CallWave, Inc. today announced the launch of its text messaging gadget (also known as a widget) for Microsoft Vista – a free, desktop-based application enabling users to send text messages to virtually anyone, anywhere from their computer whether their handset is nearby or not:

By making it easier to send text messages worldwide, CallWave Web 2.0 widgets and gadgets can dramatically increase text daily usage and adoption. While text messaging continues to grow in popularity, many consumers find it difficult to text on a phone’s small interface. CallWave solves this problem–using the familiarity and ease of the computer for text messaging. Additionally, users who are in front of their computers everyday may prefer the convenience of communicating in that environment.

Meanwhile, UpSnap, a mobile search provider announced the launch of a new, free mobile meta-search engine :

“In essence what Dogpile and MetaCrawler are doing for the World Wide Web, UpSNAP is doing for mobile phones,” said Tony Philipp, CEO of UpSNAP. “We are excited to offer this great and innovative service for consumers through our Web site, which serves as a one-stop-shop that does all the work for you in a matter of seconds. It makes searching 10 different sites for mobile content a thing of the past.” 

Finally, mocoNews recently reported that a number of museums have joined together to create Museum On The Go, which will offer images of famous works of art, photographs of historic personalities, voice and sound recordings, music and video for download to mobile devices.

As a part of their recently unveiled Run Easy marketing campaign, Reebok is encouraging consumers to text in to to the short code RUNEZ. The messages are posted to the Run Easy website, where they are sorted by origin on a mashed up Google Map.

Meanwhile, New York City is promoting HIV awareness with an innovative texting information service. New Yorkers can text their zip code to the short code KNOWIT, and the City will respond with a list of nearby testing centers.

Finally, ABI Research recently issued some lofty predictions for the future of mobile marketing:

By 2011, the value of this market will reach $19 billion, including mobile search and video advertising. ABI Research also expects some of the highest levels of spending to come in the broadcast mobile video space. By 2011, it will surpass SMS as a source of mobile marketing spending, due in part to mobile broadcast networks’  presence in all major markets. In 2011, ABI Research expects spending for broadcast mobile video advertising alone to reach $9 billion.

Read the press release or the whole report ($) (via FierceMobileContent).

MediaWeek reports on today's launch of 80180 Media, a company hoping to deliver targeted, opt-in text messages to users across the country:

80108 Media, which launches today following a short beta-test period, publishes timely content via SMS messaging in 15 urban areas, with an initial focus on the Boston area. Mobile users can opt in to the free service by visiting 80108.com and providing a cell phone number. The company will automatically “text” users short messages announcing upcoming events in whatever content categories they have indicated interest in, such as music, fashion, kids or local sports.

The text content is designed to be timely and insider in nature, according to 80108 CEO Rob Adler, aimed squarely at the text-loving 18-34-year-old demographic. Text will be written by “mobile correspondents” in each urban area that will send out missives on events roughly three times per week per category. Former Nielsen Business Media editorial director Sid Holt is now vp, programming, for the new service.

For now, they promise not to send you any advertisements, but they acknowledge that they will eventually have to figure out a way to monetize the idea:

We plan on introducing upgrades for select premium features down the line. For the time being, we're focused on cultivating our subscribers and collecting feedback.

MediaPost's Online Media Daily reports that major ad network 24/7 Real Media will begin serving up mobile ads:

PREPARING ITS PUBLISHERS FOR AN expected wave in mobile adoption, ad network 24/7 Real Media is adding mobile ad serving and reporting to its Open AdStream ad management platform.

About a dozen publisher clients have begun implementing the Open AdStream Mobile Edition at an incremental cost, according to Ali Mirian, product manager of publisher solutions at 24/7 Real Media. A key selling point is that Open AdStream negates the need to purchase, install, learn and maintain a stand-alone technology for mobile ads, he added.

 

And how big is that wave they are expecting?

Despite slow adoption, technology companies and advertisers are still jockeying for position. Mobile advertising, for one, is expected to double this year to more than $878 million, according to market research firm eMarketer. Worldwide, Piper Jaffray recently projected that mobile search revenues will generate $11 billion by 2008.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported this week that small businesses are beginning to build mobile websites:

Johannes Tromp says the Web site for his South Carolina bed-and-breakfast generates good business. But last fall, he found a way to reach even more potential customers: He made a version of the site for cellphones.

