Annual Halloween attraction Scream Country Haunted Forest used mobile to create awareness and generate hype around the event this year.

Scream Country ran 30-second television spots on the Cox Media network asking viewers to text the keyword SCREAM to short code 269411. The TV spots ran in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa markets, with Ping Mobile powering the text campaign.

"The strategy of the campaign was to create awareness, generate hype and buzz about the haunted forest and drive people to visit Scream Country Haunted Forest," said Shira Simmonds, president of Ping Mobile, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. "Their target was local people in Oklahoma City and Tulsa."

Scream Country Haunted Forest is a Halloween experience located 2 miles from Drumright, OK. Scream Country is deep in the woods and haunts over forty acres of dark, twisting forest. Haunted attractions include a haunted walking trail of the undead more than one mile in length and a nightmarish haunted house.

Viewers who texted in got a message back that said, "Congratulations! U R entered 2 Win 4 Frightening tickets 2 Scream Country Haunted Forest. Visit www.ScreamCountry.com for more haunting details."

Then texters got a follow-up message that said, "Reply YES 2 Win more chilling prizes 4 Halloween from ScreamCountryHauntedForest & get Xclusives from Cox+ptnrs. max 4msgs/mo. Std txt rts aply. Reply YES now!"

This campaign saw a 56.82 percent double opt-in rate and a 25 percent increase in attendance at Scream Country Haunted Forest this Halloween, Ping Mobile claimed.

Besides the TV spots, the Scream campaign was promoted on the Internet via Cox.net, Scream Country Haunted Forest's Web site, MySpace and YouTube.

This isn't the first time that Ping Mobile has powered a text campaign for an event.

Cox Media and the Pensacola Interstate fair used mobile to inform their target audience of all the promotions and discounts available at the event.

Ping Mobile powered the mobile campaign, which encouraged consumers to text the keyword FAIR to the short code 29411 to get special offers and promotions (see story).

Also, Las Vegas' Orleans Stadium Hotel and Casino used mobile to promote a Steve Miller Band performance and create a database of concert-goers for future communication.

The calls to action for the sweepstakes campaign built around the concert were in television commercials and on promotional flyers at the musical festival. Consumers were asked to text keywords STEVE to 74642, a Ping Mobile short code (see story).

"Mobile was suitable for the Oklahoma Scream campaign because it gave them an opportunity to reach out to their target demographic - local people of all ages - who would want to participate in the mobile campaign and visit the haunted forest," Ms. Simmonds said.

"Mobile enabled Cox Media and the Scream Country Haunted Forest to connect with their target audience via a personal, relevant and convenient medium," she said.