AT&T is inviting college football fans to participate in the 2010 Cotton Bowl Classic sweepstakes via MMS.

Fans can enter the sweepstakes by sending in images via MMS, email or by uploading them online in the first-ever AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic photo mosaic. AT&T tapped the Marketing Arm Inc.?s mobile marketing agency Ipsh to power the promotion.

?The main goal of the program was to create an engaging promotion that allowed fans to participate and could be executed in market, in retail and on location before, during and after the game,? said Deborah Buentello, San Antonio, TX-based senior marketing manager of sponsorships at AT&T.

?This strategy came together as an interactive mosaic that provides fans multiple ways to participate by sending in their favorite pictures of themselves, friends and family celebrating college football,? she said. ?In addition to submitting photos online, the program provides an exclusive benefit to AT&T customers by allowing them to easily send in their photos from their phones via MMS to 6886.

?This is one of the first major in-bound MMS marketing campaigns of this scale.?

AT&T is the No. 2 carrier in the U.S. based on number of subscribers.

The Marketing Arm is a network of marketing services agencies owned by Omnicom Group.

Ipsh produces mobile marketing campaigns that include SMS, MMS, mobile advergaming, application development, Bluetooth/Bluecasting, mobile Web/WAP sites and WAP media/mobile advertising planning and buying.

This year?s Cotton Bowl will feature Oklahoma State University versus the University of Mississippi, known as Ole Miss.

AT&T's 2010 Cotton Bowl Classic sweepstakes
After 73 years at the Cotton Bowl Stadium, the 2010 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic will be played at the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX, a suburb of Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Fans may submit up to 50 pictures per day, and each picture submitted enters the participant for a chance to win tickets to the event on Jan. 2 as the Cotton Bowl kicks off its first game at its new home.

?This game presented an opportunity for AT&T to capitalize on excitement around the event and new venue to create a unique activation and fan experience,? Ms. Buentello said.

From now until Sun., Dec. 27, fans are encouraged to submit their favorite pictures celebrating the sport of college football for inclusion in the 2010 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic logo mosaic.

Fans can submit images online at http://www.att.net/attcottonbowl or via email to .

AT&T wireless customers can also submit via MMS by sending their image to short code 6886.

Once an image has been submitted and is approved for content, it will be uploaded into the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic photo mosaic.

All participants will receive a code to go online and track the location of their exact image on the mosaic, and photo content will be updated daily.

In addition, all fans who submit an image will be entered into a pre-game sweepstakes for tickets to the 2010 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic on Jan. 2.

AT&T is awarding two sweepstakes winners four tickets to the game. Five additional winners will receive a Samsung Go Netbook.

For AT&T's 2010 Cotton Bowl Classic sweepstakes, participants must be at least 18 years of age and reside in one of the 50 states.

Fans may submit up to 50 entries per day. Winners will be randomly selected.

By submitting a photo as part of the entry, participants grant permission for the photo to be posted on http://www.att.net/attcottonbowl or other sponsor-related Web sites, as well as for promotional purposes.

To enter the sweepstakes consumers must provide their first and last complete names, their date of birth, their mailing address including city, state and ZIP code, and their daytime phone number.

Easy as one, two, three
This campaign is broken down into three main phases, the first being the employee launch. The campaign was open to Dallas-area AT&T employees a week prior to the launch to help build momentum for the campaign.

Next, the General College Football Fan Mosaic phase invites fans to send in all of their college football pictures for a chance to win tickets to the game.

Support for this phase includes mention on the AT&T Fan Zone main page, online media buys, AT&T and Cotton Bowl social media channels including Twitter and Facebook, and AT&T Fan Zone and Cotton Bowl email blasts.

Finally, another mosaic?the Game Day Commemorative Mosaic?will be created exclusively from the photos received on the 2010 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic game day.

This phase will leverage many of the channels previously mentioned, as well as in-game tie-ins and potentially broadcast extensions.

After the game, AT&T will create a commemorative poster of the mosaic that will be available for fans to pick up at select AT&T retail locations.

?The photo mosaic will primarily live online at http://www.att.net/attcottonbowl and is being updated as new photos are received,? Ms. Buentello said. ?This provides a great interaction with fans in which they can go online and see where the photos they submitted live in the mosaic.

?Ipsh works closely with The Marketing Arm to support mobile activations for AT&T sponsorships,? she said.