SMS slingshot

Some cool interactive projection stuff, Thanks Digital Buzz blog.

Always amazes me that this sort of stuff just doesn't seem to have much uptake in Australia

ChaCha Launches H&R Block’s First SMS Mobile Advertising Campaign

Thanks Business Wire for thsi on H& R Block's further foray into mobile/social. Great stuff!

Free Online Tax Prep is Gaining Attention with New Audiences Through ChaCha’s Innovative Ad Solutions

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ChaCha, the fastest growing SMS mobile search service in the industry, today announced the launch of a new SMS mobile advertising campaign for H&R Block. As the world’s preeminent tax services provider, H&R Block understands all too well that tax season is, for many, a time of dread, uncertainty and overall confusion. Teaming with ChaCha and its expert guides to disseminate tax-related answers combined with advertising about the company’s Free Online Tax Prep service is an ideal entry into the SMS mobile advertising space.

“ChaCha’s uptick in volume this time of year made them a logical choice to work as we help consumers navigate this tax season,” said Paula Drum, vice president of marketing for digital tax services. “I think the program not only provides H&R Block with another connection point to consumers at a critical time of the year, but also provides consumers with easy access to much-needed free answers to their difficult tax questions. And, as an added benefit, taxpayers can also learn about H&R Block’s Free Tax Prep service on-the-go from their mobile devices.”

Last year ChaCha experienced a massive 24.6 percent increase in tax-related questions leading up to Tax Day, April 15. Partnering with ChaCha and linking its messaging to the myriad of queries the mobile search provider receives in 2009 gives H&R Block an advantage and allows them to get its message out in ways the competition hasn’t yet pursued. With 263 million mobile subscribers in the U.S., H&R Block knew what direction it needed to take during the 2009 tax season, and chose ChaCha to host its inaugural SMS mobile advertising campaign.

“ChaCha is honored to be a part of H&R Block’s first ever SMS mobile campaign,” said Scott Jones, CEO of ChaCha. “Our innovative ad delivery platform gives companies like H&R Block the opportunity to extend their messages and increase awareness by new mediums they may not have considered before.”

As one component of a fully integrated campaign, H&R Block’s SMS ads will run in tandem with additional online advertising initiatives. Upon making tax-related inquiries, ChaCha users will receive SMS ads from H&R Block, promoting and directing users to its WAP site (m.hrblock.com) where they can learn more about H&R Block’s Free Online Tax Prep service.

About ChaCha

ChaCha, a free mobile answers service, allows users to call 1-800-2ChaCha™ or text questions to ChaCha (242242™) on mobile phones and receive answers within minutes. Its unique advertising solutions provide pay-for-performance opportunities for advertisers to precisely target and embed their messages within millions of text conversations. Unlike traditional media, ChaCha’s advertising platform is simple and measurable.

About H&R Block

H&R Block Inc. (NYSE:HRB) is the world’s preeminent tax services provider, having served more than 400 million clients since 1955 and generating annual revenues of $4.1 billion in fiscal year 2008. H&R Block provides income tax return preparation and related services and products via a nationwide network of approximately 13,000 company-owned and franchised offices and through TaxCut® online and software solutions. The company also provides business services through RSM McGladrey. For more information visit our Online Press Center at www.hrblock.com.

Digital Moms

Some summary outakes from Razorfish + cafe moms new report ' Digital Moms'. Get the full deal here: http://digitalmom.razorfish.com/publication/?m=4248&l=1&p=1

Here's Going Social Now's outake:

Digital Mom's Purchasing Behaviour Changes When Kids Turn 12, Razorfish study
By Shiv Singh on February 2, 2009 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Razorfish just released the results of a study done in partnership with Cafe Mom that examined how Mom's live in a digital world. Digital Mom consists of two companion studies. The first study, conducted by Razorfish focuses on how digital moms are adopting social and emerging technologies. The second study, prepared by CafeMom--the largest social networking site for moms-- concentrates on the role that social media play in helping to inform purchase decisions, among other key trends.

1,500 "digital moms"--defined as women with at least one child under 18 in the home who have engaged with two or more emerging technologies and who have researched, sought advice or purchased a product online in the last three months. Results confirm digital moms have moved beyond email and search, and are now active users of Web 2.0 technologies. The majority of moms are using social networks (65%) and text messaging (56%). More than half of these moms are also gamers, with 52% of them playing games online or via a console.

