Last week AT&T Inc. announced a strategic relationship between AT&T and ChaCha, one of the fastest growing text messaging mobile search services in the industry. As part of the agreement, ChaCha will use a co-branded greeting and promote AT&T when consumers call 1-800 2ChaCha (1-800-2-242242).

Irish brewer Guinness has launched The Great Guinness Pint Contest, an interactive mobile program meant to engage consumers with the brand.

The program asks consumers at participating businesses to rate their pint of Guinness via their mobile phone. Each time consumers rate their pint they are entered into a sweepstakes in which the winner gets a trip to the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, Ireland, during the company's 250th anniversary.

Read more.

WeatherBug(R), the leading provider of live, local weather information for consumers and professional users, launched an integrated mobile advertising campaign today for the cold and flu season. The new ad-supported Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) campaign, which runs throughout the winter season, integrates daily forecast information from WeatherBug, cold and flu tips, and outbreak statistics and maps from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Utah Department of Transportation has launched a mobile version of its CommuterLink site, giving the state’s travelers real-time traffic data while on-the-go.

The CommuterLink mobile site at http://www.commuterlink.utah.gov can be accessed from any Web-enabled mobile phone or PDA. Powered by Usablenet, the site provides travelers with traffic data from most of Utah’s major roads.

Read more here.

In recent weeks, we’ve been hearing rumors that companies are canceling their mobile display advertising budgets. But when we looked into it, we found that overall demand for mobile display advertising is actually increasing.

What we’ve started seeing over the last few months is that advertisers increasingly buy ads based on experience they gained testing the medium in recent months. The main driver appears to be successes brand companies have had particularly with iPhone users. This upwards trend has a good shot to continue next year, even though the full effects of the downturn have clearly yet to play out.

Read more.

Annual Halloween attraction Scream Country Haunted Forest used mobile to create awareness and generate hype around the event this year. Scream Country ran 30-second television spots on the Cox Media network asking viewers to text the keyword SCREAM to short code 269411. The TV spots ran in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa markets.

Viewers who texted in got a message back that said, “Congratulations! U R entered 2 Win 4 Frightening tickets 2 Scream Country Haunted Forest. Visit www.ScreamCountry.com for more haunting details.”

Then texters got a follow-up message that said, “Reply YES 2 Win more chilling prizes 4 Halloween from ScreamCountryHauntedForest & get Xclusives from Cox+ptnrs. max 4msgs/mo. Std txt rts aply. Reply YES now!”

This campaign saw a 56.82 percent double opt-in rate and a 25 percent increase in attendance at Scream Country Haunted Forest this Halloween.

Read more.

The promise of interactivity between potential customers and display technology is only at its beginnings; however, advertisers are looking to enable a higher level of engagement with digital signage audiences by enabling a backchannel. Due to the simplicity of SMS messaging and the ubiquity of wireless handsets, 40% of new network digital display platform installations will leverage SMS for interactivity by 2012, according to MultiMedia Intelligence. This is up from approximately 5% in 2007.

Read more here.

For all those who have not been in a NYC Yellow Cab this year, you may not be aware that practically every single taxi now comes with Taxi-TV, powered by one of three major networks. These networks have looped programming that usually repeats itself during a 20 minute ride and, of course, the screens are full of ads. Recently, we have noticed a rise in SMS call-to-actions.

Just this morning, a Club Texting team member noticed a static banner for none other than Victoria's Secret saying: Sign up for exclusive alerts and offers at VictoriasSecret.com or Text VSNYC to ANGEL. Standard rates apply. Call 877 209 7575 for complete terms and conditions.

So what are you signing up for? UR now on the Victoria's Secret mobile list! Look 4 exclusive offers, event coverage and new product info. Rply STOP 2 optout at any time. Txt HELP for help

We have to admit, it does help pass the time in rush hour traffic.

Rock the Vote ran a mobile campaign that drove 80,000 unique visitors to the organization's WAP site, tapping 4Info to power the campaign. 4Info helped Rock the Vote reach teens with messages about the importance of making their voices heard.

4Info offered to run the campaign as a pro-bono effort because the company is passionate about encouraging young voters to participate in the voting process regardless of party affiliation, and [they] know that mobile is one of the best ways to reach that audience.

We came across this "go green tip" from UC San Diego and just had to share it:

UCSD has developed a online feature that allows students to click a "Send by Text Message" button on while browsing the online Library catalog. Within seconds, students will have a new text message that includes the title, call number, and location of the item they wanted!  Students can then stop by the library on their own time and reference the SMS message to quickly find the book.

Finally, we find an SMS search service that speaks our language!

ASK is a new SMS-based directory search service by Yellotext Sdn Bhd. It enables users to find whereabouts of desired items and also contact details of their favorite shops from its ASK Listing directory, anywhere, anytime.

To use the search service, just type “ASK” followed by a search query e.g. “ASK hair salon curve” or “ASK hair salon” and then send to 36869. The search engine can also ‘understand’ queries in natural language e.g. “ASK looking for a hair salon at gardens.” Response time is typically under a minute (depending on network conditions).

The city of Decatur, GA, is going mobile to make fumbling for change at the city's parking meters a thing of the past.

