Mobile Marketing Innovation

By the year 2011, mobile advertising is expected to increase tenfold reaching $14 billion. With such rapid growth, marketers in the industry are getting more and more creative. Below are some innovative examples of mobile marketing:

• For DHL, a Tetris-style game was created where the boxes were labeled with DHL. Ten percent of the users forwarded the game on to their friends. (Digital Innovation, OgilvyInteractive)
  
• For Motorola, travelers at the Hong Kong airport were allowed to upload good-bye messages to Motorola-sponsored displays throughout the airport. (Digital Innovation, OgilvyInteractive)
  
• CBS Mobile has teamed up with Loopt, a social-mapping service, to deliver the first location-based mobile ads. For example, you’re walking down the street checking the sports scores on CBS on your Blackberry, and you get a banner ad that says “Getting Hungry? Pizza is $5 off around the corner”. Talk about innovation. (CBS Mobile)
  
• Coca-Cola, Nintendo, and Progressive are exploring the concept of providing consumers with free games for their mobile phones in exchange for viewing their product ads. For each game, the consumer sees three full-screen advertisements—two before the game and one after. The full-screen format of the advertisements is an attractive benefit for companies wanting to increase their branding. (Greystripe)
  
• Signature by Levi Strauss & Co. became one of the first companies to sign on to Virgin Mobile’s Sugar Mama service. This ad-supported cell service allowed consumers to watch advertisements to earn free minutes. However, Levi added a twist by requiring consumers to answer questions after watching the ad, so they knew consumers were engaging in the brand. (Levi Strauss & Co.)
  

Have you seen or heard of any unique mobile marketing campaigns? Feel free to share.

Source:
Daniels, C. (2008). Fast Talk: The Cell Sell. Fast Company, 125, 25-32.