Jaguar Celebrates Mobile Campaign Success

Jaguar Cars has announced results from its mobile advertising campaign in the US. The campaign drives traffic to its mobile Internet site, created by Global Beach and built by Incentivated, which promotes the new luxury Jaguar XF.
The mobile advertising campaign appears on mobile Internet sites including MSN.mobi, cars.mobi, Yahoo Mobile and admob.com. Since its launch in November to coincide with the unveiling of the XF at the Los Angeles motor show, the campaign has delivered over 15 million ad impressions across the mobile Internet, delivering over 85,000 unique visitors to the Jaguar XF WAP site, representing a clickthrough rate of 0.6%. Mobile banner ads are the only medium used to promote the WAPsite.
Global Beach, Jaguar’s world-wide digital agency, designed the WAP site for the US market, partnering with mobile specialist Incentivated for the build. The site (www.jaguarxf.mobi) provides a gallery of high quality images to promote the car’s design, innovation and performance, including high- and low-resolution versions of XF videos.
The site allows visitors to input their ZIP code in order to locate their nearest dealer and book a test drive, or to order a brochure. Visitors can also submit their email address in order to request a branded email newsletter, and can download wallpapers to their handsets.
The site uses detection software to ensure the content served to visitors’ mobile browsers is dynamically optimized for each handset. As a result, the service automatically resizes the WAP site for viewing on iPhones, Smartphones, BlackBerrys, PDAs and over 2,000 other mobile devices in use across the US. The campaign was  large enough to warrant a dedicated iPhone mobile Internet site, despite the views of some who claim regular websites look good enough for the small screen of an iPhone.
Since the campaign launch, there have been over 12,000 videos and more than 16,000 wallpapers downloaded. For users who ventured beyond the home-page, the average dwell time was 2 minutes, 12 seconds. 1.2% of users requested an email brochure by entering their email address into the WAPsite. 2.6% located their nearest dealer to arrange a test drive.
“Jaguar is proud to translate our positive digital experiences with mobile marketing, and to deliver an engaging and rich brand experience for our technologically advanced customer base,” says Rome Murphy, Interactive Marketing Manager for Jaguar North America. “We are particularly impressed with the user experience across a broad range of handset types.”
Robert Thurner, Commercial Director at Incentivated adds: “We applaud Jaguar for running a campaign which harnesses the mobile medium’s unique strengths in combining exceptional rich content with a response mechanic and location-based services. Yielding a healthy ROI, the campaign demonstrates the exceptional value mobile marketing can deliver.”

Buongiorno Commits to TeachToday Initiative

Mobile entertainement company Buongiorno has announced that it has signed up to the ‘TeachToday’ programme, a pan-European educational initiative to help teachers encourage children and young people to use the Internet and mobile in a responsible way.
TeachToday is the result of a partnership among 14 leading mobile operators, mobile content, social networking companies and Internet service providers. The initiative was launched in Brussels on 23 April in the presence of Commissioner Viviane Reding and with the participation of Buongiorno CEO, Andrea Casalini.
The growth of mobile usage among children is enabling them to access mobile content at a very young age. For this reason, Buongiorno says it is proud to work with European Schoolnet and 13 leading industry partners in educating children on how to use this powerful device and technology to have fun and communicate in a safe and responsible way.
“As market leaders, we must take responsibility for the impact of our activities on our youngest customers,” says Casalini.
Available in English, Czech, French, German, Italian and Spanish, the TeachToday website provides teachers with a wealth of information. This includes lesson plans, case studies, reporting procedures, as well as outline policies which are designed to keep them abreast of changes in communication technology. The website facilitates teachers to guide their pupils to take advantage of the opportunities and avoid the risks of new technology.
Buongiorno notes that new technologies bring huge benefits to children and young people, but issues such as online safety, cyber-bullying, and privacy are of major concern.
“Teachers are telling us they want to have the know-how to deal with these issues in the classroom, and TeachToday will help them to make sense of technology,” says Marc Durando, Executive Director of European Schoolnet.   
The industry consortium worked closely with European Schoolnet, a network of 28 Ministries of Education across Europe, to create the materials and ensure that teachers were consulted throughout the development of the site.
Participating companies are AOL, BEBO, Buongiorno, Deutsche Telekom /T-Mobile, Facebook, Google, GSMA Europe, Microsoft, MySpace, Orange, 02/Telefonica, Telecom Italia, Vodafone and Yahoo! Europe. 

Nissan Uses Bluetooth for X-Trail Campaign

Brand entertainment agency Stream\ is spearheading a high-profile brand awareness drive to promote the Nissan X-Trail series with a campaign running in Europe’s premier ski resorts.
The agency is collaborating with automotive company Nissan Europe on a campaign based around the tagline: “Stay in Control with All Mode 4X4i”. The campaign kicks off later this month and incorporates experiential and interactive mobile marketing activity.
Running in ski resorts across the Alps (including Verbier in Switzerland, Livigno in Italy, Garmisch in Germany, Les Menuires in France and Boi Taull in Spain) the campaign will see Stream\ unveil its ‘All Mode Run’ feature which allows skiers and snowboarders to create their own personalised film of their run, all for free.
The skier’s descent down the piste is filmed via a head-mounted camera, and by a trained cameraman following the skier down the piste. At the end of the run, the skier is given a branded waterproof card containing a PAC (Personal Access Code), which they can use to download the run from the Internet.
Stream\ has also set up Nissan-branded Bluetooth ‘film zones’ in strategic locations across each resort. Nissan Bluetooth Zones will be set up in areas of high traffic and dwell time, such as at lift stations and in resort restaurants, where skiers can download Nissan X-Trail branded content onto their mobiles, free of charge.
Downloads include piste guides, resort guides and weather reports. Each resort offers a total of six, one minute-long video guides mapping out some of the best black, blue and red runs available in the resort. Each guide follows a skier (assisted by one of Nissan’s ‘robots’), providing key information to help them maintain safety and control, while traversing each route.
The resort guides offer a 90-second video guide to each resort, containing information on resort nightlife social and nightlife activities, as well as activities such as husky guides, parapenting and ice driving. The weather reports take the form of 30-second multi-lingual daily SMS updates, provided by Duke Paris. For each service, skiers will be prompted via Bluetooth to receive a guide and, if opting in, a Nissan-branded message with piste information will be sent directly to their handset.
In addition to the mobile activity, Stream\ will run 30-second teaser trailers in all resorts, featuring leading British snowboarder and member of the Pro Nissan Rider team, James Stentiford. The trailers will run in all resorts bars, restaurants, and on the giant digital information screens found around the various resorts. Bespoke activity includes postcards, in-tray media inserts, and branded flags positioned throughout the course.

Mediaburst Gets Fresh

Marketing agency Fresh Consultants is using mobile messaging company Mediaburst to deliver a free-to-text service to people in North Liverpool and South Sefton as part of a £30 million local government-sponsored enterprise creation initiative called StepClever.
The initiative is using the power of enterprise to regenerate one of Britain's most deprived neighbourhoods and aims to create 500 new businesses and 1,500 jobs in the area over the next two years.
Under the patronage of the City of Liverpool and Sefton Metropoliton Borough Council, the enterprise creation initiative was launched in late 2007. In the first six weeks over 200 potential entrepreneurs in Everton, Anfield, Kirkdale, County, Derby and Linacre contacted StepClever to gain early access to a range of free enterprise creation services, including business advice, support and grants.
The scheme was the subject of a community-wide radio, PR, poster and print campaign, encouraging residents in the area to contact StepClever by phone, email or SMS to obtain enterprise creation support. Over 60% of repondents chose SMS as the initial engagement route with StepClever, and are now well advanced in setting up their businesses. Residents were able to text StepClever with their mobiles at no cost using a dedicated shortcode.
“Free-to-text shortcodes have proved the prime tool for StepClever to engage and interact with residents in the deprived North Liverpool and South Sefton area, and we see Mediaburst's technology being widely used in similar government initiatives going forward,” says Fresh Consultants Director, James Dunningham.

News from Brazil

Brazilian mobile marketing agency pontomobi interactive has been bombarding our inbox with details of recent campaigns, not to mention some, frankly, rather saucy promotional imagery. The information the company has sent through is short and to the point, so rather than pad it out for the sake of it, we present, instead, a round-up of what the company has been up to lately. If nothing else, it shows that mobile marketing is alive and kicking in S. America.

