• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, July 20, 2006

Mobile Marketing Gets Creative

Remember all those crappy banner ads in the 1990s, when it seemed that any intern with html skills could become an interactive account executive?

You're not likely to see the same mistake with the emerging mobile platform. Even at this nascent stage, the creative juices are gushing from seasoned teams that are thinking hard about the unique interactive aspects of this platform.

The industry's best minds know the world doesn't need another ringtone, wallpaper, or short-code sweepstakes. The most creative mobile executions these days aggressively explore the wireless device itself  what the technology does, where it does it, and how marketing messages can be integrated into our most intimate communications habits.

Consumers Chasing Ads

Why spend millions to create wireless ads when consumers can make them for you? A year after its successful run, Pontiac's "Catch a G6" contest remains a mobile marketing milestone. By asking users to snap and submit wireless phone-camera images of the new G6 model on the streets, this brilliant Digitas campaign didn't pull or push  it just invited consumers to the brand. The "Catch a G6" campaign pulled off one of the toughest stunts in modern marketing: making a new car model stand out and get noticed.

And why have your audience skim your print ad when you can entice them to seek it out? Before its demise this year, ElleGirl magazine had teen readers enter contests by snapping and sending images of sponsors' print ads to marketing partner Mobot.

The innovative "visual search" technology ran the submission against an image database to match photos with one of 25 brands including Neutrogena, Target, and Maybelline. The branding bump was substantial, according to ElleGirl research: Purchase intent rose 28 percent, aided recall 33 percent.

Better yet, teens liked taking pictures of ads. The average participant submitted 22 entries a month, and 96 percent said they were likely to try such a promotion again. Lesson learned: Don't interrupt  facilitate. Give the mobilistas reasons to use technology the way they want to use it.

Please God, Not Another Ringtone

Few mobile marketing tools wore out their welcome as quickly as the ubiquitous, cloying ringtone. The AxeBootyTones promotion, developed for Unilever's Axe body spray by San Francisco-based agency Ipsh, enhanced the medium by linking tracks from the likes of Def Leppard and ac/dc to entries in a would-be Lothario's little black book. Each tune accompanies a different "type" (i.e., "The Tease" calls up the "Mission Impossible" theme), so a user can assign rings and personae to names in his contact list. The campaigned leveraged the cell phone's intimacy by letting its young male target live the fantasy of being the kind of man who needs a "little black book."

If you absolutely must have a branded ringtone, consider J. Walter Thompson's concept for Ford Mustang: a ringtone in which the Mustang's engine played the national anthem. Now that's original.

Location, Location, Location

In-venue, text-to-screen messaging has also emerged as a powerful way to engage the mobile crowd. For sponsors ranging from local radio stations to wireless carriers, Vibes Media runs programs that enable rock concert attendees to trade messages and even post phone-cam snaps on the venue's screens.

One cad at a Hoobastank concert even used an in-venue text-message application to break up with his girlfriend. His sendoff was followed by countless messages with pickup lines from other guys.

"It tells a pretty good tale," says Alex Campbell, Vibes cofounder. "People are sitting there with all of this technology and wondering what they can do with it."

The Longest Text Tale Ever Told

With more than 2,100 possible short message service (SMS) replies in its script, this summer's mobile campaign for the sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean" brought messaging to an epic scale, with each SMS clue offering multiple replies and plotlines.

The strategy served two masters well: It promoted SMS usage outside of its youthful demographic and initiated off-portal content distribution for co-sponsor Verizon Wireless. For Disney, it brought moviegoers back into the "Pirates" world before the premiere. The "Pirates" effort constitutes the largest scripted SMS execution to date  and a demonstration of what might be called advertising on demand.

Getting Our Voice Back

In the rush to innovate, marketers have seemingly overlooked mobile's obvious core asset  voice. But this may well be the year of the celebrity callback.

Simon & Schuster and FlyTXT used mobile to tout Stephen King's latest novel earlier this year. For Elizabeth Arden's Fantasy Britney Spears fragrance, Ipsh created a campaign in which Ms. Spears' voice announces: "Hey, hottie, your phone's ringing."

The voice channel has also become a popular tool for in-venue promotions. Attendees at the recent Austin City Limits Music Festival received recorded calls from their favorite performers as they left the concert. Tyson Foods lured 57 percent of cell phone users attending the U.S. Gymnastics Championship to direct-dial into a contest for better seats and a call from a star gymnast.

The wireless platform could well prove to be the most accessible next-generation technology yet. At least everyone knows how to dial a phone.