Samsung and Die Hard 4.0 team up for mobile action

I don't have a Samsung phone these days so I've no idea what the substance of the content is here as I have a Nokia (Dear Mr Samsung, please feel free to send me a lovely shiny new Samsung phone if you feel so inclined...), but the joint campaign for Samsung and Die Hard 4.0 looks pretty good and works in three parts...

1. Get free Die Hard 4.0 related content for your phone (text in DH to 62945 to get the link - but only if you have a Samsung phone - don't bother if you don't have a Samsung phone as they won't let you in to the wapsite).

2. Buy the official Die Hard mobile game

3. Enter the Die Hard Quiz for a chance to win blockbusting prizes

As it's all Samsung phone specific, I can't test it for you. And you'd have to be the die-hardest Die Hard fan to upgrade your phone to a Samsung on the back of this campaign. But for customer retention, I think it works. And there's nothing wrong with a bit of customer retention. There should be more of it!

If there are any readers out there who've tried out this campaign or have more information about it, then please do let us know if the content was any good and if it worked for you.

Motorola Wirebreakers campaign launches

Lee from Cake (who by the sounds of it is also suffering a post-glasto-meltdown this week) had just let me know about the latest viral video campaign, Wirebreakers, from Motorola to promote their new stereo Bluetooth product, The MOTOROKR S9 wireless headsets. I already know, anecdotally from my niece, that the Motorola KRAZR phone has better sound quality than her ipod so I'm hopeful that this product also rocks (or should that be RKS in hellomoto vernacular?).

The videos show a fictional dance crew, The Wirebreakers, encouraging members of the public to join them in random dancing in public places like the golf course, the shopping mall or a squash court. There's an example of one of the videos above.

The campaign is aimed at a younger demographic and focuses on strengthening Motorola's link with music. Does it work for you? Answers on a text message...

Bid to ban mobile phones in schools

It seems that cyber-bullying is on the increase and it's both pupils and teachers who are suffering at the hands of these cyber-bullies. They're using all digital means to do their bullying - text messaging, calls, emails, secret videos and using online forums such as ratemyteacher.com and bebo.com to vent their spleen about the teachers they're picking on.

So what's the answer the powers that be are proposing? Ban mobile phones from school premises and class mobile phones as 'offensive weapons'. Yes, that's right, let's ban 'em. And while we're at it, why don't we ban computers too so you can't send an email or access a website. And actually, let's ban pen and paper too so that the bullies can't send you a nasty note.

Of course, if you ban a mobile phone at school, that's going to stop all the cyber-bullying because magically it would halt outside of school hours when you have access to your digital tools again if you're so inclined to make a nuisance of yourself as a cyber-bully. Of course *any* bullying is wrong, let alone cyber-bullying, but banning the tools in school is not going to help much. There must be a better way. Ban the specific use and make that usage punishable, but don't ban the hardware. That's just daft and penalises the majority who use their gadgets sensibly.

D'oh.

Fed up of mobile phones?

Then head over to the National UK Phone Throwing Championships on August 12th in Twickenham. They'll provide you with a phone to throw but would like you to bring your own phones with you as well to recycle them.

via Tom Hume

Technokitten goes to Glastonbury

Well, I survived it. It's way bigger than you can imagine, even though you've seen all the photos and seen it all on the telly, it's massive. There are more people there than you can imagine and tents and stuff everywhere you look. And then there's food and drink of every kind, art, performance, music, random entertainment, burlesque and weddings at Lost Vagueness, circus and cabaret, trapeze lessons, clay-model making, chanting, yoga, dancing 24/7, comedy, political debate, rain, mud, sunshine, wellies and smiley, friendly people from all walks of life with one common theme of being at Glastonbury and leaving behind their day to day lives for just a little while.

[The picture is of me dancing at sunset at the sacred space on Friday night (I'm in the middle with the hat on) - as taken for The Guardian by Martin Godwin]

So what did I do at Glastonbury...

Thursday. Arrived, after a 6 hour journey, and wondered what on earth we'd let ourselves in for when I saw how busy it already was. We trekked for ages to find a spot to pitch our tent (all the maps we'd been given were worse than useless), were directed to Paines Field eventually and pitched tent, had a recce (is that how you spell it?) and some food then trekked back to get more stuff from the car. You soon learn that when someone at Glastonbury says something is about 5 minutes away, they're on Glastonbury time!

