Who would have expected Martha Stewart to join our frame of reference today?

Thanks to SnapTell, a provider of image recognition-based mobile marketing solutions, the Winter issue of Martha Stewart Weddings will be the first women’s magazine to utilize fully activated or “live” advertisements throughout the publication.

If you’re wondering what this means, you’re not alone.

When it hits the stands at the end of December, 2008, this fully interactive issue will “allow readers to snap a picture of any featured advertisement, send the picture to SnapTell and instantly get back content from an advertiser.”

SnapTell’s Snap.Send.Get solution provides advertisers with a broad reaching, compelling way to engage their audience. Content readers receive from advertisers can include coupons, video or photos, website links or product information. SnapTell’s Snap.Send.Get works with virtually all camera phones, does not require the consumer to download any special software and is an opt-in solution for the reader. It is also fully trackable, providing clear ROI for participating advertisers who optimize their ads with customized messages.

Although I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, I personally can’t wait to give this a try. So if you see me at the newsstand reading Martha’s winter issue, please keep your snide comments to yourself. I’m merely doing some worked-related research.

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A new company dubbed “YourAreaCode.com,” has launched a new marketing service with what they call “Right Now” marketing tactics that use a combination of mobile-device advertising via SMS as well as advertisements via social media profiles.

The service is aimed at the 20-30 something demographic that they say “pay ever decreasing heed to the broadcast and print media channels.” � The service, while suitable for any industry,� allows the bar and restaurant industry in particular to reach the young consumer demographic through cell phones and social networking sites� “Right Now.” � Here’s how it works:

The service uses a web-based platform that allows for establishments to send out advance notice of upcoming events- whether it be drink specials, performances, special events, etc., to opt-in user’s cell phones via SMS as well as social media profiles such as Facebook in the form of comments, etc. � The company can even custom design the widgets for use in social profiles.

The result is an instant advertisement sent to the channels young people respond to the most. � 94% of users read all SMS messages sent to their phones, and we all know how extremely popular social media is- especially in this demographic.

“Twenty years ago, if advertisers could have combined TV, Radio and Newspaper ads, then given their customer the keys to the station, they would have effectively done what YAC is doing with the most important media today,’’ said YAC CEO Steve Hummel. “Never before has an advertising customer been able to distribute thousands of messages directly to their chosen audience instantly.”

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As unbelievable as that sounds, a� survey by Omniture shows that nearly 71% of companies do not track mobile-based traffic to their websites- with half admitting to not even knowing how many unique users visit their sites from a mobile device.

We’ve stated how important it is to have a viable mobile presence, especially now, but to not even know the traffic coming in from mobile devices is downright embarrassing. � Traffic stats and analytical data are key in forumulating a plan to optimize a mobile website, and with today’s consumers using mobile faster than ever, companies who don’t participate are losing big time. Read the rest

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In hopes of reaching the hard to pin down 17-to-24-year-old demographic, the National Guard has partnered with LM&O Advertising to kick off a nationwide theater advertising campaign featuring “Warrior,” a two-and-a-half minute video spot starring Kid Rock and NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.

As part of the campaign, which has been in theatres for a few weeks now, a mobile Internet site was created using 2ergo’s Swift mobile marketing platform that allows movie watchers to access and interact with the “Warrior” site on their mobile phones while sitting in the theater. The mobile site, found at http://warrior.swiftmob.com, offers free MP3 and wallpaper downloads, the “Warrior” video, and a recruiter contact form (naturally) for those interested in more information about The National Guard.

“The mobile website provided The National Guard with a compelling recruiting tool that could break through a cluttered and fractured media environment,” said James A. Boyle, management supervisor, LM&O Advertising, Inc. “In ‘Warrior,’ thanks to an outstanding performance by Kid Rock and an electrifying cameo by Dale Earnhardt Jr., The National Guard has the key elements in place to meet its challenge of creating a compelling mobile campaign that is attractive to its target audience.”

