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Charities turn to mobile social network advertising to increase donations

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation have teamed up with Cellufun for a mobile public service announcement campaign.

The campaign will feature free in-game advertising, as well as mobile donation opportunities in which users can donate money to the charities via their mobile phones.

"Because we have grown so much in the last year, we wanted to give some inventory to a good cause," said Keith Katz, vice president of marketing at Cellufun, New York. "We are able to not only give them advertising opportunities, but also can support them through our community."

New York-based Cellufun is a mobile virtual world where people meet, shop, and play social games. Cellufun is available on any phone with a data plan

The ASPCA is a nonprofit corporation focused on providing effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States.

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy.

In conjunction with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, Cellufun mobile users will have the opportunity to buy virtual Superman Tags to personalize their online avatars.

Cellufun will donate proceeds from the virtual tag sales to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

Over 7 million unique monthly mobile visitors choose to spend their personal time on Cellufun, where users play social games, connect with friends, and shop for virtual goods every day.

The average active user spends more than 6.9 hours on Cellufun using his or her mobile phone each month.

Cellufun users generate more than 220 million monthly impressions, making the social gaming community the perfect place for charities and advertisers to reach a highly engaged and active audience.

Cellufun will feature the ASPCA alongside its Mobile Pet games and activities.

The company estimates that the advertising value of the campaign alone should be a minimum of $10,000 monthly.

ASPCA is running banner ads that encourage users to text-to-give to the cause. Cellufun's social games -- such as Mobile Pet Online and Cellufun Farming are the venues through which ASPCA will raise social awareness.

Cellufun hopes to raise awareness and secure donations from its users for worthwhile charitable endeavors. With a large user base, the company hopes to help nonprofits reach a wider audience by bringing them into the mobile medium.

"The benefit with mobile for these types of campaigns is that consumers don't have to wait to take action," Mr. Katz said. "They can make donations right from their mobile phones.

"The other thing is we have these affinity groups that are really keen on supporting causes," he said. "A Cellufun member was diagnosed with breast cancer and all of these members began wearing pink. These people are socially aware and live a second life on Cellufun."