Then we went back to the tent and waited for Sarah and Lozza who were massively delayed due to National Express uselessness, I was wiped out so I skipped the Stone Circle and had a relatively early night instead awaiting Sarah's text message to tell me when she'd finally got through (it came at 5.30am).

Friday. [6 hours sleep - see I said it was a relatively early night]. Breakfast (smoothie and apple crepe for me) with Sarah, Sheila and Lozza. Sunscreen sharing with a lovely lady on the same bench as us. Found Merrell's (the trainer people where some pals were) and clean loos (oh, how wonderful that was). Then lunch and hot cider and brandy (a wonderfully warming drink when it's bucketing with rain). A bit of leftfield stage and walking on water (at least that's what it looks like inside the leftfield stage).

Then I went off and did random things for the rest of the day. Wandered over to see Trish at Youth Music. Met up with Joh and Ed from Brighton and had rum punch and mead, saw the trash city statues, had a bit of a lie-down, rocked at the circus stage and then silliness at Lost Vagueness - dancing to a fab clarinetist, the insect magic show and a wedding, as you do. Then hung with Adam for a bit (life is a miracle boy), met his mate Alex who was much better looking and spent the rest of the evening with him - dancing at the stone circle, a bit of Bjork, a wander through the Glade, very late night tea in the healing fields listening to a techno remix of Bright Eyes whilst watching the film Watership Down on an outdoor screen, catchin' up with Whatley Dude, Big Al and Caterina from Norway (Alex's sister's friend) at the stone circle, getting cold feet (I realised that at least 3 pairs of socks are essential with wellies now) and returning to my extremely cosy, more or less mud free (internally) tent at about 4.30am.

Saturday. 4 hours sleep. Breakfast with Sheila - a very large smoothie and a cake. Then off to the Leftfield and a long sit-down at Trish's as it was raining and she had deckchairs under cover. Then Sheila and I did the random thing together. A sonic art installation. The band in a caravan. Wading through mud and nearly getting completely stuck. Making clay models. Shopping for festi-gear. Lost Vagueness and another wedding and competitive wedding bouquet catching (I caught the bouquet this time!). Costume sourcing and customising for Lost Vagueness (using the bouquet). Back to Merrell's for food (all the best food stalls were near there) and then off to Lost Vagueness with Pimp Daddy, Eh Hombre and Lady Russell to see Madness (it was rammed) and The Beat and then all night dancing in mud (the mud was pretty bad in the LV field) finally leaving at around 6am.

Pimp Daddy was da man and was getting the love - the fake polar bear coat was a real hit and everyone wanted to touch the coat and the bling. And my hat was the biz - just need a better outfit to go with next year. I'm thinking I might finally get round to doing something with all the material sitting in my spare bedroom.

Sunday. 4 hours sleep. Got up around 11am. I think. Random wandering around and being very disorientated due to extreme tiredness and general dazed and confusedness. Food. Met up with Alex briefly. Watched Shirley (she was great and revived my flagging spirits for I was very very very tired by this stage), back to Merrell's for food, water and clean loo stop. Kaiser Chiefs, a walk round the back of the pyramid stage and random high fiving with Who fans. Random wandering with an off-his-tits scouser in a silly hat, helping him find Lost Vagueness via a bit of dancing at The Glade. Bought a flare and watched the end of the chemical brothers. Met up with the fab Merrell's crew and headed to Trash City where I met Random Mike, Welsh Alex, two mermaids, a very cute pirate and danced all night long and absolutely didn't want to leave.

Monday. No sleep. Finally headed off to my tent to pack it up at 7am, skipping and singing all the way. Got in, got changed into dry clothes, packed up (fortunately, most of it was already packed for I knew it might be a large one on Sunday night), trudged back to the car with Sheila. Got very wet and cold and miserable as I'd had to stand in the driving rain for what seemed like an eternity as the car was stuck in the mud and I was stuck with both our bags. I eventually got to the car and changed clothes again (not that anything was particularly dry but my Lost Vagueness PVC skirt came in very handy) and we had to be towed out of the first car park.

