The Hyperfactory

Commenting on Galloway's appointment, Geoffrey Handley said: "Australia is a strategic beachhead for The Hyperfactory's global business and it's vital that our operations here be lead by someone who has a passion for and technical understanding of the mobile space and the right leadership credentials. From the outset, I knew John was the guy to whom I should hand the reins."

Handley added that one of The Hyperfactory's key priorities for 2010/11 was to build up its local mobile media planning and buying team - a role which will sit well with Galloway's 20 plus years of experience in media sales, including senior management positions with companies such as Vodafone Australia, MediaMe, News Limited, Fairfax Online (F2), Sensis and AAP.

"I am extremely excited to be part of The Hyperfactory. We are unique in the Australian market as we are the only truly international mobile company, which means our clients can benefit from our international experience and findings. This is a huge competitive advantage for us," said Galloway.

Galloway sees 2010 to be the year that marketers and brands realize that they cant afford to ignore mobile: "Mobile is the fastest growing media in Australia. There are over 300 million mobile Internet page impressions a month, growing at a rate of 100% year on year. No longer is it regarded as a nice to have component. It's being seen as the glue that hold digital strategies together," said Galloway.

"We are now seeing the interest in mobile marketing and strategy reach pre- GFC levels with existing and prospective customers looking to significantly increase their mobile budgets," added Galloway.

Galloway's appointment comes as The Hyperfactory continues its rapid expansion over the last 12 months. With a blue-chip client base of leading brands including Coca-Cola, Kraft, L'Oreal, Disney, Blackberry and Vodafone, the company has carved an enviable position in the US, recently being named by Entrepreneur Magazine in its annual 100 brilliant ideas list as one of the mobile market's most important trailblazers, alongside companies such as FourSquare and Bump Technologies. In July 2010, US publishing giant Meredith Media acquired The Hyperfactory for an undisclosed sum, after taking a 20% stake in the company one year ago.

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On Sunday, Kraft Foods will begin a campaign to promote its sponsorship of what used to be known as the Emerald Bowl, to be played in San Francisco on Jan. 9. The game, which will feature teams from the Western Athletic Conference and the Pacific-10 Conference, is being renamed the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

Kraft plans for the day the game is played to serve as the climax of the campaign, which seeks to donate the monetary equivalent of 20 million meals to the organization known as Feeding America. (The fine print explains that a dollar equals seven meals “secured by Feeding America on behalf of local food banks,” making the goal of the campaign almost $2.86 million.)

The campaign is being designated by Kraft as the Huddle to Fight Hunger. Kraft is calling the effort, which is being handled by seven agencies, its largest integrated campaign to date — that is, one that is composed of ads in outlets like traditional media, digital media and social media.

“We’ve done smaller” campaigns to help fight hunger, said Lisa Mann, vice president for consumer experiences at the Glenview, Ill., office of Kraft. “This is about going big.”

The kickoff for the campaign will be a coupon insert that Kraft will sponsor in newspapers on Sunday and follow up with another on Sunday, Sept. 26. There will be 44 million copies of the insert to be distributed on Sunday by the News America unit of the News Corporation.

There will also be a microsite, or special Web site, to accompany the campaign, at HuddletoFightHunger.com; the site is to go live on Sunday.

The insert will feature the celebrity TV chefs Patrick and Gina Neely along with Kraft brands like Kraft Singles, Maxwell House and Oscar Mayer. Other brands involved in the campaign include Kool-Aid, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Kraft Mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, Oreo, Planters and Ritz.

Kraft has purchased the rights to the bowl game for three years, Ms. Mann said, adding that the IMG agency helped with that along with the celebrity and sports marketing aspects of the campaign. Other celebrities to take part will include the former football star Joe Montana and Erin Andrews of ESPN.

The campaign also includes commercials to run on television and in movie theaters, print ads, promotions in stores, mobile ads and a public relations effort. More than 40 major retailers have already agreed to take part in the campaign, through steps like in-store displays.

In addition to IMG, the agencies working on the campaign are HMT Associates, for the initiatives involving retailers; Hyperfactory, part of the Meredith Corporation, for the mobile ads; McGarryBowen, part of Dentsu, for the commercials and print ads; 360i, for the digital and social media ads; Upshot, for retail marketing; and Weber Shandwick, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, for public relations.

Kraft has been intensifying its marketing and advertising efforts in recent months to take advantage of economic trends that include Americans eating more at home and eating more often together as families or groups. There have been new campaigns for many Kraft brands, both in traditional and new media, among them Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Kraft Singles, Miracle Whip, Oreo and Wheat Thins.

The campaign is also meant to reflect other trends, Ms. Mann said, like how consumers increasingly “want to be part of something big,” especially in terms of helping others, and how they are returning to “simple pleasures,” including “getting together over a football game or a game night.”

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Panelists talked about the effectiveness of mobile advertising that Intel ran and gave best practices based on what they learned from the campaign. The Intel executive revealed that in-browser banner interaction rates (94 percent) were higher than those for in-application ads (17 percent).

“The reason [the Intel] campaign was so successful is that it was thought of as a campaign, not a mobile campaign,” said Jeff Arbour, senior vice president North America at The Hyperfactory, New York. “It was just a campaign that happend to be executed in mobile channel. “It is really time for brands to look at how to execute mobile from a long-term perspective and not just as a bunch of one-time runoffs,” he said. The panelists stressed that crafting a successful mobile advertising campaign means having firm objectives, clear metrics for success and tactics consistent with the overall marketing strategy.

Intel's program
The campaign was centered around promoting Intel’s 2010 Core processor family. Hyperfactory was hired to devise a strategy for media, campaign, design and execution. Intel used display and rich-media ads, which users could expand, drag and interact with to find the right processor for them. It also used basic banner ads that ran on mobile Web sites and in applications.

Advertisements ran on a number of mobile Web sites, including CNN and CBS. The campaign also used search engine marketing to drive traffic to Intel’s mobile Web site. Additionally, The Hyperfactory leveraged its relationship with Pandora to create an Intel promotion within the Internet radio service.

Effectiveness of mobile ads
Intel was able to compare the results from the different channels of its advertising campaign and discover which tactics were most effective. The campaign saw lower bounce rates on mobile than with traditional Web advertising, possibly because mobile users are using their phones and searching for information with greater purpose than users on regular desktops. Apparently, search engine marketing saw 67 percent bounce rates verses 89 percent for display advertising. And, it saw the lowest bounce rates on iPhones (85 percent), Android (64 percent) and BlackBerry (71 percent) phones.

Intel took these results as a sign that more effort should be made to target the Android and BlackBerry platforms. Behavioral targeting also proved an effective tactic for garnering high click-through rates. When discussing the efficacy of search engine marketing, the presenters said that mobile search was growing and would constitute an important advertising tool in the future. “Search volume is low, but trending up,” said Beth Lubov Butrymowicz, global media manager for Intel, Santa Clara, CA.

Results
Measurement for mobile advertising campaigns needs to be dictated by the objectives determined at the initiative’s outset. For example, because Intel used expandable, rich-media ad units as well as traditional ad banners and in-application advertising to promote Core processors, it was interested in understanding how consumers were interacting with those different ads. For that reason, Intel gauged reaction to the rich-media display units by looking at interaction and completion rates. The interaction rate examined how many users expanded the ad and dragged at least one element within it, and showed that consumers were interacting far more with in-browser ad units than in-application ad units. Apparently, consumers that clicked on the ad and dragged at least one item was higher for in-browser advertising: 94 percent verses 17 percent for in-application ads. The completion rates measured the number of consumers who worked through the entire ad, answering a series of questions intended to match them to the best-fit Intel processor. Completion rates were much higher for rich-media units (10 percent) than standard units (3 percent). In summing up the results of the campaign, the presenters emphasized that advertisers need to be cognizant of the costs associated with different ad units. Expandable units are significantly more expensive than standard units.

The right mobile mix
There is no one answer for mobile advertising globally, because of fragmentation of devices, usage models, advertising inventory and measurement tools. Advertisers need to devise campaigns in the context of the regions they are targeting. For example, when Intel was promoting its processors in Indonesia, it focused on feature phones, because the vast majority of consumers use feature phones, rather than more advanced mobile technology. Basic marketing rules still apply, according to Ms. Butrymowicz.

Summing up the lessons of the discussion, the presenters urged advertisers not to go mobile just for mobile’s sake, but instead only if it made sense in the context of their promotional strategy. Advertisers should be very clear about their objectives, and work closely with partners to set parameters for the campaigns and optimize over time. Finally, advertisers should not be afraid of sub-par results. “It’s OK to fail,” Ms. Butrymowicz said. “If you go out and do mobile, and learn it doesn’t work for your target audience, it could be that they’re not on mobile, or perhaps execution wasn’t working for them. “You can definitely learn from the experience,” she said.

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NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Meredith Corp. has acquired mobile hotshop The Hyperfactory after taking an initial stake in the agency responsible for the much-loved Kraft iFood Assistant app one year ago. Since the agency's opening in 2001 by two brothers in New Zealand, The Hyperfactory remains one of the most-distinguished mobile creative agencies to date, having worked with Coca-Cola, L'Oreal and, of course Kraft on its first iPad app.

From those beginnings, it's grown to an operation of more than 100 people with offices in Auckland, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, Sydney and Hyderabad, India.For a buyer that's made its name in broadcast and publishing, this is just the latest piece to add to its marketing services arm, Meredith Integrated Marketing. Since 2006, Meredith has acquired interactive shops O'Grady Meyers and Genex; viral-marketing shop New Media Strategies; health-care marketing agency Big Communications; and database and analytics shop Directive.

Ad Age checked in with Hyperfactory founders Derek and Geoffrey Handley and Meredith Integrated Marketing President Martin Reidy about the acquisition and how the mobile agency with roots in Auckland found a home with a publisher headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. (There are no plans to move; The Hyperfactory will continue be headquartered in New York and Auckland.)

Ad Age: Why does The Hyperfactory make sense for Meredith Integrated Marketing?

Martin Reidy: As mobile started really picking up, a lot of people pretended that they were in the business and, typically with agencies, and this goes back even to traditional, you add some people on and declare suddenly that you're in the mobile business. Hyperfactory is really, really focused on the mobile world, which is really the model we have. Look at the agencies we have. They're specialists in that area; they don't cross over. There are interdependencies across agencies and there's incentive to bring our image forward so that there isn't a land grab on one particular client by any one agency. ... [The Hyperfactory] fits very well with the Meredith culture. We will retain the name Hyperfactory. It's very important that the culture stay intact. I think the people here have that particular technical expertise and that will only continue to grow. We will foster a family feel, but definitely it will retain that ability to be Hyperfactory.

Ad Age: So Derek and Geoff, tell me why having Meredith as a parent makes sense for your business. What does Meredith as a parent bring you?

Derek Handley: Going back a couple years ago, we started looking for a partner. The obvious choices were holding companies, and companies of that sort that we just hadn't had the best feedback from, people that we knew and other entrepreneurs that had partnered with those companies or sold their businesses to them, which made us nervous. We did want someone larger, to be able to bring the business to the next level, and that was one of the reasons we wanted to partner with Meredith. The other issue that we were struggling with back then was we were still viewed as a boutique hotshop, highly creative and perhaps weaker on strategic thinking. We were thought to not have a full understanding of the mass-market consumer because all we cared about were shiny objects and winning awards. To counter that, there's nothing more perfect than a company like Meredith that really does understand America and has for more than 100 years. That was one thing. The other is that the first five years of this industry in the U.S. has been driven by the male mobile user and it has been about automotive and technology clients. We believe that in the next three or four years, the mobile woman and her content are going to be more and more important, so the timing is great to have really a strong position in that market. Meredith is a really interesting partner to have there. We can win new clients that we previously may have been discounted by and we should be able to create new innovation and territory around the mobile woman. Kraft is now our biggest client. We would have struggled to get them before.

Ad Age: The Kraft work is a marriage of mobile, which is Hyperfactory's heritage, and of content, which is Meredith's heritage. Tell me how the company envisions that partnership of mobile and content expertise?

Mr. Reidy: Meredith is the king and queen of content and has access to the best writers in any particular area. You consider the full-time staff of writers within marketing at Meredith and that's what's happening more in digital. Content has to get out there. Brands spend a lot of time and money on the construction of websites, but the content has to improve. There's going to be a further rethinking of how we access the content and how it can come in more interactive ways.

Geoffrey Handley: Since the beginning, we often see, and still do today, people when they decide to build a mobile site and basically shrink a website. They take content from a website and just squash it to make a mobile stream that's cut down in size and waste. Context has always been a really important thing for us. If you look at all the best work we've ever done, it's very content heavy, but that content has been produced specifically for the mobile experience. So finding a partner in Meredith, which is known for print content and its ability to realize content in a mobile context, just puts us miles ahead of the game.

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Created by New Zealand brothers Derek and Geoffrey Handley in 2001, The Hyperfactory specializes in powering businesses and brands through the mobile medium with award winning, innovative and strategically creative initiatives.  

Leading US research company, Berg Insight, forecasts the global mobile advertising market to grow at an annual compound growth rate of 43% to $8.7b Euros by 2014, reinforcing the importance of this strategic alignment for both organisations.