AXE Girl Contest
For AXE, pontomobi is running a mobile marketing campaign to promote the new fragrance, ‘Dark Temptation’.
In conjunction with Playboy Magazine, Axe is looking to find the next AXE Girl. Member sof the public can vote for their favourite by texting their name to the shortcode, 27114. AXE then sends a return SMS with a WAP push link to access the mobile site (wap.axe.com.br), where consumers can see pictures of all the candidates, download them for free, and send on to their friends.

FIAT Bluetooth Campaign
For car maker FIAT, pontimobi is running a Bluetooth campaign to promote the launch of the Stilo Dualogic. The campaign targets consumers in 21 coffee bars in six Brazilian cities. Point of sale material within each venue encourages consumers to activate Bluetooth on their handsets in order to receive wallpapers, ringtones and videos.

Boteco Mobile Bars Guide
Late last year, pontimobi ran its first mobile campaign for beer brand AMBEV. The ‘Boteco Bohemia’ campaign ran in 31 bars in Sao Paulo, inciting the city’s inhabitants to vote for Sao Paolo’s best snack.
pontomobi developed a mobile guide for the event, available via a mobile Internet site (www.botecobohemia.com.br/mobile), and via a downloadable J2ME application.
Traffic was driven to the mobile site via a call to action encouraging consumers to text the word BOTECO to the shortcode, 27114. In return, the consumer received a WAP Push message with a link to the site. Consumers could also get the link by entering their name and mobile number on a dedicated website.
The mobile guide included general information about the event; a list of nominated snacks complete with photos; and a list of participating bars, including history and location details. Other features included click-to-call and incite-a-friend functionality.
During the four week duration of the campaign, more than 55,000 people visited the mobile site, while the Java mobile guide was downloaded 15.000 times.

Sprite MSN Campaign
For Sprite, pontomobi devised a mobile campaign for MSN Messenger users that enabled them to send free voice and text messages direct from the MSN Tab to friends’ phones. The message content was based on the campaign slogan: ‘Things as they are’ and could be sent either as a humorous SMS, or as a SAM (Short Audio Message), with voice messages recorded by musician and MTV presenter, João Gordo.
For the SMS messages, the name of the sender appeared within the SMS. For the SAM messages, after receiving the call, the recipient received an SMS informing them who has sent the message. 
In less than three weeks, 150,000 messages were sent.

Rugby League Turns to Voice Broadcasting

Voice and text broadcasting company Relay Station has revealed that the Rugby Football League (RFL) has begun a pilot of its voice broadcasting technology to the phones of 2,500 Rugby League supporters in South Wales to drive ticket sales for the Engage Super League's Millennium Magic event, which takes place on 3 and 4 May in Cardiff.
All six games in Round 13 of the 2008 competition will be played at the Millennium Stadium over one weekend. The event gives supporters a chance to enjoy a feast of Super League action on the field and experience the special family atmosphere that surrounds a major Rugby League event. The voice of Bradford Bulls and Wales star Iestyn Harris is being used for the pilot.
Relay Station says that voice broadcasting is proving one of the most effective media for sports clubs to interact with supporters and to boost ticket sales at key matches. All that clubs need do to benefit from Relay Station's technology is record a message from the manager or player on an MP3, copy the telephone numbers of fans from a database to a spreadsheet, and send both to Relay Station with instructions when to broadcast.
The personalised message is sent to the mobiles or landlines of all fans simultaneously, or can  be spread out over a number of hours to avoid overloading ticket office staff. The technology is used by many Premiership and Championship football clubs, including Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Coventry and Stoke City.

Mobile Vouchers a Hit with Harveys

Coronation Street sponsor Harveys has revealed outstanding results from its mobile vouchering trial in association with the programme. Over the 13 day trial period, 30% of viewers who requested a mobile voucher went on to redeem in one of Harveys stores, peaking at 50% on some days. 
The discount was advertised within Harveys’ dedicated sponsor area of Coronation Street’s interactive service (available in satellite homes via the Red Button), part of the overall Sponsorship deal negotiated with SMV Plus. Viewers could text in to receive a unique 8-digit code which was then used to redeem against their purchases in store
Eagle Eye Solutions, which specialises in voucher issue and redemption, created what is believed to be the world’s first TV-led, mobile voucher campaign for Harveys. The service allowed Harveys to send vouchers to Coronation Street viewers via mobile as an SMS message.
Eagle Eye’s Mobile Voucher Redemption System (MVRS) easily integrates with any EPOS, providing real time reporting and tracking of all voucher campaigns, providing ITV Interactive Sales and Harveys with dynamic insight into the campaign at any time.
“ITV first brought Eagle Eye Solutions technology to us about six months ago and we have been waiting for a chance to fit it in to our schedule,” says Harveys Marketing Director at Harveys, Helen Vinken. “Now we have, we are delighted with the result and will be looking to use these learnings to drive repeat purchase and other sales opportunities. The integration into our EPOS couldn’t have been easier, with no disruption at Point of Sale or problems with our IT systems. Staff also found it very easy to implement in store.”
Katherine Marlow, Interactive Sales Controller, adds:
“These are fantastic results for Harveys. We really believe that ITV’s ability to drive viewers directly in store, with full traceability, provides it an unrivalled and powerful tool and we will continue to share these learnings with other key retail and brand partners. We have been working with Eagle Eye Solutions for about a year to perfect the delivery to our clients for all types of vouchering and this has now paid off with such a great result.”

Dialogue Shortcode Helps Marathon Man

Mobile agency Dialogue Communications is helping veteran marathon runner Ian Capon in his attempt to set a new world record for the most money raised during the race alone during this weekend’s London Marathon.
Dialogue has supplied the 54-year old company director from London with a 5-digit shortcode, 84010, which will be emblazoned across his running kit when he competes in his eleventh full marathon.
Ian will run in a pyramid-shaped costume carrying text and telephone numbers, so that spectators and television viewers can donate money during the race. Ian aims to set a new world record for the highest amount of money raised during the race itself. He is hoping to raise £26,200 for the Spinal Injuries Association (SIA).
Ian is a passionate supporter of Rebuilding Lives Through Sport (RLTS), which will see half of the money raised by SIA’s London Marathon team being allocated, as grants, to encourage participation in wheelchair sport.
“I have a passion for rugby and know that, sadly, a relatively high number of injuries occur through accidents on the field so SIA seemed the most appropriate charity I could run for, especially when I heard about RLTS,’ says Capon. “Sport can play a crucial role in rebuilding confidence and relieving isolation following spinal chord injury (SCI) but only a tiny percentage of people actively participate with any regularity. RLTS is a fantastic way of promoting the benefits of wheelchair sport both to people living with SCI and to the wider disabled community.”
Dialogue has previously rovided SMS services for events such as Sports Relief and Fame Academy. Dialogue UK Managing Director Guillaume Peersman says:
“We are very happy to be involved in such an unusual world record attempt. As well as providing the short code for pledges, we will be tallying the final donations after the run and we really hope that Ian reaches his target of £26,200.”

Addictive Milks the Mobile Web

Addictive Mobility has created a mobile web campaign promoting milk for Due North Communications on behalf of the Dairy Farmers of Canada.
The original cinema and TV ‘Get a Load of Milk’ campaign broke late 2007, and makes its debut on the mobile web in a 6-week campaign aimed at teenagers. The campaign uses videos that the teenagers can view quickly and share with friends on their video-enabled mobiles.
The mobile site, www.gomilk.mobi, reflects the design of the original www.getaloadofmilk.ca website, but is modified for the mobile environment. Website visitors can enter their mobile phone number and receive a WAP push text message with a link to the mobile site.
There are two versions of the mobile site: one for high-end phones, with rich graphics and user interface, and a lighter version for lower-end phones. The site detects which version to send to the user's phone to optimise the user experience. High-end phones, are enabled for video ringtone downloads
The site has been designed to ease navigation. For example, to select a video, users select a number on their mobile’s keypad, rather than scrolling through the eight featured videos. There’s also a viral element: users can use the ‘Send to a Friend’ feature to send a text link to the site to the mobile phone number entered, making it easy for the friend to access the site.
Mobile advertising execution consists of banner ads placed on AirG's community WAP sites. The ads are posted as banners in the community chat lounges inline with other posts, as well as on prominent mobile blog sites.

