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June 23, 2009

Hyatt Launches Verizon Mobile Campaign through Microsoft

Global Hyatt Corp has partnered with Microsoft and Verizon to launch a mobile ad campaign, which it hopes will drive registrations to the hotel chain's Gold Passport frequent guest reward program, in addition to driving traffic to its newly launched mobile site.

Search and display ads will point users to Hyatt's mobile destination, which now allows users to find and book hotel rooms, check-in and -out remotely, and receive tailored promotions on their handset.

Microsoft penned a deal with Verizon in January through which it now sells display and search inventory across all of the carrier's mobile properties. The software giant says mobile is now a "critical component" in its ad offerings, and that it has made "significant investments" in the area.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 6:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

April 15, 2009

quadrantOne to Focus on Mobile Ad Sales for AP

Online newspaper ad network quadrantOne will now sell ads on behalf of Associated Press. According to quadrantOne, the firm will run national ad sales specifically for AP's mobile news portal apnews.com and AP News apps.

The relationship isn't much of a stretch, considering quadrantOne was formed by paper giants Hearst, Gannett, The New York Times, and Tribune, and its network is comprised mainly of newspaper sites. The AP, of course, is a coalition of paper publishers.

As paper companies struggle to monetize and navigate the new realities of online media distribution (The NY Times reports today that newspaper ad revenues may have plummeted as much as 30 percent for some papers in Q1.), the AP recently made headlines for announcing it plans to crack down on what it called "misappropriation" of its online news content. The organization said it would develop new search pages that direct users to breaking news. The move was largely viewed by observers as a direct attack on Google, which sometimes points users to non-AP affiliated sites featuring AP news stories.

So, is mobile advertising the next frontier for struggling news outlets? It's great to see the AP investing in mobile in this way, yet just how much that will contribute to the bottom line remains to be seen. Perhaps the AP relationship will prompt other quadOne networks to think more about mobile ad offerings....

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 23, 2009

Are You Speaking Android?

I've had a T-Mobile G1 handset using the Android operating system to test for the past few weeks and frankly I've been hard pressed to write about my experiences with the phone. I find the user experience impressive, the battery life way too short. A search through the marketplace returns plenty of applications, but none from the usual suspects with ad-supported or sponsored content. Is it too early to start marketing on the platform? If you have apps I should check out send me a message before T-Mobile calls back its G1.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 14, 2009

Quote of the Day: Joe from Bradenton, FL

"AT&T just sent me a text message advertisement about American Idol. Evil. The economic downturn definitely means a spam upswing."

-Florida resident Joe Brockmeier, Twittering about an unsolicited SMS he received from AT&T. AT&T sent the mass text message to promote the latest season of the show, which it sponsors, according to a New York Times report.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 18, 2008

Entire Novels on Japan's Mobile Phones

Move over, Kindle. The Japanese (women in particular) are reading - and writing - entire novels on mobile phones. It's been a shot in the arm to several Japanese publishers, and some of the novelists are becoming hot media properties, branching out into film, television and of course, video games.

An articles in the current New Yorker magazine offers a fascinating glimpse into this phenomenon. Only a summary of the piece is provided on their Web site, but it's well worth picking up the current issue to read over the holiday break.

And you thought your phone was smart!

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 2, 2008

Virgin Media Joins T-Mobile, Adopts Yahoo Mobile Search Tool

U.K. mobile network operator Virgin Mobile has partnered with Yahoo to power search functions on its re-launched mobile portal. As of December 8, the portal will take on the branding of its parent company, Virgin Media, and will integrate Yahoo's oneSearch technology.

Yahoo also said today that it plans to deliver mobile sponsored search results and contextually served sponsored listings via the portal early next year, and that it is focusing on, "creating the monetization engine for the mobile Internet."

Despite its troubles, the Internet giant appears to be making decent progress in the mobile search sector, having secured an exclusive deal with T-Mobile in February, representing 11 European Markets. At the time, a Yahoo spokesperson described mobile search as a "key area in the future of Yahoo."

Search results via the Virgin portal will now include photos from Flickr, financial data, integrated information from Wikipedia and Yahoo Answers, and downloadable content such as ringtones and mobile games.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 25, 2008

iPhone App Rides the River of News

Is it true an iPhone app is released every time a phone rings?

Well maybe not, but it almost seems that way. A friend of mine had way too much fun showing me a level last weekend using the spectrometer inside the phone.

Zumobi has launched yet another new iPhone app. The company, which used to operate under the name ZenZui, develops graphical user interfaces for mobile. It just released Ziibii, a free iPhone app that brings in feeds such as social network updates, news, new Flickr and YouTube media, and Twitter posts. Currently ads are limited to other iPhone apps but in Q1 ads will be sold to other brands.

The application may take the "river of news" metaphor a bit too literally, though. It appears as a pool of water with rafts floating across the screen. Each raft is a Flickr photo, a blog post, a news story, or a tweet. Ad units are also in the form of rafts. You pinch and drag the rafts to expand items just as you do any other app or Web page on the iPhone. And if you start to feel a little seasick, you can change the settings to display the feeds without the serene water.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 24, 2008

Sports and Weather Updates Drive U.K. Mobile Internet Growth

Mobile Internet usage in the U.K. grew 25 percent from Q2 to Q3, according to Nielsen's Mobile Media View report, released today.

The research found that 7.3 million Britons are now accessing Internet content on the move. Though this is far less than the 36 million people making use of the PC-based web, mobile access is apparently growing at eight times the speed; wired Internet access grew only by a modest 3 percent in the same period.

The top mobile properties in Q3 were BBC News, Google Search, BBC Weather, Facebook, Hotmail, BBC Sport, eBay, Yahoo! Mail, Sky Sports, and Gmail.

Interestingly, BBC Weather, Sky Sports and Gmail all experienced greater U.K. audience reach via mobile than they do on the PC-based internet. BBC Weather receives 21 percent of all mobile consumers compared with 17 percent on the wired Web; Sky Sports reaches 11 percent of mobile surfers, compared to 8 percent of PC based surfers; Gmail gets 9 percent of mobile consumers, and 7 percent of PC-based ones. Kent Ferguson, Nielsen Senior Analyst attributed this to the fact that, "People often need fast, instant access to weather or sports news and mobile can obviously satisfy this, wherever they are."

The report also found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that the mobile net is attracting a far younger audience. A quarter of mobile Internet users are aged between 15 and 24 years old, compared to 16 percent for PC-based consumers.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 14, 2008

Mobile Incompatible? You're Losing Customers

It often doesn't happen for weeks and even months at a time -- but this morning, I was disconnected.

Twice.

The first time was trying to book an appointment with a doctor. The second time, I was trying to make reservations at a high-end restaurant (one that's not, alas, on OpenTable). In fact, I read about it happening to the rash of the newly-unemployed attempting to contact state unemployment benefits offices. Oh, and a friend just moved to a sleek new office. Now I can't access her or her staff by phone, either.

Perhaps you've encountered the situation: you dial business from your mobile phone only to be encountered with the familiar: for this, press 1; for that press 2. Frequently, staying on the line for help from an operator is simply not an option. But with many mobile phones (and like a growing segment of the population, I'm landline-less), pressing the appropriate button immediately disconnects the call.

I'm no telephony expert, and have no idea why these menus work 99 percent of the time from my BlackBerry, but not from a friend's iPhone, or vice versa. I do know that if I can't get through to that high-end restaurant, I'm going to take my client to eat at a place where I can actually book a table.

If your business operates on a press-this-or-that-number to get through to a live person - as a prerequisite of doing business with you - have you tested the system from your mobile phone? From several different phone models?

Your customers are cutting the cord, and often with more than their local telcos. When that landline goes, your business could well be going with it.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 13, 2008

Virgin Mobile Gets Local

Directories firm Local.com has linked up with Virgin Mobile USA to offer a new ad-supported mobile directories service. Virgin customers can now search for businesses, view profiles and maps, get directions, and click-to-call their nearby sandwich joint.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 23, 2008

T-Mobile to Unveil Its Google Phone

Word is T-Mobile today will unveil its new mobile phone, called G1, that uses Google's operating system called Android.

PC World mag speculates the phone will include free Gmail from Google. Update: Indeed, TmoNews says it's confirmed the phone comes with Gmail, YouTube, Calendar and Google Talk. Memory is expandable up to 8 gigs.

Analysts predict the Google phone will unlikely match last year's debut of Apple's iPhone.

"I doubt that anything can match the hoopla that has been created by Apple,'' IDC analyst Shiv Bakhshi told Bloomberg News.

ClickZ's Enid Burns will be reporting on this development today at IAB's Mixx conference today. Look for more coverage -- and what this means for advertisers.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

September 8, 2008

AT&T Mobile Portal to Carry Yahoo OneSearch Results and Ads

In its ongoing push to collaborate with carriers, Yahoo has signed a deal with AT&T that will put OneSearch on the carrier's portal. AT&T's on-deck MEdia Net portal will be powered by OneSearch, bringing media assets such as news, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr photos, and Web images to AT&T user handsets. OneSearch also provides users relevant results for ringtones, wallpapers, games, and other content in the same browsing experience.

Despite the variety of content, oneSearch ads consist solely of sponsored search text ads on results pages. Through a strategic alliance made in January, Yahoo has the ability to serve display ads but hasn't done so yet.

AT&T has about 70 million wireless customers, though not all of those use the mobile Web. The reach for oneSearch is in the tens of millions, and a portion of those are using the iPhone. However, iPhone users likely don't start on the MEdia Net portal, and may not use the service at all, narrowing the reach just a little bit more.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

August 28, 2008

Yahoo's Mobile Division Loses Two Execs

Yahoo confirmed two executives who specialized in mobile left its Connected Life division.

Steve Boom, SVP of Connected Life, and Gary Roshak, according to news first reported by Tricia Duryee of mocoNews.

Boom has been with Yahoo for 10 years and is looking for other opportunities, according to a company spokesperson. "He has been a tremendous asset to the company. He helped build the mobile team to what it is today, and we're in a great position to continue to lead the market." Gary Roshak left Yahoo on August 1, and has already been replaced by David Katz, formerly VP of corporate strategy. He's now VP of advertisers and publishers.

Despite a string of exits and reports of a "brain drain" at Yahoo, which continued over the summer, it's probably not likely to be the case within the Connected Life team. "In the mobile space we're continuing to push forward, continuing to sell deals, to sign advertisers, moving forward with business as usual," said the Yahoo source.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

August 22, 2008

Verizon Wireless Searching for Deal

Verizon and Google may be close to a search deal for the carrier's wireless customers, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Journal says, "It's the latest sign that telecom companies are finally conceding that their homegrown search services have stalled -- and that they need help from the Internet's big guns."

What it all could mean for Verizon's ad relationships with AOL and Millennial Media remains to be seen.

This may just be about finding the right partner, as Google is the most used search provider on the Web. In July it maintained a 61.9 percent market share, according to comScore. Putting aside past disagreements and competition -- on things such as the spectrum auction and Google Android -- Verizon sees that Google has already gained some dominance on the handset. Google held 61 percent of the mobile search market share in Q1, according to Nielsen Online.

Verizon has worked with white label mobile search provider Medio for some time now, which has included search and advertising. The article speculates Medio will manage the relationship between the carrier and Google. For display advertising, Verizon currently splits its inventory. AOL's Platform-A sells the lion's share, and Millennial Media also sells a portion.

Will Google be happy with just search? It's got mobile display ads. That may be down the line. The Journal says the next deal after mobile search could be a Google search box in Verizon's broadband and TV services.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 28, 2008

Make Mobile Useful

When was the last time you had a good experience at airport security?

I know, I know. But traveling through Newark on Continental yesterday bordered on the thrilling -- in a good way. Continential is now offering something I've long yearned for: a smart phone enabled boarding pass. The thing is actually invalid if you print it out.

A barcode and airline logo are displayed on the handset's screen, together with seat and gate information. It's scanned by both the security screeners and airline personnel at the boarding gate. Not only did it work, none of the personnel even blinked - new as this is.

I don't know about you, but I've always hated wasting paper printing out boarding passes, and dealing with the how to get hard copy issue whilst on the road. Really useful and convenient mobile innovations such as the boarding pass can also have a halo effect on advertising and marketing initiatives. By making mobile really useful and necessary, brands can create affinity and goodwill -- as well as make consumers look forward to their next mobile connection with the brand.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 21, 2008

Mobile Demos Skew Older and Older

The most interesting thing about the IAB's mobile forum this week?

It's not just about the kids any more.

In case study after case study, advertiser and marketers spent the day demonstrating how, well....old mobile advertising demos are becoming. Mike Anderson of Live Nation's ConcertVision Program probably put it best when he said that response to SMS promotions at "dinosaur" acts (such as Cheap Trick and Voyager) was all but nil a year ago, and through the roof this season.

Parents, apparently, have learned to text from their kids.

Again and again, we saw case studies from companies such as Jaguar and RIM, which don't exactly appeal to 20-somethings, but are gettign through-the-roof responses to mobile campaigns from older, affluent demos.

Could this mean that one day soon, the oft-promised year of mobile advertising may become a reality>

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 11, 2008

Google Mobile Image Ads: MMA Compliant

When Google launched its mobile image ads in April there was some disagreement over their compliance with the Mobile Marketing Association guidelines, which were issued around the same time. It's nearly three months later, and Google has posted on its mobile blog that it's now compliant with the six sizes outlined within the MMA guidelines for banner ads.

Posted by Enid Burns at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 23, 2008

Rumor: Google Android Development Stagnates

Last fall reports of a G-Phone were quelled with the announcement of Android, an open source operating system that would run across all carrier networks. Google established the Open Handset Alliance with the existence of Android, and set to work on the operating system, developers creating handsets, and applications with a goal of availability in the second half of this year.

Demos of Android, on compatible handsets, have been shown at conferences and events here and there, but that’s been few and far between. The Wall Street Journal by reports today the release will be Q4 or later. Carriers and developers are having problems developing for the system. And carriers, in particular, are have issue making it theirs, according to the Journal.

This morning I met with Marcus Colombano VP of marketing from LightPole, a geo-contextual content publishing and advertising platform for mobile that works with companies such as Yahoo Local, Mappy Hour, and Yelp. He who wasn’t surprised by the news. He said his first take last year was “that there was “that there wasn’t more meat” to the Android announcement. While LightPole intends to develop for Android, the next development platform for his company will be the iPhone. “As a small organization, it makes more sense to develop for platforms that exist,” he said.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 19, 2008

Did Your Phone Help Elect Bush/Cheney?

With approval ratings for the current administration at all time record lows, Credo Mobile came up with this near-irresistible e-mail subject line.

The body copy and call-to-action are no less compelling:

Sorry to say, but the political action committee at AT&T contributed the maximum amount allowable by law to the Bush/Cheney campaign — twice. So, go ahead, check out your mobile phone company. And then check out the mobile phone alternative you can trust. It's called CREDO Mobile, and it's mobile phone service that stands up for your values, brought to you by Working Assets.

On the other hand, if you're happy with your mobile service just the way it is, accept this photograph as your gift from a real, ahem, Richard.

To get your phone in line with your values, click here.

Just a hunch, but this is going to get Credo onto consumers' radar - fast. Particularly the ones whose major gripe with the telco until now has been its indefensible anti Net neutrality stance.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

June 11, 2008

Go2 Offers Animated Mobile Banners

If the mobile Web is following in the footsteps of the Internet, then Go2 Mobile's announcement today that it's begun offering animated mobile banner units should come as no surprise.

