The Mobile Marketing Association has appointed several new board members to fill vacant seats, separate from the standard nomination process to elect members that concludes in June. The newly appointed board members include. Scott Ferber, Chairman & CEO, Videology Simon Khalaf, President & CEO, Flurry Scott Kveton, CEO, Urban Airship Dipanshu Sharma, Founder & CEO, xAd Alan Yan, Founder & CEO, AdChina The MMA also appointed executives to its regional board of directors: APAC -Alan Yan, Founder & CEO, AdChina EMEA -Theo Theodorou, SVP, EMEA, Collider Media North America -Monica Ho, VP, Marketing, xAd -Peter Farago VP, Marketing, Flurry -Brent …

Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) announced that digital marketing vet Lynn Branigan has officially been named executive director. Branigan joined AWNY late last year and replaces longtime Executive Director Liz Schroeder, who has retired.

Mobile phones are everywhere -- but sometimes at a standstill. "60% of people use their phones in the bathroom and the other 40% are lying," says David Ip, senior analyst of mobile for BlueCross and BlueShield of Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma & New Mexico, speaking at Mobile Insider Summit. Is that's the case, Jordan Greene, Principal/Mobile Media of MellaMedia, said be careful when someone wants to show you pictures of their kids.

When it comes to call-based advertising, men tend to spend more time on the phone than women. A new study by Marchex found men placing calls to U.S. business via ads, on average, stayed on the phone for 7 minutes, 23 seconds compared to 6:30 for women. The findings were based on an analysis of more than 200,000 mostly mobile calls generated through click-to-call ads, voice search, mobile directories, and mobile display ads. Marchex says it uses call mining software to scan for keywords and voice tonalities to collect anonymous aggregate data. The research involved examining call data to 11 …

Coca-Cola is scheduled to air a special, "open-sourced" Valentine's Day ad tonight on "American Idol."

Marin Software, founded in 2006 and now one of the biggest independent search ad firms, has filed an S-1 for an initial public offering (IPO) that could raise $75 million. The company had $42.5 million in revenue during the first nine months of 2012, up from $24.7 million in the year-ago period, according to the filing. In late December, Marin CEO Chris Lien told MediaPost the company had to accomplish several tasks before going public, such as preparing to adhere to Sarbanes-Oxley accounting principles. Typically, it takes another three months following a filing before the company can trade on an …

It's not every day that a brand gets handed free exposure on a national television event with a profile and audience size rivaling last night's State of the Union address...Did Poland Spring miss an opportunity with its rather delayed and muted response, limited to Facebook?

Kia is bring Blake Griffin back for a pair of TV spots to air during this weekend's NBA All-Stars. The effort supports the Kia Optima sedan. Kia is the official auto sponsor of the NBA and has used that position to do several ads ffeaturing Griffin in some humorous and wacky creative.

While Valentine's Day is celebrated in many places, romantics in some countries take it much more seriously than others. On average, Asian shoppers spend the most, an average of $274 per person for V-Day, while Germans, at $94, spend the lowest, according to Rakuten LinkShare. (Germans are also most likely to space it out entirely, with 31% confessing they've occasionally forgotten the holiday.) Other regional variations? In France, online flower purchases jump 52% leading up the big day, while lingerie sales in the U.K. climb 27%, and sales of chocolates in Indonesia double.

Lexus and Toyota are on top in new J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability study. Lexus RX wins for best vehicle, the first time a crossover has done this