• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, July 17, 2012

Mogreet launched the AdStitch mobile advertising service Tuesday, combining high-quality video ads with mobile messaging to help brands easily recoup return on investments.

Cox Media Group's Oakland, Calif. television station, KTVU, has been testing a morning weather alert to subscribers along with an ad in the MMS message on mobile phones.

The ad in the message typically ranges from five to 15 seconds, but more advertisers want to create shorter clips. The best-performing ad units are shorter, according to Mogreet CEO James Citron.

"An automaker knows showing a five- or a 15-second video of a car performs better than 20 characters in text, banner or display ad," Citron said. He believes MMS is the only way publishers can reach 95% of Americans with mobile video.

Companies like Cox can turn their mobile messaging service from a cost to a profit center through AdStitch. Citron said it's about Cox generating revenue to pay for their communication channel from the company to customers.

Users can upload a video ad in Mogreet’s Campaign Manager and use AdStitch to combine the ad to a video being sent to subscribers. The clip automatically is transcoded and assigned a delivering time and target to consumers on a mobile subscriber list via Mogreet’s MMS platform.

For years, publishers have invested money to send text messages to customers, but didn't have the tools to garner a return on investment through video ads that can tie into a message to support online or television media buys, Citron said. This gives advertisers the benefit of reaching a targeted and engaged audience who opts-in to receive the clients' mobile messages and content.

But content needs to create the connection between consumer and brand. Rather than tell consumers why Cheerios might lower cholesterol, give them a recipe and diet to follow, Citron said.