Mobile Marketing Guidelines Streamline On-the-Go Advertising

Mobile marketers rejoice: Industry leaders have finalized guidelines to make on-the-go advertising more streamlined for advertisers, online networks and agencies alike.

The global nonprofit Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) recently released guidelines that standardize a handful of mobile ad sizes that should be widely used and accepted. This will make it easier to create, buy and sell ads for smartphones, feature phones and tablets.

To narrow down the ad sizes, the MMA analyzed billions of global mobile ad impressions and chose those that represented the most frequently used. They then pared down 60-plus sizes to a mere six. I’m grinning. Are you?

Compliance or Bust

As if all this added convenience weren’t enough, we get a stamp, too. Ad networks and publishers have until the end of April 2012 to become compliant. At that point, companies that have opted in will be issued a MMA Universal Mobile Ad Package Compliance stamp to place on their websites and marketing materials.

As if you need to be convinced that this is a good thing for our industry, let me give you more proof. This collaborative effort between the sales and buyer sides of the equation has garnered the support of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Newspaper Association of America.

The Joy of Simplicity

This is a case where less is definitely more. Just as mobile devices provide consumers ease and efficiency, the MMA’s guideline changes greatly simplify the work of mobile advertisers and media planners.

Hallelujah.