Mr. Tromp signed up for a mobile Web address with the newly available suffix "dot-mobi" and used a self-starter kit from a company called Roundpoint Ltd. to build www.kilburnie.mobi, the mobile site for his Inn at Craig Farm. He says he's gotten a surprisingly good response, with 30 to 40 new calls per month from interested travelers who heard of his inn by accessing the cellphone site.

In yesterday's  Mobile Insider column, Steve Smith addressed in an interesting question:

PUTTING A MAGAZINE BRAND ON phones seems a bit redundant. Aren't magazines portable already?

He elaborates this point, stating that "it may not be clear to many magazine readers, however, why they would want or need their brands on a handset, since few magazine traffic in breaking news even on the Web. How pressing is my need for Vanity Fair "on the go?"

Nevertheless, some magazines have already built successful (and not coincidently, useful) mobile presences:

Consumer Reports managed a good translation of its brand, but that was a no-brainer. Bringing CR guides to the point of purchase on a phone just replicated the common practice of tearing relevant pages from the magazine to carry into the store.
...

Car and Driver got it right by recognizing how much its enthusiast audience loves car images. Yes, the reviews are all here -- but so are the huge and fairly high-res images on every page. And C&D limits its TOC to a few key elements and then lets the user drill into the archive with excellent search tools.

And last but not least, Maxim, the popular lad-mag, has an extremely popular WAP site:

...in this case it takes the mobile snack approach and gives users a new nibble of each every day. The lads who remain brand loyalists can cherry-pick the items they like most about Maxim and get satisfied daily. The Maxim WAP site has only been up since late last year and it already gets between 500,000 and 1 million monthly page views. The advertising is already there, and it can get pretty sophisticated. On my most recent visit, the site ran an ad for a mobile content firm that identified and mentioned my handset model in the text link itself.

Read the rest of the article, including an innovative fee-based application from InStyle @ Media Post's Mobile Insider.
 

Has the successor of the CueCat finally arrived? And will consumers embrace it this time around? It appears that the answer to both of those questions is Yes, in Asia at least.

It sounds like something straight out of a futuristic film: House hunters, driving past a for-sale sign, stop and point their cellphone at the sign. With a click, their cellphone screen displays the asking price, the number of bedrooms and baths and lots of other details about the house.
...
With a wave, the phone can read encoded information on everyday objects and translate that into videos, pictures or text files on its screen.

“The cellphone is the natural tool to combine the physical world with the digital world,” that executive, Cyriac Roeding, the head of mobile-phone applications for CBS, said the other day.

What kind of applications are we talking about? Well, let's look at some of the examples already in use in Asia.

In Japan, McDonald’s customers can already point their cellphones at the wrapping on their hamburgers and get nutrition information on their screens. Users there can also point their phones at magazine ads to receive insurance quotes, and board airplanes using their phones rather than paper tickets. And film promoters can send their movie trailers from billboards.

...

In Japan, some highway billboards have codes large enough for passing motorists to read them with their phones. Hospitals put them on prescriptions, allowing pharmacies to instantly scan the medical information rather than read it. Supermarkets stick them on meat and egg packaging to give expiration dates and even the names of the farmers who produced them.

One of the most popular uses in Japan has been paperless airline tickets. About 10 percent of the people who take domestic flights of All Nippon Airways now use the codes on their cellphones instead of printed tickets.

So what's the holdup here?

Advertisers say they are interested in offering similar capabilities in the United States, but cellphones in the States do not come with the necessary software. For now, consumers have to download the technology themselves.

So it's simple a matter of time--two things need to happen. 1) We need phones with higher resolution cameras, and 2) we need phones capable of running simple software. What might speed up the deployment of those two pieces of the puzzle? How about the impending release of the iPhone.

Ultimately, though, it will be up to marketers to let the major cell phone carriers know how badly they want this technology in consumers hands:

In Japan, the codes did not become mainstream until the largest cellphone companies started loading the code readers on all new phones a few years ago. Now, millions of people have the capability built into their phones, and businesses, in turn, are using them all over — on billboards, street signs, published materials and even food packaging.

Two pieces caught our eye today at MediaPost's Online Media Daily.

First, a new study seems to dispel the notion that America lags behind Europe when it comes to non-voice services:

AT LEAST WHEN IT COMES to mobile content that doesn't require fast networks or high-end devices, European and American consumption habits are more similar than is generally believed, according to a new study from M:Metrics and Buongiorno, the multinational digital entertainment company.

Two interesting findings come to light:

While text messaging is still far more prevalent in Europe, use of ring tones and graphics are very similar....and 80% of mobile music revenue comes from ring tones.
...
Also, the U.S. actually outperforms most European countries when it comes to using mobile email and instant messaging.

So what's the catch?

...Use of mobile video, photo messaging and music correlate closely with penetration of 3G (third-generation high data-speed carriers), and penetration is considerably higher in European markets.

And what does that mean? US consumers are far from averse to using new, high-speed data services--they simply are not available to them on a widespread basis. The summer debut of the iPhone, coupled with continued mass investment in high-speed data networks (supported by high-paying business customers) should lead to a closing of this gap.

Meanwhile, this week saw a number of big mobile ad deal announcements:

• Search-centric digital agency iCrossing this week tapped JumpTap to give its clients a mobile edge. Under the partnership, iCrossing will provide its clients with ad placement on the mobile Web sites of U.S. wireless carriers through JumpTap's white-labeled mobile search and advertising system.
• Yahoo this week showed off a mobile advertising platform called Yahoo Mobile Publisher Services, allowing publishers to post and manage mobile ads on Yahoo. Advertisers include Pepsi and Hewlett-Packard.
• In the latest example of major marketing deals in the mobile space, MTV Networks this week launched a series of mobile Web sites with Pepsi-Cola North America and Intel Corp. on board as charter sponsors -- marking the first time MTV has sold ads against its mobile portfolio. The Intel and Pepsi brands will feature prominently on the MTV and Comedy Central mobile TV channels, as well as the new MTV, VH1 and Comedy Central mobile Web sites.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Yahoo is making a major mobile advertising play. Not wanting to play second fiddle to Google in the next great advertising market, they are striking preemptively, building the first broad mobile advertising network:

The company plans to announce on Tuesday that it is creating a mobile advertising network that will allow marketers to place ads not only on its mobile services, but also on those of other online publishers. And Yahoo is offering tools to help publishers customize their content for easier use with its mobile search service.
...
The company hopes to start delivering text, display and video ads on third-party mobile Web sites by the summer, Mr. Boom said.
...
Advertising on sites arrayed for mobile phones is a tiny market, but it is expected to grow quickly, and a number of companies, including the leading wireless carriers, are jockeying for position.

The Financial Times took a look at Twitter, a mobile mini-blogging service, that is "the talk of Silicon Valley."

Silicon Valley is abuzz over a new mini-blogging service for mobile phones that some predict will be a mass-market hit with the reach of a YouTube or MySpace.
...
Users of Twitter post short messages – up to 140 characters – that can be viewed either on a website or on mobile phones. "Twitter probably wouldn't have existed before blogging, when people learned to be more transparent," Mr Mayfield added.
...
Though launched publicly last summer, use of Twitter started to take off in the middle of March after it was adopted by technology bloggers attending the South by Southwest conference in Texas. As people like Mr Mayfield lauded the service on their blogs, interest spread quickly among the Valley's key opinion-formers.

Finally, we hear over at MediaPost that CBS is testing the mobile video waters:

CBS has struck a deal with Sprint to make ad-supported versions of "Jericho," "Evening News with Katie Couric" and other TV programs available on mobile phones.
...
For the Sprint deal, CBS will include pre-roll ads as well as video ads during the natural breaks of "Evening News." Clips from other shows, including "CSI," and "Survivor," also will be available on Sprint as part of the deal.

In The UK, The Register reports that kids will soon receive free phone call and text message credits, in exchange for listening to advertisements.

A mobile phone start-up will offer UK teenagers free phone calls and texts in return for listening to adverts from this summer.

Blyk, the company behind the scheme, has already signed Buena Vista, Coca-Cola, L'Oreal Paris, and Yell.com for the British launch. It is rumoured to be close to a network deal with Orange.

The company will target 16 to 24 year olds, who will "earn" free phone calls and text messages in exchange for receiving adverts on their phones. (Via Textually)

Textually also caught wind of some extremely interesting news on targeted mobile advertising. Targeted to what exactly? To the weather. Read the full piece at The News & Observer:

The next time you check a cell phone's Internet weather report on a cold and rainy day and see ads for umbrellas and Caribbean vacations, it might not be a coincidence.

Proving that not even Mother Nature is untouched in the online advertising boom, Atlanta-based Weather Channel Interactive plans to announce this week a mobile marketing technology that aims to match ads to the weather at a person's location.