NIVEA Campaign Harnesses UGC

NIVEA has updated its ‘Beauty Is…’ mobile site for 2008 in a new campaign that harnesses user-generated content. Users now have new opportunities to interact with the brand by creating wallpapers containing their own definition of beauty. 
The campaign, which aims to establish a stronger emotional connection with women aged 17-35, was conceived and managed by Carat Sponsorship and created by Flix Marketing. The campaign is designed to enable NIVEA to stimulate a discussion about what beauty means to different people. 
Consumers can share their definition of beauty by texting their comments to the shortcode 80231. The comments are then moderated and turned into a NIVEA-branded wallpaper which the consumer is prompted to download from the ‘Beauty Is…’ mobile site. 
The mobile site, which was originally launched in the last quarter of 2007, now offers visitors the ability to create their own personalised wallpapers and download them to their handsets or send on to their friends. Visitors can also upload images defining their idea of beauty, view and comment on other visitors definitions of beauty, download NIVEA wallpapers, request a free NIVEA sample and join the NIVEA club.
The campaign is being supported by a mobile banner campaign on Tesco Mobile. Spreads in press weeklies will also increase the awareness of the campaign and its mobile element.
“Mobile brings online interactivity to the real world and lends traditional media a two way flow of information,” says Flix Marketing’s Nic Gorey. “This campaign is about allowing instant, easy dialogue between consumers who want a voice and a brand who wants to hear that voice.”

Church Turns to Voice Broadcasting

Voice and text messaging broadcaster Relay Station has revealed that the St. Michael le Belfrey Church of York has adopted its flagship voice message broadcasting service to bring its eight communities together at a regeneration weekend during the 'Hope 08' festival from 4-6 April, 2008.
This is the first time that a church has used voice broadcasting. A personalised message from the Vicar, Roger Simpson, has been sent to the mobiles and landlines of 500 church members, encouraging them to register for the event.
For a number of years, St Michael le Belfery has run a church weekend away at Cliff College, York. This year, to coincide with Hope 08, the church has decided to hold a weekend away at home incorporating seminars, teaching and worship at St Peter's School, Bootham, in York. Saturday afternoon, 5 April, will be dedicated to regeneration projects around the City.
“Regeneration Weekend is an important event in St Michael's calendar, and a great chance for church members to get together with people from all across the church for teaching, fellowship and mission to our city,” says Roger Simpson, Vicar of St. Michael le Belfrey. “Relay Station's voice broadcasting service has enabled the Church to gain instant outreach to the congregation and to impress upon them the importance of coming along. We're delighted with the results."
Hope 08 is a national initiative, which has the bold aim of changing Britain. Christians in every village, town and city are invited to join together to bring the gospel of hope into the communities where they live and work.

Txtlocal Looking Good

Mobile marketing company Txtlocal has revealed that it is working with cosmetics company Estee Lauder. The company is handling national text promotions campaign for the cosmetics giant, working in partnership with digital agency, 77Agency. The firm says it is now sending out almost a million texts every month.
“We wanted to raise awareness of how text message marketing can be a cost effective marketing tool for all businesses, but never expected the success of our venture to come so quickly,” says Txtlocal Managing Director, Darren Daws. “Text marketing can help a very wide variety of businesses – whether they want to send news or offers, appointment reminders, match or concert cancellations or even stock level warnings. The Estee Lauder campaign will be very exciting. Not only will it help the brand to target their marketing to specific age ranges; it will also be incredibly interactive, as customers can sign up for ‘gift time’ alerts for their local Estee Lauder counter.”

Using Mobile in the Retail Environment

Brazilian mobile marketing agency pontomobi interactive has released details of a campaign staged for Center Norte in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest shopping centre, in the run up to Christmas last year. There were four elements to the campaign: Bluetooth marketing, SMS interaction, a mobile Internet site, and voice calls.
The campaign began with a teaser using Bluetooth technology to communicate with the public, informing them that something new coming to the shopping centre. Six Bluetooth devices were installed in the mall’s central square to broadcast the teaser messages.
The second element was an interactive SMS campaign that enabled shoppers to decorate an interactive Christmas tree in the centre. To take part, shoppers sent a free text to a shortcode, 27114, containing the name of a gift. There were 100 gifts to choose from, with each one lighting the corresponding gift on the Christmas tree. More than 450,000 people interacted with the decoration during the four weeks of the campaign.
In addition, everyone who texted in received a return text message inviting them to visit the shopping centre’s mobile site at: www.natalcn.mobi to find out more about the campaign, and download free content.
Finally, inside the shopping centre, there were booths where shoppers could send Christmas voice messages recorded by Santa Claus. More than 150,000 voice messages were sent in just two weeks.

Polling Task for Relay Station

Voice and text messaging broadcaster Relay Station has revealed that its voice message broadcasting service has been selected by the Green Party of Canada to poll voters and establish how they intend to vote in the 17 March by-elections taking place in British Columbia, Ontario and Saskatchewan.
The voice broadcast began yesterday; a recorded message is being sent to the mobile or landline numbers of 87,000 registered voters. The message asks how they will vote and invites a reply by touching a specific number on their phone's keypad representing each of the main parties. Relay Station will provide the Green Party with an analysis of voter intentions shortly after the broadcast. A further voice broadcast was also made yesterday, inviting 30,000 voters to a Green Party yesterday evening in Ottawa.
Relay Station says The Green Party of Canada chose its voice broadcasting service as a faster, less intrusive and less costly method of establishing voter trends than telephone calling, knocking on doors, or catching voters in the high street.
“We live in a mobile world, and the Green Party firmly believes that traditional methods of polling have had their day,” says Green Party Executive Director, Jim Campbell. “Relay Station's voice broadcasting service is a compelling solution to help us establish voter intentions in the simplest, shortest and most effective way."

Camden Turns to Voice Broadcasting

Voice and text messaging broadcaster Relay Station has revealed that its flagship voice broadcasting service has been selected by Camden Corporate Fleet Services to push sales of new March registration cars. According to Relay Station, Camden Corporate’s decision to pilot voice message broadcasting to sell new vehicles is driven by poor results from print advertising.
Camden Corporate’s new digital campaign breaks this evening. 5,000 customers will receive a personalised voice message and a call to action on their mobiles or landlines. The message invites them to call Camden dealerships that are involved in the promotion and take advantage of deals of up to £4,000 off showroom prices on new March registration models.
Camden Corporate Fleet Services has outlets in Leighton Buzzard, Islip, Corby and Livingston. It’s one of Britain’s largest fleet service providers. Following the acquisition of Inchcape Automotive in June 2007, it supplies over 100,000 new vehicles and services each year to some of Britain's best known fleet customers, including vehicle manufacturers, daily rental companies, contract hire and leasing businesses major outright purchase fleets and bodyshops.
It’s the retail arm of Camden Corporate Fleet Services that has chosen to pilot Relay Station's voice broadcasting service at four of its seven franchised retail dealerships. Those taking part are Renault and Nissan in Dunstable, Ford in Leighton Buzzard, and Vauxhall in Aylesbury. If the trial is successful, it could see the Renault and Nissan businesses in Northampton and the Renault and CarStore sites in Milton Keynes also utilising the service.
“There is little doubt that digital media will overtake traditional means of advertising for businesses such as Camden Corporate to reach and engage with customers and we believe Relay Station’s personalised voice message broadcasting service could become campaign nirvana for us,” says Camden Corporate Retail Marketing Manager, Gavin Cook.

Mr.T - Mobile

Irish mobile marketing agency Return2Sender has announced the launch of a ‘Snickers’ WAP site, created to support the return of a Snickers TV ad campaign featuring Mr.T from ‘The A Team’. The site offers free downloadable Mr.T content, including ringtones and wallpapers. Visitors to the site can also view the TV ad, take part in the Snickers ‘Get some nuts Challenge’ and enter a competition to win an Nintendo Wii. The site is being promoted via mobile advertising on Vodafone live! and the Planet 3 portal in the Republic of Ireland (ROI).
The site went live last week, and according to Return2Sender, has already attracted several thousand visitors, many of whom have downloaded the branded content and passed it on to their friends via Bluetooth or SMS.
People in the ROI who want to access the WAP site should text SNICKERS to 51727. Anyone outside the ROI can find the site at the following address on their phone’s browser: www.r2s.ie/snickers 

Incentivated and 20:20 Claim Location-based First

20:20 London has teamed up with mobile agency Incentivated to deliver a "groundbreaking" campaign for Virgin 1 to promote its upcoming series ‘Terminators’. Terminators has been a smash hit in the USA where it has pulled in over 18 million viewers. It was the biggest-rating scripted show on Fox for eight years and will launch in the UK on 23 February. Incentivated and 20:20 London have developed a mobile video campaign which utilises location-based technology. The companies claim this is a media first. Participants input their friend’s mobile number into a dedicated website. The friend is then sent an SMS warning them that Terminators are near by. The recipient replies to the SMS to see where the Terminators are and receives a link to a made-for-mobile video. The recipient’s current location is highlighted within the video via an integrated map in real time. The recipient gives permission for their location to be shared. The service will be promoted with an online banner campaign.   
“We’re proud to have partnered 20:20 London in delivering this engaging mobile experience for Virgin 1,” says Incentivated Managing Director Jonathan Bass. “The campaign fuses video downloads, location-based services and mobile maps, pushed via online sign-up, and will create strong awareness and talkability in the critical days ahead of the TV launch.”

