Before I begin, I am obliged to state that advertising, whether on a billboard, mobile phone, website or printed page, is only one small part of marketing. Sorry, but I’m gonna keep repeating that until people stop asking me if marketing is part of advertising or if advertising is part of marketing. Here’s a short post from Seth Godin that I sometimes send people when they ask. I think it’s pretty funny, and there’s a great clip from Mad Men.

Onto our topic, we know that mobile devices are acting more and more like lenses to the world, and that marketers are trying to figure out how to be relevant in that context. They are also trying to balance the marketing mix for their products/ services and understand how the mobile channel relates to traditional channels. This post contains a collection of links that highlight the bridge that is being build between mobile marketing and traditional advertising (what could be more traditional than a sign/billboard?).

First off, here’s an interesting video of Dan Albritton presenting about Megaphone his mobile billboard company at the Adaptive Path’s UX Conference. You can also see more demos of what they do on their site.

Here’s a recent campaign that involved an interactive game through a large billboard in Times Square. What’s interesting about this is the integration with Facebook. As you can see marketers are looking for ways to connect the mobile experience with other channels, online and otherwise.  Click on the image below to visit their site.

Not long ago, also in Times Square, Nike allowed people to customize a shoe on their billboard through their phones. What is interesting about this case is that it is not done through SMS which generally costs money, and can be carrier dependent (i.e. only AT&T).

Some other interesting mobile/billboard stuff:

• During the campaign you could send a message to Sarah Palin (via the Democratic Party) though this interactive billboard.
• SpectraColor HD billboards also offer WIFI access and more.
• The largest interactive billboard yet, by Disney.
• An RFID enabled billboard for Mini Cooper.

The mobile market represents a complex challenge for marketers because of the shifting landscape of technology, device manufacturers, and network carriers. My current take is that most of the campaigns that I’ve seen are pretty much one-offs that don’t offer much value for the customer beyond momentary amusement. It’s still a playground for mega-brands that can afford to pay for a novelty play. In terms of brand awareness, it would work better if the experience was more relevant to the product/service being in question.

I believe this will change fundamentally when the mobile ecosystem, in the US and Europe, starts enabling commerce to take place openly on the mobile platform. And, when I say openly, I don’t mean buying stuff on the internet but buying stuff in the real world. If you’re interested in understanding the landscape better, you might check out Rachel Hinman’s recent essay here. Also, you might want to check out GPS Mission a gps enabled phone game which seems like the next step towards a mobile marketing bridge.

Thanks for reading, and let me know your thoughts about whether or not interactive billboards are a bridge to the mobile platform. Also, if you’ve got other examples, please send them my way.