Digital agency Swamp has created a new site for Heinz' baked beans "Beanz". The product is currently being promoted through Tv and online ads. On Revolution Magazine Simon Breckon, senior brand manager for Heinz Baked Beanz, said:

If you look for "sex" on Google, you might get a text ad by Telstra promoting its fetchmemovies.com.au DVD rental site. ZDNet Australia reports the campaign has unexpectedly led the telecommunication company into the murky waters of porn advertising.

Basically they bought keywords to promote on their titles, "Sex: The Annabel Chong Story". The funny thingh is that is rather difficult to get Telstra's ad, since the competition for the keyword "sex" is rather fierce...

German agency Denwerk has developed an advergame for Europcar inspired to the upcoming Olympic Games.
There is also a competition associated to the game, which gives users the chance to win Lufthansa's air miles and, therefore, plane tickets, three days in Marriot's SPA resort, or a Nokia 7200.

Craik Jones Digital has developed an online campaign on the account of the British Heart Foundation in order to prevent teenagers from starting smoking. Brand Republic explains there are two micro websites targeting teens and under 11.

Given the target, the two web sites are developed in an advertainment style. They offer "serious" content as well as competitions and an advergame featuring a cartoon character, "Artie Beat".

Ringtones are a huge business: it's a statement we have been hearing quite often lately. The latest article exploring the issue has been published on TechCentral and it's dedicated to Malaysian's market. EMI Malaysia managing director Darren Choy notes that the new generation of consumers is actually buying more albums that CDs.

Ringtones add a new level of personalization to mobile phones. "Ringtones are a youth fashion statement today, just like blue-jeans in the 1970s" said the author of the article.
It would be interesting to investigate users' psychological relationship with the cell phone, and understand what's the meaning of the device in daily life, what it represents, what is it for. There is actually a paper, by Hulme and Peters entitled "Me, My Mobile and I" (.pdf) which studies the influence mobile phones have on society and the use of other media.

Text & win competitions are regarded as a form of gambling, therefore Muslims are banned from sending SMS to get prizes. In Malaysia, as Telecom Asia reports, the ruling by the National Fatwa Council means Muslims caught sending SMS messages in the hope of winning a prize could find themselves in a sharia court.

Dutch agency .Bone has developed an online campaign for Pickwick Ice Tea. As Emerce explains there is also a competition giving away a travel to Jamaica. It's the first time the company uses online advertising, an initiative that supports tv ads currently on air.

A new forecast by JupiterResearch predicts that online advertising will more than double over the next five years. The press release explains the online ad market will grow from $6.6 billion in 2003 to $16.1 billion in 2009.

While paid search will grow 30% compounded annually over the next two years, it is no longer the sole driver of online ad spending. Display ads and online classifieds will each grow more than 25% compounded annually over the same period. Gary Stein, Senior Analyst at JupiterResearch comments:

On the growth or, better, on the evolution of online advertising, there is also an article published today on eMarketer which reports about recent Doubleclick's studies. Doubleclick introduces the concept of "view-throughs" (online conversions that result from a user seeing an ad online but not clicking on it) that account for a higher rate of conversions than click-throughs on online advertising. For Q2 2004, the view-through rate averaged 0.73% for DoubleClick customers' campaigns, while their average click-through rate (CTR) was 0.43%.

ClickZ reports Pointroll has introduced a new rich media video ad format. The new offering will allow easily incorporate their TV assets into the rich media provider's formats.

Jupiter Research has recently released a report entitled "The Growth of Online Video Advertising" which investigates the factors that are limiting the growth of this kind of solution.

I will soon be able to get weather forecasts delivered directly to my mobile phone. In my region (Friuli Venezia Giulia) I will be able to get the info via sms in Italian, German and English. Via Yahoo! News.

On New Media Age Craig Barrack explains everything you need to know about ringback tones. This kind of mobile content is already rather successful in Germany, while in the UK it's taking up slowly.

Kia Motors is running a rich media campaign to promote its cars in the UK. The marketing effort is supported also by press, tv and point-of-sale activity.
The ads, created by E3 Media are displayed on sites such as I-Village, Vogue and WhatCar.

