Unilever to Offer Mobile Coupons to its Customers

In an attempt to test the waters in the field of mobile phone marketing, Unilever has announced that it will offer mobile coupons to its customers. This is a trial run and will go on for four weeks.

The company has stated that the trial run will start this Sunday and will go on for another four weeks. It will be conducted at a ShopRite store in Hillsborough, New Jersey. The company plans to give discount coupons for some of its most famous brands like Dove soap, Lipton tea, Breyers ice cream, and Hellmann’s mayonnaise.

To get these discount coupons, you need to check out the website samplesaint.com and download the coupons to your mobile phone. To redeem these coupons, you can give your phone to the cashier at the store. He will scan the barcode on your phone’s screen, redeem the coupon, and delete the coupon from your phone. To make use of this offer, you need to have an internet enabled phone. This technology has been developed by a Chicago based mobile technology company named Samplesaint.

Marc Shaw of Unilever said that mobile marketing is the Holy Grail that everyone has been trying to figure out. He also said that it is important for businesses to find out what catches the attention of their customers exactly.

Regular readers of this blog know what I feel about mobile coupons. So, this does not come as a surprise to me at all. In fact, if anything, I would say that Unilever is a little late in entering the mobile phone marketing field. But, as they say, better late than never. Depending on the result of this test run, the company might decide to take mobile phone marketing seriously. So, I’ll keep an eye on this test run and keep you guys posted. Watch this space for more details.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Coca Cola and Hindustan Unilever launch mobile advertising campaigns

Two of the major FMCG brands, Hindustan Unilever and Coca Cola, have recently launched mobile advertising campaigns in India.

Mobile advertising in India is becoming popular of late and we’ve already seen some evidences of clever mobile advertising campaigns from film personalities in India. Now, it’s the turn of big brands to get into mobile marketing seriously.

While Coca Cola has launched a mobile advertising campaign for its fizzy drink Sprite, Hindustan Unilever has launched one for its ice-cream brand Cornetto. Among other things, you need to understand the ‘timing’ of these campaigns. This is the summer season in India and believe me, it’s h-o-t. In fact, it’s so hot that more than 50% of annual soft drink sales happen during this season. So, what better way to boost it further than by launching a mobile advertising campaign? Clever stuff, I should say.

Coincidentally, both these companies have sought the services of Oxigen, a value-added service provider for mobile phones. If this turns out to be a success, we can see more and more companies getting into mobile advertising in the coming days.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Madonna releases new album on mobile phone

We all know Madonna is someone who always comes up with surprises – both for good reasons and bad reasons. But this one was really surprising. She has actually released a new album on mobile phone. How about that for a surprise?

She has recently signed a deal with Vodafone, Unilever, and Fuji according to which these companies can use her latest album Hard Candy to promote their products. The important point here is, the album is scheduled to be released only on April 28. This means, fans all over the world will be able to listen to the songs even before its release.

Vodafone customers will be able to listen to the songs from the album even before it gets released. Obviously, Madonna has been paid big bucks for this deal and at the same time, the amount of publicity the album will get, through this move, will be enormous. Considering the publicity this news has been getting, I won’t be surprised if other stars decide to follow suit and release their albums on the mobile phone.

Categories: All things mobile phones.

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