Trick or Treat – where are Halloweens mobile marketing gems?

mobiThinking has been scouring the mobile web for a good fright. So far we’ve been a little disappointed, but the night is still young. We were surprised not to find a trick-or-treat mobile advertising campaign: click on trick to see something scary (like how much you are charged for data by your mobile operator); click on treat and you receive some free minutes… or data preferably; even more if you pass it onto a friend.

Sony Ericsson gets a gold star for effort with its spooky video campaign for the Walkman W595. It involves an element of viral mobile marketing, but essentially it’s a web-based campaign when we’d expect mobile web from a handset manufacturer. You can watch it here (among other places) and find out more about it here.

We also thought Meijer.com’s “He Rides” campaign was heading in the right direction. Here a headless horseman was projected onto buildings and sites in Chicago and other cities, periodically inviting text-to-win. Perhaps next time the text reply will contain a mobile web link where the entrant’s coupon awaits. See the video on m.YouTube and campaign details here.

Sticking with m.Youtube, we found this excellent short Halloween flick about a haunted Tivo that would do anything for its owner. Not for the fainthearted – or those with tiny screens or limited data packages.

After that we needed a drink, so we toasted Mixology.mobi’s selection of evil cocktail recipes, with tempting names such as Satan’s Whiskers.

The Halloween safety tips for pets on Canines.mobi were a little wordy for the small screen, but useful if you are the sort of people who like to dress up their pets in a costume.

There was a bit of horror at m.DeluxeCostumes.co.uk though, as the link to Halloween costumes ended in a server error.

We found reviews of Halloween the movie. The 1978 John Carpenter cult classic gets a thumbs up on Metajam.mobi , while GoShowTimes.mobi suggests the 2007 remake is a horror for the wrong reasons.

Then we downloaded and some spooky wallpaper from Amob and suddenly it was time to go trick-or-treating.

According to WordNet Halloween, aka Hallowe’en, Allhallows Eve, “is the evening before All Saints’ Day; often devoted to pranks played by young people”. The big question is: why aren’t there more mobile pranks by marketers?

Please let us know if you spot any good Halloween campaigns. Comment below.

Leave a Reply

Exclusive tips, how-tos, news and comment

Receive monthly updates on the world of mobile dev.

Other Products

Market leading device intelligence for the web, app and MNO ecosystems
DeviceAtlas - Device Intelligence

Real-time identification of fraudulent and misrepresented traffic
DeviceAssure - Device Verification

A free tool for developers, designers and marketers to test website performance
mobiReady - Evaluate your websites’ mobile readiness

© 2024 DeviceAtlas Limited. All rights reserved.

This is a website of DeviceAtlas Limited, a private company limited by shares, incorporated and registered in the Republic of Ireland with registered number 398040 and registered office at 6th Floor, 2 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland