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NBC News Digital exec: Publishers should leverage assets with mobile

NEW YORK ? A NBC News Digital executive at the Mobile Marketing Summit: Holiday Focus 2012 said that over the course of four hours, the NBC Politics application jumped from No. 17 to No. 1 in Apple?s App Store through a combination of on-air promotion and paid media.

During the ?NBC News Digital: Setting the Pace for Mobile Publishers in an Era of Media Fragmentation? session, mobile executives spoke about how mobile is increasingly playing a role for the broadcaster, particularly around the recent Olympics and upcoming political elections. In addition, the session gave attendees examples of advertising and sponsorship opportunities available to marketers and publishers.

?The clear message for publishers here is to leverage your assets as best as you can,? said Parag Vaish, director of product management and marketing for NBC News Digital, New York.

?There was plenty of media to support this,? he said.

The Mobile Marketing Summit: Holiday Focus 2012 conference was a Mobile Marketer event.

Physical world
In addition to on-air promotion, NBC News Digital is also bringing the real world into mobile this election season through an an outdoor map in Rockefeller Center. The map will show things such as electoral votes.

Through a sponsorship with Microsoft, consumers can interact with tablets with the map to answer polls, take photos and share content.

Additionally, NBC News Digital?s Breaking News is changing the ways that news is consumed. Breaking News has apps available for iOS, Android devices that aggregate breaking news tweets from reputable publishers into one place that users can access the information from.

Depending on the value that they provide, push notifications can be a great feature for news apps. According to NBC News Digital, the majority of Breaking News app users have push notifications enabled because they expect to receive alerts.

Breaking News also has more than five million Twitter followers.

Instagram played a key role in the way that NBC News Digital?s coverage of the recent Olympics in London. Through distribution on social media, NBC News Digital was able to keep sports fans updated on news while also maintaining the publisher?s brand image.

Advertising opportunities
The session also gave attendees a case study example from American Express and NBC News Digital.

By using rich media and expandable ad units, American Express drew awareness for its Membership Effect campaign. Via the ads, consumers could upload photos, follow the brand on Twitter or sync their cards to Twitter, foursquare and Facebook.

Once a user syncs their card, they receive exclusive deals at restaurants and retailers.

The ads included user-generated content to personalize the experience.

Ford also worked with NBC News Digital on a holiday-themed campaign to drive awareness.

Depending on the campaign, giving users a variety of ways to interact with an ad can be helpful to boost engagement.

?How do we create meaningful touch points for users to engage with the brand?? said Ken Willner, CEO of Zumobi, Seattle.

?If you provide enough prompts, they will engage,? he said.

Final Take
Parag Vaish is director of product management and marketing for NBC News Digital, New York