The CW Television Network is promoting its new show ?Nikita? by targeting mobile social media users with an Apple iPad sweepstakes.

Partnering with BrightKite, The CW issued the following mission to the mobile social network?s members: snap pictures of Nikita whenever or wherever they see her?in TV spots, on billboards and in magazines?and they can also report it if they hear a Nikita radio commercial. Each time they find Nikita and report it via BrightKite, they increase their chances of winning an iPad or a trip to the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

?The CW wants to engage users in a differentiated, stand-out way,? said Rob Lawson, chief marketing officer at BrightKite, Burlingame, CA. ?Nikita is often hunting down her target, so we came up with the idea of a scavenger hunt for the marketing campaign.

?As well as a new form of scavenger hunt, we are also employing innovative image recognition techniques to process images taken with users? phones,? he said.

?The CW?s target demographic is consumers ages 18-34, skewing younger and female?tech-savvy social-media users who are highly social.?

The CW is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006?2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corp. and Time Warner's Warner Bros.

How it works
There are three ways for BrightKite users to enter The CW?s "Operation Nikita" sweepstakes:

? If users hear Nikita on the radio or see her on TV, they can check in to Brightkite and make a post including a hashtag with the name of the station, for example, #SYFY

? If users see her on a poster or in a magazine, they can snap her photo with their camera phone and post it to Brightkite. They must include a hashtag with the name of the magazine or the location they have seen her, for example, #POSTER

? If users spot her online, they can post a hashtag with the name of the site they are on, for example, #TMZ

Here is a screen grab of the Nikita sweepstakes instructions:

There will also be special, secret missions that increase users? chances of winning, but BrightKite users have to sign up to be briefed on those.

Interested users can text the keyword NIKITA to the short code 41414.

Those that do so receive the following text message in response:

?Catch her if you can! Sign up at nikita.brightkite.com to win an iPad or a trip to the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC.?

BrightKite is getting the word out about The CW?s Nikita promotion at http://www.nikita.brightkite.com, which features the leaderboard and full instructions.

Here is a screen grab of a banner ad promoting Nikita:

?To drive excitement and interest in the new show, users are encouraged to hunt down Nikita and take pictures when they advertisements for the show or post when they hear Nikita mentioned on the radio,? Mr. Lawson said.

?Each time they correctly spot Nikita, they increase their chances of winning, so the program increases engagement over time rather than relying on one single interaction with a consumer,? he said.

In addition to entry via SMS/MMS, users can participate by posting from any of Brightkite's smartphone applications?iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Nokia and Palm.

?Each user that spots Nikita receives a Nikita badge against their profile so all their friends can see that they are a fan of the show, so the campaign also has a viral element,? Mr. Lawson said. ?We engage users in powerfully direct, ongoing relationships on their cell phones.

?We have a large user base?6 million?that publishers and TV networks can contact and communicate with, plus a range of solutions that brands can use to engage their own consumers,? he said.

Final Take
Dan Butcher, associate editor, Mobile Marketer