In preparation for the relaunch of Melrose Place, television network The CW turned to mobile advertising to reach its target demographic.

The ad campaign was powered by mobile ad network Mojiva and targeted audiences on the mobile Web in the United States from Sept. 1 to Sept. 8. The ads ran on the iPhone and Android platforms leading up to the show?s premiere.

?The interesting thing here was that Mojiva developed and served the ad,? said Dave Gwozdz, CEO of Mojiva, New York. ?Not that we are a creative shop or rich-media experts, but we were able to easily take advantage of what the devices offer.?

The CW is a joint venture between Warner Bros. and CBS Corp., born when networks The WB and UPN merged in 2006. The network is home to such shows as Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl and 90210.

Melrose Place is an update of the 1990s series of the same name about a Spanish-style apartment complex in Los Angeles. The current version stars Ashlee Simpson-Wentz and premiered Sept. 8, with subsequent episodes airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.

The current primetime soap has ties to the original version with actors like Laura Leighton reprising their roles. The original series starred Heather Locklear and ran for seven seasons from 1992-1999.

The Melrose Place ad has a click-to-expand feature to show more information than a typical banner ad. When not in use, it contracts to let users continue browsing.

Once expanded, the advertisement linked to The CW?s mobile landing site for iPhone and iPod touches at http://iphone.cwtv.com.

The expanded ad also featured a video promoting the TV show that opened up in the user?s native video player. Now that the show has premiered, this mobile ad is no longer active, but the network has plans to continue its presence in the mobile space.

The CW is no stranger to the mobile platform.

In August, Rick Hasksins, executive vice president of brand strategy and digital, detailed the network?s mobile plans including SMS alerts, product placement and text-to-win contests (see story).

Last September, to promote the launch of 90210, The CW used Myxer's Red Carpet program. The Red Carpet program provides the entertainment and music industry with an integrated Web-to-mobile toolkit to launch new movies, TV shows, music and DVDs (see story).

For the Melrose Place mobile ad campaign, Mr. Gwozdz said the goal was simple: get audiences to watch the season premiere.

?The goal was to engage mobile users and drive viewership of the Melrose Place launch,? Mr. Gwodzdz said. ?Trailers traditionally do a great job of that and have not been successfully pushed in mobile ads without significant cost.

?There were no additional rich-media serving costs here as Mojiva was the originator,? he said.