In order to promote international business routes and destinations, Delta airlines launched a mobile marketing campaign.

For the promotion, Delta airlines have tied up with digital agency Digitas and mobile marketing firm Phonevalley. Delta ran a similar text-messaging campaign n the fourth quarter of 2008.

Alexandre Mars, CEO of Phonevalley and head of mobile at Publicis Groupe, Paris, expressed his enthusiasm in supporting Delta Air Lines in their promotional plan once again. He said that Cell phones are very unique to marketers as they allow consumers to instantly react to an ad whilst on the move and to engage with their brand.

Phonevalley, a mobile marketing firm is already dealing with clients such as Hugo Boss, Kraft, Volvo and L’Oreal Paris.

Delta Air Lines is the world’s No. 1 airline, serving more than 400 locations worldwide.

As a part of the campaign, frequent travelers were presented with a visual list of Delta’s many worldwide destinations, during the months of April and June,and were invited to text the name of select destinations (i.e. Tokyo) to short
code 44144.

In return, participants received a series of tips to improve business practices in the featured destination to help them know what to lend insight to business practices abroad.The final message of each set includes a link to the Delta mobile Web site.On the website consumers can research and manage flight options.

Delta Airlines is not new to the mobile space as they have a lot of mobile offerings for their consumers.They had earlier partnered with the Transportation Security Administration to expand its mobile check-in with an electronic boarding pass. Their mobile site at http://mobile.delta.com lets consumers view their itineraries, login to book a trip, check flight status and schedules, check-in and click-to-call a Delta representative.

Like Delta,there are other airlines as well who made good use of mobile. Hawaiian Airlines ran an SMS sweepstakes to build its mobile database and activate its television sponsorship of Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres.International airline AirAsia used mobile to increase awareness of the company and its promotions throughout Asia.

Chegg.com, an online textbook rental service, has extended its reach and become more accessible to students on the go by using the the power of SMS and the mobile Web.

In the midst of the economic downturn, students are finding the costs of textbooks to be very high during this school season.So Chegg.com, in its mission to provide cheaper prices to students, has developed a quicker way for students to get prices on the go.

According to Tina Couch, vice president of public relations at Chegg.com, Santa Clara, CA,Mobile is a great platform to promote Chegg because it gives immediate access to their more than 2.4 million title textbook collection and savings at the consumer’s fingertips. As consumers rely more on their mobile devices, Chegg’s partnership with mobile provides another way to reach the consumer’s needs and help the company grow.

Chegg.com provides textbooks to more than 6,000 college and university campuses nationwide. Their mobile initiative is powered by Waterfall Mobile. Any student who is looking for textbooks at a cheaper price can now text the keyword ISBN followed by the textbooks ISBN number to the short code 44144 and receives the rental cost for both quarter and semester.

Upon receipt of the reply text message, users can follow the link at the bottom of the message that will send them directly to the same quote on Chegg’s mobile site. Chegg.com’s mobile site also offers the option to search by book title and author for consumers who are on-the-go and don’t have immediate access to an ISBN number. They even plant a tree in cooperation with Forests Global ReLeaf Program, for every book they rent out to students.

Like Chegg, CourseSmart, a digital course materials supplier has also started using mobile by launching its eTextbooks application for college students.

Christian churches have found a new way to engage and communicate with their congregations, which is through text messaging.

One of the leading mobile providers in the space, called Jarbyco has partnered with iLoop Mobile for the back-end mobile technology.

The list of clients include the Convoy of Hope, Granger Community Church, Willow Creek Community Church’s Arts Conference and Film Festival, Park Community Church, the Evangelical Covenant Church’s CHIC 2009 and the Orchard.

Dawn Baldwin, senior partner at Jarbyco, Chicago said,”We’re focused on helping nonprofit organizations to connect with their audiences more effectively, and churches have use mobile messaging in a variety of ways, some just polling, just alerts, some Q&A, but the SMS initiatives we power tend to be more complex.”

“Different churches do different things — they may ask questions about various topics with SMS surveys or polls, or run a scripture challenge using alert groups,” she said. “A high school ministry can send a scripture verse every day to give them something to think about and encourage them to pray every day.

“Churches are finding different ways to leverage mobile technology, and it’s helping them to connect to other people and grow in a way that’s more meaningful than getting a coupon.”

Jarbyco provides packages to the needs of each organization,as the needs of each religious organization are unique. Pricing is based on audience size, services used and frequency.

The state highway safety officials are planning to call for a ban on texting while driving. There is a growing chorus of legislators and safety advocates who are in favour of such a ban.

The Governors Highway Safety Association’s members are appointed by state governors to lead highway safety agencies. They have adopted the policy in light of a growing body of research showing the increased crash risk posed by texting motorists. Earlier the association thought that it would be difficult to enforce such a ban, hence this police came as a change in perspective for the group.

According to Vernon F. Betkey Jr., chairman of the association,a ban will send a message to the public that this dangerous practice is unacceptable. He thinks that we can begin to change the culture that has permitted distracted driving.

The announcement was made during the association’s annual meeting this week in Savannah, Ga.