In France, Jetmultimedia.com in cooperation with Nice's town council, has launched an alert system (Contacteur Hyperphone) to tell elderly people about upcoming hot days. The service will also be able to deliver health and practical information. Messages can be transmitted through voice mail, sms, email, fax and snail mail. The system will be able to deliver about 10.000 messages per hour.

I wonder if the people getting the sms alerts will be the same now taking sms classes...

3 Lomo is world's first 10-seconds Film Festival, dedicated to MMS videomessages. Organized by mobile carrier 3 (Drei :-) the festival is currently taking place in Austria.

Legend Mobile has updated Racemobile.com adding new features to its mobile service delivering news regarding stock car racing, top drivers and teams, points standings, race results and other breaking updates. For $3.95 per month, race fans with virtually any mobile phone operating on any carrier network in the United States, can take advantage of this service.

German agency Phase 4 has developed an online quiz for Allianz. The insurance company is sponsor of the Formula 1 BMW Williams team, and will run the quiz until October, giving away a Grand Prix weekend in 2005

German agency Elephant Seven developed a journey to the year 2035 to promote the upcoming movie "I, Robot" and the futuristic Audi Sportcoup� RSQ. On the website www.audi.de/irobot Audi presents a special featuring videomessages, games, ringtones, screensavers and further spectacular info about the movie, such as an interactive video set in 2035. There is also a competition which is giving away to tickets to the movie's premiere, a three-days training with AUDI Driving Experience and a dream journey to Hollywood.
You can donwnload the press release (in German).

Mobile marketing agency Yoc has developed an sms-based interactive campaign for Bacardi. The initiative takes advantage of Tv spots on MTV promoting Bacardi's parties. Sending an SMS with the word "Bacardi" German mobile users receive a password to log on Bacardis' website and access music samples, free downloads and the possibility to win tickets for the "Ritmo de Bacardi" events.
The website Bacardi.de has been developed by Argonauten 360.

Engage your clients and partners in a relationship that goes beyond the pure business. This is basically the idea that brought Doubleclick to organize the first golf tournament among interactive agencies. As MarketingDirecto reports, at the end of June in Toledo, advertisers and marketers gathered for a golf challenge. Manuel Garc�a Vicente (Universal Mccan) won the first prize, follewed by Pedro Obieta (Wanadoo). A special recognition was awarded to Beatriz Bordons, Directora General de Zenith who played despite being 6 months pregnant.

How many times did you explain your father how to send an SMS? Well, with all the respect I have for my dad, I'd rather keep this information secret... It would have been better to send him to a "text message class" like the one organized in Glasgow. As BBC NEWS a bunch of Scottish mature students took part in a tutorial on the various uses of a mobile phone.

The article adds that "as well as text message lessons, attendees were also taught how to download mobile pictures and ringtones".
I look forward to hear my granma's mobile ringing with Britney Spears' latest song...

Insurer Norwich Union will support UK athletics at the upcoming Olympic Games and has developed a "desktop athlete" to let users know about the sponsorship. Brand Republic explains the application provides sports news alerts and services, while leaping, jogging and stretching on users' desktops.

A good example of advertising moving beyond the browser.

Big brands are having an hard time trying to stay on top. Global competition, deregulation and technology progress are menacing their survival. On the IHT an article by Claudia Deutsch talks about AT&T;'s risky situation, whose brand supremacy is under assault from many angles.

What is "funny" to note is that big brands are victims' of their own desire to dominate the market. You can't take your success for granted, you can't be sure your brand will be on top forever, and you can't be so superficial to understimate the potentials of your competition.

NYC2012, the committee leading New York's bid to host the Olympic Games in 2012, today announced the relaunch of its Web site, www.nyc2012.com, and promotional blitz by interactive agency R/GA, as part of NYC2012's marketing campaign titled "Let The Dreams Begin," which was unveiled last month. The site uses animated images to draw parallels between the ambitious and competitive spirit of New Yorkers and the aspirations and dreams of Olympic athletes.

