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In order to promote its new comedy “Glee” during a fall hiatus, Fox is turning to mobile.

By calling 419-329-4868 , fans can listen to messages from the stars of the show, leave messages for the actors to hear, listen to voice messages from other fans and maybe get a call back from one of the actors. Consumers can opt-in to receive text alerts when new messages are available.

According to Jason Clark, Fox spokesman, Los Angeles, ” It’s a way for our viewers to connect to the characters on the show.”She said ,”We do anything to bring them back into show, like Facebook pages and character Tweets, this is another way for fans to connect Fox.”

Glee is a comedy about a high school glee club, the outcasts of the school. The show is in its first season and has received critical praise and a cult following.

The show is set in Lima, OH and the number’s area code is for Lima, giving a nod to fans of the show.

The campaign called SayNow is a free service used by celebrities and regular consumers as a way for people to communicate with groups. SayNow claims to be unique because it is using voice, unlike text messages, blog posts or emails which can be written by somebody else.

Currently SayNow has more than 10 million users. As of press time more than 5,000 fans have listened to the messages from Glee cast members and more than 4,000 have been unique callers. Every user’s real number stays private on SayNow, the SayNow number is linked to the user’s current device.

When a consumer calls the Glee SayNow number they are presented with a promotional message urging them to continue watching the television program. Consumers calling from a mobile device can have the SayNow service notify them with a phone call or a text message whenever a Glee cast member leaves a message.The reminder service is free but carrier charges may apply.

The service also lets fans forward messages and save them as favorites.

According to the campaign, sometimes the celebrity will actually answer the phone line.

As per Mr. Clark, Fox’s demographic is consumers between the ages of 18-49. It’s more teens and young people that use phones more than ever, so it’s one additional way to connect with those viewers.

Toyota used mobile bar codes in a marketing campaign at Giants Stadium. The campaign had a fan engagement rate of 9.2 percent.

Jagtag’s mobile 2D bar code technology was used by the campaign that enabled fans to engage with Toyota in-venue.

According to Dudley Fitzpatrick, CEO of Jagtag, Princeton, NJ, Toyota wanted to extend its Eli Manning sponsorship with the Giants to promote local dealership specials and drive traffic to the showroom.

There were several ways for consumers to engage with Toyota by using Jagtag’s mobile 2D bar codes. They got a a video multimedia message from Eli Manning, they could also view dealer specials, visit Toyota’s GreatTimetoSign.mobi site, and even enter to win autographed Giants merchandise.

To promote Toyota’s “It’s a Great Time to Sign” campaign, thousands of fans at Giants Stadium received handouts featuring the Jagtag mobile 2D bar code from Toyota street teams.

To interact with the campaign, Consumers could take pictures of the bar code with their camera phones.

As per Mr. Fitzpatrick, for this campaign, Toyota was targeting sports fans attending games at Giants Stadium and used mobile because it works well for out-of-home marketing to easily reach fans when and where the marketing content is most relevant to them.

Toyota has been quite active in the mobile space. The car maker’s promotion of the Prius car model tied consumers’ experiences on their iPhones to a billboard in Times Square and let people interact with the brand via their handset.

The Prius Experience application was at the center of the promotion and meant to help educate and entertain iPhone users interested in learning more about the EPA-rated 50 MPG 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid.

Toyota also ran a targeted location-based mobile marketing campaign in September at the NFL’s New York Giants’ season opener. Powered by Proximity Blue , this campaign combined outdoor, television and mobile advertisements.The location-based campaign delivered a 14 percent increase of people downloading information about Toyota’s campaign to their handsets.

Mr. Fitzpatrick said, ““At a sporting event, you have a captive audience watching the game and they can easily snap a photo of the Jagtag, no matter what phone they have, and get content that piques their interests.”

According to Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mobile helps automotive marketers extend their print promotions in a way that is more interactive and engaging for consumers. They can seek out more information on vehicles, find local dealer specials, and even join a community to get ongoing promotional specials, all at their convenience and on their mobile device that they take everywhere.

According to industry speculators,If Verizon Wireless implements its proposed $.03 rate hike the mobile marketing industry will topple over, eventually bringing the carriers down with it.

