Unilever's Axe, Microsoft's Xbox and Dunlop Sports are all running mobile ad campaigns using Greystripe's Flash advertising units delivered through Apple's iPhone.

The Axe "Dirty Night Determinator" experience was created to support the launch of the Axe Detailer Shower Tool in Greystripe's iPhone network of apps. Xbox and Dunlop Sports are using mobile advertising network Greystripe's GS.Impact format with existing IAB medium rectangle Flash ads delivered to the mobile phones for the first time.

"Consistency in messaging is always a priority for any brand, and Axe is no different" said Shane Kent, shower brand manager for Axe. "At the onset of this campaign, we knew the original Flash ads were immensely successful in communicating the key messaging of the Detailer, while bringing the Axe brand to life.

"We did not want to lose the effectiveness of the ads at the cost of playing in a new channel, so it was important to us that the mobile ads have the same look and feel as the original Web-based ads, to provide the same rich experience to the consumer," he said.

Axe turned to mobile for the first time to reach its target audience.

"As a leader in the digital space, Axe is always looking for innovative ways to engage our target audience, guys 18-24, which is why we like to be the first to flirt with new technology," Mr. Kent said.

"Using our interactive Flash ads to target the iPhone audience, we were able to create an engaging experience for our guys, giving them something unexpected, as opposed to a static ad that gets lost in the clutter," he said.

Axe is a brand of male grooming products owned by the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever, which manufactures a range of products in the health and beauty, household cleaning, food and ice cream categories.

Axe's lead product is a deodorant body spray. The brand also includes deodorant sticks, roll-ons, anti-perspirants, aftershaves and shower gels.

Axe's GS.Tailgate mobile ad is a mobile replica of an existing online Flash game, where consumers interact with the ad to calculate how dirty their night will get.

The GS.Impact ads offer all of the creative capabilities of Flash while allowing a media buyer such as Axe to extend any online advertising campaign into mobile by checking a box.

Consumers can play the "Dirty Night Determinator" as many times as they want, opt to watch a YouTube video spot of the Axe Detailer TV commercial or skip back to the mobile game they were originally playing at any time.

The "Dirty Night Determinator" mobile ad campaign resulted in brand lift and increased intention to buy metrics, according to a ComScore study of the campaign.

Some of the results include:

Consumer intent to purchase the Axe Detailer Shower Tool experienced a 15 percent lift, rising from 59 percent in the control group to 74 percent in the exposed group.

Efficacy of the campaign increased when users experienced the Flash Axe ad.

Also according to ComScore, 56 percent of respondents who interacted with the mobile ad intended to purchase the product, as opposed to the 35 percent who were exposed to the ad, but did not interact.

This 60 percent lift demonstrates the power of interactivity to drive an increased intention to purchase, according to Greystripe.

The "Dirty Night Determinator" ad was most successful amongst men, with 62 percent who interacted with the Flash ad indicating their intention to purchase the Axe Detailer.

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft. It is the successor to the original Xbox.

The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles.

Dunlop Sports is sporting goods brand specializing in tennis, squash, badminton and golf. Arnold Plamer, John McEnroe and Steffi Graf all used Dunlop products.

"Greystripe allowed Xbox and Dunlop to use existing Flash creatives, which makes mobile advertising a streamlined choice for advertisers as they're not forced to create all new ads for mobile," said Michael Chang, CEO of Greystripe, San Francisco.

"All three brands took advantage of the high level of engagement our one-of-a-kind Flash ad format provides," he said. "Users have come to expect this high level of engagement from the ads they see and until now it was not possible to provide this on the iPhone."

All three of these campaigns are running in Greystripe's network of iPhone games and applications. All three target males.

Many industry players believe that rich-media ads have the potential to increase engagement among consumers.

"Flash brings a whole new creative element and user interactivity to mobile advertising that static banner ads just can't match," Mr. Chang said. "Additionally, since advertisers have already created Flash ads for the Web, no additional campaign development is necessary."

The iPhone platform has been a boon for mobile marketers.

"The iPhone platform is an amazing new way for advertisers to reach consumers on the only device they have with them 24/7," Mr. Chang said. "Since the iPhone is the ultimate personal device, advertisers can reach exactly who they want to reach -- the audience can be segmented by age, gender and location.

"iPhone games specifically are a particularly effective way of reaching consumers, because they are using these apps when they have some free time," he said. "When consumers are looking to kill time, they're more likely to engage with an ad, which isn't something they normally have time to do during their busy day.

"The survey results we've seen from ComScore show just how willing our users are to engage with an entertaining Flash ad in an iPhone game."