Incentivated Looks for the WOW Factor

SOS Children's Villages, the world's largest orphan charity, is running a text-to-donate campaign to support the ‘Wear something WOW’ campaign and World Orphan Week, which started last Monday and ends on Sunday.
The campaign aims to get people throughout the UK wearing extravagant, wacky and out-of-the-ordinary outfits today, Thursday 7 February, to raise money for the charity. It is promoted by model-turned-TV presenter Lisa Butcher and Channel 4’s Phil Spencer.
The mobile element of the campaign, run by mobile marketing agency Incentivated, enables members of the public to make a £1 donation to the charity by texting WOW to 85222. Donors can go on to complete a Gift Aid form on the mobile Internet site for HM Treasury to top up their donation by a further 28%. Texts cost £1.50, plus the cost of one standard-rate message. The call to action features on promotional material including banners, posters, radio ads, and the SOS Children’s Villages website.
“By offering members of the public the ability to donate to Wear Something WOW via their mobile phones, it allows them to support the campaign in a quick and easy way, with the added bonus of the Gift Aid mobile internet site,” says SOS Children’s Villages Community Fundraising Coordinator Caroline Rodgers.
Incentivated Managing Director Jonathan Bass says that charities of all sizes are turning to mobile as a convenient and effective way to collect donations.
“We’ve seen a strong uplift in donors completing the gift aid form on their mobiles,” says Bass. “This provides a significant boost to the value of donations”.

MyClick Powers Pizza Hut Promo

MyClick Media has taken the wraps off Pizza Hut’s first customer promotion for 2008, the ‘Snap for Rewards’ campaign. From today until 2 April, customers in Hong Kong can use their mobile phones to take snapshots of MyClick-enabled images printed on Pizza Hut promotional materials to win discounts and prizes. With the MyClick software installed on their phones, customers can also instantly download the latest Pizza Hut promotional coupons by accessing the MyClick WAP page.
MyClick describes its technology as a “groundbreaking and unique photo recognition mobile marketing platform” that gives mobile users the opportunity to enjoy exciting and exclusive infotainment and m-commerce information upon demand. Through MyClick-enabled images that will be printed on Pizza Hut promotional materials, including all print, Internet and outdoor ads, users can access immediate interactive content by simply taking a photo of a MyClick-enabled image.
The campaign will run for two months across the Chinese New Year holidays, allowing all Pizza Hut lovers repeated opportunities to win prizes. Over the promotional period, Pizza Hut is offering a variety of discounted dishes as well as bigger prizes.
To download MyClick software and for more information about MyClick, click here.

BBH Aims to Seduce with 'Get In There' Campaign

Ad agency BBH has announced the launch of ‘Get In There’, which it describes as “the first ongoing digital expression of the Lynx Effect”. Get In There is a holistic online and mobile experience rooted at www.lynxeffect.com, with “rich diverse digital content that guys can use to play the seduction game in real life”.
The campaign aims to answer a simple problem: with digital as the enemy of the Lynx Effect - webcams, chat-rooms and instant messaging – young guys are spending more and more time trying to get girls online, how can a sensory male grooming brand re-express itself in the digital space?  BBH’s answer is Get In There, a campaign that it says inspires, equips and encourages guys to get out and have a go with girls in the real world, not just in cyberspace.
Get In There is an extended network of linked content, wherein the user experience is based on functionality and content. The intention is to create as many situations as possible where guys can choose to spend time with the brand.
At the heart of Get In There sits the hub site: http://lynxeffect.com/, which has strong and multiple connections to, partnerships with, and bespoke content created for, sites with which guys already interact, from Youtube to Bebo to FHM to Flickr.
One of the content highlights of Get In There is a range of downloadable mobile phone applications. As such, says BBH, it’s the first mobile phone campaign that turns a handset into a pulling tool: a weapon of mass seduction. The first two mobile phone applications use sound effects to turn the handset into an icebreaker. With the ‘Fit Girl Finder’, the phone can track down an attractive lady. And with the ‘Lynx FX’ soundboard, the user can claim to own a Porsche, play the harmonica or scan for body piercings with sounds including a central locking system, musical instruments and a metal detector. Other ice-breaking mobile applications will include a ‘Chat-Up Translator’ and a ‘Perfect Man Revealed’ quiz. Mobile applications will be launched and shared via cross-promotions, text shortcodes, timed releases and viral texting.
For guys in need of inspiration, hidden camera footage exposes the Lynx Guys, characters from the website trying to Get In There with the ladies; or consumer-uploaded videos of regular guys in action competing to be the monthly ‘hotshot’. Other digital tools include downloadable business cards, magic tricks, email tools and widgets which will be refreshed frequently.
With BBH at the creative and strategic helm, the website was produced in partnership with London-based Preloaded. The mobile applications were built by Golden Gekko.
“This is a big deal for us,” says Rick Hirst, Lynx Business Director at BBH London. “Get In There has been a year in the making. It has been a seamless collaboration between BBH’s traditional functions – creative, planning and account management, and our newer disciplines – digital production, content, mobile and engagement planning. The core of the idea re-expresses ‘The Lynx Effect’ for the digital space. Get In There is a call-to-arms for young guys: spend less time dating online and more time trying to be successful with girls in the real world. Lynx is there to provide the tips, tools and tricks for guys to try out and improve their chances.”
Karen Hamilton, Regional VP Marketing for Lynx-Axe Europe concedes that digital is something that the Lynx brand has previously done sporadically, but says:
“With our new campaign, we feel we now have a digital presence that not only continues to give young guys the edge in the mating game but also provides us with an ongoing platform to deliver cutting-edge digital creativity…We have specifically created a large amount of exciting, diverse and tailored content that works across many different platforms.”
Get In There will launch first in the UK and then be rolled out across Europe through 2008. The campaign is the first work from BBH for Lynx/Axe Digital since the appointment of the agency in December 2006 as lead creative and strategic European digital partner for the Lynx/Axe brand. BBH has handled above-the-line communications for Lynx/Axe since 1995.

Bluepod Goes Large for LG

Bluetooth marketing company Bluepod Media reports that it has delivered the largest Bluetooth advertising campaign in UK history on behalf of the mobile phone manufacturer LG.
Supporting the launch of the new ‘Viewty’ cameraphone, the campaign was rolled out in Vue and Cineworld cinemas on 5 November, and saw movie trailers offered for download to consumers’ mobile phones in support of an integrated campaign that also included posters, screens and stands. The campaign was set the aim of achieving 370,000 downloads, which were exceeded by 62,000 to deliver a total of 432,000 within three weeks – a 10 days ahead of expectations. Bluepod says the campaign represents the largest amount of money ever spent on a Bluetooth advertising campaign in the UK.
“This campaign shows conclusively that Bluetooth advertising is a powerful means of reaching consumers in a way that they are genuinely interested in,” says Bluepod Media CEO, Stefan Hohmann. “Clickthrough rates of over 30% simply don’t happen in other advertising media, and the fact that our targets were hit with a week left to run on the campaign demonstrates that this technology is a revolutionary development in mobile advertising.”
Greg Grimmer, Managing Director of Zed Media and UK Board Member of the Mobile Marketing Association, is positive about Bluepod Media’s recent successes. He says:
“As an industry, we are spending more money with Bluepod Media than any of the more established mobile operators currently in the UK. Unlike some of the more established companies, Bluepod Media are offering a mobile application that the industry wants to buy.”
Bluepod Media has installed Bluetooth advertising functionality in an extensive and network of venues across the UK, including cinemas, shopping centres, live music venues and premiership football clubs. This proximity-based network operates independently of traditional poster sites and allows advertising content to be pushed to Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones across a wide area in each venue. Campaigns are carried out on a pay-per-download basis, with advertisers only paying for each time their content is accessed. All metrics are fully traceable, with unique downloads monitored by the Audit Bureau of Circulations Electronic.

