BRANDING UNBOUND

Publisher's Clearing House Ditches Van; Goes Truly Mobile With iPhone, Twitter

Ed McMahon, where have you gone? (Oh yeah, he's doing rap videos for Free Credit Report.com these days.)

Today's New York Times is reporting that Publisher's Clearing House is going 21st Century and asking contestants to look on Twitter and their iPhone to see if they have one a PCH contest.

It's all a move to attract young people with contests - including trivia and casino style iPhone games - with new digital channels beginning in January.

“When you look at brands that have reinvented themselves,” Steven Brita, senior director for Internet marketing for the company tells the Times, “they’ve been successful at reorienting themselves toward something people don’t expect. People wouldn’t expect PCH to have an association with Twitter, but we hope when they do, they’ll scratch their head and say, ‘Hey, that’s pretty cool.’ ”

For those of you out of the loop, PCH runs contests and then puts advertisements and products like magazine subscriptions in front of you. Most young people have no idea what it is. And that's the point of the new effort, says Alex Betancur, GM and VP of PCH Online Network.

In his view, big $1 million sweepstakes won't interest today's generation.

“The whippersnappers may not necessarily be all excited about $1 million, but they would maybe be excited about guest starring on ‘The Real World’ or something like that," he says.

Okay, I'm not sure what planet he's living on, but you get the gist.

Oh, and McMahon? He actually never had anything to do with PCH - he's was in commercials for PCH rival American Family Enterprises.

Which means PCH has bigger branding problems than whether or not they've got an iPhone app.

Read the Times piece, here.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

USA Today Latest To Launch iPhone Edition

Newspapers just give us more and more reasons not to buy their print product.

USA Today has launched an iPhone app that brings the latest news to your mobile in a nicely branded interface. 

“The USA TODAY application for iPhone and iPod touch is a great addition to our impressive suite of mobile products,” says Matt Jones, director of Mobile Strategy and Operations, in a statement. “The incredible capabilities of these devices are a natural fit for USA TODAY’s rich mobile-ready content and mobile audience.”

That's true - it's a good experience.

I'm assuming advertising will help support it. But you have to wonder why newspapers are bitching about falling revenues when they insist on giving the goods away.

As uncertain as the Wall Street Journal has been since Rupert Murdoch bought it, at least it's still making money on the traditional Internet, anyway.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

Fanta Fuels The Fun With 3D Mobile Tennis Game That Connects Players Via Bluetooth

The Wii is so last week.

Coca-Cola's Fanta brand of orange soda is launching a mobile site with multiple branded mobile applications that have fun (and Fanta) spelled all over them, specifically for consumers in Europe.

One is a "virtual tennis" mobile game that connects two phones so players can compete via Bluetooth.

Players print out a "court" from a special microsite. They then can then view the court through their camera phones and hit the tennis ball by using the phones as virtual rackets (kind of like the recent augmented reality application from Ford's "Ka" automobile in Europe.

Another, called the Fanta Stealth Sound System, uses audio messages like "uncool," and "let's get out of here" in high-pitched frequencies that are only audible to people under 30.

“Fanta's brand positioning is about focusing on moments of enjoyment throughout your day, and the mobile phones are with you from when you wake up until you go to bed, ” Jeff Arbour, SVP of North America for The Hyperfactory (the solution partner behind the tennis game) tells DM News. “We thought [that] a light easy game that represented the brand's identity and personality” would work.

It's all part of an integrated print, online, on-pack, POS, viral and mobile marketing push, to begin in January.

Read all about it, here.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

'Special K' Makes Mobile 'Wake Up Call' For New Year's

Kellogg's 'Special K' wins the award for party pooper of the year.

As part of its big new "wake-up call" campaign, digital advertising on the Nasdaq and Reuters billboards will prompt people to get started on their New Year's resolutions, even before the ball drops on Times Square.

As part of a much broader integrated campaign, consumers will be invited to text their weight-loss goals via short code "newyou" and have them displayed on the Nasdaq billboard. The Reuters billboard will work in tandem, running Special K's messaging and product shots all month.

Nothing gets you revved up for a big New Year's Eve celebration like invitations to tell the world how you're going to start shrinking your fat ass the next day.

The campaign ends January 31 ... as will most people's diets.

Read all about it, here.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

Blumo Offers Free Mobile Campaign To Super Bowl Advertisers

Wanted: One major brand - Pepsi, Budweiser, Audi, Coca-Cola, Doritos, etc. - planning to run a national television commercial during the 2009 Super Bowl. 

Offer: Free mobile interactivity with consumers watching your ad(s).

From: Blumo, a mobile marketing firm who has worked with NBC Universal, Chevron, Toyota, MillerCoors and others.

Wait. A free mobile campaign to enable consumers to respond to your ads and receive anything from product information and offers sent to their phones or email, text-to-win sweepstakes, polling and viewer participation, or any other form of interactivity enabled by the mobile platform?

Yes, that's the word from Sean Bartlett, vice president of marketing and business development for Blumo, who tells me he was not impressed at all by the dearth of mobile response offers at last year's Super Bowl (neither was I).

"The 2008 Super Bowl had a noticeable lack of mobile interaction opportunities and we are hoping that a free campaign will help move some of the larger brand marketers move from the sidelines and into the mobile marketing arena," Bartlett explains. One caveat: The advertiser needs to pay for messaging costs.