There is opposition of texting while driving from the transportation secretary, Ray LaHood as well. He organized a distracted driving summit meeting to take place in late September. Several senators introduced legislation to force states to ban texting while driving or lose federal highway money.

According to a studies, the motorists who send or receive a text message have a tendency to take their eyes off the road for five seconds to do so. That is enough time for their car to travel more than the length of a football field at highway speeds.

According to a study from The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, truckers sending text messages while driving are 23 times likelier to cause a crash or near crash than a trucker not texting. Studies using a driving simulator at the University of Utah found that car drivers who text face an eight times greater crash risk.

Some safety advocates also feel that the dangers of motorists who talk on cellphones while driving, can not be ignored. Drivers who talk on the phone are four times likelier to crash than those who are not on the phone.

In order to reach younger generation, Pier 1 Imports is partnering with Barnes & Noble for an SMS sweepstakes.The have deployed in-store mobile calls-to-action in 100 Barnes & Noble bookstores near college campuses.Consumers who text in receive a text message confirming their registration in the sweepstakes and asking them to opt-in to receive promotional emails from Pier 1 Imports.

Jeff Haddox, direct marketing analyst at Pier 1 Imports, Ft. Worth, TX said that this is the first time they are utilizing SMS as a channel and they are excited to be out there and testing it.

Without the direct call-to-action that SMS provides, the response rate would have been much lower.

The Papasan chair is a tried-and-true Pier 1 product. It is the ultimate reading chair so it was the perfect incentive for the text-to-win campaign. Mr Haddox said that their target is younger demographic and Barnes & Noble is a great partner that is well-versed in reaching that younger demographic.

The campaign started on July 15 and is running through Sept. 30. Pier 1 can identify from which store each consumer texts in as the campaign is keyword-specific with a unique keyword for each store. The consumers are asked to text a keyword with their email address to Pier 1 short code to enter to win the Papasan chair.

According to Mr. Haddox , the goal for the SMS initiative is integration with the email campaign, basically creating a trickle campaign on the back-end.

“We have to speak to a younger demographic in a different way. We’re trying to engage them and getting them to come in-store, and there are various ways, including the SMS sweepstakes.” He said.

There is a chhance for consumers to win a Jeep Wrangler. Six Flags Theme Parks and Chrysler have teamed up to give this offer to consumers via mobile.

The cost of Jeep Wrangler is $33,000. Users can enter Six Flags’ 2010 Jeep Wrangler Sweepstakes via mobile, the Six Flags Web site, mail or at the theme park itself.

In the year 1961 , Six Flags started operation with a chain of amusement parks and theme parks. The company maintains 21 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, water parks and family entertainment centers. The Wrangler is four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle produced by automaker Chrysler under its Jeep marquee.

Throughout participating Six Flags locations Signs promoted the mobile calls to action. Consumers can enter the promotion by texting the keyword JEEP to 39668. Users will then receive a thank you message and the opportunity to opt-in for feature marketing. Participants that double opt-in get added to a database of names for future marketing.

Sandra Daniels, spokeswoman at Six Flags, New York said that the target audience for the promotion is young adults, ages 18 and older.

This is not the first time Chrysler and Six Flags have teamed up. In 2008 Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehciles were named the official vehicle for the various Six Flags theme parks.In 2004 Chrysler partnered with Six Flags Theme Parks to hold special Chrysler brand nights for its owners. The “Chrysler Block Party” was held at various Six Flag parks across the country, the park was open exclusively to Chrysler guests.The event included activities such as special driving courses, customization demonstrations and roundtables where owners could interact with Chrysler engineers and designers.

Ms. Daniels said that mobile platform is a key part of Six Flag’s marketing strategy.

Syniverse Holdings Inc has baught VeriSign Inc.’s messaging business for $175 million in cash.

There are certain terms and conditions which the deal is subject to, like working capital adjustments and certain closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The proposed acquisition will combine Syniverse’s Next Advanced Messaging Hub and other mobile messaging offerings with four of VeriSign’s carrier and enterprise messaging services.

According to Tony Holcombe, president/CEO of Syniverse, Tampa, FL, this is a strategic cash transaction as mobile messaging transactions continue to increase in volume and affect corporations. He stressed upon the need to grow a robust messaging business to go along with the current trends of smartphones, netbooks and the market entries of new players.”We will have the reach and capabilities to better serve operators,” he said. “We will also be able to speed market messaging services.”

VeriSign’s Inter-Carrier Gateway will now be part of Syniverse’s Next Advanced Messaging Hub and will let operators deliver inter-carrier person-to-person SMS and MMS messages across geographies and technologies. The hub will also include VeriSign’s PictureMail, which provides an MMS platform with core components that include a hosted MMS service center (MMSC) for MMS routing, handset photo applications, a social networking interface, and photo storage and sharing capabilities.

The next hub will include The Premium Messaging Gateway which manages delivery of off-portal or third-party content to subscribers. The Mobile Enterprise service will be a part of its next hub. Mobile Enterprise services enable businesses to send time- and event-based messages or alerts via voice, text message or email to customers, employees or partners. These services also let carriers offer their high-value customers a broader array of services, including enterprise and mobile financial services.

