Batelco, Bahrain’s leading telecom services provider, has teamed up with UK-based Velti, a global leader in mobile marketing, to manage Batelco’s future mobile advertising strategies and campaigns.

“Batelco is delighted to announce the signing of an agreement with Velti, and advertising services located in the UK,” stated Batelco chief executive Bahrain Gert Rieder.

Velti will provide its Mobile Marketing Platform (MMP) to manage Batelco’s campaigns.

“The mobile advertising service will be launched by Batelco on July 8,” added Rieder.

“Mobile advertising will be the new media channel that will connect organisations directly to their target audience with instant promising results,” Rieder continued.

“Furthermore, this service will generally benefit all mobile users by enabling them to receive the type of information that interests them. A major benefit of the service is that it will gradually help in eliminating spam messages.”

Batelco general manager for product development and strategy, Hamza Ali said that Velti’s MMP platform is a great innovation that will allow Batelco to execute and measure advertising campaigns for leading brands in the Middle East.

“Accountability of media is a key element and the MMP will ensure our mobile inventories are working as effectively as possible,” he said.

“The key to choosing Velti was not only its advanced technology but also the breadth of the relationships the company has with global advertising agencies, which is critical to making best use of Batelco’s advertising inventories. We’re looking forward to growing our capabilities with Velti and offering organisations in Bahrain a new and innovative advertising channel,” Ali added.

Velti CEO Alex Moukas said: “It’s great to see Velti establish its first move into the Middle East with a leading player such as Batelco.”

“Velti’s MMP will provide the tools for Batelco to plan, deliver and report on mobile advertising campaigns across a variety of inventories; from SMS & MMS to WAP banners or video,” Moukas explained.

“It will be terrific to see traditional advertisers in the region integrating the mobile channel into their advertising mix, to offer organisations and brands a direct, targeted and effective advertising medium,” he added.

“Advertising agencies and big organisations in the region will have a wide range of benefits from this service such as, delivering more targeted campaigns, connecting and engaging their brands with the right target audience, strengthening & building brand equity, campaign optimization and instant results,” concluded Rieder. – TradeArabia News Service