July 22, 2004
Ford Fiesta ad campaign combines interactive billboards with SMS
Advertising Agency Ogilvy, in a European first, has launched a new ad campaign for the Ford Fiesta, combining interactive billboards with SMS.
Dont' be surprised if you notice across Belgium, young people staring up at a huge Ford Fiesta billboard - visually similar to the TV pinball machine commercial - while texting on their mobile phones.
Each passer-by can try their hand at winning a Ford Fiesta by sending an SMS with his/her first name to a short code and indicating the code on the billboard. The billboard then responds to this SMS, displaying a "good luck" message adressed to the person, and sends him/her another SMS with a question. If he or she answers correctly, the billboard reacts like a winning pinball machine and he/she is entitled to an "extra ball" meaning he/she will be included in the draw for a winner. For every incorrect answer sent by text message, the pinball machine displays a "tilt".
The fiestafun website allows anyone to check on the progress of the game or find out where exactly these billboards are located. The contest is taking place from July 19 through August 15. via Trends.be (in French)
Related articles and campaigns:
-- Yahoo! Billboard Goes Live in Times Square - To promote its automotive Web site, Yahoo! and interactive shop R/GA have created a billboard that allows pedestrians to play a video game broadcast on part of the 23-stories-tall Reuters sign in Times Square here via their cell phones.
-- High Tech Billboard will respond to Text Messages - Coca-Cola unveiled one of the world's biggest and most sophisticated billboards, switched on in Piccadilly Circus in the heart of London. The 99-foot-wide neon colossus can respond to the weather and interact with people looking at it from the ground.
-- Cell Phones, Billboards Play Tag - Hypertag technology, enabling mobile users to point and click their cell phones at a movie poster and access digital content and Cool123 has a patent pending for a similar sounding interactive SMS service. enabling mobile users "to interact with advertising such as billboards, product packaging or other media strategies using keywords or codes".
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