Chrysler is running a massive advertising campaign to promote a range of nine vehicles launched this year. Tonight Yahoo! was literally "invaded" by banners promoting Dodge and its Hemi feature. As explained by Cnn Money earlier this month, Chrysler wants to create awareness of the "Premiere Days" events. The Internet is, of course, part of the effort with dedicated web site and online advertising.

Do you remember the "Drink a Pepsi, win a song campaign?" (if you don't just follow the link ;-) Well, according to Apple that partnered to the initiative with iTunes, redemption rates were low, and althought the campaign was offering 100 million songs, only 5 million were actually downloaded. MacWorld tells more about, also quoting a disappointed Apple official.

160Characters reports of an interesting initiative, "Muscles for Muscles Week", to support fund raising to the Muscular Dystrophy Association through SMS. Using Esendex SMS technology, donations can be made to the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign by texting the word ‘muscle’ to 80806 (texts cost £1.50 and at least 85p goes to the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign).

Spanish interactive agency Masmadera has created a new online image for Cepsa, the petroluem company. As explained in a press release on Marketing Directo they have paied particular attention to the navigation structure, in order to provide an easier access to the secondary content pages. On Cepsa.es you can see the results of their job done taking advantage of Flash and Xhtml.

Harris Interactive has been assigned with a David Ogilvy Award for its innovative use of research in advertising. Harris Interactive has helped Volvo with its campaign "Starting a Family" specifically targeted to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender consumers. Further details about the research are explained in the press release, where Judith Ricker, Senior Vice President for Marketing Communications Research at Harris Interactive explains:

Thanks to Sean, I've found out of a new campaign developed by NetX for Orange Australia. You can check it out here: basically it's a guide to teach users the "mobile etiquette" and help them to avoid becoming the victim of a "mobile rage". Three Flash videos show how people can react to mobile abuses... It's "a modern guide to mobile safety"... I think I'll send the link to my collegues at the office...

Nike is using MMS to promte its event series "Panna K.O." in Germany. As Wuv explains, Nike has decided to take advantage of mobile marketing in order to reach a specific target group: teenagers passionate about football. The campaing, developed by German agency Yoc aims to increase awareness of the Panna event and football tournament which will travel around the country in May.

Renault has launched a limited edition "Kiss Cool" of its Twingo, promoting it in France with a micro-site and a multi-channel campaign. As explained on Le Journal du Net Renault has decided to use the Web in order to reach a target (25-35 years old) which is younger than the usual segment (25-50) for this model. The micro-site has been supported by an online campaign run on Yahoo! and Lycos France, as well as Tv spots and and advergame, which has attracted more than 18.000 users.

Happy with the results of this campaign which run during the winter, Renault is now setting up a similar promotion for it Clio.

Ask Jeeves has launched a multi-channel campaign in the UK to promote its services. As Revolution Magazine reports, the online creative has been developed by Profero, and will run across the main British sites like The Guardian, iVillage and Handbag.

People love to communicate with each other. Sms, mms, instant messaging, the briefer the communication, the more they love it, and this passion for communication means business for a lot of players.
On Telco(r)evolutions, The Radicati Group features a deep analysis of the "messaging" phenomenon and of its business implications with stats and revenue estimates.

In Egypt Dream Satellite Tv is taking advantage of the mobile channel to reach its customers, provide them with interactive content an consequently generate revenue. In an article on Al Jazeera.net they says SMS revenue provides around 50% of the two channels’ income, which in particular uses SMS to generate interactivity with the public during Tv shows.

Wireless communication is eventually becoming a serious stuff in the United States also. As Andrew Bud writes on New Media Age, US carriers are now making premium rate SMS available to marketers and content providers. The market's potentials are huge, with 150 million people that could be reached in the next couple of years.
The problem is, in my opinion, that someone will first have to teach US mobile users what SMS' are. I have several friends who completely ignore the functionality and, if I remember correctly, a research by The Yankee Group considered "active" users people sending at least an SMS a week...
If US carriers don't care about SMS, why should users?

Wireless marketing is becoming a serious stuff, not only in Europe but also in the United States. To find out more about the current trends in mobile marketing I've talked to Jonathon Linner, CEO of Enpocket one of the leading companies in the industry.
Find out more in the interview...

Americans are going online to find information about religion, advertisers are beginning to capitalize such interest serving target ads. The unusual news is report on MediaPost quoting the results of a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project: 64 percent of the nation's 128 million Internet users have used the Web for spiritual and religious purposes. I especially liked the comment of Steve Waldman CEO of Beliefnet.com who said:

On iMediaConnection the campaign featured this week is Reebok: all eyes on us. The sport brand developed a micro site to engage basketball fans (and prospects) in an interactive and entertaining experience. As Tony Quin, President at IQTV said, the initiative is good but not great. They decide to take an innovative approach to navigation and content. There's a lot of esploration and discovery, probably to much for the average users. But for teenagers it might be the correct choice...

Positioning is the key for a successful online campaign. In an article on New Media Age (thanks Evan!) Ben Mein focuses on the context' importance in an advertising campaign. If you place your ads on a specific qualiy content site, you're more likely to succeed.

The sky is limit for mobile content and its related revenue streams. Every day you read of a new service, innovative, useful, superfluous, weird. For example, ABC Entertainment and Telenor have launched "Soap Confidential", a premium text-message service that keep users updated with their favourite soap opera characters. Fans can sign up and receive messages from ABC's All My Children, General Hospital and One Life to Live.

