appointed of Stephen Jenkins to the role of Global Marketing Director. He will play an instrumental role in communicating and driving awareness of MEF’s initiatives and activities to drive mobile entertainment adoption, shape regulation and deliver competitive advantage to its members.
In this new role, Jenkins will evolve MEF’s digital marketing to engage and inform members around the world about key developments. He will also work to raise awareness of MEF’s industry reports and initiatives, including critical work on content sales reporting and mobile video. Jenkins brings extensive music industry experience to the forum and will work closely with the global MEF team and chapters.
“With Stephen’s wealth of experience in the content industry and his broad marcoms expertise, we are confident he will deepen awareness of MEF’s industry-changing initiatives and activities on behalf of our members to key stakeholders,” says MEF Executive Director, Rimma Perelmuter.
Jenkins joins the MEF from the PIAS Entertainment Group, where he was Head Of International Marketing and instrumental in driving marketing campaigns for labels including Wall Of Sound, Independiente, Full Time Hobby and Fabric. Prior to this, he spent seven years at the EMI Group, initially as part of the trade marketing team and subsequently as part of the international marketing team at Virgin Music. He says:
“It is a hugely exciting time for the mobile content industry. I am looking forward to ensuring our members’ views are represented, and demonstrating the value of a single strong voice for the mobile entertainment industry."

Wehrs Handed MMA Top Job

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has appointed Mike Wehrs as President and Chief Executive Officer of the association, effective immediately. Wehrs replaces Laura Marriott, who announced her resignation last year.
In his previous role as Vice President of Industry Affairs and Evangelism at Nuance Communications, Wehrs was responsible for the company’s overall mobile business strategy, product strategy, and industry and public policy. He was also a key member of the mergers and acquisitions team. As President and CEO of the MMA, Wehrs will continue to promote its charter to build a sustainable ecosystem for the mobile marketing industry globally, focusing on delivering benefits to MMA members, establishing guidelines and best practices for future growth, and driving mobile adoption worldwide.
“The MMA has grown tremendously in recent years in terms of membership and our geographic footprint, so we needed a person with world-class leadership skills combined with relevant experience and business acumen to continue to drive our success,” says MMA Global Chairman and Vice President of Global Alliances at AdMob, Russell Buckley. “After an extensive search, we found Mike to be the best person to lead the association’s activities going forward. Mike is a proven leader with extensive international executive experience and an established track record within the global mobile industry.”
Wehrs has a range of industry association experience, having served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committees for organisations such as CTIA – The Wireless Association, Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) and dotMobi Advisory Group, as well as being an active participant as board member or committee chair for many other industry bodies.
Prior to his role at Nuance, Wehrs served as Vice President, Product Management and Global Marketing for AOL-owned Tegic Communications, an AOL company. As the product management visionary for Tegic’s wireless platform and embedded products, and global marketing group leader, he also served as industry standards and public policy representative within a number of industry bodies. Prior to Tegic Communications, Wehrs worked at Microsoft, where he was responsible for driving industry adoption and business development opportunities in support of many of Microsoft’s Windows products. During his tenure at Microsoft, Wehrs held various senior roles, working on technology and standards, as well as directing market research and product planning for Microsoft’s Mobile and Embedded Devices division.
“I am honoured and excited to lead the MMA at such an important time in its history,” says Wehrs. “The mobile channel has been experiencing tremendous growth, and marketers worldwide are embracing mobile marketing as an essential component of their global advertising strategies, capitalizing on its capability to establish a direct link with consumers on a global scale.  I look forward to working together with MMA member companies, (the) MMA Board of Directors and other industry leaders to ensure a vibrant and healthy mobile marketing ecosystem for all."

We'll have an interview with Mike Wehrs later this afternoon.

Blyk UK CEO Gregory Resigns

Blyk UK CEO Shaun Gregory has resigned, citing personal reasons. His role is being taken by Blyk Co-founder and Chief Executive, Antti Öhrling.
“In 2008 Blyk achieved milestones in member and advertiser growth in the UK and it was a pivotal year for Blyk in demonstrating that the model works for both young people and advertisers alike,” says Öhrling. “We thank Shaun for his contribution to this success.”
Öhrling co-founded Blyk in 2006 with former Nokia president, Pekka Ala-Pietilä, and has been a driving force in the company's strategic direction. While Öhrling takes charge of UK operations, Ala-Pietilä will lead Blyk's international media partnering initiatives. Blyk recently secured an additional €40 million (£35 million) in funding to support its ongoing operations and international expansion.