Waited, waited some more, waited again and one more bump later from the tractor to nudge us through another field and 5 or more hours later, must have been more like 6 or 7 actually, we finally got out of the car park and on to the road. I got home at about 8.30ish in the evening.. Happily exhausted.

So a big up to *everyone* I met there. A big up to Sheila for getting me there and back safely. And a big up to the whole Glastonbury vibe. Yes there was mud and it's evil and really hard work but I'll be back nevertheless.

Bring on 2008.

For more Glastonbury tales, then head over to Lisa's and Whatley Dude's blogs and check out Bluejoh's pictures too

There are 5 types of Glastonbury mud (at least)

1. It's been raining a bit, so the grass is wet and getting a bit muddy but you can still see a bit of green and it's all very manageable.

2. It's been raining some more, more folks have walked on the grass and now you can't see green and looks like a rugby pitch after a match in the rain and it's a bit splashy.

3. It's been raining so much that the ground is just one large mud puddle - a bit like mud slush - and it's at least ankle deep.

4. In places, the mud soup gets a bit thicker and turns into mud slurry. Still, it's easy enough to get round as long as you have wellies as it's very sploshy and slippy. Very easy to slip on this stuff when you're trying to catch up with your mate with cider in one hand and food in the other. I survived though.

5. And then you get the evil, Glastonbury, wellie-eating mud which for many is a Glastonbury deal-breaker. Sucking at your wellie heels, forcing you into that workout you've been promising yourself at the gym for months (you get buns of steel after a muddy Glastonbury weekend), and it takes an age to get anywhere, and then some. There's no getting anywhere quickly in this stuff. And sometimes, you're just plain stuck. It brings a whole new meaning to the kid's game 'Stuck in the Mud'! I nearly went for a burton more than once, but managed to hold it together. I was only told on the last night though, very late on, that the trick is to walk on tip-toes through the mud. Which is all well and good as long as you've found some big bloke to hang on to at the same time! But even the big blokes fell in it sometimes and I heard tell of many sprained ankles and gashed knees.

Of course, there are also variations on these themes when you make the addition of straw, wood chips and gravel and various states of inebriation...

Bring on 2008!

Glastonbury Festival goes mobile

With Auntie Beeb. Great stuff - must check that out. And they ask you to type in one of the longest wap URLs you can imagine: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mobile/radio/glastonbury2007/

Why did they do that then? It's fiddly enough to type in when you're sober, dry and mud-free. But imagine drunken, muddy, damp festi-goer trying to remember the URL and then even better, trying to tell a pal what to type in, or to text it to them to check it out. I imagine hilarity or frustration or both will ensue. I guess http://m.bbc.co.uk/glasto would be too simple or more likely, just doesn't fit in with their page naming convention.

Anyway, in true mobilist fashion, I will check out the site over the weekend and see how it shapes up.

And for those of you not coming to Mudbury, I mean Glastonbury, you can join the Glastonbury Text Club and get free alerts via text message of the latest news and updates of BBC coverage straight to your phone. Just text GLASTO to 83111. All messages are free to receive, but do check the terms and conditions anyway.

Oh, and if you're interested, the weather forecast hasn't changed much but I haven't given up hope yet.

Knock Knock The Future of Music was awesome

What a great time I had in Arhus in Denmark at the Knock Knock conference and accompanying SpotFestival. A fantastic conference, interesting speakers and content, great venue (Musikhuset - a bit like the South Bank in London), top atmosphere, yummy food and lots of music. A winning combo!

[If you don't want to read the whole post, but look at the webcast instead, then here are the links:

Morning: Nicolai Wammen, Eric de Fontenay, Les Ottolenghi, Henrik Bodker and Anne Holst
Afternoon: Steve Gordon, Claus Pedersen, Magnus Eriksson, Mirai, John Buckman, Pieter Betist, Richard Heidenreich, Tue Lund-Christensen, Martin Buck, Steve Myer, me and Martin Spenner.

