• by Tameka Kee , August 29, 2007

Office Depot has chosen go2 for its first national mobile marketing program. The Santa Ana-based mobile media company will serve Office Depot ads across its network, as well as provide a WAP site complete with store location and geo-targeted coupon-serving features.

Consumers who visit the go2 Office Depot site will find options like text-based links to weekly specials, the ability to sign up for an e-mail newsletter, as well as a click-to-call customer service link.

The site currently features just the Office Depot logo--no video or other rich media--and according to Lee Hancock, go2's founder and CEO, the goal is to provide a streamlined mobile experience that's accessible by the largest number of handsets.

"This is the beginning of a long relationship with Office Depot, and their first exposure to mobile users," said Hancock. "There are more than a hundred million handsets in the U.S., but how many of them are Treos or iPhones?" He added that go2 would be able to expand and upgrade the site as warranted, as the company currently optimizes various go2 sites for cutting-edge phones.

Like other partners, Office Depot will purchase network ads on a CPM basis. But the inclusion of the WAP site development and maintenance created a package deal that differs from go2's typical service offerings.

Major brands like Nokia and MasterCard usually buy banner space on the company's mobile ad network, while new partners like Purina and Acura have chosen to sponsor entire sections of original content.

Representatives from go2 and Office Depot met at a mobile marketing conference earlier this year, and after a few months of negotiation, worked out the particulars of the deal. According to sources, the Delray Beach based-office supply giant had already established a budget for mobile, and was just searching for the right partner.

Specific details on how soon Office Depot would begin promoting its mobile service were not available, but sources say the company has plans to encourage use via both off- and online channels.