The city tapped StreetSmart Technology LLC and MobileNow for a pilot program letting consumers put time on parking meters by dialing in on their mobile phone. Decatur's single-slot parking patrons can call a central number posted on the meter and charge their parking time remotely.

“The primary strategy for implementing the smart meters is to increase turnover in the parking spaces in downtown," said Erik Puskar, director of MobileNow, Whitestone, NY. “The City is responding to complaints from both business owners and motorists that many cars overstay the 2 hour time limit and will occupy a space for extended periods.

Consumers arrive at the parking space, call into MobileNow's automated line displayed on the meter and follow the phone prompts to enter the space number also posted there.

StreetSmart's system then posts the time on their meter.

It's about time! Read more here.

This just in from Razorfish:

Sprint is setting the pace for U.S. wireless carriers by supporting 2D barcode scanning in ‘08. The company is pushing out the service under two different monikers: “Phone IQ” and “2-D Intelligence”. 2D barcode scanning, or QR codes, is already wildly popular in Asia and starting to takeoff in Europe. Sprint deserves a round of applause for this effort and we, for one, can’t wait to see how the U.S. market reacts.

Another recent report show promise for mobile coupons:

In some parts of the world, most notably the Far East, mobile coupons are already being used by millions, and a new study by Juniper Research forecasts that the North America and Western Europe will soon experience growth in this form of mobile promotion.

In Japan and Korea, using mobile devices to redeem coupons and participate in promotions at point of sale is commonplace, with over 50 million using their mobile devices as virtual wallets. The uptake has been driven by the proliferation of device readers in use throughout a wide range of locations including supermarkets, restaurants, car parks, travel hubs and department stores allowing redemptions and payments with the wave of a mobile.

The lack of infrastructure is currently holding back growth of mobile coupons in Western Europe and North America but Juniper's report predicts that the two regions will account for 20% of coupon redemption values by 2013. Coupons delivered and redeemed via mobile phones are forecast to be used by 200 million mobile subscribers globally by 2013.

This just in:

On Nov. 1 British Airways will launch its remote check-in service, letting travelers check-in for flights from any location through their mobile devices.

Mobile check-in is made possible by the British Airways mobile Web site, powered by Usablenet. It is a free service available across global markets in 11 languages, with no need of additional downloads or software.

“Mobile check-in lets them use the same feature on the return trip,” [Jason Taylor, vice president of mobile products for Usablenet] said. “This benefits the brand on a service level, providing convenience for customers, and the practical aspect, driving people to check-in via the Web and mobile saves the airline money.”

Broadplay, a Toronto-based digital marketing agency with a focus on mobile marketing, offers access to President-Elect Barack Obama's victory speech through text message.

Users in Canada can text "Obama" to the Shortcode 123411 and receive his historic victory speech to their cell phones via text message. The Broadplay platform makes it "easy as 123" to receive information through SMS to all enabled cell phones and PDAs. This platform gives users the freedom to access information without necessitating the purchase of a data plan. On a standard-rated message basis, users experience the cost-effectiveness, convenience and usefulness of mobile data.

Read more.

eBay UK has launched an SMS alert service to tell users when they've been outbid on an item.

eBay users are given the option online to receive text message updates on their item bid when they initially put in an offer for purchasing the product.They can also subscribe to receive texts in their account preferences in My eBay and can choose whether they want to receive alerts for each item they watch or bid on.

Wonder when this will launch in the US? Read more info here.

We hear that Midwest retail giant Meijer Super Center has launched an iPhone Web application called Meijer Mealbox, to help consumers save money during the current economic crisis.

Meijera - a Grand Rapids, MI-based retailer that operates 181 supercenters throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky - tapped widget-based advertising network Qponix to develop the Meijer Mealbox web application. Meijer Mealbox helps consumers plan meals, find recipes and save money.

“The big deal is this application allows the shopper to build a meal plan and the planning process helps you organize for when you go to the store,” said Corbin DeRubertis, president of Qponix, Seattle, WA.  “The application is tied to the store’s inventory and sales and actually finds recipes based on ingredients that are on sale.”

This year’s the McDonald’s® Monopoly game included a mobile component for the first time in the history of the popular game. It was such a success that Telescope, the same company who handles the infamous American Idol text message voting and who partnered with The Marketing Store to build the McDonald’s SMS campaign, disclosed that it was the largest SMS promotional game by far ever run in the U.S.

Read on here.

Over the past year, the concept of mobile donations have created a big buzz. The first we saw in the mainstream media was a United Way Text-2-Give ad during Superbowl XLII. Other than that, the sightings have been rare. Now, however, it seems that times are changing.

A pilot program will allow Ohioans to donate to the Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign this holiday season by sending a text message to a number posted near 80 kettles in the Columbus area. The program is aimed at younger, tech-savvy donors who are less likely to carry cash.

When the campaign begins in late November, people will be able to make a $5 donation, which is then posted to cell phone bills.

Salvation Army officials have talked about creating a texting program for about three years and hope it will be successful enough to expand nationally, spokeswoman Melissa Tomme said.

"Particularly this year, where the economy is such a huge factor, we're all cautiously optimistic about fundraising but we don't really know what to expect," she said.

Read more here.