Yesterday (on April 27, 2010) the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has published version 5.0 of its “U.S. Consumer Best Practices (CBP) Guidelines for Cross-Carrier Mobile Content Services” [more here]. This fairly voluminous document (139 pages long; full text in PDF here) prescribes industry standards for mobile messaging (SMS and MMS), Interactive Voice Response (IVR), other things, and, of course, the mobile web, with a new section dedicated to affiliate marketing for premium rate programs (pp. 29-30). The aim of these CBP guidelines is to protect “the consumer experience” by providing “the industry-standard reference that every member of the mobile marketing ecosystem” could turns to.
The guidelines for affiliate marketing are fairly generic, and what has already become common sense in traditional/Internet affiliate marketing. To ensure “that advertising of mobile products and services offered via Affiliate Marketing is clear and accurate” MMA prescribes compliance with the CAN-SPAM act, as well as disallows (a) purchase flow, (b) requests for MIN/PINs, (c) content inappropriate/unapproved by individual carriers, (d) inappropriate use of the word “free”, and (e) use of carrier logos/names when advertising services which are not supported by these carriers.
Again, the full document may be reviewed in PDF here.
Great to see you post this.
I have been doing mobile for months and was shocked to see a number of companies at ad:Tech openly violating these standards and encouraging others too.
I dont know out of ignorance or greed.
Thank You for informing your readers. I hope they take this seriously BEFORE they create the next CAN-SPAM of mobile
IMV