Templar Studios (their website is brilliant) have launched an interactive Flash-based online game, Mutator on www.thetruth.com as part of the American Legacy Foundation's multi-platform anti-smoking campaign with creative directed by Arnold Worldwide of Boston and Crispin, Porter + Bogusky of Miami. The companies have worked together to provide the truth� campaign brand-extending entertainment content.
Mutator uses humor and irony to engage users in an interactive environment. Players avoid glowing green radioactive puffs of smoke that are blown from above while they move across the screen. As a player comes in contact with more smoke, their character mutates into an alien-like form.

The agency Wysiwyg has developed an online campaign to promote Vodafone Wireless Office in Spain. The promotion features different ads' format, personalized emails and a micro-site presenting all the information about Vodafone's offer.
Read more on Noticiasdot.com (in Spanish).

German agency Planetactive has developed an online campaign for Samsung Telecommunication Europe. As WUV explains the initiative 'Get 2 � Pay 1' will last four weeks and will target mobile users around Europe with email marketing, search engine advertising and banners.

Saab is launching a massive online marketing campaign to boost awareness of its cars in the UK. Draft London developed a series of rich media ads which can be explored by users to find out the model name, prices and finance offers. In the press release, Elliot Grace, marketing communications manager at Saab Great Britain, comments:

Italian agency E3 has developed an advergame for Bacardi also supported by an online competition. Going to Bacardi.it users enter a virtual bar where they can test themselves as barmen, mixing drinks with Bacardi rhum. The initiative is called "Bacardi MixAbility" and gives the chance to spend an evening with a professional barman teaching cocktails' secrets. The competition is supported by an online campaign featuring banners, pop-under, leaderboard, overlayers and hockeysticks on the main Italian's websites. There is also a part of keyword advertising through Overture and Enspotting, and a direct mailing to Tiscali's users aged 18 to 35.

Dutch sports' fans will have the chance to be immediately informed about any medal won by Dutch athletes at the upcoming Olympic Games.
ANP, DataWireSport and Mobillion have introduced an "sms-medal-alert" which will deliver a message with the news directly to subscribed mobile users.

In Germany 12Snap has developed an on-pack promotion for Ferrero and the movie Shrek 2. From July to September, on the snacks Duplo and Hanuta, consumers can find codes to get java games, mms movies, sms postacards and other mobile gadgets related to the movie.

In the teenage economy, mobile ringtones and content play a key role. In Europe there is a big debate at the moment about e-money and service purchased via mobile phones. Guardian Unlimited (free registration req.) dedicates an interesting article about the implications for mobile operators who are subject to the rules of the EU's e-money directive.

Korean online magazine The Star reports the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry will scrutinise short message service (SMS) contests to check cheating incidences. Korean authorities advised consumers to pay attention before "investing" in an sms competition as they could end up losing more in SMS charges.

The interactive agency Keblow has developed a nice web site for Samsung to present and promote its Yepp series Mp3 players in France. The mini-site is characterized by an advertainment approach which aims to appeal a young audience. It features a test to discover the "Yepp attitude", interactive demos and a competition to win an Lcd Tv set.

Summer time is vacation time, so Lastminute.com is launching a series of marketing initiatives. Revolution Magazine reports today of an high-street marketing campaign in partnership with the hairdressing chain Toni & Guy.
On the Web there is "Bikini Bounce" an advergame developed by Panlogic specifically targeted to the male audience. If you check it out, you understand why...

MUD, MMOG, videogames, there are a lot of new places where you can place your ads on. Online video game advertising hasn't just come in the form of product placements, says Tessa Wegert on ClickZ, analysing the opportunities for advertising offered by the entertainment industry.

If you want to reach young male consumers, product placement in videogames is what you need. Let's just hope these actions won't lower the games quality has it is happening in the movie industry...

