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Tribune Broadcasting Brings Programming Mobile

Tribune Broadcasting got a Vibe for mobile content.

The broadcasting giant is working with Chicago-based Vibes media to promote Tribune's key entertainment and new programming via mobile.

"Mobile is an important part of both our digital and marketing strategies because it creates a deep one-on-one bond with our viewers," Rick Felty, vice president, digital media, Tribune Broadcasting, says in a statement.

The idea is to  "engage our audience wherever they are and deliver content where they want it" through  sales, promotion and content delivery  tools that help stations enhance user engagement while driving incremental revenue.

In BRANDING UNBOUND the book, I look at how individual TV and radio stations are using the mobile channel to enhance their viewer engagement efforts as never before possible.

Tribune is in good hands with Vibes, which has created numerous mobile initiatives for the likes of CW, MTV and more.

Read more about the Tribune effort, here.

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Playboy Goes Mobile In The US, Too

Old Hef wants to put his playmates in your hands, too.

On the heels of Playboy's mobile launch in Southeast Asia, the House of Hef is launching mobile content in the US.

We're not just talking about the articles here. But according to DM News, we are talking strictly "non-nude" photos of Playboy playmates, personal interviews, advice columns music reviews, games and jokes - all available through a mobile website, and synced with the regular Playboy site.

The mobile site has already lined up sponsors such as AXE Vice body spray and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

“I think everyone’s realizing that they need a mobile strategy,” Andy Miller, CEO of mobile solutions provider Quattro, tells the pub. “You do see a lot of magazines and magazine-type sites [with mobile offerings], and they are creating another channel to get their content out there that’s bringing in another layer of advertisers who maybe didn’t advertise on the wire[line] site. It’s something else for sales guys to sell, and the types of advertisers are a little different.

“Direct response guys are loving mobile,” Miller adds. “Our click-through rate for mobile is ridiculously high: if we have a poor campaign it still averages 3% click-through.”

You can read the, yes, article, here.

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Mobile Marketing Helps Boost Brand Awareness for Unilever's 'Lynx for Men' 56%

Lynx is on the move thanks to mobile marketing.

New stats reported by Mobile Messenger reveal that a recent campaign for Lynx for Men, one of Unilever's men's deodorants, resulted in a 56% increase in (prompted) brand awareness in the UK.

The campaign, aimed at 16- to 24-year-old men, featured video ads on the "Free Stuff" video content area on mobile operator 3UK's Planet 3 portal.

The idea: Boost awareness for the Lynx brand with this demo and position Lynx as sexy, attractive to the opposite sex, and cutting edge. The campaign, developed by Rhythm NewMedia with media buying agency Mindshare, followed up with something called a "patent-pending inline brand awareness research solution" from Rhythm.

Reported results:

• 56% prompted awareness (which means people were asked something akin to "Do you remember the video for Lynx" - instead of an unprompted question like "What videos did you watch on Planet 3?")

• 86% could recall the correct brand message

• 44% said they felt more positive toward the brand after seeing the ad

I like the fact that the video was "discovered" v. pushed - which always wins points with me.

But I would have also liked to see the results of a completely unprompted survey sample. People don't go around reminding other people of the ads they've seen. Unprompted results show the true power of an ad campaign.

Still, this points to positive results through a good match of target and medium.

Read more about it, here.

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Verizon Reverses Course, Accepts Pro-Choice Text Campaign

Cooler heads have prevailed - and a controversial text message campaign will proceed as planned.

Earlier today I posted about news that Verizon had blocked an opt-in text campaign from Naral, a pro-choice advocacy organization.

Now, Network world is reporting that Verizon has reversed course, and will now let the campaign go on as planned.

“The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect, and we have fixed the problem that led to this isolated incident,” Verizon spokesman Jeffery Nelson, who attributed Verizon Wireless’ initial decision to “an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy,” told the publ. In particular, he said that the old policy had originally been designed to protect customers against spam and “against communications such as anonymous hate messaging and adult materials sent to children.”

Read all about it, here.

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Disney MVNO Closing Down

The other shoe has dropped: Word's out that Disney Mobile will shut down operations. Disney had already shut down Mobile ESPN, and now the Disney-branded mobile service will shutter as well. Make no mistake: Like ESPN, Disney content will love and thrive in mobile. It's just that this model doesn't appear to be the best model for delivering it.

Read more, here.

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Digitas VP: Mobile 'On The Margins;' 'Doesn't Scale'

Jordan Bitterman's not bullish about mobile.