The announcement of this "weather-triggering" technology is expected at the CTIA Wireless industry show in Orlando, Fla.

"Coca-Cola could advertise a hot beverage when it is cold outside and could advertise a new Coke Zero when it's hot outside," said Louis Gump, vice president for the Weather Channel's mobile division.

The technology relies on a system that labels and organizes every U.S. ZIP code, town and city. It delivers appropriate weather information and advertising when a person enters a location on a search form.

And finally, on a lighter note, Mobile Whack reports on the LG Electronics sponsored National Texting Championships:

LG Electronics will be holding their LG National Texting Championship in Hollywood at Paramount Studios and in New York City at the Roseland Ballroom. The contest is open to the public and will be held on March 31, 2007. Contestants will compete for $10,000 for the East/West Coast title and then advance to the finals in New York City for $15,000 and the National Texting Championship title on April 21, 2007.

Last week, we reported that Calvin Klein had launched a texting inspired fragrance--In2U. It now appears that In2u is more than just a gimmicky brand name; Calvin Klein has rolled out interactive billboards that encourage users to send in text messages.

Calvin Klein has launched its new "text-friendly" fragrance using mobile marketing technology in the city of Toronto. On the three largest digital billboards in the country, Calvin Klein ran ads that asked passersby to text a reply to the message, "What are you in 2?"

The question ran for 20 seconds on the billboards in a square next to Canada's busiest mall. Mobile users could reply to the question using a shortcode and could see their message run live on one of the three billboards.

Head over to MediaBuyerPlanner to continue reading.

You've always been ahead of the marketing curve--you run email campaigns, you have a web presence, and you've even staked an outpost on social networking sites like MySpace--which means you're always looking for new and innovative ways to reach new customers and solidify relationships with current customers. Looking around, you see that your competitors have implemented mobile marketing programs, but you don't know how to move forward. Well, relax, today we're going to explain to you just how easy it is to develop a powerful mobile marketing program using Club Texting's SMS service.

Club Texting provides text messaging (SMS) services to the nightlife industry--what this means is that anyone, anywhere, can send a simple message from their cell-phone to an easy to remember short-code (CLUBS - 25827) and join (opt-in to) your mobile marketing list. What exactly is a mobile marketing list? This is a roster of phone numbers, belonging to a highly targeted set of customers--customers who you are able to reach anytime, anywhere--your message literally in the palm of their hand.

That sounds great. But now the question on your mind is: How do I build up a list? Well, as a pioneer in the mobile marketing industry, Club Texting has a long list of customers who have implemented dozens of different successful strategies. The key is to incentive--if you offer something to your customers, they'll give you access and loyalty you could have only dreamed about a few years ago. Today we're going to highlight some of the most effective ones to date.

TAO Nightclub Las Vegas - VIP Invites & Complimentary Admission

When one of the hottest (and most difficult to get into) nightclubs in Las Vegas offers VIP Invites and Complimentary Admission, people pay attention. Tao integrated their texting campaign into their print and online marketing efforts, offering the customers the incentive of access. Needless to say, they've built up quite a list.

Coyote Ugly Miami - Giveaways, Drink specials, And Other VIP Offers

Coyote Ugly Miami entices and rewards loyal customers with giveaways, drink specials, and the occasional VIP offering. Because the Club Texting software is so quick and simple to use, these offers can remain static, or they can change from week to week, day to day, or even throughout the evening.

Plan B - Chance to win a 10 person VIP table during DJ AM show

When a celebrity guest or DJ comes to your venue, you want to exploit the event for all it's worth. Plan B, a Detroit nightclub, did exactly that when DJ AM came to play a set. In the month leading up to the show, new text members received the added bonus of the chance to win a 10 person VIP table at the DJ AM show.

The Forum - VIP Entry

The Forum, a Charlotte nightclub, builds customer loyalty by allowing the people on its mobile marketing list to skip the long lines out front on popular nights.

Alley Cat - Building Hype For A Grand Opening

The Alley Cat, a bar in Charlotte, built up customer anticipation for the Grand Opening of their venue by integrating their mobile marketing efforts with their initial pre-launch print campaigns. Customers were enticed to join the bar's mobile marketing by the offer of invitations to the Grand Opening Party.

Those campaigns are just a sample of what our clients have done in the past.

Many of our other clients have had a lot of success with more non-traditional programs:

• On-site signups: tell eager customers waiting in line to get into the club to sign up on-the-spot in order to receive reduced admission by showing their confirmation text.   
• DJ shoutouts: "If you guys want to get on the VIP list for free admission, drinks, and other cool offers--Send a text message with the word XYZ to the number CLUBS now! That number again is 25827, spells out CLUBS on your keypad." 
• MySpace pages: www.myspace.com/taolasvegas, www.myspace.com/azukardowntown  
• In-venue signage: Behind the bar, coasters, scrolling on plasma screens, bathroom doors, staff shirts, stickers, hand stamps.
• Radio ads: Especially good for announcing contests: "This week Lucca Restaurant is giving away five 42-inch Pioneer plasma TVs! Enter to win today by texting the word LUCCA to the number CLUBS, that's  L-U-C-C-A to the number 25827!"  

These are just a handful of the ways you can entice people to join your list. The methods you can employ are practically limitless--the only boundary is your imagination. Having been in this industry since the beginning--working with everyone from promoters, to small owner-operators, to known international brands, including casinos, record labels, and professional sports teams--we can always offer you advice and suggestions.

Last Thursday, Harris Interactive released an important study of the prospects for mobile marketing. According to their press release, they, "examined current levels of consumer interest in mobile phone advertisements, preferred advertising formats and the willingness of consumers to be profiled."

They heralded an interesting, though far from surprising finding:

"Historically, U.S. mobile phone users have been resistant to receiving mobile phone advertisements, but, according to our research, cell phone users are more willing than ever to receive advertising," said Judith Ricker, President of the Marketing Communications Research Practice at Harris Interactive. "To make their mobile campaigns more effective, advertisers should take note of how cell phone users are most interested in being contacted. Advertisements need to have a clear value proposition, be relevant and allow recipients to control how they are profiled."

Harris studied three different aspects of mobile marketing, and there are interesting findings all around:

 

Incentive-based advertisements

 

According to the study, a surprising 35 percent of adult cell phone users are willing to accept incentive-based advertisements. Of these adults, 78 percent say the best incentive would be cold hard cash, followed by free minutes (63%), free entertainment downloads (e.g. ring tones, games; 40%) and discount coupons (40%).

 

Preferred method of delivery

The survey further reveals that over half (56%) of those who are at least somewhat interested in receiving ads on their cell phone say they would prefer to receive them via text message, while 40 percent would like to receive them as a picture message.

 

 

Privacy and control matter

Just under three-quarters (70%) of respondents who are at least somewhat interested in receiving mobile advertising are also willing to provide information about themselves to their cell phone provider in exchange for an ability to customize the service to their needs.

 

Harris found that 66% of consumers considered the ability to Opt Out essential to their acceptance of mobile advertisements. More than half of all consumers receptive to mobile advertising wanted to see those ads arrive as text messages. It would seem that Club Texting's simple, handset based opt-in / opt-out SMS marketing program is most consumers' ideal kind of mobile advertisment.

Source: Harris Interactive press release

Over at Media Post's Online Media Daily, Angela Steele of Starcom USA opines on the future of Mobile Marketing. She identifies a number of challenges that lay ahead, but she sees light at the end of the tunnel. We've culled some highlights from her piece below:

Although mobile devices have penetrated nearly 80% of U.S. households and SMS has penetrated over one-third of all users, data services drastically lag behind. Only a fraction of consumers report using data services and the mobile Internet. It seems that in the rush to advance the mobile market, the consumer is the holdup.

If we truly want to maximize the marketing potential of mobile channels, we all need to rally around the consumer and encourage their mobile behaviors. Here's how.

...

The challenge is that mobile marketing cannot be successful as an added-on silo, but should be an integral component at the heart of the marketing plan. In the earliest stages of the planning process, smart marketers must ask, "What are the objectives of the campaign and how will mobile deliver on those objectives?" then decide early on which mobile strategies will enhance the broader campaign idea."

She identifies a number of key points to keep in mind:

We as marketers must offer value to be welcomed in consumers' beloved, personal devices -- or in any medium for that matter. Whether we're informing, entertaining, or enhancing existing mobile experiences, brand interactions need to offer something of relevance and value.

As marketers, we must befriend the carriers and cooperatively develop solutions to add non-intrusive, welcome value for the consumer.

