I was sorting through some papers in the office and found a couple notes that I thought I’d share.  Back in April we held the 2nd annual GoMobile Affiliate Conference here in Seattle and were thrilled with the positive reaction of all the attendees.  The three day conference included a cruise on Seattle’s Puget Sound with dinner and drinks, and guest speakers Jim Copacino and Betti Fujikado of Copacino + Fujikado, a national award winning advertising firm.  They had an outstanding presentation and had some truly valuable information for us, which we all sponged up eagerly.

Thanks to everyone who attended and made the Affiliate Conference such a success and we look forward to seeing you all next year!  On to the letters:

“There are no words to express our thanks for the way we were treated during our brief stay.  So many topics were covered in a short period of time, but team “GoMobile” covered them with a great deal of attention.  You made us feel that there is such a thing as “team work” without losing individuality.  On behalf of Pilar, Eric and myself I want you to know that you and your team made the impossible become possible in a very short period of time.” – Mike Amengual, Future 2000 Corp.

“Just a quick note to say thank you for the awesome job you all did hosting the affiliate conference.  It was a delight to see each of you again and to meet all the fine affiliates you have attracted from around the nation.  Best wishes to everyone for great continued success and thanks again!” – Dennis Anderson, Anderson Mobile Media

SEATTLE – Furniture giant IKEA takes another step in promoting environmentally conscious living in their latest campaign “Live Small in a Big Way” which offers fun, economical solutions to small space living.  The campaign utilizes experiential marketing, including a mobile 3D showroom that began touring the streets of Seattle beginning July 14th.

The campaign, which began just in time for college-bound students to start planning their dorm décor, features a complete room display as well as mobile billboards.  Echoing its environmental undertones, the alternative campaign runs entirely on GoMobile’s BioDiesel-fueled trucks.  The entire room showcases furniture that can be incorporated into petite spaces, acting as a mobile idea-book for consumers.

“Live Small in a Big Way” marks the sixth campaign partnership for IKEA and GoMobile Advertising to date, with past promotions including IKEA’s new Teen Zone, as well as their infamous Twice Yearly Sale.  “IKEA has always been about getting the most for your money, and this campaign physically shows how far that money can take you in designing a room around a small space,” says IKEA Advertising Manager Carol Merry.

The IKEA campaign began July 14th and wraps up July 26th.

SEATTLE – AT&T is promoting key store openings and “a million reasons to buy a new phone event” around the Pacific Northwest featuring an innovative wrapped mobile advertising vehicle in AT&T colors from GoMobile Advertising. The vehicle features tongue-in-cheek banner messages offering a million reasons to buy an AT&T cell phone. The vehicle will be located at store grand openings in Portland, Spokane, and many AT&T sponsored events throughout the greater Seattle area.

This innovative mobile vehicle has a 3D orange carpet display that spotlights an AT&T graphically branded money-blowing machine that participants enter for a limited time with the goal to grab as much AT&T cash as possible to use towards purchasing a new AT&T cell phone or accessory. There are nine scrolling billboards on the vehicle with messages such as “one human year is thirty cellular years” and “because your phone went hottubbing”.

“Mounting a money machine in the back of our GMA advertising vehicles was a smart move on AT&T’s part,” says Chris Schuler, President of GMA.  “it  offers AT&T a unique opportunity to create an emotional connection with their customers who can then turn their experience into cash for products sold at AT&T stores – a promotion that converts immediately into a purchase – the holy grail of marketing!”

SEATTLE – With November elections right around the corner and political candidates eager to create as much buzz as possible surrounding their names, it only makes sense that political hopefuls would want a piece of the experiential marketing industry for their campaigns.  You can imagine our excitement, then, when Todd Gibson for State Legislature summoned us to create an eye-catching 3D display on a signature truck to be used at events and parades this summer.

We brainstormed and came up with a really stand-out theme; the truck’s 3D display was divided into two equal sections to show two complete classrooms: one reminiscent of the 1800s with old wooden desks, pen quills and ink, and an old bookshelf with ratted books, and the other totally futuristic – with laptop computers, a flat-screen TV playing “Planet Earth”, and a modern, minimalist atmosphere.  During events and parades, the showroom really came alive with fully costumed actors playing their parts as school children and teachers.

During parades, we had Todd on a branded, wrapped Segway addressing the crowd through a wireless microphone while working the audience.  This gave him the opportunity to move around a large area and get noticed at the same time. The looks on the faces of the crowds were very compelling – the amount of exposure that this gave Todd was tremendous; it really got people talking about his message!

We’re very proud of how well this campaign turned out and are looking forward to flexing our muscle in future political campaigns!

For more information about Todd Gibson and his campaign, visit votetoddgibson.com

SEATTLE – To combat the expected sweltering summer heat in the months ahead, A&W will begin touring a mobile ice-cold smoothee and slushee machine around the Yakima area for consumers just in time for Independence Day, beginning July 3rd.

A&W will utilize a special mobile advertising truck for their “Sweets & Treats” campaign, which features 10 scrolling billboards showcasing the new A&W Cherry Lemonade slushee and BananaBerry Dream smoothee.  In a 3D mobile showroom, the truck will feature a replica of a 1950’s A&W diner, serving samples of the sweet treats to event crowds.

The state-of-the-art truck comes courtesy of GoMobile Advertising, an experimental marketing company that A&W is partnering with for their campaign.  “The idea of a mobile drink machine where we could physically show consumers the product on-the-go is just what A&W needed for these summer events,” said Chris Schuler, President of GoMobile Advertising.

A&W and GoMobile Advertising’s campaign will wrap up August 3rd.

About A&W Restaurants, Inc.

A&W Restaurants, Inc., based in Louisville, Ky., is the longest running quick service franchise chain in America. Since 1919, A&W® All-American Food® has been serving a signature frosty mug root beer float and All-American pure-beef hamburgers and hot dogs. There are approximately 400 A&W All-American Food outlets in the U.S., more than 250 outlets outside the U.S. in 10 countries, and 640 additional points of distribution at Yum! Brands multibrand restaurants.