Sega is running a targeted mobile advertising campaign to educate consumers about its upcoming video game.

The mobile ads promote Sega?s Binary Domain video game for Xbox 360 and Sony?s PS3 consoles. The ads are enabled by Medialets, and Sega is working with agencies Pod 9 and Mediasmith on the campaign.

?Videos of gameplay, cut scenes, and overall trailers are still the content kings when it comes to the video game industry and its marketing audience,? said Anhtuan Pham, director of production at Pod 9, Los Angeles.

?To that end, Pod 9 always felt there was a need to go beyond just standard static jpegs or basic HTML5 animations when it came to advertising on mobile,? he said.

?This was why mobile rich media had caught our eye with its ability to act like a regular expanding rich media ad and play videos, but all on mobile devices.  We could see that mobile rich media would be something our video game clients and their audience would react very positively to.?

Mobile video
The mobile ads are running in IGN?s mobile site and are animated to feature a scene from the game.

Users are encouraged to watch a video via the ad. In order to watch the videos, users must enter their birth date.

Consumers can then watch a trailer for the video game.

After the trailer ends, users can choose to learn more about the game and are directed to preorder it from GameStop.

Using video as the main component is a smart way to get users interested in an advertisement quickly.

Additionally, as HTML5 becomes more developed, brands are turning to rich media to launch mobile campaigns.

Mobile story
This is not Sega?s first foray into mobile.

In 2008, the company launched three apps to bring its video games to mobile screens (see story). 

The Binary Domain mobile ad is an example of a campaign that is well-placed on a mobile site.

IGN is an entertainment Web site that reviews video games, films and entertainment, which aligns with Sega?s core demographic of users.

Using mobile advertising to spread the word about a campaign is only effective if users are enticed to interact with the content, making placement a crucial part of rolling out a relevant campaign.

?The goal of the Binary Domain mobile campaign is to be impactful and memorable among the gaming crowd surfing the mobile Web,? said Stephanie Hong, senior media planner at Mediasmith, San Francisco, CA.

?Impactful meaning sticking out from all the other ads that fill the mobile space and memorable in the sense of transmitting the story and meaning behind Binary Domain to users who watch the trailer,? she said.

?While mobile is still building its reputation as an advertising platform, rich media is something that cannot be ignored, especially when targeted to the gaming community.?

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York