 

What ultimately matters most is the ability to impact consumers and then prove that impact. Clients pay their agencies and wireless companies to impact consumers. Marketers have fixed budgets and therefore need to make choices among media channels.

Expected return is the driver of those choices, and without standardized, third-party metrics, mobile return is difficult to quantify and compare to widely accepted media options such as TV, print and online. In order to vie for fair share of the marketing pie, mobile needs to offer accountability standards comparable to other contact points in marketers' arsenals. The future success of the mobile channel depends upon standardized accountability.

 

Services like Club Texting's Opt-In SMS services for nightclubs, promoters, retail, and magazines addresses these challenges--customers choose to receive messages, which are comprised of content that they desire to know about, and they do so by simply messaging a phrase to a 5 character SMS short code, which overcomes the consumer accessibility/reluctance obstacle.

News comes across the wires today reporting that Microsoft has bought TellMe, the nation's largest provider of voice activated mobile search technology:

MICROSOFT FINALIZED A DEAL WEDNESDAY to purchase TellMe, a directory assistance provider and voice-activated mobile search firm, giving Redmond a possible edge in the race to develop a better mobile search tool.

Greg Sterling, principal of Sterling Marketing Intelligence, said that despite the manual dexterity mobile search users are developing, using a tiny keyboard still offers a sub-par user experience.

"There's still usability problems that are pretty significant," he said. "Keying in search queries is awkward. This is really about improving usability, and driving consumer adoption."

Over at MediaPost's Mobile Insider Blog, reporter Steve Smith discusses some promising developments in mobile video--driven as he sees it by increasing localization and targeting of content:

In recent weeks, however, I am finding mobile video content that is good enough, sometime free enough, to merit attention. One quiet entrant in the race towards must-see mobile TV is Weathernews' LiveLocal service. This $4.99 a month application works because video is simply one piece of an excellent design that brings me all the local weather news I need in four screens. My default location pops up with an attractive image of the local weather cam, and I can flip through radar, forecast, alerts, and weather details in four clicks. But the best part of this service is that it also aggregates news stories from my local news stations. I get all the little newsy snippets from the morning, noon and evening telecasts, often within an hour of them airing. What makes this video work where so many others fail for me? Immediacy and relevance. The content is laser-targeted to my on-the-ground needs. There are too few applications right now that give us the local must-have info a mobile user needs in the car and on the street. There is a good reason why MapQuest is the most popular mobile app by a longshot. And LiveLocal has immediacy and on-demand choice. This information is very close to the surface of the deck, so I don't have to drill through menus and folders of the high-eyebrowed Katie Couric and bad Leno jokes to get what I want.

And on a lighter note, C|Net breaks down the history of the emoticon:

Author Vladimir Nabokov said in a 1969 New York Times interview that "there should exist a special typographical sign for a smile--some sort of concave mark, a supine round bracket."

Now, nearly four decades later, there is just such a typographical symbol-- :-), or :) for the minimalists, and it'd be tough to find a tech-savvy person who hasn't leaned on it. There's also a special typographical symbol for a frown-- :-( -- and one for a cool dude in sunglasses -- B-) -- and one for a wink -- ;-). There's even a typographical sign for wearing a baseball cap-- d=D.

These are emoticons (or emotive icons), the arrangements of letters and symbols that have been inserted into e-mails, message board posts, and instant messages since the fledgling days of the Internet. "Fledgling days," in this case, refers not to the mid-'90s when people were beginning to learn what AOL was, but to the early '80s, when accessing the Internet was largely limited to research universities and defense contractors.

 

MediaPost's Marketing Daily reports that McDonald's is reviving its 'Morning Impaired' Marketing Campaign, integrating online video, as well as SMS messaging:

The company said it's reupping the effort that it crafted to promote its breakfast menu offerings. This time around, consumers will be invited to create videos about their own morning challenges--like maybe how hard it is to get up and get moving.
...
The way the new contest works is that consumers offer their e-mail addresses in exchange for a code to print out a coupon for a free sausage McGriddles sandwich. Consumers can upload their videos to MorningImpaired.com. Then they cast votes for their favorite clips on the site. McDonald's will select three people to serve as characters on the site describing what makes their mornings particularly dysfunctional.
...
But that's not all: Consumers who opt-in to receive more marketing messages from the company can receive short codes via their cell phones, prompting even more offers.