Some of the Key Findings include:

• Moms with children 12 and older are motivated to adopt new technologies to stay in tune with their children. Of those who use social networks and blogs, almost half (47% and 40%, respectively) monitor their children. Likewise, digital moms of children 12 and older, versus moms with children under 12, are more likely to watch online video, (40% vs. 34%), game (57% vs. 51%), read online consumer reviews (38% vs. 30%), and watch or listen to podcasts (13% vs. 9%); This trend can be explained by different leisure time patterns among women with older children and a compelling interest in understanding their teenage children's digital lives.
• The gap is closing between TV and digital channels in terms of creating awareness and affecting product decisions, and social influence channels are increasingly important. Although TV still has the most impact on creating initial awareness for a product (31%), social influence channels such as online consumer reviews, blogs, social network sites and RSS are highly influential in the learning/researching stage (29%).
• Moms' interests are broad; some interests change by life stage, and some do not. More moms show interest in clothing/fashion and food than in parenting information, with the exception of moms with children under six.

Take a look at the report which is freely available here and let me know what you think. Needless to say, Mom's are an important audience for any marketer and their use of digital technologies is changing at a rapid pace. It's no surprise that word of mouth and social influence marketing play a large role in their worlds. The study was led by Terri Walters who's our VP of Emerging Media and a partner in crime for all things Social Influence Marketing too.

And here an overview from Adage:

Technology No Longer Just Kid Stuff. Plugged-In Parents Still Spy on Their Children, but Most Take to Texting, Social Networking to Feed Their Own Interests
by Beth Snyder Bulik. Published: February 02, 2009

YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) -- Everyone knows a mom who's joined Facebook to check out what her newly off-to-college daughter is posting (Please friend me. Or else. Love, Mom). Or the business-traveler dad who plays games with his tween son to stay connected while away.

But guess what: Parents aren't online just for the kids. Today's digital moms and dads are texting each other and hooking up with their own friends on social networks. Blending parenting and technology isn't easy, however -- 70% of moms say they have it tougher than moms did 20 or 30 years ago. Razorfish surveyed 1,500 online moms to find out what the 27 million digital moms are doing, and CafeMom surveyed 1,700 members to understand the different types of moms and what marketers can do to engage them.

First of all, "moms use [digital media] for themselves primarily and secondarily for their kids," said Terri Walter, VP of emerging media, Razorfish. They're most interested in fashion and food, regardless of age and their use of online video, blogs and DVRs have become mainstream, in the 29% to 36% range, while podcasting, RSS feeds and mobile-web browsing remain niche channels, used by 10% to 21% of respondents.

They learn about new products from TV, friends and magazines, followed by e-mail, websites, podcasts, search engines and mobile-web browsing. Among mobile-internet users, web browsing was almost as important a new-product source as search engines in brokerage, telecommunications, electronics and cars.

Moms are also watching out for their kids online (or, as the kids might put it, spying). Moms with children 12 and older are more likely to watch online videos and play games -- and are more likely to be doing it because they're monitoring their children. Almost half of the social-network users monitor their children's behavior online; and 40% of blog readers mind their children's blogging habits.

CafeMom identified five segments of digital moms; and three additional psychographic profiles below are from a survey and profile analysis of digital parents by Mindset Media. Take a quiz from Ad Age and Cafe Mom to find out what type of linked-in parent you are.

SELF-EXPRESSER

These 30-something, outgoing women make up 40% of CafeMoms and are eager to connect with other moms. A self-expresser typically has a preschooler at home and is thinking about more children. Her favorite online discussion topics are parenting and shopping, although she still consults her "in-person" friends first. She gathers information and responds to online polls and most likely has at least some college education.

UTILITY MOM

The "veteran mom" denoted by this moniker defines 26% of CafeMoms. She has the most children of the five segments and is usually in her mid- to late 30s with tween-age kids. She spends the most time online, although she is relatively introverted, using social networks mostly to stay in touch with people she already knows. She shares the least number of photos with others, but likes to play games and puzzles.