The second weird idea I've heard of is the one by Orange Uk, that will allow runners of the London Marathon to text a message to family and friends with their progress during the race. The service is free and will use a small timing chip to be attached to runners' laces.

iVillage (via Terranova) has launched "Paradise Island" an online role-playing game, marked, as Betsy Book says, "by gender and commercial co-branding". This is a very interesting example of a portal taking the relationship with its readers a step further, taking advantage of the medium's peculiar characteristics. Interactivity, even if text-based is the best expression of Internet communication. Effective online branding isn't necessarily flashy.

BEX Media has launched the first MMS based newspaper of Switzerland. MMS are sent out twice a day; the service carries pictures along with the text, covering politics, economics, sports and international stock exchanges results.
As Rafat Ali says on Paidcontent, "someone is claiming that is an MMS newspaper". I haven't seen the service, so I can't express an opinion, I can just say the concept of "newspaper" is rather complex and goes far behind a news service. Probably MMS news are a good service idea, while MMS newspaper is simply an excellent PR invention.

Handset play an important role attracting US users to adopt mobile phones. A new report by Datacomm Research analyses the US mobile phone industry, investingating actual trends and future possibilities. Quoted in the press release Ira Brodsky, the report's author says:

Pepsi has recently redesigned its Italian web site, refreshing its online brand image. At www.pepsi.it, users can now get to know Pepsi's testimonials, like Britney Spears and football player Francesco Totti, downloading pictures and desktop wallpapers. The web site also features Pepsi's latest tv spot and, of course, several information about the soft drinks.

The Australian online advertising market grew 41 percent in 2003. According to a new report, the finance industry was the top spender, followed by recruitment. In an article, News Australia provides full numbers and details about the research.

Movies, Tv, Mobile phones: the business is getting bigger and bigger. The issue has been discussed recently at the MIPTV-Milia new media conference in France, and featured in an article on News Australia.
SMS are used to send out invitations to movies' previews, MMS galleries are helpful to generate a buzz about a movie, and we even see the possibility of "direct-to-mobile" film series. Fox Lab is in fact ready to launch "Hotel Franklin" a film series in a new format (60-second episodes) which uses a concise screenplay written specifically for mobiles. In The Netherlands they have already experienced the mobile soap opera, getting excellent results, so Fox' idea sounds appealing. In my opinion, the key to the solution's future success will be in content's quality. Fox is launching something similar to Sex and the City, which will probably/hopefully engage people right from the first scene, however they need to keep it high profile in order to set a trend and allow the business idea to grow.

On iMediaConnection the "showcase" is definitely my favourite section. Last week they featured an advertising quiz by Fuji . Developed by Sharpe Partners with Pointroll rich media technology, the ad helps users finding the right digital camera. Some people are enthusiastic about the solution, others believe the solution did not fully exploit the media potentials. Personally I don't like the layout while I like the idea of interactivity and the user experience they've tried to create.

Benetton has won the Investor Relations Best Practice European Website Award assigned by the Investor Relations Society, Europe's leading professional body for investor relations practitioners. As explained in the press release the he main features of the /www.benetton.com/investors website are Benetton stock quotes in Milan, Frankfurt and New York reported with just 10 minutes' delay, investment calculator, benchmark table information, sophisticated interactive charts, and a comprehensive archive of past financial statements, half-year and quarterly reports, press releases and past presentations.

Columbia TriStar has promoted its movie Gothika with film streaming ads on MSN Hotmail. As explained in a press release on Microsoft's website, the ads have been running for two weeks targeting audience aged 15-24 in Britain.
Chris Gilbody, Account Manager at Manning Gottlieb OMD, Columbia TriStar�s Media agency, commented:

The disturbing ads can be seen on Flashtalking web site.

The anti-gun organisation "Mothers Against Guns" is about to launch a multi-channel campaign to support a petition to demand the total ban of replica guns in the UK. The agency Grey London has developed a short film "Toys that kill" which will be shown in cinemas and will also be available on the organisation's web site, where the video is available both for download and stream. It's possible to sign the petition on the web site.

A new study by Doubleclick Germany says email marketing in Europe is growing in volume and effectiveness. In the last three months click-through rates increased to 11.3 percent. In Germany the value is 8.9 percent, in France 8.7 and in the UK about 7.4 percent. Opening rates are also growing, with 42.9 percent of opened messages.

Brandchannel features Martina Zavagno, founder and editor of Adverblog.com, talking about viral marketing: �An advertising concept, in order to work in a viral perspective, needs to add value to the user�s experience. This value can be explicated in something entertaining, in something educational or in something rewarding.� Check out the article "Are you sick of viral marketing?". Thanks to Abe Sauer :-)

Fashion brand French Connection is planning to use mobile marketing to support its expansion into the US. FCUK has recently launched a digital radio station and is supporting the spring/summer marketing campaign with SMS and MMS.

The SpinAwards, the online advertising assigned in The Netherlands, have been announced last week. Emerce presents the winners' list, with Unilever celebrated as the best online advertiser in 2003. Among the others, McDonald's "I'm lovin'it" won as best online campaign, while M&M;'s Film Buddy won the best banner prize assigned by the public.
All shortlisted entries can be found on SpinAwards' website: www.spinawards.nl

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