Mediaburst Technology Supports Charity Drive

Mobile marketing agency Mediaburst has announced its support for the Good Karma Drive charity , which hopes to raise £300,000 for the St. Mary’s school in Dharasalam, Northern India. Good Karma will use Mediaburst’s interactive telephony platform at no cost to engage with potential donors, enabling them to donate by phone or text.
The funds will allow the school to continue providing learning to more than 400 impoverished children who have been marginalised by mainstream education, and to build a further school building to welcome and educate growing numbers of children that need the school’s support each year.
Good Karma Drive is the brainchild of property entrepreneur Jonny Knowles. Together with a small team of fellow drivers, Jonny will leave “a trail of goodwill and inspiration” on their six-week drive from London to Dharasalam. The trek began on 3rd December, 2008.
“Mediaburst is committed to supporting humanitarian initiatives such as the Good Karma Drive and wishes it every success in raising the much-needed £300,000 so that growing numbers of impoverished children in India are no longer marginalised from mainstream education,” says Mediaburst Sales Director Stuart Brown.

EMI Campaign Targets iPhone Users

EMI Records has taken the wraps off a series of artist marketing campaigns utilising the iPhone and iPod touch platforms to showcase audiovisual content.
Initial activity to make use of the devices’ wi-fi capability is an artist-branded website to promote the launch of 'Heima', the film of the homecoming tour of Icelandic quartet Sigur Ros. To celebrate the release of this feature-length music DVD, EMI Records has created a specially optimised microsite for the iPhone and iPod touch’s display and interaction. Including the full-length trailer of the film, the site offers finger-sized navigation, a layout that changes according to orientation and a video stream that adapts depending on whether the viewer is connected via wi-fi or the EDGE cellular connection.
The site makes use of a Yahoo! Maps mash-up tool, allowing the viewer to easily navigate over the map of Iceland and click on the various locations where Sigur Ros performed. The site’s design has been kept purposely simple to complement the evocative visual depictions of the Icelandic landscape and to convey the impact of the music.
“These touchscreen wireless devices offer an exceptional user experience,” says Eric Winbolt, Head of Digital at EMI Records. “Being the first truly converged mass market devices to do so, we were very keen to use them to showcase our artists’ content and offer the consumer this unbeatable user experience.”

Bluetooth Anti-gun Campaign Targets Youth

MobsVentures, which provides new media and mobile marketing applications, has revealed that it is hosting and managing a 60-second 'anti-gun' movie to support Lambeth Council’s community safety campaign. The movie will be delivered using Bluetooth technology to mobile phone users.
MobsVentures is installing 'Bluetickle' masts in Lambeth, with the aim of reaching up to 1,000 young people a day who pass the masts on their way to school. Schoolchildren entering the ‘Bluecasting’ areas in South London with Bluetooth switched on will be given the option of having the anti-gun film sent to their mobile phone. The film, acted out by young people from the borough, graphically shows the deadly consequences of carrying weapons and warns young people against associating themselves with gun crime.
Cllr Mark Bennett, Cabinet Member for Safer Communities at Lambeth Council, says:
“Using mobile phones is a great way to communicate with young people and it also means that the message of the film can be passed on by young people to other young people, who we might not otherwise have reached."
MobsVentures Director Cec Richards adds:
“Bluetickle is fantastic because it enables Lambeth Council to connect with hard-to-reach younger people using free-to-user technology. This is a superb example of how mobile campaigns can add value to local government campaigns, particularly at a time when the community is anxious.”
You can see the film online here.

ZOOMtxt Powers Quit Smoking Campaign

Hampshire Primary Care Trust’s (PCT) Quit4Life initiative has launched a text service powered by KODIME’s mobile marketing software, ZOOMtxt.
The new shortcode, 60123, and keyword, QUIT, went live last week throughout Hampshire, and will help anyone ready to take positive action and start a smoke-free life find local NHS-run, free of charge support sessions in their local area, direct from any mobile phone.
All people have to do is to send a text message ‘QUIT’ to 60123, and follow the instructions. By providing their postcode, they can get details of NHS sessions in the relevant area sent back instantly to their mobile. All texts are charged at standard network rates.
“It has never been easier to quit smoking,” says Laura Rothery, Head of Smoking Cessation for the PCT. You can now even text from the comfort of sofa, the pub or train, wherever you may find yourself. As far as I’m aware, we’re the first stop smoking service to offer a text service in the country, so the people of Hampshire should get their texting fingers working and kick the habit.”
KODIME CEO Nico Köpke adds:
“We are very pleased to have been chosen by the NHS to provide the mobile part of this important campaign. This service is based on our standard ZOOMtxt PRO package, with an additional module to enable location search, based on postcodes. The campaign was up and running within 24 hours, and the client has been trained and enabled to fully mobilise all their marketing communication. The NHS team has direct control over all their campaign elements as well as comprehensive reporting via the ZOOMtxt dashboards, accessible from any web browser”.
Hampshire’s Stop Smoking Service is available by calling 0845 602 4663, texting QUIT to 60123 or via referral by a GP, dentist or midwife. Sessions are run by professional smoking cessation advisers, who can give out free medication to help people stop smoking.

Seasons MobiGreetings

Over 1 billion Christmas cards could end up in the bin this year, according to research by Envirowise. And according to Defra, 41% of consumers don’t bother recycling over the festive period. With this in mind, Billadam, a UK mobile content syndication company, has launched MobiGreets, which it says is the first animated seasonal MMS product available in the UK.
MobiGreets enables consumers to send engaging personalised MMS seasonal greetings in real time, providing an environmentally-friendly alternative to the Christmas card. Users simply download a variety of high quality themed Christmas greetings from the Wapsite (www.mobigreets.mobi) or the website, for £1.50 each and send them via MMS to multiple recipients for the same cost as a picture message.
Designed for minimum effort and maximum impact, MobiGreets represents the quick and easy environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional Christmas card, which not only assists in reducing the amount of paper wastage, but also saves consumers time in signing and posting cards.
“With such extreme wastage occurring each Christmas, consumers should be thinking about greener alternatives to the Christmas card,” says Billadam Chief Executive, Amir Mohamed.  “MobiGreets offers a highly engaging and environmentally-friendly way of sending instant personalised seasonal greetings in real time at the push of a button.”
Mohamed adds that the company is planning to extend its MobiGreets offering to include events such as Diwali and the Chinese New Year, as well as birthdays and general greetings cards.

Candyspace in Made-for-mobile Trailer First

Full service mobile agency, Candyspace, has created what it claims is the first mobile-only version of a theatrical trailer for the release of  the movie, ‘The Nines’ which debuts in UK cinemas today.
Candyspace has created a version of the trailer running in UK cinemas, specifically cut to provide optimum viewing on mobile handsets. The trailer can be accessed on The Nines mobile portal where there are also competitions and exclusive content based on the film,
The film, distributed by Optimum Releasing, is the latest feature from John August (critically acclaimed writer of hit movie ‘Go’. It stars Ryan Reynolds and Hope Davis, and is a unique blend of science fiction, mystery and thriller, which finds the lives of three characters (all played by Reynolds) intersecting in bizarre and unexpected ways.
The mobile campaign is part of a wider marketing initiative, planned and bought by Target Media, and includes a two week residency on the O2 mobile portal to drive banner clickthrough.
“It is no longer enough to simply replicate content from other mediums for the mobile space,” says Candyspace International MD, Tom Thorne . “Those campaigns which succeed are the ones which specifically create content which reflects both the format and the way people interact with their phones.”
Optimum Pictures’ Hugh Spearing adds:
“Our objective is to make the content appealing enough to want to get people into the cinema. We already create different trailers for TV and cinema audiences so it made perfect sense for Candyspace to do the same for mobile handsets.”