After this acquisition, Syniverse is about to increase its global operating footprint with the integration of approximately 300 additional employees located primarily in the United States and Asia Pacific.

Pizza Hut , the famous quick-service restaurant used mobile to promote its new Hershey Dunkers offering. They have also built a mobile database of consumers to remarket to.

During the campaign, viewers were asked to text the keyword HUT to short code 269411. Consumers who texted in were entered for a chance to win a Pizza Hut pizza, once a month, for a year straight.

According to Shira Simmonds, president of Ping Mobile, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Mobile turned out to be a great tool for Pizza hut because it offered a great way for the them to connect with their target demographic. In addition, Pizza Hut used their TV spots to promote their new product, and at the end of the spot, they promoted the mobile call-to-action with an awesome sweepstakes attached.

The combination of mobile and the sweepstakes offer of free pizza for a year proved to be an unbeatable combination. They got outstanding response and that enabled Pizza Hut to build a vast mobile database which they could use for future marketing.

Pizza Hut’s new offering called Hershey Dunkers are freshly-baked, soft, dessert sticks topped with white chocolate and Hershey milk chocolate served with rich chocolate dipping sauce.

Powered by mobile Marketing firm Ping Mobile, this campaign has received more than 2,000 opt-ins in just 2 weeks. Pizza Hut had to face tough competition from all the other offerings being launched by competitors in the same market, hence they had to find a way to make its new product launch stand-out.

In order to connect its brand to fans, The Indianapolis Tennis Championships Presented by Lilly is using mobile as a customer relationship management tool.

For the U.S. Open Series event in Indianapolis, the tournament has tied up with on-demand email and marketing provider ExactTarget to power the interactive communications. The tournament used ExactTarget’s integrated Web-based messaging platform to allow fans to sign up for newsletters via text messaging and online, receive personalized voice messaging updates from tour athletes including Andy Roddick and participate in on-site interactive quizzes to compete for prizes via text messaging.

According to Brandon Moore, social media manager for the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, they are trying to interact with fans on a more intimate level and gauge their interest in participation via SMS during the event. He said that “Other sports have tried it, so we wanted to create an interaction with our fans during the event using mobile, and it was a very positive experience, and it’s something we’re looking to do again.”

The Indianapolis Tennis Championships Presented by Lilly is an ATP Tour event held annually in Indianapolis and is a part of the Olympus U.S. Open Series. ExactTarget Inc. has an experience of working for clients like CareerBuilder.com, Expedia.com, Florida Power & Light, Gannett Co. Inc.’s USA Today and the Indianapolis Colts.

At the Indianapolis Tennis Championships, tournament officials ran an SMS campaign to drive newsletter signups via text messaging. The call-to-action asks fans to text keywords TENNISINDY SUBSCRIBE NEWS {EMAIL ADDRESS} to short code 88769 to join its biweekly eNewsletter subscriber list.The tournament lets fans opt-in to receive voice-messaging updates and offers from the tournament and athletes. It includes the interactive text-message quizzes featured on the tournament’s Jumbotrons. The fans have a chance to prizes and discounts by answering via SMS to the questions featured on the screen.

During the SMS ticket promotion fans could text in a keyword to receive a promotional code to be used at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships’ box office for buy-one-get-one free tickets.

The Indianapolis Tennis Tournament was satisfied with the results of its mobile initiatives, and plans to bring them back for next year’s tournament.

The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana are aiming to build the largest Ronald McDonald House in the world.To raise money for this purpose ,they used mobile for donations at Macy’s Glamorama event.

The event took place on Aug. 21 in Chicago with musical performances and, fashion designers and celebrity appearances all focusing on the main goal of the event—raising money for charity. RMHC tied up with mobile company Telescope Inc. to integrate an SMS campaign to let event guests donate to the charitable cause via text messaging.

According to Jason George, CEO of Telescope Inc., Los Angeles, the main strategy behind this campaign is to increase awareness of the Ronald McDonald House Charities and garner donations via a new interactive method to raise money to build the largest Ronald McDonald House in the world. He emphasized the value of mobile in the event by saying that mobile offers a direct-response mechanic to engage fans at the event. Once engaged the participants receive all the information of how to complete their donation online and can opt-in to receive updates and additional information on RMHC-CNI. This shows that how mobile can be best used alongside other media to drive maximum benefit for the marketing partner.

Improving the health, well-being and education of children, is the mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana.

The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile program partners with Advocate Hope Children’s Hospital to provide essential health services to children in underserved areas in a mobile environment. Children receive check-ups, immunizations and referrals for specialty care, including asthma, cardiology, and allergies. The motive is to find a “healthcare home” for all the children who visit the Care Mobile van.

This mobile campaign can provide an additional method of raising funds for RMHC and can also increase interactivity with its audience. During the event, they showed a video presentation highlighting the role of Ronald McDonald House in keeping the families of hospitalized children together and the need for the new House. It concluded with a all-to-action that asks the audience to text their donation amount to the short code 21523. After the audience texted in their pledge amount for the RMHC, they received a reply message confirming the amount and the Ronald McDonald House Charity Web link with instructions on how to complete their donation online.