“The completion of this deal is further evidence of the ability New Zealand entrepreneurs have to make it on the world stage, in the most competitive and fast-paced industries,” says Derek Handley, Co-founder & CEO, The Hyperfactory.  

“Globally, Kiwi companies are at the cutting edge of the use of new technology, and by having the courage to take our ideas and capabilities off shore, we are able to become a significant powerhouse within some of the world’s leading corporations. Pivotal to The Hyperfactory’s success was our determination to dual headquarter our offices in both New York and Auckland to support our expansion domestically in these countries, and into other international markets.”

“The completion of our acquisition of Hyperfactory is consistent with Meredith’s commitment to excellence in marketing services for our clients,” says Meredith Integrated Marketing President Martin Reidy. “Mobile is a critical part of the marketing portfolio and its importance is growing at an incredibly rapid rate.  As with our past acquisitions, like New Media Strategies in the Social Media space, we focus our investments only on the leaders in the respective marketing disciplines. Hyperfactory is the clear leader in the mobile marketing arena and we are proud to have them as part of our arsenal.”

Handley says the relationship presents significant opportunity for the company’s multiple offices around the world.  “Key to our definition of success on this sale has been our ability to retain leadership at the helm. It’s important to us to be able to continue the tremendous flow of creativity across our client base, and into all the opportunities Meredith Corporation provides.

“Our company is a global industry leader because of more than 100 mobile technology and marketing experts who support and deliver to clients like Coca-Cola, BlackBerry, L'Oreal, Vodafone and Disney globally through offices in Auckland, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, Sydney and Hyderabad, India.

“They are why we have a history of winning more industry accolades than any mobile agency worldwide. This partnership is designed to entrench that leadership in every market we operate, including New Zealand, and creates opportunities to compete for a whole new tier of clients.”    

The completion of the remaining 80 percent investment was always part of the Handley brothers’ vision for the company.  At just 32 and 35, Derek and Geoffrey Handley respectively join an exclusive club of young kiwi entrepreneurs determined to put New Zealand on the world stage, and raise the bar on the value of ‘kiwi ingenuity’ while doing so.  

While terms of The Hyperfactory acquisition were not disclosed by Meredith Corporation, Derek Handley says it is comparable to recent leading technology deals for Kiwi companies, and “sets a significant benchmark for the sale of a New Zealand business in the emerging technologies sector”.
For Meredith Corporation, the acquisition further enhances the capabilities of Meredith Integrated Marketing, the company’s business-to-business unit that provides leading corporations and brands with custom marketing solutions.  

In the past year, as the demand for mobile marketing solutions has rapidly increased, the two companies have joined forces to offer leading companies and brands such as Kraft, Nestle and Honda cutting-edge mobile marketing solutions. Additionally, The Hyperfactory helped to accelerate Meredith’s consumer brand efforts in the mobile space by developing the mobile platforms for the Better Homes and Gardens, Parents and Fitness brands.

“Our clients and consumers have responded well to these initiatives, and we look forward to increasing our presence in the mobile space with The Hyperfactory as a full member of the Meredith portfolio,” said Meredith National Media Group President Jack Griffin.  “The Hyperfactory's capabilities fall directly in line with our strategic goals and present significant opportunities for our business-to-business engagements.”

About Meredith Corporation

Meredith Corporation (NYSE:MDP: www.meredith.com) is the leading media and marketing company serving American women. Meredith combines well-known national brands - including Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, Ladies' Home Journal, Family Circle, American Baby, Fitness and More - with local television brands in fast-growing markets. Meredith is the industry leader in creating content in key consumer interest areas such as home, family, health and wellness and self-development. Meredith then uses multiple distribution platforms - including print, television, online, mobile and video - to give consumers content they desire and to deliver the messages of its marketing partners. Additionally, Meredith uses its many assets to create powerful custom marketing solutions for many of the nation's top brands and companies.

About Meredith Integrated Marketing

Meredith Integrated Marketing offers a full spectrum of resources and expertise enabling brands to break through the clutter to grow customer relationships. Meredith Integrated Marketing maximizes results by providing strategic solutions and smart content to personalize the brand experience through meaningful multi-platform custom communications programs.

About The Hyperfactory

The Hyperfactory (www.thehyperfactory.com) powers businesses and brands through the mobile medium. As the most- awarded and most established specialist, it is consistently setting new standards of excellence through two divisions:
+    Agency: Powering brands through integrated mobile strategy, creative, media and innovation.
+   Technology: Powering businesses through planning, integration and deployment of mobile technology, regardless of the platform, protocol or device.

Founded in 2001 by New Zealand brothers Geoffrey and Derek Handley, The Hyperfactory is a wholly owned subsidiary of Meredith Corporation, the leading media and marketing company serving American women. Recently recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Annual 100 Brilliant Ideas & Companies issue and with a history of winning more industry accolades and recognition than any agency worldwide, clients include Coca-Cola, BlackBerry, L’Oreal, Vodafone, Disney and Kraft. It employs over 100 of the world’s best mobile technology and marketing experts and supports and delivers globally through its network of offices in Auckland, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, Sydney and Hyderabad, India.

A handful of noble efforts had real traction, however. Among them was Kraft's iFood assistant, a genuinely useful recipe and cooking how-to resource that also served the brand well. While many others were trying desperately to be aligned with the coolness of the iPhone itself, Kraft was smart enough to lean on a tradition of branded content, from decades of recipe books to on-air cooking demos during its sponsored programming. The hard-information, soft-brand sell works if you really have the content to back it up.

Kraft has moved headlong into the next level of utility with the newly launched big fork, little fork for the iPad. This family-oriented resource is aimed at teaching both parents and kids how to enjoy cooking together.

The 300 recipes are only the beginning. There are how-to videos, basic kitchen safety tips, detailed run-downs of the age-appropriateness of every recipe, etc. And it is all done with a magnificently efficient interface that pops up a universal nav ring from anywhere in the app. Not only one of the best branded apps out there, this one is one of the best iPad apps i have seen overall.
The print publishers who are tripping over themselves to reinvent the magazine/newspaper for a touch screen, might want to take a look at this generally superior use of the touch interface. The lessons are clear:

Super-serve 'em. Kraft and development partner hyperfactory have simply piled it on. There is no question of value here. Recipes, videos, tips, nutritional basics, etc. And there is the promise of more. The app is dynamic and can pull more content in. Kraft is also planning add-on modules that will be downloadable for additional incremental fees. The app itself is only $1.99, half the price of most of the digital magazines that have appeared already for the platform. This is an ongoing publishing project.

Pick your damned touch metaphor. Too many apps don't know whether they are having you float in space or just flip pages or zigzag across x and y axes. Usually, they have you do all at once. One of the strengths of this app is that its organization is made clear in a physical and abstract way. It all takes place on a kitchen table, where you paw across the surface and discover something akin to the familiar recipe box and hand-drawn notes. There is also the pop-up nav ring that allows lateral navigation to any spot by pressing on an open area of the screen.  There are only a couple of clear and clean nav approaches -- and as deep as the content gets, you are never lost.

Cross-referencing. Each recipe is cross-linked to notes on nutrition, age-appropriateness of the recipe, related recipes, shopping lists and instructions. Each piece of content answers the natural questions the user might have. Too many early iPad apps take the print metaphor too seriously and forget the opportunity for dynamic linking that digital allows.

Subtlety mixed with service wins. The Kraft brands are not in your face throughout this experience. In fact, if anything the brand presence may be too subtle. This app is truly "sponsored by" Kraft in that the actual brand messages come during loading, in two logos that let you click into full-page ads. Other than that, Kraft products are mentioned in recipes but not in a heavy-handed way. They are going for the wide halo effect here.

Be fun. There are kids in the room -- and this app knows it. In addition to the two decent games included in the package, the adventurous kid (or kid in us all) will discover that the designers have remembered what it was like to be involved in kitchen projects. Press that tomato on the table top long enough, and it squashes. And, yes, you can draw your name in the spilled pile of flour. Tap the egg once and it cracks; twice, it spills its yolk. Fortune cookies crack open to reveal cooking tips that click through to more content. These are no-brainer added touches that engage us and let us fall into the app. You can envision a parent and child exploring the app together and tapping and prodding different buttons and objects.

Time will tell if this app has the kind of traction that the iFood assistant had. Weber's on the grill app for iPad takes a similar utilitarian approach, and is already among the top 30 paid apps or the platform. Both Kraft and Weber have considered the use cases for the ipad and created content and tools that speak to the kitchen and the grill-side. Weber has a grill timer that is actually linked to the various grilling items in the recipes. The video library in this app is especially impressive here. Again, the idea is to super-serve the user and build around the at-home portability of the iPad.

But the depth and quality of big fork, little fork reminds us that the iPad raises the bar for branded content. Simple news feeds or pleasant mobile toys are not appropriate for this platform, and a mobilized Web site is not likely to cut it either. Other brands should take these early good entries as both inspiration and fair warning.

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Targeting parents in their 20s and 30s, the Big Fork Little Fork application offers users about 300 recipes, tips via in-depth articles, videos and games. Kraft brands are built into the experience, which is also meant to help families, eat, cook and live well together.

“We’re excited with the launch of our new iPad app, Big Fork Little Fork," said Ed Kaczmarek, director of innovation and consumer experiences at Kraft, Glenview, IL. "We truly believe it will transform the way families approach cooking and eating together.

"The launch of this brand new platform reinforces our commitment to engage with consumers in innovative ways and demonstrates our ability to leverage technology in making consumers’ lives easier and more delicious,” he said.

Kraft Foods is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world. It is home to brands such as Nabisco and Philadelphia and it markets many brands in more than 155 countries.

According to a recent study, last year alone, 37 million Web searches were conducted for family and kids’ food-related resources.

However, no dominant source exists for this type of information, per Kraft.

The "Big Fork Little Fork" application is meant to make mealtimes a teaching occasion, a fun experience and a bonding moment while keeping kids engaged and entertained.

Big Fork Little Fork builds on Kraft's relationship with Meredith Integrated Marketing (MIM), Meredith Corp.’s business-to-business unit that provides the brand with custom marketing services and helped in the development of this application.

Meredith tapped in-house mobile marketing agency The Hyperfactory for this application.

The Big Fork Little Fork iPad application costs $1.99 to download from the Apple App Store versus 99 cents for Kraft's iFood Assistant that was launched in November 2008 to much acclaim.

“Big Fork Little Fork is another example of  Kraft’s commitment to their customers," said Martin Reidy, president of Meredith Integrated Marketing, New York. "Through this app, Kraft is using emerging technology to accelerate its promise to reach families and teach them how to prepare food and eat more sensibly through an engaging tool.”

The recipes section of the “Big Fork Little Fork” application is filled with pleasers for picky eaters. It includes nutritious recipes, desserts for special occasions, food ideas with kid-friendly directions, videos and food photography.

Kraft also packs the application with tips and information on nutrition and healthy habits, along with tricks for kids such as using lemon juice to make invisible ink.

The instructional “How-to” videos show parents step-by-step instructions for teaching kids to crack an egg, measure liquids or dry ingredients and learn about stove safety.

Also, recipe videos teach users to cook.

The games in the application let kids blast off into outer space to learn about the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food pyramid or join in the action at Berwyn's Deli, exploring math skills to measure ingredients for hungry customers.

“Kraft is a brand with extremely valuable content and they’ve done a tremendous job leveraging that content to reach their target audiences,” said Julie Nielsen, senior director of partner development at appssavvy, New York.

Appssavvy did not create the Kraft application. The company provided feedback because of its expertise in the application market.

Ms. Nielsen pointed out that often times brands have a difficult time convincing people to use their applications.

However, Kraft has had tremendous success with its iPhone application, which is still to this day one of the most successful brand-dedicated iPhone applications on the market.

“They continue to innovate to reach their audience where they are spending their time,” Ms. Nielsen said. “It’s a pretty advanced strategy.

“They offer a significant amount of resources to their consumers that actually provide utility and benefit and it’s clearly paid off,” she said. “Lastly, it’s really nice to see big brands leverage new platforms – and quickly.

“They moved fast, and as we have all learned, being first to market can often be more valuable than the experience itself.”

Advertising in disguise
The application does not outwardly market anything, but instead smartly incorporates Kraft brands into the experience, marrying the content with a form of non-intrusive advertising. It really is the future of mobile advertising for branding purposes.

“Many brands are probably scratching their heads at trying to figure out what the iPad means or could mean for them right now," said Derek Handley, cofounder/CEO of The Hyperfactory, New York.

"Everyone involved with Big Fork Little Fork truly believes that it’s really setting the bar and Kraft as a client have been bold enough to buy into a strikingly unique vision which we have helped them realize,” he said.

This is not Kraft’s first foray into mobile marketing. The company launched its very first mobile application in December 2008 (see story).

Called the iFood Assistant, the application can be downloaded from the Apple App Store for installation on any iPhone or iPod touch. The application targets consumers on the go looking for recipes.

The iFood Assistant includes more than 7,000 tested, searchable recipes with detailed instructions and video demonstrations and an alternative horizontal view to follow along while cooking.

Application users can review comments posted on the recipes and share with others.

Consumers can also create shopping lists with nearby store recommendations and add custom ingredients.