And pictures on flickr from Innovation Lab and my own pix]

Right, back to the post. The day before the conference, I arrived to be greeted by a radio journalist who wanted to interview me for Danish Radio (their BBC equivalent). They were covering the conference and festival and interviewed some of the speakers. You can hear the stream live here and also download the podcast of the whole radio programme here as an MP3. How exciting to be on the radio! Then it was a quick freshen up and off to a local restaurant for a speaker's dinner where we got to know each other a bit better. I love the Danish way of restaurant dining where the waiting staff actually announce what's in everything that you're eating thus building up the anticipation and the tastebuds.

The the day of the conference we (I was there with my pal Gillian) headed down to the venue ably guided by a man with a map and another man with a GPS and both of them got lost so we ended up asking a local anyway! So much for men, maps and technology ;) When we get there, we are greeted by coffees and nibbles and a DJ mixing choons. There was also a small exhibition going on alongside showcasing innovation in music.

Then the conference began. About 200 or so delegates live and another 1000 or so following the conference's live web stream on the internet. All kinds of topics were covered from piracy, new business models, challenges and issues that artists face, music and mobile and lots more besides. The webcast is live for two or three weeks, so if this subject matter interests you, then it's well worth a look. Particular highlights for me were Eric De Fontenay from MusicDish, Steve Gordon, author of The Future of the Music Business, and Les Ottolenghi from Intent Media Works.

I was also very intrigued by the "downloan" service offered by Danish Libraries. Of course, it makes perfect sense. Libraries have been loaning music for many years so why not loan MP3s too and it seems to be a success so far. I wonder if we'll see something similar in the UK. I hope so.

I was also interested in the variable pricing model that John Buckman discussed, formerly founders of Lyris and now run their own record label, Magnatune. As a MP3 buyer, you can choose which pricepoint you want to pay for something. That means, if you're a real supporter, you pay the artist more money. And if you don't have the money, you don't have to. A neat idea.

And Henrik from Aarhus University was spot on when he said there was no 'one big thing' to look for but lots of small but important things that were part of the future of music (and IMHO can be equally applied to the world of web 2.0 and/or mobile).

Just before lunch, we were treated to a performance from Mirai, Ras and Keely (Ras had to leave as he was playing a gig with the Pet Shop Boys or something). Mirai was showcasing some new music technology which allows you to play different instruments just by moving different parts of your body. Think a Star Trek version of the old-fashioned one-man band routine but hooked up to a computer rather than having to carry a bass drum on your back.

In the afternoon, there was more talk about piracy, peer to peer and issues around DRM, Pim from Sellaband introduced us to his concept of fans being able to help finance a band without the need for a big record company. A real example of people power. Then later in the afternoon, Steve Myers from Theta Music in Tokyo and myself talked about the world of mobile and what impact it might have on music. And I'm quite sure I've missed a few things - it's not intentional, just a lot going on.

After that was another wonderful networking dinner and then the opening concerts of the SpotFestival with the Marybell Katastrophe and The National Bank.

The next day, Friday, was a gloriously sunny day, spent lazing around the festival, drinking, eating and chatting and listening to the odd band, but mainly putting the world to rights with Anna and the Icelandic Music crew. Then it was dinner with the gang - me and Gillian, Eric, Steve, Ricky G (a bona fide jazz musician and composer of music for Spike Lee), Rick and Lynette. Then underneath the very posh restaurant we were in, there was a ragga/dancehall club where we headed to afterwards and got into the groove (or whatever these youngsters do these days). When that closed, the American Boys were hungry so we headed to a late night pizza place, got chatting to some friendly locals, and ended up having a party back at their gaff. I love that kind of spontaneity on a road trip.

On Saturday, I managed to get up and explore a bit of Arhus and do a bit of shopping and picked up a few bargains. Then it was a lovely dinner with Gillian before heading back to the festival for the last night. We were tipped off that we should go and see Spleen United (think Kraftwerk meets Kaiser Chiefs), which we did, and they were great. So good, in fact, that I have bought the CD (couldn't get the downloads anywhere using English money). Then we headed to the after party, and as we were 'VIPs' we were able to jump the queue. Keith Harris had turned up over the weekend and I got to spend some time with him at the after party (he chaired a music tank panel that I was on recently) and eventually, after more chatting, we all headed home.

