BRANDING UNBOUND

CBS Uses iPhone To Fuel Fandemonium for 'Harper's Island'

CBS's new "Harper's Island" murder mystery not only has an unprecedented amount of Web/social media elements, but its own iPhone app, too. 

CBS Mobile has launched a Harper's Island app to update viewers, and enable them to participate in the mystery by watching preview and summary clips, navigate an interactive island map, learn more about the island's guests, and review the local newspaper, Harper's Globe (which is getting its own web series) for more details.

According to CBS, users then try to guess the next victim, and the murderer. People get points for accurate guesses and are listed on a leaderboard.

I'm not sure when every TV show started requiring such extensive online connectivity, but this could be fun for real fans.

That is if the show - which doesn't even debut for two weeks - even garners any.

Read more, here.

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Pinch Media: Only 1% of iPhone Apps Get Long-Term Use

A new study from Pinch Media might put the squeeze on marketers hoping to hype their brands with an iPhone app.

According to Pinch, iPhone app usage declines by almost a third after the first month of use. And only 1% of downloads translate to long-term use. More sobering: The number of iPhone users represent less than 20% of the handset market - and the most successful apps only reach about 20% of iPhone users.

Perhaps it's time to start asking if the mobile web - which will span all the various handset platforms out there - might be a better option for many marketers.

"It just depends on the brand objective. If you don't need the shake and tilt experience, maybe you can have an optimized web experience," Jon Vlassopulos, CEO of Moderati, the branded-entertainment shop behind the Zippo-lighter app, tells AD AGE.

As an huge iPhone fan, it's hard for me to admit it - but he's got a really (really) good point.

Read more, here.

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'Monsters VS. Aliens' Mobile Game & iPhone App Unleash Your Inner Beast

B.O.B.'s on the phone. And so are Missing Link, Insectosaurus, and Ginormica, too.

Dreamworks and glu have teamed up to launch a mobile game and an iPhone for the new 3D animated hit, "Monsters VS. Aliens," that opens nationwide today.

In the mobile game, "We Need Monsters," alien beings have landed on Earth, and our last line of defense is a ragtag team of monsters the military has been quietly rounded up for years."

Maybe that's where old Rumsfeld went.

The iPhone app, meanwhile, centers on B.O.B., the blue cyclops you see in all the movie promotions. B.O.B stands for Bicarbonate Ostylezene Benzoate, an indestructable gelatinous mass that was spontaneously created by the accidental mixture of genetically altered tomato and ranch-flavored dessert topping.

The iPhone app gives you the full dossier on B.O.B. and his colleagues. You can swipe, poke and shake B.O.B. to see his "eye-popping" reactions, and listen to over 30 B.O.B. blurbs and more.

Apparently there's a free "lite" version of the app. But what's interesting is there's a $1.99 full feature version - meaning the marketing here is moving from cost center to profite center via the mobile phone.

Those scumbag aliens never stood a chance.

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Carnival: Create Fish For On-Screen Aquarium Using Your Mobile Phone

Bring a Monster to the Carnival and you're sure to see something funky.

In this case, we're talking about Monster Media - known for cool interactive screens and billboards - and the new promotion they have created for Carnival Cruises (by way of Carnival agency Arnold).

New "sidewalk aquariums" - interactve screens built into store windows - enable passersby to use their mobile phones to design their own digital fishto populate the onscreen aquarium. They can even come back and feed their fish or just hang out with their new digital pets.

The promotion starts in six cities and may involve an all-mobile solution in the future.

I have no idea how any of this has anything to do with Carnival - maybe they have scuba or snorkeling excursions that this meant to emulate. But while I think its recent blimp-size beach ball and online immersive "funship island" video application are more on target, this at least reinforces the brand's fun positioning.

Even if the strategy is a little fishy.

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Nickelback Amps Up 'Proximity Marketing' Efforts for Concerts

Nickelback wants to turn concertgoers on in a whole new way.

The rock group - best known for hits like "How You Remind Me" and doppelgangers like "Rock Star" and "Photograph" - is working with Sprint to deliver content to concertgoers via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Using the same Ace Marketing & Promotion's Rockzimity solution used by Def Leppard, signage with messages such as "Would You Like A Free Video From Nickelback?" will invite fans to turn on their Bluetooth connections upon entering key areas in and around concert venues.

Upon accepting "YES" the message download immediately begins, quickly and seamlessly and is then stored in the consumers media folder. From there the content can be virally spread to family and friends via email or Bluetooth. For Wi-Fi enabled devices, all consumers have to do is connect to the Nickelback localized network that is created and then launch their browser.

"Nickelback [is] continually searching for new and exciting ways to interact with their fans," says Nickleback Manager Bryan Coleman. "This amazingly creative Bluetooth technology allows for actual 'real time' contact with our fans during our live show and creates unlimited opportunities."

Which is all great. But I think solutions like Mozes might do a lot of this better, by working the interaction via SMS and enabling concertgoers to opt-in to brand "mobs" for ongoing alerts and other content. (Full disclosure: Mozes is a sponsor of this blog.)

Nickelback has some of this functionality on its website, through polling, a fan club and a mailing list, but that's all very old school - even for a classic rock band.

Read more about the Nickelback solution, here.