Finally, the app offers tips and shortcuts such as "Dinner Tonight" and "Recipe of the Day" that feature daily recipes.

“The thing I like about this app concept, particularly with the iPad, is that the device seems at home lying around the kitchen, where families tend to hang-out, which is of course perfect for Kraft,” said Brennan Hayden, vice president of WDA Mobile Marketing, East Lansing, MI.

“It’s hard to imagine a more effective proximity marketing tool for a food brand, at least per user,"he said. "I remember several years ago, NCR was laughed at for a prototype Microwave oven with a built-in Web-browser. Today, I think it is a head-scratcher why a personal computing device of some sort isn’t built into every kitchen.

“Obviously, the iPad is portable, so the use of the Kraft app isn’t limited to the kitchen at all, but I think having the option is just brilliant.

Final Take
Here is a demo of the application

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The app, which went live on Friday, is called Big Fork Little Fork, and is aimed at parents in their 20s and 30s with young children. The app includes more than 300 recipes, video clips and games.

The iPad app costs $1.99 and is available at the Apple iTunes App Store at itunes.com.

The app comes after Kraft brought out an app for the iPhone, called the iFood Assistant, in November 2008, which cost 99 cents. There have been subsequent variations and refinements, which include versions for Android and BlackBerry.

That neither the iPad app nor its predecessor carries the Kraft brand name is no accident. The goal is to play up the utilitarian aspects rather than the commercial aspects, said Ed Kaczmarek, director of innovation in consumer experiences at the Glenview, Ill., office of Kraft, in order to “engage the consumer in a more meaningful way.”

“Within the recipes, it will specify, in some instances, a Kraft product,” he said, but the iPad app “doesn’t have Kraft branding front and center.”

The interaction between Kraft and consumers with iPads is going to be “a lot more robust” than what took place in the days when consumers “would send away for recipe cards” after listening to or watching radio or TV shows like “Kraft Music Hall,” Mr. Kaczmarek said.

(It would be interesting to compare any of those recipe cards that still exist with the recipes on the app.)

Kraft brands like Oreo and Wheat Thins have been expanding their presence recently in social media like Facebook and Twitter. The recipes contained in the iPad app can be shared through Facebook, Mr. Kaczmarek said, or through e-mail messages.

Kraft, unlike advertisers like Nissan, is not working with the Apple iAd platform for the Big Fork Little Fork app.

The Kraft iPad app was developed by Meredith Integrated Marketing, part of the Meredith Corporation, the publisher of magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, and by a mobile marketing agency named the Hyperfactory.

Although the channel is still in its infancy, initial trials show that it is both effective and engaging. Two executives from The Hyperfactory talked about augmented reality and their experiences with these types of campaigns.

“Augmented reality has been around for many years but it was ultimately a big budget initiative,” said Howard Hunt, vice president of new business at The Hyperfactory, New York. “Now brands are entering the stage." First a consumer sees a black and white marker, which is a point of reference,” he said. “The phone scans and detects a 3D image in proportion to the marker. "Augmented reality rapidly increases the type of things that can be done in the mobile space.”

Mr. Arbor gave an example of an online augmented reality campaign. General Electric ran one where users had to hold up their marker to Web camera to unlock this whole 3D image of wind turbines and greenery. Consumers could blow into their PC’s microphone to turn the turbines. Now brands are adding mobile to the mix because mobile does not tie you to the desk, you are free to move around and this unlocks even more possibilities. It is a whole new level of interaction.

Nike ran a mobile campaign using augmented reality technology to target teens in Hong Kong to promote the launch of the sportswear giant's T90 soccer shoe. The campaign, which The Hyperfactory created with ad agency McCann Erickson, started with a series of hidden codes all throughout Hong Kong in Nike flagship stores and at MTR subway stations. Consumers had to find the markers and point their camera phone at them, which summoned an image of a Nike soccer shoe and ball on their screen and revealed a special code unique to that location. Once consumers got the next location, they then were able to text in these special codes to find out the next secret destination. Texts also counted as a sweepstakes entry to win Nike merchandise. The codes invite users to download a mobile application that allows them to view the T90 shoe from every angle in 3D on their mobile screens. The more codes that consumers collect, the more chances they have to win Nike gear. The aim for Nike was launching the new boot and letting people see its features from every angle. Hong Kong is footwear-crazy and the fact that this happened around the time of the Olympics and Euro 2008 Tournament means everyone was in sports mode. The results for this campaign were astounding. Thousands of interactions were achieved and 60 percent of those who texted-in downloaded the application.

Jeff Arbor, senior vice president of North America at The Hyperfactory talked about Coca-Cola Fanta’s use of augmented reality. Coca-Cola Europe targeted tech-savvy consumers mostly in their 20s with a new mobile application created to push its Fanta soft drink. The application launched across Europe in January 2009, supported by print and online ads, on-pack promotions, point-of-sale material, viral marketing and public relations. The application is called Fanta Virtual Tennis. Players take their position on either side of a printed game board available for download at http://www.fanta.eu.

Once in position, the 3D augmented technology recognizes the game board and lets players see what looks like a full-size tennis court on their mobile-phone screens. Players can use their mobile devices as tennis racquets to hit a virtual ball whose movement is determined by the angle and position of the phone. Fanta Virtual Tennis offers a two-player mode and a single-player practice mode where the player hits the ball off a wall. The game was tested in New York's Times Square. “Augmented reality for mobile is mostly found in applications right now,” Mr. Arbor said. “But browsers are next.” “There are augmented reality apps that let consumers identify monuments and land marks,” he said. “Others let users point a phone to the street ID and see what stores are around. “It is like Foursquare on steroids.”

Full article

Over the past few years, the magazine publisher has bought up a series of digital-ad agencies to create a full-service marketing shop. Called Meredith Integrated Marketing, the operation has created custom publishing, email, social media and mobile campaigns for major marketers, including Kraft Foods, Chrysler and Wells Fargo. It recently recruited digital-ad veteran Martin Reidy to lead its marketing arm, and says it is on the prowl for more acquisitions.

Meredith increasingly competes head to head for business with big advertising companies, which also have been pouring resources into developing digital marketing and consumer-research capabilities. Chrysler, for instance, recently picked Meredith to solicit prospective consumers via direct mail, email marketing and social media. Omnicom Group's BBDO previously handled that work. Such business has provided new streams of revenue for Meredith, and is proving to be something of a lifeline amid the industrywide decline in print-advertising revenues. As its magazine-ad revenue plunged 15% from a year earlier to $530.2 million in the year ended June 30, revenue tied to Meredith's integrated-marketing business rose 13%. The unit has revenue of roughly $175 million, according to a person familiar with the matter.

"Look at the marketing and media landscape today, you are seeing a dramatic reshaping," says Jack Griffin, president of Meredith's National Media Group. "I don't think there is any way around the fact that companies like ours that are media-and-marketing companies have to be proficient in and capable at this craft." "Meredith is pretty far ahead of everybody else," says Linda Gridley, chief executive of New York investment bank Gridley & Co., which specializes in mergers and acquisitions in the marketing and Internet industries. "It's an area that multiple media companies are now looking at."

Magazine publishers including Advance Publications' Condé Nast Publications and Lagardere's Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. have bought small ad-technology firms and formed teams to build digital-ad campaigns for marketers.Hearst, which publishes Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Esquire, made an unsolicited bid late last year to acquire independent digital-marketing firm iCrossing, according to a person familiar with the situation, who said the offer was deemed to low.

Some ad executives say they don't see Meredith's buildup as a new competitive threat, since the marketing agencies it has acquired already existed and Meredith still needs to prove that it can make them more successful. Moreover, Meredith's foray into marketing hasn't been without challenges. The company has faced perceptions of conflicts of interest. Traditionally, there has been a clear line dividing media outlets, such as newspapers, magazines and TV stations, which sell ad time or space, and ad agencies, which design and place ads on behalf of advertisers. Conflicts can occur if an agency owned by a media company is seen to be unfairly directing ads to that outlet. Meredith says for that reason it doesn't offer media-buying services.

In addition, Meredith's marketing business has stumbled as advertisers have slashed costs amid the uncertain economy. The unit's revenue, which grew 50% in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2008 and 13% in the following fiscal year, dropped slightly during the most recent quarter because of cutbacks by clients. Meredith says it is seeing new-business activity, pointing to its recent win of the Chrysler business.

The publisher embarked on its transformation in the mid-1990s, creating magazines and Web-related publications for companies, including Charming Shoppes, Carnival Cruise Lines and Century 21. These publications acted as marketing tools and relied in large part on Meredith's decades-old consumer database, which includes 85 million names.

By 2005, marketers had started shifting more ad dollars to the Web, and the print-ad market was growing increasingly choppy. Meredith executives then made a "deliberate decision" to expand its marketing services group, Mr. Griffin says. During the next five years, Meredith acquired a series of marketing agencies, including specialists in digital, word-of-mouth, database marketing and health care. Last summer, it made an investment in the Hyper Factory, a mobile-marketing agency.

The buildup of Meredith's marketing business largely has happened behind the scenes, marketing executives say. "Almost in the darkness of night, they have been assembling all these assets and resources and people to build up an empire," says, Russel Wohlwerth, a principal at Ark Advisors, a consulting firm that matches ad and marketing agencies with advertisers. He adds, "It's a great model for the future."

Several marketers have increased their work with Meredith as it has expanded its offerings. Kraft started working with Meredith in 2007 to publish its Kraft Food & Family and Spanish-language Comida y Familia print magazines. Meredith now designs Kraft's Web site and coordinates a weekly email blast that features recipe ideas. Meredith also built Kraft's iFood Assistant, an application for mobile devices that includes more than 7,000 recipes, how-to videos and shopping lists. "Through their acquisitions, Meredith was instrumental in helping us expand digitally and into mobile," says Kelley Woodland, Kraft's senior director of consumer-relationship marketing.

Meredith's strategy taps into another trend: marketers are spending less on buying ads in traditional media, like print and TV, in favor of creating marketing promotions that often don't require buying ads, such as email messages and games and tools for social media and mobile. "Conversations are happening with consumers more organically," Kraft's Ms. Woodland says. "It is about being a part of the conversation, not an interruptive ad that the manufacturer is forcing out."

Meredith plans to continue expanding its marketing arm, says Mr. Reidy, who most recently was CEO at digital-ad agency Publicis Modem, a unit of Publicis Groupe , and previously was CEO of Interpublic Group's R/GA Interactive. Likely acquisition targets include search marketing firms, which help advertisers buy search ads and design their Web sites to appear prominently in search rankings, and ad agencies that will help Meredith expand its geographic footprint both domestically and internationally.

Loreen Babcock, chief executive of Unit7, a customer-relationship marketing agency owned by Omnicom whose clients include Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, says she doesn't see Meredith as a direct rival but rather as a new service offering from a media company. "That's how I'm seeing the landscape now," she adds. "Maybe it plays out differently."

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In fact, beauty products are the products women purchase most frequently based on advice of a blogger or social networks, some 69% more than apparel (at 39%) or home furnishings (18%). The beauty industry has started to catch on — hosting fragrance-launch parties on MySpace, direct-marketing to bloggers, tweeting from backstage at fashion shows. What’s next? We asked two pioneers in social media and mobile to tell us what to expect—and how to succeed—in 2010.

How can beauty brands effectively use social media and mobile?

pete snyder: Keeping up with trends is essen- tial. Social media is rapidly evolving especially in the beauty category. We help clients keep up with what’s being said about their products. Whether it’s Face- book or Twitter or the hundreds of influential blogs, it’s essential that beauty companies know what’s being said about them. Social media is honest and transparent, beauty companies need to know who they are while having mystery and allure and know- ing what the competition is up to.

derek handley: You need a social media strategy that includes mobile. This year, forecasters say half the market will be on smart phones and we know those people are heavy users of social media on their mobile devices because people are interested in real time en- gagement. Social media platforms lead people to prod- ucts. Beauty is a category that’s emerging in social me- dia, especially with the good use of mobile marketing campaigns. We’ve had success with Dove and L’Oréal. From interactive outdoor billboards encouraging pass- ers-by to vote, to creating handy on-the-go color selec- tors and easily downloadable skin care matches vis-à-vis Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), the opportuni- ties for mobile engagement are vast. By sending custom- er alerts, news and offers, the building blocks of a mobile program are in place.

pete snyder: We found in our studies that people who come to a brand from social media are more likely to make a purchase, use a coupon or engage in other meaningful ways with the brand. We find higher brand affinity and stronger loyalty among customers and, on top of that, companies can have a two-way dialogue with customers about their brands.

What are some recent mobile innovations in the beauty industry?

derek handley: In mobile, we’re moving from simple texting and voting programs to richer and deeper engagement with customers through video and iphone applications. We’ve worked on iphone apps for makeup lines that provide handy, on-the- go color selectors or skin-shade matchers, as well as programs that alert customers with news and special offers. We’re looking at a number of browsing tools; there are a lot of opportunities for scrapbooking, where customers create a wish list of items selected from magazines or stores and keep their personal scrapbook on their mobile device. And mobile can respond to other media, so if you are running a print ad, your ad could contain a code that readers will text in and they’ll receive a message or a coupon for a product.