The company first rolled out the 10- and 15-second loop animations within mobile banners as early as the beginning of the year, and will now offer the unit to all clients. Early advertisers include Best Buy and the Navy.

The Web-based animated banner has not always been well received. While it can provoke higher response rates than static ads, it also runs the risk of annoying consumers. The same principle will apply in mobile environments, only more so.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 10, 2008

Giving up on the Year of the Mobile

For some time, people have ceased saying "it's the year of mobile."

Instead, they offer up explanations as to why it isn't the year of mobile.

Enough is enough. This has been going on long enough, folks. It's no longer necessary to explain away.

Why? There probably won't ever be a year of mobile, and it's OK. Mobile will emerge as an advertising channel as every other channel before it.

"I think mobile has had a very healthy last 12 to 18 months," said Paul Palmieri, CEO of Millennial Media in a debate panel at the Mobile Marketing Forum in New York. "2007 has been a pretty formative year." Palmieri and his fellow panelists agreed it may be the decade of mobile advertising.

"I think the question, if this is the year of mobile, it's off the mark. It took 10 years to come to life," said Steen Andersson, co-founder and VP of marketing of 5th Finger. Think of this as the decade of mobile, it takes time for agencies and carriers to realize and learn. [This is] the year of the big uptake…growth, the great time of education and growth in the marketplace."

Dan Rosen, group head of U.K. AKQA Mobile, sees it another way. "I don't think there's going to be a eureka moment, the trend we're seeing is mobile tends to be now, where entertainment meets utility," he said. Mobile now is combining the two, where mobile meets the sweet spot.

The maturation of mobile campaigns is an indication of advertisers' acceptance and uptake of the media, even if there never was a clear "year of mobile." Do we need a blockbuster year? Or can we move on and cultivate a more sustainable growth?

Posted by Enid Burns at 9:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Mobile Marketing, a Look Into the Crystal Ball

At the Mobile Marketing Forum in New York, a panel was asked to describe what will be different one year from today. Here's what they had to say:

--Richard Ting, executive creative director, R/GA: "There will be different things in the marketplace, platforms out there encouraging developers to develop applications on the handset. [such as] GPS applications.

--Jeff Sellinger, EVP, mobile at CBS: It's proliferation of the mobile Web, he said. "The low-cost iPhone, the viral effect of people surfing."

--Steen Andersson, founder and VP, marketing, at 5th Finger: "Android and iPhone are going to generate ecosystems in their own right."

--Paul Palmieri, CEO of Millennial Media: "Advertising will explode and deepen, because media will be made simple to buy."

Posted by Enid Burns at 6:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 28, 2008

Ikea's Mobile/Web/Game Ad Hybrid

Ikea is pulling out all the interactive marketing channel stops to promote the opening of its new Brooklyn store. The campaign -- aimed at getting New Yorkers to the new big box retail location in a seldom-visited area -- utilizes e-mail directing recipients to play a game played both online and via mobile device.

The Ikea Brooklyn Get There Giveaway asks viewers to locate boxes hidden on the pathways leading to the store on a map interface built in Ajax. Find and click on boxes containing designated Ikea products and players are given a code they can send via SMS. Each text message is an additional entry into a shopping giveaway.

The game is clever and somewhat engaging -- but it's not really apparent why mobile would come into play here. There's no apparent rhyme or reason in jumping across channels to actually enter the contest. That said, it doesn't unduly burden users, either, given mobile devices are usually within arms' reach.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 13, 2008

Entrepreneurs: Random Musings on Web's Past and Future

A group of top tech entrepreneurs paneled in New York tonight. Talk was lively, if not deep, given the audience ofINSEAD alums hailed mainly from the relatively distant shores of Wall Street.

Discussion encompassed online media and marketing. Some highlights:

Start-up vet Kevin Ryan was anything but bullish on mobile. "Not one single company in mobile is valued at $1 billion. The carriers are blocking all the innovation."

Moderator Henry Blodgett asked the panel how to fix newspapers. Bain Capital Group's Daniel Allen thinks they ought to capitalize on their relationships with local advertisers and teach them the ropes of online marketing.

What's hot that should be not? The Ladders co-founder Alexandre Douzet thinks Ning's value lies primarily in co-founder Marc Andressen's name. Indeed's Paul Forster votes for Twitter's lack of a business model.

And while there was general agreement things are about to get a little grim, none of these entrepreneurs believe online is on the verge of a recession that even approaches the severity of the last bubble, or dot-bomb. Ryan laughingly reminisced about a week in 2000 when he went skiing and DoubleClick's market cap soared $1 billion while his out-of-the-office e-mail auto-responder was, essentially, running the company.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

May 7, 2008

Google Joins Venture for High-Speed Mobile Net Access

Google has signed onto a venture, led by Sprint, to develop and deliver high-speed wireless Internet access for mobile devices, according to a published report.

Comcast, Time Warner, Intel, Clearwire, and others are set to announce they will invest $3.2 billion for the technology called WiMax, the WSJ.com reports.

The New York Times, quoting an unidentified source, said Google could provide the search engine for the wireless platform, enabling it to sell advertising there. Google is said to be contributing $500 million to the initiative.

Plans call for the wireless data-and-voice network to have the download speeds of cable broadband and the reach of a cellphone network.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 6:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 23, 2008

What Time Is It in the Cloud?

These days, my head is in the cloud.

More and more companies are rolling out cloud computing solutions and applications. On the consumer level, it's getting easier and easier for documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, calendars, presentations, you name it, to live in the ether somewhere above the hard drive, always on and always accessible.

Way cool, and an emerging opportunity for advertisers and marketers to push relevant, contextual messages to cloud computing users.

But what time is it in the cloud? I'm wondering this as I shuttle between the East and West coasts, wielding a battery of BlackBerry, mobile phone, and the laptop I'm using to access the book I'm writing entirely on Google Docs (not a word of the manuscript is on my hard drive).

Some of these devices are set to the time zone I'm actually in, others are set to the one I live in. So how's an advertiser to know what's relevant messaging? Should an ad be pushed for a business or service in Sonoma (where I'm speaking today), or New York (where I live?). Does the cloud know if I'm working at lunchtime or at dinnertime?

Geo- and daypart targeting has long been used in traditional as well as interactive marketing. When life literally shifts to online -- as users move into the cloud -- how will this element of targeting be achieved?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 11, 2008

TTYL, FCC

Uncle Sam wants to text you -- but only when there's bad news.

The Federal Communications Commission has approved a plan to deliver emergency alerts to mobile phones via SMS. The messages will be delivered with an attention-getting "unique audio signature" and "vibration cadence."

Three types of grim alerts qualify for the program: a national alert from the president, likely involving a terrorist attack or natural disaster; "imminent threats," e.g. natural disasters such as tornadoes or university shootings; and child abduction emergencies.

Mobile device owners will be able to pt out of the program, and it's possible carriers won't charge for delivery of such messages. The plan is expected to go into effect by 2010.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 2, 2008

On the Wires from CTIA

If it happens in Vegas this week, it's not staying there. Too much news to get out:

• Mobile technology provider Velti announced it worked on strategic campaigns for Wrigley's and Western Union. For Wrigley's Orbit gum, consumers text a unique code to enter a sweepstakes competition. They then take part in games with the overall goal to increase sales during the duration of the sweepstakes. For Western Union, Velti will use its messaging platform globally to update customers about special events and sweepstakes. Customers will be able to amass points and win prizes based on their frequency of Western Union transactions.

• Bango released benchmarking data from its analytics platform showing click through and conversion rates from mobile advertising campaigns. Though its analytics, Bango finds banner and text ads on mobile Web sites typically have a click through rate of 2 to 8 percent with a conversion rate of 2 to 5 percent, though on some networks conversion can be as high as 12 percent.

• AOL unveiled a WAP-based games portal at http://wap.aol.com/games. AOL partnered with Cellufun to provide games such as Call of the Pharaoh, Space Wars, and Ice Fishing, which will be available for free. Advertising inventory will be sold by Platform-A's Third Screen Media.

• Fox Mobile Entertainment launched the Fox Entertainment Mobile Network. A wireless Internet portal as a single destination for everything the nextwork has to offer from Fox, FX, Speed, National Geographic Channel, Fox Reality Channel, and 30 other mobile Web sites with programming from shows including "The Simpsons," "24," "Family Guy," "Nip/Tuck," "NASCAR," and "Dog Whisperer." JumpTap signed on as the advertising provider, in a deal similar to the one announced with NBC.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 27, 2008

dotMobi Hearts Mobile Web

The non-profit dotMobi Advisory Group (MAG) is taking over the ilovemobileweb campaign launched last year by Bango, thereby bringing together over 125 companies to support and foster the initiative.

The stated campaign aims are to:

· Raise awareness of the mobile Web with consumers around the world
· Encourage open access to the mobile Web for every user
· Provide consumers with choice of content and services
· Provide easy pathways for fixed Internet publishers to move to mobile
· More standardization of devices and development platforms

Interested organizations are invited to join the initiative -- gratis -- via the e-mail link on the ilovemobileweb Web site.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 21, 2008

Verizon Wins Auction 73

Verizon is the proud winner of Auction 73. The government auction the FCC held with bidders cloaked in secrecy. Google and Verizon were among the most public about their plans prior to the bidding proceedings.

In a statement from Verizon, "We were successful in achieving the spectrum depth we need to continue to grow our business and data revenues, to preserve our reputation as the nation's most reliable wireless network, and continue to lead in data services and help us satisfy the next wave of services and consumer electronics devices." The added bandwidth is likely to come into play with industry plans, as well as Verizon's own plans, for open mobile Web standards, which are expected become available later this year.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 28, 2008

Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Models get Mobile

If one magazine issue of supermodels in swimsuits a year isn't enough for you, then Sports Illustrated has the answer. The sports magazine has signed a deal with mobile video provider mywaves to create a dedicated channel of videos about the swimsuit event that can be sent directly to mobile devices.

The channel is ad supported to be free for viewers, and hosts 50 video clips, including video from photo shoots, interviews with the models and other material. The channel went live six days ago and has already had over 180,000 views, according to Nicole Rodrigues, a spokesperson for mywaves.

"Our service skews very high male 18- to 34-year-old. And this Sports Illustrated channel fits right into that demographic," she said.

Mywaves offers advertisers pre-roll, overlay and banner ad placements for its channels, but hasn't signed on a dedicated advertiser for Sports Illustrated's video channel, she said.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 25, 2008

Campaign Tracker, for Politicos on the Go

With the election year upon us, some voters may want to get their information and coverage of the big event wherever they go. Microsoft is looking to capitalize on voters looking for breaking news by sponsoring a free Campaign Tracker application for Windows enabled Mobile phones..

NewsGator is providing its Mobile Reader system and widget services, while the news organizations Washingtonpost.com and Newsweek will update the political news via RSS feeds. Campaign Tracker was created by NewsGator's Software-as-a-Service division which handles syndication services, and Microsoft's Mobile2Market program. It'll run on Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices, as well as Microsoft Pocket PC devices. The service itself will go online early next week.

Post updated to correct the application's name from Candidate Tracker to Campaign Tracker.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 12, 2008

Microsoft, Yahoo Anuncian Mobile Deals in Barcelona

At the Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft and Yahoo both made separate announcements touting their mobile offerings.

Yahoo used the show to demonstrate its forthcoming Yahoo oneConnect service for mobile devices using Yahoo Go 3.0 and Yahoo’s new mobile home page, expected to be available in Q2 2008. The oneConnect service will aggregate social network connections from sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, along with news, weather and other alerts. The service will also provide e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging connections.

Separately, Microsoft announced it had signed European mobile publishers L'Equipe, Boursier.com and Autonews in France to its mobile ad platform. The company also said mobile operator Orange picked Microsoft as its ad serving partner for mobile display advertising in Spain. What wasn't clear from the news out of Spain was whether this is a mobile ad management or serving deal only, or whether it will involve ad sales representation.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Virgin Atlantic Launches "Love From Above"

Virgin Atlantic Airways' just-launched American campaign, Love From Above continues the real-speak whimsy that is a hallmark of the Virgin brand. It poses questions to travelers such as, "Shouldn’t a seat recharge more than your laptop?”

Developed by agency-of-record McKinney, the campaign is notable for a substantial mobile component. Virgin's first WAP site, http://LoveFromAbove.mobi, aimed at fliers in and out of New York and Chicago, passes along info on complimentary taxi rides in wrapped London cabs, British pub events, and free movie passes. A Valentine’s Day surprise is promised to top off the launch.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 4, 2008

Mobile in a Combined Microsoft, Yahoo

In Microsoft's conference call last week discussing its offer to purchase Yahoo for $44.6 billion, mobile was cited as a key asset. Mobile assets combined make a significant footprint in the mobile ecosystem. That's because currently, "there really is no one-thousand pound gorilla in mobile," said Boris Fridman, CEO of Crisp Wireless, in the context of the mobile presence both companies can merge into.

Here's the rundown on Microsoft's mobile universe: Windows Mobile, an operating system with a full suite of productivity software such as Outlook, Word, and Excel, sits at the core of Microsoft's mobile footprint. MSN began advertising on its mobile portal in December, and in the U.K. in January. Its Live Mobile offering, which Sprint uses in a deal with Microsoft, runs pay-per-call ads.

A string of acquisitions including ScreenTonic, Tellme, and MotionBridge bolstered existing properties as well as filled out lacking areas. In a surprising move, Microsoft incubated and then spun off ZenZui, a graphical user interface browsing package, now called Zumobi.

Yahoo has spent time building out its own mobile offering with a multi-platform presence. The search engine began offering keyword-based mobile search ads in fall of 2006. Then it brought out OneSearch the following spring. It also developed a content-driven portal Yahoo Go, which just released a 2.0 version. Sources say Yahoo Go has been perceived as a failure inside the company. Yahoo also brings to the table several relationships with international carriers. In January it signed a deal with T-Mobile U.K., which adds to its existing relationship with competing carrier Vodafone. A separate deal includes relationships with Six carriers in Asia.

If Microsoft and Yahoo's combined mobile presence becomes the 1,000 pound gorilla in mobile, will it be a game-changer? Probably not, according to some industry sources. It will offer a great deal of inventory in multiple formats and in one place. Microsoft can streamline media buying through its global sales force and ad-buying dashboard through its Digital Advertising Solutions Group. It may become the best way to do multi-channel buys, and Microsoft can build mobile network beyond its core sites. It won't take over all of mobile, and pure-play solutions providers in the space may still be the best options for content owners, media buyers, and advertisers looking to build a presence.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 28, 2008

The 24/7 Daypart

Starcom released data on mobile user habits last week and we've been mulling over what the agency is calling a daypart. With the mobile audience, it's 24/7. Is it fair to call all day, every day, a daypart? While the report says it's an "on the move," 24/7 daypart, the findings support the utility and entertainment value of mobile. The target here isn't time of day, but content paired with a particular activity.

"They're seeking certain types of content when they have opportunities," said Angela Steele, VP, activation director, and leader of the study at Starcom. "When walking the dog in the morning, they're checking local news, weather, and traffic." She said some employees retreat to the office bathroom to check sports scores. "Something they wouldn’t be doing at their desk."

What's important to note: marketers reach consumers "where and when it was once impossible to do so," a statement describing the research said.

It's been hard to target a particular time of day, even among segmented audiences. "When you look at the mobile Web, it's quite strange the time of day people use it. You get commuter patterns, mid-morning patterns, lunchtime… presumably when people are killing time," said Anil Malhotra, founder and SVP of alliances and marketing at Bango.