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Charmin Launches iPhone Restroom Locator App

Please don't squeeze the cell phone.

That's because Charmin is launching - please forgive the expression - a clean restroom locator both online and as a BlackBerry and iPhone app.

SitorSquat even has social networking built in - though I hope it's for rating restrooms, not for microblogging during a stop in one.

Charmin doesn't have a commercial business in toilet paper; this is an example of mBranding, the term I coined in BRANDING UNBOUND the book to describe using the mobile medium for enhancing and extending the brand experience.

According to AD AGE, the SitOrSquat site has already logged (sorry again) more than half a million unique visitors and more than 1,600 downloads of its mobile apps. All those numbers are growing rapidly, and Charmin hopes publicity regarding its sponsorship helps them grow faster, P&G spokesman Dewayne Guy tells the pub.

"We've been doing this idea of trying to give consumers the same experience away from home as they get at home for years," he says. "This fits into that whole concept that you're on the go, there's some tension there; Charmin is playing hero."

And in the toilet paper business, nobody wants to play number two.

Read more here.

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Get Dat 'Vibe' In Your Pocket

An urban cool maker magazine wants to put a little Vibe in your pocket.

Vibe magazine has announced it will launch Vibe Video to deliver music videos to the PC, and Vibe Mobile to deliver alerts and links to stories to readers who opt in to receive them.

Users can sign up to receive updates when new content is posted, based on specific artist or topic keywords. This unique offering transforms and enhances VIBE.com's user experience by allowing them to access content in a personalized way via direct text message.

As Ross Robbins, VIBE's Director of Digital Media, puts it: "Not only can people now view the daily content updated on our Web site in a clear way from their phones, but they can also tailor what content gets sent to them in text alerts to keep up to date regularly. With the wide amount of content across the Web and ways it can be consumed, it is imperative to deliver only what the reader is looking for and strip the excess. That is what our text message keyword filter accomplishes."

It's kind of funny that staid personal finance publication SmartMoney started doing a much more robust version of this with both content and advertising last year, and that a pub focused on urban culture is just catching on.

But still - this is definitely the wave of the future. I could easily see opportunities for Vibe to pair up with a mobile community player like Mozes (which already builds "mobs" for many of the artists Vibe features) to really make things rock for both readers, advertisers and music artists alike.

Now that would bring an interesting new vibe to Vibe.

Read more, here.

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Michael Jackson's Gone Mobile For 'Final' London Concerts

He's bad, you know it - ta!

Now he's mobile, too.

On the heels of announcements that Michael Jackson - the "Gloved One" and "King of Pop" in the '80s era - will perform a series of concerts in London in what he calls a "final curtain call," word's gone out that he's putting mobile center stage in his marketing efforts.

It is an interesting focus, of course. In Jackson's heyday, it seemed nobody over 30 knew who he was. Now, it's nobody under 30.

Still, he is one of the most successful musical artists ever.

And to the extent she wants to grove to "Thriller," "Beat It," and "Billie Jean," tell your mom(asaymamasamumakusa) that fans who register for mobile updates about Jackson's tour by sending "MJ" to 81707 will be able to enter contests, receive alerts and even pre-order tickets. 

Read all about it, here - Shamoe!

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Media Execs Bearish On Spending, Bullish On Mobile

Recession? Schmecession.

Media executives think that while overall ad spending will go down over the next six months, mobile could see a big boost.

MediaBuyingPlanner and Media Post are reporting that a new survey shows 31% of agencies, and 42% of marketers thing ad spending will be cut over the next six months. 35% of agencies say network TV spend will be cut, while 55% of marketers believe so. The story's mostly the same across cable, outdoor and so on.

Meanwhile, online media sees some mild optimism. But a full 52% of agencies and 58% of marketers say spend on mobile marketing will go up in the next six months.

Now, that could be just because spending is so low today. But it also reflects the medium's reach and use among certain demographic audiences.

I hope that this spend isn't merely in mobile advertising (yawn). Mobile is so much more powerful when used as an activation/response mechanism for messages in other media.

But either way, mobile appears to see growth in the turbulent six months ahead. 

Read more here.

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Campaign Results: AXE Deodorant Brings ‘Sweet Life’ To Your Cell Phone

As part of an integrated campaign for AXE’s new Dark Temptation body spray, Unilever and partners Walton Isaacson and Brightline iTV, tapped Ping Mobile to run a text 2 win component to its “Sweet Life Sweepstakes” promotion.

Mobile calls-to-action were added to movie preview commercials, video on demand programming and Dish Network spots, and invited consumers to text in to be entered into a sweepstakes for thousands in cash and prizes.

It’s unclear how many impressions this represents, but according to Anna Tabakh, a spokesperson for Ping, thousands entered – in which case they were urged to buy AXE Dark Temptation for 50 more entries. The campaign saw a significant double opted-in mobile database at a rate of 20%.

I would love to know how many thousands of people we’re talking about there, and how many people went directly to the URL, of course.

Mobile calls to action for women’s wear brand Bravissimo saw 45% of respondents respond to a recent campaign via mobile – far more than by URL or 800#. I’d love to know what percentage did so here – especially given the match of demographic target and technology.
Who knows – other marketers might suddenly find mobile more Tempting than ever.

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