How can mobile extend traditional media?

derek handley: Mobile is the one channel that interacts with all other channels. It’s not a simple extension of a website, but rather an opportunity to respond to and integrate with other media. For example, if you’re running print or television ads, they can be activated to carry text messages, re- sponse codes and/or send a message with a call to action or to download content, watch a video or to deliver a coupon. In addition, any content that’s created for any medium, can be leveraged and distributed in the mobile space and extended to handsets. For certain brands, beauty in particu- lar, where there is repeat buying, mobile can also enable the consumer to actually buy the product from their device.

What are the three best practices for expanding brand awareness on social media platforms?

pete snyder: 1. Make sure you are listening to and not just monitoring, conversations about your brand. Understand everything you can about your brand online and place value on what you learn. If you’re paying attention in the right places you can move the needle on sales. And if you don’t like what you’re hearing, take concrete steps to change those perceptions. 2. Be authentic. In or- der to make a real connection you must be honest and transparent. 3. Make sure you have something valuable to say. Don’t just join to join. Be meaning- ful and relevant.

The winners were announced during the Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony on Nov. 17. As the MMA’s highest honors, these awards recognize companies and their campaigns for spearheading the adoption of the mobile channel for marketing purposes.

Each year, the MMA’s awards ceremony serves as the conclusion of the Mobile Marketing Forum. The MMA received hundreds of submissions in 12 categories from companies worldwide.

Winners are selected by the MMA Awards Selection Committee comprised of global industry leaders from wireless carriers, technology and content providers, agencies and industry publications.

The 2009 MMA award winners, by category and region, are:

Mobile Display Campaign - North America
• Pizza Hut iPhone App, Pizza Hut Inc.

Mobile Display Campaign - Central & Latin America
• Trident Fresh, F.biz

Mobile Display Campaign - Europe, Africa and Middle East
• LMfootball.mobi, Livemobile (Pty) Ltd.
• Soccer stars in your pocket, Mobiento

Mobile Display Campaign - Asia Pacific
• Puma F Wan, Phonevalley

Mobile Display Campaign - Global
• The Virtual Zippo Lighter App, Moderati Inc.

Mobile Messaging Campaign - North America
• Creating a Safety Movement by Encouraging Conversation: Just Look for UL, MS&L

Mobile Messaging Campaign - Central & Latin America
• Carefree Mobile Campaign, pontomobi interactive

Mobile Messaging Campaign - Europe, Africa and Middle East
• Kraft Foods Turkey / Patos, Mobilera

Mobile Messaging Campaign - Asia Pacific
• Because We Can, The Hyperfactory

Mobile Messaging Campaign - Global
• Obama SMS Speech Excerpts Sent to Cairo and Ghana Regions, Clickatell

Emerging Technology Campaign - North America
• Pizza Hut iPhone App, Pizza Hut Inc.

Emerging Technology Campaign - Central & Latin America
• Jeito Chiclets; Jeito Lhama, F.biz

Emerging Technology Campaign - Europe, Africa and Middle East
• Fanta More Play, The Hyperfactory

Emerging Technology Campaign - Asia Pacific
• Cadbury Be The Gorilla, The Hyperfactory

Multi-Mobile Channel Campaign - North America
• Rogers/Live Nation - Wireless Box Office, MyThum Interactive

Multi-Mobile Channel Campaign - Central & Latin America
• ClubMovistar – Mobile Loyalty Program, Movistar Chile, AndinaTech

Multi-Mobile Channel Campaign - Europe, Africa and Middle East
• Pepsi Makes Your Day, RABARBA ILETISIM HIZMETLERI

Multi-Mobile Channel Campaign - Asia Pacific
• Sony Quantum Code, AURA Interactive

Multi-Mobile Channel Campaign - Global
• Coca-Cola Global Mobile Festive 2008, The Coca-Cola Co.

Social Impact - North America
• Real Housewives of New York City: Ultimate Virtual Viewing Party, Bravo Digital Media

Social Impact - Europe, Africa and Middle East
• The Fastest on Facebook, Mobile Dreams Factory

Social Impact - Asia Pacific
• Sony Quantum Code, AURA Interactive

Cross-Media Integration Campaign - North America
• UPS jobs - Problem Solved, UPS & TMP Worldwide

Cross-Media Integration Campaign - Central & Latin America
• TIM Father's Day: Gift Express, TIM, McCann Erickson & Mobext

Cross-Media Integration Campaign - Europe, Africa and Middle East
• Who Killed Summer 09 (Vodafone Group), OMD Mobile

Cross-Media Integration Campaign - Asia Pacific
• Go For It, Tribal DDB India

Cross-Media Integration Campaign - Global
• Ad Council That’s Not Cool, R/GA

Best Mobile Campaign Overall: (three-way tie)
• TIM Father's Day: Gift Express, TIM, McCann Erickson & Mobext
• UPS jobs-Problem Solved Mobile Media Campaign Delivers Hires, UPS & TMP Worldwide Advertising
• Who Killed Summer 09 (Vodafone Group), OMD Mobile

The award winners for the 2009 MMA Industry Awards are:

Mobile Innovation: Creativity
• Pepsi Makes Your Day, RABARBA ILETISIM HIZMETLERI

Mobile Innovation: Reach
• ScoreCenter, ESPN

Social Impact
• Text ALIVE Mobile Donations, Mobile Accord Inc.

Award for Overall Excellence
• Fanta Stealth Sound System, Ogilvy Advertising

The award winners for the 2009 MMA Academic awards are:

Academic of the Year - Individual
• Margherita Pagani, Bocconi University

Academic of the Year - Institution
• Ball State University, Ball State University

 

Howard Hunt
Regional business development,
The Hyperfactory

Geoffrey Handley
Co-founder, The Hyperfactory

See full article

Los Angeles, November 18, 2009

In what has become an annual tradition, The Hyperfactory received top honors across several categories at the Mobile Marketing Association’s 2009 Global Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. This year, the global agency took home three more awards for its innovative campaigns:

• Best Mobile Messaging Campaign (Asia Pacific): Because We Can – 42Below Vodka campaign turning a billboard to life

• Best Emerging Technology Campaign (Asia Pacific): Fanta More Play – Virtual Tennis 3D augmented reality app

• Best Emerging Technology Campaign (Europe the Middle East and Africa): Fanta More Play – Virtual tennis 3D augmented reality app

“This is fantastic recognition endorsing our belief that we are the best at helping the biggest companies in the world figure out mobile. We advice them on what they should be doing about this emerging medium and building a strategy around it to finally develop the technology that would get them there”, said Derek Handley, CEO and founder of The Hyperfactory. “The mobile phone is somehow becoming the remote control to people’s life and our goal is to remain the best at creating campaigns for brands we love.”

About The Hyperfactory
The Hyperfactory powers businesses and brands through the mobile medium. As the most awarded and oldest independent specialist, they are consistently setting new standards of excellence through their two divisions:

With a history of winning more industry accolades and recognition than any agency worldwide, clients include Coca-Cola, BlackBerry, L’Oreal, Vodafone, Disney and Kraft.  Privately owned and founded in 2001 by New Zealand brothers Geoffrey and Derek Handley it employs over 100 of the world’s best mobile technology and marketing experts.  The Hyperfactory support and deliver globally through their network of offices in Auckland, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, Sydney and Hyderabad, India.

For more information, visit: http://www.thehyperfactory.com

 

As the MMA’s highest honors, these awards recognize companies and their campaigns for spearheading the adoption of the mobile channel for marketing purposes.

The finalists for this year’s Global MMA Awards represent the mobile marketing pioneers and thought leaders who continue to shape the industry’s best practices through innovative and increasingly effective campaigns that raise the bar for all stakeholders within the mobile marketing community and beyond, according to the MMA.

The full list of finalists can be found here.

Representatives from HyperFactory and R/GA were on hand to discuss new mobile innovations such as using HTML to format mobile sites to look like applications and augmented reality promotions. These new trends have already been active in Europe and are poised to sweep the globe

“We’re at an important inflection point in terms of mobile,” said Chris Colborn, executive vice president and chief experience officer at R/GA, New York. “Mobile is at a place where there’s been a lot of change in the marketplace with the advent of the App Store and dissemination of the new mobile Web platform on the iPhone and Palm. “There are new opportunities for what we can do in the mobile space,” he said.

A part of the Interpublic Group, R/GA is an advertising agency specializing in digital marketing. Mr. Colborn spoke about several of R/GA’s mobile offerings and how the mobile space is changing with the advent of new technologies. For every television and PC in the world there are four mobile devices, he said. Yet, advertisers are spending more on TV than mobile. Brands should invest in mobile not because of its reach or the ability to target consumers on mobile, but because of the personalized experience that comes with mobile. TV marketing is a lean-back medium, Mr. Colborn said. PC marketing is lean-forward, while mobile is extremely targeted and relevant because it is such a personal device to the user. Advertisers need to put mobile at the heart of any 360-degree campaign, such as the R/GA-powered Nokia campaign, Urbanista Diaries (see story).

The campaign gave a series of bloggers cameras and mobile devices to go out and document how they see the world. It was rendered in real time on the Web. Eventually, brands like CNN got on board and general everyday consumers joined the campaign, making it a global experience.

Embracing mobile Web
Changes in global sites can whet the appetite in terms of what can be done on the mobile platform. One good example is ESPN. The sports brand uses advanced HTML to make for the richer media experience users expect from an application. Google’s Fast Flip was launched for the PC Web and mobile, showing that Google is paying attention to the mobile platform and knows the future of browsing is on mobile. Brands need to think in terms of applications when designing mobile sites, Mr. Colborn said.

The Massachesuts Institute of Technology has designed its mobile landing page with icons, giving users the functionality of an application on the mobile Web platform. Volkswagen has followed a similar practice. Using GPS and location services on the mobile Web will help shape the future too, for example a consumer using her present location to look for street art on Flickr. Amazon is paving the way in mobile commerce with a mobile site that has many of the same functionalities as the PC Web site. If users are still not satisfied with Amazon’s mobile site, the commerce giant has a button to link back to a more traditional PC-style site to make users more comfortable. These new trends in mobile Web development have come from the innovations seen in applications.

Another way to leverage the mobile platform is to link it with the PC Web. The Nike Training Club starts users on Nikewomen.com, where they can build avatars and set up workout routines. Then, the user downloads the application and can take the fitness routine anywhere (see story).

Mr. Colborn said the usage of the iPhone application is twice as high as the Web usage. Developers and brands will continue to leverage the mobile platform in an effort to reach consumers in their everyday life. Applications are experimenting with incremental purchases. like on Major League Baseball’s. After the initial purchase of the Major League Baseball, users can pay $0.99 to watch any live game via their iPhone. Using the Barnes & Noble iPhone application, users can snap a picture of a DVD, book or CD and look up its price in the bookseller’s super store and find the nearest location that stocks the product. “We’re going to see a lot more rich visual experiences,” Mr. Colborn said.

Mobile on the street

The Hyperfactory creates mobile marketing campaigns, programs and sites for clients through offices worldwide. Derek Handley, Los Angeles-based CEO of The Hyperfactory, said that integrating mobile is the way to go for the future.

The United Nations used The Hyperfactory to promote UN Voices in Australia. As a part of the campaign, posters and advertisements featured people with various afflictions. Some were HIV positive, others homeless. Users were encouraged to take a picture of the person’s mouth on the poster and send it to a designated number on the poster. Within a few minutes of the message’s sending, the users receive a recorded call from the person on the poster, telling them about their cause. All proceeds from the messages and calls went to various related charities. Users were also directed to a Web site where all the stories were listed. There, users could submit their own stories too.

“It was a static campaign that used mobile on two levels,” Mr. Handley said. “It brings the voice of the characters of the campaign to you in a personal and innovative way and it creates a voice for the static media, trying to get more interactive and help it come to life.”

In Sweden, AMF Pension ran a campaign to get young adults interested in savings. The company used posters to ask mobile users to photograph themselves and send it in to a designated number. Then, the user would receive an MMS back with how they would look several years in the future. Mr. Handley said using the tactic of surprise, the campaign engaged young users.

Hyperfactory’s promotion for shoe giant Nike, Nike PhotoID, allowed users to take colors from the real world and put them onto shoes. Users created personalized sneakers by taking a picture of a combination of colors they found and sending them to a designated number. After sending, an MMS is sent back to the consumer with a shoe styled with their colors and a code to enter to buy the product online.

In terms of augmented reality, Coca-Cola and The Hyperfactory launched two promotions. The applications launched across Europe in late January and were supported by print and online ads, on-pack promotions, point-of-sale material, viral marketing and public relations. One application is called Fanta Virtual Tennis and the other is the Fanta Stealth Sound System (see story).

Mr. Handley said the future of mobile is full integration into media campaigns, like Fanta has done. “These ideas are all mobile-centric,” Mr. Handley said. “We take big ideas for mobile and integrate them into the wider campaign and they all use various mechanisms to engage in cutting-edge technology.”

The brothers, who founded The Hyperfactory in 2000, won't reveal how much listed Meredith Corporation is paying for the 19.9 per cent stake but say it is "up there" in terms of other emerging New Zealand technology companies.

In 2006 Rod Drury sold his email storage company AfterMail to US software maker Quest for more than $60 million and in 2003 a 70 per cent chunk in Peter Maire's Navman was snapped up by US manufacturer Brunswick for $56.1 million.

New York-based Derek Handley, who will stay on as chief executive of Hyperfactory, said the company had been looking to do a deal for the past 18 months. "We wanted to find someone who would be able to really help us move to the next stage." The acquisition by Meredith would help the company, which grew its revenue by 80 per cent last year, grow even faster. "When you look at New Zealand success stories like Navman they have taken 30 years to get to where they are. "If we want to get to $100 million in revenue - we want to get there in 2009 not 2039."

The Hyperfactory only expanded overseas four years ago but already has two offices in the United States as well as sites in Shanghai, Hong Kong and India. Handley said the acquisition would not mean pulling out of its New Zealand operations, instead it would have a joint head office in Auckland and New York.

Handley said the deal would allow Hyperfactory to gain access to Meredith's clients as well as expanding its services throughout the US.

Meredith is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and last year had revenue of US$1.6 billion ($2.45 billion). It owns 12 television stations in the US, as well as 23 subscription magazines and 32 websites.

Handley said Meredith had the ability to reach 85 million Americans a month. "All of that stuff has got to go mobile." Handley said the relationship with Meredith had already resulted in more than a million dollars worth of business and he expected that to grow to more than $10 million per year.

"I think for us the deal definitely cements Hyperfactory as a New Zealand success story." Handley said it showed New Zealand entrepreneurs could succeed in going global despite being so far away from major world markets. "It proves young people can do this. That you can build a global business with entrepreneurs from Auckland - I think that is the thing I'm most proud of - it's not about the money."

Handley put their success down to drive and hunger. "It is hard work. But deals like this make it all worthwhile." Handley came up with the mobile marketing idea on the balcony of his Auckland apartment in 2000 but it wasn't until 2004 that the business began to gain steam.

In 2007 The Hyperfactory gained financial support from 42 Below founders Geoff Ross, Grant Baker and Stephen Sinclair as well as American investors Rich Frank and his son Paul Frank who helped the company set up shop in Hollywood.

Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP), a 107 year old New York Stock Exchange listed company, reaches over 85 million Americans each month through its roster of well-known media brands including Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle. One of America’s leading media and marketing companies, Meredith's fiscal 2008 annual revenues were $US1.6 billion.

Privately owned and founded in 2001 by New Zealand brothers Geoffrey and Derek Handley, The Hyperfactory has rapidly become a major global success story, establishing itself as the world’s expert in mobile marketing.

The company specialises in powering businesses and brands through the mobile medium with award winning, innovative and strategically creative initiatives. Its campaigns have won more mobile marketing awards than any agency worldwide.

“Entering into an alliance with Meredith, a leading media company with vast expertise, experience and resources, will accelerate our global growth at a pivotal stage for the mobile marketing industry,” says Derek Handley. “Being part of such a consortium of leading edge thinkers will stimulate our own creative ideas, design and implementation capabilities, and also create opportunities for us to compete for a whole new tier of clients.”

In addition to its traditional print marketing and advertising business, Meredith has made a number of strategic investments in recent years to broaden its audiences, enhance its online and video content creation expertise, expand its distribution platforms, and increase its sales and marketing capabilities.

“Joining forces with The Hyperfactory provides Meredith’s Integrated Marketing unit with access to the fast-growing mobile category and complements our recent acquisitions in the digital marketing space,” says Jack Griffin, President of the Meredith Publishing Group. “The Hyperfactory’s capabilities fall directly in line with our strategic goals and present significant opportunities for our business-to-business engagements.”

Derek Handley will remain the Chief Executive Officer of The Hyperfactory, with dual headquarters in New York and Auckland.

“Meredith’s stake in The Hyperfactory is an endorsement of our vision and ability to deliver on it,” continues Mr. Handley.  “With Meredith as a strategic shareholder and full business partner we can together leverage the power of mobile across our combined extensive client networks.”

A recent study by Magna Insights shows that within five years the majority of world-wide web users will access the internet using mobile. There are 250 million mobile phones in the US alone with 60 million Americans actively browsing.  Nielson Mobile and eMarketer estimate the US mobile advertising market will grow from $805 million in 2007 to $3.6 billion in 2010.

“Media companies can no longer afford to simply use mobile as a passive channel of communication. They need to actively develop business and brand strategies that include mobile if they are to maintain future connectivity with their customers,” says Mr. Handley.

Says John Zieser, Meredith’s Chief Development Officer, “This strategic move further expands Meredith’s global footprint as well as our ability to serve our clients on this rapidly growing platform. We are continuously seeking out new opportunities to align with market leaders throughout the world.”

“iPhones are considered to be the latest and the greatest,” said Dave Everett, vice president and partner at KaOoga, Newton, MA. “They are made for people on the go and this fits in perfectly for fast food chains.”

“The demographics also match up well as the iPhone users’ age group skews towards a younger crowd,” he said. “Another iPhone advantage is the enormous screen size – an advertiser’s message is impossible to miss. “Having mobile outreach gives fast-food chains an opportunity to push new products, specials and deals.”

Taco Bell first launched its Why Pay More value menu last year and it couldn’t have been a more perfect time. The battered economy has taken its toll on fast-food chain sales in general and the Why Pay More value menu is a great incentive to drive sales.

The Taco Bell value menu includes a variety of menu choices including burritos, tacos and nachos. To use the app, users just need to enter the prices of the value menu items they are buying. Then, they have to shake their phone to trigger calculation.

The application is meant to show consumers that Taco Bell is dedicated to helping consumers save money during this tough time. The application also calculates how much change consumers are to get back.

Customers with a limited amount of money in hand can enter the amount they have and the app will show them what combinations of menu items they can afford to buy. The app also has a store locator link that helps find the nearest Taco Bell.

“Quick service restaurants view mobile apps as a new way to engage their customers, from a simple store-finder function that helps customer find the nearest restaurant to full remote ordering and payment right from the app,” said Noah N. Glass, founder CEO of Gomobo, New York.

Gomobo built an iPhone application for fast-food chain Burger King. The Burger King app lets consumer place orders and pay for them their iPhone (see story).

Additionally, Gomobo helped Subway with its mobile ordering service (see story).

“Restaurant self-service technology has evolved from in-store kiosks, to online ordering, to the mobile device,” he said.

 

The Global Board will be chaired by Federico Pisani Massamormile, and will be supported by Global Vice-Chairperson Michael Becker, with Mike Wehrs, MMA President and CEO, and Russell Buckley, Global Chairperson Emeritus, rounding out the Global Board of Directors.

The MMA 2009-2010 Global Board of Directors is as follows:

Global

* Global Chair: Federico Pisani Massamormile, CEO HANZO
* Global Vice Chair: Michael Becker, Executive Vice President of Business Development , iLoop Mobile
* Global Treasurer: Louis Gump, VP Mobile, CNN
* Global Secretary: Geoffrey Handley, Co-Founder & New Business Director, The Hyperfactory
* MMA: Mike Wehrs, President and CEO

APAC

* Chair: Sean Rach, Managing Director, OgilvyOne Hong Kong
* Vice Chair: Barney Loehnis, Network Director, Isobar Asia Pacific
* Secretary: Dilip Mistry, Windows Live Lead, Greater Asia Pacific
* Treasurer: Geoffrey Handley , Co-Founder & New Business Director, The Hyperfactory HK Ltd
* Chair Emeritus: Jimmy Poon, Managing Director, Puca Technologies
* MMA: Rohit Dadwal, Managing Director APAC

Europe

* Chair: Herve Le Jouan, Managing Director, Census Solutions
* Vice Chair: Arda Kertmelioglu, CMO / Co-Founder, Mobilera BV
* Secretary: Mark Wächter, Chairman, BVDW Section Mobile (MMA Germany)
* Treasurer: Salvador Carrillo, Founder & CEO, Mobile Dreams Factory (MMA Spain)
* Chair Emeritus: Russell Buckley, Vice President of Global Alliances, AdMob (also Global Chair meritus)
* MMA: Paul Berney, Managing Director EUR

LATAM

* Chair: Omarson Costa, Senior Business Development Manager - Latin America, Microsoft
* Vice Chair: Enrique Yuste, President, Wunderman Latin America
* Treasurer: Fernanda Magalhaes, Brazil Manager, Mobext
* Secretary: Roberto Vázquez Ferrero, Director Telecom Practice, Latin America, The Nielsen Company
* Chair Emeritus: Federico Pisani Massamormile, CEO, HANZO
* MMA: Terence Reis, Managing Director LATAM

North America

* Chair: Maria Mandel, Executive Director of Digital Innovation, Ogilvy Interactive
* Vice Chair: Michael Becker, VP, Mobile Strategies, iLoop Mobile
* Treasurer: Louis Gump, VP Mobile, CNN
* Secretary: Paul Palmieri, President & CEO, Millennial Media
* Chair Emeritus: Tom Daly, Group Manager, Strategy & Planning, The Coca-Cola Company
* MMA: Mike Wehrs, President & CEO (also MMA rep to Global Board)

“The MMA is a premier industry association which discusses, plans and works cooperatively with its entire membership to resolve key industry issues, to share perspectives and case studies across the different geographic regions, to promote technology, processes and practices innovation, and, ultimately, to boost the growth of mobile marketing and advertising worldwide. I am greatly honored to be in a position to help shape its initiatives, drive its international growth and advance its industry leadership’” said new Global Chairman Federico Pisani Massamormile. “I am excited to work with the talented group of individuals that sit on the Global Board. The combined set of skills and experience is unique, extremely valuable and essential as we execute on our mission on behalf of the entire MMA membership and the Industry we represent.”

“Global industry collaboration is essential for the success of mobile marketing and to ensure the best experience for the consumer. Our member and board contribution to this collaborative process is incredibly important, offering real-world expertise and experience,” said MMA President and CEO Mike Wehrs. “My thanks go to the outgoing board members for all their help and hard work, and I welcome our new board for another productive year.”

About the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA)
Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the premier global non-profit trade association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies. The MMA is an action-oriented organization designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth, and evangelize the use of the mobile channel. The more than 700 member companies, representing over forty countries around the globe, include all members of the mobile media ecosystem. The Mobile Marketing Association’s global headquarters are located in the United States and it has regional chapters including North America (NA), Europe (EUR), Latin American (LATAM) and Asia Pacific (APAC) branches. For more information, please visit www.mmaglobal.com. For information relating to the MMA’s Mobile Marketing Forum series, please visit

www.mobilemarketingforum.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

APAC
Sonya Madeira Stamp, Jeff Tan or Joan Khor
Rice Communications Pte Ltd
Tel: +65 6227 1550
Email: apac.pr@mmaglobal.com

EMEA
Jen Allen or Becca Daniel
Mi liberty Ltd
Tel: +44 207 751 4444
Email: press.emea@mmaglobal.com

LATAM
Maria Ramirez or Julio Gama
Newlink PR
Tel: 305 5327950
Email: press.latam@mmaglobal.com

NA
Valerie Christopherson or Kirsten Woodard
GRC for MMA
Tel: (949) 608-0276
Email: press@mmaglobal.com

If you want to inject real wow factor into your mobile campaigns, you want augmented reality (AR). The customer points a camera phone at a barcode image on a billboard or magazine, and they see a 3D image – of your new product, perhaps – appear on the screen, while the real world remains in the background.
The Hyperfactory has developed AR campaigns for Nike in Asia and Fanta in Europe. Howard Hunt spills the beans on the technology that’s got mobile marketers buzzing.

For mobiThinking’s musings on AR, see: Even better than the real thing.

Q1. What is Augmented Reality and where did it come from?
Augmented Reality (AR) is the process of superimposing digitally rendered images onto our real-world surroundings, giving the sense of an illusion or ‘virtual’ reality. The technology has been around for many years, and has been used in everything from CAD programs for aircraft assembly and architecture, to simulation, navigation, even military and medical procedures. It is only recently, however, that marketers have spotted how AR can be used to engage their mobile audience.

Q2. How does AR work? And what does it involve?
To take part, the consumer needs to download the AR application from the brand’s mobile site, perhaps triggered by an SMS containing the URL.
When the phone’s video camera is pointed at a marker – often a black and white barcode image in print or outdoor advertising – the AR application will first recognise it, analyse it, then create a virtual image based upon the data contained in the marker. The consumer sees a 3D object on the screen, superimposed over the real view seen through the camera lens, which can be viewed from any angle.
AR can also be used on online campaigns (the consumer holds a print advert in front of a webcam), with less development effort than with mobile. But there is so much more scope with mobile, as it can be used anywhere: at a coffee shop, standing next to a billboard, at a sports game, on public transport etc. This makes the extra effort with AR mobile campaigns so worthwhile for brand and consumer.

Q3. How can AR be used by mobile marketers or content providers?
AR can be applied to almost any concept – as long as you have a strong creative angle and the support of an integrated media plan, then the sky is the limit. To date, AR has been a hit with brands that want to create high-impact campaigns to generate awareness of new services or product launches. We’ve seen AR used to create 3D models of cars and shoes from markers in adverts; interactive games; and display messages hidden in SMS.

Q4. What do consumers need to do to take part?
Typically consumers need to have a high-end video-capable phone or smart phone. The technology requires a fair amount of processing power, so the best experience is with high-end Symbian (Nokia etc) or Windows mobile devices. As the application is usually downloaded over 3G or GPRS, it helps to have a flat-rate data plan. AR would also work with the Apple iPhone, but as the software development kit (SDK) is not officially released, applications can not make it onto the App Store just yet.

Q5. What sort of consumers does AR appeal to? Is it more popular with certain demographics or in certain geographies?
There have been too few AR campaigns across the world to say for sure which geographies or demographics respond best. However it is fair to assume it will attract a younger tech-savvy audience (people that go for the latest high-spec phones).
Success, as always, depends on the marketing team’s ability to make the campaign appealing. Consumers are more willing to engage if they perceive a sense of ‘value’. The campaign will be more successful if it is tied seamlessly across media and technology platforms.

Q6. What do you need to do to get consumers involved? Do you have to ‘promote’ the campaign?
Promotion is essential: assuming ‘build it and they will come’ is a recipe for disaster. In common with all mobile campaigns, the call to action must be: 1) clear, 2) simple, 3) well-distributed across channels, and 4) communicate real value.
The simplest way to get the technology into people’s hands is to prompt them to send an SMS. The reply message should contain a URL, hyperlinking to the mobile download site with instructions and full promotion details.

Q7. How successful is this with consumers?
Consumers love to be challenged and they love to take control. AR campaigns are about interaction and empowerment. The most common first reaction from consumers, I believe, is “That’s so cool”, closely followed by “How does it do that?”
These campaigns generate a huge viral or word-of-mouth effect, which is great for creating awareness and engagement. One person – typically an influencer – may tell or demonstrate to as many as 10 friends or family members.

Q8. Is this more than just a novelty?
There’s no doubt the first movers in AR have done it for novelty effect. Many brands saw an opportunity to create a buzz with something new. However this technology is set to grow exponentially both as today’s high-end phones become commonplace and as the mobile business develops new interactive elements to AR campaigns. This will keep creative agencies, brands and consumers busy for the foreseeable future.

Q9. Is it expensive to run an AR campaign?
It’s all relative. The cost of innovation and development makes AR above-average for mobile campaign budgets; however, it’s no more expensive than developing a well-executed integrated mobile Website, or an iPhone game/application. But compared to the average budget for traditional media channels, it’s a drop in the ocean.

Q10. What brands have used AR in their campaigns?
Nike ‘T90’ football boot launch in Hong Kong, Q3 2008, McCann Erickson Hong Kong and The Hyperfactory. See the mobile site and case study

Fanta ‘Play’ tennis game in Europe, Q1 2009, Ogilvy UK and The Hyperfactory. See the mobile site and Website

The Ford Ka launch in Europe, Q1 2009, Wunderman. See the mobile site and video

WWF China, Q2 2009, BBH China and Qdero. See the video

Q11. Where do you see AR going in the future? Is it going to be big?
I believe there will be a series of revolutions for this technology. Short term, expect it to become increasingly interactive, incorporating more live-information feeds and interactive animations.
There will be live integration with the mobile Web, exploiting AR’s ability to map to the real world in terms of location. This will revolutionize classrooms with new learning applications, just as much as it will transform the gaming world (as it already doing via PC-based applications).

AR will open up a truly new, virtual environment around us. Just look at these examples:

Sekai Camera from Japan

Wikitude Google Android Travel Guide

Gizmondo AR Game

Q12. What’s the biggest myth about AR?
People think that it is actually artificial intelligence (AI) and is capable of giving birth to alien babies. Everything is possible... but that might take a few years.

AR campaigns tick a lot of boxes: appealing, innovative, interactive, cool, fun, engaging, viral, plus getting the important message across. This campaign from WWF China illustrates this particularly well. Consumers point their mobile phone at any scene to see a virtual bear coping with the environment – the message to young people: help protect wildlife habitat.

So that’s the entertainment crowd happy, now for the utilitarian… If AR in mobile entertainment is nascent, then on the utility side it’s still in nappies. But there are excellent examples of how AR can literally bring all that terribly useful information on the mobile Web to life. Using image recognition or mapping (or location-based services), AR can tap the mobile Web for more information on what’s around you:

• Help tourists find out more about the place of interest in front of them – see Wikitude demo part one and part two (for Android phones).

• Find a great deal on a show or restaurant – see Lastminute demo (for Android phones).

• Tell you more about the movie advertised on a billboard (and where it’s on locally) – see Nokia Point and Find.

It’s immediately clear from these examples how AR is a perfect fit for a travel guide or a local business looking for a new way to entice in passing trade for example. Now consider how useful it would be for a visitor to an exhibition, sports event, car showroom or even shopping centre (especially if it is delivered over WIFI or Bluetooth). The IBM Seer application for Wimbledon 2009 (again for Android) is a good indication of how this works in practice – see this Wimbledon demo.

And what a great tool for consumer empowerment… there is an abundance of mobile sites that help consumers, such as Wines.mobi to check the fair price for a bottle of wine, Safetoy.mobi to check a toy hasn’t been recalled or Drugs.mobi to find out more about pharmaceuticals. How handy if all you had to do was point your camera phone at the product to search for the latest data. AR has the potential to make the mobile Web even easier, quicker, useful and accessible.

Which brings us to branded utility: what marketer wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to sponsor the commentary at a relevant trade show, sports event or guide visitors around town? If there’s any doubt, check out the publicity IBM (and AR, for that matter) has received in the mainstream press with the Wimbledon app. What’s branded utility? Read THIS INTERVIEW with Ogilvy VP Rory Sutherland to find out more.

The results of the Webbys - the Oscars of the internet, if you will - have already been announced.

Kiwi companies Xero (banking/billing) and Hyperfactory (with six ad agency awards) were among the winners named last month.

Hyperfactory boss Derek Handley who, somewhat deflatingly, already lives in the big Apple, from where he directs his Auckland-based company’s global efforts - and his sidekick are supplying Keallhauled with some live comments from the Webbys Gala ceremony on now in New York where, famously, winners are restricted to a five-word speech.

10.30am: Just passed Bob Greenberg of r/ga will hit him up as he comes off the video podium about unfairly taking our Agency of Year crown, and to suggest to expect much stronger competition from us next year...

10.45am: Decidedly underdressed sans black tie.
Just moving into the green room to get our official You Tube thank you video recording done.

11.36am: Just had a great chat to Lisa Kudrow off friends ... no pic allowed.
She looks just like Phoebe.

11.46am: Five minutes in and Twitter has been mentioned 50 times and been the subject of a three-minute video clip. Last year it was mentioned once, if at all.

10.51am: Seth Myers from Saturday Night Live is hosting ....

12.02pm: We are going on stage now to collect our People's Voice for Mobile Gaming for Fanta Europe.

Seth has given us permission walking off the stage to announce "Do you know who I am? I'm a ficking Webby winner ...".

12.10pm: Crazy dude took all of his clothes off for acceptance and yelled out something inaudible.

Forever, it seems, we've been told that it's just a matter of time—next year, for sure—that mobile marketing will take off in the U.S. Yet advertising on cell phones remains tiny.

That may be about to change for two reasons: Web-surfing smartphones are selling briskly even in a downturn, anapplications for those gadgets—especially Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and the BlackBerry—are proliferating. That means people are spending a lot more time playing gameswatching TV, and shopping on their phones. All that activity translates into what marketers call engagement, a fancy way of saying people are paying attention. Companies, of course, prize that, so they're looking for mobile applications that are a good fit for their brands.

Which brings us to Pandora, a nine-year-old, free online service that lets users design "radio stations" based on their musical preferences. Since Pandora launched a mobile edition two years ago, it has signed up 6 million people (total users for mobile and Web versions is 27 million). That has prompted the likes of Best Buy (BBY), Dockers, Target (TGT), and Nike (NKE) to buy ads on Pandora and experiment with what remains a cheap advertising medium—one most companies have yet to figure out. "We've reached a tipping point," says Domino's (DPZ) Pizza advertising executive Rob Weisberg. "Marketers, especially consumer brands, have to take mobile seriously now. You have to be where your customer works, lives, and plays."

Pandora has become a test bed because people who use the service tend to spend a lot of time playing around with it. They are constantly creating stations, rating songs, and scrolling through playlists to find artists they don't know. Pandora founder Tim Westergren says on average subscribers use the mobile service about 90 minutes a day (though there are no independent numbers).

Advertisers are trying out Pandora in myriad ways. Sometimes it's as a direct marketing tool. Domino's, for example, puts up ads that urge people to call in for a pizza directly from their phones. Other companies are using coupons. Docker's offered a 20% discount if visitors went to the brand's site and entered the promotional code "Pandora." Some companies prompt users to watch movie clips where their products are featured prominently. Puma, which developed a shoe with Ducati motorcycles, ran ads on Pandora that included a trailer from the Vin Diesel movie Fast & Furious 4. The ads allowed people to buy shoes that were featured in the film from their phones. Kraft (KFT) and Nike, looking to have people come directly to them, took out ads encouraging Pandora users to put links on their phones that take them to special mobile sites providing advice as well as promote products. Kraft's is the iFood Assistant, with recipe tips, and Nike's is the Nike Training Club, with workout suggestions.

HIGH CUSTOMER RESPONSE
If one thing has surprised advertisers, it's how avidly consumers are responding. Target says 27% more people clicked on its ad for the release of Christina Aguilera's greatest hits CD last fall than on any other mobile Web campaign. The ad urged users to visit a site where they could get a free Aguilera ringtone and buy the album. Target recently launched a Pandora campaign for the retailer's C9 by Champion clothing line.

Sonos, which sells home music systems, just wrapped up a campaign on Pandora. DeAnna Wassom, Sonos' senior marketing director, says she has never seen better customer response in her 20 years in the business. The ads asked people to click through to a promotional video. Typically, only 1% to 2% of people click on ads overall. But nearly 5% clicked in this case, says Wassom, and almost 40% of those clicking watched the entire video. During the campaign, nearly twice as many people asked to be put on Sonos' e-mail list as those signing up on the company's regular site.

Derek Handley, whose firm, Hyperfactory, has persuaded several companies to advertise on Pandora, says most brands have no clue how to market on mobile devices. Many try to do too much, including making sites so technologically flashy that they crash phones. The key is to keep it simple, he says. Handley also advises companies to build special mobile sites, because regular ones don't translate well to supersmall screens. With mobile marketing poised to take off, the companies experimenting now will have a head start.

Online accounting software provider Xero won two Webbys for its software and website in the banking / bill paying category. The Xero application won the Webby Award and also won the People’s Voice Award in the same category.

 

With eight wins, R/GA New York will be presented with the first-ever Webby Agency of the Year Award at the 13th Annual Webby Awards, organizers announced today.

The new award recognizes the most successful agency across all Webby categories, including, interactive advertising, websites, mobile sites, and online film and video. Other multiple winners include: New Zealand's Hyperfactory with 6; Goodby Silverstein and Partners with 3; and 2 each to Clemenger BBDO, Wellington, Wieden + Kennedy, 42 Entertainment, The Netherland's Achtung!, Japan's Less Rain, Grow Interactive, Razorfish and Atmosphere. Of the big four advertising holding companies, Omnicom and Interpublic tied with eight awards each, followed by Publicis with three wins.

This is the first year that the Webbys have recognized an Agency of the Year, and the inaugural prize goes to R/GA -- which was selected because it won a total of eight Webby categories, including best B2C Rich Media for Nike SPARQ (which also won a People's Voice Award, so let's hear it for the annoying messages), Best Retail for NIKEiD and Best Game or Application for Nike Football Head2Head (the judges also seem to like Nike).

Other big winners include New Zealand's Hyperfactory (with six awards); Goodby Silverstein & Partners (took three); Wieden + Kennedy, Grow Interactive, the Atmosphere and Clemenger offices of BBDO, and Razorfish (all nabbed two). Of the big four, Omnicom and Interpublic tied with eight awards each, followed by Publicis with three wins.

Twitter won Breakout of the Year -- but, like all winners, when Biz Stone accepts his award in New York on June 8, he'll be limited to five words instead of the 140 characters he's used to.

The Webbys are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which is not to be confused with the Academy of Arts and Sciences, but this doesn't mean Hugh Jackman won't one day be host. This year, however, SNL's Seth Meyers has hosting duties. Some of the members of the "Academy" who are responsible for judging this year's 10,000 entrants: Vinton Cerf, Matt Groening, Arianna Huffington (whose HuffPo took the People's Voice for Best Political Blog), Harvey Weinstein, Alex Bogusky, Betawave's Matt Freeman, AKQA's Rei Inamoto, and Ogilvy & Mather's Annie Wong.

The full list of winners can be found here .

“Each one of them are doers, though some are more active on the creative side, others on the business development side,” said Andy Favell, editor of mobiThinking. “The key was that the rest of us can learn from each of them.”

Here is the list of honorees in the order of markets: Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States.

Sandy Agarwal, director for Asia-Pacific at Nokia Interactive Advertising
An ESPN cable executive from India, Mr. Agarwal spotted the mobile opportunity on a visit to Reykjavik, Iceland. He soon started Landmat with Icelandic partners for mobile entertainment and community products.

Along the way, Landmat was acquired by Enpocket, which itself became a Nokia company in 2007. Mr. Agarwal stayed through the acquisitions, such was his faith in mobile.

Among Mr. Agarwal’s key achievements is the Nokia Life Tools test project offering Indian farmers access to market prices of supplies and produce, weather and tips of the trade in many languages. Mobile subscriptions and advertising, along with sponsorships from fertilizer and seed companies and multinationals, fund the service.

Geoffrey Handley, cofounder of The Hyperfactory
The New Zealander founded his agency with brother Derek, turning The Hyperfactory into one of the most well-oiled mobile marketing firms

The Hyperfactory’s 10 offices and 120 staff worldwide run more than 2,000 campaigns for a blue-chip roster of clients including Coca-Cola and Johnson & Johnson. It is a sharp contrast from 2001 when the Handleys did not have the funds to fly to Cannes, France, to collect a GSMA Award for a Cancer Society campaign. They did eventually find sponsors to fund the trip, and that tenacity has remained part of their approach to mobile.

The hands-on leader is a firm proponent of mobile’s value in the multichannel marketing environment, steering clients toward a more mass-market mobile Web presence before embarking on applications for niche audiences

Neeraj Roy, founder/CEO of Hungama Mobile
This go-to man for India’s Bollywood film industry helms South Asia’s largest mobile entertainment company.

Mr. Roy is one of the earliest pioneers of mobile marketing in India, running campaigns for 300 local and multinational advertisers and delivering more than 120 million messages across different databases in Hungama’s decade-long existence. Hungama is the Indian term for noise.

It is said that 70 percent of Bollywood mobile content – video, ringtones, music and games – is funneled through Hungama either as distributor, publisher or developer. Mr. Roy in 2007 helped India’s leading brewer take its Kingfisher Swim Suit Calendar mobile.

Salvador Carrillo, founder/CEO of Mobile Dreams Factory
Now who was that Spanish agency that walked away with eight gongs at the Mobile Marketing Association’s 2008 awards? Few at the ceremony were aware that Mr. Carrillo is long in tooth in mobile, launching Spain’s first WAP site in 1999.

The Spaniard channeled his love for mobile and soccer (European football) in an epic campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, resulting in more than 1 million downloads – with more than 20,000 concurrent users.

Mr. Carrillo and his team have convinced several brands to make their first foray into mobile – Spanish wireless carrier Telefonica with its first branded mobile Internet service in 2006, sponsored by Coca-Cola and marking its Spanish mobile marketing debut. Yes, it was soccer-related.

Marc Mielau, head of digital media at BMW Group
In many ways, this German has set the bar for automotive mobile marketing. He is also a firm believer in integrating mobile into all business activities

Under Mr. Mielau’s direction, BMW in 2006 launched the Mobile Calculator to let German consumers calculate the cost of financing a new car using various types of loans. A BMW@mobile application followed, letting consumers shop for a used car by texting a short code to get photographs and other details. They could also elect to have the car dealer call to arrange for a test drive.

Among his other feats, Mr. Mielau has encouraged the BMW customer relations department to add mobile phone numbers and opt-ins to the luxury automaker’s database. This led to a successful MMS campaign in winter of 2007 offering opted-in mobile consumers winter tires for their BMW. 2D bar codes were also added that year in magazine ads, taking consumers who scanned them to the phone’s browser and then to the new models area on http://BMW.mobi.

Daniel Rosen, head of AKQA MobilThis decade-long veteran of mobile works at one of the most highly lauded interactive agencies. So it is no surprise that AKQA Mobile gets to put a mobile spin on campaigns and sites for Nike, Coca-Cola and Smirnoff.

Mr. Rosen takes particular pride in the Nike PHOTOiD effort that invited sneaker fans in Europe to snap something colorful and send it to a short code with the keyword DUNK. AKQA automatically created a shoe based on the colors in the image and texted the design back. Consumers could then customize the design on NikePHOTOiD.com and buy the footwear.

A Smirnoff .mobi site in 2007 led to the development of the Nighlife Guide to help customers find a bar nearby selling Smirnoff and the Pocket Bartender feature to help users choose a Smirnoff-based cocktail. And then there was the winter 2008 effort that encouraged visitors to http://Coke.mobi to design and send a mobile Christmas card to someone else.

Melis Turkmen, head of the mobile marketing and advertising unit at Turkcell
In an industry that does not attract its fair share of women, Ms. Turkmen is a standout: an indefatigable evangelist of mobile advertising and marketing who has the numbers to prove it.

When Ms. Turkmen moved in 2005 from Turkish wireless carrier Turkcell’s value-added services division to run mobile marketing, her unit had revenue of only $2 million. Four years later, that unit generated $45 million in sales, with the product line expanded from three services to 22, eight agency partners evolving into 24 and a team of one now 13-strong.

Ms. Turkmen and her team have helped craft mobile campaigns for brands such as Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, Shell, BP, Coca-Cola and Unilever. Last year, Turkcell ran 650 mobile marketing projects with 276 brands in 27 industries. The carrier’s pride-and-joy are its permission database, free airtime campaigns and Tone&Win ringback tone advertising platform.

Louis Gump, vice president of mobile at The Weather Channel Interactive
Mr. Gump is always on the stump. Mobile marketing in the United States has no more dedicated a champion than this peripatetic executive who speaks up for the channel at every major event or caucus. He has the street cred.

Given the nature of its focus, the Weather Channel Mobile at http://weather.mobi is one of the most popular mobile sites nationwide, attracting a Nielsen-claimed monthly mobile audience of 11.9 million unique visitors, per January data. It is ahead of content rivals ESPN and CNN and behind only Yahoo Mail, Google Search and Yahoo Messenger.

One of the earliest media properties to go mobile in 1999 – the pioneering wired Web-based weather.com launched in 1995 – the Weather Channel Mobile flourishes with several business models in use: banner ads, syndication of mobile video content to several distributors and customer subscriptions for applications on the BlackBerry, iPhone and Android platforms. The outlook is sunny.

Omar Hamoui, founder/CEO of AdMob
One of the pioneers in the mobile ad network space, Mr. Hamoui has launched three startups before AdMob – Vertical Blue, GoPix and Fotochatter. Perhaps the Silicon Valley-based executive is proudest of his latest effort, the three-year-old AdMob that has gone through three rounds of funding and convinced some of the largest advertisers worldwide to run mobile banner ad campaigns.

AdMob claims to serve 4.1 billion ads monthly to consumers on more than 6,000 mobile sites and 1,000-plus iPhone and Android applications in 160 countries. Advertisers who have done business with AdMob include Land Rover, Coca-Cola, adidas, Paramount Pictures, Ford, Procter & Gamble and MTV Europe. Publishers in its network include CBS Mobile, Hollywood.com, Flirtomatic, Electronics Arts and AccuWeather.

Mr. Hamoui is said to be a hands-on executive, working closely in the recent launch of the iPhone Download Exchange. That exchange will let iPhone application developers in AdMob’s network use a portion of their ad inventory to promote their application and drive downloads.

Gene Keenan, vice president of mobile services at Isobar

What’s an organic farmer from California and former chef to the Grateful Dead band doing in mobile? Ask Mr. Keenan the next time you bump into him at one of the countless mobile shows nationwide and overseas.

Mr. Keenan is better known for his tireless stumping on the mobile circuit, representing the Mobile Marketing Association currently as global vice chairman and metrics crusader. Still, he finds time to push the mobile bar for agency clients such as Reebok, Marriott, Nike, adidas and Electronic Arts.

A shining moment for Isobar was in 2005 when mobile saved the whodunit “Veronica Mars” television show from cancellation. Viewers were asked to opt-in via SMS to get messages from the series, adding an interactive dimension for Veronica Mars fans and turning them into promoters of the program. Show ratings are said to have more than doubled during the campaign’s run, Web site traffic quintupled and mobile ad banners got an 8 percent click-through. Mobile done it.

Industry before self
A common thread through the current honorees’ list is not only the time they spent on their clients and firms, but also the numerous tours of duty they did with speaking gigs or committee responsibilities at the Mobile Marketing Association, CTIA: The Wireless Association and GSMA.

This list of top 10 mobiThinkers is set to become an annual feature.

The selection process will remain the same: Asking executives in the mobile business to nominate their heroes. Nominations this time round were restricted to executives who were actively engaged at an agency- or brand-level.

“We created a shortlist of those who were nominated most frequently or stood out and then argued a lot until we came up with 10 that represented a cross-section of the best from different areas of mobile marketing and from different parts of the globe,” mobiThinking’s Mr. Favell said.

“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “As you know, there are so many excellent candidates in mobile marketing. We hope that by drawing attention to this body of mobile creativity and best practice, we can inspire more brands to embrace mobie.”

 

 

http://media.smh.com.au/technology/media-09/geoffrey-handley-of-hyperfactory-386316.html

Target also has a mobile site where mobile users can browse and search products and locate the nearest Target store that has the merchandise they are looking for. The mobile site does not allow users to make purchases.

The mobile site and the iPhone application both give users access to product ratings and reviews

To promote its Go International collections, Target leveraged text messaging to consumers on its mailing lists to inform them of new designers that are part of the limited-time-only fashion program coming or when favorites are leaving.

"We are continually looking for ways in which we can leverage mobile devices to offer guests shopping solutions that fit within their busy lives and budgets," Ms. O'Leary said. "Leveraging mobile devices helps enhance anytime, anywhere shopping experiences at Target."

Specific to iPhone users, they can go to iTunes on their computer or visit the App Store directly from iPhones and download the application, then sync up their phone.

After that, guests can go to the Target.com Gift Finder and select attributes, such as male/female and age. The user will see the gift idea and price.

From there, guests can save the idea to their favorites, which ties the gift to recipients in their contact list.

This isn't the first time that a retailer has used the iPhone to push its gifting options.

Sam's Club, a warehouse club chain owned by Walmart, has a Gifter Stress Lifter mobile application (see story).

That iPhone application was designed to find personalized ideas for friends, family or colleagues on the Sam's Club member's holiday shopping list. Consumers can make purchases through the application.

For its part, Target has run mobile campaigns in the past.

The mass merchandiser ran a banner ad campaign to promote its exclusive sale of Christina Aguilera's new CD release.

For that effort, Target placed banner ads on 310.tv, a new mobile blogosphere platform, to promote its exclusive sale of Christina Aguilera's new CD release (see story).

In addition to the headers and footers, Target's media buy with Snakk Media included a sponsorship and run of site, promoting the deluxe version of the pop diva's "Keeps Getting Better: A Decade of Hits."

A few weeks later, Target expanded this banner ad campaign with Pandora to promote its exclusive sale of Ms. Aguilera's new CD release (see story).

Target's media buy with mobile ad agency The Hyperfactory included banner ads on Pandora's personalized radio service iPhone application that drove consumers to a branded mobile Web page with an offer of a free Christina Aguilera ringtone.

The goal was to promote the deluxe version of the pop diva's "Keeps Getting Better: A Decade of Hits."

Like many other retailers, including Ralph Lauren Corp. and Gap Inc., Target recognizes the value of an iPhone mobile application and the mobile-savvy audience it attracts.

"Partnering with Apple's iPhone allows us to provide unique mobile-based solutions for the large number of our guests who use an iPhone," Ms. O'Leary said.

"We started off talking to Fox Searchlight about how mobile is a great way to reach a mobile audience, a perfect component for a Notorious marketing campaign," said Liz Jones, vice president of entertainment and media at Hyperfactory, Los Angeles.
"They were excited to use mobile to get consumers to view trailers and to reach an urban audience," she said.

Notorious is the story of Christopher Wallace who, through raw talent and sheer determination, transforms himself from a Brooklyn street hustler to become the greatest rapper of all time, The Notorious B.I.G. This story charts his meteoric rise to fame and his refusal to succumb to expectation.

The campaign launched Dec. 22 and the movie opened in theaters Jan. 16. The campaign revolved around driving traffic to the Notorious destination site to get people to watch the video.

The studio is running mobile banners within Pandora's iPhone application. The application allows Fox Searchlight to target consumers ages 18-34 who listen to rap and hip-hop. The banners encourage consumers to click-to-video to view a video trailer. Every time a user scans the bar code the consumer receives a link to a trailer for the movie on YouTube.

"Fox Searchli8ght is looking to do something different, break out of the clutter," Ms. Jones said. "I think mobile is the best place for that right now because it offers a great chance at having a big share of voice. "Mobile allows brands to reach a specific demographic," she said.

Also there are scanable 2D bar codes on movie posters throughout New York.

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Mobile's ubiquity makes it a natural for facilitating lead generation and engagement, something that categories such as automotive have been able achieve with good effect. In third-quarter campaigns run by ad network AdMob, automotive advertising logged a range of click-through rates, between 2.9% and 5.5%, followed by 1.2% to 3.5% for entertainment brands.

"The beauty about mobile is that whenever [consumers] decide to hit that trigger -- 'I am going to find out more about Kia' -- we can be there to enable that experience," said Dave Schoonover, customer-relations marketing manager at Kia Motors. "So for us, it's not enough to just deliver a brand message online, we have to enable the scenario whereby if they decide to take the next step ... they can contact a dealership."