Whether you see it as pop or propaganda, one thing is for certain, this video will continue running through the end of October on 27,079 screens nationwide. And the power of mobile content will likely help achieve recruitment goals and present a more appealing face for the National Guard.

Stay tuned.

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Editor’s note: The following is a guest post from Jared Reitzin, CEO and founder of mobileStorm.

When I started mobileStorm in 1999, it was hard to get businesses to pay for text messages. Back then, we’d developed one of the first mobile marketing platforms in the music industry for the largest label in the world, which sold 11% of all music worldwide.� It was a great first customer to have.

We developed our text component to deliver via SMTP (like an email). This way we could charge for the use of our platform and services, but our client did not have to pay a per-message fee.� SMTP worked OK for a little while, but it started to have increasingly more issues. Sometimes the messages would show up 24 to 48 hours later; somtimes they� never showed up at all.� Eventually the carriers started blocking bulk SMTP sends (read� this post about why SMS spam will never be as� prolific as email spam). On top of that, each carrier would show the text message coming from different numbers. On Cingular it would show up as binary code: “100100010100.” Definitely no way to respond.

Yeah, � SMTP was only good for one-way messaging, which is fine for alert-based stuff. But as the market matured, labels wanted interaction. I would say it was about� five � years ago when companies started to realize the value of SMS and didn’t mind paying for it. Back then we were charging about $.10 per SMS message, even at higher volumes.� Of course� businesses did not have large databases back then, so it was not costing an arm and a leg for each campaign. Meanwhile the cost to send an email was about 50 times� less expensive–so a lot of people only focused on this channel.

Flash forward nine� years: It’s amazing how many businesses integrating SMS into their digital marketing strategy.� Read the rest

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With so much speculation surrounding the main reasoning behind the Android platform and its intentions, I think it should be obviously clear. � While some argue its Google’s attempt to tread into the enterprise, and maybe some day it will, its main intention is to dominate the mobile-based advertising market like it did on the desktop.

The Android platform, while being open source and available to any carrier and handset maker, will always have numerous entrance points to Google by way of Google search, Google Apps, GMail, GTalk, etc. � Each entrance point to Google services is yet another opportunity for relevant advertising- the kind Google does so well. �

With the future onslaught of developers vying to build the latest and greatest apps for Android, the usage of the platform will increase, as well opportunities for Google to advertise. � Beyond Google, any smart company or brand can use the platform, much like the iPhone, to promote their image using various apps, websites, etc.

The numbers don’t lie; there’s an estimated 3.5 billion mobile phone users worldwide, and of those users, only a fraction have computers. � Given Google’s dominance via web-based advertising, the revenue source for dominating mobile marketing could be enormous. Given the number of mobile phone users, mobile marketing is still relatively a largely untapped market. � As the Android platform gains users, acceptance, and its reach via carriers and device makers, Google’s advertising revenue will skyrocket. �

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Perhaps the only thing that plunged lower than the Dow Jones Industrial Average today is the IQ of anyone who read the Air2Wweb announcement of an amazing new feature called “Contact Capture.”

After reading through the grand build up for what I was hoping would be a worthwhile culmination of a truly significant advancement, I finally learned that “Contact Capture allows brands to include a mobile marketing call-to-action in its communications that directs customers to respond to the message by texting in a keyword to a shared short code.”

No, I’m not kidding. And, frankly, I’m biting my tongue from going on a veritable rampage about how Air2Web even has the audacity to make their “announcement” sound like something worth announcing.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Air2web supposed to be a major league aggregator that has a powerful mobile marketing platform? Yet, it’s already the 3^rd quarter of 2008 and they just launched text-in to a keyword? Where have they been?

I can’t help but wonder when Air2Wweb will implement a new feature called Text to STOP, which allows a subscriber to simply reply STOP to any messages and they are magically removed from receiving future SMS messages.

Good grief.

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