Financial services giant Capital One Financial Corp. is running ads targeting foodies within the new MenuPages.com application for the iPhone and GPS-enabled iPod touch.

This is the first application from parent company New York Media, which claims that this is the first major iPhone application for restaurant menus. The publisher tapped Medialets to deliver and measure in-application rich-media ad campaigns from brands such as Capital One.

?The tremendous pent-up demand for the MenuPages app was a subject on all sorts of blogs, with users screaming ?When am I going to get my MenuPages iPhone app??? said Ron Stokes, executive director of online advertising and marketing at New York Media, New York.

?Due to the tremendous demand from consumers for mobile content, there is tremendous demand for marketers to be in the mobile space,? he said. ?Capital One?s media buy spanned MenuPages.com and nymag.com, and included a paid launch sponsorship of the MenuPages iPhone app.?

A member of the Fortune 500, Capital One is a U.S.-based bank holding company specializing in credit cards, home loans, automotive loans, banking and savings products.

New York Media is the parent company of the weekly New York magazine; the up-to-the-minute news and service Web site nymag.com; the Grub Street network of food blogs; and the twice-yearly New York Weddings magazine.

MenuPages.com is an online restaurant and menu search resource serving eight major markets across the United States?New York City, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, South Florida and Washington, DC.

MenuPages serves menus for nearly 30,000 restaurants, from five-star establishments to neighborhood pizza shops, with 3,000-5,000 menu updates every month.

MenuPages and the Grub Street sister blogs at http://grubstreet.com/ attract more than 2 million unique users per month.

Medialets is a rich-media advertising and analytics platform for mobile.

In addition to MenuPages.com, The Associated Press, NPR, The Washington Post, CNN, CNN Money and Variety have integrated Medialets into their mobile applications to deliver rich-media ads into their mobile applications while measuring usage and driving mobile ad revenue.

What?s in your pocket?
Capital One is running banner ads and full-page interstitial units within the MenuPages.com iPhone application.

When users click on one of the ads, a Capital One landing page opens that touts the company?s ?No Hassle Banking? slogan and features an ATM and branch locator.

The portal features the tagline ?Branches at the corner of Right and Next Door.?

Consumers are encouraged to enter their address, city, state and ZIP code.

?There?s no doubt in my mind marketers will be using all of the extra fancy rich-media ad opportunities, but this wasn?t that type of opportunity,? Mr. Stokes said. ?Capital One?s interest was piqued because of the interactive map view within the app, which helped illustrate the density of retail bank locations in market.

?The app provides a visual connection that mirrored the way Capital One was talking about the high density of retail locations, and this mobile ad campaign is continuing the dialogue,? he said. ?App users who search for nearby restaurants can see nearby Capital One branches.

?We went with standard mobile banners and the interstitial that reinforces the map view.?

Ad-supported mobile restaurant search
The MenuPages.com application is available as a free download via the iTunes store at http://itunes.com/app/menupages.

New York Media worked with mob.ly for front-end development of the application.

The application lets users submit what they are looking for such as type of cuisine, restaurant name or specific dish and where they would like to eat based on their current location from GPS or a specific neighborhood or address.

Consumers can pull up a map or list of restaurants that can be further refined by price, feature, for example outdoor seating or kid friendly, or meal?breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.

Results can then be sorted by popularity, distance, rating and price.

All listed restaurants?nearly 30,000 across eight markets?have comprehensive menus along with all the useful information diners need, including address, phone number, hours, price point and what credit cards are accepted.

Users can call the restaurant or book online reservations via OpenTable directly from the application.

The application does not just provide information but invites user participation in the form of user ratings and reviews submitted directly from the iPhone, and the ability to share restaurant listings with friends via Facebook or email.

The MenuPages application is available in all eight U.S. markets covered by the Web site.

?We?ve promoted the MenuPages application on our Web properties, and we?ve done some mobile marketing as well,? Mr. Stokes said. ?We?ve gotten such amazing traction in the App Store already?the first full day it launched on January 27 it was in the top 10 in the travel category, where food is.

?At one point it was up to No. 2 just behind Google Earth, and it?s still in top 10,? he said.

Medialets loose
There is no question that mobile represents a significant opportunity for publishers, but how to effectively navigate through the platforms, devices, operating system versions and updates, as well as the various solutions that address either analytics or advertising, can be overwhelming.

?By offering the industry?s most flexible analytics and rich media advertising solution in a single platform, Medialets enables publishers to skip complexity and go straight revenue,? said Eric Litman, founder/CEO of Medialets, New York. ?Naturally, advertisers respond well to a publisher that enables them to create cutting-edge experiences that generate high-value results for their campaigns.

?We help out by extending our deep knowledge of app advertising to help create really innovative experiences,? he said. ?Our true differentiator is that fact that the creative is cached on device prior to being displayed no matter what the format.

?This allows for creative executions on mobile that have never been possible before, and are not feasible through any other in-app advertising technology solution?in fact, agencies have connected us with publishers because they want more of the kind of results they?re seeing with their Medialets campaigns.?

Mobile rich media comes at a time when brands and agencies are already seeking fresh ways to engage consumers.

?At Medialets, we find that advertisers are responding to the fact that mobile doesn?t have to be just another another environment in which to deliver online rich media?it can offer broader creative capabilities that fuel deeper connections between brands and consumers,? Mr. Litman said. ?We work closely with our customers to ensure that they understand and realize the creative potential of mobile rich media, and campaign results are driving more demand.
 
?Agencies love the ability to include sophisticated animations, audio, video, hardware vibration and various types of touch inputs?tap, pinch, zoom, scratch, etcetera?within their creative executions,? he said.

?We offer that in various ad formats, but interstitials are by far the most exciting in the eyes of the publishers and agencies we work with?the engagement rates are outstanding.?