It will be 60 to 90 days before we see the first big marketer leverage the new mobile gaming platform, Frank Palmer, chairman/CEO of DDB Canada, tells MiC. But he says the marketing industry will ‘be rocked’ by the deal between one of his major clients and Vancouver-based Mobile Lottery Solutions.
A developer of new media applications, MLS has come up with what Palmer describes as breakthrough technology. In a nutshell, it deploys company logos, brand trademarks and celebrity images as icons in games of chance developed for wireless devices. Under the terms of a recently granted US patent, MLS has the exclusive North American right to create and market these games using a unique graphical user interface.
The games can be as simple as scratch to win, or spin and win, for discounts and coupons – or they can be complete games such as Bingo or Keno offering points, discounts or prizes. The end result is reaching customers on their mobiles, exposing them to brand messaging and, in some cases, driving them to retail locations to redeem prizes. An added advantage for marketers, says Palmer, is that databases of gamers will be instantly compiled.
As indicated by Mobile Lottery Solutions’ moniker, lottery corporations are expected to be among the technology’s major adopters. This is mainly because consumers can not only play a lottery-sponsored game on their cell phones, they also have the convenience of buying lottery tickets online.
But Palmer says many other consumer brands can also benefit. And that’s why – on behalf of DDB clients – he’s taken on the role of chairman of Inception Ventures. The newly formed, Vancouver-based marketing group will specialize in the creation, development and marketing of new media content, products and services to leverage the MLS platform and capabilities.
In addition to Palmer, Inception Ventures’ members are Kevin Albrecht, president/CEO of Toronto’s Insight Sports, creators and distributors of sports and entertainment content; Steve Clark, president of the Los Angeles-based Clark Group, a developer and marketer of entertainment products and services; and Hugh Ruthven, president of Vancouver’s Zygo Strategies, which works on new media opportunities for DDB and its parent, NYC-HQ’d Omnicom Group.
Bottom line, says Palmer, is that he and his Inception Ventures colleagues all ‘believe that MLS offers a unique new media product and delivery package, which is supported by a very strong US patent.’ (In Canada, MLS’ patent is still pending.)