It's debatable whether the daypart carries over to a mobile execution. "Daypart has been a component of advertising we all understand," said Bob Walczak, CEO of MoPhap. "With the mobile user, they are a different advertising profile. They want on demand information. They want it when they want t and how they want it. [Accessing the mobile Web] in the bathroom or while walking the dog is accurate from a targeting standpoint."

Perhaps rather than define what time of day to reach a consumer, it's best to determine how to reach the consumer in a more personal manner. It's essential to "deliver personal ads to a subscriber because it's the most personal device," Walczak said.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 23, 2008

Amobee to Outsource Ad Sales Up North

Following the decision to turn select advertising inventory over to Winstar Interactive Media's Interep unit, mobile advertising solutions firm Amobee said today Target Broadcast Sales would handle select mobile ad inventory for Canada. "Amobee has continued its strategy of partnering with trusted names in ad-selling. This approach enables us to focus on our core expertise -- developing the best ad-serving solutions available," said Amobee's CEO Zohar Levkovitz, in a statement.

Target Broadcast, which claims to be Canada's only independently owned national media sales organization, has five sales offices throughout Canada.

Amobee said about the Interep deal that sales would be specific to Amobee inventory, and not package deals, the same is likely true here. In the future, it would be something to tap into other media of Interep and Target Broadcast to create multi-channel buys down the line.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 22, 2008

Disney to Japanese Women: Moshi Moshi!

The WSJ is reporting that Disney, in local partnership with Softbank Mobile, is launching a mobile phone service in Japan aimed not at kids, but at women in the 20-39 year old demo.

In the country of kawaii (define), Disney enjoys a particularly strong adult female base of consumers. According to the Journal, Tokyo Disney is a popular dating destination (26 million visitors in the fiscal year ending in March, 2007). The Mouse already offers close to 90 mobile Web sites in Japan boasting over 3.5 million subscribers, 75 percent of whom are women 20+.

Disney shuttered its U.S. mobile service, aimed at kids and parents in a partnership with Sprint last year after only one year of operation.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 18, 2008

Bud Goes Mobile with Super Bowl Voting

Budweiser commercials are often picked as favorites from the crop of Super Bowl ads, but this year Anheuser-Busch is inviting its consumers to vote on their favorites while the game is still being played. As part of its annual Bud Bowl campaign, the brewer is signing up consumers to vote on their favorite Budweiser commercial during next month's Super Bowl using their mobile phones.

Users that provide their number will get a preview of one of the commercials, and after the game they'll also be provided with a code to unlock an "exclusive" unaired game spot. With seven Bud ads set to run during the event, it's anybody's guess which one the winner will be.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

T-Mobile and Nokia Deals Could Signal Mobile Market Maturity

Announced yesterday they would partner with Yahoo to deliver display advertising on their Web'n'walk mobile Internet service. The ads will roll out across the network in the first half of 2008, and will be sold and served exclusively by Yahoo.

The deal, together with Yahoo's current mobile advertising partnership with Vodafone, now gives them access to 2 of the most lucrative mobile operators in the UK, and cements Yahoo's dominance in the UK mobile ad arena.

Similarly Nokia Ad Business (Nokia's mobile advertising arm) announced this week they would sell and serve ads for Reuters' UK mobile site, representing the largest mobile ad related contract for Nokia since their acquisition of Enpocket in October last year. In addition to display ads, Nokia will offer solutions such as branded mobile sites for Reuters' advertisers.

Could this mean that 2008 is taking shape as the infamous "year of mobile"? It all depends on whether advertisers start seeing significant ROI from the medium, and begin to view mobile as an effective tool in its own right rather than an afterthought to more traditional Web campaigns.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 15, 2008

A Call from Paris: Hot or Not?

Paris Hilton wants your number.

To promote her new film, The Hottie and the Nottie, which opens next month, Paris Hilton wants to call you. Not once, but an undisclosed number of times to remind you to see it.

Visit the film's Web site and you're asked to supply a mobile or landline number, together with your Zip Code. You'd expect a localized message with this information, but when Paris called back seconds after supplying the data, she just wanted to remind me to see the pic. I have a feeling subsequent calls may contain local theatre information closer to the opening date.

Voice marketing provider Vontoo is powering the backend of the vox initiative.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 28, 2007

InfoSpace Completes $135M Sale of Mobile Business to Motricity

Motricity, a company that builds and runs mobile storefronts for carriers, said today it completed the $135 million acquisition of InfoSpace's mobile services business.

InfoSpace's mobile services unit provides the portal and search functions for AT&T and Verizon in the United States; Motricity offers a storefront, catalog, and other applications that enables its customers to offer ringtones, games, and other content on mobile devices.

InfoSpace, moving forward, will focus on growing its online search business, according to a statement from Jim Voelker, InfoSpace chief executive. InfoSpace's metasearch technology is used by other Web sites such as Dogpile and WebFetch.

Ryan Wuerch remains as Motricity's chairman and chief executive, while Steve Elfman, former executive vice president of InfoSpace's mobile services business unit, becomes Motricity's president and chief operating officer.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 13, 2007

Cellware Socializes Mobile

There's been talk about the mobile platform being perfect for social networking. Among the newer mobile social communities out there is Cellware, which launched earlier this week. Through Web and mobile, users can upload and modify audio, video, photos, and other content and applications, then share it with others. The media can then be used to personalize a handset with ringtones, wallpapers. And of course, discovery is a big part of the experience, as well as having access to videos and a social network when you have time to spare.

The site boasts "We're putting the free back in free!" And Cellware means it. There is no cost for use of the site, it's ad supported. And active users who generate hits, recommend new friends, and create content, will get a piece if the revenues. Cellware has banners on the Web and mobile WAP site, and plans to insert ads in SMS messages in the future. The company's CEO John Ferber was a founding member of Advertising.com, and brought in a handful of his previous company's alums to key positions including Jason Ellin, CFO, and Jason Strauss, CRO.

Posted by Enid Burns at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 15, 2007

Lifetime Leads up to Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is family time, will you be watching TV? Lifetime TV wants to make sure viewers tune in and created a mobile contest and sweepstakes to make sure that happens. Lifetime brought in broadline closeout retailer Big Lots as the featured sponsor in the integrated campaign, with the intent to drive purchase intent on the busy shopping day.

From Sunday November 18 through Thanksgiving Day, on-air promotional spots will run on Lifetime Television pointing viewers to a mobile and online promotion run by mobile entertainment community Limbo. Limbo then supports the campaign with its Limbo Unique game across multiple platforms including SMS, WAP, Internet, and e-mail. Users can enter the contest on Limbo's Web site, or by texting "biglots" to a short code (define), in which they select a number. At the end of the contest's run, the participant with the lowest unique number wins. The grand prize winner will receive $5,000, and five other entrants will win $500 gift cards from Big Lots.

The promotion serves two purposes. "Lifetime is encouraging viewers to tune in during the holiday period," said Stacy Geagan Wagner, Limbo's VP of public relations. "Big Lots is trying to be top-of-mind in that key week leading up to Black Friday."

Limbo and Lifetime worked previously on promotions using the Limbo Unique game. "When Lifetime shows [a spot for Limbo Unique], we tend to get a lot of new members," said Geagan Wagner.

Through post-campaign research conducted by a third party, Limbo reports a 7 percent conversion to purchase for advertisers. SMS player averages 50 branded interactions, and averages 15 minutes per Web gameplay session.

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 12, 2007

Android Developer Challenge

Google made available the SDK for its Android open standard mobile operating system as part of the Open Handset Alliance. Details on the platform and the SDK are available on Google's blog.

Google also announced the Android Developer Challenge where the search company will award a total of $10 million between two tiers of submissions. Challenge I, with entries being accepted between January 2 and March 3 of next year, will reward the 50 most promising entries $25,000 to fund further development. The pool of 50 winners will be eligible for an additional $100,000 to $275,000 for their work. Challenge II will commence once handsets are released into the market.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 6, 2007

Android Trademark

Google's mobile operating system Android is now out of the bag. And Google acquired the mobile company Android, which supplied the name, back in 2005. Though it's registered a trademark on the name Android only days before the announcement of the Open Handset Alliance and Android. The trademark covers hardware and software, though the announcement only covered the open source software.

On the conference call yesterday, Google Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt attempted to head off questions of a so called G-Phone by stating "this is not an announcement for the G-Phone, we are hoping that this will power thousands of phones," in his opening remarks. That didn't stop follow-up questions. Those questions were addressed. "Google does not pre-announce anything. If you were to build a G-Phone, this would be the perfect platform," said Schmidt. He also said "we don't want to foreclose on announcements in the future." With the trademark covering hardware and software, it provides a chance there could be a phone called G some day.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 31, 2007

Worldwide Mobile Subscriber Forecast

Data released by the Shosteck Group and its strategic partner the Mobile World forecasts 3.3 billion mobile subscribers worldwide by year end. Of those subscribers, roughly 2.6 billion are served by GSM, GPRS, and EDGE networks; 190 million operate on W-CDMA networks; and 422 million on CDMA2000 standards. The remaining few use technologies such as iDEN. By 2011 the research anticipates 5.4 billion mobile subscribers globally. The breakdown will be roughly 2.8 billion on GSM, GPRS, and EDGE networks; 1.8 billion on W-CDMA; and 783 million on CDMA2000.

Posted by Enid Burns at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 24, 2007

Targeting Mobile Campaigns by Carrier

At CTIA this past spring Millennial Media launched its Decktrade mobile ad network. Now at CTIA this fall, it's releasing Decktrade 2.0, which offers benefits for advertisers including improved campaign creation, one-click campaign management, and improved reporting and purchase history. Within the campaign management Decktrade allows advertisers to create one campaign across multiple carriers, which previously required separate buys and budget allotments for each carrier. On the publisher side, Decktrade cleaned up the campaign approval process, payout process, performance statistics, and code integration.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is it True There's Free Mobile Games?

Yes, the days of mobile handsets coming pre-installed with a free game of Snake may be coming to an end. But while Mobile Magazine is reporting the free game is winding down, it fails to mention the emergence of ad-supported mobile games from sources like Greystripe, and various developers using a platform from Amobee and Exit Games. Plus, there's advergames like one from DHL. Handset manufacturers don't have to provide games anymore, users will find them whether they want to pay for the game or see ads in order to gain access. Nokia was among the handset makers to provide games, and is now building out its N-Gage platform and moving into mobile social networking and other ad-supported media.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

October 11, 2007

IPhone Am Legend

Is the Apple iPhone enough of a technology platform to warrant its own specialty ad campaign? Crew Creative Advertising is betting that it is, and they've launched a site specifically for iPhones promoting the upcoming Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow’s film version of I Am Legend.

The special site links to an iPhone compatible trailer on apple.com, and provides a synopsis of the film, a photo gallery, an RSS news feed and wallpapers all specially made to be viewed on iPhones. And I must admit, as a horror novel purist, I'm not completely taken with the idea of another movie version of Richard Matheson's 1954 vampire story being made again, but the snazziest feature from the site is clearly the sunrise/sunset widget. Just like the story's hero Robert Neville knows he has to be home before sunset, Web site visitors can install the widget that will track the oncoming night directly from their iPhone.

Take that, vampires.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 10, 2007

Mobile Bar Code Resolve

Bar codes for mobile applications are big in Japan. Everybody talks about how a 3D bar code can be scanned by a mobile user to get more information, or respond to an advertisement. Then those people say, "We can't do that here because most handsets don't have the technology." That's true, to recognize 3D bar codes a handset requires technology not built in to most U.S. handsets, but you can use traditional bar codes.

According to Michael Bates, co-founder and CEO of mobile and online classifieds site IQzone, the company's servers can take in and resolve bar codes from photos sent by consumers. The difference is that with a 3D bar code the number is resolved on the phone, then sent to the server for more information. With a traditional bar code a consumer sends a photo and the number is resolved at the server, then sends information back to the consumer. The same can be done with ISBN numbers, serial numbers, and even something recognizable like a movie poster.

IQzone uses bar code recognition to make it easier for its users to post classifieds. If you're selling a book why not take a photo of the ISBN number to populate the description with a summary from sources including The New York Times Book Review and Muze. IQzone also allows its users to send pictures of the bar code from consumer electronics and other items to post goods for sale. It then pulls from data sources to populate the listings with a description, which saves the thumbs of users actually posting items from their cell phones.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 8, 2007

GPhone Guessing Game

Google's mobile phone ambition centers on convincing mobile phone manufacturers and wireless carriers to offer phones based on Google's software, The New York Times reports today.

Google is working on a mobile phone operating system based on open-source Linux software that would compete with Microsoft's Windows mobile, according to an unnamed industry executive quoted by the Times. Applications reportedly include mobile search, mapping software, and Web browser.

Mobile advertising may subsidize a portion of the phone's costs, the report says.

The Google phone, or GPhone, is seen as a way for Google to make a grab for additional mobile advertising, a growth market.

Over this past year, there's been widespread discussion over Google's planned phone, including the possibility it may include a phone service subsidized by mobile advertisements. Others have speculated what the phone will look like.

In its report about the GPhone, BusinessWeek last week cranked up the volume on that discourse and examined other advertising-subsidized phone services, such as Virgin Mobile's Sugar Mama. Oh, that's sweet.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Handsets to Media, Advertising

Nokia said today it completed its acquisition of Enpocket. No additional details since the acquisition was first announced. With this most recent acquisition, the creation of Mosh, and other moves the handset manufacturer has recently made, the company is on its way to becoming a global media presence for the mobile Web.

Posted by Enid Burns at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 1, 2007

Telefonica's Global Search Partners

Madrid-based Telefonica's been busy. Today it said it will partner with Yahoo to bring the search engine's OneSearch, which was launched earlier this year to its users in Ireland, Latin America, and the U.K. Those users will also have access to news, financial information, weather conditions, Flickr photos, Web images, and Web and mobile Web sites. They'll also have access to Yahoo Mail.

Just last week Telefonica and JumpTap announced a deal to enable JumpTap's search capabilities for music, images, and games channels. This service is available to users in Spain, the mobile phone company's home country. JumpTap said it makes Telefonica the first operator in Spain to bring a complete search and advertising solution to the mobile screen.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 18, 2007

Location-Aware Mobile Search

When you leave your neighborhood, or even time zone, your phone can sense you're in a different service area, yet targeting for advertising and search defaults to your home area unless you tell your phone otherwise. Through a partnership between Sprint and Microsoft, users on the Sprint network can opt-in to an integrated GPS location-aware mobile search service. Additionally, Microsoft will include a version of voice search with visual results by Live Search using Microsoft property Tellme available for download. GPS-enabled search is a permission-based service, subscribers do have to acknowledge the GPS functionality of the phone in order to take part.

While there was no advertising immediately announced about GPS-enabled search, it's ripe for geo-targeted ads. Sprint was an early adopter among U.S.-based carriers to allow advertising on deck. On the Microsoft side, it can't be too hard to make inventory available to advertisers here.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 17, 2007

SpiralFrog Crawls Out from Under its Lily Pad

SpiralFrog, an ad supported music downloading site, officially launched today with approximately 800,000 songs and 3,500 music videos available to download to media players, and the company said it will add more content every day. All is well in the world of SpiralFrog.

Well, maybe.

It's been a tough road for SpiralFrog since it initially got traction for its ad supported music sharing model through a deal with Universal Music Group. It wasn't long before things went wrong when the company failed to sign any additional major labels and then many executives and sales staffers left in December. Still, it's up now, and company executives are touting it as a piracy-free means of downloading music, since a share of its advertising revenue is provided to publishers. It also intends to bring users to its service by providing additional artist bios, reviews, discography and album art, among other rich content features, according to the company. All of which is meant to make the site a "Web-based music experience" rather than a music downloading portal.