GROUPSTER

This 30-ish mom is likely to have young, school-age children and makes up 12% of those studied. She's an active online participant, often joining and starting groups, blogging, and asking and answering questions. She is the most influenced by brand sponsorships on social networks but often gets more friend requests than she sends out. She uses private messaging more often than the other segments and is less likely to share photos or answer polls.

INFOSEEKER

Another 12% of the CafeMoms fell into this group, the youngest segment. The Infoseeker is typically a woman in her late 20s with a baby and maybe a toddler, and while she is most likely of all the segments to stay at home, she is also the most educated. She is not very social or engaged online, and instead prefers to go straight for the parenting information she needs. The infoseeker likes reading blogs and looking at other moms' pictures and will even willingly upload her own baby's photos.

HYPERCONNECTOR

The smallest segment of the CafeMom sample is also the most digital. The hyperconnector, in her 40s, has finished looking for parenting advice, for the most part, and is more likely to be looking for online friends to chat with and compare shopping notes. She uses social networking to check up on her teen children online. She blogs and uses personal messaging, and is most likely to respond to open-ended questions and comment on others' posts.

RESPONSIBLE RECYCLERS

Thorough, detail-oriented parents are 24% more likely than other parents to allow their children unrestricted internet access, according to Mindset Media's recent study of 10,000 parents with children under the age of 18. Indeed, the people who consider themselves most accountable are also among the most permissive when it comes to the web. "Maybe it's the expectation that their children will be as responsible as they are in the medium," said Mindset Chief Operating Officer Sarah Welch. Highly responsible people also index high for recycling and use of skin-care products.

SOCIALLY LIBERAL ORGANIC EATERS

Parents who rank low as being dogmatic are most likely to allow their children unrestricted digital and media access. In fact, these non-dogmatics, described as "socially liberal types who disdain so-called moral authorities, especially the conservative kind," are 39% more likely to never restrict internet access, 30% more likely to allow unlimited video games and 40% more likely to give no restrictions on music.

PUGNACIOUS TRUCKERS

So who won't let their kids online? Pugnacious parents, or those unafraid to tell others what they think. They value honesty and bluntness and are 30% more likely to cut the web cord. They also overindex as truck and BMW owners, which makes sense as they tend to be "own-the-road" types, Ms. Welch said.

Top Mobile Trend: Mobile Wallets

Thanks Next Great Thing
November 3rd, 2008 by Sarah

Wallets don’t mix with skinny jeans, and since we hope cargo pants won’t be back anytime soon, we’re eagerly anticipating m-commerce.

Spurred by a generation used to paying with a click, mobile payment systems are in high demand Stateside. And thanks to the emergence of Near Field Communications and other innovative solutions, it won’t be long before we get them.

Just in the last week of October, both Visa (San Francisco) and New York-based Citi’s Mobile Money Ventures (MMV) announced the rollout of initiatives designed to enhance the banking functionality of people’s mobile phones.

Visa has a pilot program in Canada (through the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Rogers Wireless ) that lets users wave and pay for goods at the point of sale using their mobile phones.

Pilot participants will be issued specially equipped, near-field communications-enabled Motorola mobile phones that can simply be waved at Visa payWave-enabled checkout readers at select retail stores and fast food restaurants in Toronto’s downtown.

Citibank Hong Kong is letting customers perform mobile banking or stock trading using MMV’s m-banking platform, which is independent of device and network.

Among the features that Hong Kong customers can use are account inquiry and management, funds transfers, payments and time deposit accounts. Also available is stock trading, including buying and selling, pending order management, stock quotes and portfolio management.

Meanwhile, some smaller fish are figuring out alternate ways to enable mobile payments using existing (and widely used) mobile technology:

Tagattitude uses the voice function of phones for secure payment through a technology called Near Sound Data Transfer—NSDT. The two phones establish an audio channel, go through a series of questions and then transfer money from one account to another. Here is a video of the mobile payment in action (WARNING: it may cause dizziness and motion sickness.)

Anam Mobile SMS Money Transfer allows users to send money to another person using standard text messaging. After both parties subscribe to the service, subscriber A can send money to subscriber B with a standard text and then both subscribers receive texts back when the money has been transferred.