YOC Hires Two More

Full service mobile marketing agency YOC has announced the addition of new Business Development and Strategic Partnership Managers to the UK team. The double appointment comes hot on the heels of the recruitment of former ITV Mobile Sales Manager Gary Danks and ex-Enpocket and Nokia Interactive New Business Director Christian Louca and the launch of the UK office.
Rhoanna Glenn joins YOC from mobile service provider zamano, where she developed and grew the zamano brand. She joins YOC as Business Development Manager, and will be Reporting into Head of Sales Gary Danks, Glenn will help drive YOC’s presence in the UK market.
Hannah Cotton joins YOC as Strategic Partnership Manager. In this role, she will be responsible for building strategic partnerships and expanding YOC’s existing media network, which includes Teletext ,123Play.com, FlirtyMob and AccuWeather. Cotton joins YOC from Emap, where she was Mobile Product Manager.

YOC Hires Two for UK Push

Full service mobile marketing agency YOC has hired ITV Mobile Sales Manager Gary Danks as its UK Head of Sales, and ex-Enpocket and Nokia Interactive New Business Director Christian Louca as UK Country Manager and Head of Publishers.
YOC says that both hires reflect the company’s drive to capitalise on its success in Europe, where the agency represents brands such as Nike, Coca-Cola and Mercedes-Benz, and to build a strong UK media network to provide pan-European reach. Danks will head up YOC’s UK Sales division, developing YOC’s sales and growth in the UK, while Louca will be responsible for strategic publisher relationships and the agency’s overall UK strategy, from the company’s new London office. 
Prior to his position as Mobile Sales Manager at ITV, Danks served as Head of Business Development at mobile media agency New Visions, creating and managing mobile campaigns for blue chip brands. Before this, Danks ran his own music production company, Blu Music, where he managed, produced and sold over a hundred recording, licensing and production projects.
Louca launched mobile agency, Trusted Media, in 2003, where he signed over 100 record labels to create mobile content for operators such as O2, Vodafone and Orange. After this, he moved to Enpocket as New Business Director.

Eames Takes CEO Role at io global

Digital media solutions provider io global has appointed Phil Eames to the role of CEO. Eames joins io global from the consulting, IT services and technology company, Morse plc, where he led the organisation’s activities in the telecommunications and media sectors. 
Prior to his time at Morse, Eames spent seven years building the digital communications company twentysix Group, growing the business to the point where it employed over 250 staff, and delivered digital communication technology, creativity, services and strategy for brands, media agencies and buyers. Eames has also worked for Fujitsu, Nokia and Ericsson.
“We are extremely pleased to have appointed Phil as the new CEO for io global,” says Chairman, Harry Berry. “His experience of growing businesses in the telecoms and digital media space fits perfectly with io global, and we look forward to working together over the coming weeks and months to further develop the io global proposition.”

Dorado Hired to Run Spinvox's Chilean Operation

Voice to content messaging company SpinVox has appointed Ricardo Dorado as General Manager, Chile. Dorado joins SpinVox from Telefónica Internacional, where he held a number of roles in different companies and countries, from product marketing and product management to business development, in Internet and Mobile Business Units. 
At SpinVox, Dorado is charged with growing the marketplace for voice to content services and play a key role in the company’s Latin American expansion. In October,  MOVISTAR Chile and SpinVox announced the launch of the first voice-to-text service in Latin America.
Dorado has a degree in Industrial Engineering from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. He also has an MBA from the IESE Business School where he co-founded and led the Entrepreneurs & Venture Capital Club in Madrid.   
“Chile is an exciting launchpad for SpinVox in Latin America and has tremendous potential for growth,” says SpinVox CEO, Christina Domecq. “Ricardo brings an entrepreneurial and innovative mindset, plus experience at one of the world’s leading carriers, to this role. His breadth of expertise, from marketing to business development, combined with his leadership skills will help SpinVox build its business and brand in Chile and beyond.”
SpinVox is best known for its voicemail to text service which automatically converts any voice message and delivers it to the subscriber as an SMS to their mobile phone and/or email to their PC, PDA or Blackberry. Other services include SpinVox Messenger, which allows customers to speak a text; SpinVox Blog, which enabling users to speak a post directly to their blog; SpinVox Social Networks, which allows posting on walls and spaces on social network sites; and SpinVox CallMail, which helps manage call centre message flow. 
SpinVox now operates on five continents and is currently available in English, Spanish, French and German. The company has plans to enter new markets with Italian and Portuguese conversion in the coming months.   