Sunday was spent packing, travelling and being delayed in the wi-fi-less Billund airport and reflecting on the previous days. I learned stuff, I made great new friends and thoroughly enjoyed myself (well you know me, I *do* like a good music festival and the Spot Festival is a rather good one).

I eventually got home in the early hours only to have to get up early the next day to go to Monte Carlo for MEM/Global Mobile Messaging Forum. I don't recommend back-to-back trips. It's a killer.

Anyway, a big-up to the guys at Innovation Lab for running the conference, Anders and his team did a marvellous job and made us feel extremely welcome. Keep an eye on this team, they're doing good stuff. I know a few organisations who would do well to take a leaf out of their book.

Thoughts on MEM/Global Messaging 2007

I was lucky enough to travel to Monte Carlo for the MEM and Global Mobile Messaging Conferences courtesy of Airwide Solutions for whom I've been doing a bit of blogging at the Mobile Messaging 2.0 blog and organising the odd podcast or two.

Some interesting feedback on the events from Andrew Darling of WestPier Media and Marcus Ladwig, COO of Peperoni. It's also worth having a listen to some of the podcast interviews.

In addition, Bena Roberts of GoMoNews has also done a round-up of her experience in Monte Carlo as has Maciej of Peperoni of Day 1 and Day 2 including a few choice photos. My photos on the other hand are not the most exciting in the world and are mostly of my sightseeing afternoon on the Thursday, although, there are a few of our Women in Mobile Data meet-up and of the post Meffy's dancing at the Living Room.

There has been a mixed reaction to the event and personally, I was underwhelmed by the whole experience but I put that down to mostly having just come back from a fab conference in Denmark (more on that later) plus being absolutely shattered and also coming down with a lurgy.

Were you there? What did you think of it all? Worth the effort? Will you go again next year?

Rok Comics launches

If you're a fan of comics as a creator or reader, then Rok has something for you. If you love comics, you can now access them on your phone over at Rok Comics. And if you're a comic creator, they have devised a flash-based platform whereby you can create your own comic strip and what's more, you can potentially make some money from it. Professional creators will receive 50% of the available revenue on every sale and have full access to sales statistics, page views and more. As a publisher, you can also create free samples of strips to be viewed online (on a blog, website or in an email) or on mobile in order to promote their print editions. You can also access the service from your mobile at http://wap.rokcomics.com

And to help drive this forward, they've got a very experienced guy in charge, John Freeman, ex Marvel UK. He's a veteran of the comics and magazines world having edited Dr Who Magazines, Death's head II, Star Trek Magazine and overseeing the launch of titles including Star Wars and the UK version of the Simpson's comic.

It's not the first mobile comic service, but it does sound interesting nevertheless and if I had more time, I'd go take a look so if anyone else out there does have the time to try, please let me know how you get on with it.

getting slightly obsessed by the weather

The latest Glastonbury mud index isn't looking good. It's gonna be squishy which might make dancing in a field a bit tricky, even if you're wearing wellies!

I'm praying we move down to showery and up to sun 'n fun - ever optimistic :)

The Road to Glastonbury

is getting ever nearer and I'll be heading off later this week with some of my mates, a trusty tent, a pair of wellies, a cosy sleeping bag and a smile to spend a few days enjoying life, love and music in a field in a farm in Somerset. Let's hope my stuff doesn't get nicked and my tent doesn't leak!

So for those of you who *are* heading to Glastonbury, some bright spark has done an excellent job of timetabling all the acts with a so-called Glasto Clashfinder so you can see at a glance who's on where at what time so you can argue with your mates as to which band you're going to see.

The weather report was looking ok-ish yesterday with showers and sunshine forecast but I've just refreshed and Metcheck's report is now not looking good at all with heavy rainfall predicted. So there's going to be mud and I'm going to need wellies and a waterproof jacket and patience.

And although I've invested in spare batteries for my phone, I doubt I'll be using it much beyond the usual texting and calling to find out where Sarah is to try and rendezvous with her. It's unlikely I'll be using it for blogging purposes as I have a feeling my mind will be on things other than mobile marketing and media, not least trying not to fall over in the mud!