With the proposal,executives at mobile companies are not so happy and they feel that it would only benefit Verizon.

The worst thing of all, the industry is very disappointed in the Mobile Marketing Association and the fact that the organization hasn’t reacted in any way to the proposed hike.

David Wachs, president of Cellit Mobile Marketing, Chicago, IL said,”Raising the price of text messaging points to Verizon’s myopic view of how the industry operates.”

“While Verizon believes these costs will be eaten by the aggregators and value added service providers like Cellit, in actuality the marketing firm must bear the cost in the end,”he added.

He further said,”As such, with a (more than) doubling of costs on the marketer, the ROI of projects is removed, leading to fewer marketing programs.”

“Fewer marketing programs lead to fewer reasons for the end consumer to text and take full advantage of their phone and carrier,”he added.

“In the end, it is consumers who suffer as they have fewer ways to engage with their phone and carrier in compelling, meaningful and relevant ways,”he said.

Verizon Wireless surprised the mobile industry last week when rumors of the hike first started.Verizon is basically double dipping on every message being sent out.

David Deutsch cofounder/CEO at DMD Mobile Holdings Inc., New York said,”Obviously we are very disappointed that Verizon would want to impose any type of fee.”

“I want to think it’s a mistake on their part and they did not think this through in terms of how it is going to cripple the mobile industry,”he added.

“From a mobile marketing perspective this is terrible” he said.

Mr. Deutsch said,”The Mobile Marketing Association is a conduit for carriers.”

“The organization should have reacted to this in some way and it hasn’t,”he added.

A mobile campaign at the Keith Urban World Tour was run by Clorox-owned KC Masterpiece Barbeque Sauce and Kingsford Charcoal,in which 530,000 people participated.

Mobile was integrated into a national promotion by Clorox’s agency George P. Johnson to win a backyard barbeque with Keith Urban by incorporating in-venue activities such as text-to-win seat upgrades and calls to action to enter by texting a keyword.

ndrew McGowan, group manager at Clorox, Oakland, CA said,“We worked closely with our activation partner, George P. Johnson and Keith’s management at Borman Entertainment, to create a 360-degree marketing plan, including mobile activation with Mozes, to achieve our brand objectives, market the tour and provide added value to fans.”

“We kept fans consistently engaged with our brands by incorporating mobile connectivity at multiple touch points throughout their tour experience,” he added.

KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce,Kingsford Charcoal and Clorox brands were the three headline sponsors of the Keith Urban 2009 “Escape Together” World Tour, which hit 49 cities across the country this summer.

An in-venue text to screen was also there for allowing fans to send their personal messages of love and support to Mr. Urban on-screen.

Mr. McGowan said,“Mozes helped make this possible with an extremely easy-to-use and effective way to register and send out mobile updates to entrants for the tour’s national sweepstakes, as well as connect with consumers on-site in a very personal way via mobile interactivity.”

The channel was also responsible for increasing participation in the “Me You and BBQ” promotion.

Sloane Scott senior account executive of the entertainment marketing group at George P. Johnson, Auburn Hills, MI said,”Mobile activation is a critical piece of our audience acquisition strategy.”

“It extends the reach of brands and places them directly in the hands of the consumer,”she added.

She further said,“Through a simple and universal opt-in process, the ability to match keywords with specific tactics and an OD reporting dashboard, we have the ability to identify which tactics are successful (hitting our target audience) and measure them against the overall objectives for the program.”

“The ability to adjust our tactics quickly based on those results is critical,”she added.

ChaCha and Rock the Vote are teaming up to inform and engage young voters,With the election just a few weeks away and encouraging participation in what could be the most important election of their lives.

Inquiries can be sent to RTVOTE (788683) and politically trained ChaCha Guides dedicated to this campaign will provide informed, non-partisan answers.

Through this service,voters can learn everything from how to register and where their polling place is to Obama’s stance on energy and McCain’s record on regulation.

Susan Marshall, vice president of marketing at ChaCha, Indianapolis said,”We are partnering with Rock the Vote to help them get as many young voters engaged with the election as possible.”

“Our service is a good match because it is easy and answers to questions are delivered via SMS,”she added.

