So, we have been hearing for a long time that mobile advertising will take off in the U.S., maybe this is the beginning.  In a recent Business Week article, Tom Lowry explorers the recent success of brands using Pandora as a mobile advertising medium. 

There are a number of pros that provide foundation for this argument including the sales growth of smartphone and the success of the iphone and its web applications.  The mobile phone will offer unmatched customer engagment.  Marketers will have the ability to truly market where you are and when you want it.

Since it's lanuch nine years ago and the launch of its mobile application two years ago Pandora 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. 

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). - WOW

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.

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Nike took two of the NBA's biggest names in Kobe Bryant and Lebron James to create the MVPuppets Nike commercial campaign. Nike presents to you the MVPs (Most Valuable Puppets). The roommate puppet versions of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant get competitive in this campaign for the NBA Playoffs the first titled "Chalk" and the second ad is "Mrs. Lewis". Brilliant work from Wieden + Kennedy, the puppets in the spots are by Legacy Effects, and the voices are not Kobe or Lebron, the voices are actually David Allen Grier, Kenan Thompso

Here is the most recent commercial from Nike.

So, here is the reason my posts have slowed up in the past few weeks. I am a member of the TML team. TML is an acronym for “That’s My Lid”. The That's My Lid (TML) movement is inspired by a ballcap that represents this idea and lifestyle. The TML Team are part owners of the marketing plan and the patent that protects this incredible concept.

The TML ballcap has a removable brim that allows you to switch it out to fit your personal style. Being able to customize your lid helps you to be unique among many. Individuality in hip hop fashion is just as important as the labels and colors you rock everyday. Your style offers a glimpse to the world about who you are.

The TML campaign will launch using the social media as its platform for reaching the masses. This concept is so big and new that individuals will feel the need to share and discuss our progress. The TML campaign was spawned from a great idea but it was developed based on intense market research to ensure the need and success of such a product. The TML team is now actively looking for hat manufactures that would be interested in such a product/patent.

This campaign will show the needs and the wants of a market driven by individuality and fashion. We have secured many celebrity endorsers that will be highlighted throughout the campaign. Our most recent post is a interview with the DC gogo band UCB.  This post will be up later today!

Please follow the movement at ThatsMyLid.com

Nike Uses Key Influencers

Nike has always used influencers to promote its products. It's best known for mega-endorsers like Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan, but Nike CEO Mark Parker also sees a role in upcoming socialites that have a audience via the internet. The approach is both strategic and ingenious. Check out these two influencers Nike has chosen in the past few months.

Heron Preston

Heron Preston published his first book and held a gallery show with Nike. Or let’s say Nike ran after the idea and practically gave the keys of the gallery to Heron. THE YOUNG AND THE BANGING is a downtown NYC yearbook that provides a look at almost 200 new faces of today’s creative youth through Polaroid photography. A first of its kind, co-created by 15 girls or as PURPLE magazine calls them, “A fascinating NEW GENERATION born into the realms of fashion, art and success.” To learn more about the project of Heron, check out the links below.

HERONPRESTON.COM

YOUNGANDBANGING.com

LAGIRLSNY.com

NIKESPORTSWEAR.com

OH-WOW.com

Levi Maestro

Levi Maestro is a Los Angeles personality who Nike has went after. Levi Maestro premiered his new online show, Maestro Knows, with Episode 1 featuring the Nike Air Yeezy. This is potentially one of the most talked about shoes to date. Due to the influencers who have been brought in to display the new product, Levi is one of many. In this episode, Levi puts Kanye’s sneakers to the test with his own slam dunk contest. Check it out!

Maestro Knows - Episode 1 (Nike Air Yeezy) from Maestro Knows on Vimeo.

So Nike definitely isn't the only brand using this strategy but I have to admit that they are likely the best!