Hell, in this macro-economic climate, Super Bowl advertisers and their agencies should at least take a look at an offer like this, which might a.) spark some created ideas for this year's Ad Bowl, and b.) increase consumer response a hell of a lot more than a URL does these days. 

You know, unless your brand's just too good for all those 18-to-49-year-olds in the viewing audience.

Maybe Grandma will still want to buy your beer/soda/car/whatever.

Otherwise, find out more here.

We, of course, will follow up to see who, if anyone, makes a reception - and who fumbles this and other mobile opportunities.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

'The Spirit' Gets iPhone App

There's a ghost in the machine.

ADWEEK is reporting that Frank Miller's "The Spirit," which opens wide Christmas day, Lionsgate and digital media player Big Stage Entertainment have developed a mobile app that lets consumers take camera phone images of themselves, upload them, and shake their phones to instantly swap images of themselves with those of Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes and Scarlett Johansson and others into 3D images from the film, which they can then share with friends and family.

In the online version, at least,  you can even drop your mug into video clips from the film.

It looks to be very similar to the technology used by Ford's "Ka" 3D image-on-real-time image campaign in the UK, which enabled consumers to place images of the new Ka automobile on real-time backgrounds via their camera phone - and is sure to get some attention from "The Spirit's" mostly young, mostly male audience.

Read all about it, here.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

Mobile Social Network Gives U.S. Automakers 100 Million Free Ad Impressions

Just think of it as a bailout from one mobile medium to another.

Mobile social networking service itsmy.com is offering U.S. automakers 100 million mobile banner ad impressions for free in a sign of solidarity with the beleaguered auto industry, according to mediapost.

That comes to about $400,000 worth of mobile advertising at about $4 CPM.

Apparently, 81% of itsmy users aid they'd want to support the financially imperiled industry. 

"Many itsmy.com community members from U.S. cities such as Detroit that are now suffering the impacts of the economic crisis love the idea to support the people and companies with personal actions like car advertising on their personal mobile homepage," according to a statement from the company, based in Munich, Germany and New York.

Hey, with 2.5 million users (mostly in the UK - might be nice to see what might happen if Facebook and/or MySpace made a similar offer), it can't hurt.

Let's hope it'll help some of those wheels get mobile - fast.

Read all about it, here.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

Disney 'Bolts' Into New 3D iPhone Advergame; Finds Instant Success

Disney's "Bolt" is a hit on the iPhone circuit.

The animated film's lead character, Rhino, is the start of "Rhinoball," a 3D iPhone game created by AvatarLabs. In its first six weeks, the free game has been downloaded over 700,000 times. 

"Rhinoball" is primarily about helping the harried hamster navigate obstacles to reach his canine buddy "Bolt." Players need to tilt the iPhone forwards, backwards, left and right to guide "Rhino" through city streets, avoiding cars and other obstacles, on his way to the finish line - which mirrors the action in the film. According to the company, players can also collect bonus lightning bolts and hit the launching ramps. The app also includes the "Bolt" theater trailer and TV commercial.

"This is a very exciting new way to interact with the people you want to be interfacing with your brand," says Rex Cook, Executive Creative Director/Founder, AvatarLabs, in a statement. "All the clichés – hip, savvy, cool, influencer peddlers -- all apply to the users of this remarkable game changing device."

Sounds like an electrifying way promote the film. 

Read all about it, here.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

Stella McCartney's '09 Collection Goes Mobile

Stella has realized mobile's in fashion.

Luxury lifestyle brand Stella McCartney is bringing its entire 2009 collection to mobile phones in a new integrated campaign.

Print, online, direct mail and point-of-purchase and in-store advertising will join ad banners that beckon consumers to click through to McCartney's mobile website, where they can "window shop" from their phones and watch a fashion show. iPhones and other smart phones will get their own version of the campaign.

Users can register for news and brand updates, and access a mobile store locater, which points them to the nearest McCartney retail partner.

Read all about it, here.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com

Study: Jeep Doubles Brand Lift With Mobile Game-Based Ad Campaign

Jeep's charting new territory - again.

In BRANDING UNBOUND the book, I look at how Jeep has consistently innovated in the mobile marketing space, what with its MobiTV series "The Mudds" and many mobile game efforts, like Jeep Off-Road Jam (shown here).

Now, in a new effort, mobile entertainment network Greystripe is reporting that a mobile in-game advertising campaign has boosted brand awareness significantly. Stats released today include:

• A significant 10.8% unaided brand awareness increase - from 9.7% to 20.5%

• Respondents between the ages of 25 and 34 saw an 18.5% increase in online ad awareness, with a 12.3% increase in purchase consideration

• With males, online ad awareness increased by 18.1%, with purchase consideration rising 10.8%

• Study respondents who were most likely to consider purchasing an SUV saw a 13.9% increase in purchase consideration

Third party researcher InsightExpress conducted the research on behalf of Greystripe. The key word in all of this is "unaided" - meaning researchers did not ask gamers whether they remember the Jeep ad; they asked what ads do you remember. 

As readers know, I'm more of a fan of branded games than I am of mobile advertising - and tiny ads in tiny games seems impossibly lame. But this research does point to some promise for some audiences.

Figures Jeep would be among the first to try it out.

Read more, here.

Quick Links:

Generation Wow: Expanding the conversation to multi-platform marketing
BRANDING UNBOUND The Book
ADWEEK Magazines Excerpt
Rick Mathieson.com