• by Vanessa Voltolina , April 2, 2008

Hearst Magazines Digital Media has partnered with Nokia to make your phone sing and dance - well, almost. Hearst's properties, including Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Esquire and Good Housekeeping, will now enable advertisers to reach target audiences on mobile Web sites through Nokia's Media Network. This partnership is the ultimate in symbiotic relationships, allowing Hearst Digital to access a vast mobile network while supplying Nokia with popular, credible content to entice users.

"We have what major advertisers have been waiting for," says Sophia Stuart, director of mobile for Hearst Magazines Digital Media. Magazine advertisers - in this case, targeting women on-the-go, literally - can place ads on one or all of Hearst's nine mobile sites for an estimated global consumer reach of over 100 million.
And no longer will the mobile world appear in black and white, but be properly tricked out with colorful banners - something that Hearst Digital was unable to do pre-Nokia. Now, all Hearst's mobile sites will have a seamless view over all carriers, assures Stuart. Innovative banner ads will also redirect users to microsites, where more quizzes and games attempt to engage the short-attention-span-champion mobile audience.

"Hopefully, our 30-something mom audience is accessing this information on-the-go through the Redbook blog, or surfing products at Good Housekeeping during their morning commute," says Stuart.

Even before the partnership with Nokia Mobile, Hearst Digital had a mobile initiative that solved one of users' biggest conundrums. Cosmo Fake Calls, launched last May, allows women (presumably friendless women) to schedule a call that would get them out of a potentially disastrous date. Choices of fake caller range from neighbor to French lover. It's like they can read women's minds, or something. Or something.