But on the other hand, SpiralFrog will play on Windows PCs running XP and Vista, and will download songs to "up to two portable music players or music-enabled phones that support Windows Media DRM," it said. Which means, as many Apple iPod users know, it requires using WMA files with DRM software which won't work on the Apple devices. So there goes 70 percent of the portable music player market. And there's even some question that SpiralFrog will work on Microsoft's own Zune player.

Yup, it looks like the frog has an uphill battle ahead of it.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 7, 2007

Monetize Video Content on Mobile

Transpera is a mobile technology company close to launching with a white label video product. The business model is to partner with content companies, particularly video content, and bring the media to mobile while stitching in ads seamlessly. The targeted ad unit is similar in execution to one offered by Ad Infuse on ZooVision content. Execution has to be seamless as mobile users won't have patience to wait for load time, buffering, and an ad. The ad units, typically under :10, stream right into the entertainment.

Discovery primarily happens on the Web, site visitors can send a video clip to their mobile phone. The sticky application then encourages users to download an app to aggregate more video and share with friends, who will also sign up. Company founder and CEO said Transpera builds discovery tools on the Web, but once users get the video, they'll naturally visit the site via mobile for more content.

Ads, sold either by the content company or Transpera, can by dynamically targeted based on an aggregate of user behavior across the network. Site registration data can also be applied to targeting. Location-based targeting by phone number is another option for advertisers.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mobile Coupons Spawn New Trees

So September is National Coupon Month. Who knew?

Mobile coupon provider Cellfire, for one. To mark the occasion, the company has partnered with non-profit American Forests and pledged to plant a tree for every 5,000 mobile discount offers sent to subscribers.

American Forests' Greg Meyer: “Mobile coupons are a step in the right direction to decrease the millions of trees destroyed annually for the creation of paper coupons and direct mail offers.”

Can't argue with that. Digital marketing continues to get greener and greener.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 21, 2007

Yahoo Acquired Mobile Marketing Firm, and Other Mobile Buys

Word in the blogosphere is Yahoo acquired mobile marketing technology company Actionality. From the little information provided on the site, the Munich-based Actionality offers AdFlex, a platform with the ability to develop mobile commercials in a standardized format, and includes rich media capabilities.

Posts about the unconfirmed acquisition appeared first on Mobile Entertainment, with several linking back. ClickZ got confirmation. A spokesperson said, "I can confirm that we have acquired Actionality and that the acquisition is part of Yahoo's ongoing focus on becoming #1 in mobile advertising. With the technology and team from Actionality, Yahoo will be able to deliver the most relevant and context-sensitive ads to consumers and help advertisers reach their target consumers."

Yahoo's mobile offerings center primarily around its OneSearch, which it rolled out earlier this year. Yahoo's acquisition follows Microsoft's acquisition of ScreenTonic, and AOL's buy of Third Screen Media.

In other mobile acquisition news, Medio Systems acquired Suhari, which has an ad network it calls AdIN. Medio hopes to leverage Suhari's experience to build out its off-deck publishers on the Medio Mobile Now ad network. Medio has established its on-deck search with a presence on Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, and TELUS Mobility.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 16, 2007

State of Mobile Video, and Video Advertising

Mobile video services including video mail, video calling, and video sharing services is expected to compound annual growth rate of 74 percent through 2012, according to an ABI Research report. Revenue forecast is set to grow from $1 billion this year to $17 billion by 2012.

Adoption of the mobile Web is growing, but still needs to reach higher saturation. Market inhibitors, according to the report, include income levels, messaging and video viewing alternatives, and handset capabilities.

While the installed base continues to grow, mobile tech firms are making video a feasible proposition on mobile devices, and even creating advertising opportunities around it. ClickZ reported on MyWaves, which aggregates video into channels for mobile viewing and allows users to send video to mobile phones through a widget. The company also partnered with AdMob to offer advertisers a click-to-video ad unit. Now a company called Nexage is providing similar services through its PhoneCast solution. PhoneCast allows content providers and media companies to post video on mobile sites. Though that service, Nexage created a click-to-video mobile advertising solution. Ipsch signed on to use the mobile video ad unit for its clients in the consumer products and entertainment sectors.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 10, 2007

Mobile Phones: Key to Ad Metrics?

A Seattle-based company called Pelago filed this week for a patent regarding pay-for-visit advertising based on visits to physical locations." The patent covers a system that picks up various short-range wireless technologies like Bluetooth, ZigBee, RFID and other standards to track when a consumer enters a physical retail location after viewing an ad on a cell phone, computer, or other device. The patent also covers calls made in response to an advertisement.

The company Web site lists Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Trilogy Equity Partners, and Bezos Expeditions as investors. It's reported Pelago raised $7.4 million.

Via: Slashdot

Posted by Enid Burns at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 3, 2007

CBS Mobile: Enough Inventory to Spread Around

CBS's mobile division made a deal with four mobile ad networks earlier this week. The Wall Street Journal reported the availability of text and banner ads for mobile Web sites and video commercials through partnerships with AdMob, Millennial media, Rhythm NewMedia, and Third Screen Media. CBS created its mobile division in February and had its internal sales team selling ads for its initial three WAP sites. With industry-wide complaints about not having enough available inventory, it's a good sign when CBS is able to spread its inventory across four networks.

Third Screen Media, one of the networks named, recently released a few stats on progress. The company said it reaches nearly 50 percent of all U.S. mobile content subscribers according to Telephia data. The deal with CBS creates a good deal of overlap, but also presents opportunities as the network builds a larger presence on both on carrier decks and the mobile Web.

Posted by Enid Burns at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 2, 2007

Wienerschnitzel Coupons in the Ether

Fast-food joint Wienerschnitzel, which inexplicably does not sell the eponymous breaded veal cutlets, it cutting mobile users a twofer deal on chili cheese dogs and chili cheese fries.

Starting today, mobile phone users who prefer the 350-store chain's self-proclaimed "delicious 46-year-old proprietary chili recipe" can text “hotdog” to receive their Cellfire-powered mobile coupon, or download the same from Cellfire's Web site.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 19, 2007

Kids - All Thumbs When It Comes to Phones

At a family gathering this week, I watched my 8 year-old cousin Dane stay glued to a laptop all evening. Chatting with his mother about his digital habits, I learned something really amazing: how he uses the telephone.

When he picks up a landline handset to make a call, Dane holds the receiver in two hands and dials the number with both thumbs, as if sending a text message. It's never occurred to him to use one finger.

How long can "dial" a number remain in the lexicon?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 5, 2007

Sprint Shares A Hallmark Moment

So I would be led not into the temptation of buying yet another first-gen product, I made myself re-up with my current mobile provider, Sprint, a week before the iPhone's release. The reasoning is that by the time this new two-year contract is up, the iPhone will be 3G compatible.

I've never considered Sprint (or any mobile provider, for that matter) to be warm and fuzzy when it comes to CRM. So imagine my surprise when a this card arrived in today's mail.

Inside, the message reads:

Thanks for letting us be a part of your day.
Just taking a moment to let you know that we appreciate your business.
- The Sprint Team

Nice. Wonder if they were sending these out in the pre-JesusPhone era?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 27, 2007

Can Mobile Measure OOH Media Exposure?

Can mobile devices enable the measurement of out-of-home media exposure and conversion?

That's what research firm IMMI is betting on. Today at the ARF's Audience Measurement 2.0 conference, the company's co-founder Amanda Welsh, walked us through a new product that will debut this fall.

Here's how it works: An audience panel's mobile phones are pinged for a 10 second duration every 30 seconds (these durations can be varied). The ambient sounds of whatever setting they're in are monitored. If OOH advertising audio is detected (radio, TV or closed network systems), these sounds are matched to the corresponding ads. Additionally, a small device called a beacon is plugged in next to the TV the panelist uses most often to monitor their viewing habits. IMMI can track not only ad exposure, but also take a stab at coming up with conversion figures. In tests, the company claims panelists exposed to ads for the movie "300" converted at a rate of 9 percent, for example, while non-exposed conversion was c. 2 percent.

The pings pick up other data as well, such as the phone's battery level, and even whether or not it's plugged into a charger.

Interesting...and, of course, flawed. Overall, I'm betting men, who tend to carry mobile devices in pockets and on belts, would be imminently more trackable than women, who are more inclined to bury the thing in a handbag. Depending on the size of a panelists home, would a charging device be within range of the beacon? What if a family member's watching the set, but not the actual panelist? What about lost and left-behind cell phones? There are a myriad of variables that could skew the data. Or is the answer that at least it's better than nothing?

Interesting solution to a complex problem. We'll be following up with more on the topic.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 22, 2007

Google's Schmidt: Expect More iPhone Integrations

"iPhone is a powerful new device and is going to be particularly good for the apps that Google is building. You should expect other announcements from the two companies over time," a ZDNET story quoted as saying at an event in Paris.

Is the iPhone Google's real mobile platform strategy?

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 15, 2007

Ad-Supported Directory Assistance Patent Granted

Jingle Networks, the operator of the directory assistance service 1-800-FREE411 was granted U.S. Patent 7,212,615 for criteria-based marketing for telephone directory assistance. USA Today is reporting Jingle Networks will use the patent to collect licensing fees from competing ad-supported directory assistance services using the technology.

Competitors include Microsoft, which recently acquired Tellme, and Google's beta of Voice Local Search. It is unclear whether either service or others on the market infringe on the patent.

Recent advertiser additions within the 1-800-FREE411 network include Avis; Budget; Citibank, Sonic Drive-In; Yahoo Mobile.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 7, 2007

Mobile Advertising Guidelines Updated

In prep for the Mobile Marketing Forum, held by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), here in New York this week, the MMA released version 4.0 of its Mobile Advertising Guidelines. The updated portion focuses mainly on downloadable content and mobile Web aspects. More specifically, the guidelines cover advertising-oriented games, and information on multi-media messaging services (MMS). Find the specifics on the updated mobile advertising guidelines here.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 22, 2007

GSM's Ad Standards Committee

The GSM Association (GSMA) made a official announcement about the formation of its Mobile Media and Entertainment Group, to promote common standards, measurement and codes of conduct for mobile advertising. Details of the group were discussed at a summit held in April. Founding members of the group include AT&T (formerly Cingular Wireless), 3, KTF, Orange, Smart Communications, T-Mobile, and Telefonica O2 Europe. More information on the committee can be found here.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 10, 2007

TXT-Plus

In many current marketing campaigns, txt is used to support a larger mobile effort rather than serve as the full mobile component. Now it seems that consumers also want more than plain text. Verizon just began offering Comic Creator for Get It Now customers. Comic Creator, developed by Advanced Mobile Applications' partner Longtail Studios, is essentially a backdrop graphic where users can enter their own text dialog. Users choose a background, ad characters, and have the ability to move each character on the screen and change facial expressions.

The frequently updated background catalog will include human characters and non-human characters like robots, pandas, Martians, and monsters. Verizon customers will pay $3.99 per month to send up to 20 comics to mobile handsets, and an unlimited number of comic-enhanced messages to e-mail.

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 8, 2007

Third Screen Media Sees Network Expansion

Mobile ad network Third Screen Media released a few statistics today. It's network has grown to exceed 185 publishers including AccuWeather, Boston.com, Fox News, the Gannet network of newspapers, Maxim, Wapipedia, and WWE. The network serves over 225 million monthly advertising impressions. The stats refer to TSM's network, but speak to the growth of mobile advertising as a whole. "As the opportunities in mobile advertising continue to grow, so too will the number of players looking to take advantage of this unique ability to reach millions of individuals on such a personal device," said Roger Entner, SVP of the communications sector at IAG Research, in a statement released by TSM.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 27, 2007

Txt to Fly

American Airlines expanded its weekly NetSAAver newsletter to the mobile phone with txtSAAver. This is one of those cases where American Airlines seems to be doing mobile for the sake of doing mobile. txtSAAver is a weekly text message, just like its e-mail-based counterpart. This isn't a widget that dings every time an airfare goes on sale or reaches you're price parameters. This is a regular message, once a week. And it requires the Web to sign up and then to book a fare mentioned in the text message. Other than novelty, where is the value in mobile delivery? As mobile marketing has matured, text messages serve to support a campaign, mobileor cross-channel, not a newsletter delivery method.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 5, 2007

24/7 Adds Mobile to Ad Platform

After delving deeply into the ad management space for a meaty ClickZ News feature (Who Said Commodity? How DoubleClick and Crew Remained Relevant), it's surprising to see all the activity among competitors in this industry sector. And yes, there still is competition, and we can expect to see more.

Today, 24/7 Real Media announced it's added mobile ad serving and management to its Open AdStream platform. As more publishers get serious about distributing content via mobile, we'll see all the big ad platform firms doin' it.

As noted in the feature, Eyeblaster is thinking about moving into mobile and iTV, as it continues to branch out its ad management capabilities in an effort to rival the more entrenched ad platform firms:

Eyeing less explored ad venues such as games, iTV and mobile, Eyeblaster last month scored a large round of funding from private equity investors. The veteran rich media firm has branched out from its previous station as a third party server of rich media ads, and ventured into the broader campaign management domain, seeking to grab clients away from the likes of DoubleClick and Atlas. Following a failed effort to get hitched to a larger suitor, Eyeblaster will use its recent $30 million cash infusion to move beyond its current display, rich media, video and search ad management offerings.

Eyeblaster investor Jonathan Kolber told ClickZ News the company aims "to have an early lead in forms of media that could be contiguous to what we're doing now." He mentioned mobile and iTV, and said new products could come about through in-house technology development or via acquisition. Eyeblaster in the past year has introduced a casual games ad platform in conjunction with RealNetworks and added a search marketing product suite.

When I spoke with the DoubleClick folks yesterday about their new ad exchange, Scott Spencer, VP of the Advertising Exchange unit, hinted that the exchange could be used for new ad formats beyond display online. Or, at least that's what I gathered by this comment: "In the future we see that [publishers will want] the ability to not just offer display ads across multiple channels, but be able to extend that to video and to new ad formats." I suppose if the exchange thing takes off, and critical mass actually comes to mobile advertising, somebody will eventually offer this capability.

A little more perspective from the feature on how companies like 24/7 tend to approach new technologies and media:

As ad technologies and new media formats have emerged, the larger ad management firms have continuously updated product offerings, acting as filters for all the options available to advertisers and publishers. "We're almost Switzerland in this market; we're a technology solution and we apply services to that, but the unique factor about us is the critical mass of the buy side and the sell side," said Jason Bigler, VP product management for DoubleClick's advertiser solutions business.

What the full product suite ad management companies like DoubleClick and Atlas have tended to do in the past decade is pinpoint the digital media markets and ad technologies garnering enough interest -- and money -- from their clients, and developed or acquired relevant products and capabilities. As in most young industries, small vendors and service providers introduce new ideas, and when they reach critical mass, the big players start to show interest.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 30, 2007

Mobile Pass-along Rate

It’s understood that magazines have a pass-along rate, growing circulation beyond subscriptions and newsstand. Does mobile have a counterpart? On a panel at the Mobile Entertainment and Advertising Summit, Jeremy Wright, worldwide head of marketing services at Enpocket, referred to the behavior as “show-to-others.” He said it’s important to show to advertisers “the impact is much broader than a simple click through.” Of course this phenomenon will be difficult to measure.

