Nokia today announced a new offering that lets advertisers target their mobile campaigns to consumers in 10 major metro areas of the United States on the Nokia Media Network.

This is particularly useful to national U.S. advertisers as well as regional advertisers. The Nokia Media Network's Metro Targeting lets advertisers serve ads to mobile users in specific geographical areas.

"The strategy behind Metro Targeting is to give national and regional advertisers in the United States the opportunity to tailor their mobile message to certain audiences located in key metro areas around the country," said Tom Henriksson, head of Nokia Interactive Advertising, Boston.

"This can be especially appealing to advertisers who have a strong regional presence and wish to target their core audience base," he said. "It is also appealing to national advertisers that want to differentiate their message based on a given market.

"Advertisers that want to promote an event within a specific market can find it useful too."

The Nokia Media Network is a mobile advertising network comprised of top-tier publishers such as Hearst and TV Guide, carrier partners such as Sprint, and Nokia services such as Nokia.mobi.

In an election year, when other forms of local media are saturated with political advertising, mobile is now a viable, uncluttered medium for reaching key segments in specific geographies.

Metro Targeting makes local advertising easy by enabling brands to tailor mobile ads to their desired audiences in key metro areas including:

Atlanta, GA

Boston, MA

Chicago, IL

Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX

Los Angeles, CA

Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN

New York, NY

San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA

Seattle-Tacoma, WA

Washington, DC

Nokia Interactive Advertising helps brands reach the potential global audience of 3.3 billion consumers with mobile devices.

Metro Targeting it is an efficient tool for:

· Advertisers to promote different messages or price plans to different areas;

· National chains to promote local store openings;

· Brands cross-promotioning local events or holidays;

· Mobile campaigns to reinforce television advertising; and

· Small businesses to reach mobile consumers in their local area.

Through the Nokia Media Network and Nokia Interactive Solutions, Nokia Interactive Advertising aims to provide brands with all they need to connect with and engage consumers with mobile advertising.

"Simply put, this is another way in which the Nokia Media Network allows advertisers to reach their desired audience on the mobile sites of quality publishers," Mr. Henriksson said.

"Metro Targeting makes it simple for advertisers not necessarily interested in reaching all markets, or that want to alter a message for a specific market," he said.