“Young people are used to communicating via SMS,” she said.

To answer customer queries 24/7,ChaCha merges search technology with the human intelligence provided by its growing base of over 35,000 ChaCha Guides.

Ms. Marshall said,”I think there is a lot of confusion on where candidates stand on various issues and a lot of questions regarding voting.”

“This service aims to address those challenges,”she added.

Users can receive answers within minutes,just by call 1-800-2ChaCha or text questions to ChaCha (242-242) on mobile phones.

The aim of Rock the vote is to engage and build the political power of young people in order to achieve progressive change in our country.

To engage and incite young people to register and vote in every election,Rock the Vote uses music, popular culture and new technologies.

Ms. Marshall said,”We are doing the back end stuff and Rock the Vote is providing the resources for the answers.”

“Rock the vote is promoting this on its Web site, via an email blast to subscribers and with a twitter update,”she added.

A leading provider of SMS text messaging and wireless multimedia services,MX Telecom,debuted a new guide on compliance and best practice for mobile service providers.

Regulatory requirements of such British agencies and entities such as PhonepayPlus, the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Gambling Commission as well as British wireless carriers are also incorporated by the U.K. Regulatory Guide from London-based MX.

According to MX CEO Alex Moir,the aim is to offer clarity in a thicket of best-practice codes.The 26-page document is also designed to help marketers who run simultaneous multiple mobile campaigns for global brands.

The guide comes just as Verizon Wireless’ decision to raise its rates for SMS messages to its subscribers has roiled the U.S mobile marketing industry.

Including PhonepayPlus, the U.K. Mobile Network Operators, The Information Commissioner’s Office and The Gambling Commission,U.K. mobile phone services are currently governed by the codes of several disparate bodies.

Both in the U.K. and U.S,MX Telecom has always prided itself on its ability to help navigate clients through compliance.

Mobile services can benefit from offering value at a low price,when people are sensitive to rising prices and large spends on property and vehicles,in the current state.

Immediately gratifying mobile entertainment or information,the decision to spend a dollar or two on a piece of reliable is much easier than the decision to move, buy a house, get another car or change your bank.

For a more integrated approach to digital marketing,the Eldorado Hotel & Casino is effectively using mobile alongside its email marketing campaigns.

Eldorado is also able to have holistic insight into campaign success across all of its digital marketing channels by Using Lyris HQ’s advanced analytic features,including mobile.

Blaine Mathieu, chief marketing officer of Lyris, Emeryville, CA said,“Marketers are under more pressure than ever to drive performance from their online marketing campaigns, while reducing cost and complexity.”

“By using Lyris HQ to orchestrate campaigns across multiple channels, such as email, mobile and social, this opens up new opportunities for Eldorado to build a more consistent experience and engage with their customers anytime, anywhere,”he added.

“Enabling meaningful conversation across online marketing channels is what we refer to as tri-messaging,”he said.

Four months ago,Eldorado rolled out its mobile marketing efforts .

via SMS,it is targeting its guests,and giving them instant special offers from its hot spots such as restaurants and night clubs.

To get consumers to join the mobile club by texting keywords ELDORADO or LEGACY to short code 71266,the hotel provides the mobile call-to-action within email campaigns.

Chad Hallert, director of ecommerce and interactive marketing at Eldorado, Reno, NV said,“We’ve already shown revenue.”

“Once you text-in, we are pretty aggressive with our offers and have seen immediate booking and revenue from the SMS initiative so it is working out quite well,”he added.

“Being timely and relevant is absolutely essential,” he said.

The hotel sees mobile as a way to help it fill seats at shows and drive customers to its venues.

Mr. Hallert said,“What is great is we can send a relevant offer with a timely call-to-action that is good for consumers because they get a discount and we’re able to fill empty seats.”

“We have an offer that goes out online, via email and mobile,”he added.

An SMS campaign has been launched by the Bowery Mission,designed to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless and hungry in New York City during its 100th anniversary celebration.

The special emcee of the anniversary celebration event on Nov. 6,Investigation Discovery’s Paula Zahn,announced the campaign and asked attendees to text the keyword BOWERY to short code DOTORG (368674). DI Digital created the campaign.