Posted by Enid Burns at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Comment Loop

Today at the Mobile Entertainment and Advertising Summit held by the GSM Association, an interactive element was distributed to attendees. Several tablet-like computers called Clio were left on chairs in the audience. Between sessions, attendees were asked to type in comments about the discussion, as well as answer questions posed like, what’s the best/worst mobile content you’ve seen. Comments were posted anonymously. It can also be used to ask questions for panelists and speakers. It’s added an interesting element to the conference, but also demonstrates engagement and audience participation able to be used at other events.

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 26, 2007

Mobile Coupons Meet Shopping Cart Screens in Merger

MobileLime, a company that lets consumers pay for products and redeem coupons using a handheld device, is merging with interactive shopping start-up Cuesol. It's an odd marriage but it could help sell more limes.

Cuesol offers a wireless cart-mounted touch screen browser, in-store kiosks, and Web applications and components. By hitching such bland digital shopping applications to MobileLime's slightly sexier mobile coupon and rewards programs, the combined company aims to achieve shopping incentives nirvana.

Last year, MobileLime created a campaign for Buffalo-area Subway sandwich shops where consumers could register to get mobile coupons and special offers at 12 participating Subway outlets.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 21, 2007

Your (Mobile) Comment Here…

This week I am speaking with a handful of mobile service companies in advance of CTIA Wireless. I am interested in talking to media buyers, advertisers, marketers about advertising in the mobile channel to discuss experiences, trends, hesitations. Whether you're deeply into the medium, still testing the waters or curious about the space, you have something to say. Please contact me.

Posted by Enid Burns at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 20, 2007

Easy Send to Mobile Video App

The nascent mobile content space is still determining what shape to take, but many in the industry agree content can't be ported from the Web, but must be made to suite the mobile experience. But there are ways of making the Internet at large more suited for the mini screen. Video, for example, has taken off in popularity through sites like YouTube, and now networks are finding ways to monetize programming on the Web. Is video suited for mobile? "YouTube lends itself to mobile consumption," said Jeff Lanctot, SVP and global media lead for Avenue A/Razorfish, in a meeting a few weeks ago. He referred to the snippets and snacking format the short video clips provide.

Enter mywaves, a mobile application that lets users create channels using a Web interface, then pick up the feeds on their mobile phones. It's carrier agnostic, and free to users. The service has gained word-of-mouth notoriety, and today launched SND2MBL, or send-to-mobile, a Web-to-mobile video marketing offering. Content owners can embed a bit of code on their site to let users send the video on the site to their mobile phones. SND2MBL is free to content owners, if they accept advertising on the mobile feed. Currently advertising is not enabled, but is expected to be enabled shortly. You can check out SND2MBL in action at DJ Skee's site.

Mywaves is also offering an advanced, premium version in lieu of serving ads against the content. The premium version also offers comprehensive audience measurement to let marketers know who is watching, how often a video is forwarded to someone else via mobile "send-to-a-friend" and analysis on audience and reach.

Posted by Enid Burns at 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 14, 2007

Carriers, it's the Little Differences

To distinguish the release of a new version of the popular Jewel Quest game for mobile platforms, publisher I-Play announced a sweepstakes to win a trip for two to Mexico to go on a real jewel quest in Mayan ruins to find a $25,000 diamond. Details to enter the sweepstakes were conspicuously vague in the information I got on the contest. So when I enquired? Cingular enters you to win when you download the game. Sprint makes you call a special phone number. And details on entering through Verizon are still unclear.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 28, 2007

Third Screen Teases Like Van Halen

So, "insiders" "familiar with the situation" say AOL is "in talks" with mobile ad platform outfit Third Screen Media, according to the Wall Street Journal. The story's already been picked up all over the place. Anybody remember the extremely prominent and in-depth piece the Journal had in May saying that "insiders" "familiar with the situation" said Microsoft was "in talks" with Third Screen?

According to Monday's WSJ story, "AOL and Third Screen have been negotiating since early this year, and discussions are fairly advanced, people familiar with them say."

Hmmm...I wonder if they've advanced to THIRD base....

It's not that I'm suggesting the sources on this aren't reliable, but the fact is one supposedly done deal died, so does it warrant floating the news of yet another nearly done deal before it's confirmed?

The May Microsoft Journal story noted, "The talks between Microsoft and Third Screen Media could still break down without the two reaching a deal, people familiar with the matter say. And there could be other potential suitors for Third Screen, including large advertising agencies looking for a way into the wireless market, they say."

Of course countless firms in this space could potentially be interested. From the three big portals to big ad networks to (duh) Google. Such an acquisition could give a huge leg up in the still-burgeoning mobile ad industry to any buyer.

Still, there are sooooo many things still up in the air when it comes to mobile ads, it makes sense that companies are entertaining the notion of making big moves but not quite ready to go all the way.

I'm taking the same approach to all these would-be acquisitions as I am to the on-again/off-again Van Halen reunion tour: I'll believe it when I see it.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 13, 2007

Bidding on Mobile Phone Real Estate

Today at 3GSM in Barcelona, Spain Greystripe made available a new offering to place full-screen ads through the new AdWRAP marketplace portal. Ads will be purchased through a bidding system. Campaigns can be created and managed through the site's wizards. Greystripe recently expanded its network with the addition of BuzzCity.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 6, 2007

Amnesty Intl. Makes Mobile Call for Human Rights

Cell phones just got a little less annoying.

Human rights organization Amnesty International has just launched Amnesty Wireless, a new mobile phone service that donates 10 percent of your billed talk time to the non-profit. They'll even chip in $175 toward buying you out of your current carrier's contract.

The program is supported by Working Assets, which has long raised money for progressive organizations via affinity credits cards and long distance landline telephone services. The mobile network is Sprint.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 23, 2007

YellowPages Offers Mobile Ad Value-Add

YellowPages.com has upgraded its wireless YP search in recent months. The AT&T company now sends users of its MEdia Net mobile platform in all 50 states biz listings when they search on popular biz categories. Local listings are served based on the user's known zip code. According to my contact there, in the past that search resulted in standard Web links rather than providing immediate contact info for say, florists or Mexican restaurants.

The company isn't yet up-selling mobile listings; rather paying advertisers are raised to the top in the same way as they are online as a value add.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 18, 2007

Mobile Advertising in Plain English

This week I met with Millennial Media, following its announcement of funding and a few details about its launch and operations. The company intends to remove the acronyms from the world of mobile advertising while building a network of publishers and roster of advertisers. The services include Millennial Marketplace, a network of mobile media properties; and Mydas, a cross-platform ad-serving technology. Of course when a mobile company says cross-platform, it means across the acronyms such as MMS, SMS, WAP, VOD, Brew, Java, and Flash. However you spell it, Millennial Media President and CEO Paul Palmieri said the company's goal is to provide advertisers with channel advertising that's repeatable rather than one-off trials on mobile platforms. Now the company's not gunshy, but remains guarded about announcing publishers on the network and advertisers on board.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 9, 2007

iPhone is a Go; Google Maps and Yahoo Apps are Bundled

The iPhone is out. From a digital marketing perspecitve, the inclusion of Google Maps and of Yahoo's e-mail and mobile search products are interesting and, depending on the success of the device, could generate significant new ad inventory for those companies. My first take is that Google may be the bigger winner here, in that it's mapping application also has a search box and can therefore be used for local business lookups. For Yahoo, the relationship is an extension of its big mobile upgrade announced yesterday.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Real Estate Listings Go Mobile

Real estate listings are going online in a big way. As a vertical real estate search is getting pretty big, too.

Now, real estate listings are going mobile.

Commercial listings service Catylist just announced the launch of Catylist Mobile, a real estate search engine. "Mobile device owners can now point their phones or other handheld Internet-accessible appliance to dozens of Web sites to search for available commercial property located through the US and abroad," said the announcement.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

December 28, 2006

John Edwards Embraces YouTube, Viral, SMS,

Presidential hopeful John Edwards jumped his own announcement of his plans to campaign in 2008, scheduled for today, by posting a video on YouTube yesterday in which he pre-empts the news.

Edwards' appeal is for Americans to join his OneCorps campaign, and his call-to-action is to do so either on his Web site or via SMS (text 'hope' to 30644). He makes sure to ask viewers to forward his message to friends.

And it seems to be working.The enthusiastic feedback on his YouTube page runs very much toward "you've got my vote."

Where the effort falls short, however, is the campaign's stubborn insistence to capture e-mail addresses, no matter what. Want more info via SMS? Want to learn more about OneCorps? You're not going to get it..unless you fork over your deets and get on yet another e-mail list. Even the reply to sending an SMS message is, "Please txt us your email."

It almost feels like you have to pay.

C'mon, Senator Edwards. You've gone this far in embracing new media. Take the final step and don't throw up barriers to your message, or to your supporters. Embrace other communications channels (To be fair, the OneCorps.com URL redirects to blog.johnedwards.com, but it's not loading today, so no word about RSS feed availability).

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 28, 2006

No Ads in YouTube Content on V CAST

Could the YouTube deal give V CAST "800 lb. gorilla" status? That's what Verizon Wireless is hoping, according to Jeffrey Nelson, Verizon Wireless executive director of corporate communications.

The subscription-based service will remain off-limits for advertisers, though. Nelson told ClickZ News there will be no ads served in conjunction with the YouTube content on the service. "It's an ad-free zone," he affirmed when I spoke with him this morning about the deal.

This will be the first user-generated content available on V CAST, which also offers content from AtomFilms, Heavy.com and Jib Jab, along with lots of music audio and video. The YouTube videos will be featured in V CAST's entertainment section. The deal gives Verizon exclusive distribution rights for a limited-time, according to Nelson.

Verizon has targeted the hip youth demo with the V CAST service through promotions like the one earlier this year offering up audio and video from the SXSW indie music shinding down in Austin. "We expect this will translate nicely into the existing V CAST demographic," said Nelson.

Don't expect an endless array of video, though. Verizon will keep a select number of videos meeting its content, copyright and licensing standards refreshed daily.

"Part of our agreement with YouTube is they will abide by our existing content standards," said Nelson, adding Verizon will "look at those with a critical eye before putting them up on our deck."

There will be no sharing either. The easy passing along and embedding of video that's facilitated the rise of YouTube will not be available through V CAST.

However, Nelson pointed to a function allowing people to upload video shot with their phones to the You Tube Web site (not the V CAST mobile selection of YouTube video, though). He added the company is "working on a way to make that very easy using identifiable short code;" however, the short code shortcut won't initially be available."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

November 14, 2006

Yahoo in Ad Distribution Deal with Vodafone

While Google gets credit for being the first (just barely) to introduce mobile search ads in the U.S., Yahoo has been serving ads to handsets in Europe for a long time. Targeting sponsored links to phone users is still a much smarter prospect over there, where there's more of a culture of acceptance around mobile content and marketing.

Yahoo's now extended its European mobile advertising strategy by partnering with Vodafone to represent ad inventory on the U.K. carrier's content services. Vodafone will offer service discounts to "customers who agree to accept carefully targeted display advertisements," according to the companies. Vodafone platforms where ads will be served include live! portal, games, television and picture messaging services. The agreement will go into effect next year.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 13, 2006

Mobile Branding: Nokia Smooths the Road Bumps

For all the inspired talk of the Web's promise as an engagement medium, we're still at the point where the Internet terrifies brand steward types more than it excites them. And the mobile marketing revolution promises to be much worse, as the already appalling lack of visual control in digital environments meets a vast sea of screens the size of post-it notes.

Assuming for a moment the wireless revolution does occur, brands are going to need better ways of designing for the medium.

Nokia's taking a step in that direction with the release of new tools letting UI designers create branded themes for smartphones, including everything from background graphics to colors, sounds, navigation tools and morphing effects. Carbide.ui Theme Edition has support for third party graphics, multiple screen resolutions, drag and drop compatibility with PhotoShop, and a half dozen other functions that would only make your eyes glaze over were I to list them here but matter a lot to designers.

Simplifying as it does the process of creating customized graphical environments for handhelds, the tool suggests an easier way to export graphical elements. Marketers will need more of this sort of thing to be induced to play in the wireless space.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 8, 2006

Mobile Ads: Appropriate Formats

Yahoo today said it would begin testing graphical ads on its mobile platform, a mere month after it began doing the same with text ads on its wireless search results.

Running graphical banners in a mobile content environment may at first glance seem the worst sort of retro-fitting -- akin to the often-maligned and too-often-practiced approach of running :30 pre-roll spots against minute-long video content. I'm not so sure it's as awful as that.

With MySpace going live in Japan and YouTube reportedly closing in on a mobile TV deal, plus Google and Yahoo both investing heavily in mobile search, many bets lay on the wireless channel. The models are far from certain. It may turn out providing phone-based access to your site and services is best treated as a brand extension -- more a loyalty play than a monetization channel. In the other direction, several players already offer big ad networks catering largely to ringtone and wallpaper vendors. There are all kinds of problems with this from a business ethics and ad quality point of view, but that's another topic for another blog post.

I'd put my mobile money, if I had some, on light-touch graphical sponsorships for text-based content and richer content on handsets – an approach that could use very tiny, innocuous banners. This is not going to be a high volume market for a long time, in the U.S. anyway, so there's little risk for content providers to think of it as primarily a sponsorship vehicle in the near term.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 2, 2006

Cell Phone Luv

The Tennis Channel is looking for new ways to build audience, and plans to do so with a mobile game. It had Bellrock Media develop Turbo Tennis, which is available on the major carriers. Information from Bellrock said the company is "collaborating to develop and distribute innovative premium content and expand audience reach with integrated co-branded promotions."

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 30, 2006

IAB Announces Mobile Committee

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) just announced the creation of the IAB Mobile Committee at their IAB Leadership Forum in New York this morning.

The committee is mandated to build a "more effective and efficient advertising platform through the development and endorsement of measurement guidelines, creative guidelines and best practices." In addition, it will serve as an industry cheerleader for mobile marketing.

Sounds exactly like the Mobile Marketing Association, doesn't it?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 18, 2006

Discovery Mobile to Feature TurnHere Mini Flicks

The mini-film site with the local yet touristy feel, TurnHere, has unveiled a relationship with Discovery Mobile. The film production outfit will produce short mobile flicks for the recently-launched 24-hour mobile programming network. The first film series will include mini-movies about landmarks like Ellis Island, La Brea Tar Pits and The Hoover Dam.

The company, the brainchild of real estate entrepreneur, Brad Inman, is in the midst of producing its first series of sponsored short films for Intercontinental Hotels.

Though TurnHere also creates a lot of one-offs for advertisers, mainly establishments looking to promote to tourists or locals, the bulk of its neighborhood-centric films are not advertorial and not paid for by any sponsors.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 29, 2006

ESPN Mobile Takes a Long Walk Off a Short Dock

Whispers of trouble at ESPN's fledgling MVNO have in recent day s grown to a roar, and now it's official: The company will shut down the service by the end of the year (DeadSpin has the memo). Handset sales are suspended immediately and the comopany will refund the full price of purchase. ESPN will instead pursue a licensing strategy with the mobile channel.

The failure of such a powerful media brand in the once-hyped MVNO space drives home an essential lesson of the networked age: media companies seeking to launch branded platforms and messaging infrastructures face a tough sell. No special reason they can't do it, but why should they? That's one of the questions that wasn't answered to consumers satisfaction in this case. Another lesson is more basic: Most Americans simply aren't yet enamored of content and in particular video on phones. Perhaps ESPN should try again in three years.