Mobile drives action
Mobile's ability to draw an instant response and identify highly qualified and engaged prospects through capabilities like click-to-call and click-to-SMS makes the medium ideal for driving action. Larry Harris, CEO of Ansible Mobile, sees mobile more as a customer-acquisition channel that's measured in clicks, not eyeballs. For him, impressions, as measured in the traditional cost-per-thousand-viewers metric, do not go hand-in-hand with mobile.

"CPM is more about brand awareness, which most mobile is not. [Mobile] is about getting action. There's no great metrics, in my view, around impressions. When you click through, that's your engagement," Mr. Harris said.

As brand managers are held to greater accountability, there is also a sense that results-based campaigns will move to the fore. Mr. Harris said to expect more performance-based programs that combine cost-per-impression with cost-per-click.

And while cost-per-click wouldn't necessarily be cheaper or more expensive than CPM, advertisers could negotiate more aggressively for direct response buys, media buyers say.

Not ripe for branding -- yet
For now, some say mobile has several strikes against it as a branding channel. On most handsets, the screen is too small and the multimedia capabilities are too limited to deliver a rich, branded experience.

In its current incarnation, mobile also lacks the reach and scale to satisfy the exposure requirements of large-scale campaigns. Though smart phones are on the rise, the vast majority of consumers still use their handsets for voice and text.

"The challenge in the marketplace now is that you can't reach enough people to have that branding effect to affect your bottom line," said Amy Auerbach, senior VP-director of digital at Initiative.

For Ms. Auberbach, the minimum threshold is 3 million people. But as with any new technology, gathering a critical mass will take time.

Makes other media interactive
But while handset limitations and other factors make mobile less optimal for awareness building, marketers can still tap the medium for its interactive capabilities for brand building. In fact, one solution is to use it along with other, less interactive media, such as print or billboards. Tagging a static ad with a mobile call-to-action can add a conversion or click-through metric. Whether the campaign is skewed to branding or direct response, once mobile is inserted into the equation, one-way, passive media becomes two-way, trackable media -- and potentially more accountable.

"There's increasing need for accountability in this space," said Angela Steele, senior VP at mobile marketing firm Hyperfactory. "More and more it's not just impressions and clicks but how mobile is converting."

Some don't view the branding vs. direct response demarcations as meaningful.

"It's like saying television is branding ... [but] if you put on the Home Shopping Network, it's being used as direct response," said Jack Philbin, president of Vibes Media.

Best tied to larger strategy
One way to frame the branding vs. direct-response debate is to draw a line between mobile web banner advertising and mobile marketing, the latter being more about weaving mobile into the overall marketing strategy, Mr. Philbin said. When mobile is part of the broader media mix, "you've got the mobile call-to-action to [TV, print or out of home]; it could be a way to tie all those disparate media dollars together that creates some sort of congruence. Mobile is not its own channel; it's a layer on other mediums."

Increasingly, brands are looking at it this way.

Chris Murphy, who looks after digital marketing for Adidas in the U.S., said integrating mobile into a broader campaign, rather than any single stand-alone mobile program, has guided the athletic shoemaker's mobile strategy. The marketer's "Basketball Is a Brotherhood" campaign featuring print, outdoor and TV invites users to text in and receive calls from NBA all-stars. The goal is to push users to its "Brotherhood" site where a rich, branded experience awaits and let mobile continue the conversation long after the TV spots expire.

"If you did text in, say, from television spots, you can extend the consumer participation and reinforce the message," Mr. Murphy said.

In the end, it's about having something to show for the mobile campaign.

"You don't want to set up a mobile program without some sort of measurement in place to show that consumers actually did see it and interacted with the content," Ms. Auerbach said. "So, whether it's an opt-in or short-code response, unless mobile is part of a bigger program, I don't think branding is worth the trouble."

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The application, Fanta Stealth Sound System, uses high-pitched frequencies, only audible to the under 20s. It includes wolf-whistles, warnings, pssts and sound tags for phrases like "cool", "uncool", and "let's get out of here". It will be available via a new Fanta WAP site developed by The Hyperfactory.

Heaven 17 and The Human League founder, Martyn Ware, developed the sound tags, XS2TheWorld developed the application, and creatives Mike Watson and Jon Morgan, and creative partner Alasdair Graham created the campaign.

Coca-Cola Europe is also launching a second mobile application, Fanta Virtual Tennis, a 3D Augmented Reality tennis game created by The Hyperfactory.

 

BrandRepublic.com

Both are scheduled to be available early next year and will be supported by PR, viral, print, and online advertising, as well as on-pack promotions and point-of-sale materials.

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Bryon Morrison, the president of IPSH!, recounted a campaign for Doritos that placed mysterious black bags labeled X13-D in stores, asking consumers to send text messages guessing what the new flavor was. In addition to selling out the product, this spurred Internet discussion, propagating buzz to the Internet at large. Morrison also described a package IPSH! put together for a conference of 5,000 top GameStop store managers, which highlighted the possibilities for integrating mobile marketing with digital signage and big-screen entertainment in a public setting.

Similarly, Derek Handley, the CEO of the Hyperfactory, said his company has launched a number of successful mobile campaigns for soccer (er, football) fans in Europe and Latin America, for example sending out messages to groups of friends when their team scores and allowing them to celebrate communally, even if they're in different places. Alternatively, Handley said Hyperfactory has experimented with mobile content and advertising programs in sports arenas during the events. However Handley cautioned that some of these fell flat, depending on the sport, emphasizing the degree of sensitivity and familiarity marketers need to have with the immediate context of these campaigns. For example, mobile programs that relied on jumbotron screens tended to succeed less at soccer games than with other sports, as spectators at soccer games tend not to look at the screens.

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At these conferences, the executives will show brands and agencies why The Hyperfactory is the most award-winning mobile ideas and execution company on the planet, showing reels of exciting mobile campaigns, and diving deep into what works in entertainment, on devices and in the media.

1. OMMA Mobile conference in Los Angeles on Oct. 30: "Best Case Scenarios: Learning from Good Work," by Derek Handley. And "Baby, You Can Drive My Car" (mobile campaigns in the auto industry), by Daniel Blackburn.

2. Digital Hollywood in Los Angeles on Oct. 30: "Strategizing the Campaign: Selling Movies, TV and Video on the Web, Social Media, Mobile and TV," by Liz Jones.

3. Jericho Brainy Day in Auckland, New Zealand, on Nov. 5: Mobile Marketing workshop, Ghanum Taylor.

4. Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Forum in San Diego on Nov. 12: "Mobile Marketing A to Zs: Getting Started in Mobile Marketing," by Derek Handley.

5. The International Digital Entertainment Festival in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 12: "Where the Future Is," by Geoffrey Handley.

6. Ad:Tech in NYC on Nov. 12: "Incorporating Mobile Advertising Into Your Marketing Efforts," by Jeff Arbor.

7. Billboard Touring Conference in NYC, Nov. 20: "Digital Marketing Tactics for the Concert Touring Industry," Jeff Arbour.

8. GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Macau, China, on Nov. 20: "Mobile Money and Marketing," by Howard Hunt.

9. Mobile Media Investor Conference in San Francisco on Dec. 9: "Mobile Advertising: Adoption, Challenges and Opportunities," by Derek Handley.

To schedule an interview or request The Hyperfactory executives for speaking engagements, please contact John Angelo at 623-792-8239 or john@abelsongroup.com.

About The Hyperfactory
The Hyperfactory is the leading full-service mobile ideas, media and execution company, responsible for the most award-winning innovative mobile campaigns and Websites seen anywhere in the world. Founded in 2000, the company creates, executes and analyzes long-term mobile strategies for global brands, agencies, content publishers and mobile application companies, regardless of the technology. The Hyperfactory is trusted by a portfolio of notable brands that include Toyota, Motorola, Vodafone and Coke, all of whom rely on The Hyperfactory as an essential part of their mobile marketing strategies. The Hyperfactory has a U.S. Headquarters in New York, International Headquarters in Auckland and sales and operations offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Shanghai, Hong Kong and India. For more information, visit: www.thehyperfactory.com.

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New York, October 29, 2008 - In what has become an annual tradition, The Hyperfactory received multiple nominations across several categories for the Mobile Marketing Association's 2008 Global Awards. This year, the world's most award-winning mobile agency was recognized for its innovative campaigns in five top categories.

* Best Use of Mobile Marketing, Branding (Asia Pacific): "Guiness Passport to Greatness" in conjunction with OgilvyOne Worldwide, Hong Kong

* Best Use of Mobile Marketing, Cross-Media Integration (Asia Pacific): United Nations "Voices" Campaign in conjunction with Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney.

* Best Use of Mobile Marketing, Cross-Media Integration (North America): "Peyton Manning's Priceless Pep Talks"

* Best Use of Mobile Marketing, Direct Response (Asia Pacific): United Nations "Voices" Campaign in conjunction with Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney.

* Best Use of Mobile Marketing,, Product/Services Launch (Asia Pacific): Nike T90 Kick-Off Launch in 3D Augmented Reality on Mobile

"It's a great feeling to once again be recognized by the MMA for the campaigns we've developed this year," said Derek Handley, CEO and founder of The Hyperfactory. "We're very fortunate to work with brilliant clients and agency partners who help us achieve these stellar results. We look forward to attending the MMA award ceremony to continue The Hyperfactory's winning streak!"

The MMA will announce the winners at the Annual Global Awards dinner and ceremony on November 13 in San Diego.

About The Hyperfactory
The Hyperfactory is the leading full-service mobile ideas, media and execution company, responsible for the most award-winning innovative mobile campaigns and Websites seen anywhere in the world. Founded in 2000, the company creates, executes and analyzes long-term mobile strategies for global brands, agencies, content publishers and mobile application companies, regardless of the technology. The Hyperfactory is trusted by a portfolio of notable brands that include Toyota, Motorola, Vodafone and Coke, all of whom rely on The Hyperfactory as an essential part of their mobile marketing strategies. The Hyperfactory has a U.S. Headquarters in New York, International Headquarters in Auckland and sales and operations offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Shanghai, Hong Kong and India. For more information, visit: http://www.thehyperfactory.com.

Contact:
John Angelo
Abelson Group for The Hyperfactory
623-792-8239
john@abelsongroup.com

The Auckland, New Zealand based company, now with ten offices worldwide, were a Silver Winner in the Mobile Platforms category for their MasterCard 'Peyton's Priceless Pep Talks' campaign. Run in conjunction with MRM Worldwide, the program saw individualized pep talks from Superbowl MVP-winning quarterback Peyton Manning. There were a range of pep talks from Peyton, each deliverable with your name, or that of a friend to your mobile phone or over email.

For a full list of Mixx Award winners, please visit www.mixx-expo.com.

UN Voices was a campaign rolled out in Australian cities last year, aiming to give voice to those who needed to be heard - normally those that don't have a voice. Used to highlight the various 'days' throughout the year to bring attention to the plight of those that inhabit this world, Voices combined ground breaking Image Recognition Technology with traditional media to achieve the UN Australia's biggest ever marketing campaign.

Seven people who struggle from childhood HIV and orphanage to homelessness to domestic abuse were photographed and interviewed. Their photos then appeared in magazines, newspapers, posters and ad shells around Australia. To hear the story, bringing the image to life in your very own hand, all that was needed was to take a photo of the person's lips and MMS this in to a shortcode. Within a few seconds you would receive a call through an IVR system from the person in the photo explaining to you their story.

This was the UN Australia's most successful marketing campaign ever, drastically increasing awareness in major urban areas. Off the back of this success, the United Nations plan to roll the campaign out in major cities around the world.

To see a full list of winners, visit www.mmaawards.com.au.

The company has grown exponentially since its inception and now has eight offices worldwide - an International Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand, US Headquarters in New York, and sales and operations offices in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Hyderabad. Clients include Toyota, Motorola, Vodafone, Nintendo, Mastercard, Nike, Coca-Cola and many more.

The Hyperfactory is also the most awarded mobile marketing company on the planet, having received op honours from the Webbys, AdWeek, OMMA, the Mobile Marketing Association and many more industry organizations.

Prior to launching The Hyperfactory, Derek founded boutique investment house The Mint Limited. The company’s first venture investment was a pioneering international online sports and racing betting business, Feverpitch. At the age of 22, Derek became New Zealand’s youngest ever managing director of a listed company when he led Feverpitch to list on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. The company subsequently launched the first ‘betting exchanges’ in New Zealand, the US and Australia. 
 
He is also the co-founder of luxury basics cashmere label To Sir With Love, which has been celebrated in Vogue, Harpers Bazaar UK, Cosmo and Elle.

In 2006 Derek was named one of the 40 Most Influential People in New Zealand Telecommunications 2006; in 2007 he was nominated as Bayer New Zealand and the National Business Review Top 60 Innovators 2007 and won the PwC Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

Derek is a sought after speaker in the marketing and telecommunications industry, having spoken at events around the world including AdTech, MMA and OMMA, the Informa circuit, Mobile Entertainment Forum and iHollywood Forum.

Outside of his business life, Derek is a keen and accomplished poker player, and has competed in several World Series of Poker events.