So this does mean that the little burst of blogging today and in the next day or two might be all you get for a week or two whilst I play at being a hippy in the rain.

other news of a pre-Glastonbury Monday morning

RoadChef, the motorway services provider is running its first mobile loyalty initiative. You can join the scheme by texting ROAD to 60066 and then you will receive mobile vouchers over a 12-week period. These will be special deals from RoadChef as well as brand partners including Nestle and Coca-Cola and there's also a chance to win a plasma TV. Question - what happens after 12 weeks? And does that really describe loyalty? I'm interested to know what's going to happen next.

The Big Brother season is well under way in the UK and we've already had one walker and one evictee (I say Charley should be the next one). The big difference this year is that there is no text voting as a result of the scandals revealed earlier in the year around TV text voting and competitions. I think this is a real shame and I'm disappointed that they went down this road, but understand the rationale. However, to sweeten the pill, Virgin Mobile (this year's sponsor) is offering free texts to its customers whilst Big Brother is on so that fans can text each other during the programme. Or is it that they want to give fans something to do as the programmes are losing their appeal?!

Is there a future for MVNO's with the recent bankruptcy filing from Amp'd in the US? Well Pyramid research seems to think the future isn't so bleak in the MVNO world. And in the UK, Virgin is most certainly a success.

ITN is serving up Bollywood glamour with Bollywood Insider, a two minute round up of news, views and promos from India’s cinema and music scene, hosted by Suzi Mann, a DJ on commercial Asian radio station, Sunrise.

Adult sector innovating in mobile again

Is mobile following the early days of video technology (betamax vs VHS) and internet technology and letting the adult sector lead the way? Well it looks like it from the latest offering from the folks at gay dating start-up, Anything Really Ltd, and adult mobile developer, Respond Mobile, who have just launched a new site called Real Dirty TV.

This is a gay dating site which incorporates user-generated content (think personal images and videos to share with others and rating those images and clips), social networking (I think they mean flirting, dating, chatting, messaging, arranging to meet) and blogging (keeping folks up to date with what you're up to) so really going for the whole interactive experience. The site is designed for mobile but can be previewed from a PC as well at http://www.realdirty.tv (there is an over 18s disclaimer, but I didn't venture further than that as I figured it wasn't safe for work, nor is it really my thing!).

It seems that this stuff is popular and Will Rogers, Marketing Director at Respond Mobile tells us that Real Dirty has the lowest cost of customer acquisition, highest page views and fastest sign up of any mobile site they've ever experienced and that this early success bodes well for the future of both this service and mobile social networking and user generated mobile content in general.

The team launched in beta mode and ran an offline campaign through editorial in London's highest circulation gay weekly, Boyz magazine as well as having adverts in QX Men.

Mobile advertising - all hype?

I ran a session for the Institute of Direct Marketing last week and shortly after the session I got an email from one of my students who'd picked up on this article from Simon Mansell of TBG London. Said student thought it was quite amusing and a juxtaposition of what I'd been talking about for two hours that morning.

The article's not particularly well written so, to give Simon the benefit of the doubt, maybe it was a rush job, or it was heavily edited to fit the page or maybe Simon isn't exposed to the world of mobile [yet]. Or any combination thereof. But the facts just aren't straight.

The gist of the article is that mobile advertising has failed to deliver, the example being that the Google search interface is incompatible with mobile. And to some extent I agree - at least with the mobile search issues. I don't think that problem has been fixed yet, but it will be, over time. And actually mobile search is still a very small part of the mobile advertising, let alone mobile marketing, mix.

However, Simon really missed the elephant in the room and that is wap and the related wap advertising. You may think that wap is cr@p and isn't working and is expensive and at times, I'd have to agree with you. But we are seeing flat rate data plans from the network operators, including Pay As You Go customers, and the opening of the walled gardens from the operators with T-Mobile's web 'n walk for example.

But things really are moving with wap and wap advertising. The latest M:Metrics statistics show that 89.5% of UK mobile subscribers have a mobile phone with a web browser and some 44.8% of active users access news/information at least once a week and about a third of all UK subscribers browsed or downloaded from wap in the last month. None of that is to be sniffed at. And if you look globally, active usage is very much higher in India and South Africa, where data charges are almost nil. This is a ripe environment for wap advertising.

