Mobile Marketing Association presents Smarties APAC

Unilever stood out with 16 wins including Marketer of the Year in mobile, while Coca-Cola and Kia also figured strongly in the results (see below).

The Smarties honour solid mobile strategies that address specific business challenges through the creative use of mobile technologies. The organisation named winners in 21 categories, including two new creative categories: Best Brand Experience in Mobile Rich Media and Most Engaging Mobile Creative.

“Today, mobile is not simply a nice-to-have or must-have," said Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director, Mobile Marketing Association Asia Pacific. "Mobile is a must-do-well for brands and their agencies. Our winners tonight have demonstrated their ability communicate their brand’s story with mobile using creative concepts that lead to market performance. The Smarties Awards are our way of recognizing key players that are doing their part for the industry. We hope by sharing their campaigns and stories, we can inspire marketers to make full use of what is in the palm of their hands: mobile.”

At the event, research agency Millward Brown presented an analysis of the awards, which found that successful brands and marketing strategies had well-defined clarity of purpose, with 70 per cent of winners identifying a specific objective of increasing sales. Four-fifths also had a precise role for mobile, using the channel’s unique strengths such as location, payments, and targeting, according to Millward Brown.

The judging process involved more than 80 senior marketers and agency leaders, who reviewed campaigns from 15 countries.

“I’d like to thank all my fellow jury members for their time and valuable insight," said jury president Ashutosh Srivastava, chairman and CEO for Asia-Pacific and global growth markets at Mindshare. "We selected the winners after eight hours of extensive debate, and were impressed by the results achieved by some of the campaigns.”

A complete list of winners follows: