A sure sign that mobile operators are serious about mobile advertising and sense a real business opportunity in it…The GSM Association (GSMA), a global organization that counts more than 700 mobile operators, has launched a Mobile Advertising Program to “drive the development and success of advertising” on mobile phones. The program will be directed by the GSMA’s Mobile Media and Entertainment Group. The idea is to bring the advertising industry and the content industry together to “better define what advertising should look like on a mobile phone and how its effectiveness should be measured.” To this end, the GSMA will also focus on optimizing “the commercial models and formats of adverts for different kinds of mobile content,” and create a code of conduct – a must-have element of any program to prevent this brave new world of always-on one-to-one targeting from degenerating into spam.

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Of course, the GSMA isn’t the only organization with this objective. The Mobile Marketing Association and the Mobile Entertainment Forum are also working to bring order to chaos and push the development of mobile as a medium for advertising. Just hope they can all work together without needing an ueber-organization to help them avoid overlap and direct them to their final common goal. Press release