With more  companies investing in a mobile marketing strategy and as smartphones change the way people access content . Comscore just revealed that mobile advertising has doubled in the past 2 years. Companies are jumping in and engaging these new customers.

Most smartphones users are already using their phones to pass the time and are looking to be entertained. Mobile marketing is an opportunity to reach a new type of customer who is already looking for something to do. Companies just need to put themselves in front of these consumers. Below are some clever mobile marketing solutions.

Mcdonald's Projection Screen Game

Mcdonald's recently ran a mobile campaign in Sweden that allowed users to control the billboard that is accessed through the web. No need to download an app here, which takes away all the friction from the users. Very smart use of this technology. If a player can play the game for 30 seconds they win a coupon for free food from the nearest Mcdonald's. Check out how engaged the users are in the video below.




Dual Screen from Heineken

Heineken knows how many people are watching soccer and accessing their phones while watching TV so they developed a game around watching soccer called StarPlayer. The game allows users to interact in real-time with the game they are watching by trying to predict what will happen next. The game was also accessible through Facebook.  Pretty darn cool. Check it out below.




Cornetto Projection Mapping

This is a cool street campaign from Cornetto in Turkey. They had a game developed hat was playable via projection mapping. The interactive game was playable by a passersby who had to call a number to enter, which then enabled them to control a character within the game using the keypad on their phone. The game was only playable by 5 people at a time, encouraging people to watch the action while they waited their turn. Which not only engaged the players but everyone around them. I want some ice cream already! If you managed to complete the game  you got a code on your phone which you could redeem for a free ice cream. The game was implemented by Unilever



Lynx – Complete the ad

Here's a great campaign from Axe. What I want to know is when does this come to the U.S.? This campaign is in Uruguay. Axe used this  mobile campaign to engage its target consumers by running a print ad the had parts of it missing. A code could be texted in to get the missing parts of the image. Then users where sent back the missing parts of the ad. This requires the user to go back to the ad and to put the two part together. Very clever...




Notice something about all these mobile marketing solutions? Nothing from the states here. It seems the Europeans have a leg up when it comes to leveraging mobile. No secret here though. The uptake of mobile has been a bit faster overseas.

So we've all been hearing about the year of mobile right. All you have to do is look around and see everyone is not looking up anymore. Let me ask you a question. What's the best way to get someone to respond to you? A text message is my answer. Even if they are in the same room!

It's no secret smartphones are a way of life these days. Just think back a few years when you wanted to get on the internet you had to run to a computer just to get your fix. Now it's at our finger tips anytime we want it. Awesome! All that information just waiting to be plundered.

We here in the U.S. probably consider ourselves technologically savvy but when it comes to smartphone adoption Spain and Italy are both ahead of us. Oh my what has the world come to? Just take a look at comScore's report below.


Let's talk social engagement for a second. While Facebook Place, Foursquare and Gowalla are not yet a household name they are getting there. Marketers who aren't involved yet definitely have mobile on their radar. There are some challenges when it comes to planning strategies around the convergence of social media and mobile marketing and ways engage these consumers.

There seems to be a bit of a disconnect between smartphone adopters and what people are actually doing online. Smartphone apps and online services aren't quite synced up yet when it comes to mass consumption.

Location based marketing is starting to come into it's own. The folks who adopt the usage of these applications embrace and use apps such as Groupon, Facebook Places, Foursquare and Gowalla.

The social-mobile sphere has not quite appealed to the masses… yet. There are some reasons why the masses have not embraced these new technologies like the rest of us eggheads. Here are a few

    •    50 percent don't own a smartphone
    •    49 percent had no motivation to use the app
    •    48 percent had privacy concerns


Facebook Places is the one area that is seeing a high adoption rate. However this is all due to the simple fact that most people are already using the Facebook app and it's included in the download. Clever Facebook, clever. Foursquare however has taken a different approach and awards it's users with badges and mayorships. It's almost like a game that keeps the users engaged and using the app. Groupon keeps people involved by offering the "deal" and people want to share that with their friends. Talking about deals, both Facebook Places and Foursquare offer check-in deals that merchants can set up when a person checks-in to their establishment. Gap ran a great location-based check-in deal campaign. Just Google it already. 

Location-based marketing is coming into the mainstream slowly but surely this type of consumer engagement will become part of everyday life for most. 2011 will still be the year of mobile just not for location-based marketing. Marketers will want to start engaging the consumer and starting location-based marketing strategies now so they can learn what works and what doesn't before it's too late.