Pyramid Selling

Mobile messaging company Mediaburst has revealed that it is providing bespoke text messaging services for cereal brand Kellogg’s Tutankhamun promotion. Mediaburst's text-to-win services will run across Kellogg's Kids & Gatekeeper brands plus Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes on 26 million in-store promotional packs.
The promotion offers 10 top prizes of a trip of a lifetime to Egypt for four people,  including a private tour of the Cairo Museum, a visit to the Valley of the Kings, and exclusive access to the tomb of Tutankhamun. There are also 10 runners-up prizes of a trip for four to the London ‘Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of Pharaohs’ exhibition at the O2 Arena, which opened earlier this month. All consumers will qualify for a £5 discount on a family ticket to the exhibition when buying a promotional pack.
By buying and using one dedicated shortcode for current and future on-pack promotions to the UK and Republic of Ireland markets, says Mediaburst, Kellogg's has been able to deliver a simpler and clearer on-pack communication, and save on packaging costs. It also ensures that Kellogg’s consumers can’t accidentally opt in to another company's promotion, as well as providing tighter control and security of consumer data.
“Clearly, Mediaburst is delighted to be chosen once again by Kellogg to provide text-to-win services for its on-pack promotions,” says Mediaburst MD Jeremy Bygrave. “Extending the business relationship enables Mediaburst to gain a better understanding of Kellogg's special relationship with its consumers, and to tailor the text services to match the high expectations of Kellogg's consumers."

MMA Award Winners Announced

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has announced the results of the Third Annual Mobile Marketing Awards. Over 260 submissions were received across 12 award categories from around the world. Finalists and winners were selected by an Awards Selection Committee comprised of industry leaders from wireless carriers, technology and content providers, agencies and leading industry publications (including Mobile Marketing Magazine).   

The winners, and runners-up, were as follows:

Best Use of Mobile Marketing, Branding
Winner: The Hyperfactory and Saatchi & Saatchi LA, for the Toyota FJ vs. Baja 1000 campaign
Finalists: AKQA Mobile, Quattro Wireless
Honorable Mention EMEA: Universal McCann
Honorable Mention North America: Motricity

Best Use of Mobile Marketing, Cross-Media Integration
Winners: adidas, Isobar and Neighborhood America, for the NBA All-Star Week 2007 campaign
Finalists: Bravo To Go and The Hyperfactory and Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand
Honorable Mention EMEA: Aerodeon Turkey

Best Use of Mobile Marketing, Direct Response
Winner: Reliance Communications Ltd., for the Fair & Lovely Scholarships 2007 campaign
Finalists: Mobile Dreams Factory, MindShare Interaction India and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and Vibes Media
Honorable Mention APAC: Affle & Aviva
Honorable Mention North America: Discovery Channel, Fathom Online, MobiTV and SoLow, a division of SendMe Mobile, Inc.

Best Use of Mobile Marketing, Product/Services Launch
Winner: The Hyperfactory and Saatchi & Saatchi LA, for the Toyota FJ vs. Baja 1000 campaign
Finalists: Microsoft and MindMatics AG
Honorable Mention EMEA: Mobile Dreams Factory and RATP - The Parisian Tube, Aerodeon France (an Isobar company)

Best Use of Mobile Marketing, Promotion
Winner: Mobiento Médecins Sans Frontières Sweden, Telenor Sverige AB, for the Working week with Doctors Without Borders campaign
Finalists: Limbo & Verizon Wireless and The Hyperfactory
Honorable Mention North America: Discovery Channel, Fathom Online, MobiTV and SoLow, a division of SendMe Mobile, Inc.

Best Use of Mobile Marketing, Relationship-Building
Winner: R/GA, for the Nike Zoom Mobile campaign
Finalists: GOSUB 60, Inc. and The Hyperfactory

Innovation
Winner: iLoop Mobile, Inc., for the iLoop Mobile mFinity™ Platform
Finalists: Gotuit and Hill Holliday & VeriSign
Honorable Mention APAC: Affle

Innovation for Creativity in Media
Winner: AirPlay, for the NBA AirPlay Live campaign
Finalists: Hearst Digital Media and The Hyperfactory and Ogilvy Hong Kong
Honorable Mention APAC: The Hyperfactory and Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand
Honorable Mention EMEA: Mobile Dreams Factory

Innovation for Creativity in Technology
Winner: RATP, the Parisian Tube, Aerodeon France (an Isobar company), for best use of mobile video My RATP in my pocket
Finalists: Celltick Technologies, Scottish Power and Incentivated

Academic of the Year
Winners: Heikki Karjaluoto, University of Jyväskylä, and Matti Leppäniemi, University of Oulu

Overall Excellence (Company or Committee)
Winner: MMA Academic Outreach Committee

Outstanding Individual Achievement in Mobile Marketing
Winner: Michael Becker, EVP Business Development, iLoop Mobile, Inc.

“Energy and interest in mobile marketing is growing, based on the strength of the over 260 global submissions to this year’s MMA Awards program,” says MMA President, Laura Marriott. “These finalists and winners all demonstrate success in their initiatives and will become good resources for others when they choose to enter the mobile marketing industry.”

Mediaburst on the Piste

Mobile marketing company Mediaburst has revealed that one of its business partners, 8K Media, is behind the latest text-to-win competition being staged by holiday provider Ski Collection. The competition is featured in Circle Publishing's ‘Snow Magazine’ and offers entrants the chance to win a seven-night holiday for four at the 4-star ski-in, ski-out 4 ‘Les Balcons de Val Thorens’ residence in the French Alps.
All that skiers need do to stand a chance of winning the holiday is to text the height of the Val Thorens resort. Three options are given in ads now appearing in Snow Magazine – with a shortcode to text the answers to. The competition closes on 30  November.

It’s a DOGMOB Life

Mobstar Media, the Brighton-based mobile content producer, has announced the creation of DOGMOB.co.uk for Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.
DOGMOB allows customers to “adopt” a Battersea dog and download images, screensavers, wallpapers, ringtones and ‘Thank you’ messages featuring Battersea Dogs currently looking for homes. Uniquely, the concept creates the link between the charity and payments for what Mobstar describes as “desirable dog-related content”.
To use the service, visit the DOGMOB website, select the Battersea Dog you’d like to adopt and then text the dog’s name to 80022. There’s a choice of four dogs on the site at any time, updated regularly as they find homes, together with information about them and how they came to Battersea.
Customers are then sent a link to a Mobstar Wap site where they can download four pieces of content – an animated screensaver, wallpaper certificate, a ‘Thank you’ video, and a barking ringtone. Customers can also register for free news updates about their adopted dog.
It costs just £3 to adopt each dog, for which customers get four pieces of content. Mobstar points out that this is not a subscription service, and that all profits go straight to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home.
“Many dog lovers can’t own a dog and wonder how they can support our work,” says Fiona Healey-Hutchinson, Director of Fundraising at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. “DOGMOB.co.uk is a wonderful new way for them to ‘adopt’ a real animal, to help pay for its upkeep and to have wonderful, colourful and cute content on their mobile phone.”
Mobstar Media MD Jamie Goldblatt adds:
“We provide top-selling mobile phone content for networks and brands across the world. DOGMOB is our chance to make our content work for a good cause. We’re delighted to be involved with Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and we hope DOGMOB is a huge success for them.”
Mobstar notes that DOGMOB is the first charity service of this kind in the world, and says it is planning to launch further innovative charity-related mobile concepts. Coming soon is CATMOB.co.uk, which will do for Battersea cats what DOGMOB does for the dogs.

Times Media Appoints SpinVox for Your World Campaign

Times Media has selected voice-to-screen messaging specialist SpinVox to provide its ‘Blogging through SpinVox’ service as part of the BMW ‘Your World’ campaign at Times Online.
Your World enables Times Online users to post their travel experiences from anywhere in the world, and read those posted by others. The implementation of Blogging through SpinVox means that users can now speak their contribution from any phone simply by dialling the number published on the site and printed each week in the The Times and The Sunday Times. SpinVox then converts the voice message  to text that is posted directly on to the Your World website, making it even easier for users to populate the site with their stories, news and views about the places that they are visiting around the world. The best contributions are then considered for publication each week within The Times and The Sunday Times Travel sections.
Blogging through SpinVox allows users to share their travel experiences, tips and recommendations 'in the moment' with people using the site. In particular, it removes the barrier to entry for readers of The Times and The Sunday Times who want to participate in Your World but are unable or unwilling to make a post online.
"Times Media is the first national newspaper group in the world to employ SpinVox, and (this) is a further demonstration of Times Media's dedication to our commercial campaigns and our desire to make them a success," says Zach Leonard, Digital Media Publisher at Times Media. "The voice post is evocative of a golden age of foreign journalism, when correspondents filed their stories by telephone from the far reaches of the globe. The development also reinforces our commitment to user-generated content, and we hope (it) will make users feel even more closely connected to Times Media's print and digital brands."
Christina Domecq, SpinVox Co-founder and CEO adds:
"Integrating SpinVox with Your World is a fantastic application of our Voice-to-Screen service. Simply by making a phone call, people will be able contribute to the site when they are actually on their travels; it will make the content more timely and relevant. Now you don't need a keyboard and an Internet connection to get your news and views in text on the web - you just need your voice, a phone and your enthusiasm."

