Limbo debuts campaign for Big Lots, Lifetime

By Giselle Tsirulnik

November 15, 2007

Big Lotts and Lifetime Television partner with Limbo

Closeout retailer Big Lots and Lifetime Television, a women's network on basic cable, are partnering with mobile entertainment community Limbo to drive engagement with an interactive, mobile advertising campaign during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday.

The program is designed to drive purchase intent for Big Lots in the week leading up to Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and one of the busiest shopping days of the year. Previous campaigns have generated more than a half million text messages from the Lifetime Television audience as viewers played the game via their mobile phones while watching the featured programs.

The interactive program begins Nov. 18 and ends Thanksgiving Day. It will consist of on-air promotional spots on Lifetime Television, which will integrate with Limbo's platform, including SMS, WAP, Internet and email.

The promotional spots, aimed at mobile and Internet entrants, will ask viewers to play an interactive Limbo Unique game to win a grand prize of $5,000 and one of five $500 Big Lots gift cards.

Lifetime Television and Limbo originally introduced the weekend and holiday campaigns early in 2006. Previous Limbo campaigns have recorded an average conversion to purchase of about 7 percent, an average of more than 50 branded interactions per SMS player and an average of 15 minutes per Web gameplay session per online player, according to third-party research conducted post-campaign.

Since it launched in January 2006, Limbo has developed an integrated, full-service platform, including SMS, WAP, mobile video, Internet and email.