The post discusses how mobile couponing will be big this season, as will loyalty campaigns and campaigns focusing on customer interaction and growth.

I love seeing and hearing about real budgets being allocated to mobile.  I just hope brands and agencies aren’t throwing away dollars on a short term holiday-only campaigns.  Customer loyalty doesn’t take a holiday so brands should plan to use these marketing dollars to start building mobile lists for future sales and marketing efforts year round.

When brands are planning holiday mobile budgets, it would be crazy to not include plans to start building a mobile CRM strategy for the entire year into that budget (not just for the holiday season).  Marketers, promise me, you won’t just do a “one-and-done” campaign.  Use this time and budget to put the right tools in place ahead of your ad buy.  Don’t forsake this critical list building opportunity.  This is the time to make your media dollars work harder for you!

After the holiday campaign is when the real fun begins.  Now brands should analyze their results and compare these subscribers with their existing marketing channel lists. Next, figure out if there are certain types of marketing the customers would rather receive via a particular channel (i.e. coupons via mobile or order statuses via email). Wouldn’t it be great if you found out that mobile actually brings your brand a completely new batch of customers to engage with.

Giselle’s post also has some tips for best practices that are worth reviewing before you come up with your strategy.

It’s smart.  And more organizations, especially those with such a targeted and enthusiastic audience, should be doing it.

Keep up the good work on building your mobile list!

This is MediaPost’s first mobile summit so you won’t want to miss it. The mobile summit will bring together the leading minds and marketers in the mobile space to discuss where the industry needs to go. During the summit experts will identify the trends, technologies and tactics that will define the years to come.

I’m also thrilled to be presenting a case study on the success of the mobile campaign around the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove,” along with our client Participant Media.

Our presentation will be on Friday, August 27^th at 11:30:

Case Study: One Oscar. One Cause. One Call-To-Action

Participant Media/TakePart looked to test mobile for its viability as a means of stimulating activism and for keeping movie viewers engaged after leaving the theater. They decided to add a mobile call-to-action at the end of the documentary, “The Cove,” and watched as their list of mobile activists grew. Then, at this year’s Oscars, after winning for “Best Documentary” the producers held up a sign asking viewers to text DOLPHIN to 44144 – and the campaign took off like wildfire.

Participant Media/TakePart and Waterfall Mobile present a case study in driving digital activism through mobile and social channels.

Come with your questions because we’ll have a quick Q&A session after the presentation!

You can find the full agenda for the summit here.

If you’re going to be in town, be sure to reach out. You can email me at msilk@waterfallmobile.com or connect with us on Twitter @WaterfallMobile.

So what makes an ideal candidate for the sales internship program? Must be interested in mobile of course, and have excellent written and verbal communication skills.

We’re looking for creative thinkers who have a willingness and desire to learn (we’ve got some great mentors here).  Extensive experience with Microsoft Office and online research is essential, and must be ready to thrive under strict deadlines. We’ve got tons of projects going on at once – so you must take initiative and manage multiple tasks effectively.

We are hiring now in our San Francisco headquarters. Read more here.

Interested parties should send a cover letter and resume to bdintern@waterfallmobile.com. School credit is available.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Our clients’ uShip and PETA have come together for the “9 Lives Drive.”  uShip’s Help on Wheels – its charitable delivery vehicle – is offering free transport of some of Louisiana’s oil spill victims to PETA’s headquarters.  That’s about 1,100 miles.

Despite the capped oil spill, Louisiana’s animal shelters continue to overflow as families can’t afford to support their pets as they experience significant loss of income (or need to move out of town completely).  PETA is stepping in to rescue some of these pets, and uShip’s Help on Wheels vehicle is transporting them.

uShip will deliver 20 special needs cats from Denham Springs, La., to PETA’s headquarters in Norfolk, Va., where the cats have a better chance of finding permanent homes.  Help on Wheels is providing the service free of charge as part of its ongoing charitable delivery efforts

uShip picked up the cats on Tuesday, August 10^th and arrived at PETA’s headquarters on Wednesday, August 11^th after the 18-hour drive / cat-herding effort.  All of these very special cats arrived safely.

You can read the full announcement here.

iMedia Connection, a top trade publisher and event producer serving interactive media and marketing industries, must’ve like our post and coverage on how to make a conference more engaging and compelling leveraging mobile as they asked us to write an article again for them.

In this post, you can read about the tips and tricks PromaxBDA used to make its conference more engaging and get some tips from Matt on what he’d like to see more of at conferences.

You can check out Matt’s post here.

This new strategic partnership brings industry leading mobile giving functionality to Waterfall’s current suite of offerings. Subscribers can now easily donate to charitable causes in seconds, and have the donation automatically charged to their cell phone bill.

It’s truly amazing how quickly small donations of $5 can add up to help a cause. This partnership ensures our clients can easily offer this option to its subscribers.

PETA is our first client to sign up for the offering. PETA recently launched its “Elephants Never Forget” campaign to run in conjunction with Vans Warped Tour 2010.  Through the initiative, PETA will engage with Tour attendees to spread awareness of the abuse of circus elephants and encourage them to act. People can text PETA2 to 27722 to donate $5 to the cause.

You can read the full announcement here.

iMedia Connection is a top trade publisher and event producer serving interactive media and marketing industries.

You can check out Matt’s post here.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

When gamers texted WEAPON to 44144, they received a text back with a code to unlock a secret weapon in the game.

On the first day of the program, the company nearly doubled its mobile subscriber list by simply pushing out the information to its social media lists and gamer community.  80 percent of those that opted-in to the mobile list have remained on board for future updates and promotions.

Two weeks after the launch of the game, the mobile subscriber list was up more than 400 percent.  The video game publisher and developer experienced an amazing redemption rate for the in-game weapon.

Ubisoft did an excellent job of engaging its consumers, and the campaign was so successful the company decided to use mobile with future game releases, including Prince of Persia.

You can download the full case study here.

We are extremely excited to provide digital messaging and CRM software to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).  As you may know, PETA is the largest animal rights organization in the world, with more than 2 million members and supporters.

Our Msgme platform will empower PETA to build mobile subscriber lists and otherwise inspire mobile and digital activism.  Our first campaign with the animal activists is “Elephants Never Forget,” and runs in conjunction with the Vans Warped Tour 2010.  PETA’s goal with the campaign, which aims to maximize visibility at stops on the national tour, is to remind concert-goers that elephants never forget the beatings and isolation that they suffer at the hands of the circus.

Mobile truly gives PETA the tools to deliver its message to a laser-targeted demographic of young music fans at the Vans Warped Tour (and for its future initiatives).

You can sign up to receive campaign information by texting NEVER to 73822 (PETA2).  Texters will also be added to mobile list for peta2—PETA’s youth division—and will be prompted to visit the PETA tent at the Warped Tour to pick up a free prize.

With Msgme, PETA has another platform for inspiring activism and getting members informed and engaged.  You can read more about the campaign on Tonic.