Poppy Appeal goes Mobile

Felix Group plc has pledged support for the 2007 Poppy Appeal by promoting 'My Poppy', a digital poppy that the public can download to their mobile phones via MAX BOX kiosks across the UK. MAX BOX is a 'one-stop shop', offering customers a range of convenient services, including mobile phone top-up, in pubs, restaurants, petrol stations and workplaces across the country.
Poppy Appeal supporters can download the 'My Poppy' image as wallpaper for phone screens. This can be done directly from MAX BOX kiosks in return for a donation of £1.50. Poppy downloads are a visible and portable demonstration of remembrance and support for the service and ex-service community.
The Poppy Appeal helps to fund the work of The Royal British Legion, which protects the interests, welfare and memory of British serving and ex-service people and their dependants. Around 10.5 million people, of all ages, are eligible to approach the Legion for support. The 2006 Poppy Appeal raised a total of £26 million and it is hoped that the 2007 appeal will raise a record £27.5 million. 
“We're proud to be associated with The British Legion,” says Felix Group CEO, Andy Egan. “My Poppy is a quick and convenient way to show your support for the appeal and we are delighted to help boost awareness of this fantastic initiative via our MAX BOX network."
My Poppy is available on MAX BOX until 11 November.

ilovemobileweb. Do you?

Bango has launched an ‘ilovemobileweb' campaign to increase awareness of the mobile web with consumers around the world. Bango says the campaign is designed to highlight the value and enjoyment of easy access to the Internet from a mobile phone. Additionally, it is a call to action for those companies who are destined to play a key role in making the mobile web easy to use through their products and services. dotMobi, the company behind the .mobi domain for mobile phones, is the first organization to announce itsv support for the campaign.
”We are starting a parade," says Bango CEO, Ray Anderson. “We want more people to love the mobile web because it's fun, it's sociable and it provides the ultimate in convenience and choice for consumers worldwide."
The campaign was launched at the CTIA WIRELESS IT & Entertainment 2007 show in San Francisco yesterday, and urges companies to actively promote the mobile web to their consumers. The campaign's charter supports the goals of providing open access to the mobile web for every phone user; a choice of content and services for consumers; easy pathways for fixed Internet content to become mobilized; and greater standardization of phones and mobile developer platforms
”dotMobi is proud to be a charter member of the 'ilovemobileweb' campaign," says David Ryder, VP of Sales and Marketing at dotMobi. “dotMobi's mission is to accelerate the adoption of the mobile web, and this campaign is a strong way to make the on-the-go public aware of the benefits of the mobile web."
To join the parade, companies can go to the ilovemobileweb website to read the charter and sign up. The company may add a logo to the site and link to its own web pages that show how the company supports the mobile web. The company is also asked to publicise "ilovemobileweb" at tradeshows. T-shirts and mugs are available for purchase.

 

Sponge Powers Lucozade’s adidas Giveaway

Mobile marketing solutions provider Sponge is powering Lucozade’s adidas text-to-win giveaway. The point-of-sale promotion was created by sales promotion agency The Marketing Store Worldwide, and gives consumers who text in a 1 in 100 chance of winning a pair of adidas ‘1DLX’ trainers worth £100. The promotion features on Lucozade drinks bottles in over 4,000 convenience stores and 667 health clubs across the country, and runs until November.
Lucozade will give away a minimum of 400 pairs of adidas trainers, and all those who text in will be entered in to a final prize draw at the end of the SMS promotion for the chance to win one of two elite coaching days.
The coaching sessions will be run by a coach of the winners’ choice of sport. Winners will also receive three two-hour sessions with Wendy Martinson, a Sports Nutrition Consultant for the British Olympics Association; lead Lucozade Sport Science Academy Consultant Nick Morgan; and Craig Mahoney, a sports psychologist and world class squash player.
“This activity is spot on in terms of creative and mechanic for the target audience,” says Sponge Client Services Director, Douglas McDonald. “There is a high chance of winning, and the fact that consumers will get two chances to win from just one text entry is all the more compelling.”

i-Free Money

i-Free, which provides mobile content services in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, has announced that it will provide technical support for an SMS promotion run by Coca-Cola HBC Eurasia, aimed at promoting the sales of Burn, Coke's new energy drink. The promotion targets Coke consumers in Moscow and the Moscow Region from now until 15  December 2007, offering a 10 ruble (£0.20) credit to their mobile phone account.
Mobile promotions are widely used in Russia, and i-Free is one of the country’s leading providers, working with brands including Reebok, Gillette, Chupa Chups, Stella Artois and Foster's.
“This is not the first time we have done business with Coca-Cola," says Svetlana Kostochka, who manages mobile marketing projects for i-Free. “Our previous work together was a success, and we are only too happy to repeat it. We are positive that the SMS medium, widely acclaimed for easy and prompt feedback, will appeal to massive subscriber numbers, giving a solid boost to sales."   
The interactive promotion for Burn was designed in partnership with Studio 10 PR agency. All of the interactive part was scripted by i-Free. To enter in the promotion, consumers need to buy a pack of Burn, find a unique code on the package and text it to 4131 at a cost of $0.08 (£0.04). The reply confirms the user’s registration, and tells them when their guaranteed cash prize of 10 rubles will be credited to their mobile phone account.

Text & Win Brief for Mediaburst

Mobile marketing agency Mediaburst has been selected by communications agency Multiply to provide text-to-win services for the new ‘Twice as Fast’ Nurofen Express promotion. The nationwide campaign promotes Nurofen's new Express product.
Mediaburst's mobile campaign will complement traditional magazine and in-store advertising, and is the first to use the new unified shortcode system for UK and Republic of Ireland on-pack promotions.
On the basis that, just like Nurofen Express, everything happens twice as fast in New York, consumers can enter a prize draw to win one of two weekend breaks in the Big Apple by texting ‘Nurofen Express’ to 57782. The prize includes return flights, two nights in a luxury Manhatten hotel and a choice of activities and distractions. The campaign is live now and runs until 31 December 2007. Texts are charged at standard network rates.
“In this age of instant communications, mobile messaging is fast becoming the new point of sale and possibly the most effective way for a brand to engage with its publics in a personalised way," says Emma McCafferty, Account Director at Multiply. “That means you need a trusted partner with the credentials to get the job done and in our book that means Mediaburst.”
Multiply was named Best Newcomer Agency at the 2006 MCCA (Marketing Communication Consultants Association) Awards.

Broadsystem Handed Famine Fundraising Task

World Vision (UK), the international relief and development agency, has appointed Broadsystem, the multi-channel customer communications agency, to manage text response handling for its forthcoming annual ’24 Hour Famine’ youth fundraising campaign.
Promotional material will prompt prospective fundraisers to text ‘Famine’ to 81222 over the course of the campaign, which kicks off on 1 October and culminates with the 24 Hour Famine itself on 14-16 March 2008, in order to receive a fundraising pack.
Broadsystem will collect and validate consumer data through a series of fully automated text interactions to enable accurate and cost-effective fundraising pack despatch. Broadsystem says it was awarded the work without a competitive pitch due to its proven pedigree in the field of intelligent text interaction management, as well as its creative and cost-effective commercial model.
“Young people are very familiar with using SMS, which makes this the perfect channel to engage them in World Vision’s 24 Hour Famine campaign,” says World Vision Youth Marketing Manager, Matt Wenham. “We are confident that SMS will drive registration rates, participation in the famine and ultimately fundraising, to new levels.”
Broadsystem CEO Caroline Worboys adds:
“We are delighted to be working with World Vision for their 24 Hour Famine initiative. The use of SMS activity will make it easy for the audience to get involved in the campaign and provide a cost efficient means for World Vision to establish dialogue with its key audience for this campaign.”