PocketFuzz equips cash-only retailers at festivals, venues, and concerts with their simple SMS-based payment solution that works with any major card or bank, any carrier, and any phone. A buyer’s text along with their personalized secure 4 digit PIN completes a secure transaction in mere seconds. Charges appear on users credit card or bank statements just as any other purchase would. First time users can set-up their account online or using a call back method.

At the end of the day, we just want to dial up a Big Mac. And we don’t think we should have to move to Japan to do it.

Mobile Photosharing

Below is a great list of sites that make it easy for you to download the pics you snap on your mobile to social networking sites etc. Thanks again to NGT.

Zooming in on Mobile Photo-Sharing

BY CHUL

Cameras have become a standard feature on phones. Many young people don’t even carry cameras anymore, but snap shot and low-res shot on their handsets. A bit grainy and blurred? Who cares! They will take convenience over quality any day. And it’s not about content anyway, it’s about socialization.But soon they won’t have to make any sacrifices. As mobile evolves, cameraphones will soon sport 5, even 8, megapixels as the norm. This will only bolster the lifecasting trend–recording and sharing moments via photos and videos. They will increasingly want to share photos and hear comments from others wherever they go. This opens the market wide open mobile photo-sharing platforms, which become yet another tool to connect them with their friends. Here are a few players in the space that caught our eye:

www.shozu.com

A free downloadable application. Once downloaded to your mobile, you can easily upload your photos and videos to over 30 online social network, blog and photo sites. It supports a variety of phones and has features like geo-tagging and friend’s feed.

www.mobypicture.com

Easy way to send your photos on mobile to Twitter, Jaiku, Wordpress, Tumblr, Blogger and Flickr via MMS or email. Your friends will receive your post notification when you upload photos. Only cost for sending MMS by your carrier.

www.treemo.com

Create your customized mobile wap page and manage your photos, video and audio. It’s only for treemo’s online and mobile channels. Subscribe to your friend’s channel and check your friend’s photos in your mobile page.

www.cellblock.com

Create your Cellblock though the website and upload/share photos to other SNS or blogs. You can also access Cellblock on your mobile to view and publish photos.

http://phozi.com

Turn your cameraphone into a Japanese photo booth and add graphics and drawings on the top of your photo. Rate other people’s photos and chat with them on website. Fun, but it’s too bad you can’t send photos from your mobile to other channels.

http://radar.net/blog/

Real-time sharing of mobile pictures and videos with your friends. Key features: the Radar Player lets you share photos from your phone to your webpage or social network; the Radar Notifier lets you know when your friends post and comment.

Mobile -- the perfect direct medium?

Thanks IDM Institute

Robert Thurner M IDM, Commercial Director of mobile agency Incentivated, explores how mobiles could revolutionise direct marketing. The first mobile phones were nicknamed ‘bricks’ because they were huge and unwieldy, with big handsets attached to briefcase-sized battery packs.

But now, the latest mobiles are barely bigger than a credit card, and the mobile has become the one item that the majority of us say we cannot do without – and the first item we would grab if our houses were on fire.

Our mobiles are always on us, and usually on. That makes mobile the perfect medium for marketers.

Since the mid 1990s, the reduction in size and cost of mobile phone handsets has led to penetration levels of almost 90% across Europe.

According to statistics from Ofcom, by the end of 2007, there were almost 74 million mobile connections serving a population of 60 million in the UK, an increase of 3.7 million connections since the end of 2006. The total number of mobile connections increased by 48 per cent in the five years from 2002.

Text explosion

In the UK, nearly 60 billion text messages were sent in 2007 -- an increase of 36 per cent since 2006 and up by 234 per cent since 2002, when UK mobile users sent 17 billion texts. The average mobile phone user sent 67 texts per month from each mobile, compared to 53 texts per month in 2006.

The majority of children have access to the internet and most have a mobile phone but they use them in different ways. Boys aged eight to 11 are twice as likely to use the internet every day than girls of the same age (45 per cent compared to 22 per cent).

However, girls aged 12 to 15 are more likely to use a mobile phone than boys of the same age (74 per cent compared to 65 per cent).

Instant messaging is more popular than email among children, with 62 per cent of 12 to 15 year old sending an instant message, compared with 43 per cent of them sending an email. Adults prefer to email – 80 per cent of adults sent an email compared to 34 per cent who used instant messaging.

Is email failing?

