He has a blog on MySpace, a Facebook profile and even his own personal email account. And now Carvel's Fudgie, the spokeswhale for the retail ice cream chain, is sending text messages too.

This is part of a mobile campaign Carvel Ice Cream launched asking consumers to text Fudgie's name to 78247 to receive a personalized text back from the whale himself. Consumers will receive a mobile coupon for a blended coffee or an Arctic Blender and entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win a 42-inch television set.

"One of the things that's interesting about the campaign is that it has three components," said Lori Peterson, director of marketing for Carvel Ice Cream, Rocky Hill, CT. "The first is the text-to-win part, next is the mobile coupon aspect and then lastly, consumers can forward the text to their friends.

"This adds a viral element to the campaign and young, tech-savvy consumers can be great promoters of something they like," she said. "Also, we are building a database of people that we can target with future promotions. I think so far we have sent about 450 text back and its only been about one week since the launch of this effort."

Carvel is a franchise known for its premium soft-serve ice cream and uniquely shaped ice cream cakes. The company brought Fudgie the Whale, who used to be just a popular Carvel cake, to life when he was officially named Carvel's spokeswhale in January 2007.

Carvel is encouraging consumers to participate in the Arctic Summer Sweepstakes from now until July 31.

The ice cream maker tapped Atlanta-based Brand Movers, to develop the mobile initiative, allowing consumers to opt-in to receive text promotions and alerts.

The initial calls to action can be found in Carvel stores nationwide via signage. This is Carvel's first mobile effort.

Consumers can visit http://www.carvel.com and play a virtual matching game for a chance to win a technology package that includes a flat-screen TV, surround sound system and HD DVD player, $2,500 and laptop computer, $1,000, an 8GB MP3 player or $250.

Carvel is trying to reach a younger demographic with this campaign. The company said it is connecting to the younger demographic via MySpace and Facebook. The company is using mobile to reach that same younger, more tech-savvy demographic.

The strategy behind the mobile coupon was to provide consumers with a sense of instant gratification because even though they may not win one of the prizes, they still have something to take away from participating in this effort.

There is, of course, a fun-factor with this promotion. Having Fudgie send a text message to the consumer and being able to play a matching game online are all part of this.

"This is our attempt to break through the message clutter out there using a new kind of media," Ms. Peterson said. "We are targeting at the younger, more tech-savvy customer and mobile is a good way to interact with that particular demographic."