Sharp and Major League Baseball are taking to mobile marketing for the first time in hopes of hitting a new promotion out of the park.

With their nationwide campaign, "Watch it Like the Pros," Sharp -- the official television of MLB -- is giving consumers the chance to win several different prizes through their Web site at http://www.sharpmlb.com, retail locations with instant win SMS text cards, baseball games and other venues.

"We try and improve year after year," said Judah Zeigler, associate vice president of retail and consumer marketing at Sharp, Mahwah, NJ. "We added mobile so consumers could participate right there in the store that way it's easier for consumers in general to interact."

Sharp, a Japanese electronics manufacturer founded in 1912, started production of televisions in 1953. MLB operates both the American and National League of America's favorite pastime.

Previous Sharp promotions with MLB required consumers to print out coupons and bring them to the retailer.

The in-store promotion with a mobile device is a more efficient way for customers to interact with the product, according to Sharp.

"[Going mobile] allows us more ability to report back to retailers on how many consumers we are driving to them with promotion," Mr. Zeigler said.

Although Sharp is promoting HDTV and baseball, the target audience is more than just the male demographic for this mobile promotion.

"The demographic matches up very, very well," Mr. Zeigler said. "They skew slightly male but not overly. Our demographics are folks who are more tech savvy, who use text and who use smartphones. The use of mobile in our campaign fits perfectly."

Entering via mobile devices, on location at baseball games or online, consumers are given the chance to win a trip for two to the 2009 MLB World Series, a Sharp AQUOS LED LCD TV and $25 MLB.com shop certificates.

Sharp hopes the addition of mobile to their new promotion, running until Sept. 28, will allow consumers to interact more with retailers and the products offered.

This isn't the first time the MLB has partnered with a big brand for a mobile sweepstakes.

Hawaiian Airlines ran an SMS sweepstakes to build its mobile database and activate its television sponsorship of the MLB's San Diego Padres.

The strategy for Hawaiian Airlines was to complement its TV exposure in the San Diego market with a mobile call-to-action that aired on the local Cox Media affiliate during every Padres baseball game throughout May.

The campaign, which was powered by Ping Mobile, prompted viewers to text in a unique keyword to short code 269411 for their chance to win two roundtrip tickets to Hawaii on Hawaiian Airlines (see story).

"Mobile was glaringly absent," Mr. Zeigler said, "so we've hit it this year. So whether they're on the computer, at baseball games or at the retailer they are able to interact right away and overall have a better experience."