Yet according to the IAB, only 25% of emails are opened: the remainder are either filtered out by anti-spam and anti-virus software, or get deleted. By contrast, 95% of SMS are opened, reflecting the expectation by consumers that those contacting them by text have their consent to do so.

Long may this practice continue!

The mobile is a highly personal device, and brands should earn the right to be there by ensuring customers opt-in to receive branding or customer service messages. The mobile industry has established best practice guidelines which should be followed closely.

The ubiquity of the mobile phone has led to a revolution in mobile interactivity. For organisations in general and marketers in particular, it offers the chance to interact with their customers efficiently and regardless of place or time.

Mobile exciting medium

That creates exciting new opportunities in Mobile Marketing (for customer acquisition), Mobile Customer Service (for customer retention, CRM and loyalty) and Mobile Commerce (for transaction purposes).

For direct marketers, the benefits should be obvious. The mobile phone is the only media that consumers will have with them at all times; it is a superb channel for interactivity, providing an instant response path via voice call, SMS or engagement with a WAPsite (mobile internet site).

Personalised, social, measurable

Mobile is a highly personalised communication channel: one handset has only one user, which makes mobile a powerful targeting medium.

And, for many users, it is a social medium, one which allows files, photos, videos, websites and music to be shared.

Plus it can be measured, and it works extremely well in partnership with other marketing media.

Used responsibly, and with a message which makes the most of the medium and is properly targeted, mobile can deliver very impressive results.

Below, I’m going to discuss a couple of examples of how mobile can be used for direct marketing.

Bookstart free books
Booktrust, the independent charity that encourages people to read, used mobile as part of its latest Bookstart campaign to distribute 80,000 free books to parents of young children.

A DRTV campaign was developed by Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw in partnership with mobile agency Incentivated. Media planning was by Trinity Communications and media buying by Manning Gottlieb OMD.

The TV campaign delivered 1,236 TV spots throughout the day across 34 terrestrial and digital channels for one month. The Bookstart TV ads featured a mobile call-to-action for viewers to request a free book by texting BOOK, their home number and postcode to 80800.

View the Bookstart DRTV.

Bookstart’s target audience of parents and carers were encouraged to respond to the ads by texting free from their mobiles. The book was then sent, post free.

Text messaging was chosen as the sole response mechanism for ordering books because Trinity Communications’ research established that the primary audience had limited online access but high mobile telephone ownership.

Strong response

The campaign generated 79,415 texts, which represents 8 per cent of the estimated one million UK households with children aged three and four. Each TV ad generated, on average, 64 texts.

This campaign demonstrates that mobile can provide an immediate response mechanism for advertising, whether using above or below the line channels, while offering brands true accountability.

Text messages are time and date stamped, which means we were able to correlate responses with the TV spots broadcast.

Terminate a mate
Virgin 1 was looking for a way to promote the UK launch of the TV series ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’.

The series is based on the Terminator movie trilogy. In the US, it was a smash hit, pulling in over 18 million viewers and becoming the highest-rated scripted show on Fox for eight years.

For the UK launch in February 2008, Incentivated and digital agency 20:20 created a ground-breaking viral campaign which used location-based mobile technology and merged in user-input names and mobile numbers to create a personalised video – we believe this was the first time this has ever been done.

A 10-day teaser campaign using TV, outdoor, print, viral and ambient marketing drove people to www.terminate-a-mate.com and www.terminate-a-mate.mobi, where they could enter a friend's name and mobile details.

Personalised mobile video

A specially created personalised video simulating a Terminator hacking into their mobile phone to locate them and hunt them down was then sent.

We made sure there were mechanisms in place to protect privacy and defuse concerns over mobiles being used to track people. Participants who entered details of a friend’s mobile also had to give their own phone number, and an SMS message checking their details was sent. The Termination only went ahead if the sender confirmed they wanted it to.

Effectively, the sender ‘opts in’ their target to receive the geo-coded message.

Personal protection

Once a site visitor inputs a friend's mobile number to target them for “termination,” the friend is then sent an SMS warning them that Terminators are nearby. If they reply and give permission for their location to be shared with the network, they receive a link to a made-for-mobile video. The recipient's current location is highlighted within the video via an integrated mobile map in real time.

Mobile numbers are only used for the purposes of the promotion, and users are assured that their details will not be kept on file for future marketing.