It also seemed lately the folks behind the effort were missing one of the main tenets of mobile video publishing as it exists today: brevity. This was evidenced by the move last month to carry college football games in their entirety on the service. Contrast that misguided decision with a service like The Madden Report, now in its second season on Verizon's vCast service. That project combines exclusive voice-over from John Madden with animated statistics and video shorts. Last season it was second in popularity only to the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders on the service. The reason? It's fun, useful and over in about two minutes.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 25, 2006

McMedia

Mickey D's has teamed with Akoo to launch the francise's first m-Venue platform in a mall outside Chicago. The "entertainment and marketing platform" enables McDonald’s patrons to "search, select, and 'activate' in-store digital content -- including music, music videos, and movie previews -- with their mobile phones or Internet-connected mobile devices."

Audio and video content is supplied by Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Sony Pictures, among others. Customers can dial up entertainment (which is free -- for now) via SMS, the mobile Web, or Wi-Fi-enabled laptop. Choise are played on demand in "designated multimedia zones" or queued if another selection is currently playing.

McD's installed 10 multimedia flat-panel screens in the first m-Venue. Additional McDonald’s throughout the Chicago area and southeastern region will launch m-Venue by year’s end. Akoo say's it's also in discussions to roll out the platform at “big box” retail, dining, and leisure entertainment chains by early next year.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 20, 2006

Voodoo Ad-onomics?

I'm perusing the press releases this morning, and just couldn't help sharing this with fellow ClickZ-ers. My eye was caught by a release from VoodooVox, an ad tech firm that serves audio ads during phone call waiting periods for high call volume industries (mostly radio stations, it seems). They've just signed Univision and ABC Radio to their In-Call Network. It's an interesting concept, and I guess you can think of it as an extension of the over-the-air ads played on radio station call holding lines. The company has served in-call spots for Microsoft, Virgin Mobile, Showtime, Sony, Lionsgate Films, and the US Navy.

Be that as it may, I found the first half of this quote from Spencer Brown, CEO of Dial Global, another broadcast outfit that will use the in-call ad service, pretty delusional: "Radio was the first and remains by-far the most interactive of all media, and the interactive device of choice is overwhelmingly the phone." I don't doubt for some, the interactive device of choice is indeed their (cell)phones; however, the notion that radio is still the most interactive of all media is a fantastical one. The fact that I need another device to interact with the radio is the primary reason it's not the most interactive medium, but readers of this publication could rattle off dozens more, too.

The remainder of his statement plants Brown back in the realm of reality: "A rich phone experience that includes in-call advertising and outbound SMS marketing will be a vital component of the radio programming and revenue enhancement services we deliver daily to our client stations nationwide."

Let's hope VoodooVox has a feature that allows folks to dial up the advertiser after they make that request for Rick James's Superfreak, otherwise the promise of mobile/in-call interactivity is moot.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 19, 2006

Not Podcasts, But PhoneCasts

SayNow is a startup with an interesting proposition for mobile. It's kind of like podcasting to mobile devices, but it isn't really podcasting or syndication. It's calling.

Here's how the company, which is currently aiming its product at musicians and music venues, describes the offering:

- you can broadcast audio messages to your fans and friends by recording from your phone or sending an mp3 from the web.

- fans and friends can listen to messages, reply, forward, and even participate in polls from any U.S. phone or their computer.

- everyone's number is kept totally private and it's free!

Of course, applicatons aren't limited to music. Woot, for example, just enlisted to create a deal-of-the-day "PhoneCast." The service can accomodate subscriptions, feedback, and a transactional commerce function, and of course, an ad model isn't far behind.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 15, 2006

TV Execs Talk Mobile Content

I attended a morning panel yesterday held during a raging rain storm under a fake ivy-adorned tarp on the 24th floor penthouse of the hip Hudson Hotel. On the panel: 3 TV producers and a media agency exec. The topic: emerging platforms for television content. The event: The New York Television Festival.

The takeaway: Nobody told me there was an all-black dress code.

The other takeaway: TV execs are clueless about what content will and won't work for mobile.

"No one knows anything. That's what makes it interesting," declared Fred Seibert, president and executive producer at Frederator Studios, and co-creator of what he called the ultimate content repurposing vehicle, Nick-at-Nite.

As they're wont to do, the TV guys stressed it's the storytelling that counts when it comes to successful content. There's no template. The story is what's important, said Howard Owens, SVP, creative affairs at Reveille, a production firm developing content for MSN, "rather than being bound by traditional TV strictures created for advertising purposes." The challenge, he continued, is "developing content that's ad supported without completely bastardizing the creative process."

Most panelists agreed relatively short content lengths work best. In creating MSN content, noted Owens, "We're trying to keep it somewhat short to make up for a fragmented media space and a smaller screen."

Seibert asserted, however, that it's not length that matters, but "what is appropriately engaging….There is no answer."

As for ad support for mobile content, panelists were skeptical that there will be much money from mobile advertising any time soon. Unless there's a show with a big interactive mobile component like voting (as in American Idol), commented Dan Suratt, EVP digital media and business development at Lifetime, mobile ads are "just added value for [advertisers] at this point." In other words, it's a value-add, meaning they're paying little to nothing for any mobile extension of their broadcast ads.

Suratt added Lifetime's audience is more interested in applications and games for their phones than they are video content at this point.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 14, 2006

Optimize for E-Mail First, Mobile Later

If you're not a journalist, you've probably never seen the e-mails of press releases PR Newswire sends to the media. But you're welcome to share our pain. Just click to enlarge the image.

Reproduced is the HTML dispatch. Text doesn't fare much better. Headlines aren't bolded. Worse, they run into the end of the preceding item without so much as a paragraph break. Just about the only thing that really pops for harried, headline-scanning editors and reporters is the useless "get" link which, if you click it, theoretically e-mails you the full text of the press release.

None of this has changed since...well, forever. It's not like we don't forward inquiries and complaints into the black hole that is PR Newswire's media inquiry service.

Oh, and unlike their major competitor, PR Newswire's RSS feeds aren't even customizable.

Yet the company keeps crowing about its digital updates. Yesterday, the announcement was news feeds for mobile devices optimized for both search and formatting.

"People using their mobile devices to search the web should be able to access news releases that are formatted for the small screen. We're committed to solving that problem,” said COO Dave Armon.

Dave, the media has a problem. We can't make heads or tails of your e-mails -- the ones you send multiple times per day. We delete them because we literally can't read them.

Do your clients know we can't decode the press releases they pay you to get in front of our eyes?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 13, 2006

CTIA Wireless Round-Up

There's been talk that this is the year advertising will hit wireless in a meaningful way, and at CTIA this week, a handful of advertising and marketing-related announcements have surfaced.

• Sprint announced plans to begin a Sprint Mobile Media Network. The wireless carrier will explore mobile advertising though it will remain faithful to its subscribers.
• Bango launched Ad-Launchpad. A mobile ad network with support from adhoc mobile, MADS and ScreenTonic and further advertising partners expected to join.
• Enpocket released EME 6.0. A mobile campaign management system with targeting capabilities; ad serving integrated with SMS and MMS messaging for automated, push-pull campaigns; inventory forecasting; click-to-call, click-for-coupon, click-to-locate, and click-to-Web functionality; and reporting and analytics functionality.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 12, 2006

InfoSpace Inks Chipmunks, Moose & Squirrel, More for Mobile

InfoSpace is licensing characters for its mobile platform like crazy.

The company announced two deals today. The first, with Classic Media and Bagdasarian Productions, transforms characters such as Alvin and the Chipmunks, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Underdog, Lassie, Dick Tracy, Richie Rich, Mr. Magoo, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Felix the Cat, and Peter Cottontail into ringtones, wallpaper, and ringback tones.

In another deal, InfoSpace brings Tony Hawk's Mobile Dissent to the Web today as "the first and only mobile portal to the action sports lifestyle personified by the undisputed ruler of the action sports community, Tony Hawk."

The site extends the Hawk franchise into voice tones and name ringers recorded by Hawk; graphics, ringtones and "Sound FX."

Now you can carry with you always the sounds of crashes, wrecks and skateboarding.

Or chipmunks.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Video Guide for Your Mobile Device

Just what you've been hoping for -- a programming guide for your phone.

The SmartVideo Entertainment Program Guide launches today from Action Engine Corp. According to the company, it "lets consumers quickly search for television programming from the company's large library of live mobile television and video-on-demand, including ABC News, CNBC, DIC, Fox Sports, ifilm, NBC Mobile, The Weather Channel, and more."

Says compay EVP Jim Souders, "Action Engine is focused on making sure that consumers don't get frustrated trying to find and access that media. Our mobile search technology lets consumers discover services, like television programs, music videos, and news images, with dramatically fewer keystrokes and trips to the network than competitive offerings."

So far, the platform is only available for Windows Mobile devices, but compatibility with more devices is promised for later this year.

Can advertising and sponsorship models be far behind?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 11, 2006

The Times, They Are A-Chan... Oh, Never Mind

The New York Times and Time Magazine have separately launched new mobile editions, and both initiatives are sponsored by Microsoft Windows Mobile.

The Grey Lady's relaunched wireless site will for the first time host the entire contents of NYTimes.com. Future sponsored tools will offer weather, stock prices, sports scores and movie showtimes.

Time Magazine meanwhile has introduced a WAP site with extensive content offerings, including Andrew Sullivan's blog, Joe Klein's column, a roundup of findings from various medical journals and quotes of the day. (via Steve Rubel)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 30, 2006

MobileESPN Runs TV Ads with Full-length College Football

Mobile video content providers are testing all sorts of offerings to determine what wireless users will and won't watch on their phones. Until now, when it comes to video, most have stuck with bite-size TV show clips or music videos.

Now, according to a Washington Post story, "ESPN Mobile plans to announce today that it will broadcast full-length college football games on its wireless phones."

When we here at ClickZ read stuff like that, our immediate response is, "is there an ad component?" Often when it comes to mobile the answer is no. If anything, a sponsorship might be involved.

It turns out ESPN's new offering adds a twist to the old story, not only because the firm is distributing extra-long-form content via mobile, but because it will run some of the broadcast ads within the mobile-cast as they run on TV. I spoke with ESPN Manager, Communications Rebecca Gertsmark who told me that "Ads with clearance from TV advertisers will be shown as they appear on TV during the game. Ads that don't have mobile clearance will be replaced with house ads."

The company will provide the football game content to Mobile ESPN Total Sports Package subscribers, who pay $25 in addition to voice calling plans for sports content, video, alerts, text messaging and wireless Internet access.

As for the full-length game offer, Gertsmark added, "This is something we're just starting…at this point it's a little bit of a 'let's see how this thing plays out.' "

UPDATE: ESPN says at this time, there will be no additional charge to TV advertisers running ads in the mobile-cast.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 31, 2006

Consumer Attitudes Toward Mobile Advertising Poll

Harris has just launched a pretty exhaustive poll on consumer attitudes toward advertising on mobile platforms.

The survey ask a fairly extensive range of questions about intrusiveness and requests responants rate the relative intrusiveness of banner ads, SMS, e-mail, and other forms of mobile messaging. It also inquires about where mobile ads might be tolerated: subscription sites, portals, alongside downloadable content, etc.

Looking forward to seeing the results of this one.

(click image to enlarge)

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 28, 2006

This Blind Date Escape Call Was Brought to You By…

Two students from NYU's Tish Interactive Telecommunications Program created Popularity Dialer for a school project. The service lets users sign up to receive a call at a selected time.

Since you can't always rely on friends to call in times of need, like when you desperately need to be saved from a dreadful blind date, or just need a popularity boost, you can sign up for a call to get you out of a bind. If the date's going well, you can tell the automated conversation where to go.

The phone call is pre-recorded with a conversation with pauses for the recipient to respond. It's an easy opportunity for ad support. And since the project is currently self-funded, I hear future plans include bringing in sponsors to support the social phone service.

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 20, 2006

Yahoo Scores Mobile Distribution on Motorola Handsets

Six months after it offered Google a dedicated icon on some new handsets, Motorola is giving Yahoo a little mobile distribution boost of its own.

Under a new alliance, Yahoo's Go mobile appliation suite will come pre-loaded on "millions" of handsets. Yahoo! Go combines Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Address Book and Yahoo! Local into one application optimized for mobile use. The deal covers devices in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, and will be jointly marketed through "online networks, device packaging and other targeted channels."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 6, 2006

Mobilizing China's Communist Party

Though certainly not the first to use mobile messaging to
spread political ideas (or foment political movements), the Communist Party in China is using MMS to tout its 85th b'day celebration.

Textually.org writes of how the party has sent out mobile propaganda evidently including songs, lyrics, and a cute li'l anime of a wee gal in pigtails. Some lyrics: "Singing The East is Red, we get ourselves together and stand up, It's spring time, we're reforming and opening up, And we're gonna get rich!"

I especially like the ironic bit about "reforming and opening up." Consider the draft law being considered by the Chinese legislature that would fine news media up to $12,500 for publishing unauthorized reports on disease outbreaks, natural disasters, social uprisings, and other stuff that might make the government look bad. According to an International Herald Tribune report, China's State Council vice minister of the legislative affairs "said at a news conference that the law should apply to all news organizations, including foreign newspapers, magazines and broadcast outlets that usually operate under different rules than local Chinese media."

Then again, maybe it's not as bad as it looks. New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff contends in a Toronto Star story that evading the Chinese censors isn't that tough after all.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 29, 2006

Sprint Promoting Exclusive Content, Which, In Turn, Promotes Movie

Sprint has wrangled comedian Will Ferrell, or at least the character he plays in an upcoming NASCAR-themed flick, to star in commercials promoting Sprint's exclusive mobile content from the movie. So Sprint is running commercials to promote exclusive content which is, sort of, promoting the new movie.

In the TV spots, Ricky Bobby, the main character in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," watches clips from the movie on a Sprint Phone. The commercials were produced by TBWA\Chiat\Day New York.

 

Posted by Pamela Parker at 7:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Edwards to Sell Issues on Your Cell

One America, the anti-poverty group headed by Senator John Edwards, is going mobile. Supporters can sign up on the site to receive mobile updates, and they can also text the word HOPE to 56658 and get the following message from the ex-VP candidate himself:

"Thanks 4 joining our mobile team. Please text me your name and email. Visit us at http://oneamericacommittee.com/. I'll be in touch--John.

My contact over there says they'll be sending occasional messages, updates and calls-to-action.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 27, 2006

Epic Promotes Jessica Simpson Record Via Handsets

Epic Records launched a mobile campaign for Jessica Simpson's fifth album, "A Public Affair." Ipsh! is behind the effort, which will see posters plastered up in multiple cities with copy inviting people to text "Jess" to the short code 33992. A reply SMS includes a phone number recipients can dial to hear the album's title track single, plus instructions for downloading the ringtone and getting Jessica Simpson alerts. (press release)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 7, 2006

Mobile Marketing as a Means to Migrate Bodies

When you consider the untapped potential of mobile marketing, do you think about how you can use the medium to physically move people to a location in response to messaging? I know it's been done a few times; during the RNC a few summers ago political groups mobilized crowds to -- and from -- targeted locations via text messaging. But at the Mobile Marketing Forum hosted by the MMA one example discussed involved visitors to an amusement park.

Visitors opted in to an SMS program upon entry to the park, and were notified about events like bands that were playing throughout the day, and tips on which eating establishments weren't busy. The park provided a value-added experience by keeping attendees aware of events and even bottlenecks in the park. The program was referred to as "migrating bodies."

