Interesting question posed by moderator Nihal Mehta, CEO, Buzzd at Off-Deck Mobile Content 2008 conference panel "Distribution in the off-deck world (the wild, wild west!) - where are all of the traffic and users coming from?" He asked the panelists "What is the most compelling tactic used to acquire users in the off-deck world?" The panelists offered a range of responses:

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Mobile music service Dada Entertainment is supporting Yele Haiti with a week-long drive to raise money for the charity.

For the next week, Dada will donate a portion of the fees it collects from new subscribers to the organization founded by musician and Haitian Goodwill Ambassador Wyclef Jean.

Dada is promoting the drive through banner ads and links on its Dada.net home page as well as through a dedicated page on its Web site detailing the program, the organization and the work it's doing to repair schools that were destroyed by recent tropical storms.

AT&T is making the most of its sponsorship of one of the hottest console games out there, Activision's Guitar Hero World Tour. The carrier is bribing folks into signing up for its High Speed Internet or U-verse TV service. Consumers who purchase a qualifying plan will get the Guitar Hero World Tour Complete Guitar Game, which includes both the game and a new guitar controller.

Three in-game concert venues feature AT&T's branding.

AT&T's wireless customers don't have to do a thing in order to benefit from the company's sponsorship. Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile, which just launched today, has some special bits for AT&T Wireless users, including the ability to download four exclusive tracks starting next month. The exclusives can be accessed via the AT&T Media Mall on their phone, by visiting www.att.com/guitarhero or texting HERO to 7189.

Back in August when JCPenney launched a back-to-school campaign that included dipping its marketing toes into the mobile arena, the retailer said that in the future mobile would figure much more heavily into its plans.

It appears the future has arrived in time for Christmas.

With a focus on its "affordable" gift items, JCPenney is expanding from its traditional print, direct mail, TV and radio ads to online and e-mail components plus in-cinema ads and mobile marketing campaigns.

Shoppers who visit the "What's In Store" section on JCP.com can sign up to get text alerts with shopping tips. In its press release, the department store didn't detail the rest of the non-traditional ad plans, but we'll find out when the campaign kicks off on November 16.

If we look at the early stage market activity in mobile web display advertising, it has been largely driven by those companies with the most to gain - mobile content companies looking to hawk their mobile content (ringtones, games, wallpapers, etc.) to consumers that are already out there and engaged in the mobile Web. It has been a virtuous cycle. Mobile content companies are spending a significant amount money to advertise directly to consumers in order to drive and maintain sales. And now as the economy slows, consumer demand for discretionary mobile personalization and entertainment products/services will weaken.

As reported by Silicon Alley Insider, leading mobile entertainment company Thumbplay is one such company that is cutting costs. If there is a limited consumer appetite for paid mobile content, companies like Thumbplay are going to have to re-think their customer acquisition strategies/cost structures and tweak business models associated with their mobile content offerings.

If we look at the early stage market activity in mobile web display advertising, it has been largely driven by those companies with the most to gain - mobile content companies looking to hawk their mobile content (ringtones, games, wallpapers, etc.) to consumers that are already out there and engaged in the mobile Web. It has been a virtuous cycle. Mobile content companies are spending a significant amount money to advertise directly to consumers in order to drive and maintain sales. And now as the economy slows, consumer demand for discretionary mobile personalization and entertainment products/services will weaken.

As reported by Silicon Alley Insider, leading mobile entertainment company Thumbplay is one such company that is cutting costs. If there is a limited consumer appetite for paid mobile content, companies like Thumbplay are going to have to re-think their customer acquisition strategies/cost structures and tweak business models associated with their mobile content offerings.

The VoodooVox In-Call Network played a major part in recent mobile marketing campaigns for Johnson & Johnson and Chevrolet, Mobile Marketer reports.

The In-Call Network, which inserts audio ads into call streams, kind of like video ads are inserted into a video stream, helped Chevy find kids to join its summer street team in the Midwest using a 20-second audio clip added into specific types of calls.

Johnson & Johnson used the audio ad network to drive consumers to its WAP site where they could sign up to get a trial pair of contact lenses.

Like most successful text campaigns, the audio campaigns are also opt-in, but in this case listeners needed to "press 9" instead of texting a reply to opt-in.

Chevy's campaign reportedly had a 10% opt-in rate; the J&J campaign saw a 4%-5% response rate.

Digital marketing agency Broadplay is giving Canadian consumers the chance to hear Barack Obama's victory speech from Tuesday night through a text message. The Toronto firm is inviting folks to text "OBAMA" to a short code (123411) to receive a link where they can listen to the historic speech from the US president-elect.

Broadplay is using the speech to show how its platform makes it "easy as 123" to use SMS as a marketing tool. The company also stresses that on the basis of standard-rate messaging, SMS can deliver consumers the "cost-effectiveness, convenience and usefulness of mobile data" without having to subscribe to an expensive data plan.

(Image credit: Associated Press)

Pepsi's Kung Fu Fighting campaign has expanded into Latin America via a Kung Fu Fighting mobile widget developed by AgencyNet. The soft drink's TV commercial features several modern remakes of the 1974 funk hit and centers on a dance-off contest to win the last can of Pepsi.

The Kung Fu Fighting mobile app takes things a bit further, allowing mobile users to play a game, view exclusive content and link to the Pepsi Web site. However, it's built using Nokia's browser-based Widget technology and only works on S60-based devices and Nokia Series 40 handsets.

The Widget is available for download in quite a few Latin American countries from Pepsimundo.com.

Pepsi UK is attempting to boost consumer interest and interaction with its brand by using 2D barcodes on its packaging and on some retail shelves, NMA reports. The campaign is meant to drive consumers to Pepsi Max and possibly other Pepsi brands.

Consumers will be "encouraged" to take a picture of the QR code with a camera phone. Once scanned into the phone, the code will bring the user to a mobile Web site where they'll find video clips, mobile games and such.

Graphico, Pepsi's digital agency, developed the mobile site.