Mobile marketing is increasing in popularity, if the membership growth of The Mobile Marketing Association is any indication.

The association says it ended 2006 with a 150 percent increase in membership over 2005, including 30 new members that joined late in the year - among them big-name advertisers such as A&E Television Networks, State Farm Insurance and Virgin Mobile USA, writes Direct Magazine (via MediaBuyerPlanner).

Louis Gump, the association's global chairman and VP of mobile at The Weather Channel Interactive says that 2006 will be remembered as a breakthrough year in the history of mobile marketing. He expects that 2007 will be another "banner year."