A sample of the Terminate-a-Mate mobile video can be viewed on YouTube

Conclusion
Mobile can deliver enormous impact, and works best when integrated with other media. It is the only truly personal communications channel there is, which is both an advantage and a potential disadvantage.

The advantage is that people are always contactable and can respond instantly – assuming you deliver a compelling, relevant and timely marketing message. The disadvantage is that consumers can see mobile marketing messages as extremely intrusive.

It is up to marketers and their advisers to make sure that they are using mobile properly and effectively.

Robert Thurner M IDM is Commercial Director of Incentivated, and will be delivering the mobile session at the IDM Academy at ad:tech on September 24.

He also presents on mobile at the IDM Diploma and CPD courses at the IDM in Teddington.

Texting days are over... (really?)

Here is a post from the NY Times about how apparantley texting is old skool and anyone who is somebody is streaming live videocasts from their mobile phones rather than taking the time to punch out and SMS.

“People have moved on from texting,” said Carla Thompson, senior analyst at the Guidewire Group, a marketing research firm in San Francisco. “Just typing in what you are doing is no longer enough. That’s why the field of live video streaming is burgeoning.”

Personally, i'll have to sit back and wait till i win the prize draw at my local RSL before i can afford a mobile with the technology that permits live streaming - many starting from about $400 to $895.

Another mobile case study - Guiness pub finder

MMA Case Study: Guinness St. Pat’s (Marvellous)

The brief

Guinness asked Marvellous to develop a campaign to engage drinkers in the lead up to St. Patrick’s Day 2008, one of the biggest party days of the year for Guinness consumption. The campaign had to have credibility and longevity beyond 17 March to justify investment, and therefore had to be flexible enough to work across several of Guinness’s marketing programmes.

Objectives
Guinness wanted to connect with its customers, and get them involved with the brand on a deeper level than straightforward consumption. By providing them with innovative on-brand planning tools and entertainment, the mobile campaign created “talkability” and encouraged fun, interaction and banter in the pub and beyond. Guinness also wanted to use the campaign to promote its new product, Guinness Red, and introduce it to traditional Guinness drinkers and the wider market.

Strategy
The Guinness target audience of sport- and style-aware 18-40 year olds is completely at home with mobile technology, and relaxed about sophisticated digital interaction. Their handsets are always on, always with them, and tend to be high end. Consequently, Marvellous proposed a range of Java downloads to deliver cutting edge brand engagement which would live on the phone and be returned to many times.

Solution
Marvellous created a mobile destination site, accessed via calls to action in press, radio, online and mobile media. The site was designed to reflect and enhance the brand values of Guinness, and bring these to a new and always-available medium.
Apart from basic information about Guinness and its products, the site housed several applications, including:

Pubfinder – this enables users to identify pubs via LBS, postcode or area look-up. It can also find the nearest St. Pat’s party pub, the nearest one with sports TV, or the nearest one serving Guinness Red. Many pubs are independently reviewed and photographed and this database is being extended all the time. Because the Pubfinder is a java download, the data can be dynamically refreshed on the handset, keeping it up to date and relevant.

119.5 Pub Quiz – a selection of four java quizzes where consumers answer as many questions as possible in 119.5 seconds, the time it takes to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. They could then submit their scores to a national leaderboard, also accessible via Facebook, with great Irish prizes for the top scorer.

Picture Gallery – St. Pat’s party-goers were asked to send in their photos of the celebrations to the special shortcode, 81703. There they could view their own, their friends’ and a random selection of all photos submitted. Again, the photographs could also be viewed on the Guinness Facebook pages.

Results
The results were spectacular for a short-term (2-week) campaign, and far exceeded the KPIs set by the client. More than 30% of the 35,000+ unique users downloaded at least one of the Java applications, with the quizzes proving particularly popular.
The results also proved the effectiveness of clickthrough ads on mobile portals, which delivered fantastic ROI compared to more traditional channels. Research into the effectiveness of the mobile media banners conducted for Vodafone live! by Dynamic Logic showed a 25% lift in mobile ad awareness, 12% lift in brand favourability, and a 9% rise in purchase intent, with a 3% clickthrough rate in certain areas.

