2010 MOBI Finalists

MOBI award finalists offer a virtual embarrassment of riches in this year's second-annual competition, which drew entrants from Europe and Israel in addition to a plethora of innovations state-side. What impressed judges this year was the extent to which mobile campaigns moved beyond after-thoughts in cross-media mash-ups to becoming the true focal point of outreach to a particular audience segment.

That's easiest to see in an app by Disney for Toy Story 3, or a mixable rap from VitaminWater and 50 Cent. But in truth, virtually every campaign entry that made it this far detailed how it wouldn't have been possible to accomplish the marketer or content producer's core objectives without mobile media.

Here are just a few nuggets to ponder:
* According to Corvario, behaviorally targeted and in-browser ads for a mobile Intel campaign generated a cost per click 40 percent lower than other search channels and an ROI three times higher.
* Transpera's mobile video campaigns achieved up to 9X higher increase in purchase intent, 19X higher increase in aided awarenessm 4X higher increase in unaided awareness and 2X higher increase in ad awareness than what is typically seen from onlinevideo campaigns.
* Arby's created 172 local databases to handle the SMS response traffic from its television + mobile promotions. Of consumers who started a text interaction with store signage, more than 89% opted to join their local database, and more than 90% of TV respondents did so.
* The U.S. Navy's mobile campaign directed prospects to Navy's WAP site (m.navy.com) to click to call. Over the ten month campaign mobile accounted for more than 60 percent of the total National call volume to the Navy Call Center. This was the first time mobile out produced all other sources.

But mobile media's emotive side was showing too, as anyone who has dropped their phone shrieking at first sight of PHD's True Blood creative will attest. Mobile users lucky enough to interact with this year's finalists could taunt their rivals with live video of their ski runs, translate Despicable Me's minions, scan QR codes to win an iPad from their local bank, or find the nearest Wi-Fi zone. The technology coming our way is even better, we're lead to believe, but judging from what we saw, it's pretty spectacular already!

Winners will be announced Sept. 14 in NYC. Order your ticket today!

Here are our finalists, alphabetized in category. (Click the links to see the entrant's campaign brief or explanation of how their work in mobile media moved the needle.)

Best Mobile Branding
Myxer / Geico
PHD & Medialets / True Blood
Point Reach / Bing

Best Mobile App for Advertising
Liquid Thread/Delta Faucets
Point Reach / Bing
Sony Pictures/Karate Kid

Best Mobile Website
Consumer Reports
MLB.com
Us Magazine

iPad early: Branded App
CityGrid / CitySearch
MLB.com
Sony Pictures/Karate Kid

Best Mobile Ad Network
AdMob
ChaCha
Mojiva

Best Mobile App for Editorial Content
Los Angeles Times
TMZ
USA TODAY

Best Mobile Creative
Intel Work Smarter
PHD & Medialets / True Blood
Point Reach / Bing

Best Location Based Campaign
Appssavvy
ChaCha
Initiative

Best Mobile Video/Rich Media Network
Greystripe
Transpera

Best Mobile Agency
Appency
Hipcricket
PHD

Best Branded Mobile Game
Moblin / Gillette
National Geographic Society GeoBee
Sony / Karate Kid

Best Location Based Ap
Air New Zealand
JiWire / Wi-Fi Finder

Best Mobile App for Social Media
Phonevalley / Nissan Europe
TigerText

Best Mobile/Social Integrated Campaign
BET Fandemonium
Moblin Leumi

Best Mobile/Cross Media Campaign
Best Buy Holiday
Corvario / Intel
Hipcricket / Arby's

Best Mobile Direct Response
AdMob and RingRing Media for Nokia
ChaCha / Tampax
U.S. Navy

Best Mobile Promotion for a Product Launch
ChaCha for a Movie Theater
HipCricket for Arby's
Initiative for Kia Soul

Best Mobile App Platform
Handmark
Limelight Networks
Xtify

Best Mobile App for Branded Content
Best Buy Despicable Me
Disney / Toy Story 3 App
VitaminWater / 50 Cent

All these, plus Best Mobile Video, Best in Show, Best Mobile App Sponsorship, iPad Early-Adopter Campaign, Best Mobile App OCR and Best of Show will be unveiled at our gala event. If you're a press person and would like to request VIP access to the event, or a potential sponsor who would like to make a splash at the MOBI's in front of the best and brightest in social advertising and media, please email Melinda Gipson at melinda@dm2media.com.