Add to that, that big brands are using wap advertising (think Coca Cola, The Times, Adidas), and that the GSMA has launched the first mobile advertising standards in conjunction with the MMA and that Admob has already served almost 3.5 billion wap adverts in its short existence, plus the acquisitions of Screen Tonic and Third Screen by Microsoft and AOL respectively, this is becoming major league.

Wap advertising is just one element of the mobile marketing mix but it's already an increasingly important one. It occurs to me both as observer and participant in mobile marketing and advertising that this wap advertising thing is really really happening and those who choose to ignore it do so at their peril.

Wikis for marketing

Fox is trying getting all web 2.0 and has created a wiki for the release of the new Fantastic Four movie, Rise of the Silver Surfer' [via Brand Republic]. That piqued my interest, and thought it was an interesting move to allow fans to update the content, so I thought I'd go and check it out.

The site looks like a wikipedia page except that it's wrapped in Fantastic Four branding so the information bit is actually quite tricky to navigate. And when I first looked at it almost a month ago, there was only the 'official' information on there. So I thought I'd check it out again today to see if there were any updates. And I couldn't see any I'm afraid.

So despite the 'edit' tags, either there was a complete lack of interest in updating the site, or it was so good already that it didn't need updating or that the moderators didn't approve any new content.

Or maybe, it just wasn't relevant to the audience who go to wikipedia for this sort of thing and a movie site for trailers and all the glitzy stuff around a movie promotion? I'm not quite sure what the point is of recreating what is essentially the same information that already exists on wikipedia for the movie.

I think wikis can be really handy things in the right circumstances - e.g. collaborating on a project or managing events (the girl geek dinners wiki springs to mind here) but I think you need to be a bit more imaginative to get this working. So 10 out of 10 for effort, but could definitely do better on the implementation and rationale.

top tips on increasing the click thru rates of your mobile ads

I'm just wading through my emails and backlog of things to do and spotted this from the guys at award-winning Admob, the largest wap advertising network globally and is growing at a pretty fast and furious rate. I thought it was advice well worth sharing. I've added my comments in italics.

5 Tips to increase the Click thru Rates of your mobile adverts

1. Change ad text frequently. Keep your campaign fresh and get the highest ROI (return on investment) by frequently changing ad text. Customers are more likely to click on ads that they haven't seen before. [People get bored, so it's not *that* difficult to expect to have to come up with new stuff is it?]

2. Use relevant links. Be sure that the click through URL takes your audience to a relevant landing page and that the product you are promoting is easy to find. [The right landing pages are crucial on web or wap. But get it wrong on wap and it's even worse as you don't have the space to play around with navigation on a phone for someone to bother finding the right page.]

3. Customize your advert. Include the user's phone model into the text of your ad, making it more relevant and dynamic. You can do so by inserting the %phn% tag into the text of your ad. For example, "Share pictures on your %phn%" would become "Share pictures on your RAZR" to a user viewing that ad from a RAZR. [This is particularly important for mobile content providers, and probably not so relevant to non-mobile brands]

4. Be timely. Reference hot products, sales, events and holidays. Be sure to update your text once time sensitive events are over. [Don't do a T-Mobile and send out a message promoting England football mobile content a) to a non-football fan and b) the day after England lost their Euro 2004 match!]

5. Experiment often. Try new ad text and targeting. Experiment with the Run of Network offering to attract more global traffic. Continually trying new things will help you to determine what works best for your business, as well as to ensure your ads are fresh. [I would add to this that you need to monitor closely to work out what is effective and what isn't. Define what success looks like and work backwards from that and measure. What you measure will vary from brand to brand and campaign to campaign, but unless you measure, you'll not be able to compare like with like.]

If it's Tuesday it must be Monte Carlo

I know I haven't kept my promise to blog but I've been busy.. honest! Denmark last week (more to come on that later when the video clips are live) and then this week, it's Monte Carlo for Global Messaging and MEM where I've been sponsored by Airwide Solutions to blog the conference over at Mobile Messaging 2.0. So, I'm doing best to do a bit of blogging over there and if there's time between sessions 'n stuff, I'll do my catch up blogging over here too.