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Jeremy Martin to Moderate Agency Discussion at the Mobile Marketing Forum in Los Angeles

Mobile Marketing Forum

The Mobile Marketing Association’s (MMA) Mobile Marketing Forum (MMF) — Los Angeles, is a unique event for the mobile community. The MMA’s Annual Global Awards Ceremony and Dinner, scheduled to be held at the Sheraton Downtown Los Angeles on November 17th, brings together attendees from agencies, brands, carriers and other members of the global mobile marketing ecosystem.

The annual event features a wide variety of keynotes, panels and presentations discussing the latest technology developments, case studies, and innovative ways of using the mobile channel to extend the reach and effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

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Mobile Marketing: Compliance News and Notes

SMS - Mobile Messaging Compliance

October has been a busy month with regard to mobile compliance. While some of these changes were announced earlier this year most went into effect this month. One of the biggest changes came from the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and its new guidelines. The MMA revamped the guidelines (please note: you’ll need Adobe Reader in order to view the document) to help ensure a positive user experience for mobile users. Additionally, the version 4.0 guidelines are the first to consolidate the individual mobile marketing guidelines and codes of conduct — known as “carrier playbooks” — of the four largest U.S. wireless service providers: Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T), Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S), and T-Mobile USA (NYSE:DT).

In addition to incorporating carrier standards, the updated guidelines include revisions and additions to key areas such as:

  • Standardizing the messaging language to a universal “Message and Data Rates May Apply” phrase (with Msg&Data Rates May Apply, Msg&data rates may apply, and Msg&data rates may aply [sic] as acceptable variants);
  • Allowing for more flexibility with PIN location in message-terminated (MT) messages; and
  • Modifying the STOP requirement in Opt-in MT messages.

Also of note was a change at one of the major carriers, Verizon Wireless. Verizon updated its best practices and instituted a new Repeat Offender Policy that became effective Thursday, October 1, 2009. Verizon has also updated its Advertising Disclosure Requirements (these updates are effective Sunday, November 1, 2009) for all new program submissions, on-boarding / certification, and monthly monitoring efforts.

Joining the MMA and the carriers is the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). The DMA updated its Guidelines for Ethical Business Practices to incorporate mobile marketing, stressing the need for prior consent to marketing communication that is business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B), the use of appropriate suppression files such as the Federal Do-Not-Call Registry, and for members to abide by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

Employee Profile: Mark Smith, COO

Mark Smith is 3Cinteractive’s Chief Operating Officer. As part of the company’s management team he is responsible for all facets of operations and administration. Mark brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the areas of wireless technology, ecommerce, and telecommunications solutions for enterprises and brands to 3Ci. 

Mark Smith

Prior to the start of 3Cinteractive, Mark spent 16 years at MCI. After leaving MCI Mark joined startup iBill (one of the first Internet-based payment processing companies). Mark served as Executive Vice President of Sales and Operations and was instrumental in helping to build the company up to over four hundred employees strong, processing over a half a billion dollars a year in payments.

After the sale of iBill in 2002 to Intercept, a publicly traded company in Atlanta, Mark has been involved in several new ventures, including PayVentures, Governmental Management Services, and 365 Billing.

Something that you may not know about Mark is the fact that, prior to starting 3Cinteractive, he had never before sent a mobile text message. As Mark tells it, “When we started 3Ci, I had never sent a text message in my life. For the first year, most of the people we spoke to about the coming wave of mobile marketing and text messaging looked at us like we were out of our mind. It is really gratifying to see how prevalent and important text messaging and mobile marketing has become.”

Now that he is one of our text messaging experts, Mark has helped lead the charge for 3Cinteractive to affect the direction of the industry itself. 3Ci is an active member of organizations such as the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and CTIA - The Wireless Association. In particular, 3Cinteractive is involved in the Best Practices Committee and the Mobile Commerce Committee with the MMA, demonstrating that mobile marketing is more than things like ringtones and wallpapers and other consumer oriented entertainment products.