Mediaburst Powers Co-op Campaign

Mobile marketing agency Mediaburst has revealed that it is behind a mobile campaign for The Co-operative Travel. An in-store promotion launches this month on screens mounted at checkouts in Co-operative Food stores, enabling shoppers to text the travel company and save an extra £50 per booking off last-minute summer and autumn breaks to selected destinations.
Shoppers simply text the word ‘Summer’ to a shortcode that appears on the in-store screen, and receive an automatic response with the message: ‘Save an Extra £50 per booking off last-minute summer holidays. For more information call 0870 574 9272, or text “Call Me” to 87103 to have a Co-operative Travel booking agent call you"
Mobile marketing is another touchpoint for The Co-operative Travel to engage with its customers. The company believes mobile will become one of the preferred marketing channels for travel companies in the near term.
The Co-operative Travel is the UK's largest independent travel provider, with over 400 branches on the high street, state-of-the-art customer call centres and an award-winning website.
Mediaburst was recently voted one of Britain’s Top 20 new media agencies in a survey conducted by analyst Plimsoll Publishing.

Sponge Powers 'Prize and a Half' Promo

Cadbury Dairy Milk has launched a text-to-win competition offering prizes from digital album downloads to top price Las Vegas show tickets, with 5-star accommodation. The promotion focuses on giving consumers the chance to win prizes with a difference, such as a designer outfit to wear to a film premiere or salsa lessons in Havana.
The ‘Prize and a half’ campaign, which runs until the end of March 2008, is produced by direct marketing agency Elvis, and powered by mobile marketing solutions provider Sponge. To enter, consumers need to text the last four digits of the barcode found on promotional wrappers of Cadbury Dairy Milk to 65060. Cadbury Dairy Milk will then let each person know whether they are a winner within 24 hours. Sponge’s verified random draw engine technology will pick the winners.
“This is a text-to-win promotion with a difference,” says Sponge Client Services Director Douglas McDonald. “By offering a prize and a half, Cadbury Dairy Milk is exceeding consumers’ expectations. Sponge is really pleased to be working on this Cadbury Dairy Milk promotion with Elvis, having powered some of the biggest European text-to-win competitions for other FMCG brands.”

MIG Powers Colourful SMS Campaign

Mobile interactive services provider Mobile Interactive Group (MIG), the exclusive mobile partner to ITV, has revealed that it powered a 4-week SMS direct response campaign for Colour Catcher, which launched on 11 June. Further campaigns are  scheduled for the autumn and for 2008.
Colour Catcher, a brand of Spotless UK, undertook the free sampling campaign via SMS to support the re-launch of its Colour Catcher laundry product, which absorbs colour released during the wash process to prevent it dying other items in the same load. The campaign enabled consumers who viewed the brand’s ads to text in their name and address details to receive a free sample of the product. The campaign was devised jointly by Spotless UK with ITV Norwich Sales, ITV Sales, and MIG.
Since the campaign ran, Spotless UK has seen a total sales uplift of 3x versus baseline, with post-campaign sales stable at more than 60% over baseline. A subsequent survey demonstrated that 54% of the consumers who received the sample went then to buy the product. 89% of them declared that without receiving the sample, they would not have bought it. The campaign was unsupported by any trade activity, says MIG, thus the entire sales uplift can be attributed to the combination of the TV ad and the mobile activity.
In addition, detailed campaign analysis provided Spotless UK with results to ensure better trade support for upcoming campaigns; data on sales uplift per TV channel, enabling Spotless to redefine target media and optimize future media investments; and charts to measure the efficiency of all TV channels involved in the campaign, as well as  analysis of the best performing spots, dayparts and geographical regions.
Spotless UK Marketing Manager Luca Cucciniello says he is extremely happy with the results of the mobile campaign.
“It’s proved to be an extremely effective targeted product trial” he says. “Moreover, the SMS campaign helped us to give more credibility to the product and to the spot, as well as sustaining sales of the product after the campaign. Thanks to all of this we already managed to ensure much better trade support for future campaigns.”
MIG MD Barry Houlihan adds:
“Colour Catcher has delivered a tremendous sales uplift through a relatively simple mobile campaign. We are seeing increasing numbers of brands transforming 30-second spots into engaging experiences by using mobile to encourage sampling, raise brand awareness, entertain consumers and drive footfall.”

Trading Cards go Mobile

US record label Block Entertainment has launched a mobile trading card promotion for its artist Yung Joc. Fans can collect, trade, and redeem Yung Joc wallpaper for their mobile, and win $1,000 (£500), or a call from Joc himself.
US consumers can sign up for Yung Joc trading cards at cards.yungjoc.com or by texting JOC to 87233, to get three cards for $1 a week. There are 42 cards to collect in all. Each card is unique, with its own print number. Card distribution is random and some cards are rarer than others. Cards can be traded with friends via text message.
Top collectors can win some great prizes. First prize is $1,000 in cash. There are 10 runners-up prizes of a phone call from Joc. And 50 random Instant Win prizes of a signed Yung Joc poster.
More information here.

"On Yer Bike!"

Mobile marketing agency Incentivated has been signed-up to promote the first Hovis London Freewheel,  which takes place on September 23rd, and aims to encourage Londoners to cycle more.
The day has been promoted throughout the summer via email and on leaflets, underground posters and in tube carriages. A call-to-action is included on all promotional material inviting people to text BIKE to 62967. A text message is sent back requesting users to submit their email address in order to receive further information about the event and registration details straight to their inboxes. A ‘WAP push’ is also sent with a link to a dedicated mobile Internet site where users can find out more information, sign up to take part in the event, and view maps to locate their nearest ‘Freewheel Hub’ – the meeting points where participants can get ready for the day ahead with refreshments stalls, bicycle experts and toilets.
“We all have a responsibility to reduce our carbon emissions” says Incentivated MD Jonathan Bass. “This campaign will make it quick and easy for Londoners to sign up for the Freewheel event when they are out and about.”
Jenny Jones, the Mayor of London’s Green Travel Adviser adds:
“Record investment in cycling through Transport for London, an expanding network of cycle and bus lanes, and the confidence given to cyclists through tackling congestion in central London, has transformed levels of cycling in the capital. There are now an estimated 480,000 cycle journeys every day across London, around 30,000 more than a year ago. We hope that this campaign, and the Hovis London Freewheel event, will further encourage Londoners to get on their bikes”
As well as the campaign for the Hovis London Freewheel, the Mayor of London’s office is also running mobile campaigns for CABWISE, which encourages safe travel, and others promoting recycling, and celebrating ethnic diversity.

Ghost Riders on the Phone

Nokia and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE)  have announced their first partnership in the Middle East and Africa. Customers who buy a Nokia N73 and Nokia N93i mobile multimedia computers will receive the Sony Pictures movie ‘Ghost Rider’, starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes, on a 1GB mini-SD card playable on the handset and exclusive to Nokia.
The card will have additional space for photos, music, videos and games. SPHE has selected Mobiclip, Actimagine's patented software video codec, to deliver the movie on the mini-SD card.
“This partnership between Nokia and SPHE marks the first of its kind in the Middle East and Africa,” says Zsolt Menesi, Director of Multimedia Experiences for Nokia in the Middle East and Africa. “We hope to continue offering customers the opportunity to view highly-rated movies such as Ghost Rider on the Nokia range of multimedia computers.”

Look Out - Here Comes a Mobile Campaign

Mobile messaging services company Mediaburst has been tasked with running the  mobile communications element of a campaign for Bostik brand Blu-Tack. This is the first time that the adhesives company has used mobile communications in its marketing. 
The Blu-Tack promotion broke on Saturday and runs until the end of February. Promotional Blu-Tack packaging features a promotion inviting consumers to make a Spider-Man related model with the adhesive and send their photos to Bostik from their mobiles to a dedicated campaign number. Bostik says it is looking for weird, wacky and wonderful entries. The best 33 entries will win a Sony MP3 player, and the best 33 runners up will receive a Spider-Man goody bag.
“Using multimedia messaging for competition entry is a medium still in its infancy, but a channel that brands will increasingly embrace going forward," says Bostik Product Manager Michelle Hayman. “The success of our Blu-Tack promotion hinges on making sure people who have taken the time to enter can do so easily and with limited restrictions, and Mediaburst's MMS allows us to achieve this."