Nothing says international travel like National Geographic.

Without question, the recent announcement from the venerable brand is likely a welcome development for cosmopolitan country-hoppers.

National Geographic is rolling out what has been dubbed “the National Geographic Duet Travel Phone,” which is designed specifically for “the needs of the international traveler.”

According to the announcement, the new handset supports two SIM cards and offers additional features useful for travelers: Bluetooth, a camera, FM radio, television and 1GB storage card.

As expected, the Duet comes packed with National Geographic content like ringtones, wallpapers and travel-related videos from the National Geographic Channel.

In case you were wondering, the Duet also includes National Geographic’s pay-as-you-go National Geographic Travel SIM card, allowing affordable calling in 185 countries, free incoming calls in more than 80 countries and 30 minutes of outgoing call credit (for most countries). Users have the option of inserting another SIM card in the phone and having a secondary number and service.

There’s no question that the Duet is cool and convenient. But will a National Geographic product catch on with most young travelers who don’t equate National Geographic with much of anything considered “cool”?

Only time will tell.

For now, the National Geographic Travel Phone is available online through CellularAbroad.com, Amazon.com, Expansys-usa.com and other select retailers.

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Most news surrounding mobile campaigns consists of telling how successful the campaign was overall and how much better they are when compared to other forms of advertising.  In reality, not all mobile campaigns are created equal, and have the results that were hoped for.

Case in point- a local Jiffy Lube in Ames, Iowa and its recent mobile coupon campaign that had less than favorable results.  The retailer was convinced by a local radio station to conduct an SMS-based coupon campaign where listeners were urged, at the end of Jiffy Lube commercials, to use their mobile devices to text the word JIFFY to a 5-digit number.  All participants received mobile coupons for various Jiffy Lube discounts and services such as oil changes, wiper blades, tire rotations and filters.

The campaign ran for the last two quarters of 2008, and garnered nearly 175 SMS messages per week- resulting in over 4,500 responses overall for the campaign.  The disappointing part is the fact that out of those 4,500 respondents, Jiffy Lube only saw about 30 digital coupons actually redeemed.  This seemed odd, given the fact that some coupons were for free oil changes and heavily discounted services- so what could have caused such a bad response rate? Read the rest

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General Growth Properties, which manages the nation’s second largest network of malls, has teamed with MOBISIX to offer what they call the nation’s first “mall-based mobile advertising network.”

The new mobile network, dubbed “The Club Mobile,” is an extension of GGP’s already successful “The Club” program, which is an online consumer marketing program that sends email notifications of mall sales and events to an exclusive list of opt-in members.  The Club Mobile extends the value of The Club by delivering discounts and offers to on-the-go consumers through text messages.

The new program is powered by MOBISIX and its proprietary messaging platform, which is designed around “consumer-controlled preferences and data” as well as “analytics-driven decisions.”  The underlying technology allows consumers to get relevant and personal offers pertaining to malls operated by GGP.  In addition, the platform acts as a key enabler of green marketing by allowing brands and consumers to take advantage of shopping incentives and coupons without printing.
Read the rest

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Even Harry Potter couldn’t save the publishing industry from a precipitous decline in sales that has severely impacted the publishing world’s ability to perpetuate the type of success it has experienced in recent years (if not decades).

As a result of desperation, some of the largest publishing houses in the world are looking into mobile marketing as a new way to introduce books and projects to the penny-pinched consumer.

Publisher HarperCollins is leading the way.

This week, the publishing giant announced a partnership with mobile marketing firm QMCodes to “introduce a 2D barcode scanning promotion.”

The promotion is designed, in particular, to push the upcoming title called L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad, star of MTV’s The Hills.

The campaign will let consumers access L.A. Candy related content, such as video clips by downloading an application from HarperCollins’ mobile site (or by scanning a barcode on the novel, which was just released). Read the rest

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Procter & Gamble’s Gillette razor will be the focus of the new mobile marketing endeavors of one of America’s largest and most respected companies as they tap into the potential of the iPhone as a means of reaching current and prospective male shavers.

Gillette is all hyped up about “uArt,” an iPhone application that allows its users to “shave and create” facial hairstyles based on a unique model that lets you upload a personal photo and select a facial hair style even with the nuances of hair length and color.

The next step? Shave until the desired appearance becomes a reality. According to Gillette, it’s just that easy - so simple, in fact, that I can’t help but imagine some dudes are going to get drunk out of their mind one weekend and shave themselves up to look like Mr. T.

This app is just too cool to not be used for both good and evil.

According to Mike Norton, director of external relations at Gillette: “As a grooming company, we want to help guys be their best and to achieve that, we want to provide tools to help them find the look and style that is right for them so they can express themselves.”

P&G, which bought Gillette in 2005, is giving uArt a substantial push in both print and electronic media. With any luck, this endeavor will have as much success as the last, when Gillette completed a program with New York Yankee Derek Jeter where baseball fans were encouraged to send a text for a chance to win… you guessed it, a free Gillette Fusion Razor!

Welcome to mobile marketing, Gillette! I think you’ll find its “cutting edge” appeal very appropriate.

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AT&T U-verse customers are in luck.

That is, if they are fans of Wallace and Gromit.

If so, they will be the first to find the latest comedic endeavors of the dynamic duo.

AT&T and Aardman Animations have partnered to reveal that AT&T U-verse TV will “exclusively feature the premiere of the new Wallace and Gromit short film, A Matter of Loaf and Death.”

The debut is set at June 5th for all U-verse TV customers and will be available at no charge in the U-verse TV On Demand library.

Starting Monday, clips of the beloved cheese lover and his canine friend will also be available on AT&T wireless devices through CV-Video. Read the rest

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With paid mobile apps and content growing in popularity, and people becoming more comfortable with the idea of using their mobile devices for payments, Bango has introduced a new secure and low-cost method for integrating credit-card payments into apps and digital content.

With increased smartphone usage and the evolution of the mobile Web, Bango has created an ”easy on” ramp to selling content on the mobile web as well as a solution to give businesses a low-cost, easy way to capture revenue from the growing number of smartphone users- users that are getting a lot more comfortable purchasing items using their devices much like they would on their PCs.  

With the new solution from Bango, anyone can offer credit card payments to their mobile visitors and refine their product offer, pricing and consumer experience, with the flexibility to upgrade to operator billing through Bango when they’re ready.  “With the current rise in smartphone users, a lot of businesses who have never considered mobile before, are now looking at how they can capture revenue from this new market,” said Anil Malhotra, SVP Alliances & Marketing. “And many of these smartphone users, such as those with a Blackberry or Google phone, are used to using the web on their phones, and are familiar with credit card services.”

The solution works by offering a similar experience to purchasing via credit card on the normal Web, and cuts out many unnecessary steps such as entering the card type and a full billing address.  This speeds up purchases, leading to more successful transactions across all mobile devices.

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