The California milk industry has turned to mobile to promote milk to teens.

To promote its 'White Gold' campaign, the California Milk Processor Board -- creators of the "Got Milk?" slogan -- tapped mobile marketing company HipCricket to include a first-ever mobile initiative into the milk campaign. HipCricket was selected to design the mobile elements of the integrated campaign, which invited consumers to interact with a fictitious guitar rock god, White Gold.

"Milk is trying to reach a younger audience and stress the health benefits of drinking milk, but in a fun and interesting way, in a way that younger consumers can relate to, both in the creative and in the medium they're using, out-of-home posters in malls," said Steve Siegel, New York-based vice president of brand solutions for HipCricket.

"By placing a call to action in its out-of-home advertising, California Milk was able to reach active teens with campaign images and media that were not accessible from its flash-enabled Web site http://www.whitegoldiswhitegold.com via mobile handset," he said. "HipCricket helped the California Milk Processor Board reaching a youth audience that is mobile and more likely to text than use a mobile phone for voice."

The brainchild of advertising agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, 'White Gold and the Calcium Twins' is a rock band that stars in TV, out-of-home print and online ads touting the health benefits of drinking milk.

The ads, coupled with the band's interactive Web site at http://WhiteGoldisWhiteGold.com show music lovers, especially teens, how cool and beneficial drinking milk can be.

HipCricket designed the campaign's mobile WAP/Web site, which invited milk drinkers to visit White Gold's online site right from their mobile phones.

The Web site contained interactive content, like full track downloads from the band.

Mobile keywords that reinforced the brand were promoted on posters throughout California shopping malls and outdoor advertisements encouraged consumers to download free White Gold ringtones by texting in keywords to a common short code.

Depending on the poster, the call to action urged consumers to text one of three keywords -- HAIR, PMS or AXE -- to short code 36617.

Several hundred ringtones were downloaded.

The strategy of the White Gold campaign was to reach teens where they already are, such as their mobile phone and social networking communities like MySpace, Facebook and YouTube.

The California Milk Processor Board was established in 1993 to make milk more competitive and increase milk consumption in California.

Awareness of Got Milk? is over 90 percent nationally and it is considered one of the most successful campaigns in history.

The CMPB's Spanish-language campaign began in 1994 using the tagline "Familia, Amor y Leche" (Family, Love and Milk).

The 'Toma Leche' (Drink Milk) campaign replaced it in 2006, following a growing trend in Hispanic food advertising that uses wit and humor to reach audiences.

Got Milk? gifts and recipes can be viewed at http://www.gotmilk.com and http://www.tomaleche.com.

The CMPB is funded by all California milk processors and administered by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners handles more than two billion dollars in billings for clients including Hewlett-Packard, Comcast, Sprint, Hyundai, Adobe, Anheuser-Busch, Haagen-Dazs, Elizabeth Arden, Frito-Lay and the California Fluid Milk Processors Advisory Board ("got milk?").

HipCricket Inc. drives new revenue and customer loyalty for broadcast stations and consumer brands through strategic, creative and measurable mobile marketing interactivity.

The mobile marketing software and services company has delivered more than 24,000 campaigns for customers including Clear Channel Radio, Premiere Radio Networks, Sandusky Broadcasting, NBC, Coca Cola, Staples, Hershey's and Jameson.

HipCricket produces interactive campaigns through SMS, mobile Web/WAP and mobile advertising.

It now connects brands with audiences they desire to reach via broadcast stations that are part of the first comprehensive Hispanic Mobile Marketing Network.

"With video games, internet, DVR and other technologies all competing for a teen's attention, mobile is uniquely positioning to break through and to integrate and complement other media," Mr. Siegel said. "Mobile is personal, it's immediate and it's always with a consumer wherever he or she goes.

"Mobile allows brands to reach teens where they live and breathe," he said.