The Mobile Marketing Association is inviting worldwide nominations for its Annual Global Awards program.

The MMA awards are designed to recognize companies and people who have made mobile a successful channel.

"The MMA Annual Awards are focused on acknowledging the leaders in the mobile marketing industry and are focused exclusively on our industry, not a piece of another broader program," said Laura Marriott, president of the MMA, Denver, CO.

In its fourth year, the awards also honor campaigns that reflect brand adoption of mobile and encourage consumer adoption and interaction.

One of the awards categories this year is "Best Use of Mobile Marketing." This includes branding, direct response, promotion, relationship building, product/services launch, search marketing and cross-media integration.

Other awards include the "Innovation Award," "Innovation Award for Creativity" in technology and media, "Mobile Marketing Academic of the Year," "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Mobile Marketing" and the "Mobile Marketing Association Award for Overall Excellence (Company/Committee)."

Prior winners of the awards include Saatchi & Saatchi LA, The Hyperfactory, Reliance Communications Ltd., Mobiento Medecins Sans Frontiers Sweden, Isobar and iLoop Mobile.

A panel of judges from the industry, MMA and media leaders will choose the winning entries.

Winners will be announced at the Global Awards Ceremony and Dinner in November during the Mobile Marketing Forum in San Diego.

More details on the awards are available at http://www.mmaglobal.com site.

Do these awards help win new business?

"It is tough to comment on the motivations for individual companies' participation in the awards program," Ms. Marriott said.

"However, I can tell you that the awards help drive exposure for our industry and help marketers see what works successfully in order to help them drive their own engagements with the mobile channel," she said.

"So, overall, the awards program helps to drive greater industry awareness and engagement with the mobile channel."

Our man in London
Separately, the MMA yesterday opened the two-day Mobile Marketing Forum in London.

Like the MMA forums in the United States, the London event highlights the latest developments in mobile marketing techniques and practices. Executives from BMW, Yell.com, Google and AOL Europe will share their experiences with mobile.

Keynote addresses include "A Researcher's Perspective on the European Market" from M:Metrics, "An Agency's Perspective on Mobile Marketing: Show me the Money" by Mindshare, "Critical Success Factors for Mobile Marketing" from Out There Media and "How to Generate and Run Mobile Youth Communities for Operators" by Mobilera.

The MMA also opened its new headquarters for the Europe Middle East and Africa region in London's St. James' Park. Paul Berney, former managing director of Response Mobile Ltd., has been named full-time managing director of this latest MMA office.