Soft Cell

Analysts keep saying that in the United States there are eight cell phones to every PC. But so far, the mobile sphere is rife with unrealized potential. Mobile marketing is confined largely to messages advertisers are pretty sure young users will be glad to opt into, such as video clips from upcoming movies. And m-commerce is still restricted, for the most part, to content subscriptions and digital downloads of ringtones and wallpapers.

In other words, those who are doing something to sell their wares on cell phones still very much qualify for the tag “pioneers.” But some companies are taking the leap into mobile, assuming that planting a flag in the space now will pay off in lessons learned and presence earned when the third screen comes into its own.

That's the approach taken by Moosejaw Mountaineering, an outdoor specialty chain that opened its first store in Keego Harbor, MI 15 years ago. Before expanding to six Midwestern stores, a catalog business and an e-commerce Web site, Moosejaw's marketing approach was to try everything — including parking-lot whiffle-ball games to draw customers during slow periods.

“Because we were young, our marketing ended up skewing to a younger customer,” says founder and CEO Robert Wolfe. “Then it was by accident; now we do it on purpose.”

Since its young customers live on their cell phones, Moosejaw figured it was time to start showing its products there. “Having our Web site available on a digital device and doing text messaging are really important to us,” Wolfe says. “Our customers almost demand them.”

Launched in beta in December, Moosejaw's mobile site uses an m-commerce platform called GoMobile! provided by Seattle-based mPoria. Users surf to www.Moosejaw.mobi, where they can scan and search the retailer's product line, relayed through a data feed from Moosejaw. When they've found what they want, shoppers can enter their credit card information in the mPoria platform, choose a shipping method and place the order.

Dan Wright, mPoria CEO, saw that mobile held latent promise as a sales channel back in 2003, when more than $1 billion in physical goods were purchased via mobile phones in Japan. “People looked at ringtones, wallpaper and mobile game sales in Japan and said they would never be big here,” he says. “But we're emulating the Japanese market five or six years after the fact.”

In March, Starbucks debuted a text-based store locator for latte fans who are separated from their computers. Simply send your current ZIP code to short code “MYSBUX” and you'll receive a return text with three of the nearest Starbucks outlets, together with click-to-dial phone numbers. Customers with Web-enabled phones can go to Starbucks' site and get a map of the locations.

Starbucks has no plans right now to monetize the store locator with banners or coupons. But the company tested the drawing power of mobile by letting customers text MYSBUX to get a reminder of its March 15 Coffee Break, a two-hour morning slot when they could pick up a free 12-ounce coffee.

Web Conjures Potter Buzz

Scholastic Inc. probably could bring out “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's series, in a plain brown wrapper and still beat the record 6.9 million U.S. copies the last installment sold in 24 hours in 2005. Instead, the publisher is mounting a campaign designed to do more than just build buzz around the July 21 release — it will encourage latecomers to catch up on the story by buying, reading and discussing the Potter backlist.

Rachel Coun, Scholastic's marketing director for trade books, says the sales effort for this swan song leans more heavily on the Web than previously because Rowling's audience now spans generations. “We realized that online is the way you're going to hit the widest demographic, cross over all ages and reach around the world,” she says.

The campaign is built around seven Potter questions on www.scholastic.com/harrypotter, starting with the big one: “Who will die?” A new question appears every two weeks, and readers can vote for their favorite answer. Rowling will provide online answers the night the book is released.

The site also offers downloadable wallpapers, cover art and bookmarks, a message board and a community space for seven-word user reviews of favorite books in the series. A touring Knight Bus will let kids record video comments about the books for upload to the site. Scholastic.com is even offering a browser widget that counts down to the “Deathly Hallows” launch and a Web locator to find the nearest bookseller partner holding a Potter publication party.

Meanwhile, at Amazon.com, visitors can check out a Potter count-up of “Hallows” pre-orders. Amazon will name the town with the most pre-orders per capita by midnight July 15 as the “Harry-est Town in America” and donate a $5,000 gift card to its charity of choice.