AIDS PPSA at Mobile Innovation Marketplace – TOP SECRET

If you can keep it to yourself, I will let you in on a little secret. The AIDS PPSA project is just part of a bigger master plan. We want to help the mobile industry understand the responsibility that comes with their power. We want to convince cellular providers, device manufacturers, and mobile content producers to use their products and services to help people. That mobile give back is our secret agenda.

This month, the GSM Association (a global trade association representing more than 750 GSM mobile phone operators across 218 territories and countries) helped us spread the word about our project. On June 3 & 4, the GSM Association hosted the Mobile Innovation Marketplace 2008 (MIM 2008) in Atlanta (http://www.mobileinnovation.us/). The MIM 2008 brought together over 400 senior executives from a range of companies and organizations to explore mobile innovation. It was an exclusive gathering of the movers and shakers in the mobile space.

The GSM Association recognizes its role in helping the mobile industry understand its potential for affecting positive social change. As part of that mission, the GSM Association allowed New Media Institute students and staff to attend the conference for free (it normally costs over $1000 to register). But that isn’t all. They also provided the NMI with a booth where we could show and tell about the AIDS Personal Public Service Announcement. This gave us an extraordinary venue to talk with influential mobile leaders about future projects. Hundreds of very cool people from a range of countries and companies stopped by to see the AIDS PPSA videos.

In the last two years, the GSM Association has recognized the important role that Atlanta is playing in the global mobile marketplace by relocating large parts if its operation to Atlanta. Now that the GSM Association is local, we can expect to hear global mobile speak with a southern dialect. And the GSM Association earned kudzu kudos by serving fried green tomatoes and fried catfish at one of their MIM banquets! Way to go, y’all!