German engineering giant Siemens AG is advertising within Time Inc.'s Time Magazine application that was just introduced for BlackBerry devices.

Siemens is running banner advertisements that encourage consumers to click-through to find out more about the company. Consumers that click are rerouted to a landing page optimized specifically for BlackBerry devices.

"The Siemens campaign is a branding initiative meant to drive more exposure for the brand," said Marlen Rodrigues, director of client services at Polar Mobile, Ontario, Canada.

Siemens AG is a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, operating in the energy and healthcare sectors.

The banner ads concentrate on Siemens' dedication to corporate responsibility. One of the banners says, "Clean water for millions of people."

Another banner simply lets app users know that if they click they will view the Siemens corporate Web site.

Users that click through to the landing page at http://www.m.siemens.com can learn more about the company through links to their press, investor relations, corporate responsibility and products and services.

Siemens chose the Time Magazine application because its audience matched the weekly magazine's target demographic.

Time Magazine is extending its reach through the launch of this application.

The magazine tapped application developer Polar Mobile to create the application and provide ad management and serving services. Time Magazine's content and photography will now be readily accessible through this application for Blackberry users.

"We expect Time to benefit from significant brand extension through this mobile application, reaching users who might not currently interact with Time in print or online," says Kunal Gupta, CEO of Polar Mobile, Ontario, Canada.

"The application drives different type of user behaviors, given the purpose of delivering an extremely appealing user experience on a very small device," he said. "We expect users to find the experience new and refreshing."

Time Magazine was created in 1923 and is the first weekly news magazine introduced in the United States.

Polar Mobile distributes Blackberry, iPhone and Windows Mobile applications for publications such as The Hockey News, The Street, Maclean's and Canadian Living.

Users of Time Mobile will have access to the biggest stories of the day, opinions of influential bloggers and its hugely popular Lists.

The application also lets consumers customize their homepage based on news that matters most to them.

Siemens is the launch sponsor for the Time Application, which is free to download for BlackBerry users.

Although Time Mobile is targeted at users who are not interacting with Time online, the application is also very similar to Time's online design.

This isn't the first time that a furniture retailer has turned to the mobile channel for a promotion.

Ashley Furniture HomeStores generated $138,460 from a recent four-day "Secret Sale" advertised through an SMS and email campaign.

A whopping $85,438 was attributed to text messages. To quickly build its database, Ashley Furniture ran contests such as a free gas giveaway and a $500 weekly shopping spree, both encouraging users to opt into an SMS database for future offers (see story).

"A lot of effort was spent developing the user experience, including the navigation, design and layout, to be consistent with Time's well-recognized brand," Mr. Gupta said.

This consistency helps with branding and will keep readers coming back for more.

"The Time brand represents quality and with this application quality is top-of-mind, -- Mr. Gupta said. "This is where Polar's SMART platform really stands out, as we are able to launch high quality products off a proven platform."