The advertising services with creative ad placements that were launched on the Vodafone live! portal in September 2006 are getting more popular by the day, Vodafone said. The portal's advertising partners are the auto manufacturers, Opel, VW, Volvo, and Mercedes, plus 20th Century Fox which is advertising its Hollywood blockbuster, "Eragon". Unilever is another new partner.

The automotive industry has discovered that the Vodafone live! portal is an effective advertising platform and the car makers are developing creative advertising packages with Vodafone's partner, G+J EMS. Opel launched a Race Camp Campaign, offering the winner of a several-stage casting process the opportunity to take part in the 24-hour race at Nürburgring 2008. VW used the Vodafone live! portal to support its advertising campaigns for the VW Touran and the VW Tour, including test drive generation.

Volvo integrated the Vodafone live! portal in its communication mix for the Volvo C30 launch by providing an MMS competition and offering text message test drive bookings. Mercedes is advertising the German-wide launch campaign for the new Mercedes C class, "C - for yourself", on Vodafone's big mobile portal.

20th Century Fox has incorporated the Vodafone live! portal in an interactive adventure in conjunction with the first cinema showing of "Eragon". Winners can look forward to a film fan pack or a Samsung mobile phone. Unilever is providing an interactive flirt game called "Bom Chicka Wah Wah" to promote its "Axe" brand deodorant.

Erik Friemuth, Director Business Unit Vodafone live! commented, : "Vodafone live! portal marketing has developed very positively, even though it was only started up a few months ago. These examples show just how creative advertising on our portal can be. Mobile advertising is a brand new market with excellent growth potential, and more and more companies are adding it to their communication mix." Mobile phones are the most personal medium in this mix and they enable the advertiser to put their advertising in physical contact with potential customers. Vodafone Germany's mobile advertising service is an aspect of its growth strategy outside the core business of telecommunications.

Vodafone live! has 3.5 million unique users and generates 450 million page views per month. It is the most successful mobile phone portal in Germany. Its comprehensive range of sports, news and entertainment services consists of products such as MobileTV, MobileMusic, Games, Live Tickers and other services. Advertising space can be booked on Vodafone live! now that the mobile portal is being marketed.

Source: Vodafone Germany