Mobile World Congress Kicks Off Next Week In Barcelona

The biggest conference of the year for the mobile industry - the GSMA Mobile World Congress - is almost upon us. Every year some 50,000+ mobile aficionados spanning 219 countries come to Barcelona for 4 days of conferences, deal making, product announcements, and lots of networking.
MobiAd will also be also be heading to Barcelona for the full week, and will be moderating the panel on “What Makes A Great Mobile Campaign“ on Thursday the 19th. If you are planning to be there, we’d love to meet you. Send an email to mailto:barcelona@mobiadnews.com?subject=Coming%20To%20Barcelona and let us know.
There is clearly a lot more happening at the MWC than any one person can hope to take in. But here are some highlights that might be of interest:
Mobile Back Stage- Mobile Entertainment
Entertainment on the mobile is clearly linked to the future of mobile advertising. Not only is mobile entertainment one of the largest advertiser categories on mobile, but also the growth of ad-funded content is expected to continue.
Mobile Backstage will bring together leading music executives, filmmakers, broadcasters and gaming industry insiders in a program that will also feature innovative case studies and panel sessions that explore the role of mobile entertainment within the vision of a mobile lifestyle. Get more information here.
Two-time Academy Award-winning actor and director Kevin Spacey will host the Mofilm Short Film Festival, award-winning musician and front man for the band Black Eyed Peas will.i.am, and social networking entrepreneur Chris De Wolfe, founder and CEO of MySpace will lead the speaker line up for the one-day conference.
Mobile Advertising Track
On Thursday afternoon, from 12:00 to 16:00 there will be a special set of sessions entitled Mobile Advertising - Moving to the Strategic Level where MobiAd is also involved. The conference will feature sessions such as “Brand Discussion - Crossing the Chasm to Strategic Spend”, “What Makes a Great Campaign” (moderated by MobiAD’s Jim Cook), and “Linking Consumer Attitudes and Activities - the Science of Measurement”. Plus there is a series of presentations from new technology companies that will impact the mobile advertising market.
Speakers come from a wide variety of companies including: BMW, AKQA, Nielsen, comScore, Jumptap, Blyk, Turkcell, BBH, Joule, NeoMedia, Qualcomm, Telstra, Mobile Acuity, Amobee, Gypsii, and Microsoft.
Following this conference, there will be a Demo and Networking session where the participants can get a closer look at some of the technologies and innovative campaigns that are driving user engagement. Not to be missed!
Mobile Innovation Marketplace
This is a competition that has been in progress throughout most of the year. Entries from all over the world have been narrowed down to find the very best innovators from each region competing in five categories:
Most Innovative Carrier Infrastructure or Platform
Most Innovative Consumer Application or Service
Most Innovative Mobile Application in a Vertical Market
Most Innovative Wireless Device Centric Technology
Most Innovative “True Mobile Start-Up”
The winners will be honored at the black-tie GSMA gala dinner on Tuesday the 17th.
Find out more information about the Mobile Innovation Market.
General Conferences & Keynotes
There is a very full conference program that runs on all 4 days featuring the leaders of the global mobile industry. Some of the keynote speakers include the CEO’s of Vodafone, Telenor, Microsoft, Telefonica, and Nokia. There are also sessions on Location Based services, mobile money, and many other topics.
You can go here to download a full conference brochure. There is a lot going on, we hope you have a great time in Barcelona!

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