AdMob Hands Alliances Role to Buckley

Mobile ad network AdMob has appointed Thomas Schulz to the role of Managing Director of Europe. He will replace Russell Buckley, who has been promoted to Vice President of Global Alliances. The move follows the company’s plans to expand its global footprint after securing $15.7 million (£10.2 million) in Series C funding last month.
In his new role, Schulz will be responsible for the company’s strategy and operations across Europe. Previously, he held Pan-European senior business development positions at Overture Services and Yahoo! Search Marketing, as well as general management positions in start-ups, such as the Idealab! backed company dotTV. Prior to working at AdMob, he advised the CEO of Rambler Media in Russia, on strategy, and successfully negotiated complex multi-million dollar deals with global Internet players. He has top-level experience in the e-commerce space, including knowledge of the key players, industry structures, and technology platforms.
Buckley, who has been involved in mobile marketing for as long as the sector has existed, was AdMob’s first employee, and is also the current Global Chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association. In his new role, he will be responsible for working with strategic partners worldwide, while continuing his work as an ambassador for the industry.He says:
“I’m delighted to be able to hand over AdMob’s European operations at such a high point for the company. I have every confidence that Thomas and his team will build on our great successes to date. At the same time, I’m looking forward to my new position and helping to take AdMob to the next level.”

Four Go Flirting

Mobile and online flirting service Flirtomatic.  has announced four new hires.
George Mayou joins the company as a Graphic Designer, Jaeseung Chang as an Interaction Designer, Elizabeth Hansen as a Project Manager, and Leonardo Lanese is the company's new front-end Developer.
“Although we've had a very good year this year and we're pleased with our progress, there is still a lot more for us to work on,” says Flirtomatic CEO, Mark Curtis. “We want to be able to deliver the best possible service to our users. In order for us to do that, we're planning some major improvements and these new hires are driven by our desire to develop what we have a lot further.”

Sponge Hires Four

Mobile marketing agency Sponge has recruited four new members of staff to strengthen its client services and new business teams.
Project Manager Sula McKeown joins the comany from digital agency CAD Interactive. She previously held the same title in Cad’S London and Abu Dhabi offices; managing and developing the online portfolio for a multiplatform media company. Prior to this McKeown worked at the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Sponge has also appointed Bianca Filardo as Business Development Manager. Working with the commercial team, she will be responsible for taking Sponge's products and services to the wider marketing community. Previously, Filardo was at mobile response service company Ad.IQ, where she worked in the new business team.
Harjinder Mahay joins Sponge as an Account Manager. Having worked on mobile aggregation for the last two and a half years, she will work closely with Sponge’s media clients, managing campaigns and building relationships. Prior to Sponge Mahay worked at mobile technology solutions provider WIN.
Kerri Nixon, a graduate from Loughborough University, has joined as Account Executive and will be working on Sponge’s Northern & Shell account.

Lazar Takes the Helm at Connected Life

Yahoo! Europe has appointed Mitch Lazar as Managing Director of Connected Life, Yahoo! Europe. Lazar succeeds Geraldine Wilson, and will be responsible for business and marketing strategy, as well as the operations of the Connected Life business in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Yahoo! Connected Life comprises the company’s mobile and digital home businesses, including strategic alliances with some of the world’s largest telecommunications companies and global device manufacturers.
Lazar has been part of the Connected Life team since November 2005, as VP of Commercial Services, with responsibility for driving business development and partner operations. He worked closely with Wilson on the development of mobile search and advertising partnerships with operators across Europe, including Vodafone, 3 Group, T-Mobile, O2 and Orange.
Based in London, Lazar will report to David Ko, senior vice president of Mobile, who says:
“Mitch has played a pivotal role in driving our strategy and partnerships over the last three years. His knowledge of our business, coupled with his vast experience in digital media and marketing, makes Mitch the perfect candidate to continue to lead the Connected Life team towards success - providing consumers with indispensable starting points on their mobiles and continuing to be the monetization partner of choice for operators, publishers and advertisers.”
Lazar was one of the founders of CNN.com in 1995. Two years later, he launched CNN mobile, the world’s first wireless global news and information service. He later rolled out Cartoon Network mobile services around the globe. Before joining Yahoo!, he was VP, Wireless and Emerging Technology at Time Warner, where he drove global strategy and mobile distribution efforts for Turner Broadcasting System and America Online.

Price is Right for MIG

Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) has announced the appointment of Rachel Price as Business Development Manager. Previously the UK Advertising Account Manager at Rhythm New Media, Price was responsible for launching the first ad-funded video service on mobile. She also initiated the development of mobile video campaigns for high profile brands including Heat Magazine, Nissan, Coca Cola and Barclaycard.
At MIG, Price’s responsibilities will include working alongside media agencies to present mobile solution and strategies to brands and to work with mobile network operators, including Vodafone and 3, to promote MIG’s portfolio of products and services.
“Rachel’s knowledge of ad-funded video services, (and her) experience of initiating mobile video campaigns for leading UK household brands across a variety of sectors and relationships within the industry make her a tremendous asset to the group,” says MIG Business Development Director, Anthony Nelson.