Posted by Enid Burns at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 31, 2006

Ad Supported Mobile Music in the Cards?

Mobile music costs too much. That's what a study from Strategy Analytics has found. According to E-Commerce News "Consumers are saying that mobile music services are exceptionally overpriced -- at least 85 percent higher than they actually feel comfortable paying." The research firm studied music download services from Verizon, Sprint and others.

Most of the mobile music and video content services out there today are subscription-based. But I think we'll start to see more ad support for this stuff in the future. It's just a matter of getting the advertisers on board. Of course, all these services need to bolster their subscriber bases as well, or else the advertisers won't get enough reach. As usual, the chicken-and-egg phenomenon is present here.

A just-announced partnership between Virgin Mobile USA, Ultramercial and mobile marketing firm, Vibes, by which users watch ads in exchange for mobile minutes, could be a harbinger of things to come. Ultramercial and Virgin discovered through a focus group that the teens using Virgin's service didn't like the idea of viewing mobile rich media ads. Virgin's solution was the ads-for-minutes program. Mobile text ads and in-depth user survey partcipation are also components.

As 3G phones become more pervasive here in the states, richer ad opportunities may look more viable for mobile, but in the meantime, these services have to walk the tightrope between building their audiences and bearing the costs without a lot of mobile ad dollars.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 16, 2006

Manhattanites.... Seen Some Laundry on a Bus?

Unilever's "all" detergent brand is taking to the streets of Manhattan by pasting a load of laundry to the outside of two roving busses. This gets interactive in that folks who spot the laundry busses can text 96787 (or e-mail allbus at all-laundry.com) from their mobile phones and indicate where they've seen the vehicles. The idea -- and this seems like a bit of a stretch to me -- is to show just how many clothes can be washed by a "small and mighty" bottle of "all." Those who text in are entered into a sweepstakes.

Details on all's Web site, which I've just noticed actually gives the schedule of where the busses will be. Oh, boy.

UPDATE: Cityrag has pics.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 8:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 3, 2006

WWE: Wrestling their way to Mobile

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) plans to enter the ring with mobile content on a global scale. In addition to the obligatory ringtones and wallpapers, WWE said it will produce original content like news and special features on wrestling personalities, in addition to content from its vast archive of wrestling antics. Bango and Volantis, who have worked together on deals including the recently announced Hearst deal, provide the technology for the rollout which includes service in 130 countries.

The content will be available by subscription and includes at least 75, two- to three-minute videos available each month. Longer-form videos will be part of WWE's premium offerings. WWE hinted that there are plans to bring in marketing partners down the line but said it has not determined exactly how advertisers and sponsors will enter the content equation. WWE's EVP Shane McMahon said the company will likely start by adding to sponsors to the premium content, though that will not necessarily make the content free for WWE's mobile users. The idea is that if its "brought to you by…" and not actually interrupting content, it's ok to accept money from two sources for the content. To be clear, this is not necessarily what the WWE will end up doing, and McMahon did say the company wants to make sure the value is there for its users, and that it will test its options on sponsorships and advertisements.

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 24, 2006

Mobile Ads and Prod Placement for Toyota

Finally, made-for-mobile programming has ads! Phew!

Thanks to Toyota, episodes of a new cell phone spinoff of Fox's "Prison Break" called "Prison Break: Proof of Innocence" will begin with 10-second ads for Toyota's Yaris created by Publicis Groupe SA's Saatchi & Saatchi. The 2-minute mini-shows will also highlight the teensy sedan, according to a Wall Street Journal article.

Toyota aims to appeal to -- get this -- young consumers. Evidently, the TV show, "about a man who commits a crime so he can get thrown into jail and help his apparently falsely imprisoned brother break out," is big with the 18-34 year-olds. The new "mobisodes," as Fox refers to them, will be available to Sprint video subscribers beginning this week. Fox created a "24"-spinoff mobisode series last year called "24: Conspiracy."

Three or four Proof of Innocence shows will be released each week. Sprint subscribers can watch them on-demand, and the rest of us can catch them on Toyota.com after two weeks. Fox.com has also developed a Toyota-branded "Prison Break" microsite within the Fox.com domain featuring show-related content like streaming video from the the Prison Break wrap party.

The story notes that "analysts put the deal in the ballpark of $10 million."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 20, 2006

One Step Closer to the Ringtones Top 40

Pepsi signed a deal with Mariah Carey under which the singer will record original ringtones for a "Pepsi Cool Tones & Motorola Phones" promotion this summer. Carey will write and produce 20 music and voice ringtones.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 12, 2006

iPod Ad To Go

The new iPod ad is up -- and ready to download into your video iPod.

Now that's relevant marketing. It's a pretty good ad, too.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 5:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Emmy Award-Winning...Podcast

The National Television Academy has just announced a new Emmy Award category: "original entertainment programming created specifically for non-traditional viewing platforms, including computers, mobile phones, iPods, PDAs and similar devices."

This is the first time the Academy will honor programming created for non-traditional platforms. It's an obvious push in the direction of consumers, programmers and advertisers alike. And it may just induce me to return to the fold as a judge.

Last year, the Academy promised judges programming delivered on DVD and via streaming video. What arrived at my door? Three gigantic crates of VHS tapes. They dominated my living room for weeks (Emmy judges have to watch hours and hours and hours of programming).

Now that the Academy's introduced portability to the proceedings, perhaps this year I won't duck out after all.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 7, 2006

Agency Proud of PayPal Mobile

NYC Agency Anomaly is understandably proud of work it did to enable PayPal's new Text to Buy mobile service. So much so that it's coverted the home page of its site to a promotion enabled by Text to Buy. Send a text message reading "bot" to 40543 and you'll get (for $5) a "limited edition" robot, pictured on the site. There's even a Flickr photo pool for pics of the robots. Talk about eating your own dog food...

[via PSFK]

Posted by Pamela Parker at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Will Web Marketing Engender Phone Spam?

Is it just me, or is a potentially massive problem brewing out there?

I started fretting about this when I learned certain click-to-call services first verify the number a user inputs online by calling back before forwarding the number on to the merchant or advertiser. Initial reaction: "Well, what's to stop me from inputting my ex's number? At 5:00 in the morning?" What a number's mistyped or transposed? Someone's gonna get that call.

It's not like I have the most criminal mind in the world (or the intent to follow through), but I'm sure that idea, or one very much like it, is going to occur to more than one mischievious person out there.

My worries were rekindled today when I registered for PayPals' new text-to-buy mobile payment system. Input a phone number and a password for an account and you get a callback (right away or later, you chose) to verify the account. Send a payment via your mobile phone and PayPal calls the recipient to tell them how to claim the funds.

Currently, PayPal's new service is free. Conceivably, you could actually harass someone by paying them money -- small sums rendered at inconvenient times.

It's not like I have an exceptionally criminal mind or anything, but it would appear a new Pandora's box of Web/phone issues may be poised to open.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Tests Wireless Ads in Japan

Google has successfully tested ads on mobile phones in Japan, a Bloomberg report says. In the story, Google product manager Deep Nishar suggests ads on cell phones might be priced higher than on the Web, because users might be closer to making a purchase.

The piece suggests, but does not say, that ads are being delivered as part of Google's mobile services. The company offers both mobile search and mapping services in the U.S., but Nishar tells Bloomberg it's still too early to monetize mobile in this country.

"We believe this is a phase when people should be investing in the market as opposed to trying to harvest something that isn't quite there yet," Bloomberg quotes Nishar as saying.

Competitor Yahoo! has done tests of text ads in the UK.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 12:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 6, 2006

Verizon Wireless O.C. Offering in Step with Aim to Attract Indie Hipsters

If you dig Fox's "The O.C." you'd better get yourself a Verizon V CAST subscription. Verizon Wireless has launched a new mobile-only animated series based on Fox's "The O.C." via an agreement with the Warner Bros. Television Group and FOX. The two-minute animated clip series, debuting later this month, is called "Atomic County," apparently named after character Seth's comic book. V CAST subscribers can also indulge in O.C. Insider Clips, behind-the-scenes bloopers, outtakes, interviews, cast and crew fashion tips and a trailer for the upcoming episode. Oh, and there are "The O.C." ring tones, ring back tones, wallpaper and games, too.

Yeah, yeah. So it's another mobile content distribution deal. These stories are a dime-a-dozen these days. Still, I think this particular offering is indicative of the fact that V CAST is definitely taking aim at the hip, young indie music crowd. Take its SXSW concert footage and MySpace "Calling All Bands" offerings, for instance. Here's the connection: The O.C. has been known to feature tunes by lesser-known bands on the show, often raising their profiles (for better or worse, considering the show helped propel Brian Wilson-wannabees Death Cab for Cutie to indie darling status).

I think we could easily see a connection between the show's tunes and V CAST's growing music library, and perhaps a mobile e-commerce component as well down the road.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 4, 2006

You Might Want the Dingo to Eat Your Phone

Comedy Central and VH1 unveiled plans for new mobile applications today. Comedy Central's "Take Out" and VH1 Mobile's "Pocket VH1" will allow users to access the networks' content from select Sprint phones for the next month. More carrier partners will be introduced in May.

Comedy Central content will include shows like "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "South Park," and "Mind of Mencia," as well as stand-up radio, jokes, horoscopes and television schedules, behind-the-scenes photos, exclusive ringtones and wallpapers.

Mobile media hounds will be able to watch VH1 shows including "Best Week Ever," "Hogan Knows Best" and "so notorious" on Pocket VH1, in addition to accessing celebrity photos, pop culture and music news clips, ringtones and wallpapers. Content on both apps will be updated daily.

VH1 Mobile also announced it will launch an original, made-for-mobile series "Dingo Ate My Video" April 24. The series features two characters, "Dingo" and "Baby" watching and discussing music videos.

Uh…silly cartoon characters bantering about music videos? Mike Judge mastered the genre with Beavis and Butthead. Something tells me a mobile show named after a Meryl Streep allusion (most likely via Elaine on Seinfeld) won't top it.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 28, 2006

MMA Creates Mobile Video Committee

The Mobile Marketing Association has set up a committee to address standards, production guidelines and best practices for pre- and post-roll mobile video advertising.

Co-chairing the group are Cyriac Roeding, VP of wireless for CBS Digital Media, and Jack Hallahan, VP of advertising for MobiTV. Other committee members come from Fox Mobile Entertainment, Sprint Nextel, The Weather Channel, Verizon Wireless and Zingy.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 23, 2006

MySpace/V CAST Battle of the BLANDS Finalists Unveiled

Out of 4,000+ entries, MySpace and Verizon Wireless have managed to choose 5 super-slick, relatively generic, readily-radio-deployable (or mobile, or Web, of course) artists as finalists in the "Calling All Bands" contest.

As I wrote in a ClickZ story last week, Verizon Wireless hopes to appeal to the underground sounds set through the contest, and other efforts like supplementing its indie music library and offering mobile concert footage from SXSW. The winner, to be announced on MySpace March 29, will have a chance to have their song, video, ring tone and ring back tone released on Verizon Wireless. (In case you're not clued-in, a ring back tone plays in place of a standard ring when you're waiting for the person you're calling to pick up.)

As for the finalists, there's super-snot-sters The Arrival; Unset, a new-metal growly vocals/pleasing harmony hybrid bound to please the Hot Topic shopper set; Berto Ramo, an upbeat, latin jazzy hip hop act; Aroarah, a vocal-driven slick all-chick hard rock band with a metal edge (get it: they are astronomy-loving women, hear them roar-ah?); and Parlour Boys, a dance-y, poppy, emo-y, indie group. (There's something very Oscar Wilde-esque about that name, Parlour Boys. Something tells me their music won't age quite as well as Dorian Gray, though.)

I'll have to pass on the Verizon VCast service for now, at least until they pick the hardest workin' band in Brooklyn as their contest winners….

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 22, 2006

Ads in Directory Assistance Text Messages

We've been watching everyone's local-search-via-text-messaging services for just such a thing, and finally it's happening, if only in the U.K. Through a deal between Miva and The Number (which owns the 118 118 brand), advertisers will be able to pay to have their phone number and offer attached to local search results delivered via SMS. The company gives the example of a car rental company that buys space in every text message sent in response to queries for the "airline" category. 118 118 delivers "tens of millions" of text message results every year, the companies said.

Ads on the service, called TXT//ADs, will be sold by category, rather than by keyword or context. Miva will do the ad selling and it'll also help advertisers develop creative.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 21, 2006

AvantGo 'Travel Guide' Out of Beta, Cadillac Sponsors

AvantGo's nine-month-old Travel Guide app, in beta since last June, has now entered general availability with Cadillac as the launch sponsor. Travel Guide offers flight info, a currency converter, driving directions and lots of city guides and global weather forecasts. Seems to be a hit with users so far, jumping from 11,000 uniques nine months ago to 25,000 as of last week.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 14, 2006

Gates Envisions Future of Mobile & Video

The digital advertising market is booming, "and we're still very much at the beginning," affirmed Corbis (and Microsoft) Chairman Bill Gates at that company's annual meeting in New York this morning.

Talking about the future of his digital images company -- which is rapidly morphing into other digital assets including, notably, video, Gates said he envisions a future in which more and more images are going to be consumed off better and better screens, large and small...

(continued after the jump)

Corbis saw 100 percent growth in mobile image sales last year, said CEO Steve Davis. Gates is bullish on demand for maps and "new kinds of advertising."

The other growth area he pinpointed is video. Gates believes Internet video is just around the corner. "Ads on that platform will be different. They'll be targeted to the viewer." And, he assured the assembled, skipping will be stopped to "make the economic model work."

Corbis also looks to be doing some interesting stuff in digital rights clearance. Davis showed an ad for Comcast that was, effectively, a mash-up on a 1978 episode of "The $60,000 Pyramid."

Rights management for mash-ups? This is going to be interesting.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 27, 2006

February Goes Out with a Ringtone

No fewer than four big media brands –- News Corp., MTV Networks, GQ and CBS –- announced new mobile distribution plans today. Most of the offerings are subscription-based, but it's worth noting the proliferation of interest in piping content to phones.

MTV Networks will deliver TV clips from its MTV, VH1, CMT and Comedy Central to Sprint subscribers who pony up $5.95. Similarly, CBS will offer mobile news alerts and a video service, respectively titled "CBS News TO GO" and "ET TO GO," for $.99 and $3.99.

News Corp. has a new mobile content bodega called Mobizzo, and the Times has the story. It's mainly on the e-commerce side, pushing ringtones and graphics for mobile handsets.

GQ is meanwhile launching a mobile extension, which appears to lack any editorial meat whatsoever. Marketers send offers and promotions directly to the phones of those who opt in, though a Conde Nast spokesperson told me the company would evaluate the viability of distributing actual content to mobile subscribers.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 17, 2006

NeoMedia to Acquire HipCricket

More consolidation's underway in the mobile space, with NeoMedia signing a letter of intent to acquire mobile marketing firm HipCricket.

NeoMedia is on a tear, having recently scooped up mobile visual recognition company Mobot of Lexington, Mass., and mobile marketing and content developer 12snap of Munich. Should the purchse of HipCricket go through, the collective value of the three deals will be over $35 million.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 13, 2006

Microsoft Buys Into Mobile Search

As a postscript to ClickZ's feature story on mobile search, it's interesting to see Redmond has bought its way into that market with the acquisition of Paris-based MotionBridge.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 8, 2006

A Car Configurator for Straphangers

Car lovers with PDAs, Treos and other fat-screened devices ought to get a kick out of Volvo's car configurator for mobiles. The app lets them specify exterior color, interior fabrics, wheels and other features. But here's where it loses me: Once you build your dream car, you can the then "contact a Volvo dealer, if desired, to place the order." Aw guys, did you have to saddle the poor thing with an e-commerce app? Let branding be branding.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 26, 2006

Mobile Search 101

The Mobile Marketing Association just released "Introduction to Mobile Search" (download).

