Barcelona mobile business leader, Julia Dimambro, has been attending GSMA Mobile World Congress events since 2002 and has learnt how to get the best out of this mammoth industry event.
Founder and Managing Director of the strategic adult mobile entertainment company Cherry Media, Julia’s mobile career highlights so far include:
- Listed as one of the 50 Most Influential Execs in Mobile for no less than 4 years
- Finalist for industry Mobile Entertainment Awards for 5 years
- Gold Winner with Visiongain Mobile Entertainment Awards
- Gold and Silver Award Winner with Juniper Future Mobile Awards.
When we spoke to her about how to get the most out of Mobile World Congress, Cherry Media had just been nominated as a finalist for the XBIZ awards, and Julia was busy at work setting up a LinkedIn group for those who want to network and discuss mobile apps monetization strategies.
Women in Mobile: An industry perspective
Given our recent blog post about how male-dominated the GSMA Mobile World Congress speakers program is to date, we started off by asking Julia about her perspective on gender balance in the mobile industry: “I started in mobile back in 2001 and back then, there really were NO women in the industry at all, especially when you combine that with adult entertainment. I have definitely seen a big up-surge of women executives and business owners entering the sector over the years, especially recently. In fact ME now does an annual list of the top 50 women mobile execs.
“With regards to utilising MWC specifically for women, if you haven’t already heard of it, there is a great networking group call Women In Mobile Data (http://www.wimd.org/) and they throw a networking bash each year at the Barcelona conference, so it’s a great place to meet other female influencers in the mobile industry. Their site also lists all of their social networks, so that you can stay tuned with other events and gatherings they hold.”
Strike a deal at GSMA Mobile World Congress
Our #welovemwc content has really been aimed at helping apps developers and independent mobile businesses consider:
- What level of participation would best suit your company (see Should you exhibit at Mobile World Congress)
- How to make the most of attending (for example, see advice from participants at Mobile World Congress 2011)
- What you can learn from other businesses that have grown quickly after participating in GSMA Mobile World Congress (see our interview with One Shoe Mobile).
Given Julia’s veteran status – 2012 will be her tenth MWC – we asked her to share some insights about leveraging this industry event for any mobile and apps developer business.
“MWC is the event of the year for Cherry Media. Obviously, we are based in Barcelona, so I always say it’s like the mountain coming to Mohammed for us! It’s just such an amazing opportunity to have 60,000-plus industry execs all in the same place at the same time!
GSMA Mobile World Congress "veteran" and Managing Director of Cherry Media, Julia Dimambro
“It’s a chance for us to meet with existing international clients where the relationship has taken place entirely over email and skype to date. It’s a chance for us to get face-to-face with potential clients, which haven’t had much traction as yet and really brainstorm the right solution to work together immediately. And it’s a chance to catch up with ALL your industry contacts and pals that live overseas (I always grab a few new deals at MWC, just by catching up with industry contacts over a few cocktails).
“We used to take a stand (back in the Cannes days), but found that a lot of our time was taken up with ‘adult-curious’ delegates, rather than people that wanted to strike a deal. Maybe that’s just because of the nature of our business, but in recent years, we have seen much better results from each ‘Cherry’ targeting contacts specific to their business area (i.e. content licensing, managed services, marketing, apps, tech, etc.) and setting up a good selection of ‘targeted’ meetings. It really does make the best use of the few days you have there.
“…we have seen much better results from each ‘Cherry’ targeting contacts specific to their business area (i.e. content licensing, managed services, marketing, apps, tech, etc.) and setting up a good selection of ‘targeted’ meetings. It really does make the best use of the few days you have there.”
Making the most of MWC with a Barcelona apartments stay
“But I think most of all for me personally, MWC manages to define and optimise my business strategy EVERY year. I think it’s being in such a concentrated environment of innovation for 4 days. It always sets my brain into overdrive (in-between the hangovers) and I always seem to have at least one ‘light-bulb’ moment relating to new ways to develop my business for the coming year.”
Our Barcelona apartments are your ideal GSMA Mobile World Congress accommodation for many of the reasons that Julia has raised:
- You can entertain your industry contacts in a comfortable setting in your apartment base close to the conference venue
- You have enough space to use as an office area to strategize for the following day’s activities
With hotel accommodation fast booking out, your business team can be still be find the best Mobile World Congress accommodation – contact us now to book.
Thanks to Julia Dimambro for sharing some great insights into making the most of GSMA Mobile World Congress. Enjoy Apartments wishes you the best of luck with your nomination for an XBIZ Award.