MediaPost is reporting that the Digitas VP views mobile on the margins. "It doesn't have the scale," he said Tuesday at a breakout session of an industry confab. "Our marketers are looking for scale."

It's not clear if he's talking about mobile advertising - in which I agree with him. Obviously, as a response mechanism to commercial messages in other media - print, broadcast, outdoor, online, direct mail and so on - scalability doesn't really play a role. It's a powerful response mechanism that's a no brainer to use in just about any campaign.

I take his comments as a positive sign that the industry is finally recognizing advertising campaigns over mobile phones are as uninteresting as they are unwelcome.

Time will tell if he (and I) am right.

Read more, here.

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Verizon Blocks Text Campaign From Abortion Rights Group

All the other carriers approved the campaign, but it may appear to some that Verizon does not approve of efforts to support women and their reproductive health.

The New York Times is reporting today that Verizon Wireless has blocked a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon's mobile network available for a campaign that enables consumers to enter a short code to opt-in to receive messages from the group.

According to the Times, Verizon told Naral that it does not accept programs form any group "that seeks to promote an agenda or distribute content that, in its discretion, may be seen as controversial or unsavory to any of our users."

I guess that means even though the people receiving the messages would have explicitly asked to receive those messages.

Plenty of cause marketers use text campaigns these days. including Amnesty International, Working Assets and others.

"The fact that wireless companies can choose to discriminate is very troubling," Susan Crawford, a visiting professor at the University of Michigan law school, tells the Times.

Apparently Verizon's reviewing the decision. But either way, it has stoked controversy over just how much say a company should have on what communications are happening on its networks. Will Verizon's cable operations start blocking TV shows or Web sites - and the more analogous element, email - that it doesn't fit its political views?

Let's hope Verizon comes to its senses.

Women deserve more than 19th century politics impacting their 21st century mobile networks.

Read the Times piece, here.

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'Other Advertising' Magazine Looks At New Mobile Platforms

Other Advertising's taking another look at mobile marketing.

This month's issue of Other Advertising - Adweek's magazine on non-traditional advertising - takes a look at emerging mobile advertising platforms, from text messaging and coupons, to display and pre-/post-roll video ads to games and branded prizes and more.

See my recent piece in Other Advertising - "Mobile Ads on The Verge," a look at the top secrets to doing mobile advertising right, starting here.

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EchoStar Snags Sling Media for $380 Million, Propels Into Mobile Entertainment

Sling has been slung.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that EchoStar Communications has announced it will pay $380 million to acquire Sling Media in an effort to gain an edge in delivering movies, TV shows and music to mobile consumers.

Slingbox, of course, makes content portable - grabbing content from your home TV/DVR and making it available on PCs and mobile phones.

"As an early investor in Sling Media, EchoStar has been pleased with the progress and commitment the company has made establishing Sling Media and the Slingbox as powerful and beloved digital media brands," EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen tells the pub. "With today's increasingly mobile lifestyle, EchoStar's acquisition of Sling Media will allow us to offer innovative and convenient ways for our customers to enjoy their programming on more displays and locations, including TVs, computers and mobile phones, both inside and outside of the home."

It's a potentially big move - and one that isn't at all surprising. Sling has long seemed like a great acquisition target for anyone with a little vision and a lot of dough.

However, EchoStar - the big satellite-TV provider - hasn't exactly been a mover and shaker in today's digital content portability.

Time will tell if Sling pays off - or finds itself slinging the typical corporate baloney.

Read more, here.

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Novelists Write Fiction on Their Mobile Phones - And Sell Big

Mobile novels have been around awhile, as have people who actually write novels on their mobile handsets v. on a computer keyboard.

But in Japan, it has become a veritable craze.

As today's Wall Street Journal reports, while book sales in Japan fell 15% between 1996 and 2006, several novels written on mobile phones - that is typed out using the keypad - have been turned into real books, selling millions of copies and topping the best-sellers lists.

One m-novel, "Love Sky," has sold more than 1.3 million copies and is being made into a movie due out in November.

As "m-author" Satomi Nakamura tells it, "PCs might be easier to type on, but I've had a cellphone since I was in sixth grade, so it's easier for me to use." Ms Nakamura has written eight novels on her tiny phone. And more than 2,000 readers followed her latest story, which was released in increments.

Sounds painful - both as a writer and as a reader. And, even a society where mobile phones have primacy over the PC, it does sound a novel approach.

Read all about it - on your PC, or your mobile phone - here.

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