myclick partners with pepsi to tap "generation wow" in china with innovative mobile marketing.

Pepsi is tapping into China's Generation Wow in innovative new ways by partnering with pioneering phone snap and click marketer, MyClick. Pepsi-Cola has launched its third Pepsi Creative Challenge as part of a 360-degree marketing campaign that will be supported across China on various traditional media, online, and via a breakthrough mobile marketing campaign using MyClick software. The promotion is targeted to Generation Wow consumers primarily in the 12-24 year old range.

At the vanguard of companies embracing interactive digital advertising, Pepsi has implemented one of the most successful multi-media advertising campaigns to date in China. Pepsi has issued a challenge for consumers to upload their photos along with their basic personal data (birth date, mobile number, nickname) on any of the six major portals, 163.com, xiaonei.com, taobao.com and 51.com, Poco.cn and iPartment. Winners will become the coveted PEPSI CREATIVE CHALLENGE STAR on all of Pepsi's packaging to be featured during the Olympics on Pepsi cans.

To facilitate voting, consumers are encouraged to download MyClick application on the link provided at these portals so that they could access easy voting, blogging and status updates on their submissions. The campaign is being supported with TV advertising and with a major presence at point of sale across a range of retail outlets as well as a host of media partners, including: Web, WAP, MMS and on-ground promotions.

MyClick's revolutionary new mobile device marketing platform, which is based on image recognition technology, allows consumers to access exciting promotional opportunities simply by taking aim and shooting with their mobile device cameras. MyClick mobile software/application gives consumers one-click access to all of the Pepsi Creative Challenge contest details, and the ability to cast vote and check on their current blogs. Once they open the MyClick application, they can go directly to their WAP site. Any post by their 'fans' is just a click away.

Users can ask their friends to vote for them and they receive three votes for each vote sent via MyClick. MyClick adds value to the Pepsi Creative Challenge and keeps the promotion exciting, relevant and is sure to generate loyalty buzz among Pepsi fans. "In short, users will be getting a passport to the information they want and it will be on their terms, their schedule and based entirely on their creative input. It's easy, fast and flexible on an opt-in basis for consumers," said Mr. Justin Tsang, Chief Technical Officer, MyClick Media.

"MyClick is revolutionizing the way advertisers interact with consumers. While SMS may be a way for person-to-person mobile marketing, there is a huge hurdle in terms of spontaneity as the consumer needs to get in to the messaging interface with cumbersome steps before accessing the information. With MyClick, the response is almost immediate, literally a click away," added Mr. Tsang.

Beginning June 1, the second phase of the Pepsi Creative Challenge lets participants vote for the short-list finalists. The three winners will be announced and the new Pepsi cans featuring these winners will be in stores during the Olympics.

"We're confident with MyClick we can make even greater strides in maximizing the participation in Pepsi Creative Challenge. Studies clearly show that snap and click almost double the response rates compared to traditional SMS messaging," added Mr. Tsang. "Bearing in mind, it is a lot more complicated to type in a URL on your phone. You are triple-tapping or even quadruple-tapping to get to a character. Once you go off the operator's portal, typing a URL on a phone that doesn't have a QWERTY keyboard is a difficult thing to do. It's a hurdle to interaction. MyClick is lightning fast, and it places no burden on the network. It is the fastest and most efficient solution for tele-voting. Consumers will jump at incorporating MyClick functionality into their mobile phones,"

The move is yet another of Pepsi's various initiatives to help the brand capitalize on the explosion of user-generated content. Through MyClick, Pepsi consumers can share photos, messages, blogs about what makes them special, and exercise their capacity to express their preference with one click by voting on the Pepsi Creative Challenge Campaign which could well be featured on YouTube.

About MyClickMyClick is a global pioneer of image recognition mobile marketing. MyClick is a mobile media convergence technology utilizing photo matching, digital content and customer relationship management platforms to form a breakthrough mobile media platform, Marketers place MyClick-enabled images across all media forms, giving mobile phone users one 'click' access to their Mobile Internet Contents and Services. MyClick is a winner of the APICTA 2006 Awards and was named a Top 20 Most Innovative Enterprise in China for 2006. MyClick was launched in Hong Kong in May 2006. MyClick became the first mobile media services platform to use photo-matching technology in Asia Pacific. MyClick launched in Mainland China during September 2006. Recently, MyClick received the esteemed 2007 Asia Mobile Innovation Top Innovator designation.

[c] 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)