We also hear that "FOX NEWS CHANNEL IS THE latest net to strike a deal with Third Screen Media to carry ads paired with its TV content, reports TV Week. Third Screen provides the software to deliver ads on cell phones. Other nets that work with the company include CBS and ESPN."

Finally, Textually rounds up some articles about IN2U, Calvin Klein's new 'Text Speak Fragrance':

Calvin Klein's new fragrance, "in2u" is targeted at the hip 20-somethings of the MySpace generation, with a name that draws on text message shorthand used by the so-called "technosexuals" - a buzzword Calvin Klein trademarked last year. The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

"The cylindrical white plastic and glass bottles - the brainchild of famed New York designer Stephen Burks - clearly draw inspiration from the iPod, which itself has become a generation Y icon.

It launches with it's own social network, whatareyouin2.com where hipsters are being invited to create their profiles prior to the launch - "register now connect later," the site implores.

The fragrance - available in both his and hers versions - will go on sale in the United States and Europe April 1."

Read also related articles from The New York Times.

(Textually.org)

Today we hear over at the Indianalopis Star that Hardee's has been experimenting with a new kind of coupon:

Hardee's customers in Indianapolis and St. Louis can download coupons to their cell phone for free and then show the phone to a cashier for a discount.

There are a lot of important things going on here, the first of which is, that the decision to roll out this new promotion was predicated on who Hardee's hoped to reach, and how they hoped to appeal to those customers:

   

There's something that just seems wrong about a 45-year-old woman clipping coupons so she can inhale two 1,410- calorie Monster Thickburgers for the price of one.

At least that's what the executives at Hardee's thought.

So the fast-food chain turned to technology to get its coupons into the hands of its core customers -- young men who aren't exactly watching their weight.

It's too early to draw conclusions, but "We've gotten some positive feedback from a couple of restaurants. It's too early to talk about redemption," said Steve Lemley, vice president of marketing for St. Louis-based Hardee's. The whole idea of electronic couponing was new to us."

Indeed, it's still new to many companies. However, the more that companies like Hardee's dabble, the more the cell phone is becoming a popular tool for marketing and advertising.
...
Currently, the most popular methods of engaging customers involve text messaging, to enter a sweepstakes, to get alerts about products or to vote for something, like your favorite American Idol.

The most important gem is buried at the bottom of the article:

Overall, about 42 percent of cell-phone users are open to advertising if it's relevant, if they asked for it or if they will get coupons or free services, according to the market research firm Yankee Group.

Put that figure in context--email inboxes are overrun with spam, more and more people are using their Tivos and DVRs to fast forward through commercials, newspaper circulation is declining, and savvy web surfers are blocking pop-ups and ignoring banner ads in greater numbers every day.

Source : IndyStar

The perennially hip SXSW festival will be making all sorts of information available to their attendees via SMS:

 

All band and film schedules will be available on demand to attendees' mobile devices via interactive SMS. Important festival information will be available on the go by texting requests to Wiredset's 56658 shortcode.

In addition to the on-demand schedule, attendees can sign up for text alerts on the SXSW web site. Band, film listings and festival updates are available to cell phone users and SXSW registrants can get alerts and updates specific to their badge type such as last-minute schedule changes, special events and breaking news. (PR Newswire)

 

R&B group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have just launched a mobile fan club:

Mobile marketing company Smart SMS Corp. and  R&B recording artists Bone Thugs-N-Harmony have entered into an agreement to launch the group’s first-ever   mobile fan club. The venture will allow music fans to receive texts with artist-related updates and enter to win a variety of prized memorabilia,  including tickets to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s upcoming concert tour. Smart SMS and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony will split the net revenue on each 99 cent premium text message. (BusinessWire)

Meanwhile, in Europe, Random House is promoting the release of a new book via SMS:

 

Book publisher Random House is offering consumers the chance to read the first chapter of its new book for free on mobile.

 

It has partnered with content provider ICUE to provide a service which delivers the opening chapter of its latest business manual, 'Life's A Pitch' via SMS.

Consumers are also sent details on how to claim a 40% discount from shops on the book itself. (NMA)

While many publications have been buzzing  over the launch of Starbucks' new SMS store locater service, you know SMS has gone mainstream when the service's debut merits mention in everyone's favorite tabloid, The New York Post:

By sending a text message with your ZIP code to "MYSBUX," customers will receive the address of up to three nearby Starbucks, plus their phone numbers. There is no charge beyond a cellphone user's regular text-messaging fees.