According to a recent study, conducted by Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Nielsen//NetRatings, sponsored text advertising is very useful for online branding. iMedia Connection, commenting the news reports the opinion of Marc Ryan, senior director, analysis of Nielsen//NetRatings:

Warner Music Group announced a partnershipMobileway to become the first major music company in the U.S. to incorporate wireless branding into its CD packaging. As stated in the press release, using five digit codes (short-codes) that will be featured on CD packages, album posters, artist web sites and online banner ads, consumers in the U.S. will be able to directly access ringtones from WMG artists in one simple step from their mobile phones.
The service costs $1.99 for each polyphonic or monophonic ringtone and $2.49 per music tone and voice tone download.

Online advertising is part of the media mix planned by FedEx to reinforce its Kinko's business services. DMNews.com explains the "Our Office Is Your Office" campaign will take advantage of tv spots created by BBDO New York as well as radio ads and rich media banners.

Lego has launched a mini-movie to help promoting Spiderman 2. The "legolized" version of Spiderman is available on Yahoo!.

On New Zealand News Peter Griffin writes about new forms of advertising that try to replace Tv spots. Big brands are investing in particular in viral marketing.
Among the examples quoted in the article, the cyber tree "Ecotonoha" created by Nec is amazing. An excellent example of viral marketing, online branding and ecological commitment.

Mobile marketing agency As Interactive has developed an sms based campaign to promote Mentos's candies. The initiative, co-branded with Sony, will last until the end of November, allowing German entrants to win 100 Sony mp3 players.
Looking at Mentos' web site, we see the evident advertainment approach towards online communication: it features advergames, interactive content and the possibility to watch the spots aired on tv.

There were great expectations around location based services (LBS), but up 'til now mobile marketers have been disappointed by tool. As a new report by Frost & Sullivan points out, "to maximise potential, LBS technology (offering location-sensitive information and tracking services) should be leveraged as an enabler for value-added services rather than as a stand-alone service revenue generator".

The report is very interesting (but also expensive). To find out more about location based advertising, I suggest you visiting Russell Buckley's weblog. He's an expert in the field, and has recently published a white paper on the issue(which is of course, free ;-). If you visit his website and tell him you're an Adverblog's reader, you can get a copy.

Web-based and low-cost: these are the main characteristics of a new technology developed to allow inbound and outbound automated sms marketing campaigns within reach of more than 1 million Australian businesses. As explained in the press release setting up an SMS competition or auto-response marketing campaign only takes a few minutes. Using the web-based interface, the user is able to assign phone numbers, create multiple prizes, select the type of game, author response messages and enable privacy and spam-act compliance functionalities.

Ferrero has recently launched its first text & win campaign in Germany to promote Tic Tacs. As Brand Republic reports, entrants can win camera phones by texting a shortcode printed on the pack. The initiative is proving very successful and Ferrero is looking forward to replicate it in the UK. With the support of MindMatics they will also run a similar campaign for the Duplo chocolate bar. Both are aimed at the 12- to 16-year-old market.

T-Mobile USA subscribers will be able to download exclusive content to their wireless phones from King Arthur. As announced in the press release subscribers with capable devices (I love this clarification :-) can download select Disney Mobile ringers, graphics and games, including the new "King Arthur" game. In support of the promotion there will be online banners and in-store ads, also to let people know about Disney Mobile's "King Arthur" Sweepstakes.

The advergame Skive Creative created to promote betting on Euro 2004 with Tote Sport proved extremely successful, achieving 6,000,000 plays. The game, developed with Shockwave is still online. Skive has also created another excellent advergame for SkySports and T-Mobile, it's a virtual version of "Subbuteo", "Table Top Football". Simply fantastic!

PinPoint Interactive Media, a full-service interactive advertising agency, will help the fight against childhood cancer by donating 2 cents for every banner click that was placed through the agency on selected campaigns during the month of September. The press release explains The event called "Clicks for Cancer" will begin September 1 and PinPoint Interactive Media will be making the donation on behalf of its clients. TheInternet Marketing industry is encouraged to help by sending donations directly to the CureSearch National Childhood Cancer Foundation.

