Source:The Business Times

^{By VICTORIA HO}

SINGAPORE-based Affle has clinched two global awards from the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).

The mobile marketing firm, which also has offices in countries including the US, UK, China and India, won the MMA’s Best Use of Brand Advertising – World Wide and Best Use of Brand Advertising Asia-Pacific awards.

It was Affle’s two-month campaign for Indian car giant, Maruti Suzuki, that emerged tops.

The campaign employed various mobile media platforms such as SMS advertising, voice portals and the mobile Internet.

Voice portals, in particular, have proven to be effective in the Indian market. These allow users to dial in to a hot-line and listen to content such as narrated stories or songs.

Maruti Suzuki’s assistant general manager, Sunila Dhar, said that the campaign has helped the company connect more closely with its target audience. The company received some 30,000 test drive requests as a result of the branding activity, she added.

Affle has, to date, raised about $19 million in funding in its four years.

One of its flagship products, SMS 2.0, is an application for Nokia phones which allow users to send messages to each other in stylised colours and emoticons.

Affle counts M1 as a customer with its SMS 2.0 product here, as well as global brands such as Unilever, Yahoo, Samsung and Pepsico, which have used the platform for marketing campaigns.

The company claims it adds 10,000 new subscribers per day to the platform.