Chi Modu, cofounder/president of DI Digital, New York said,“The Bowery Mission wanted their message to have a broader reach and tap into the technology of today.”

“We felt that it would be smart to approach the age-old problem of hunger and homelessness with a 21st century solution,”he added.

He further said,“Through our creative use of SMS, we were able to include facts and trivia, words of inspiration, along with the Bowery’s services.”

“We created a less-intrusive and more-effective way to help them achieve their goal of rebuilding lives, which they have been doing since 1879,”he added.

To impoverished men, women and children in New York City,the Bowery Mission provides care and ministry.

consumers can get an interactive opportunity to learn more about the work of the Mission and how they can contribute to it by the text messaging campaign.

They can also test their knowledge about homelessness and hunger in New York,learn about different donation opportunities and opt-in for weekly words of inspiration.

According to Mr. Modu,the SMS campaign addresses the challenge of awareness for The Bowery Mission.

Mr. Modu said,“Many want to help, but don’t know how.”

“The campaign created another way for The Bowery Mission to let people know about their needs and the needs of those who benefit from the Mission’s work,”he added.

He further said,“They realized the flexibility of our SMS system allows for quick changes to the content.”

“The Bowery’s short-term needs for food and clothing through the winter months and holiday season could be addressed, as well as their ongoing mission,”he added.

LSN Inc.,Mobile advertising network, has launched a Web-based tool to help marketers build SMS mobile marketing campaigns with interactive capabilities.

At a low cost and within a short timeframe,the product, Go With SMS!, is meant to help companies rollout interactive mobile promotions.

By consumer adoption and participation,sms campaigns drive brand awareness.

David Spear, executive vice president of marketing at LSN, Atlanta, GA said,”The strategy behind the launch is to highlight the interactive on-line sign-up process as well as the diverse marketing platforms that Go With SMS! clients can choose from.”

Using one or more of the LSN short codes,companies select a platform from eight promotion categories.

After that,company adds an exclusive keyword and writes the SMS text message.

LSN’s Go With SMS! offers three pricing options and requires no long-term contracts or sign-up fees.

A mobile campaign for $199 per month with an allocation of 1-1,500 text messages per month has been launched by Companies.

Other plans include 1,501-10,000 text messages per month for $759 per month and 10,001-25,000 text messages per month for $1599 per month.

Mr. Spear said,”Since 94 percent of text messages are read by participants, text mobile marketing is becoming more essential to marketers every day.”

“The Go With SMS! program now gives any company the capability to create an interactive mobile campaign, either by selecting one of our ready-to-go promotion platforms, or by creating their own customized campaign, to reach mobile subscribers, in less than a week,”he added.

The product of LNS,Go With SMS! campaigns are available for contests, voting, offers, news, buying/selling, auto, sports, and information alerts.

To the hockey fans at the Jobing.com Arena,the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes has brought real-time texting features.

The Coyotes tapped Txtstation to power the messaging initiatives.The promotions range from live SMS polling, picture to screen and text to screen.

Michael Falato, vice president of sales and business development for Txtstation, Austin, TX said,”The Coyotes like to do text alerts and our role is to expand their SMS initiatives by letting consumers interact with real-time, broadcast-quality graphics on the scoreboard.”

“The Coyotes asked us, ‘How can we communicate with our fans year round?’ and they decided to send out alerts to their fans and engage with them in the stadium via SMS,”he added.

By using their mobile phone, respond to polls via text message and see the results on the giant video screen and text in to vote for each game’s MVP,Fans could get their picture on the scoreboard.

For getting SMS alerts from the Coyotes,Consumers text keyword HOWL to short code 55333.

The goal of the the Coyotes was to build up a mobile database to send out special offers and promotions from themselves or sponsors such as AT&T.

Mr. Falato said,”They’re using mobile to activate their sponsor AT&T, which ties into AT&T’s brand.”

“Teams are looking for fun ways to engage fans, and sponsors are looking for a way to activate their sponsorship with fans and viewers,”he added.

He further said,”It’s about branding, building a mobile database and driving them to take advantage of certain offers or promotions.”

“With texting, it’s opt-in, and it’s instantaneous,”he added.