Chivas Regal has launched a special advertainment section of its website as part of a co-branding initiative with Playboy. As MediaPost reports, "the website brings the Playboy Mansion experience to life through a virtual trip to the fantasy playground of men around the world". There is also a contest to win tickets to the actual Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles.

Through Gary Stein's blog I've found out an interesting article about Proctor & Gable's approach towards advertising. The Australian quotes the chairman and chief executive of Procter & Gamble, Alan "AG" Lafley who said that the fast-moving consumer goods marketer could no longer afford to bore consumers with its advertising, but needed to engage them with new, media-neutral ideas.

I've found the concept of "media-neutral ideas" particularly fascinating and, at the same time, rather scaring from a consumer perspective. The "invasion" of advertising in our everyday life will become more subtle and somehow invisible, with brands all around us. For integrated marketers, on the contrary, this sounds great, eventually top managers have understood that the TV ads' reign is now over, and successful promotion need to take a multi-channel approach.

MSN Spain is heavily investing in its Messenger services, signing co-branding deals to make its IM service more and more attractive to its 6 million users. At the moment they are promoting Movimiento Coca-Cola (which features online dating and games), Agenda San Miguel (music videos and competitions to win concerts' tickets) and Nike Football (with the Nike Ol� 3d).

Everytime I see an new 3's campaign I can't help asking myself: why are they wasting their money like this?
They keep on signing up celebrities who apparently can't live without making video calls. As it often happens for tv ads in my country, the spots are simply pathetic. In the tv campaign launched this week (read more on Pubblicit� Italia), 3 has invested 30 million Euros, which is an enormous amount of money to promote a service which is actually not yet available in most Italian zones. Wouldn't it be better to invest in improving the infrastructure instead of trying to gain immediately disappointed customers?

The Dutch government has started an online communication campaign to promote its health test. On the website www.nationalegezondheidstestonline.nl they invite people between 16 and 70 years old to take a test and get personal health reccomendations. As Communicatie Online explains, the initiative is part of a three years campaign to promote public health.

The Mobile Data Association (MDA) has joined forces with UK mobile content players and network operators in a scheme that will protect users from premium rate spam text messaging. The news is reported on New Media Age adding that the project forms part of the UK implementation of the Mobile Content Code, a self-regulation code of practice for mobile operators for content on mobile phones.

Female First, women�s lifestyle magazine launched in the UK in 2001 has signed an agreement with Value Click, which will now take care of its advertising. As Mediaweek reports, ValueClick said the arrangement opens up opportunities for integrated marketing campaigns across a range of creative formats.

The World Advertising Research Centre reports advertising expenditure in the United Kingdom is set to rise by 4.8% this year reports the nation's Advertising Association in its quarterly Advertising Forecast. Internet advertising is expected to be the single fastest growing medium overall, increasing by over 50% when compared with 2003.

The Australian Direct Marketing Association will assign this year the MMA Awards, to the best mobile marketing initiatives. The deadline for campaigns' submissions is July 23, while the winners will be announced in September.
To find out more, go on the Awards' website.

Lateral has created a fun but smart email/letter generating tool for the RSPCA as their latest weapon of mass awareness, that will alert the UK Prime Minister of the growing support of the new Animal Welfare Bill (AWB). The RSPCA support the new Animal Welfare Bill, which is designed to prevent animal suffering before it starts. If the AWB becomes law, whenever you buy a pet, it will have to come with all the information you need to look after it properly.
Lateral have developed a light-hearted, fun-to-use and extremely effective email / letter-generating tool, which pre-populates the user's email client with an individual, "personalized" message, already addressed to the Prime Minister.
Said Su Sareen, Creative Director of Lateral explains:

Thanks to Michael, I've found out about this interesting event which is going to take place in London on July 20th. The Branded Content Marketing Association (BCMA) is hosting Europe�s first �Advergaming� event: �Advertising Through Games�. A panel of experts from the games and advertising industries will gather to discuss issues such as the impact of games on other media's consumption and the potential of games as advertising.
To find out more about it, I suggets having a look at the press release.