Mark is a proud graduate of the University of Texas and while 3Ci is his day, evening, night and weekend job, he is a dedicated husband and father as well as an avid runner and skier.

Employee Announcement: Jeff Michaud, Vice President of Marketing and Creative

Jeff Michaud

One of the most exciting aspects of our business is seeing the development of our people and the organization. We’ve had the fortune of witnessing this business grow from “just an idea and a business plan” to a “well-oiled machine” that is now built for scalability. The only reason we’ve been fortunate enough to experience such incredible growth is because our business has great people.

Over the last few years one of those great people, our Creative Director, Jeff Michaud, along with his team, has built a brand and an identity for our company within the industry. As our brand and our solutions continue to grow, Jeff has done an amazing job keeping the communication, message, and materials consistent with our identity and accomplishments. Jeff and his team have also put the framework in place for a scalable and effective corporate communications strategy that continues to give us tremendous marketing publicity. The creative services part of our marketing unit has helped us to win and retain key clients thanks in part to the outstanding work that Jeff and his group have done and continue to do.

Please help us in congratulating Jeff Michaud as he takes on his role here as Vice President of Marketing and Creative. Congratulations, Jeff!

3Cinteractive Expands Mobile Payments Platform Through Billing Revolution Partnership

Partnership Allows 3Cinteractive to Provide Secure Mobile Credit Card Processing Through Billing Revolution’s Award Winning Platform

Seattle, WA & Boca Raton, FL (PRWEB) – 9/30/2009 – 3Cinteractive, an industry leading mobile marketing and technology firm, has partnered with mobile commerce leader, Billing Revolution, to provide secure credit card transaction processing on mobile phones. This partnership rounds out 3Cinteractive’s robust, enterprise-grade mobile payments platform - which includes Premium SMS (PSMS), direct and WAP billing, as well as 3Ci’s proprietary Loss Prevention System, the industry’s first fraud and risk management system for mobile payments.

Through the partnership with Billing Revolution, 3Cinteractive can now seamlessly process mobile credit card transactions for its clients and tap deeper into a mobile commerce market expected to reach $13 billion globally by 2013.

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3Cinteractive and Billing Revolution Partner to Expand Reach of Mobile Payments

Billing Revolution

Using your credit card to make purchases over mobile just became safer and easier. 3Cinteractive has partnered with mobile commerce provider Billing Revolution to offer secure credit card transaction processing on mobile phones. With the addition of the award-winning Billing Revolution platform, 3Cinteractive is able to offer a comprehensive enterprise-grade mobile payments platform. Our platform includes Premium SMS (PSMS), direct and WAP billing, as well as our proprietary Loss Prevention System, the industry’s first fraud and risk management system for mobile payments.

By partnering with Billing Revolution, 3Ci can now seamlessly process mobile credit card transactions for our clients and we’re able to reach further into a multi-billion dollar mobile commerce market (it’s expected to reach $13 billion globally by 2013).

Jeremy Martin, 3Cinteractive’s Vice President of Business Development, said, “We’ve experienced tremendous success with our mobile payments offering thus far, mostly around Premium SMS and direct billing. As the mobile commerce space matures, there will be more and more instances where PSMS and direct billing will not be feasible to facilitate transactions, and this partnership allows us to service this high growth sector.”

Off Topic: Google Sidewiki - An official first step towards the semantic web?

Given the advent of Google’s Sidewiki toolbar, is a truly semantic web soon to follow?

Reportedly Google is using “multiple signals” based on the “quality of the [Sidewiki] entry,” combined with what they know about the author (presumably derived from the author’s Google profile), as well as user-contributed signals such as voting on an entry and flagging. Apparently the same driving principle behind Google’s search results is at work with Sidewiki. Google is said want to keep only the most relevant entries appearing.

Additionally, Google is reported to be employing methods that measure the entries use of sophisticated language, the user’s reputation, and the user’s history when determining relevancy. Which leads to the question…will wide-spread adoption of Sidewiki lead to development of toolbar-specific entry optimization strategies?

Google Sidewiki