Earlier this spring, I had the opportunity to attend an ANA Mobile Marketing Day, hosted by Sprint. I was excited to go because I have worked on a lot of websites, but I haven’t had the opportunity to work on a mobile site yet. Mobile marketing is an interesting topic for me, because it is such a personal medium. Everyone interacts with their phones differently… but how many people do you know that sleep with their phones within 2 feet?

The ANA is an organization comprised mostly of in-house marketing and advertising departments from very well known American companies. The organization provides a wealth of resources on its website including research and presentations from other members and hosts conferences year round, all over the country. This was my first time attending an ANA event.

So needless to say, it was a great opportunity to attend the conference and hear presentations from some very popular consumer brands. My favorite part of the conference was hearing case studies from the companies that experienced the challenges (and successes) of implementing mobile marketing projects. Honestly, I was astounded by the openness of these companies to share this experiences with everyone.

My absolute favorite part of the day was hearing about H&R Block’s mobile app development. The presenter did a great job of recalling the ins and outs of the project and providing very useful “lessons learned.”

My least favorite part was hearing from the agencies that presented. I got the impression that some of the presenters were talking down to the attendees as they spoke about how to develop a mobile strategy and things to consider when undertaking a mobile marketing project. I am extra sensitive to this because the first thing I look for when working with a vendor is the potential for partnership. Any given agency might know more about their product or technology, but it’s important to me that I can collaborate with them to make the best possible project.

Now that the conference is over and I am working on a presentation to share with my colleagues, I am chomping at the bit to work on mobile projects!