Bango has added a new feature to its Bango Analytics toolset that helps advertisers determine the value of a mobile campaign.

According to Mobile Entertainment, the new Bango User ID technology tracks visitors to a mobile site and any actions they take, such as downloading content or making a purchase. This allows marketers to track which sources deliver the most traffic and which deliver the best return on investment.

Bango Analytics is a hosted service that marketers can try at www.bango.com/analytics.

Would you watch a few commercials on your mobile phone in exchange for free calling minutes? How about listening to a brief advertisement in order to save money on a favorite product or service? Most Web browsers already do it online, so why not on the phone?

VoodooVox, the company behind the concept of In-Call Media, recently held a summit in New York to talk up the virtues of this new advertising channel. The company's technology inserts targeted ad-supported audio directly into the call stream of any type of phone traffic.

If the panelists at the first In-Call Media Summit are to be believed, it's more than just a replacement for boring, static-filled hold music. And since the company claims to be powering more than 250 million calls a month, consumers must be willing to listen. After all, if those VoIP and free information services are going to stay free, the companies behind them need to make money somehow.

For some of us, Fudgie the Whale, the famous spokeswhale for Carvel Ice Cream, will always be an icon we remember from bad commercials during Saturday morning cartoons.

Luckily, Fudgie and his famous ice cream cakes and other frozen confections have moved into the 21st century. Not only does Fudgie have his own MySpace profile, he now has his own SMS short code. Carvel cravers who text "FUDGIE" to 78247 will get a coupon for savings on a blended coffee or Arctic blender. Showing that he knows how to treat his friends well and not just bribe them with ice cream, Fudgie will also enter his text buddies into a sweepstakes where they can win a 42-inch TV.

Carvel partnered with Brand Movers on the opt-in text-messaging campaign.

After testing out mobile coupons in its Dallas locations, regional fast-food chain Taco Bueno is expanding the campaign throughout its footprint, Mobile Marketer reports.

Following in the footsteps of McDonalds and Subway, Taco Bueno uses Cellfire's mobile coupon service.

Taco and burrito lovers who sign up with Cellfire can get coupons they can use at the more than 180 Taco Bueno stores throughout Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Trouble in paradise: Two leading advocacy groups intend to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission about mobile marketing, Jeff Chester, founder and executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, will announce today according to a MediaPost report:

"We're filing a complaint to force the FTC to take a proactive stance," Chester said. Mobile ad companies "incorporate the same problematic business practices that we witnessed with PC-based broadband marketing, including behavioral targeting and profiling techniques—except that this time they know your location," he said.

The Federal Communications Commission already prohibits marketers from sending text message ads to consumers without their opt-in consent, but some other types of nascent mobile ads—such as wireless application protocol banners or search ads—are not similarly restricted, according to the report. The groups are arguing that marketers shouldn't be able to track customer's search habits in order to create profiles for them.

Glaceau has turned to mobile marketing and social media specialist EnMobile to launch a new marketing campaign for Vitaminwater in an attempt to build up brand awareness among the coveted Gen-Y consumer group.

The Vitaminwater mobile campaign invites water connoisseurs to text "VITAMIN" to the short code 41513 and sign up to receive coupons and alerts for the enriched beverage.

Opting out of the campaign is as easy as texting "STOP" to the same short code.

Ad-supported digital content is the way of the future, according to Accenture's 2008 Global Media Content Survey. From its interviews with more than 100 entertainment and media execs in North America Europe and Brazil, the consulting firm learned that 52% expect ad-supported content will remain dominant and digital will overtake traditional advertising over the next five years.

A Hollywood Reporter story on the research reveals that some 62% of the senior execs surveyed predict that ad-funded content will be the leading business model in five years. Twenty-five percent expect subscriptions to be the dominant business model and 11% believe pay-per-use services will be in the forefront.

When asked about the leading content type over the next several years, 38% agreed on short-form video, which is popular both online and on mobile phones.

Only about 20% of online advertisers are dabbling in mobile marketing, with the others still just sticking with the desktop Web, MediaPost reports. But a new JupiterResearch study contends that consumer reticence, limited reach, insufficient measurement and a simple lack of familiarity with the medium are holding marketers back from advertising on mobile devices:

JupiterResearch "advises marketers to begin experimenting before mobile becomes a more established ad platform. In terms of campaigns, that means looking first to text-based ads, since text messaging is the most common mobile data activity with 51% adoption. JupiterResearch also recommends tactics including mobile banner ads, coupons, short codes, multimedia message services (MMS) and video spots."

The report goes on to say that advertisers should also consider standalone mobile Web sites, placement on wireless carrier decks, inclusion in mobile search sites, and a broader consistency on mobile as part of a total ad campaign across online, television, and print media.

(Image credit: Clipart.com)

Active content marketing pioneer Celltick has gotten the job of managing the Zero77 LIVE interactive mobile service for Sri Lankan mobile carrier Dialog, Cellular-news reports.

Under the deal, Celltick's LiveScreen Media powers the Zero77 LIVE service and delivers targeted content and ads to a subscriber's "idle" cell phone screen. Cellular-news describes the process as turning the idle screens "into a network of synchronized interactive billboards."

Celltick is also managing the editorial content, programming, content partnerships and advertising for the Dialog service.

Need proof that mobile advertising really works? On Monday, ad-funded mobile game network Greystripe released numbers showing the success of a campaign it ran for New Line Cinema's "The Golden Compass" in November.

Yesterday, Mobile Entertainment ran an article saying that Jaguar's mobile ad campaign, which has been running since November in the US, has delivered more than 85,000 unique visitors to the luxury carmaker's WAP site. So far, the campaign promoting the new Jaguar XF has seen 15 million impressions.

While they may not all buy a car, visitors to Jaguar's mobile site have downloaded more than 12,000 videos and 16,000 wallpaper images, the article says.