Rum brand Captain Morgan has added a mobile component to its existing Pose Off campaign.

Captain Morgan is now letting users upload photos via MMS across all major carriers except T-Mobile. This is one of the first cross-carrier incoming MMS campaigns in the U.S. and also allows consumers to upload their photo entries via email from smartphones.

?The simple objective of allowing mobile entry is to increase the number of total entries to the Captain Morgan Pose Off contest, thereby increasing the level of brand interactions at point of purchase by adults of legal drinking age,? said Alex Hall, chief operating officer at TigerSpike, New York.

TigerSpike is a digital marketing agency and helped Captain Morgan with this campaign.

?Mobile entry helps achieve a higher promotional response rate by allowing people to engage as soon as they read the call to action, while the motivation is still in their mind,? Mr. Hall said. ?Assuming the communication message is relevant, mobile entry then allows consumer to act at the right time for them, from any location.

?In the case of a spirits promotion, it means that a call to action in bars, in retail outlets or in traditional media can be acted upon at times when online activity is not generally possible,? he said. ?The main reason for using both MMS and email in this campaign was purely to extend reach and convenience for consumers.

?An MMS mechanic was the obvious technology to use as a primary entry method in this instance, but email entry was also introduced for T-Mobile customers and iPhone users; the latter now being MMS capable.?

The Captain Morgan Ultimate Pose Off campaign was designed to uncover consumers' most legendary adaptation of the Captain's iconic pose depicted on the label of the Captain Morgan bottle.

Consumers were able to submit photos of themselves or their friends striking a pose online at http://www.captainmorgan.com/en-us/.

Additional support for Pose Off included a multimillion dollar television, online and outdoor advertising campaign.

Three 15 second cable spots created by Grey Advertising, featured Girls Next Door Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt.

?From a consumer and client perspective, let?s start basic,? Mr. hall said. ?MMS may be a relatively new technology here in the U.S. but, simply put, it?s really just a longer text message that you can attach media files to. Most phones, even the iPhone now, have this capability and come pre-enabled.

?As long as consumers aren?t confused by the distinction and carriers work with handset manufacturers to make SMS and MMS interchangeable from a mobile device, the future is very bright for it,? he said. ?Given these conditions, MMS should theoretically supersede SMS as the dominant messaging technology, thereby giving brands and advertisers a lot more to work with.

?Certainly our experience of Europe and Australia demonstrates high demand for both main types of MMS marketing service, so we expect that trend to continue here also."

MMS has enormous potential in the U.S. as both a direct marketing tool as well as a promotional enabler for brands wanting a richer way to engage consumers with something deeper than SMS. 

In terms of direct marketing, there are plenty of examples in other markets where the right communication message really does drive conversion whilst the multimedia capabilities clearly allow for a deeper interaction with a brand.

For those brands and carriers that have information services linked to opt in databases, the opportunity has now become mainstream.

Whether it?s coupons,  or just richer brand messaging, this personal communication delivered in the right place at the right time in the right mood is hugely powerful

MMS are difficult to deliver perfectly to every type of phone, but campaign management tools now exist to be able to organize distribution lists, segment, attach relevant files and ensure timely delivery of the right sized MMS, with accurate reporting.

Mr. Hall believes that all brands that have run or plan to run user-generated content campaigns should consider mobile.

?Mobile submission should be a mandatory option for consumers,? Mr. Hall said. ?One key brand objective is always to create quality content and, in order to do that, consumers have to be able to create that content wherever and whenever the moment is right for them. Only mobiles allow this, and only MMS really allows this across a majority of handsets.

?In our experience of running these campaigns globally, it is more complicated here in the US as a result of needing to work with multiple aggregators,? he said. ?Although we have already executed national campaigns in this manner, the system is complicated and detailed understanding is required.?