Mobile marketing company Mobileway is heavily investing in order to double its business in Asia. As The Business Times reports, the investment will make Singapore its global operations headquarters and provide the local centre with the ability to reach 90 per cent of global mobile users through Mobileway's relationships with more than 150 mobile carriers worldwide.

Recently Mobileway has also announced a business expansion in Romania.

Nobody is perfect, not even the Australian Big Brother who suffered an SMS voting mistake. The wrong person was kicked out of the house and then re-admitted once the error was recognized. The correct contestant will be evicted later this week.

On MediaPost Cory Treffiletti is worried no one commented his article about building a brand online. Is it possible nobody is interested in building a brand anymore? Cory thinks this is not the case, then he starts an interesting but somehow complicated path to explain the case of iPod, iTunes and Google. The point he makes is that "Brand Development is now based more on actual experience than on the messages of advertising".
It's The Experience Economy, isn't it?

According to a TNS survey commissioned by Marketing Week, of the eight main Euro 2004 official sponsors, only fast-food chain McDonald's and soft drink giant Coca-Cola performed well for what concerns brand recognition. CNN Money reports mobile phone operator T-Mobile was identified as a main sponsor by just three percent of respondents, despite a multi-million-dollar promotional campaign, almost as many people wrongly associated rival Vodafone with Euro 2004 sponsorship

Yahoo! Italia together with Carat Interactive have investigated the results of the "Impossible is Nothing" campaign Adidas planned on the portal during last spring. According to Pubblicit� Italia (in Italian) the campaign awareness raised to 229% help the brand reposition itself towards the Italian Internet audience.

The airline Alitalia is running an online advertising campaign in Italy to promote its electronic ticket service. The ads, created by IconMediaLab, show a cherry with a message basically saying "you can't get just one", aiming to be light and friendly. The campaign is planned on several economics related web sites and on the portal Excite (does it still exist??) in particular, and there will also be some keyword advertising on Google.

You can have a look at a banner in the renewed Adverblog's Watch section. powered by my friend Fris Idee.

The Australian search market will be worth 70$ million this year and will grow to $250 million in 2008. The Australia IT says "the appetite for pay-per-click advertising is growing", quoting the results of a recen analysis by Frost & Sullivan. Among the results presented, it's interesting to note that Eighty-six per cent of advertisers surveyed said they were satisfied with the return on investment from search marketing.

Italian carrier Tim has been condemned to pay a 1000 � fine for having spammed a user from Naples. It's the first time in the country that a firm is charged for mobile unsolicited messages. Actually, Tim has been fined for "privacy violation", since the promotional sms had been sent without a user's written permission.

The integrated marketing campaign developed by 7seven for Harley Davidson V-Rod has won the Grand Prix Strat�gies de la Publicit� 2004 in the category "Internet". Launched in France, V-Rod's microsite, has been supported by email marketing and a press campaign aimed to build awareness of the new motorcycle model, and to create a buzz around it with a dedicated online movie.

The Grudge is a Japanese horror movie opening today in the UK. To promote it, Egovision has developed a viral campaign to make people "experience the fear". There is a dedicated micro-site (I preferred not to explore it :-) which is supported by email marketing and rich media ads on movies' related portals.

Forrester Research has recently release a report entitled "Web Design Agency Shootout" which compares the work of 17 firms that build consumer-facing Web sites.The report reviewed two types of engagements; one concentrating on building brands and another looking toward conversion rates that focused on transactions. As explained in the press release R/GA was singled out for its strength in its design and standout approach to broadband. Forrester also gave R/GA top marks for strategy, with above average scores for customer modeling. Additionally, the business results produced for clients, based on client interviews, led to high marks for client satisfaction.