The company has also created a specially formatted locator to fit the small screens of Web-enabled mobile devices such as the BlackBerry or Treo. Customers can tap into the store locator at Starbucks.com and get the nearest locations, plus info such as the closest WiFi stores, in addition to directions and maps.

The service is also linked to in-car GPS navigation systems.

If you're interested in the tech specs on this project, head over to the MSDN blog to learn how Starbucks utilized Microsoft's MapPoint Web Service 

Although the mobile marketing industry is still in its infancy, we're hearing more and more tales of successful campaigns. Each story like the one below that lands in our inbox, is one more affirmation of the coming explosion in the mobile marketing space.

Mobile Insider reports that MVNO Boost Mobile partnered with mobile community provider AirG to produce a successful campaign for West Coast Customs, a popular California car customizer. The response was overwhelming--over 1.5 million entries:

Those 1.5 million entries came in almost entirely via the phone in a 90-day span. Keep in mind that Boost Mobile is an MVNO form Sprint Nextel aimed at the youth market. It only has 3.8 million customers.
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Part of the secret sauce for this campaign was careful media planning and targeting on the front end. “We don’t think this would have worked on another network,” says Ghahramani. “The offer doesn’t resonate with the demographic or the user. But with Boost Hookt you got urban youth who care about pimping out their cars.”

The 'secret sauce,' of course, is based upon one of the most desirable principles of mobile marketing--that you can target and directly reach exactly the type of consumer who will respond to your campaign.

When you plan properly, the results speak for themselves:

In fact, the winner of the pimped-out car at the center of this contest was a young Jersey man who was a gas station attendant and one of ten kids in his family. A $40,000 tricked-out car was exactly the lure he would have wanted. The contest, the delivery vehicle, and the offer apparently hit their target dead-on.

Here's Mobile Insider's take on the power of targeting:

Getting 1.5 million entries off of a niche audience on a small carrier in 90 days is a good indication of how powerful the medium can be when marketers really hit their relevancy target. On mobile, media planning could be king. Aligning just the right offer with just the right target via just the right content may become the mobile marketer’s delicate dark art. Which is to say that mobile requires all the same disciplines that make all forms of digital marketing work… only more so.

Check the source to read more details about the campaign: http://blogs.mediapost.com/mobile_insider/?p=59

ClubTexting, the parent of this blog, opened for business a year ago with a radical marketing proposition--allow nightclub patrons to use their cellphones to opt in to read about promotions and events in the palm of their hands. Instead of relying on promoters to hand out flyers to people who may or may not be interested, opt-in mobile messaging allows you to speak directly to customers who want to know about what your venue has to offer them.

What differentiates ClubTexting from so many other similar mobile messaging services, is that ClubTexting allows customers to sign up with their thumbs--not by heading to a website, not by writing their name on a form, and not by sending them to a WAP site--with ClubTexting, Customers opt-in to the service by sending a text message with your venue name to the number 25827 (Clubs). That's it.

The possibilities for a venue owner looking to sign up loyal patrons are endless. Do you often have long lines outside of your venue? What better way to impress upon your customers the value for them of signing up for your service than having a bouncer or a rep. walk down the line handing out cards with your keyword?

DJ's can call out the short code--"Text VenueX to CLUBS to sign up for our VIP list." You can post signs inside your venue with your new keyword. And of course, you can integrate your new mobile marketing campaigns with your existing campaigns. If you print flyers add your keyword to them and see just how effectively you are reaching potential customers. If you've spent the last few years cultivating an email database, you now have a new way to exploit that asset--when you send your weekly list of events you can let your customers know about your keyword.

Text Messaging is not just another way to communicate with your customers; it's a better way. Today no one goes anywhere without their cell phone, which means that with a ClubTexting account, you have permanent, 24/7 access to your customers. And not just any customers, customers who want to hear from you! Further, ClubTexting is unique because it allows your customers to easily let you know that they want to hear from you with a few taps on the keys of their phone. Why send them to a website--as other providers often make them--when you can allow them to sign up right then, right there, with the device on which they will receive the actual messages?

Once you've built up a list of customers, sending them messages is simple. Just log on to the ClubTexting website, compose a message in our simple form, and click Send.

While ClubTexting was originally conceived with venue owners in mind, the service has rapidly expanded, rolling out solutions tailored for event marketers,  retailers, and magazines. Check back Friday to hear about how magazine publishers are implementing mobile marketing strategies.