• by Tameka Kee , June 11, 2007

LG Electronics and Billboard have teamed up for "Mobile Beat," a campaign that illustrates how the synergy of user-generated content, mobile technology, and rich media can create a comprehensive marketing machine.

With "Mobile Beat," up to 30 contestants will spend this summer competing as mobile music journalists--going to music concerts, snapping pictures with an LG enV camera phone, and then posting photos and reviews to a personalized blog on Billboard.com. The contest will culminate in mid-September, with the winner receiving an all-expense-paid trip to the Billboard Music Awards, complete with red-carpet access.

"The editors actually brainstormed about doing a concert series with a blog around it, but we didn't have a specific writer in mind," said Stacey Gross, marketing director, Billboard. "We thought creating a contest would be a great way to connect with our readers and get them excited about the brand as a whole."

Gross says Billboard's partnership with electronics giant LG was a natural fit, as LG provided "the right technology to make this a truly interactive contest." LG's enV phone boasts a 2 mega-pixel camera and the ability to upload rich media to the Web in real-time, allowing bloggers to capture highlights from their VIP seats and instantly share their experience on Billboard.com.

It's the first time Billboard.com will feature a wealth of user-generated content. Building awareness and generating brand favorability will be Billboard's key takeaways, according to Gross.

For LG, the primary focus was gaining exposure for a suite of new phones, so Mediaedge:cia's MEC Interactive (MECi) saw the Billboard partnership as the perfect opportunity to "get the phones directly into users' hands," said Chanasith Ruanglek, media supervisor, MECi.

As LG's digital media agency of record for "Mobile Beat," MECi sought to achieve the electronics giant's goal, while at the same time, curbing the percentage of overall media spend devoted to this specific campaign. While running a set of co-branded banner ads on Billboard-sponsored newsletters, "Mobile Beat" is built on the premise of viral distribution.

"It seems like a relatively concentrated audience," said Ruanglek, "but with the blogs, they'll be sharing their personal experience with the phone on a national scale. It creates this great brand experience across a number of interactive touchpoints."