• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, September 7, 2010

In its latest collaboration with MTV Networks, AT&T has launched a new ad campaign for the Motorola Backflip that lets mobile users connect with friends and family as well as featured artists for free via the video ad creative.

The promotion for the Backflip is closely tied to MTV's "Posted" cross-media campaign that gives fans social media updates, videos and photos of musicians and bands through original sites across CMT.com, MTV.com and VH1.com. The Posted effort kicked off in June with dedicated sites for acts including Jewel , Dierks Bentley and We The Kings.

The new pre-roll ad running across the three sites shows an interactive, 3D image of the Backflip popping out of the screen and offering viewers the chance to call toll-free one of the three latest featured artists: LeAnn Rimes, All Time Low and Adam Lambert. Users can pose questions via voice mail and some will be highlighted on the artist's Posted Web site. It's up to the artists whether they answer the questions or not.

The ads, which resolve to a bug in the left corner of the screen, also allow people use the virtual Backflip to call friends and family for free and get more information about -- and buy -- the AT&T device. MTV calls the in-ad Backflip the "first-ever functional phone" being served through advertising.

Released earlier this year, the Backflip sports a foldout keyboard and the Android-based Motoblur interface that centralizes messaging via email and social networking services like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

Sales of the device, which retails for $179 with a retail contract, have dropped off steeply after a strong debut six months ago when the Backflip was AT&T's only Android phone, according to Avi Greengart, research director for consumer devices at Current Analysis.

The interactive Backflip ads -- developed by MTV's in-house Digital Fusion unit and Omnicom unit Atmosphere, AT&T's agency -- will run through September 30 on MTV sites. The spots are also part of AT&T's wider Rethink Possible campaign. Suzanne McDonnell, senior vice president of Digital Fusion, said it has not yet been decided how long the Posted effort on MTV sponsored by AT&T would run.

MTV and AT&T previously teamed on various content and promotional efforts, including an AT&T-sponsored initiative last year that offers access to older video clips in MTV's "Vault" that had not been available online for decades.