Becker to lead MMA's North American efforts

With the Mobile Marketing Association’s decision to restructure into four global business units, iLoop Mobile Inc. founder Michael Becker has been named managing director of North America for the trade group.
In this role, he and the other three managing directors will have profit and loss responsibilities for their respective regions. But since the MMA spent a lot of effort expanding globally in 2009, why restructure? In part, because the success of the global effort and its 700-plus members, Becker said in an interview with RCR Wireless News. “In mobile marketing, we can reach people in a very direct way, but mobile marketing in the Philippines is not the same as mobile marketing in Latin America,” Becker explained. For example, Johnson & Johnson is using mobile marketing to promote an ovulation product that can help couples get pregnant by reminding them when the woman is most fertile. The same application can be used in China, but to do the exact opposite—warn the couple when is the best time to abstain if the woman does not want to conceive.
Becker, who won the 2007 MMA Individual Achievement Award, will step down from his board position at the MMA to take on the managing director role. Because the organization is restructuring into four business units, the group is not under as much pressure to find a chief executive, although the search for one continues, Becker noted. Mike Wehrs had been CEO o f the MMA in 2009, but recently resigned to pursue other interests. When Wehrs led the group, he was in charge of North America as well as the overall organization. The search for a CEO remains, Becker said, but between the four managing directors and the global board, the association can operate smoothly. “It makes sense in the long run, but we don’t have to hire someone in the short term.”
Paul Berney is managing director of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and Rohit Dadwal will lead the Asia Pacific mobile marketing efforts. A search is under way to name a director for Latin America. The managing directors report to the MMA’s interim CEO Federico Pisani Massamormile.
“What the MMA does best is to further the conversation of mobile marketing as a key strategic element of a company’s business,” Becker said. In North America, he expects to see expanded interest in mobile couponing and more efforts by brands to include mobile marketing as a core part of their marketing plans, as well as more measurement tools.
“Having served on the North American and global board of directors, my role as managing director is a natural and ideal extension of my current responsibilities with the organization,” Becker said in a prepared statement. “My priorities remain to champion mobile marketing, evolve its practices and guidelines, and deliver member value through the organization.” Becker is a contributing author to Mobile Internet for Dummies and Web Marketing All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies, and has authored more than 40 other articles on mobile marketing.