Recently R/GA has been awarded with six Cyber Lions at the 51st Annual Advertising Festival in Cannes. Gold Lions were presented for Nike Lab Holiday 03 (www.nikelab.com) in the Sportswear, Fashion and Clothing category and for Nike ID (www.nikeid.com) in the Retail/E-commerce category. A Silver Lion was awarded for Nike Gridiron (www.nikegridiron.com) in Consumer Products/Services, while Bronze Lions were given for Nike Lab Comic Book and Nike Lab Spring in Sportswear, Fashion and Clothing. R/GA also received a Bronze Lion in Digital Video Spots for the Internet for its Vince Carter and LeBron James animated series on Nike Hooptown (www.nikebasketball.com). Nike Running (www.nikerunning.com) made the Cyber Lions Shortlist once in Retail/E-Commerce and twice in Miscellaneous, for a training log and pace calculator.

China is going to expand its censorship controls to text messages sent with mobile phones. BBC News reports today, saying that new regulations have been issued to filter messages for pornographic or fraudulent content (of course they don't say this is a mean to target political dissidents).

A lot of people will have to start paying attention to their love messages: "I love you" will still be allowed, while "I want you" might be seriously evaluated before approval...

12snap has won the Gold and Silver award in the International Advertising Festival in Cannes for the campaign "Message in a bottle" run in Germany on account of Coca-Cola. The news is reported on 160 Characters, but I also suggest you reading Russell Buckley's opinion on his own blog. He talks about the evolution of text & win campaigns, and hopes for a "burst of long-awaited creativity onto the mobile marketing scene."

T-Mobile will offer MMS news to cycle racing fans who want to be updated about the Tour de France, starting tomorrow. On its multimedia portal in the "t-sports" section, users will be able to download pictures of Jan Ullrich (who runs in the T-Mobile team), as well as maps of the race's routes, and a mobile game "T-Mobile team on Tour". Smsmich (in German) reports users will also be able to sign up for daily MMS news with comments and race's standings.
Prices are quite high, but in line with EU market standards: background pictures cost 1.49 �, the mobile game is 3.99 �, ringtones are 1.99 � and the MMS news are worth 0.59 � per message.

Genetsis has developed a banner campaign to promote Fanta Free, a new low calories softdrink just launched in Spain. The creativity includes more than 20 rich media formats, and is based on the concept of "lightness" as the drink itself, allowing users to interact with the ads, moving them around the screen.

The French Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has presented an overview of mobile users in the country. In April, more than 7.5 million unique users have visited Vodafone Live, i-mode TM and Orange World. The press release provides positive datas about the 3G's usage trends, highlighting that mobile internet is growing rather fast.

Fifty-eight percent of U.S. mobile gamers are women, compared to 42 percent who are men, according to the recent Yankee Group U.S. Mobile Entertainment Survey. In addition, 29 percent of male mobile gamers purchased games compared to 17 percent of women. Michael Goodman, Yankee Group Media & Entertainment Strategies senior analyst explains in the press release:

Wysiwyg has developed an online campaign for the launch in Spain of N-Gage QD, a new version of the mobile gaming device. Marketing Directo reports the campaign focuses on the possibility to challenge other users in mobile gaming arenas, and aims driving traffic to the mini-site www.n-gage.com/qd.

Online advertising is re-gaining the value it had in the New Economy "golden days". The Deal (via Yahoo! News) talks about recent acquisitions in the industry (Agency.com bought Exile on Seventh, aQuantive bought SBI.Razorfish, DoubleClick bought Performics, AOL bought Advertising.com etc...), also quoting the opinion of Gary Stein, senior analyst with Jupiter Research who commented:

Unilever is starting today in Germany, Austria and Switzerland an integrated marketing campaign to promote its "CK One" parfume. WUV reports the initiative will take advantage of print, billboards, Internet and mobile advertising. Sony Ericsson and Douglas Parfumeries will cooperate in the campaign. Douglas, in particular will distribute over 2.5 million cards to engage customers in an SMS interaction.

112 Millon handsets can't be wrong writes Lora Kolodny on Inc. Magazine. The cell phone is a new marketing medium, the next frontier in direct marketing, which allows to access a huge number of consumers.
The article is nothing more than an introduction to mobile marketing for the American audience, its doesn't say anything new, but it's worth linking to highlight the growing interest of the media towards cell phones' marketing potentials.

Are looking for more cool interactive ideas? Check the archives