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Subway, Toyota buy all Yahoo Fantasy Football ad inventory

Quick-service restaurant chain Subway and automaker Toyota have bought the ad inventory for the entire NFL season across Yahoo?s various Fantasy Football platforms?the wired and mobile Web sites and iPhone application.

Subway is using expandable and animated banner ad units that open within the application without opening the smartphone?s browser, to promote the $5 footlong sandwiches. Toyota's ads rely on a built-in HTML canvas within the application that enable mobile Web access, to learn more about the Prius and other models.

?We want to see mobile advertising mature, and this is a sign that quality brands are coming to mobile and running campaigns that align with what they are doing in other media,? said David Katz, vice president of the Americas at Yahoo Mobile, Sunnyvale, CA. ?It?s an example of the maturity of the mobile advertising market.?

While Subway and Toyota are advertising on Yahoo?s Fantasy Football application for iPhone, Research In Motion is sponsoring the version available in BlackBerry App World.

Both the Subway and Toyota ad campaigns are currently runing and will continue throughout the football season.

?The challenge with many in-app ad experiences is that clicking on an ad causes the application to shut down and launch Safari, which can be disruptive,? Mr. Katz said. ?If you interrupt the user experience in a bad way, it can teach them not to click on ads.

?Toyota and Subway are running ads that are integrated into the experience so when you click, the landing page opens in a clean way,? he said.

Once users click on Subway?s banner ad, a full-screen landing page opens up within the application, letting users scroll though to view different $5 footlong sandwiches, with high-resolution images and detailed descriptions of ingredients.

Subway is using the platform to promote its newest sandwich, the Buffalo Chicken.

The in-applicaion landing page also has a locator feature letting users search by ZIP code or city and state to find a nearby Subway restaurant.

The page urges consumers to enter their email and ZIP code to receive news and offers from Subway restaurants.

When consumers close the landing page, they are immediately returned to the Fantasy Football application.

Toyota targets fantasy football fans
Toyota is also running static and animated banner ads across Yahoo's Fantasy Football mobile Web site and iPhone application.

A static banner ad drives consumers to Toyota?s mobile Web site, which features a dealer locator letting users search by ZIP code and request-a-quote functionality. It also links to certified used vehicles and lets consumers research various car, truck and SUV models.

One animated banner features the third-generation Prius and drives users to a landing page for that model. The microsite carries the tagline "Harmony between man, nature and machine."

Once there, users can browse the various models and prices, photos and colors, feature demos, estimates miles-per-gallon and other specifications, as well as media coverage and other related links.

Just as with the Subway landing page, when consumers close the Toyota mobile Web site, they are immediately returned to the Fantasy Football application.

Fantastic voyage on the iPhone
Yahoo?s Fantasy Football application iPhone and iPod touch, as well as the mobile Web site at http://m.yahoo.com/fantasy, target 30 million fantasy football users nationwide.

?Folks that use fantasy football are incredibly enthusiastic and that fact is demonstrated by the number page views and click-throughs we are seeing,? Mr. Katz said.

Yahoo claims to be the leader in fantasy football in terms of the number of users across its various platforms.

?We?re driving a substantial amount of traffic for fantasy football as a whole, and the fantasy team is thrilled with the percentage of traffic that is mobile,? Mr. Katz said. ?The mobile traffic is substantial?huge.

?These are users that are going to access experiences on their PC and mobile phone,? he said. ?The PC traffic starts to spike on Saturdays, but there is a huge increase in mobile traffic during the games on Sunday.

The mobile applications now feature video integration.

On the applications users can directly manage their team, add and drop players, view matchups, standings and player stats, get live scoring, news and advice, as well as interact with brands? expandable and animated banner ads.

?We?re the publisher of the app, and we?re working with brands we have a deep relationship with like Toyota and Subway to develop a few different ad units,? Mr. Katz said. ?These are key, marquis sponsors of Fantasy Football on the PC, so these are cross-platform buys.

?Smart brands such as Toyota and Subway are getting more sophisticated in how they use mobile.?