Next Steps
Working with Marvellous, Guinness has updated the St. Pat's campaign site into a permanent mobile presence. The site is now promoted in much of their above the line media and Guinness has committed to include mobile in future campaigns.

Unilever - mobile case study

Thanks MMA for this case study:

Unilever Increases Teen Awareness with Multi-Faceted Mobile Campaign (Nokia)

Client: Unilever – Seda Shampoo, Brazil

Sector: Consumer goods, Beauty & personal care

Challenge: Raise awareness of Seda Shampoo among teens in Brazil

Solution: Mobile campaign and customized Nokia 5200 Pink handset

Results: 5% CTR, more than 360,000 visits to mobile site

The client – Unilever, Seda Shampoo

Unilever is the multi-national parent company of many of the world’s leading consumer brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever employs nearly 180,000 people globally.

The challenge – Raise awareness of Seda Shampoo among teens in Brazil The Seda brand is part of the Beauty and Hygiene Division of Unilever Brazil. Seda is the leader in the Brazilian shampoo market, with 25% market share. Sold in 80 countries, it even holds the Guinness World Record for the most heads of hair washed and styled in one day. When Seda prepared to release a teen-friendly version of its shampoo, executives discovered that most teens preferred to be communicated with via their mobile handsets. Nokia and interactive agency F.biz created a mobile advertising campaign along with customized handsets for the brand.

The solution – Mobile campaign and customized Nokia 5200 Pink handset As part of the Seda Teens product launch, Nokia and F.biz developed a mobile campaign featuring banner advertising on the Nokia Media Network, and wallpaper and game downloads on a customized Nokia 5200 Pink handset. Banner ads led customers to the download page of the Seda Teens Java game and a Seda Teens branded social networking site. The site allowed users to browse beauty and health tips, horoscopes and an “Experts” area where they could submit questions.

The 5200 Pink came preloaded with Seda Teens advertisements in the opening and closing screens, four Seda Teens campaign themes and MP3s from a popular Brazilian band. The 5200 Pink was shipped with its bookmarks pointing to the Seda mobile community and a mobile game, Dancing Star, was placed as a free download.

The results – 5% CTR, more than 360,000 visits to mobile site

• 5% average click-through rate
• More than 360,000 visits to the mobile Internet site in two months, twice the number of visits to the Seda Teens website
• More than 11,000 game downloads

Paula Lopes, Marketing Manager, Unilever

“We are excited to be taking part in this new marketing initiative, allowing us to reach the consumers we want on the device they want. This campaign shows how innovative both Nokia and Unilever are when it comes to reaching consumers.”

About Nokia Interactive Advertising

Nokia Interactive Advertising provides brands with all that they need to connect with and engage the mobile consumer. It includes:

• The Nokia Media Network, which gives reach to millions of mobile consumers through advertising on more than 100 blue-chip mobile publishers, operator partners and Nokia services.
• Nokia Interactive Solutions that create end-to-end, high performance mobile campaigns for brands using banner ads, mobile Internet sites and location finders, mobile coupons, click-to-call and other advanced mobile mechanics.

To see mobile advertising in action, please visit nokia.mobi/advertising on any mobile device.

SMS mobile coupons

MCDONALD'S REVEALS RESULTS FROM MOBILE COUPON PROGRAM

Did somebody say McCoupons?

As I've posted here, McDonald's is running a number of sms-based mobile coupon solutions worldwide, including here in the US. Now, at least one of the programs is releasing results.

The MMA is reporting that 12Snap's SMS Lounge in McDonald's enables customers to send an SMS message to begin receiving embedded QR codes on their handsets that they could redeem in-restaurant.

According to 12Snap, since the program's launch last summer, more than 10.000 participants have used the service, and at least 29% of recipients redeemed at least one coupon.

I think in general, these kinds of offerings could be boosted by tying them to third party solutions like Mobo, which allow consumers to sign up for SMS ordering at several participating fast food chains, and enables them to opt-in for coupons.

That way consumers can deal with one entity instead of signing up for a separate solution at each restaurant they frequent - and even order food while they're en route, paid for by pre-set credit card. Now that's what you call fast food.

Thanks to Branding Unbound for this entry which can also be found at: http://maverix.typepad.com/brandingunbound/2008/06/mcdonalds-revea.html