The paper defines the differences of mobile versus Web search, opportunities to educate subscribers about mobile search, potential business models and the challenges operators face in offering an integrated, carrier branded mobile search experience to subscribers.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 24, 2006

Wine-To-Go

Smart idea for mobile content.

mFoundry just pacted with eRobertParker.com to deliver Parker's wine tasting notes and ratings to subscribers' mobile phones. "Wine lovers often need help making purchase decisions while on the road or out of their homes," says the announcement, and they're right.

Yours truly has been known to camera-phone wine labels, and have a list in my Treo entitled "Wines We Like" to use as an in-store cheat-sheet. Turning a leading consumer wine site into a mobile guide makes plenty of sense.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 23, 2006

Mobile Campaign Launch: Women's Entertainment

A new mobile campaign from Women's Entertainment promotes the show "Style Me with Rachel Hunter," which premieres tonight. Participants receive weekly style tips from Hunter, and of course they're sent just before the start of each week's program. The effort is courtesy of Omnicom-owned wireless agency ipsh!

The mobile microsite's slightly flaccid copy reads, "Need help figuring out what rocker chic looks like or what to wear to next Saturday's soiree? Just sign up for your weekly mobile style tips from WE & kiss your wardrobe worries goodbye."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 19, 2006

Audible Debuts Wordcast

Audible is officially debuting Wordcast, the podcast ad-insertion and measurement service it announced back in November. So far, there's no ad sales representation as part of the service, but it stands to reason there would be, eventually. You'll recall how Audible got blasted for using its proprietary audio format rather than the more-standard MP3 format, so it'll be interesting to see the uptake among podcasters.

Incidentally, two new podcast ad networks launched this week.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 3:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 18, 2006

Pherotones - The Killer Marketing App?

If only I believed they really existed!

Someone's put up a site called Pherotones.com which purports to sell (only it doesn't sell, really) "the ringtone secret that can make you irresistible to the opposite sex." One tone is coyly dubbed, "Veni. Veni. Veni."

Imagine the marketing potential! Is this a viral site? It certain appears to be -- e-mail-friend is highly encouraged, right on the homepage. There's also a registration page. If it is viral, who's behind it (a whois lookup wasn't much help)? Whatever it's for, it appears to be working. It got BoingBoinged, after all.

Update: Tip o' the hat to Steve Hall, who got to the bottom of this (where agency McKinney Silver lay lurking, no client outing yet).

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 17, 2006

Apple Trademarks "Mobile Me"

Reports are in that Apple has applied at the US Patent and Trade Office for trademarks relating to a mobile phone service featuring music, video, e-mail, and Web functions. The name for both the devices and service?

Mobile Me.

It's been great knowing you, Treo...

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 9, 2006

Yahoo! Sets up Residence at Sheraton

In an interesting relationship apparently aimed at wooing business travelers to Yahoo!, the portal player has struck a deal with Starwood to create Yahoo!-branded Internet lounges in Sheraton hotels. Yahoo! and Sheraton will develop co-branded landing pages tailored to the locality. I don't know financial terms, of course, but it seems like a good way for Yahoo! to boost its business-focused services (it's seen as more of a consumer brand, currently) and cement ties with existing users.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 19, 2005

Video Content to Go From blinx

blinkx just announced blinkx.tv To Go. It enables users to search for video content on the Web, then one-click sync it with iTunes or personal video player software, regardless of the video's original format.

That should help get adoption of video iPods and similar devices rolling -- if blinkx can create consumer awareness that such a service exists.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 3, 2005

Big Mobile Games. Really, Really Big

Ever wanted to play pong on the side of an entire office building using your cell phone as the controller?

Now you can.

It's not exactly advertising, but it's not too hard to see how it could be.

Via WFMU's Beware of the Blog.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 29, 2005

Mobile as the next promotional medium?

Veteran rappers Public Enemy are using mobile to promote their latest album, "New Whirl Odor." They'll use m-Qube's mobile platform to deliver ringtones, full tracks, and images via m-Qube's worldwide distribution network of wireless carries and content aggregators. m-Qube will also build Web and WAP Storefronts as extensions to Public Enemy's existing Web site

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 5:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Slinky Rings In 60th Anniversary

To commemorate the classic toy's 60th year on the planet, the folks at AG Interactive, the new media subsidiary of American Greetings, want your cell phone to sing the jingle. You remember it, don't you?

"A Spring. A Spring. A Wonderful Thing. Everyone knows It's Slinky!"

Slinky content for mobile devices and IM will include emoticons, backgrounds and wallpapers, winks, avatars, screensavers, video ringtones and clips from the toy's classic commercial. AG says Slinky is the first in a line of retro products updated for the digital age.

Now, how do I get my cell phone to march down a flight of stairs while it's ringing?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 1:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 28, 2005

Taxi-ing to Mobile Advertising's Future

Ever wished you could go online while stuck in traffic -- or imagined the untapped potential of reaching an interactive audience in transit? If so, you might be interested in hearing about Targeted Media Partners'
Interactive Taxi, a company bringing EVDO-enabled interactive touch screens to the back seats of cabs. They're ad supported and allow people to pay for their ride with a credit card, as well as access local information. I see tons of potential for the adult market, when touch screens supplant the traditional cabbie wisdom doled out to tourists looking for a good time in the big city.

(Similar ideas have been tried before, of course, including by Yahoo! as part of its own branding effort.)

[via MarketingVox)

Posted by Pamela Parker at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 21, 2005

TiVO, iPod Hook Up

This (subscription required) should move some holiday hardware.

The Wall Street Journal reports TiVo plans to enable transfers of recorded programming to the new video iPod. That will greatly expand the amount of TV programming avaiilable for the device,as well as give TiVo an edge over competitive DVRs -- at least for the time being. It may also give the new portable video player a nice little jumpstart for the holidays.

The whole thing will be complicated and time-consuming, at least at the outset. "The whole process of getting an hour-long show onto an iPod could take more than two hours from the time a TiVo device finishes recording it," says the WSJ.

iPodded TiVo programming will contain ads, unlike the ad-free Disney shows sold on the iTunes at $1.99 a pop.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 14, 2005

Sprint Nextel Rewrites "Rashomon"

When it was just Sprint, the customer service was fine. Nothing to write home about, but fine.

This weekend, my Treo 600's microphone died. On the phone, Sprint Rep #1 tells me this is a "known software issue." Walk the thing into a Sprint store and they'll fix it, gratis. No, I can't have credit for the days the phone is unusable.

I take the walk at lunchtime. At the store, Rep #2, Happy, confers with the on site tech department. She informs me it's not the software, it's hardware. I must pay for repair. How much? It takes 20 minutes for her to get back to me with the information that I must purchase a mandatory $35 insurance policy. If I do so, the phone will be fixed in three hours.

She doesn't tell me -- until I ask -- the policy costs $6.00 per month in perpetuity -- and can't be cancelled. Throw in assorted deals and rebate offers and that's the cost of a new phone right there.

Rep #3, Ziggy, weighs in. I have to buy that policy, all right. But it's not effective for 30 days. But lucky me! In a mere four weeks it kicks in. Then, I mail the phone somewhere for service because, "No Sprint store in New York can repair your model."

Meanwhile, the computer system goes down, the line's out the door, and construction is screeching in our ears (red Sprint stuff is coming down and yellow Nextel stuff is going up). An employee calls, "Next customer please." Happy shushes him with, "They told us never to say that. I don't remember what you're supposed to say, but you're not supposed to say that."

They don't remember a lot, apparently. I ask to speak with the repair guy himself. I figure he'll know if they can fix the phone or not. Twenty minutes later, Rep #4, Carlos arrives on the scene.

He's the bearer of relatively glad tidings. For $2.99 per month, I can get ESRP (whatever that is). If I agree to that, they'll have a brand new phone for me by Friday. And of course, they'll credit my account for the no-service days.

I'm waiting for Friday. The suspense is killing me, but at least no one asked, "Did I provide you with excellent customer service today?"

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 9, 2005

Marantz Sponsors Podcasters

Marantz is supplying non-profit group LA Podcasters with gratis audio hardware for the first annual Podcast Freeway Series.

The series will "showcase everything Los Angeles has to offer -- beyond the freeway off ramp – by focusing the spotlight on these outspoken LA podcasters,” said Lance Anderson, LA Podcasters founder." Podcasts will be recorded live at Podcast Expo.

While technology sponsorships are nothing new in broadcast media, this is the first I've heard of a company supplying technology for the podcast channel, rather than using podcasts as a medium, i.e. being mentioned as a sponsor or an advertiser in the podcast itself. Innovative -- and logical.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 4, 2005

You Know It'll Grow When It's X-Rated

It happened with cable, then with home video. Where adult content goes, the mainstream will follow.

A company called Xobile has launched PornMyPortable, drag-and-drop short (2 to five minute) movies for the video iPod. The kick off campaign features 9 film clips. It's marketing, really, as the clips are excerts from full-length films.

But wait - this time, the adult indisty is following the mainstream. Way to go, Burger King!

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Freddie Got Thumbed

Bloomberg's got an SMS campaign, and it's really bad. You sign up for mobile alerts from the Mayor by texting the word "MIKE" to a short code (or by visiting this page), and then receive a survey asking what your top civic issue is. Then in response to THAT, you're asked to join "the city's largest volunteer field campaign." Come again? Seems Mayor Mike's campaign thinks a channel like this will only draw supporters. Even if that's true, the message doesn't try to add value or persuasion. I've only just signed up and I'm being asked to donate time. Off-putting.

According to TechWeb, the mobile alerts are being promoted through an ad placement on AOL's Instant Messenger.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 27, 2005

MTV In Cross-Platform Marketing Deal with Epic, Sony BMG

MTV will stream some albums online prior to their street releases and produce related content for mobile phones as part of a marketing alliance with Sony BMG and Epic Records.

The initiative is called MTV 5 Star, and the first artist is Shakira. On-air programming blocks are at the center of the deal, but the mobile/Web stuff is interesting. From the release:

MTV 5 Star will also include groundbreaking interactive components, including the production of a series of exclusive MTV-produced Shakira mobisodes featuring interviews and performances related to the new album. The packages will be distributed via existing MTV mobile distribution relationships for on-demand services. In addition, MTV will produce a dedicated Shakira WAP site enabling users to enter the competition, access graphics, on-air promos and other elements.

The promotion will feature extensive Web elements, including an exclusive, full-length stream of songs from Oral Fixation Vol. 2 on MTV's international Web sites as part of the First Listen series one week prior to the album street date. In addition, online users will be able to enter the competition, access original Shakira features and a link to Shakira's official Web site... Home pages of MTV Web sites will also feature the countdown clock building up to the premiere of the two-hour programming block.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 5, 2005

Eminem Hung Up On Ringtones

WSJ.com reports (subscription) Eminem is suing companies selling his songs as ringtones without a license to do so.

"This is a big business. We're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars a year," says his attorney.

Not to mention control of all those marketing and branding opportunities.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 29, 2005

Reuters Opts In to Mobile Promo

At Advertising Week, Reuters passed out an interesting promotion for mobile users at a handful of events. I was given a credit card-size handout wrapped in plastic. At first glance I assumed it was a pocketsize schedule of events, possibly a map labeling locations of panels, keynotes and other points of interest.

As it turns out, it was an agenda, schedule of events and parties, and news from Reuters, just in an unexpected format. The card contained a chip that, when played into the handset of a mobile phone, sent text messages with the requested information. It was certainly a useful tool for a hectic week with events and appointments spread out across town.

The technology behind the promotion was provided by a company called Ki-Bi Mobile Technologies.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 2, 2005

Texting Post-Katrina

In the all-but-total communications breakdown that has followed Hurricane Katrina's devastation of the Gulf Coast, text messaging was a rare standout -- because it actually worked.

Blogger and New Orleans resident Ernie the Attorney (profiled here on the BlogPulse Blog) reported that he found SMS worked, though cell phones didn't.

Interesting, too, that text messaging is playing a role as companies try to help in the aftermath. Verizon Wireless is letting subscribers use SMS to donate $5 to the American Red Cross (the dough is added to the monthly bill). And DIRECTV has launched a dedicated satellite TV channel (Channel 100) for information about the relief situation. It's allowing people to text message short code "48433" and have their missives to family and friends scroll across the bottom of the screen. (That feature is enabled by GoldPocket Wireless.)

Posted by Pamela Parker at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 26, 2005

Censored Cell Phones Ease Parents' Minds, Wallets

This week BusinessWeek had an article on Motorola, and said the phone manufacturer plans to make a phone for kids. This will have parental controls to censor content and GPS to locate the user's whereabouts. The monitored handset sounds like just what is needed for young cell phone users, but the needs go beyond just safety and illicit content.

I know it's a tough issue for some parents; if kids take over the home phone line, what will they do with a cell phone line when there's an allotment of minutes? Whether parents realize it or not, that's only half of the issue. Downloaded items like ring tones and games add up, and now mobile marketing campaigns are starting to target kids.

It might be possible for parents to put an allowance on cell phone usage and activities, but there isn't really a way to enforce it beyond a pre-paid plan. If Motorola makes this phone right, it could allow parents to set a limit on how many games get downloaded a month in addition to censoring out porn and other unsavory content available to mobile users. Lets just hope parents leave a little wiggle room for participation in a few creative promotions.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 17, 2005

Enhanced Froogle Mobile

Google's comparison shopping site, Froogle, a mobile edition so consumers can compare prices online while at the store. The service has been available since February of 2004, but just added the service in the U.K., and enhanced the U.S. version.

The ability to access pricing while at the store, instead of relying on memory of a price search at home is a clear advantage to buyers. Though even with the enhanced Froogle Mobile, the site may not operate as intended. A trial run said there were results, yet none were viewable. There are few sites that are truly optimized for mobile, but that's changing.

Google has bought several mobile companies recently, speculation says it is building its services in that space. The company bought mobile firm Android last month with little fanfare. The acquisition has been kept quiet, and little is known about what Android will do for Google. The company's co-founder, Andy Rubin, started the company Danger Inc., the maker of the ubiquitous Sidekick.

Android is the most recent of a chain of acquisitions Google has made in the space. There will likely be continued enhancements to mobile services like Froogle Mobile, and new mobile products and services from Google in the coming months.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 15, 2005

.mobi TLD to Make Mobile Web Browsable

This week ICANN (define) approved the TLD (define) .mobi for use on mobile devices. Web developers will soon have to worry about multiple formats, not just multiple browsers. It will make the Web a more viable service on cell phones and other mobile devices with small screens and somewhat limited ability to input text or select links.

There is potential for every Web site to take advantage of the .mobi TLD. There are no real limitations; it opens possibilities to marketers who want to translate their brand to the mobile space. Users will order goods, read news, get maps and directions, and interact with the Web just as they would on a desktop, seamlessly. The content will be delivered through HTML, and won't rely on new handset technology.

I wrote about .mobi in March 2004, when a group of mobile service providers and handset manufacturers applied for the TLD with ICANN. I was beginning to think the application was declined, and thought about checking on the status. It will be another year before the application starts to his the mobile space. A long wait, but it will be interesting to see what publishers, and marketers, can do with a year of development for the platform.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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